By Chad Jennings, Sahadev Sharma, Patrick Mooney and Jen McCaffrey
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Breslow is returning to the Boston Red Sox as baseball’s top official, sources briefed on the hiring process said Tuesday night, accepting an offer to manage the storied team at Fenway Park.
Breslow previously served as the Cubs’ assistant general manager and senior vice president of pitching. The 43-year-old former pitcher, who helped the Red Sox win their 2013 World Series title, revitalized the Cubs’ pitching development, an area where the Red Sox had struggled for years.
After a search in which Boston interviewed eight people inside and outside the organization following the Sept. 14 firing of Chaim Bloom, Breslow emerged as a leading candidate last week. It’s unclear at the moment whether Breslow will have a deputy, but assistant general managers Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira and Mike Groopman remain in the Red Sox leadership group. Groopman and Romero had competed for the top job, with Romero considered one of the finalists. The Boston Globe first reported the job offer to Breslow.
Breslow would also inherit a manager, Alex Cora, who has one year left on his current contract and whose job security is publicly guaranteed for 2024. Breslow, who played for the Red Sox in 2006 and again from 2012 to 2015, was teammates with Cora on the 2006 Red Sox.
Accepting the top job in Boston comes with a recent history of short reins by the Red Sox owners. None of the three previous heads of baseball operations in Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski or Bloom lasted four full seasons before being fired. This caveat became a shadow that loomed over the interview process, as several candidates approached by the Red Sox declined an interview altogether. If Breslow accepts the top job, he will have to confront this reality.
But Breslow also fits what the Red Sox are looking for in a very specific way. For the Red Sox, developing their own starting pitching has been a difficult task over the past decade. While Bloom strengthened the Red Sox farm system, turning it from a bottom-five system when he was hired in 2019 to a top-five system, the industry consensus was that the farm system still lacked pitching depth. By targeting Breslow, the Red Sox appear poised to change that.
But as Bloom strengthened the farm system, the big league club struggled for most of his tenure, finishing last in three of his four years at the helm, which included a trip to the American League Championship Series in 2021.
Breslow would not only be tasked with developing the Red Sox’s minor league system, but also returning the big league club in the AL East to previous heights.
There is no doubt that Breslow is a quick learner. Although he has never run an entire baseball department, his wide-ranging duties with the Cubs have seen him liaise with the farm system, the draft room, the manager’s office and the trade deadline. Breslow, considered a potential quick-changer when he was hired by the Cubs, quickly proved those expectations correct, moving from the nebulous role of director of special initiatives to overseeing the Cubs’ pitching development in 2019 and going on to a vice president and pitching role Assistant GM title added years.
Over the twelve years Breslow played in the major leagues, the left-handed reliever used advanced methods to extend his career. These methods, which have become common across the game over the last decade, gave him a foundation for what he would begin implementing and helped guide the Cubs’ overhaul of player development. A Yale graduate with a double major in molecular physics and biochemistry, Breslow had built up so much influence within the organization that he was already acting like a general manager in today’s game, which gave him some influence during his interview with the Red Sox.
Even as a remote employee working from Massachusetts, Breslow had become part of the Cubs’ inner circle.
Given Breslow’s background, it would have felt like a turning point when he was named Boston’s No. 2 baseball manager. Breslow was constantly in touch with Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, general manager Carter Hawkins, manager David Ross and the major league coaching staff. This setup gave Breslow a consistent voice in the daily discussions surrounding the roster and schedule.
When the Cubs wanted to conduct a recruiting interview with Jameson Taillon last offseason, Breslow was the go-to guy who met with the free agent in New York and gave the presentation that helped lay the groundwork for a four-year, $68 million contract . Bringing in first-round picks like Jordan Wicks and Cade Horton — and sending those pitching prospects to Wrigley Field — also brought Breslow’s expertise.
The Cubs wanted Breslow to shake things up and spearhead new initiatives, which led to internal tensions at times. That’s to be expected, part of the larger story surrounding the baseball industry as teams continue to integrate more data and technology and try to find the right balance. Breslow’s intellectual style wasn’t always for everyone, and he will bring with him strong beliefs about how the Red Sox should be run.
Theo Epstein, the architect of the World Series teams in Boston and Chicago, personally recruited Breslow to the Cubs and hired him as director of strategic initiatives in 2019. At the time, Epstein and Hoyer were preparing sweeping changes in scouting and player development.
The Cubs were lacking in those areas, particularly on the pitching side. Homegrown pitchers who were either drafted by the organization or signed as international free agents – and then made their debuts between 2013 and 2019 – amassed a total of 178 1/3 innings during that time.
In 2023 alone, the Cubs collected 417 1/3 innings from pitchers who made their debuts after spending a full year in Breslow’s program. That doesn’t include Cubs closer Adbert Alzolay, who developed a nasty slider at the alternate training site in 2020, a pitch Breslow called a “proof of concept” that their methods had staying power.
When the Cubs conducted an organization-wide assessment of their pitching development after 2018, they found some concerning trends. Very few pitchers they drafted increased their velocity and some even slowed their velocity. That’s part of the past.
In 2023, the Cubs’ minor league pitchers (covering all levels throughout the season) were tops in average fastball velocity and second in “stuff” metrics.
Some would argue that too much time is spent improving and maximizing things rather than focusing on the nuances of pitching. This is a problem across baseball, not just the Cubs. Breslow has stated that he sees three main pillars of pitching development: speed, pitching motion/form and command. The process starts with maximizing speed and goes from there.
It’s clear that the Cubs’ first move was a success. But more will be needed. With the Red Sox, Breslow’s team must find the right balance of maximizing talent while teaching prospects how to pitch properly. The Cubs, for example, were among the worst organizations in baseball when it came to walk rate in the minors last season. Breslow will at least have an understanding of the day-to-day that comes with being a big leaguer and performing at Fenway Park.
What can’t be denied is that after years of struggling to develop pitching, the Cubs are turning the tide. Justin Steele will receive the Cy Young Award votes in 2023 after a brilliant season. Javier Assad and Wicks looked impressive in the rotation and Daniel Palencia showed his potential out of the bullpen. Horton is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball and there are others on the horizon – Ben Brown, Jackson Ferris, Michael Arias.
Under Breslow’s leadership, the Cubs have gone from being one of the worst organizations in baseball when it comes to pitching development to an organization that greatly intrigues outsiders.
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(Photo: Joe Camporeale / USA Today)