Update on Wilyer Abreu? Back soon? Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow joins

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Update on Wilyer Abreu? Back soon? Set back?? #Redsox CBO Craig Breslow joins! #mlb What did Breslow make of Cora pulling Early?

Transcript

00:00good morning craig how are you i am good good morning quick turnaround from from last night

00:05to today yeah well i'm sure it's a much easier turnaround given the win in 10 innings magic

00:09number down to eight what are you looking for down the stretch right in here as you're preparing i'm

00:14sure scouting for the playoffs but wanting to make sure you get in before that happens

00:19yeah i think the most important thing that we can do is keep the focus on the the day-to-day

00:24uh you know you talk in the off season about building a roster that's capable of making

00:28the postseason and a deep postseason run and we talk about playing meaningful games in september

00:33and now that we're in the midst of it there's a ton of energy and enthusiasm around the park it's a fun

00:38place to show up at every day uh but i think from my perspective the coaching staff the players it's

00:44the focus on what we have to do and how we can execute today to to win the game and you know we

00:49do a lot of this you know what's a successful season is just making the playoffs enough

00:54what where do you stand on how do you gauge the season when it comes to your role as the baseball

01:00uh czar for the organization is it just making the playoffs is it you know advancing a series how do you

01:05gauge what would be a successful season for the red sox yeah i think uh you have to go back to to our

01:12stated goals and you know we we tried to build a roster that we felt could compete for the division

01:17could make the postseason and was capable of a deep postseason run um and you know we can look

01:23at our record today and say our record in 2025 is going to be an improvement relative to 2024 but

01:29that's not what our goals were so uh you know i think we need to to finish strong here we need to

01:34make the postseason and and you know we should prime ourselves for a deep postseason run craig when

01:39you look at finishing strong um you guys ultimately have kind of backed yourself into a corner a little

01:45bit because of some of our you know earlier series that i think you know a lot of us expected you to

01:51win i think arizona was one of them i forget the other one that we had talked about obviously

01:56the yankees series and that how how what's the message message been to that team as far as you know

02:05like being backed in the corner right now yeah well we can't go back and win the games that uh you know

02:13that we lost but in the moment you always think about man this this one you know this this one

02:18hurts or this was a very winnable game uh you know and you hope that you're not looking back at the

02:23end of the season and thinking that you're a game away or two games away from being where you want to

02:27be um but in terms of backing ourselves into a corner i'm not sure that that's the way uh that the

02:32players or the staff see it for two reasons one is because this is a group that has overcome a ton of

02:39of of adversity and challenges and has shown a ton of resilience uh you know whether that's

02:44injuries um you know guys important pieces being being out for lengthy periods of time uh and then

02:51the other is is you know because i think that could force you to lose sight of the small things that you

02:59need to do to execute uh you know in order to win and we've we've had chances to to win a lot of the

03:06games that you just brought up we've had traffic on the bases we've had some good at bats to put

03:10ourselves in position to to score runs and and what we haven't done is you've gotten the big hit or or

03:16uh put the ball in play to get a run across the board uh fortunately we were able to do that last

03:20night but i think that focus on execution is where we should be spending our time craig the return of

03:24willier abreu seems to keep getting pushed is this just a precaution to make sure he's fully

03:29ready to come back is it the timing of where you're at in the season or is he facing setbacks

03:34he's not facing setbacks uh you know i think we're trying to exercise the right amount of

03:42caution but also recognize where we are in this in the season and the importance of getting him back

03:47and what he means in our lineup you know the second that that we can write his name into the middle of

03:51our lineup we give ourselves a guy that can hit hit the ball out of the park uh you know capable of 25

03:56to 30 home run potential um but calves are they're they're sickle um you know and it seems like uh

04:04we've been in this kind of day-to-day period for a few weeks now um but he's making pretty steady

04:11progress he's had some aggressive base running and swings earlier in the week and uh you know we

04:17want to make sure that when he comes back he's capable of helping us and contributing

04:21greg just i know we spoke with you or i asked you a couple weeks ago about the rotation balancing

04:27getting guys ready for the wild card round or the first round of the playoffs as opposed to pursuing

04:33the division championship and getting seating has your mindset shifted at all is it all about getting

04:39you know crochet the ample amount of rest ready for that first playoff game and or is it you know

04:45still trying to win every game you can right now yeah i think right now uh as kind of dictated by the

04:52way that we've mapped out the rotation we've got to win these games we've got to get ourselves in

04:55before we worry about how we're set up once we're there um you know and and getting guys on regular

05:02rest uh and and you know making sure that uh our the top of our rotation is touching the ball as many

05:08times as possible uh you know in this last week and a half is is really important and then we'll figure out

05:13how we can buy ourselves some rest we got uh some some off days coming up that we'll be able to take

05:19advantage of if we need to keep somebody short we can always do that um but the way that that connelly

05:25has stepped into uh the rotation um also gives us quite a bit of of optimism and confidence for how

05:31we're going to stack up no matter how the rotation falls and you brought up connelly early got taken out

05:36early no pun intended um with 80 pitches is that another case where you're telling cora that you need to

05:43take them out here we're at this pitch limited or is how did that work uh that night yeah so alex andrew

05:52and i uh alongside medical staff we're always talking about uh you know workloads and what we

05:58think guys are capable of and um you know and then alexander and i will talk through some some

06:03different scenarios and strategies before the game happens but uh we i think we all have been doing

06:08this long enough to recognize that the game is fluid and once the game starts like the manager

06:12has uh the ability to make in-game decisions and uh you know alex felt like there was an opportunity

06:17to create a good matchup with with weiss um it didn't work out but if it had then we would have

06:22all been you know applauding that and so uh you know i think we saw last night uh alex handle the the

06:28bullpen management definitely and and put ourselves in a really good position to win just quickly on that

06:33though so in the playoffs if you want to get there you know does the analytics play a bigger role or

06:40do you give it more to the field given the short sample size of each of these series and the must-win

06:44nature of those games i i think the the way that i see this is you know the job of uh the front office

06:54the analyst is to try to provide our staff with as much information as we can recognizing that you know

07:00once the first pitch is thrown it's it's on the field staff to make decisions and you know alex has

07:05done a really good job with that marrying uh the information that we're able to to work through and

07:12provide together with recognizing that there are things that come up in games that force you to make

07:17real-time adjustments and uh you know sometimes we we talk through those once the game is is over uh and

07:24we have really productive conversations just about you know some of the things that came up and how we react to

07:28them um but ultimately i've got a ton of confidence in in alex's game uh in game decision making

07:34craig when you look at your team where is uh roman anthony as far as maybe somebody that you could

07:43see playing in the postseason obviously if you guys get there what's his status looking like

07:50yeah so he's making progress albeit slow but steady progress uh just in terms of the symptoms

07:57subsiding feeling a lot more comfortable activity ramping up um i know a lot has been made of his

08:04walks uh over the over the last few days um but i think there's also been a noticeable shift just in

08:10the way that that roman is thinking about the injury and thinking about his timeline and and he

08:15is committed doing everything he possibly can to getting back on the field and obviously that's only going

08:19to be uh a boom to what we're trying to do here craig curtis brought up uh connelly early and then

08:26kyle harrison peyton toley being um put into the bullpen what do you see as the future for him because

08:31his first outing was so great and then things kind of fell off what what's the future look like for

08:36peyton toley yes we still have a ton of confidence in his ability to be an impact major league starting

08:42pitcher um you know this is uh a situation where we're trying to give ourselves the best chance of

08:49winning every game possible and connelly uh you know kind of has the true starter mix right now i

08:54think we've seen that manifest over his two starts and cal harrison as uh you know he's pitched as a

09:00starter in the big leagues um you know and and some of the additions to his repertoire we feel like

09:05will give him the ability to navigate a lineup a few times uh and peyton's got you know this this big

09:11fastball um that we think can play really well out of the pen and and not just cover innings but

09:17actually uh you know be be a weapon and and provide real impact out of the pet so that's what what went

09:22into those decisions what did you take from core's comments recently saying he wants to stop all the

09:27talk about october yeah i mean the way that i took that was as the the manager he needs to be consumed

09:36with the day-to-day and the focus on preparing for tonight's game to give ourselves the best chance

09:42possible to to win it um you know so i think that uh a lot was was made out of that and you know was

09:49this questioning uh kind of the confidence in the team or or any of that and i just look at that as

09:54you know what is the role of the manager and it's prepare our players to to to play uh as as well as they

10:01can every single day and if you're thinking about a week from now or two weeks from now it's going to be

10:05really hard to focus on on the the present craig that's very interesting because i i would agree

10:12that the moment you're in is for the managers and the players to focus on that but for somebody in

10:17the front office like yourself you have to not only think about the present but you also have to think

10:23about the future when you look at this team and whether it's you or core talking about the young

10:28talent that you have can we expect this fans for you guys to be super aggressive in the

10:35offseason knowing that you have this young talent and you want to bolster this uh you know bolster

10:42this team with adding some pieces and being very aggressive yes i think uh going back to that first

10:50comment that the the manager is thinking about the the present in the day-to-day and my job is to to

10:56try to balance the the short term with the long term like i think that's exactly right and i've talked a

10:59lot about how uh you know alex and i have have different jobs and we need to complement each

11:05other but now in terms of what you know the offseason what the future holds i do think that

11:10uh the the outlook for for this organization is incredibly positive we can see uh kind of the brand

11:17of baseball that we're looking to play uh this exciting young athletic dynamic group that should be

11:24cornerstones for a really long time and and our job uh in in the front office is to supplement that

11:31group with talent that can help us but uh that can help put us over the edge so we're going to explore

11:36every opportunity to bolster the roster to improve um because we believe like our our window of

11:42contention is upon us right now all right craig well uh greg will be back next week and he just

11:46wants to know when you guys clinch which bar to go to so um if you can just pass that along to ken or

11:51so we'll figure that out but uh good luck good luck today and i will talk to you again soon sounds

11:57great thank you

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