Red Sox’s Craig Breslow Pinpoints Most Integral Offseason Move

The Boston Red Sox operated with a purpose this past offseason and made several notable roster tweaks before the team took the field on Opening Day.

Boston’s front office, led by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, entered the offseason with a self-aware frame of mind. It’s been four years since the last time the Red Sox punched their playoff ticket, and in order to bring October baseball back to Fenway Park, Breslow and company had to make a couple of critical decisions. That meant fielding phone calls for trades and spending some money in free agency.

Now looking back at the franchise’s effort to repair its winning tradition, Breslow highlighted one addition above the rest: Garrett Crochet.

“We knew we had some talented pitchers that, I think, had underperformed for a while, and we felt like there was more to get out of them,” Breslow told MLB Network Radio on Sunday. “I think we saw that with Tanner (Houck), putting together an All-Star season and (Brayan) Bello for taking a step forward. Kutter Crawford and the three of those guys together making career highs in starts and having career highs in innings pitched. But it’s true that the recipe for success in this league tends to be having a legitimate No. 1 starter that you can run out there Game 1 of the playoffs.”

Crochet’s arrival in Boston didn’t come cheap. Breslow surrendered top prospects Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth, Braden Montgomery and Wikelman Gonzalez to the Chicago White Sox back in December to finalize the blockbuster swap. It helped ease the concerns surrounding the pitching market that quickly went from crowded to dry, as options such as Max Fried, Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes cashed in their free agency paydays.

Boston hadn’t seen a clear-cut ace take over the reins as the rotation’s leader since left-hander Chris Sale. The Red Sox knew they couldn’t miss the opportunity to fill that crucial void, especially while teams across the league were happily willing to sign whatever paycheck necessary to bolster their rotation.

So far, everything Boston envisioned Crochet would be has come to life.

“We recognized that Garrett was someone who fit that bill, and was someone that we wanted to be aggressive in pursuing,” Breslow said.

It’s only been four starts, including Sunday afternoon’s against the Chicago White Sox, but Crochet has been as advertised. The southpaw arm gave the Red Sox four quality starts, charged with three earned runs across 26 total innings while collecting 28 strikeouts in a Boston uniform. He’s shown early Cy Young Award candidate flashes, provided door-shutting outings and continues to embrace his role’s responsibilities.

The Red Sox signed Crochet to a six-year, $170 million contract extension just before the 25-year-old made his second start this season to alleviate the worries of retaining him long-term after it took a prospect haul to acquire him.

With Lucas Giolito and Bello still rehabbing from their respective injuries, Crochet’s contributions have been significant for the Red Sox early on. That shouldn’t change as Crochet was the leading move made to ensure that the franchise wouldn’t suffer a fourth consecutive hard-to-watch swing and miss attempt at reaching the postseason.