Who will be CBO?

[MongoLikeSox]

A Jewish guy with the initials CB who went to Yale?  Wait, didn't we just live through that? 

I like the idea of a former player in this role and we all know Breslow is smart.  It will be interesting to see where the "Chief" will fall in the hierarchy of decision making.

I'm quite happy they came to a decision rather quickly.  I was worried they'd drag this thing out and we'd be behind once again.

Me, too. I was surprised to see a decision before the WS. The longer it lasts, the better for us as he'll need to get up to speed quickly as decisions are coming up soon.

Also glad they chose a former player. Also glad they got someone who is supposed to have some pitching development abilities already.

I had all but come to terms with what I thought would be a promotion from within.

[Sea Dog 23]

There seems to be another dynamic to the new OPS hire.  As Speier pointed out, reports indicate that Breslow was also given the benefit of hiring his own guy as the #2, the GM.  Also said that Bres was first offered the #2 job, but he then demanded the #1 job or he was exiting the room.  If true, he can bargain his way around, although he has little experience.  Also Breslow was not a regular attendee at Cubs FO meetings.  He phoned it in from his Mass. residence.  Either he is smarter than the other Cubs, or he is still green as grass.

On the other hand, MAYBE he wasn't given his choice of #2.  That Kennedy told him that Cora would be the defacto GM.  Like a Scochia was with Angels and Dusty Baker at Houston, has the ability to approve or deny free agent signings.  Cora was interviewed a lot in the last few weeks, was asked if he had front office desires.  "It's not my time."  But interesting that his remaining contract - 1 year - has not been extended.  Can Breslow fire him next year, or is it understood Cora is moving to the FO?  Interesting times for Sox fans.  Breslow's into will be next week on Nov 8.  We will know more, or we will be more confused.

[elktonnick]

Great post!!!
It looks like whomever Breslow picks will tell the tale.  If it is not a FO insider such as Romero then I expect a lot of turmoil in the FO until things settle out.

[SeaBeachFred]

There seems to be another dynamic to the new OPS hire.  As Speier pointed out, reports indicate that Breslow was also given the benefit of hiring his own guy as the #2, the GM.  Also said that Bres was first offered the #2 job, but he then demanded the #1 job or he was exiting the room.  If true, he can bargain his way around, although he has little experience.  Also Breslow was not a regular attendee at Cubs FO meetings.  He phoned it in from his Mass. residence.  Either he is smarter than the other Cubs, or he is still green as grass.

On the other hand, MAYBE he wasn't given his choice of #2.  That Kennedy told him that Cora would be the defacto GM.  Like a Scochia was with Angels and Dusty Baker at Houston, has the ability to approve or deny free agent signings.  Cora was interviewed a lot in the last few weeks, was asked if he had front office desires.  "It's not my time."  But interesting that his remaining contract - 1 year - has not been extended.  Can Breslow fire him next year, or is it understood Cora is moving to the FO?  Interesting times for Sox fans.  Breslow's into will be next week on Nov 8.  We will know more, or we will be more confused.

Well maybe this Jewish gentleman with the initials of CB and a Yale graduate will be the polar opposite of the last dude who went with those titles.  It would be relief to have a different tpe this time around, but with Cora in the background one wonders j ust how much power and leverage Breslow is going to have.  I liked that he insisted he be No. 1. and not No.2 in the Baseball Ops department, but he must insist that his power not be short circuited in any way.  We have m uch work to do and we need someone who has the talent, smarts and power to get it done.

[MongoLikeSox]

The current Manager notwithstanding, I think the baseball Ops leader and Manager leader positions should be tied at the hips.

I think the San Francisco 49'ers got that basic paradigm right, at least for football. I do think each position needs to have it's autonomy and empowerment. However, the 49'ers brass even structured their interviews so that the finalists eventually ended up interviewing each other before being hired. The basic statement or requirement was this. You both have the same length contract. If you fail, you will both be fired. If you succeed, you will both be rewarded. Simple as that.

I don't know if the 49'ers model would or even could work for baseball, but imagine the level of cooperation with the right pairing?

Well, add to the fallout that we can count Ng as one of those who refused the invitation. I wonder, with the information of Breslow making his #1 or exit demands, might this have been Kennedy's big mistake with all the others who declined to interview? Food for thought.

[elktonnick]

It appears that Breslow was Henry's choice all along.  Epstein was sighted in Boston before Bloom was fired.  If you recall Kennedy said Epstein was not offered the job at that time.  A series of events arising before Blooms actual firing involving Epstein Breslow and the Red Sox seems to give credence that Boston was checking out Breslow before Bloom was fired.  Various folks now speculate this was one the reasons so many declined to interview because they knew Breslow was the man the Red Sox really wanted.

[SeaBeachFred]

It appears that Breslow was Henry's choice all along.  Epstein was sighted in Boston before Bloom was fired.  If you recall Kennedy said Epstein was not offered the job at that time.  A series of events arising before Blooms actual firing involving Epstein Breslow and the Red Sox seems to give credence that Boston was checking out Breslow before Bloom was fired.  Various folks now speculate this was one the reasons so many declined to interview because they knew Breslow was the man the Red Sox really wanted.

Now the team's board of directionless buffoons must start to smarten up and take stock of what they need to do and start planning on who is available, what they need and start to plan a budget of major proportions so we don't have to hear any more crap like "we  thought we gave that player a good offer but he decided to go elsewhere as we have heard the past four=plus years.  The Red Sox are a big market team and need to start acting like that once again  Either that or Henry should get the hell out of Dodge.

[longgame]

Happy Birthday Fred!

[Sea Dog 23]

Craig Breslow is the first GM/Ops for Sox in 30 years that started out playing for Boston, since Haywood Sullivan.
Breslow can be a highly complex guy in his thought process.  When John Farrell was Sox manager, he said Breslow would be in on pitchers' meetings, and Breslow would use words that Farrell never used in a regular conversation. Jed Hoyer related to a group meeting with Breslow after he had just begun his duties as Chief Executive of Pitching.

“It was not good,” said Jed Hoyer, the Cubs GM at the time. “It was so dense, it was like being in a 400-level class in college. People’s eyes were glazed over. He knew it was not good.”

Hoyer sat down with Breslow, and offered some feedback to make the valuable information more digestible. Shortly thereafter, Breslow returned with another presentation that perfectly laid out the issues.

“It was so impressive how quickly it happened. I couldn’t believe the change from the first one to the second one, it was amazing,” Hoyer recalled. “I think the most impressive thing to me is I know him and he took that feedback to heart, like ‘OK I need to figure out how to present dense material to a group of people with different backgrounds. I got it.’ I guarantee he read stuff on it, worked on it, rehearsed it — it was really impressive, the metamorphosis.”

That ability to adapt so quickly, synthesizing complex information into usable data, served Breslow well as he rose through the Cubs front office over the course of five seasons, helping transform the organization’s pitching infrastructure and becoming an assistant GM in 2021 after just two years with the team.

[Sea Dog 23]

Breslow has his introduction on Thursday this week in Boston.  There is a story in the Globe that when he retired as a pitcher, he started interviewing for FO jobs.  One of the first was with the Red Sox around 2018 where he met with Dombrowski and the other bigwigs.  It reads that Breslow wanted to create his own job area within the club, and apparently his aspirations did not sit well with the Boston FO during that meeting. 

Finally Theo with the Cubs decided to give him a chance, and they gave him a title of "Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations".  I'm not sure if Kennedy and Henry know what they now have bought into.  It's going to be really interesting times for the Sox.

[SeaBeachFred]

Breslow has his introduction on Thursday this week in Boston.  There is a story in the Globe that when he retired as a pitcher, he started interviewing for FO jobs.  One of the first was with the Red Sox around 2018 where he met with Dombrowski and the other bigwigs.  It reads that Breslow wanted to create his own job area within the club, and apparently his aspirations did not sit well with the Boston FO during that meeting. 

Finally Theo with the Cubs decided to give him a chance, and they gave him a title of "Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations".  I'm not sure if Kennedy and Henry know what they now have bought into.  It's going to be really interesting times for the Sox.

Well they better give Breslow room to run the ship in BO and keep their damn noses out of his business.  We have finished dead last three of the last four seasons and it is very obvious to me that those like Kennedy and Henry did shit to move he team forward.  Bres needs  to get our pitching in better shape and for the rest of the bloaded front office stay the hell out of it.

[elktonnick]

Breslow is widely credited with revamping Cubs pitching.  I suspect that's  why Boston fired its pitching coaches. I s
think that Henry had his eye on Breslow from the outset.  I also believe that Breslow was an item for discussion with Epstein prior to Bloom's  firing.  The only question is how much latitude will Breslow be given and how much resistance  will he have from the hangers on in the front office who were passed over for the job.[

[MongoLikeSox]

Breslow will say all the right things today. He knows the town. He knows the room and he knows baseball. He can speak baseball wisdom and algorithmic theory. I'm sure he knows the deep-rooted, long entrenched E-team he's inherited. I think there is every reason to hope that he will be the voice in the war room that says, "That's a wonderful theory, but it's not as simple as ...... " and follow it with a connection they currently miss.

My biggest concern is that this is Breslow's first real management/executive job. I had the same concern with Bloom, but I had far bigger fear of the "Tampa-North" factor. Turned out I was wrong on both counts. None of that matters in the absence of competence and/or effectiveness.

On a side note - Today might be the day we begin to find out the depths and clarity of Kennedy's story spinning regarding the search and decision making process for new Baseball Ops guy.

[longgame]

Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job? 

We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.

[Sea Dog 23]

Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job? 

We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.

I saw parts of the press conf.  He is good at handling an audience, and some of the reporter questions were loaded.  "Will you be able to spend for contracts that will get you the players you want?  Breslow:  "We are committed to winning."  And a couple other questions, he was able to sidestep some land mine offerings.  He has learned it in short order from Kennedy, but I'm sure he was instructed well in Chicago by Theo and Jed Hoyer.

What gives me a big WTH moment with Breslow, he was all consumed with pitching analytics.  Does he know anything about contract negotiations with R/H power hitters?  He did not attend many Chicago FO meetings, and prefered to stay home in Newton, Mass and ZOOM in on the meetings.  He was not the GM, he was only the Asst GM in charge of pitching.  It is going to be an interesting progression.  But how quickly can he master all the duties.  He'll neet a lot of help from Romero (?) and Racquel.