Craig Breslow, the Red Sox’s chief baseball officer, does not intend to sit on the fence as the MLB trade deadline approaches.
Boston’s unique location puts Breslow in a difficult situation. The club has outperformed expectations and entered the postseason debate, making buying a viable option in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, the Red Sox and their young core have a promising future, which might be even better if Breslow and company sell to bring in more assets.
So, both options have valid points. However, Breslow intends to focus on only one of them, as attempting to play both sides can be counterproductive.
“I think you can try to balance short and long term,” Breslow stated on NESN’s “310 To Left” program. “I believe you may strive to advance the organization in the correct direction, but you must be convicted in the short term execution of whatever steps are necessary to get there. That is what I mean by choosing a lane. Conceptually, it sounds excellent to balance those things out by buying, selling, adding, and subtracting. I believe that trying to go down both routes frequently results in neither. It’s quite difficult to implement that successfully. To me, the only thing we need to do is decide what we want to accomplish and be absolutely committed to achieving it.”
The Red Sox are undoubtedly helping to make Breslow’s decision simpler. Boston played outstanding baseball before to the break and is now only 4 1/2 games behind first place in the American League East. Breslow might have even hinted at his deadline strategy during the Red Sox’s final game before the All-Star break.
In any case, it won’t be long before Boston supporters learn about Breslow’s scheme. The MLB trade deadline is set for July 30.
