00:00and it is chief baseball officer craig breslow who joins us this morning for the first time this
00:06season after a sweep for your team craig good morning good morning how are you guys doing
00:13we're doing good um and uh looks like at least in this series uh things may be turning around here
00:20for the ball club sure it's a great series in detroit i think um you know we saw uh performance
00:28improve across all aspects um we got quality starting pitching um bullpen came in and held
00:34leads uh got some big hits with runners in scoring position hit the ball out of the park
00:39um and and played consistently good defense and and ran the bases really well craig on the uh firing
00:47of of your manager alex cora what were specific things that he was not doing that you need your
00:53new manager and uh tracy to do for this club sure look um you know i think any conversation about
01:01alex has to start with uh what he's been to this organization the contributions that he's made um
01:08the success that he he had in the role and i'm not going to sit here and spite and insight
01:14uh specific
01:15um you know kind of criteria or decisions because that's really not what this was about um ultimately
01:24the performance on the field uh was was not what what we had expected and accountability for that
01:30falls on me um but i also have the responsibility to do everything i possibly can uh to turn that
01:37around and we just felt like the time had come um for uh kind of some new perspective uh new
01:44direction
01:45and a chance uh for for a fresh start on that though accountability i would just say
01:50andrew bailey has been the pitching coach up at the time of the of the departure it felt like
01:54everybody that you had hired was safe and the people that were hired and worked with cora were
02:00let go what do you say to that yeah i i would push back on that and i would say
02:07that um you know
02:09the pitching had been inconsistent uh that is absolutely true um and you know my my job is to
02:17look at all of the the options that we have to improve things and and ultimately made the decision
02:23that in some cases change was was necessary and of course in others it wasn't uh ultimately you know
02:30we have i have confidence in the pitching group and their ability andrew and and others
02:34um to to get us on track hopefully over the last week we've seen evidence of that i think from
02:41the
02:41if for us as fans we just it's it's good to hear you know what what you have to say
02:47about it because
02:48it can clear things up and and there's this uh sort of feeling out there uh that there was a
02:56disconnect
02:56between you and and alex cora when it comes to you know i'll call it roster construction
03:04based on uh the analytical as opposed on the uh the the baseball part of things what did you feel
03:13like was there a disconnect kind of there from from your perspective between you guys
03:20no i don't think so i think the best teams uh are those that are able to to blend all
03:26of the
03:26information that's available uh and that information can come in the form of analytics and projections it
03:33comes in the form of experience it comes in the form of uh speaking to to coaches and to managers
03:40and and understanding uh what they're seeing in real time and from their interactions with players and
03:46i think that's why uh we try to make decisions collaboratively and we try to make them as a group
03:52ultimately uh kind of final decision making in baseball operations rests with me that's the nature of
03:58of being the leader of the group um but i also think it's my responsibility to seek out different
04:05perspectives and try to synthesize all of that information and that's why alex was a part of uh
04:10you know our our conversations through the off season and in spring training as we put the roster
04:15together yeah craig without it being like an us versus them or any kind of idea of that but going
04:21off
04:21of what what you just said like it appears to us from the outside like there is such a dedication
04:26to
04:27the use of driveline tools the philosophy there who do you feel in the organization now is bringing
04:35that other perspective that you describe that that other way that other way of approaching especially
04:40with the way that you run and develop an offense
04:46yeah i think the first thing i would say is this this is not about being driveline or not driveline
04:53it's about being the boston red sox um and it's ensuring that we're meeting every player where they
04:59are meeting their needs uh because players are different today than they were a decade ago and
05:06they're going to facilities in the off seasons on their own um and they've grown up with pitch data and
05:13batted ball data and uh different technologies than than certainly i did as a player and so
05:19to ignore all of that would mean that we're not providing our players with what they need to be
05:24successful um and i think taking that a step further to your point uh you know different perspectives come
05:31from um different experiences uh we take into to account uh evaluators that are watching players on the
05:39ground and scouts and we try to marry that with some of the information that we have
05:43coming out of the office and like i said talking to to people on the ground and getting kind of
05:46first-hand experience and perspective from them craig when you go ahead go ahead no i was going to say
05:51when you talk about roster how aggressive are you willing to be let's say come trade deadline
05:56whether you're in it or out it when it comes to making big moves
06:03sure our our hope um and our expectation is over the next two and a half months that we have
06:09leading
06:09up to to the deadline we're going to play quality consistent baseball that's going to end up with
06:15us winning a bunch of games we're going to be in a position to um you know to make moves
06:19that improve
06:20our outlook in 26 that was the expectation all off season that's what we talked about all all spring
06:24um so you know in terms of prioritizing 2026 a huge piece of the decision to make the changes
06:32that we did at the time that we did was because we believe that we have a really good team
06:37that's
06:38capable of of a deep run in 26 that hasn't changed at all so you know i think to answer
06:43your question
06:44we're constantly looking at ways to improve our roster and if there is something um as we approach
06:49the deadline that that makes sense we're absolutely going to be aggressive in pursuing it there's a
06:52little back and forth between contreras and uh marcelo meyer this week any concern from you that
07:00there's the disconnect is the word of the day or that there's uh friction friction when it comes to
07:06veterans and the young guys on this team no not at all um being around the guys and and especially
07:14over the last week and a half or so and watching them interact in the clubhouse uh absolutely not
07:20uh go ahead no uh craig i driveline is such a buzzword as it pertains to the last couple weeks
07:27and it's clear that the old baseball guys like cora and not in age in terms of approach uh we're
07:35we're
07:35strongly disagreeing about its implementation there was a story in mass live from chris
07:39catello about how there was friction between current and former players about utilizing the techniques
07:44my question is is this like a a wedge issue for you that you either are utilizing this form of
07:51analytics or you're not someone that's going to have a long time on the team
07:56no um that's that's kind of the the shortest most appropriate answer i can provide but like i said
08:02earlier this is about being able to meet our players where uh where they are and if players are
08:08bringing to us uh information or methods that they're receiving in the off season we we have
08:14to demonstrate some expertise in in those areas otherwise we're failing them um but again this
08:20isn't about driveline this is about the red sox and this is about uh you know understanding what we
08:25prioritize and we value internally um and you know there are players who will come to us and say that
08:33they've spent time at a facility in the off season and they want to continue with that type of
08:37training and there are players who say that they don't and either is perfectly acceptable um you
08:42know kind of the there's a lot of space between um you know where a player is today and and
08:47where
08:48they can be as they continue to develop and in that space is where coaches live and and their job
08:52is
08:53to figure out how to uh how to get the most out of every player uh update update from you
08:58on where roman
08:58anthony is today sure um you know all fortunately uh all of the imaging had come back
09:07negative so um you know he's still got some risk discomfort it's getting better day to day so
09:12uh you know we'll check in later and figure out his exact availability um but i think the most
09:18encouraging news here uh is that it seems as though he's avoided any significant injury
09:22craig uh any update on ranger suarez because before the hamstring it looked like his last couple
09:29a lot of those were pretty good and is baio somebody that we're going to see consistently
09:34come out of the bullpen more or was that just a one-off starting with ranger um also making
09:41progress day to day um you know we're learning a lot more every day but uh fortunately he's improved
09:48over the last couple of days he's gone out and and thrown um we'll have to add some intensity to
09:53make
09:53sure that the the hamstring tightness doesn't get worse as as he does lean into it a little bit and
09:58then
09:58we'll make a decision in terms of what exactly uh is is the right timeline for him um and then
10:04with
10:04baio uh i think that's to be determined i mean credit to him um for for coming in uh a
10:11couple nights
10:11ago and and shutting down detroit looked like the best total performance that he's had um you know in
10:18terms of command and execution and and overall results um and you know i think what we're going to try
10:24to do is position him to be as successful as possible that could be throwing the first pitch
10:29of of the game that could be coming in uh after someone who maybe helps set the lineup a little
10:33bit more favorably so we'll make that determination over the next few days craig are you guys considering
10:38removing the interim tag from chad tracy this summer and what would you need to see from him to decide
10:46this is going to be our manager going forward yeah we'll we'll figure that out i mean right now um
10:54our focus and and the rest of the organization has been on supporting chad in any way that we possibly
11:01can and we've seen him over the last week and a half be this incredibly uh consistent stabilizing and
11:09familiar voice he's done an absolutely fantastic job in in handling this transition um and and also in
11:17in his kind of keeping the focus on the day-to-day and making this all about the players um
11:22which i
11:23think is incredibly important at this point um but we'll continue to uh to have conversations and um
11:29you know any of those will take place between chad and and i and craig about a year ago a
11:35little bit
11:35less you said after trading endeavors to the giants that you were not as talented but you felt like
11:41that roster could win more games and you were right today moving forward past the firing of alex cord
11:48do you believe that this is a playoff team i do yep uh i believe that in the off season
11:55i believed it
11:55coming into spring training um i believe it right now uh and and this decision this really really
12:02difficult decision um it was driven by that um i will be you know the the first to acknowledge that
12:10we have not played up to our potential um you know and and we've got a lot of season in
12:18front of us to
12:18to do that and and to get back on the right track and hopefully like i said what we've seen
12:22over the
12:23last three days uh is the start of that well you and you say you you are very careful to
12:28say the
12:29roster's on you and ultimately this is all on you so has john henry given you an expectation for this
12:38season and and is that expectation since you are the one responsible is that expectation that this is
12:44a playoff team well i think the the expectations that we have internally that ownership has are shared
12:53with our fans which is uh you know there's there's a standard here of uh of competing for world series
12:59championships every year um that's certainly my expectation i think that's the expectation of of
13:05ownership and uh like i said i'm going to do everything and as an organization we're going to
13:09do everything to to make good on that expectation is there any update just a lot of fans uh love
13:15jason
13:16veritek as a player as a as a coach any update on i know there was talk of uh him
13:21being offered another
13:22role have you have you you or anybody else in the organization spoken to him about that and what
13:28what's the what's the status on that sure uh jason veritek is uh he's an incredibly meaningful figure
13:37in this organization he's a red sox hall of famer and and legend and uh all of that praise and
13:44and
13:45admiration is absolutely warranted and it's something that that i share tremendous respect for for tech um you
13:51know and and we told him that there is there is a place in this organization for him uh for
13:57as long
13:57as he wants it and you know the specific details and timeline will kind of remain uh between us um
14:05but
14:06he has meant so much to this organization um that it's impossible to to put that into words appropriately
14:13all right craig well we appreciate you taking the time we will talk to you again next week that's
14:18craig breslow of the boston red sox thanks craig you got it thank you
14:23you
14:23you
14:23you
14:23you
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