The Red Sox were quick to fire Chaim Bloom as Chief Baseball Officer and were even quicker in finding his replacement. Boston hired ex-Sox pitcher Craig Breslow to replace Bloom, the team announced Wednesday. 

Breslow has been in baseball in numerous roles over the past two decades. A twelve-year pro, Breslow appeared in games for Boston, Minnesota, Oakland, Cleveland, Arizona, San Diego, and Miami. In twelve seasons, Breslow totaled 576 appearances and amounted to an on-par lifetime earned runs average of 3.45 with 442 career strikeouts in about 570 innings pitched. Breslow had two tenures in Boston: one in 2006 and one from 2012 to 2015. Breslow was rostered on the 2013 Red Sox, who captured the World Series title. The reliever played a fundamental role in helping the Sox capture the American League pennant in 2013, pitching three-plus innings over four games and surrendering only one hit with no earned runs. 

Breslow, a Yale graduate, took up work in baseball following his retirement from his decade-plus-long professional career. Breslow had been working with the Chicago Cubs front office for about four years, most recently working as assistant general manager. 

The hope that the Red Sox organization holds is that Breslow will be able to put up a Theo Epstein-esque performance, as opposed to one that mirrors Bloom’s. Boston has missed the playoffs multiple times since winning the 2018 World Series, and have only one stellar player (Devers) locked up for years to come. It will be largely up to Breslow to decide which direction this franchise steers, and the team will have to make a decision on whether or not to re-sign James Paxton, Adam Duvall, and Justin Turner.