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Epic fail : Ken Rosenthal s unsparing critique of Craig Breslow, Red Sox at MLB trade deadline
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In a wide-open playoff race, the Red Sox again fail to seal the deal at trade deadline
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What Craig Breslow said about frustration and disappointment following Red Sox s quiet trade deadline
Over the past few months, the Red Sox have reportedly expressed interest in making a trade for Joe Ryan, the starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. However, a source claims that they were not motivated enough to part with any of their excess outfield players on Boston’s MLB roster.
According to PerThe Athletics Craig Breslow, the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox, and Jen McCaffrey were not interested in trading for the right-hander since Boston’s minor league players weren’t good enough for the Twins.
“Talks broke down when the Red Sox refused to offer any of their big league outfielders or an alluring enough package of their top-tier prospects,” McCaffrey wrote on Thursday, just hours after MLB’s trade deadline had passed, according to league sources briefed on the Twins’ side of the negotiations.
After the deadline of 6 p.m. on July 31, there were conflicting rumors about whether the Red Sox were close to signing Ryan. On the one hand, MLB source Jon Morosi claimed that Boston came very close to signing the player after learning that the organization made a last-minute push.
But according to Chris Cotillo of MassLives and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletics, the Red Sox never came close to winning against Minnesota.
“Not even close,” Cotillos stated, quoting a source about Boston’s endeavors.
According to what I hear, Rosenthal stated on Foul Territory that any discussions with the Twins were at best weak.
Whatever the Red Sox’s best offer for Minnesota was, it was clearly insufficient to trade for Ryan.
According to McCaffrey’s report, Wilyer Abreu, Roman Anthony, and outfielder Jarren Duran were all unwilling to be traded by Breslow and the rest of Boston’s front office.
It’s surprising that the Red Sox allegedly weren’t willing to part with any of their outfield players given their season-long logjam. For instance, it’s possible that Triple-A outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia was considered rather than Duran, a major leaguer; it doesn’t appear that the Twins would have been satisfied with an unproven minor leaguer.
There is no obvious route for Garcia to advance because to Boston’s ongoing glut of MLB outfielders (Abreu, Anthony, Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder).
After the trade deadline, Breslow talked to reporters on Zoom about his unsuccessful attempts to acquire players.
According to Breslow, we were uncomfortably pushy in our pursuit of them and the players we were attempting to sign to deals. It wasn’t a lack of effort, after all. “Hey, that’s enough,” other teams had to remark. It goes too far. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to discuss our entire system.
Prior to the deadline, Minnesota made nine transactions, indicating their intention to purge before 2026. Carlos Correa and $70 million of the $105 million that was still guaranteed on his contract were sent to his old team, the Houston Astros, in exchange for one prospect as part of the Twins’ largest move. In addition, they traded starting pitcher Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays, outfielder Harrison Bader and reliever Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies, and a number of others.
Having said that, it’s intriguing that Minnesota couldn’t get Ryan traded. Given how many other deals Minnesota consented to during last week’s fire sale, it’s particularly intriguing that the Red Sox were unable to put together a package that would have satisfied the Twins.
Speaking to the media on Thursday night, Breslow didn’t specifically mention Minnesota, but he appeared to imply that some of the clubs he had talked to about transactions weren’t particularly interested.
Breslow stated, “We pursued a number of really impact possibilities.” In the end, two teams must align for those teams to align. For it to happen, teams must like our athletes.
Ryan is another top-tier pitcher that Boston could have utilized to support Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet in the closing stages and, ideally, into the postseason. Dustin May, a right-hander who has nearly a 5.00 ERA in 19 games this season, was acquired by the team on Thursday from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Fans may reflect on the hypothetical trade and question if Breslow was right to accept Ryan, who is under team control through 2027, in return for a player like Duran.
Boston.com sports producer Kaley Brown covers the Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Patriots, and Boston Red Sox.
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