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Some Things I Think I Think: Plenty at stake for Craig Breslow, Alex Cora as Red Sox season begins
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- Some Things I Think I Think: Plenty at stake for Craig Breslow, Alex Cora as Red Sox season begins
∗ Expectations are a part of life in Boston sports.
The Red Sox ended a three-year postseason drought last fall and now, qualifying for the playoffs becomes the baseline for the 2026 team. It’s expected that they’ll be playing in October while it’s hoped that they’ll play deeper into the postseason tournament.
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As is always the case, that falls to the players to execute. No matter how well they’re managed or how well the roster has been constructed, the games will be won (or lost) on the field.
Still, this year will see the heat turned up on both chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora. Breslow made significant upgrades to the pitching staff, giving the Red Sox one of the deeper and better rotations in the game, while also addressing a chronic team weakness: infield defense.
But Breslow failed to land the power bat he himself identified as a need at the start of the offseason, then scrambled late in spring training to bolster the bullpen. Few would argue that Breslow has succeeded in improving the team’s pitching development pipeline, but ultimately, Red Sox front office executives are judged by the play of the parent club. Just ask Chaim Bloom. Entering his third season, he’s supposed to win.
As for Cora, he’s led the Red Sox to the playoffs just twice in his last six years in the dugout. This is year No. 2 of a contract extension that pays him among the highest salary of any manager in the game.
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He’s wanted a more athletic (read: speedy and strong defensively) team and now he has one. He has a quality staff anchored by a genuine ace in the front end and a dominant closer at back, to go with a lineup that should be better than a year ago.
By all accounts, Breslow and Cora have a good working relationship. Now would be a good time for the two to join forces and take the Red Sox, at minimum, deep into October.
∗ How pathetic that the NFL, with revenues close to $25 billion annually, can’t settle a pay dispute with its on-field officials.
Instead of working toward a new collective bargaining agreement with the referees and their union, the league is making plans to instead hire replacement referees who have worked small college games.
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That should go well. In 2012, when the league last pulled this stunt, games devolved into on-field chaos.
It’s bad enough that the league doesn’t have its officials work as full-time employees. But by trying to hire scab officials rather than paying the current ones an agreed-upon wage, the owners are (again) revealing their pure greed.
∗ On the subject of greedy owners, reports continue to circulate that all 30 MLB owners are united in their support of a salary cap. We’ll see how long that lasts.
∗ Marco Sturm won’t win the Jack Adams award, given annually to the NHL’s best coach. The Bruins may not even qualify for the playoffs, and there are other worthy candidates whose teams will take part in the postseason.
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But let there be no mistake: Sturm has been terrific in his first season. And the decision to hire him was one more strong move GM Don Sweeney made last summer.
∗ There would be plenty of logistical issues to overcome, but I’m in favor of moving all or part of the next World Baseball Classic to mid-season. That would encourage more quality starting pitchers to take part and likely offer a higher level of play.
But the suggestion, floated by some, of having some major league teams playing minor league affiliates to keep the non-participating players occupied? Pass, thanks.
∗ It’s not my place to tell anyone when to retire, but maybe it’s time for Liam Hendriks . Since 2023, Hendriks, 37, who has battled and survived both lymphoma and Tommy John surgery, has appeared in just 19 games with a combined ERA of 6.27. He was released by the Twins this past week.
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∗ It was nice to see Robert Parish get some love at the Garden last week while promoting a new book. Part of the Celts’ Big Three from the 1980s glory days, Parish never got the credit he deserved, dwarfed by Larry Bird and Kevin McHale.
∗ For a guy who’s overseen two in-season lockouts, including one that wiped out an entire season, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman operates with a certain undeserved level of arrogance, wouldn’t you say?
∗ It’s past time to acknowledge that Bloom’s trade of Christian Vazquez for Wilyer Abreu (and Emmanuel Valdez ) at the 2022 trade deadline was one of the most lopsided in recent Red Sox history. What a steal.
∗ It’s smart of the Red Sox to amend their bullpen plans. Originally, word was they wouldn’t keep either Payton Tolle or Connelly Early to pitch out of the bullpen, preferring them to work as starters in Worcester. But with Ranger Suarez not fully built up, that may change and now one could make the team out of camp as a long man to piggyback Suarez.
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∗ MLB cut a new $300 million deal with Polymarket, a company in the prediction market, in the very same week that it determined, with the Players Association, that two pitchers charged with purposely rigging pitches for personal gain would not be paid while they defend themselves in court.
∗ Good news of the week for Red Sox fans: Lou Merloni will be NESN’s color analyst for about three-quarters of the team’s games.
∗ Without question, the three most-talked about prospects in Red Sox camp were the top three college pitchers they drafted last July: Kyson Witherspoon, Marcus Phillips and Anthony Eyanson. The organization’s pitching development pipeline is now flowing freely.
∗ I read this past week that Bobby Orr turned 78, and, well, that can’t possibly be true.
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∗ Bruins fans need to keep a close eye on the Toronto Maple Leafs down the stretch. The Leafs are effectively out of the playoff picture, but owe the B’s their first-round pick, the result of the trade that sent defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto a year ago. That pick is Top 5-protected, so while the Bruins want the Leafs to lose, they don’t want them to lose too much.
A second straight Top 10 draft pick for the Bruins would go a long way in restocking the Boston system.
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