Red Sox ownership is giving new Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow "its backing and a promise to spend as it did in the past," according to Sean McAdam of MASSLIVE.com. Team co-owner Tom Werner said, “We know that we have to be competitive next year. So we’re going to be competitive next year. We’re going to have be full-throttle in every possible way.” When asked if the team will pursue high-end starting pitchers, Werner said the team doesn't "have any built-in restrictions.” But he also signaled that the team has to "take the long view on spending" and "not throw money at free agents without regard to long-term consequences." Werner: "Some years we’ve been below the CBT (competitive balance tax), some years we’ve been above the CBT. It is important for us to make decisions that will not be just effective in 2024, but past 2024." In recent years, the Red Sox have "lost a significant amount of star power on their roster." With a "more anonymous and interchangeable roster, some fans have decried the lack of Red Sox stars." As someone who has been "successful in the entertainment field, Werner understands that appeal" (MASSLIVE.com, 11/2).
WIN AT ANY COST: In Boston, Peter Abraham noted during Breslow's introductory press conference yesterday, he "described an 'unwavering commitment' from above and that all options would be available to him in building the roster." Breslow: “Resources are not a problem here. The commitment to winning from ownership is not a question here. ... I don’t see financial resources as an eliminating factor. I think that was something that was clear in the conversations that we had" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/2).
MAPPING OUT A PATH: In Boston, Julian McWilliams wrote Breslow "will have oversight of the club’s baseball operations," and he "plans on hiring a No. 2 to serve as general manager." Breslow noted that, though, "isn’t the center of attention," adding that the "most prudent path would be for him to evaluate the organization’s landscape before pursuing his ideal candidate." The high turnover rate at the top of the Red Sox baseball operations department has "certainly been an issue, with the last three failing to make it to Year 5." That, in part, is "what led some candidates to decline the opportunity to even interview." Yet Breslow "always found the Red Sox gig appealing," and he "saw an opportunity for himself toward the latter part of the hiring process." Team President Sam Kennedy met with Breslow in October, but it "wasn’t until the last couple of weeks of the seven-week search that Kennedy knew he had his guy after speaking with Werner and (John) Henry," who both were present yesterday (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/2).
HIDE AND SEEK: In Massachusetts, Matt Vautour wrote yesterday "was an important day for his franchise," as it "hired an executive they hope will usher in a new era of sustainable success." Vautour noted that was not "enough to end Henry’s curious run of sustained silence." He "used to speak once a year at spring training," but "somewhere along the way he stopped." Henry has not "done formal interviews since the post-Mookie Betts trade press conference." Vautour wrote it is not as if Henry "was disconnected from the hiring either." There were "multiple references to Breslow and Kennedy meeting with Henry in the principal owner’s home." Vautour wrote people can "assume he’s more focused on the Penguins or Liverpool or NASCAR because Henry isn’t saying anything to the contrary." Even on a day that "should be about the Red Sox attempting to move back toward more winning, nobody hears a word from Henry." Instead, he "forces Sam Kennedy into the unfair and impossible position of being his mouthpiece" (MASSLIVE.com, 11/2).
