Curtis: "Is this why you brought Bregman here for games like tonight and tomorrow ?" Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow joins- "He knows what it takes to win" How do you prepare to face Aaron Judge?
00:00And it is the Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow, who joins us this morning.
00:06Hi, Craig.
00:08Hey, good morning. How are you doing?
00:10To borrow a term that the European writers used a lot during the Ryder Cup, are you in hostile territory already?
00:19I am, yes.
00:20Okay. How's the mood down there?
00:24Good.
00:25You know, I think this is what guys played all season long for, and you try to balance how excited you can be, how anxious you can be with understanding that this is another game, and you try to keep things as normal as possible.
00:40I don't know what you can and can't say, but how is the health of Alex Bregman?
00:48Yeah, no, I can say good.
00:50You know, outside of probably guys joking around and keeping extra distance from him yesterday.
00:56He was at the workout, moving around really well, feels good, so don't anticipate any issues there.
01:01What about, can you get into Lucas Giolito if you guys are to advance?
01:10I think we're still at the point of getting information.
01:13He saw Dr. Dugas yesterday, who is familiar with him and had done his surgery last year.
01:20So he's connecting with our medical staff, and we'll figure out exactly what it looks like.
01:27You know, but I think at this point, you just feel really badly for Lucas, just given how hard he's worked to get himself back to this position, the way that he's contributed.
01:35Over the course of the year and know that more than anything, he just wanted to be on this roster, helping us advance.
01:42Is there any type of diagnosis for what the injury actually is, or is it hurt, or is it injured?
01:48I think we're still trying to make that determination.
01:53A couple days ago, he just felt like he wasn't recovering.
01:57You know, I think looking back, we could see some downtrends in velocity and performance through the month of September,
02:03but he was always able to push through it and pitch through it, and then just got to the point where he felt like he couldn't
02:09and wanted to take a breath to figure out what was going on here.
02:13So I'm pretty confident we'll have a better idea, clearer picture at some point today.
02:18Craig, were you surprised that the Yankees are preventing anyone from outside the New York Yankee area
02:23from purchasing tickets to go to these playoff games?
02:26I did see that, but try not to get too involved in ticketing strategies.
02:34Either way, my guess is there are going to be a lot of people here tonight, and it's going to be really loud.
02:39Would you guys ever do that with the Red Sox tickets at Fenway?
02:45Probably a better question for Sam.
02:48I try to focus on the baseball side of things.
02:51Craig, when you look at playoff baseball, what, in your opinion, I know everything matters,
02:58but what's the area that you have to make sure you're super focused on?
03:04Is it the pitching?
03:05Is it, you know, pitch count?
03:07Like, what is it in playoff baseball that you think is the most important to help your team be successful?
03:13Yeah, I think the recipe for success probably looks a lot like it had all season for a lot of teams.
03:23But just given the way the schedules are set up, you know, your highest leverage relievers end up throwing a lot of innings.
03:31And so I think bullpens kind of reign supreme in the postseason starting pitching, you know,
03:39because there's just so much volatility to the offenses, and you're facing the other team's best pitchers every day for nine innings.
03:48You know, and so when you think about it that way, starting pitching and our bullpen,
03:52they've been strengths of this team for a while.
03:56So we feel good heading into the series, but we also know that, obviously, New York is a really good team,
04:02and they can score runs in bunches.
04:03Craig, Alex Cora spoke to media and said that nobody thought that they would be playing baseball in October back in the spring.
04:12The outside noise was loud about that.
04:15Was that a theme all season long to keep these guys motivated to prove people wrong?
04:22I don't know how much, you know, Alex would have said to the players, you know,
04:27nobody thinks that this is a postseason team.
04:29And I know that I think he went back and clarified that he had meant post, you know, trade of Devers.
04:37But I do think that we've had a number of different guys step up and carry the team in streaks throughout the season.
04:46Now, when we went, you know, going back to the offseason,
04:48our goal was absolutely to put together a team that was capable of competing for the division,
04:52making it to the postseason, and making it a deep run.
04:55But I think when you look at the contributions that we've made,
04:58and certainly we got significant ones from, you know, our star players,
05:03Garrett and Bregman and Crochet, and we saw what Roman stepped up and did.
05:08But also the, you know, Rob Refsnyder's and Romy Gonzalez's and Carlos Narvaez's
05:14that maybe going into the season people didn't anticipate were going to contribute in the way that they did.
05:18Craig, I know every sport it's about strategy, and us as fans will sit there and we'll look at this game and we'll go,
05:26all right, whatever you do, pitch around, Aaron Judge.
05:29How do you have a guy like Crochet who's an absolute stud,
05:34but you still want to be in a good position strategy-wise to maybe have to sometimes go to him and say,
05:41okay, we might want you to pitch around because I know pride is a big thing in all of sports.
05:46Is that like a conversation that you have with some of your starting pitchers,
05:51especially a guy like Crochet when it comes to strategy?
05:56It's tough.
05:57You're right.
05:57You hinted at this, which is something that makes Garrett so good is his fearlessness
06:04and his belief that he can get any opposing hitter out, and a lot of the time he's right,
06:10but the game and the score will dictate, you know, what the best strategy is.
06:16You know, the information that Bales and the rest of the pitching group will give to Garrett
06:22is, you know, how his stuff can attack and play against the opposing hitters,
06:26and then in-game Alex and the rest of the staff will make determinations
06:29when it makes the most sense to go right at somebody
06:31versus when it might make more sense to pitch around them a bit.
06:35But, you know, especially here in this park and their lineup having so many guys
06:38that can hit the ball out of the park, you do need to think about limiting base runners.
06:43So it becomes complicated, but usually the game dictates this.
06:47Is this why you brought Bregman here, games like tonight and tomorrow,
06:50for what he's been able to do at this time of year?
06:54I think we're all aware of the postseason track record
06:57and, you know, nine consecutive seasons of making it to the postseason.
07:01So there's a calming presence that he brings,
07:05knowing that he's been through this before.
07:07He knows what it takes to win, and that's not to minimize the contributions
07:11that he's made all season long, but we have a new season that starts tonight.
07:16This team is top five in the league when it comes to hitting lefties.
07:19What do you mostly credit that to this season?
07:22I think a handful of guys that really understand their roles, they've embraced it,
07:28they prepare so well.
07:29Guys like Romy and Ref, and then also Trevor has had this incredible bounce-back season.
07:38Narvi, you know, I think we've got right-handed hitters that really hit lefties well.
07:43And then also, you know, we've brought up some guys,
07:47and some guys have stepped forward as left-handed hitters
07:50who have also put better at-bats together versus lefties,
07:53whether it's Jaron or Roman.
07:57You know, I think the way that Alex sets the tone of aggressively managing,
08:02of understanding how to optimize the matchups,
08:05it allows everybody to understand how they can contribute.
08:07And because of that, I think they've gotten comfortable with their roles,
08:10and they've really thrived in them.
08:11Is John Henry in New York for Game 1 today?
08:16I don't know, actually.
08:18I believe that there will be a very strong ownership contingent.
08:23Obviously, this is the reason that we play through the season,
08:26is to get to the postseason, and everybody recognizes that.
08:29Is Connolly Early the frontrunner for Thursday to fill that void?
08:35I think we have to figure out how we get to Thursday.
08:38You know, because that's going to dictate availability and how we want to approach this.
08:45But, you know, while we're obviously going to miss Gio and what he's done for us all season,
08:51we do feel like there are guys who can step up and step into that role.
08:55And it's going to be a team effort.
08:58It will take contributions from all 26 guys.
09:00All right.
09:01Well, it is exciting.
09:03It's been four years, and I know that this is what you came here for,
09:07and that is meaningful baseball in October.
09:10So, Craig Breslow, we will talk to you again soon, and good luck down there.
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