By Ian Browne | an hour ago
BOSTON – The Red Sox announced Wednesday that they have hired Craig Breslow as chief baseball officer and he will be responsible for all baseball operations matters.
“We strongly believe Craig is the right person at the right time to lead our baseball operations. “Craig’s understanding of the game is remarkable,” said Red Sox principal owner John Henry. “What convinced us to bring him on board in this role was his highly strategic philosophy and his understanding of what is required operationally in today’s evolving game to perform at the highest levels of player acquisition, development and execution in the Major League to shine. This is who we are. I’m happy to welcome him back.”
The Red Sox parted ways with Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom on September 14th and then began a systematic search for his successor.
Because of the way he completely reshaped the Cubs’ pitching department, Breslow was an up-and-coming front office executive and pitched for the Red Sox in 2006 and again from 2012 to 2015. In fact, the lefty was a key part of manager John Farrell’s rebuilding staff in ’13 (1.81 ERA in 61 games) when the Red Sox won the World Series.
“Craig was an outstanding candidate,” said Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy. “The praise from other baseball executives was impressive, but what really set him apart were the clear character references from former teammates, including David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, David Ross, Brock Holt and Kevin Youkilis.” Craig knows what it takes to get in Boston wants to be successful and he’s ready for the challenge.”
Breslow most recently served as the Cubs’ assistant general manager and the team’s vice president of pitching. Breslow spent his entire post-playing career in the Cubs’ organization, having played his final MLB season in 2017.
Breslow played left guard for seven teams in twelve MLB seasons.
“I couldn’t be more excited to return to the Boston Red Sox, an organization that means so much to my family and me,” said Breslow. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead baseball operations and work with so many talented people. I would like to thank John Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon and Sam Kennedy for entrusting me with executing the vision we share for this organization. I know firsthand how special it is to win in Boston and I look forward to experiencing that passion and success with our fans again.”
The 43-year-old has long been considered a potential candidate to lead a baseball operations department. In addition to his playing and front office experience, he graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
While the Red Sox decided not to release details about their search for their next head of baseball operations, sources confirmed that several executives had applied for the position, including Red Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero, the general manager the Twins, Thad Levine, and the Guardians’ special assistant baseball projects such as Neal Huntington and recently fired Giants manager Gabe Kapler.
Several candidates also declined the chance to interview for the position, including Rays senior advisor Jon Daniels, Blue Jays vice president of baseball strategy James Click and former Marlins general manager Kim Ng.
The Red Sox have finished last in the AL East in three of the last four seasons, and pitching has been the club’s biggest problem, making Breslow the ideal fit to help the team turn around its fortunes.
Brent Maguire contributed to this report.