The Boston Red Sox are sitting dead last in the AL East with a 33-46 record. And according to one of the most connected insiders in baseball, the front office shakeup isn’t finished yet.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic published a column this week that basically drew a target on the back of Craig Breslow, Boston’s chief baseball officer. This isn’t a new take from Rosenthal either. Back when manager Alex Cora was fired back in May, Rosenthal led his column with a blunt prediction: “Craig Breslow is next.”
Nothing that’s happened since has changed his mind.
“The Sox were 10-17 under Cora. They’re 22-29 under interim manager Chad Tracy, sitting on the worst record in the AL,” Rosenthal wrote. CEO Sam Kennedy told WEEI recently that firing Breslow is “not on the table.” But then Kennedy also called the season “embarrassing.” That kind of language from the front office doesn’t exactly scream stability.
The Breslow timeline is running out
Rosenthal pointed out something worth noting. Breslow is in his third season. The three guys who had this job before him — Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski, and Chaim Bloom — all got shown the door in Year 4. The pattern is hard to miss. Ownership, according to Rosenthal, is “forever in search of someone to blame.”
When you’re running the worst record in the American League, blame gets handed out fast.
Rosenthal doesn’t think Breslow will survive. He framed it as a question of “when,” not “if.” The trade deadline is about five and a half weeks away. Rosenthal noted that Breslow isn’t ready to wave the white flag yet. But even when he does, trading pieces like Sonny Gray or Aroldis Chapman only gets you so much.
“When assessing Breslow’s body of work, it’s doubtful ownership would determine he warrants one more shot,” Rosenthal wrote.
What happens next in Boston
The Red Sox have a Friday night game against the Yankees coming up. That’s the immediate concern for fans. But the bigger story hanging over everything is whether the guy running baseball ops will even make it to the offseason.
Rosenthal’s track record with these kinds of predictions is solid. He doesn’t usually go out on a limb unless he’s hearing things. And the fact that he’s doubling down months later suggests the whispers inside the industry haven’t stopped.
Breslow took over after Chaim Bloom was fired following the 2023 season. The roster has some young talent, sure, but the on-field results have been brutal. 33-46 isn’t just bad. It’s last-place-in-the-AL-East bad. And in Boston, that kind of record gets people fired.
Whether it happens at the trade deadline, after the season, or somewhere in between, one of the most respected reporters in the game is betting on another front office change.
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