Red Sox's Alex Cora Sounds Off On Craig Breslow's Job Performance

The CBO-manager partnership seems to be in a healthy place

Feb 15, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow talks with media at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Few front office executives around Major League Baseball got more attention this year -- positive and negative -- than the Boston Red Sox's Craig Breslow.

One could argue that Breslow made the two most important trades of the year across the entire sport, acquiring Garrett Crochet and shipping off Rafael Devers. He also made the Alex Bregman and Aroldis Chapman signings, but whiffed on Walker Buehler and traded the Milwaukee Brewers a reliable starter in Quinn Priester.

At the end of the day, though, the Red Sox made the playoffs for the first time in four years, and Breslow deserves a lot of the credit. On Wednesday, his manager made sure to give it to him.

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Cora gives Breslow credit for 2025 success

Jul 23, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) celebrates a two-run home run scored by outfielder Tyler O'Neill (17) (not pictured) in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

During an appearance on "Foul Territory," Red Sox skipper Alex Cora said Breslow did "an amazing job" in the past year, and made it clear that the chief baseball officer has his full trust.

“He did an amazing job last year. I know a lot of people don’t give him credit, but if you look at the offseason we had last year — Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet — three All-Stars, Wilson was great.

"Let him be, let him do the job. Obviously, he will ask me how I see it, but at the end of the day, we make decisions based on what we have to improve on our 40-man roster and our 26-man roster, and hopefully we can do that.”

While we're giving Breslow credit for things done in the past year, how about the Crochet and Roman Anthony extensions? Between those two, Brayan Bello, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Kristian Campbell, the Red Sox have a core of players under 27 years old locked up through 2029, setting up a nice window of contention.

Of course, now is the time for Breslow to supplement that core with free agents, particularly with Bregman now on the open market. But as turbulent a year as it was, Cora's praise for the CBO is warranted.

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