Sam Kennedy Says Craig Breslow Was ‘All-In’ At Trade Deadline

The Boston Red Sox made two moves at the 2025 MLB trade deadline.

Neither the acquisition of veteran southpaw Steven Matz nor hard-throwing right-hander Dustin May were viewed by fans as pennant-altering trades, but the team has continued playing well, as evidenced by the recent seven-game winning streak.

As it turns out, the Red Sox made a strong push at the deadline, according to team president Sam Kennedy.

The executive told WEEI on Thursday that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was “incredibly aggressive” leading up to the July 31 deadline.

“It was really fascinating to watch Craig sort of throw caution to the wind,” Kennedy said. “I mean, he was all-in, incredibly aggressive in packaging in just about everybody and everything in our farm system.”

He added that Breslow was working with a “win now” mindset and the team felt that they would be able to acquire a “controllable starter.”

“There was not a lot of long-term thinking going on at the deadline. We were aggressive,” Kennedy said. “We were just disappointed that certain controllable starters didn’t move. At the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do when a team isn’t going to move a player. That’s their prerogative.”

Matz has made two scoreless, one-inning appearances out of the Boston bullpen since arriving. May, on the other hand, had a mixed debut, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings during Wednesday night’s loss to the Kansas City Royals.

The defeat ended the Red Sox’s seven-game winning streak.

Despite the quieter than expected trade deadline and Wednesday’s loss, fans can’t argue with the way the team’s been playing in August thus far.