The Boston Red Sox introduced a fresh, new pitching development program when chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took over the reins. Fast forward to its first season in action, the ex-big league arm turned front office head honcho assessed just how effective the envisioned plan has gone following the 2024 campaign.
"I think we're in a significantly better place than we were at the time that I took over here," Breslow told reporters during Monday's end-of-season press conference at Fenway Park, per team-provided video. "There's an increased emphasis on pitching development. I think Justin Willard's done a great job. I think Andrew Bailey's done a great job. I think a bunch of our minor league staff has done a really good job, especially working with strength and conditioning, working with our medical staff to ensure that we're building bigger engines."
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Pitching quickly became the premier must-have in Boston once starting rotation members Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock landed on the injured list. The Red Sox received a team-leading -- and career-high -- 33 starts from Kutter Crawford, watched as Tanner Houck became a first-time All-Star and allowed Bryan Bello to grow into a 14-game winner as the unofficial ace. On the flip side, Boston struggled mightily to support the highs of its pitching staff by providing depth. James Paxton went down with a season-ending right calf injury after just three starts from being acquired, Rich Hill was released after four relief appearances and the Red Sox ended the year finishing second in blown saves (33) -- right behind the 121-loss dumpster-fire Chicago White Sox.
"We can point to some guys who have come up throughout this season and impacted our club in a really positive way whether that's (Luis) Guerrero or (Richard) Fitts or (Quinn) Priester," Breslow added. "(Justin) Slaten was a guy who wasn't with the organization last year at this time and say, you know, we're on the right track but we've got plenty of work to do."
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Similar to the 2023 season, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was required to get creative and lean on players from the franchise's farm system to showcase their abilities in what became a dud year before Boston's final homestand. That window of opportunity allowed for little-known prospects to get a taste of the big leagues, but ultimately the front office is once again facing an offseason challenge to take the necessary steps forward to avoid a fourth consecutive postseason swing-and-miss.
Breslow targeted pitching at July's MLB trade deadline and has already insinuated that the trade market will be explored this offseason to get the Red Sox back on track moving forward after falling short of playoff contention in five of the last six years.
Featured image via Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images
