Since news of Chaim Bloom’s dismissal broke on Sept. 14, the Boston Red Sox haven been without baseball ops leader in the front office. That changes with the news that they are hiring Craig Breslow as the head of baseball operations. The Boston Globe reports that Breslow has accepted the position and that his official title will be chief baseball officer, the same as Bloom’s.

The name will likely be a familiar one for baseball fans, specifically Red Sox fans. Breslow, 43, spent parts of 12 seasons in the majors as a reliever with parts of five seasons in Boston. He was an integral member of the bullpen for the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox, pitching to a 1.81 ERA  in 61 regular-season appearances. He also made 10 appearances in the playoffs that season, posting a 2.45 ERA in 7 1/3 innings. 

Breslow last pitched in 2017 for Cleveland and Minnesota. The Yale graduate joined Theo Epstein’s front office with the Cubs in January 2019, taking the title Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations. After the 2019 season, Breslow was promoted to Director of Pitching/special assistant to the president and general manager. After the 2020 season, he was promoted again, this time to assistant general manager/vice president of pitching. 

Going from just joining a front office in 2019 to running one of the sport’s marquee franchises before the end of 2023 is a meteoric rise for Breslow. It also could be part of a recent trend in front offices. For years, teams started to get further away from hiring former players to run the baseball ops side, but more recently the Rangers hired Chris Young and just a few weeks ago, the White Sox hired Chris Getz in such a role. It isn’t a full-blown pivot or anything, as the Mets just hired David Stearns, for example, but it’s certainly notable. 

The Red Sox won the World Series in 2018, made the ALCS in 2021 and have finished in last place each of the last two years.