Craig Breslow's comments on Red Sox spending this offseason shouldn't raise anyone's hopes

For most of the season, the Boston Red Sox have been nothing more than a middling team. Any time they have dared to win more games than they had lost, they have slowly gravitated back to a .500 record.

The Red Sox are third in the American League East division with a 80-79 record, and their postseason hopes have long been over.

Ultimately, the club has no one to blame but themselves. The team’s lack of faith in their current roster was reflected in their offseason moves. The Red Sox abandoned hope for the 2024 season in favor of investing in the future.

The team ultimately proved to be better than leadership expected, which sets the stage for an intriguing offseason ahead. The Red Sox will have to decide whether they want to continue taking a long-term approach or attempt to build back a roster that can compete much sooner than they anticipated.

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Craig Breslow suggests a disappointing offseason ahead for Red Sox

Before Boston’s final road game of the regular season on Wednesday, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke with reporters about the state of the team and the busy offseason that lies ahead.

Notably, he was noncommittal to the idea of spending this winter. 

“Those conversations are always ongoing,” Breslow said, per The Athletic. “I feel like when opportunities to improve our team exist — and we should be aggressive in trying to find those opportunities — we take them to ownership. I think we’re going to have the support to do that. But, it’s kind of premature right now to say exactly what that will look like outside of everyone in this organization is excited about what we believe is going on and happening here.”

Earlier this month, Breslow hinted that the club may take an aggressive approach to building the roster this offseason. At the time, he claimed that “homegrown, cost-controlled talent” would enable them to be more aggressive in pursuit of elite talent.

After his comments on Wednesday, it seems Breslow was just peddling hope to any Boston fan desperate enough to buy it.

The Red Sox will likely continue to focus on developing their promising prospects. Boston’s farm system features Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell and Kyle Teel, who are all in the top 25 prospects in baseball.

Campbell was named Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America on Tuesday. The 23-year-old has been brilliant as a hitter and displayed versatility on defense, which could land him a spot on the Opening Day roster.

But when it comes to acquiring elite talent in the offseason, fans shouldn’t hold their breath. Th Red Sox aren’t the Los Angeles Dodgers, and there’s no billion-dollar spender in charge in Boston. If anything, the success of Boston’s young core may have encouraged the Red Sox to spend less rather than spend more. 

“I think we have seen the ability to be competitive in the AL East with a young group that’s really exciting, athletic, really dynamic,” Breslow said. “And we have to figure out what the right pieces are after that. It is likely that some of that comes via trade because there’s only so many middle infielders, left-handed hitting outfielders that we can play at any given time. In a perfect world, you kind of stagger the matriculation off of your system, but we have to deal with the realities that we currently have, which is, I think, there are a lot of players that will impact the major leagues in the future.”

The Red Sox have been conservative in recent years. Any significant move would be surprising at this point, but time will tell just how much faith the Red Sox have in their ability to compete for a World Series next season.