It should go without saying that Craig Breslow has his work cut out for him.
He’s inheriting the makings of a decent roster and a vastly improved minor league system in place, but there’s much for Breslow to do and learn. While bringing his pitching development expertise to the Red Sox organization, he also has to improve the major league rotation this winter, while making decisions about contract extensions, the coaching staff and countless other issues.
It’s also incumbent upon Breslow to begin building a strong relationship with Alex Cora. Cora’s relationship with Chaim Bloom deteriorated greatly in the last year or so, with Cora increasingly frustrated by what he felt was Bloom’s general lack of urgency.
Disagreements are to be expected between managers and general managers; the former are focused on winning that night while the latter typically take a longer view. But even allowing for that, a healthy respect can exist. The most successful teams have a collaborative relationship between manager and lead baseball executive.
Breslow and Cora don’t have much shared history, having been teammates only for a brief period in 2006. But they have the luxury of time this winter. Bloom and Cora were only getting to know one another in the offseason of 2019-2020 when MLB’s investigation into the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing resulted in Cora and the Sox mutually agreeing to part ways. When Cora and Bloom reunited after the 2020 season, valuable time had elapsed.
Now is the time for Cora and Breslow to find their footing, understand each other’s philosophies and learn how to communicate.
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Breslow will have to get to know a long list of people in the organization, from analysts, minor league coordinators, trainers, and staffs and scouts. But no single relationship will be more critical than the one he forges with Cora.
* Temper your enthusiasm for the Bruins’ 7-0-1 start. They’ve played a very soft schedule to date, with five of their first seven games against three lottery teams (two each with Chicago and Anaheim and another with San Jose) from a year ago. And, as I feared, they so far lack scoring punch. This week’s matchups with Florida and Toronto will give us a better sense of who they are.
* That said, James Van Riemsdyk has been a pleasant surprise: a powerful net-front presence with an uncanny ability to tip and re-direct shots.
* Nice job last week, Mac Jones. Now, let’s see it again.
* Bob Melvin is acknowledged to be one of the handful of best managers in the game. He’s been Manager of the Year three times. His players unfailingly sing his praises. So why, then, has he been allowed to go from one team to another twice in the last three years — including once within his own division — without compensation?
* It was kind of cute seeing Knicks fans all excited on Opening Night. Knicks’ fandom is the ultimate triumph of hope over experience. Playing in their self-styled “mecca of basketball,” the Knicks have two championships to their credit — none more recent than 50 years ago.
* Both Breslow and Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis were once captains of the baseball team at Yale. They played together for two years, with DeSantis playing center field.
* The shuffling — since the pre-season — of the Patriots’ backup quarterbacks has been so frenetic as to be comical. Both Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham have gone from backups, to waived, to re-signed.
* The funniest Friends episode of all time may well be “The One with the Sharks.” RIP, Matthew Perry.
* One baseball executive on general managers who work under a president of baseball operations: “The best job in baseball is being a No. 2. They get paid seven figures, they don’t take it home with them and they have tremendous job security.”
* When it was necessary Wednesday night, Kristaps Porzingis looked like much more than just a perimeter shooter.
* Tuesday is the NFL trade deadline. A year ago saw 10 separate trades, involving a dozen players, the most in the last 30 years. The number’s been trending up in the last decade, when the NFL pushed the deadline back a couple of weeks. That extra time has allowed teams additional time to assess their needs and determine whether they’re contenders or pretenders. Still, the NFL has a long way to go to match MLB’s deadline day, which has become a late-summer baseball holiday.
* Not sure I can handle John Smoltz for the entirety of the World Series. The Hall of Fame pitcher is capable of some keen insight, but somewhere along the way, he decided it’s necessary to impart his wisdom after….every…single…pitch.
* Bob Dylan is in Boston for three shows next weekend at the Orpheum. If you’ve never seen him, now would be a good time. That Dylan, at 82, remains such a vital force — undertaking months-long tours, recording and releasing new material, and constantly reimagining his own songbook — is a remarkable thing and should not be taken for granted.
* Was there some point where Joe Thornton morphed into hockey’s version of Bill Walton and we all missed it?
* It’s been said before but the NHL needs to adjust its offsides challenge. The other night, the Bruins got to take a goal off the board because a skate blade may have crossed the blue line a millimeter ahead of the puck, some 30 seconds before the puck ended up in the net. I can’t say I have the proper solution, but I know this much: the one in place ain’t it.
* Wonder if the Evan Longoria playing for the Diamondbacks is any relation to the Evan Longoria who, as a 22-year-old rookie with the Tampa Bay Rays, belted four homers against the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS? Nah, couldn’t be.
* This World Series will be the first in which both ballparks have roofs. I’m not sure that’s anything to celebrate, but there you have it.
