Red Sox Rumors: Cubs' Craig Breslow Accepts Offer to Be Head of Baseball Operations

The Boston Red Sox are reportedly bringing in a familiar face to replace Chaim Bloom as president of baseball operations.

According to Alex Speier and Micahel Silverman of the Boston Globe, Chicago Cubs executive Craig Breslow has accepted an offer from the Red Sox for the position. Breslow is a former MLB pitcher who was a member of Boston's 2013 World Series team.

Breslow had been serving as assistant general manager and senior vice president of pitching for the Cubs. Per Chad Jennings, Sahadev Sharma, Patrick Mooney and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, he's credited with revitalizing the Cubs' pitching development.

"Under Breslow's watch, the Cubs have gone from one of the worst organizations in baseball when it comes to developing pitching to one that has outsiders very intrigued," the report stated.

Breslow pitched in the majors for 12 years from 2005 to 2017. His first stint with the Red Sox came in 2006 before he returned to the team from 2012 to 2015. He also pitched for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins.

After his playing career came to an end, Breslow quickly transitioned to the front office. The Cubs hired him as director of strategic initiatives in 2019 before being promoted to director of pitching and special assistant to president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer the following year. He was named assistant GM in 2021.

Considered to be one of the smartest players in baseball history, Breslow is a Yale graduate who majored in molecular physics and biochemistry. He will bring his smarts to a Red Sox team that finished last in the AL East with a 78-84 record for the second straight season and the third time in four years.

The next step will be to see if Breslow hires a general manager under him as a second-in-command. It was noted in The Athletic that assistant general managers Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira and Mike Groopman are expected to remain within the Red Sox leadership group.