Lessons Learned?

If you are a regular reader of this space you know that I have both praised and pummeled Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow. This past weekend Breslow finally showed his willingness to get uncomfortable when trading with other teams when he shipped young lefty Connelly Early to the Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead who has resurrected his career this year with a much more productive output in the batter’s box.

The native Australian Mead has always been regarded as a someone who had the potential to be a good offensive player. He had never really proved himself until this year. The reports out of the Nationals camp and recent comments from Breslow indicate that he spent significant time re-tooling his swing and approach at the plate this offseason and into spring training. The result was more power and the increased ability to drive the ball. Just what the Red Sox need to bolster their lineup as they too resurrect their season. His game isn’t perfect in that he is a “serviceable infielder” so if he is a drag on the defense, expect him to be more of a full time DH.

Trading a young pitcher like Early could not have been an easy decision. Breslow acknowledged on the broadcast Sunday that he was a hard worker, diligent and well respected for a young player in the clubhouse. While he has not been as spectacular as he was late in the season last year, he was still an effective pitcher and was learning on the fly. He has a bright future ahead of him. He also endured a brief scare with respect to his elbow, but those concerns are obviously over with the consummation of this trade.

Now back to Breslow. All winter long the team acknowledged the need to find an additional power bat for their lineup. One by one, Schwarber, Alonzo and others signed with other teams and left a huge hole in the middle of the order. Myself, as well as half of Red Sox fandom took Breslow to task for his inability to fill that need. His lack of action in this regard handcuffed the team in the first couple of months with the legendary offensive struggles they endured. This single need was the worst open secret in baseball! It cost Cora his job and created a brief but very messy PR drama for this team from late April to late June when the Sox swept the Yankees.

So what happened?

Breslow has a reputation of seeing himself as “the smartest man in the room”. I’ve even joked in this space that he never learned to play nice in the sandbox as a child and that has carried over with his ability to work with other baseball executives. It was even rumored that his job was on the line.

Then this team caught fire. Suddenly, games that would have been lost in April and May were won with timely base hits. Pitching and defense led the way! Finally, “The Streak” cemented the fact that this team changed course from taking the road to nowhere to being on a probable path to the postseason. He now had to shift gears from an almost certain deadline “sell mode” to an active “buy mode”.

To Breslow’s credit, he appeared to have learned that it was his job to add pieces to make the team better at this deadline. He admitted this after the Early-Mead trade by saying “I’ve tried to shift … our goal is not to win the trade,” Breslow said. “Our goal is to make the Major League team better. Sometimes the most straightforward way to do that is a need-for-need trade.”

Need for need based trades are ones that generally work out best for both teams. For Breslow to recognize this my friends is huge. It demonstrates that he has matured in his role and is no longer playing a game of acquiring talent like he is at a flea market bartering with every transaction trying outwit the other person. Instead, he has taken a step back and realized the team has a need and it is his job to fill that need. He found a willing trade partner in the Nationals led by ex-Sox executive Paul Toboni. In the end it was the perfect need to need deal. The Nats needed pitching now and the Sox needed a bat now and both needs were filled. No analysis paralysis! Just decisive action.

To be clear the job is not done. This team is in need of another bat, perhaps an upgrade at catcher, a bullpen arm or two and a veteran starter to take the load off Tolle, Bennett and now Sandoval. With a week to go before the trading deadline I am more confident than ever that the Sox will acquire the pieces they need to play meaningful baseball in October.

In the meantime I am more than pleased to see Craig Breslow swallow his pride and take a giant step forward as a baseball executive. It’s good for him. More importantly, it is good for the Red Sox. It might even save him his job!