MLB
“I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would have.”
More than 24 hours after the Red Sox shocked baseball by trading star slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, team president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow fielded questions from the media via Zoom.
Monday’s 45-minute Zoom call covered topics ranging from the impasse between Devers and Boston’s top brass and the Red Sox’s focus on culture.
Here are eight takeaways from Monday’s press conference.
‘Something amiss‘
Craig Breslow said the quiet part out loud during his opening comments on Monday’s presser.
“It’d be tough to sit here and say, when you move a player of Raffy’s caliber — when you take that bat out of the lineup, how can I sit here and say that ‘We’re a better team.’ And I acknowledge that,” Breslow said. “On paper, we’re not going to have the same lineup that we did.”
But even with Devers’ elite production at the plate now subtracted from Boston’s lineup, both Breslow and Kennedy routinely harped on the need to prioritize culture and a winning environment as the main impetus for taking a player of Devers’ talent level off the roster.
Breslow and Kennedy didn’t delve into specifics when it came to the season-long drama and discord stirred up between Devers and the front office.
But, Breslow didn’t exactly mince words when sharing his belief that moving a disgruntled Devers was the necessary move.
“I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would have,” Breslow said.
Such a statement could age…