Does Craig Breslow's job with the Boston Red Sox hinge on how effectively the team can turn things around in the wake of the coaching turnover at the end of last month?
That logical conclusion received some reinforcement on Wednesday, when The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey reported that Breslow firing manager Alex Cora and several assistants, including hitting coach Pete Fatse, hitting strategist Joe Cronin, and assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, was guided by the notion that his time to prove he was the right man for the chief baseball officer role was running short.
"Even before the season began, Breslow was aware his job was on the line, knowing his three predecessors each had limited time to turn the organization around," wrote McCaffrey. "That mindset offered a backdrop to the firings, particularly of a hitting staff that Breslow felt, according to sources, was not making enough impact."
Breslow also addressed the early returns on those offensive staff changes. The Red Sox are 12-14 after firing the coaches, and were 10-17 beforehand. The "improvement," if there has been any, has been marginal at best and largely driven by the pitching staff.
“I certainly wouldn’t look back at our win-loss record over the last month and say it was this incredible success,” Breslow told McCaffrey. “But I think we’re starting to more consistently put together good at-bats. Definitely going into the series with (the Minnesota Twins), we had pitched consistently well and played good defense. We have to put all aspects of the game together to make sure we’re winning more games.”
Boston brings a four-game losing streak into its Wednesday matchup with the Atlanta Braves. A loss would mean the Red Sox would fall to 1-7-1 in overall series results at Fenway Park. They haven't won a home series since taking two of three from the Milwaukee Brewers in early April.