Last night’s loss to the Rays was the Red Sox’ fourth straight, dropping them to 27-39 — last in the American League East, second-worst in the American League as a whole, and fourth-worst in all of MLB. The Sox are one of the most disappointing teams in the game this year, if not the most, but that doesn’t seem to have given ownership any second thoughts about its baseball operations leadership. Just a couple days after Tim Healey of the Boston Globe reported that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow‘s job was secure, Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy removed any remaining shred of doubt by publicly confirming as much. Asked on WEEI’s Greg Hill show about Breslow’s status, Kennedy told the hosts that a change “is not even on the table” (as relayed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith).
Breslow, 46 in August, is in his third season as Boston’s chief baseball officer. The team never disclosed the precise length of his first contract as the team’s baseball operations head, nor has it been reported. There have been no indications that the 2026 season is the last on Breslow’s contract. Presumably, his deal runs through at least the 2027 season.
The Red Sox, of course, have already begun to show some signs of frustration. Manager Alex Cora and five members of his coaching staff were fired in late April after a 10-17 start. Triple-A manager Chad Tracy replaced him for the remainder of the season but is holding the title of “interim” manager. The Sox are 17-22 since the change — a nominal improvement but still well shy of expectations for a team that won 89 games last year and spent $130MM to sign Ranger Suarez this offseason while also acquiring Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Caleb Durbin and several others via trade.
Though the season is on the verge of spiraling past them, it seems the Sox aren’t bringing about any further sweeping changes in the organization — at least for now. They’ve reportedly been on the hunt for a right-handed bat on the trade market, though deals of any real magnitude are rare this time of year. Boston famously bucked that trend with last year’s mid-June blockbuster sending Rafael Devers to San Francisco, but it’s typically hard to find clubs willing to part with notable veteran talent at this juncture. That’s particularly true with a slightly later (Aug. 3) trade deadline this year.
The extent to which the Red Sox are able to climb out of this rut could well determine whether Breslow carries on following the season. Generally speaking, it’s common for teams to first make a change in the dugout and then, if the tide still doesn’t turn, look to the front office for further reshaping. For now, Kennedy’s comments signal that Breslow isn’t on the hot seat. That topic will probably be revisited in the offseason, but there are more than three months of games to influence his status in the meantime.
