Coming off their first postseason appearance since 2021, the Boston Red Sox are trending in the right direction. There’s still work to be done this offseason, however, and now’s not the time to get complacent.
Look at the Baltimore Orioles, who shockingly plunged to last place in the AL East this year after taking their foot off the gas last winter. If the Red Sox want to avoid a similar kind of regression, they must keep adding.
Craig Breslow understands that. He doesn’t want to fall into the same trap the Orioles fell into by banking on continued internal improvements from their young core, as players frequently take a step back or get injured.
In Wednesday’s episode of NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast, Breslow acknowledged that Boston is better than it was a year ago, but still not a finished product.
“The overarching sentiment is we’re still not where we want to go,” Breslow said. “I think you could argue we took a step forward, which means we’re closer. But…I think there’s real danger in thinking that because we took a step forward from ’24 to ’25, if we just roll this back, we’ll take another step forward coming out of ’25 and heading into ’26.”
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After winning only one postseason game this year, the Red Sox need more talent and depth if they want to make a deeper playoff run next season, especially at the top of their rotation.
“We need to look for ways to improve the team, and we have to put all of the options in front of us,” Breslow said, naming free agency, trades, waiver claims and internal improvement as potential paths forward.
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After elevating Boston from a .500 team to a playoff team last winter, now the goal is turning a playoff team into a championship contender.
“It gets more and more difficult to take that next step the closer you get to where you want to go, but it’s incredibly important,” Breslow said. “The value of winning a handful more games could be the difference between winning the division or not and giving yourself a legitimate chance to get deep into the postseason.”
Breslow added that while this offseason may have “a little different flavor” than last year, the front office still has the same mission of doing everything it can to build a World Series contender and put the best possible team on the field next year.
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Featured image via Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox via Getty Images
