It's a new era in Boston.
The Boston Red Sox recently hired former relief pitcher Craig Breslow to replace former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. Bloom had significant success improving the club's minor league system and the club started to see the fruits of the labor in 2023 with some of the young prospects making the jump to the big leagues or higher levels in the farm system. Although this is the case, the club hasn't had much big-league success over the last two years leading to his firing. Boston hasn't won over 78 games in a season since 2021 and has finished in last place in the American League East in each of the last two years.
Breslow's job will be to come in and fix this quickly. He had his introductory press conference Thursday afternoon and certainly said all of the right things, including the three areas he believes the club needs to improve. Plus, there were some intriguing comments made about how much the club will spend this offseason in free agency.
It sounds like the Red Sox are ready to take the next step and get back to contender status this offseason and will be "full throttle” this offseason to fix the starting rotation, according to the Boston Globe's Alex Speier.
"(Red Sox chairman) Tom Werner described the Red Sox as 'full throttle' this offseason, and suggested Breslow can pursue rotation upgrades in ways he sees fit," Speier said.
This is a very interesting comment from Werner. It sounds like the Red Sox are ready to spend this offseason and there are certainly some intriguing pitchers to take a look at. From Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto to San Diego Padres star Blake Snell, and Philadelphia Phillies hurler Aaron Nola, there are some top arms to pursue plus many others. It is a very deep starting pitching free agent market this offseason.
Boston's offense was solid in 2023 and if the pitching could match, the Red Sox could make a significant jump in 2024. With the World Series over, free agency is very close. It sounds like Boston won't be waiting around to get some big deals done.
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