FORT MYERS, Fla. — JetBlue Park was bustling with activity on Tuesday, one day before pitchers and catchers officially need to report to Boston Red Sox camp.
Several players have already been here for weeks in an attempt to get a jumpstart on the 2025 season. Garrett Crochet and Garrett Whitlock have already thrown live batting practice sessions. Rafael Devers spent nearly all of January in Fort Myers, before a brief trip home to see his family ahead of a scheduled return over the weekend when position players are expected to arrive.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora met with the media on Tuesday for the first time this spring, discussing the offseason, the season ahead and the moves that have yet to be made.
Breslow, in particular, was adamant that the goal this season is to win, noting on five separate occasions his focus on the present rather than the future.
“There’s no question that we’re more calibrated toward winning in 2025,” he said.
And yet, while the pitching equation has been bolstered with the additions of Crochet, Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman, the offensive picture still remains incomplete. Breslow and Cora hinted there may be a move on the horizon.
“I think there’s a lot of things going on right now that it’s out of our control,” Cora said. “I think we have done a good job presenting our program and taking a step forward. But then after that, it takes two to tango, right? So, we’ll see what happens in the upcoming days, upcoming weeks. But, I think we’ve been very aggressive in certain situations. I won’t be surprised if we add something else.”
Cora met with the media for the first time this spring on Tuesday. (Maddie Malhotra / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
Breslow opened his 25-minute session with the media, reiterating his priorities.
“I think I’ve maintained throughout the offseason that, No. 1, our goal is to put the best team together that we possibly can,” he said. “And No. 2, we’ll need to be open-minded about how we do that. Right now, we’re still pursuing a right-handed bat and hopeful that we’ll be able to accomplish that. And then the other opportunity that we talked about is adding to the bullpen.”
Since the Winter Meetings, Breslow has singled out adding a right-handed bat and bullpen help, but nothing has come to fruition on either front.
“There’s always some level of surprise,” he said of not getting a deal done yet. “Unfortunately, we don’t control the timeline exclusively, and obviously we haven’t lined up on anything yet, but we’ll continue to be as aggressive as we can.”
Asked if he thought the team as currently constructed was a playoff caliber roster, Breslow didn’t hesitate, saying that he does, though admitting otherwise would be odd.
Cora has gone with bold proclamations in past years, but offered a more tempered approach as the 2025 season begins.
“I do believe we turned the corner. We made some additions in the offseason that are going to put us in a good spot and our job is to just keep working to get better,” he said.
“The 30 teams right now in the big leagues, they’re going to say all the right things, right? We’re a playoff team, and our goal is to win the World Series,” he added. “For me, honestly, this year is about work. Last year, we had to manage the team a little bit differently because nobody believed that we were a good team. And we were very loud about how we were a World Series contender. This year is about working, getting better. And if we do that over 162 games, things are going to take care of itself and we’ll be dancing in October.”
While there will be plenty more in the coming days as camp gets underway, here are some highlights from the first media session of the spring with Breslow and Cora:
Evaluating the second base position
Both Cora and Breslow interestingly mentioned David Hamilton first when asked about how they’ll evaluate the competition for the second base job this spring. While Vaughn Grissom and Kristian Campbell have been talked about the most throughout the winter, Hamilton’s contributions last season didn’t go unnoticed.
“We saw at times Hammy was able to be this really dynamic player on both sides of the ball, and added an element of speed and athleticism that was a real weapon,” Breslow said.
“You see Hammy, last year at short he struggled, but at second, he was elite,” Cora said. “His range is outstanding. The out (end-of-season) conversion is really good. So, we got some interesting guys. I think competition is always good. And, let’s see what happens.”
Cora also made a point to mention that the offseason isn’t over, hinting again at an addition at second base. Breslow, meanwhile, noted that Grissom has added 20 pounds this winter after a season in which he lost close to 15 pounds following illness and injury.
“We’re really optimistic about his ability to bounce back,” Breslow said of Grissom. “He’s worked so hard this offseason. He looks great. We believe that he’s going to impact the ball even more.”
Both mentioned Campbell and Marcelo Mayer getting reps at second base, but almost seemed mindful of downplaying the team’s top prospects after so much hype this offseason. Breslow later highlighted outfielder Roman Anthony’s youth at just 20 years old (he turns 21 in May), noting camp will be a good opportunity for him to be immersed among big leaguers.
“Obviously, we’re thrilled that (Anthony) is a part of this organization,” Breslow said. “We’re thrilled with the current state of the farm system. But our job is not to win farm system rankings, it’s to win big-league ballgames.”
Devers’ status
The Red Sox changed up Devers’ workout routine this winter, asking him to spend time at the JetBlue Park facilities with team trainers rather than a private trainer he’d had for the last several years in Tampa. With so much talk swirling around potentially adding either Alex Bregman or Nolan Arenado, both natural third baseman (though Bregman has said he’d move to second), there’s been speculation about Devers’ future at third.
Cora confirmed that, “right now, he’s our third baseman,” something he’s said about Devers throughout the winter, but Cora elaborated a bit on conversations he’s had with Devers since arriving in camp.
“He knows what’s going on,” Cora said. “We’ve been talking about everything from, what are we trying to accomplish roster-wise to what we need to accomplish for him. And I think right now, the main thing is not positions or additions or whatever, it’s for him to have a healthy camp. He had a good offseason as far as the shoulder. He’s in a good spot.”
The Red Sox have long taken an almost differential approach to Devers, but it does sound like they are being more assertive with him this offseason in what they need and expect from him.
“I think showing up early, working hard, committing himself to getting into great shape, to working on both sides of the ball is absolutely going to benefit him, but I think ultimately he needs to be healthy, and needs to stay healthy,” Breslow said. “We’ve seen what a healthy, Raffy Devers is capable of doing in the middle of a lineup. He carried us for weeks at a time. And we expect a great season out of him.”
Contract extensions
Last spring, Breslow signed two young players to contract extensions — Brayan Bello and Ceddanne Rafaela. He wouldn’t get into specifics on Tuesday, but reiterated the desire to keep signing players from their young core.
“We’ve had those conversations and at this point in time, they’re general and kind of vague, but my hope is that they become more specific and ultimately lead to good outcomes for the players and the Red Sox,” he said.
At Fenway Fest, Crochet said his agents had been in preliminary talks with the Red Sox on a contract extension but said he’s mostly asked them to stay out of the conversations until they become more concrete.
Crochet ready to go
Crochet was among the early arrivals to camp and threw a live batting practice over the weekend with a bullpen on Tuesday. Cora had high praise for the 25-year-old lefty.
“Big dude,” he said. “Hopefully Chris doesn’t take it personally, but he looks like Chris Sale, but stronger.”
Last year, Crochet was returning from Tommy John surgery and while he pitched the entire season for the White Sox, his first season in a big-league rotation, he was limited in the second half to four-inning starts. At Fenway Fest, he noted he’s hoping the innings limit won’t be necessary this season.
“We have a good plan for him,” Cora said. “Obviously, it’s different this year, right? Last year, (the White Sox) took care of him. Now we have to take care of him, so he can take care of us. The stuff is real. The presence is real. I think guys gravitate towards him, which is awesome. The first question, you asked me something that had caught my attention is how easy the new guys have gelled with everybody else. It’s good to see.”
Meanwhile, with six big-league starters entering camp, Breslow noted the club is still “definitely considering” the six-man rotation, but will work through the decision as camp progresses.
Injured pitchers on track
Count it as a good sign Whitlock (internal brace procedure) was already facing hitters before camp even begun. Lucas Giolito (internal brace procedure) and Liam Hendriks (Tommy John surgery) have been throwing off a mound for several weeks as well. While there has been some speculation about Whitlock and Giolito missing Opening Day because as they finish their recoveries from internal brace procedures last spring, Breslow said both are “absolutely tracking toward” Opening Day, with the caveat of avoiding any setbacks once they get into games. Hendriks nearly returned to games in September and he too is expected to be ready to break camp with the team.
Cora said Whitlock has already been inquiring about his bullpen role and while it’s not set in stone how that will look, Cora reiterated he liked how he used Whitlock in 2021 as a late-game, multi-inning reliever. It offered a hint as to how Whitlock might be used this season.
“There were certain days that we just gave him the ball and he gave us a seventh and the eighth. We reset the bullpen and we won games,” Cora said. “I don’t know how many games that he pitched after the first week that we were down. I think every outing with him was, a tie game or ahead and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”
(Top photo: Maddie Malhotra / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
