Wednesday, November 12

BOSTON – While calling the annual GM Meetings that are taking place in Las Vegas this week “largely symbolic at this point,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow did provide some hints and insight into the shaping of Boston’s roster for 2026.

Here are some takeaways, with an assist from MLB.com senior national reporter Mark Feinsand, who attended Breslow’s recent session with the media.

Thinking big with starting pitching

Though Breslow acquired a true ace in Garrett Crochet last offseason – a foundational piece who could front the team’s rotation for six more years – he isn’t done hunting for premium starting pitching. 

At last July’s Trade Deadline, Breslow was in several discussions with teams about top starters, most notably Minnesota’s Joe Ryan. While nothing came to fruition, the offseason offers more time for a deal to come together.

“Starting pitching,” said Breslow. “And particularly someone we feel can start alongside or slot in behind Garrett and start a playoff game for us. Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about overall starting pitching and Nos. 3-ish through 10-ish, and that’s not to take away from guys who are certainly capable of doing more. It’s just to say, I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4 or a No. 5 starter. If we’re going to make a starting pitching addition, I think it should be somebody who can pitch at the front of a rotation and start a playoff game for us.”

After not extending a qualifying offer to Lucas Giolito, it seems more than likely the big righty will wind up elsewhere given Breslow’s desire to acquire a starter closer to Crochet’s caliber.

On the trade front, Ryan remains a player to keep an eye on. Would the Tigers really trade Tarik Skubal? A Crochet/Skubal combo would give Boston the best 1-2 punch in the game.

There are also established starters to be had on the free agent market, including Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Zac Gallen.

“We'll see what the trade and free agent markets dictate,” said Breslow. “There are compelling opportunities in both, we think. We also are mindful of, while we believe we're in a window to contend and to compete for the postseason, World Series championships, we're also mindful of keeping one eye on the future. Trading away four really good young players for a starting pitcher is one way of pulling those wins forward. And there are times we showed, last year being one of them, that you have to do that. But we also don't want to be in a position where we're having to do that year over year.”

A big bat

Let’s face it. The Red Sox still need to fill the power void left by Rafael Devers, who they traded to the Giants in June.

The expected return to health from Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu will help, but a centerpiece run producer is on Breslow’s wish list.

In particular, the data proves that power really plays in October.

“I don’t want to get so anchored to this idea that the only way to score runs is home runs. We showed that isn’t the case. That said, a disproportionate number of runs in the postseason are scored via the home run, and that’s not something that we can ignore,” said Breslow. 

Pete Alonso, the right-handed masher who has belted 264 Mets homers over the last seven seasons, would look good in a Red Sox uniform taking aim at the Green Monster with his light tower power. Kyle Schwarber, a left-handed hitter, made a strong impression during his first stint with the Red Sox down the stretch in 2021. But given his connection to the Phillies and their fans, it might be unlikely he leaves.

Does Breslow prefer a lefty or righty masher?

“In a perfect world, I would suppose we would want to balance out the lineup a bit [with a righty]. That said, I think when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter,” Breslow said. “I think we have found that lefties can use the wall and create a good offensive environment, righties who can pull the ball in the air can do the same thing. There are a number of different ways for us to improve our slug, but I think this idea that we can do more damage on balls on play is certainly a correct one.”

When the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120 million deal with two opt-outs back in February, the hope was that he’d stay the three years.

Instead, Bregman opted out last week and will test the free agent waters.

While a reunion would make sense for both sides, it’s unclear if the Sox would be willing to extend the type of long-term deal to the 31-year-old third baseman that they didn’t a year ago.

Breslow spoke in glowing terms about Bregman’s impact on and off the field, but didn’t want to address specifically the club’s level of interest in bringing him back.

“I’m going to stop short of talking about individual pursuits,” Breslow said. “We recognize what he has done for us. We also recognize what he could potentially do for us.”

Unlike Bregman, veteran shortstop Trevor Story decided to opt in, rather than opting out of the final two years of his original six-year pact with Boston.

While the Red Sox made major positional news last spring when they took Devers off third base to make room for Bregman, it doesn’t sound like anything similar will unfold with Story in ‘26. Look for him to again be anchored at shortstop as the captain of the infield.

“I'm aware of some of the errors. I'm aware of what some of the defensive metrics indicate. I also think that he brought a stabilizing presence to the infield,” said Breslow. “I think some of his errors were clustered toward the end of the season in a short time period. And also, he hasn't played a full season in a really long time. I think he's going into the offseason with no doubts about his health, with no doubts about his ability to perform at a really high level. And so I think we're going to see even more production out of the next year.”

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