Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
19. Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer, -0.2
Craig Breslow’s inaugural season running the Red Sox will be remembered for one transaction, and that memory will not be a fond one.
At the December 2023 Winter Meetings, Breslow swung a trade with Atlanta that got the Sox out from under the albatross of a contract that was Chris Sale. They traded Sale, and the $56 million they owed him through 2026, to Atlanta for outfielder Vaughn Grissom.
It was, at the time, a rational swap. Since missing all of 2020 due to injury, Sale had given Boston just 11 wins in just 31 starts, and he was coming off a 6-5, 4.30 ERA 2023 season. He was on the decline, and his waning durability portended a grim future.
Well, even the most logical moves sometimes blow up in our faces. As you know, Sale went to Atlanta, won 18 of his 29 starts with a 2.38 ERA, and claimed the National League Cy Young Award.
Five most impactful Breslow moves
Player | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Traded Chris Sale to Atlanta | -4.7 |
Released Adam Duvall to free agency | +2.4 |
Promoted rookie Wilyer Abreu | +2.0 |
Extended Rafael Devers through 2033 | +1.7 |
Promoted rookie David Hamilton | +1.6 |
The Sale deal turned out to be the major stain on an otherwise credible first season for Breslow. Following the conclusion of the 2023 postseason, his moves impacted 56 major leaguers, and 27 of those decisions brought a positive impact to Boston. Only 22 were negative, with the remaining seven being neutral.
Breslow did much better when working within his own system. He got infielder Rafael Devers’ signature on a $300 million-plus deal that will keep Devers in Boston through 2033. Devers responded with an .871 OPS and an All-Star Game selection.
The farm system gave Breslow two useful products. Wilyer Abreu took over in right field and won a Gold Glove, finishing sixth in Rookie of the Year voting. David Hamilton provided strong infield utility support.
Breslow’s other big winter trade landed outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who had worn out his welcome in St. Louis. O’Neill’s .241 average was nothing great, but he did deliver 31 home runs and an .847 OPS, good for +1.1 Wins Above Average. The cost — a minor leaguer and a marginal pitcher — was barely noticed, at least in respect to the 2024 season.
Setting aside the Sale deal, it adds up to a solid introductory season for Breslow, who was nothing if not peripatetic. Of the 56 players who saw play time with Boston during 2024, only 16 played on contracts Breslow had inherited from the previous administration; the other 40 were all of his doing in one fashion or another.
And he operated at a pretty economical cost in terms of talent lost. Breslow only stripped 16 players from the 2023 Red Sox who were worthy of action for somebody else in 2024. The average major league front office cut 19 major league-worthy players adrift.
The only real problem for Breslow was that one of those 16 orphaned players turned into the NL Cy Young Award winner.
Previous Rankings
20. Texas Rangers, Chris Young, executive vice president and general manager, -0.4
19. Boston Redd Sox, Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer, -0.2
Next: 18. St. Louis Cardinals, John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, Mike Girsch, general manager, 0.0