I was planning on making this post a review of Monday’s end-of-the-season press conference featuring the Red Sox brass. I even told the OTM slack that I was going to do so once I was done with my real-life
job (please don’t call me a liar, guys).
Yet while listening to the 40-minute session featuring Red Sox President Sam Kennedy, Manager Alex Cora, and Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow again, I quickly realized that there wasn’t much to learn.
At the very least, much of it was filled with quips that you could’ve thought of and put onto a bingo card before hand—trust me, I’ve done so with Smithers on the mic before. It was filled with the standard, predictable talking points after a postseason exit. Cora said the journey was fun while realizing that Boston’s ultimate goal wasn’t reached. Breslow pointed to the highs and the lows of the 2025 campaign while mentioning that Carlos Narvaez is due to undergo a surgery to “clean up” his meniscus (though he didn’t seem that concerned about it). Kennedy said that we’re the best fans in baseball and that we took a step in the right direction (he only said that latter phrase about a dozen times, though I’m one to talk—I use the same cliches in these blogs all the time). Kennedy also talked about the real estate plans around Lansdowne Street, the development that will literally be propped up Over The Monster in due time. There were some talks about interest rates or some shite in there; go read SB Nation’s real estate page if you’re interested in that, I’m sure they’ll have you covered.
But one thing did jump out to me on Monday: ironically enough, it was the fact that Craig Breslow didn’t say much at all in term of the state of the roster or the future of guys who may or may not be a part of the Red Sox’s masterplan in 2026 and beyond.
He gave a sweeping statement that the window to compete is open and that they’ll be keeping their options open to improve the team (yeah, dude, I’d hope so). While recognizing Triston Casas’ potential and the recovery he’s made thus far from a devastating knee injury earlier in the year, he was noncommittal on number 36’s future as Boston’s first baseman. He praised the contributions of guys like Masataka Yoshida and Jarren Duran, along with the pair of potential opt-outs in Alex Bregman and Trevor Story. He didn’t offer much on the starting pitching front other than pointing out that getting more good pitchers is good, actually. Maybe the quote of the most actual substance was saying that there has to be better production at first and second base moving forward, but that’s still a pretty vague point.
In short: Breslow is keeping his cards close to his chest—and that’s perfectly fine at this stage.
Of course, there’s no benefit in providing any definitive answers just under 100 hours after you were eliminated from playoff contention. Why lay those cards out on the table now? Why waste any leverage you may have? Of course we were going to get general statements this week; that’s totally OK with me. It was said during the press conference and it’s worth repeating here: it’s an emotional time in Red Sox Nation—getting knocked out of the postseason by your historic and hated rivals will do that—but now is the time to take stock, not to take crazy action (well, not that they really could right now even if they wanted to, but you catch my drift).
I know we’ve been burned by grand statements from the guys steering the ship in the past (F_LL THR_TTL_, would you like to buy a vowel?), but I trust Breslow enough to take account in the offseason and turn that into decisive actions that improve the state of the organization while the contention window is open. Whether I have that same trust in the middle of the season is a different story, but we just saw some big swings nearly 12 months ago; I think patience will end up being a virtue for us this winter.
Here’s one Breslow quote that did catch my attention. I think it encapsulates his overall points throughout the press conference.
“Everything has to be on the table as we think about improving the team in 2026.”
Again, I’m totally fine with that sentiment right now. Keep the options open. There’s no use in getting freaked out about a “lack of a plan;” hell, I’d say that we should be a LONG ways away from being able to freak out about that. Your mileage may vary, but I hope to enter these next few months with more of that zen that I was just talking about. Patience, young padawans.
Folks on Reddit suggested that Breslow quote about everything being on the table suggests that no one on the roster has a spot promised for them in 2026, even when you consider parts of the organization that we’d consider deep heading into the offseason. To that I say: good! We should be striving to raise the standard of this team. If that means making some difficult decisions, so be it. The Red Sox have a solid foundation as things stand—now’s the time to raise the ceiling.
Well, maybe not *NOW* now, but this winter will be the time to do just that. For now, it’s time to keep the cards close to the chest and to re-calibrate ourselves.
