AL East front office grades midway through 2024 season: Did Brian Cashman do enough?
By Bill Felber
Boston Red Sox: Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer. Grade: D.
In his first season running the Red Sox front office, Breslow has had some rough moments. His trade of Chris Sale to Atlanta was designed to remove a high-priced and highly problematic player from the scene. But Sale has won 10 of his 15 starts with a 2.79 ERA, effectively removing the guy who would have been Boston’s best pitcher.
The return on the Sale trade was Vaughn Grissom, whose injury-plagued first season has to date produced a .148 average and cost the Red Sox nearly a full game in the standings. That makes the net impact of that deal alone on Red Sox fortunes -2.7 games.
Overall, Breslow has made moves impacting 28 major leaguers. But while 13 of those 28 moves have worked to the Red Sox benefit, against 12 negatives (and three neutrals), the pull of that Sale-for-Grissom deal alone tugs Breslow’s rating into the meaningfully negative.
Rookie reliever Zack Kelly has a 1.75 ERA in 19 appearances. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill, acquired from St. Louis in a trade, has a +0.5 WAA value to date.
Score: -1.5. Grade: D.