* Deals like the one the Red Sox made Saturday — John Schreiber straight up for David Sandlin — will not dramatically impact the balance of power in the American League East. It will not make the Red Sox any better for 2024, though it may not make them any worse. It was a relatively small trade, but the kind the Red Sox need to make more often.
Schreiber was a serviceable and affordable reliever for a couple of seasons. But with just three years’ service time, he was of more value to the Kansas City Royals than the Red Sox — which is telling in itself, though a topic for another day. In exchange, the Sox got a pretty good starting pitching prospect, which is always welcome.
If there’s been a constant to Breslow’s first few months on the job, it’s been a laser-like focus on pitching. Other than the Chris Sale trade and the Tyler O’Neill swap — both of which addressed key positional needs — every other deal he’s made has imported pitching for the organization.
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Within the player development system, Boston’s starting pitching inventory is incredibly thin. The two best prospects are still several years away, and Chaim Bloom’s curious decision to largely ignore starting pitching in recent drafts contributed some to that. Breslow is here to overhaul the team’s pitching development program, and Sandlin is a nice start, following Isaiah Campbell, Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, Nicholas Judice and Cooper Criswell.
None is a big name, but together, each represents a potential future major league arm. The more pitching options the Red Sox collect, the better the chance that they hit on a few contributors.
“I think the biggest lever here has to be whether or not the opportunity furthers what we’re trying to accomplish and if it does, we need to look seriously at that,” said Breslow after Saturday’s trade.
Let Sam Kennedy and Tom Werner worry about messaging and mission statements about the direction of the franchise. Let them carefully parse whether the team is committed to winning and spending. Breslow’s chief responsibility is to plant the seeds for the future in the hopes that the pitching prospects will help the Red Sox contend for seasons to come.
* It may well be that the Patriots would be better off selecting a tackle or wide receiver in the first round, while accumulating extra picks and finding a stopgap quarterback solution via trade or free agency. But try selling that idea to the fan base, which has been thirsty for a Top 3 quarterback since about Week 4 of last season.
In a league that has become more quarterback-dependent than ever before, no one gets excited about the other necessary building blocks.
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* Credit to Xander Bogaerts, who, in keeping with his character and selflessness, magnanimously accepted the position shift from shortstop to second base in San Diego, making room for the more defensively skilled Ha-Seong Kim. But the Padres have to already be questioning the wisdom of that mammoth deal. Only 10 years and $250 million still to go on that deal.
* If you’re keeping track, it was four years ago this month that Red Sox principal owner John Henry last made himself available in a press conference setting to media covering the Red Sox. The occasion that day was to announce that the team had traded Mookie Betts.
* The revisionist history, the incessant need to control the narrative and the level of pettiness evident in The Dynasty is really something to see.
* I wouldn’t worry too much in the long-term about the Bruins’ recent slide on the current homestand, but one thing that’s been exposed of late is their lack of snarl. Quite apart from the results, physical teams have succeeded in pushing the Bruins around, and that doesn’t augur well for the playoffs.
GM Don Sweeney needs to bulk up his roster with some tough bottom-six forwards and, if possible, a defenseman who can add some sandpaper on the back line.
* Reading about Dustin Pedroia working with Milwaukee Brewers prospect — and Lexington, Mass. native — Sal Frelick on the latter’s switch from the outfield to the infield is a reminder of how important it is for the Red Sox to figure out how to involve Pedroia more going forward. For now, Pedroia isn’t ready to leave Arizona because of his responsibilities to three young boys, but the Sox need to someday take advantage of his passion and expertise.
* It’s probably safe to say that, post-Foxboro, things have not exactly gone according to plan for Jimmy Garoppolo.
* Recommended viewing: Rolling Along, a one-man show from Bill Bradley, now available on MAX. Bradley recounts his childhood in small-town Missouri, his career at Princeton, the Olympics and with the New York Knicks, and his post-playing career as a three-term senator and presidential candidate. There’s plenty of basketball memories, but what you’re left with, in the end, is Bradley’s overwhelming decency.
* Lookalikes: Red Sox/Netflix reality series executive producer/director Greg Whiteley and Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame.
* Good to see the Bruins doing the right thing when it comes to Milan Lucic. Just because the domestic assault case against him was dropped against the forward doesn’t mean Lucic should be welcomed back to the team as though nothing ever happened. Thankfully, the pattern of labeling highly troubling incidents such as this as mere “distractions,” seem to be over. And maybe, just maybe, the Bruins have learned their own lessons from the Mitchell Miller mess.
* I’m all for a little irreverence when it comes to golf galleries. No need for it to look and feel like 10 o’clock Mass. But the Waste Management crowd has taken things a bit too far, don’t you think? Watching a golf tournament is not my thing, but no one should have to endure a convention of drunken bros just to experience a PGA tour stop.
* Terribly sad news: Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson is dealing with dementia. Wilson has given us a lifetime of brilliant work that will be appreciated and studied for generations. May he know peace.
* Good luck to new BC football coach Bill O’Brien. I suspect he will need it.
