Craig Breslow hints Red Sox will take buyers approach at trade deadline
"We need to be thinking about opportunities for us to improve the club."
The Red Sox continued to build their case that the team should be buyers at the trade deadline, taking two of three from the Royals over the weekend to move to 53-42.
Craig Breslow seems willing to add at the deadline, too. Appearing on NESN’s broadcast during the Red Sox’ win over the Royals on Sunday, Boston’s chief baseball officer didn’t explicitly state what the team’s deadline plans will be. However, Breslow strongly hinted that the team will look to add ahead of the July 30 deadline.
“We first have to start with crediting the players on the field, the staff,” Breslow said when asked if he’s convinced the Red Sox are a playoff team that should add at the deadline. “But, yeah, I think this team has put themselves in a position where we have to take them seriously, right? The job that they had to do is to win as many games as possible and they’re doing that.
“They’ll continue to do that — it’s my hope, it’s my expectation. We need to be thinking about opportunities for us to improve the club.”
Breslow’s comment on Sunday is a bit of a change in tone compared to what he said about the Red Sox’ trade deadline approach just earlier in the week. He took a non-commital stance when asked about the team’s trade deadline approach on MassLive’s “Fenway Rundown” podcast on Tuesday.
“My job is different than the job than the job Alex [Cora] has or the job that the players have, whereas they can be almost singularly focused on doing everything that they need to do to prepare to win that night’s game,” Breslow said in part of his comments to Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo at the time. “I have to think about how we can best be positioned to win tonight’s game and tomorrow’s game and next year’s game. Trying to balance all of those things is difficult at times.”
As the Red Sox enter the All-Star break, the case for them to be buyers might be undeniable. Their series win over the Royals gave them a two-game cushion for the final wild-card spot entering the All-Star break. Winning the AL East doesn’t seem out of the question either, trailing the Orioles by just 4.5 games.
Additionally, the Red Sox have been one of the best teams in baseball since the start of June. They’re 24-13 since June 1 with several players stepping up their performances over that stretch.
Breslow credited the team’s young players for making the Red Sox’ recent turnaround happen.
“I’m very careful about saying someone or something has exceeded the expectations because I think that necessarily puts me in a position where I didn’t think we were gonna get a lot from certain guys, and that wasn’t the case,” Breslow said. “I think instead what we saw was a bunch of young players who were going to need to take meaningful steps forward in the big leagues, and you’re seeing that.”
Not only do the Red Sox enter the All-Star break with one of the best records in the American League, but they now could be in a position to get better, too.
“Everybody in that clubhouse believes we can pull this off and win the division,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game. “We got to aim high. We’ve got to keep going up there.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com