Craig Breslow may have more tricks up his sleeve before the July 31 trade deadline.
The Red Sox’s chief baseball officer has made major splashes over the past calendar year, acquiring Garrett Crochet during the offseason and sending Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in June. Boston climbed the American League playoff standings with 10 straight wins before opening the second half with back-to-back losses.
Before Boston aims to avoid a sweep against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, Breslow appeared on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio to discuss the team’s deadline plans.
“We went into this season taking a very aggressive posture,” Breslow said. “The moves that we made this winter were those that I think signaled that it’s time to compete and that the product we had been putting on the field — the team that we’d been running out there at Fenway — just wasn’t good enough for our fans.
“And so, we’re approaching the deadline looking for ways to bolster the team given the play over the last month-and-a-half or so.”
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Breslow called Boston’s precise needs “a little bit fluid.” He considered first base a more pressing concern after Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury in early May, but the Red Sox have since received positive contributions from his replacements.
That said, Breslow would consider upgrading the position.
“We’ve gotten really strong play from Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro, but we’ll be open-minded about the opportunities to bring in a bat that can play first base,” Breslow said.
Breslow also feels recent success from Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello has lessened any urgency to acquire a front-line starter. The Red Sox, like most contenders, can still use more rotation depth.
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“I don’t think you’ll find anybody who comes on here and says that they have enough starting pitching,” he said. “So that’s going to be an area of focus for us as well.”
