Red Sox: Craig Breslow’s Three Biggest Mistakes

After a season start of 10 wins and 17 losses, Boston Red Sox baseball operations chief Craig Breslow cleaned house by firing Alex Cora and most of his coaching staff.

The Red Sox are now Breslow's team through and through, so the days of making excuses and blaming everyone but himself are over. Because if we're talking about blame, a large share of it should fall on Breslow, a man who isn't well-liked by many in the baseball community.

Starting with the trade that sent Chris Sale elsewhere. A few weeks after his hiring, on December 30, 2023, Breslow sent the ace left-hander to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for outfielder Vaughn Grissom. He even included cash to entice his counterpart to close the deal.

In his first season with the Braves, Sale not only won the National League Cy Young Award but also claimed the pitching Triple Crown. Just like that.

Meanwhile, Grissom played 31 games for the Red Sox in 2024, batting .190. He spent the 2025 season in Worcester at the AAA level, and the Sox traded him to the Los Angeles Angels during the offseason.

But that's not all; Breslow did it again with the trade involving Rafael Devers. On June 15, 2025, Boston stunned the baseball world by sending Devers to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs III, Jordan Hicks, and Jose Bello—a meager return for an All-Star player.

Harrison was the centerpiece of the deal and made two starts after the trade, posting a 3.00 ERA with thirteen strikeouts in twelve innings pitched. A few months later, Breslow sent the 24-year-old, along with David Hamilton and Shane Drohan, to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, and a 2026 compensatory pick.

While Durbin is batting .172, Harrison is part of the Brewers' starting rotation and has a 2–1 record with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP in five starts.

As for the other three, Tibbs III is now with the Los Angeles Dodgers and performing very well at the Triple-A level, Hicks is a disaster on the mound, and we won't even mention Bello.

And to add insult to injury, after bringing Alex Bregman to Massachusetts—which led to Devers' departure—Breslow let him go for absolutely nothing this winter.

Breslow should have done everything in his power to bring back one of the Boston team's few leaders. Instead, the executive left Bregman hanging, and the Chicago Cubs took advantage to snatch him up.

With the result we all know: the Red Sox's young players are as lost as a deer on the highway, and results on the field are slow in coming.

A job of demolition done with great finesse.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.