Craig Breslow Thinks Red Sox Can Win More Without Rafael Devers

The Boston Red Sox shocked the baseball world when they traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.

It’s a move that the organization (somewhat shockingly) believes will lead to more victories on the field, however.

“I do think there’s a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said on Monday, as seen on NESN. “… We’ve talked a lot about it, but for some reason, this team is an example where the whole was not greater than the sum of the parts.”

Can you argue with that final point? No, not even a little bit, but it is hard to believe that a baseball team can be better without the man who led the way in batting average (.272), home runs (15) and runs batted in (58) at the midway point of the season. Breslow was stedfast in his belief that the team can win moving forward, though.

“It’s important to point out that this is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025,” Breslow said. “We are as committed as we were six months ago, to putting a winning team on the field, competing for the division and making a deep postseason run… I will stand here and say that we would not have made this trade if we didn’t think it was best for the organization and the vision and the beliefs and culture that we are trying to create.”

How is this move best for the team, exactly?

“I think the quality of the return, we’re going to see how that plays out over the next several years, but we’re absolutely excited about bringing Jordan Hicks, a dominant late-inning reliever, into our mix,” Breslow said, referring to the trade return. “Kyle Harrison is someone we think can pitch in the front half of a rotation, we’ve identified some development opportunities for him that we’re going to work through. James Tibbs III, a first-rounder from last year, has an athletic profile, someone that makes great swing decision, and someone we think can excel in our in our (player development) infrastructure. Jose Bello is an exciting young arm.”

Breslow’s entire session with the media alongside Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, which can be found here, included many more moments where he doubled down on the belief that the team is better without Devers.

It’ll remain to be seen whether or not he’s correct.