It took less than a month and a half to find Chaim Bloom's replacement as Chief of Baseball operations . That man is Craig Breslow Connecticut native, YALE grad and called by many as
“ The smartest Man in Baseball “
True this has more to do with his double major a B.A. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, but hey fields not far off from a life in baseball. Am I right ? After college Breslow played parts or all of twelve seasons with seven different MLB ball clubs between 2005 and 2017, most importantly he was a member of the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox. Nice to have that ring to wear into this interview. Don’t you think ?
After his playing days ended former Red Sox Underboss Theo Epstein ( Larry Lucchino Ran The Red Sox ) brought Breslow into the Cubs organization as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations, yea i have no idea what that is i didn't go to Yale. So I looked it up. According to Wikipedia
" evaluate and implement data-based processes throughout all facets of Baseball Operations" and "support the organization's pitching infrastructure in Player Development and the major leagues."
Well okay
In 2019 the cubs made Breslow their “ Director of Pitching / Special Assistant to the President and General Manager “ this basically means he was now responsible for the Cubs minor league pitching and development. Something this Red Sox organization could sorely use.
Breslow will inherit Alex Cora as his field Manager. This has been set in stone and has been cited by many as the reason so many others pulled out of consideration for the Job, along with other reasons given to the volatile nature of John Henry's whims. Who Breslow brings in to fill out his staff of course is yet to be seen, but i have to believe assistant GM Eddie Romero would fill a major role in Breslow's consigliere, but i could be wrong there. The New CBO could make a clean sweep of the front office and bring in Capos he feels share his vision and direction of where the Red Sox as an organization need to go “ our ships need to sail in the same direction” to quote the Godfather III
Breslow was not on my shortlist of candidates for this Job but having said that it could have been my short sightedness. While he doesn't have GM experience he does have respect around the league as a former player and front office man. Something his predecessor never had. I mean ever. Chaim Bloom was a kid in the basement in Tampa looking for his red stapler. Craig Breslow is a man who grew up in baseball, was educated by baseball and lives baseball. A man who understands the game is more than a mashup of stats. More than numbers on a page. I can not wait to see what he does with this organization.