Craig Breslow or Chaim Bloom. Who deserves more credit for the young core of talent in the Red Sox organization that should make Boston a perennial playoff team for the next decade?

Answering this question isn’t straightforward and involves more than comparing the young players Bloom drafted/acquired/signed with those Breslow has brought in.

For example, one could argue that both Breslow and Bloom should receive equal credit for a pitcher like Connelly Early, who started Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series against New York at Yankee Stadium. Bloom drafted Early but the 23-year-old lefty spent both his seasons in the minor leagues developing in the pitching program Breslow created.

Bloom drafted Kristian Campbell but his ascent from a fourth-round draft pick to a top-five Baseball America prospect happened during Breslow’s first year on the job.

Bloom also drafted Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. They spent time developing under both Bloom and Breslow. But it also should be noted that the main hitting principles (bat speed, swing decisions, batted ball quality and swing characteristics) that the Red Sox preach started under Bloom, who hired Jason Ochart away from Driveline Baseball in November 2022 to be their director of hitting development.

While the changes in hitting philosophy began under Bloom, Breslow overhauled the pitching side. He hired Justin Willard as director of pitching in November 2023, while also creating a baseball sciences department headed by David Besky.

Pitchers who Bloom drafted and/or signed — including Early, Hunter Dobbins, Juan Valera and Jedixson Paez — have taken a step forward learning in Breslow’s pitching infrastructure.

Bloom left Breslow with a top-five farm system. Breslow has continued to draft and develop well, leading to Baseball America ranking the Red Sox’ farm system No. 1 overall entering 2025. It was the first time ever the publication ranked Boston’s system No. 1.

While Bloom left Breslow in excellent shape, the majority of the high-end talent was position player prospects. When ownership hired Breslow, eight of Boston’s top 10 prospects were position players.

Six of Boston’s top 10 prospects currently are pitchers as Breslow enters his third season as chief baseball officer.

Breslow placed a heavy emphasis on drafting and acquiring pitching talent to get the pitching up to speed with the hitting. Twenty-nine of Breslow’s 41 draft picks over his two drafts so far have been pitchers. The Red Sox used 15 of their 21 picks in the 2025 MLB Draft on pitchers, including 10 from the SEC. All 15 are 6-foot-2 or taller.

Breslow also has traded for several young pitchers, including Richard Fitts, David Sandlin, Kyle Harrison, Yhoiker Fajardo and John Holobetz.

Fajardo was a relatively unknown prospect when Breslow acquired him for then-32 year-old reliever Cam Booser on Dec. 21, 2024. Baseball America now ranks the 19-year-old Boston’s No. 22 prospect after he posted a 2.25 ERA in 19 outings (17 starts) between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem in 2025.

Breslow acquired Holobetz in May as the player to be named later in the Quinn Priester trade from April 7.

A strong argument obviously could be made the Red Sox shouldn’t have traded Priester — but there’s a chance the 23-year-old Holobetz will be a top 30 Red Sox prospect entering 2026 after he finished the 2025 season at Double-A Portland where he posted a 2.39 ERA in six outings (five starts).

Breslow also acquired a 2025 draft pick (33rd overall) for Priester and used it to select Tennessee righty Marcus Phillips.

Other factors, unrelated to player acquisition and development, need consideration when assessing Breslow and Bloom.

Bloom deserves a ton of credit not only for identifying Anthony, a 2022 second round pick, but also giving him a $2.5 million signing bonus, well over the recommended slot value of $820,400 for the 79th overall pick. Breslow, meanwhile, deserves credit for locking up Anthony to an eight-year, $130 million extension.

Breslow has signed two of Bloom’s players (Anthony and Campbell) to extensions while also extending two of former president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s players (Brayan Bello and Ceddanne Rafaela).

There’s no simple way to determine whether Bloom or Breslow deserves more credit. However, a simplistic approach is to examine which players entered the organization under each.

Of Baseball America’s Top 30 organizational prospects, 14 entered the system under Breslow, 13 players entered under Bloom and three under Dombrowski.

The Red Sox also have 18 players on their 40-man roster who are 26 years old or younger. Bloom is responsible for seven, Breslow six and Dombrowski five.

Top 30 prospects

Dombrowski’s 3 players (with organizational rankings): OF Jhostynxon Garcia (5); RHP Luis Perales (8); OF Allan Castro (20).

Bloom’s 13 players (with organizational rankings): SS Marcelo Mayer (1); SS Franklin Arias (3); LHP Connelly Early (6); RHP Juan Valera (9); SS Mikey Romero (13); SS Yoeilin Cespedes (14); RHP Jedixson Paez (17); CF Miguel Bleis (18); OF Nelly Taylor (24); LHP Hayden Mullins (26); RHP Blake Wehunt (27); RHP Tyler Uberstine (29); RHP Yordanny Monegro (30).

Breslow’s 14 players (with organizational rankings): LHP Payton Tolle (2); RHP Kyson Witherspoon (4); LHP Brandon Clarke (7); SS Dorian Soto (10); RHP David Sandlin (11); OF Justin Gonzales (12); RHP Anthony Eyanson (15); RHP Marcus Phillips (16); SS Hector Ramos (19); 2B/SS Henry Godbout (21); RHP Yhoiker Fajardo (22); OF Enddy Azocar (23); RHP Sadbiel Delzine (25); TWP Conrad Cason (28).

Red Sox players on 40-man roster 26 or under

Dombrowski’s players (5): Luis Perales, Triston Casas, Jhostynxon Garcia, Ceddanne Rafaela, Brayan Bello.

Bloom’s players (7): Connelly Early, Roman Anthony, Luis Guerrero, Marcelo Mayer, Wilyer Abreu, Hunter Dobbins, Kristian Campbell.

Breslow’s players (6): Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle, Vaughn Grissom, Richard Fitts, Carlos Narváez, Garrett Crochet.

40-man roster

There are 10 players on the 60-day IL in addition to Boston’s current 40-man roster.

Dombrowski’s players:

Brayan Bello (amateur international free agent, July 2, 2017)Triston Casas (2018 first round draft pick)Kutter Crawford (2017 16th round draft pick)Jarren Duran (2018 seventh round draft pick)Jhostynxon Garcia (amateur international free agent, July 2, 2019)Tanner Houck (2017 first round pick)Chris Murphy (2019 sixth round draft pick)Luis Perales (amateur international free agent, July 2, 2019);Ceddanne Rafaela (amateur international free agent, July 2, 2017)

Bloom’s players:

Wilyer Abreu (trade, Aug. 1, 2022)Roman Anthony (2022 second round compensation draft pick)Brennan Bernardino (waiver claim, April 16, 2023)Kristian Campbell (2023 fourth round compensation pick)Hunter Dobbins (2021 eighth round draft pick)Connelly Early (2023 fifth round draft pick)David Hamilton (trade, Dec. 1, 2021)Luis Guerrero (2021 17th round draft pick)Zack Kelly (minor league free agent, Jan. 4, 2021)Marcelo Mayer (2021 first round draft pick); Rob Refsnyder (minor league free agent, Dec. 21, 2021)Nick Sogard (trade, Feb. 17, 2021)Trevor Story (free agent, March 23, 2022)Garrett Whitlock (2020 Rule 5 Draft pick)Josh Winckowski (trade, Feb. 10, 2021) Connor Wong (trade, Feb. 10, 2020)Masataka Yoshida (free agent Dec. 15, 2022)

Breslow’s players:

Alex Bregman (free agent, Feb. 15, 2025)Garrett Crochet (trade, Dec. 11, 2024)Carlos Narváez (trade, Dec. 11, 2024)Isaiah Campbell (trade, Nov. 17, 2023)Aroldis Chapman (free agent, Dec. 10, 2024)Cooper Criswell (free agent, Dec. 13, 2023)José De León (minor league free agent, March 4, 2025)Nate Eaton (minor league free agent, Nov. 26, 2024)Richard Fitts (trade, Dec. 5, 2023)Lucas Giolito (free agent, Jan. 3, 2024)Romy Gonzalez (waiver claim, Jan. 31, 2024)Vaughn Grissom (trade, Dec. 30, 2023)Kyle Harrison (trade, June 15, 2025)Liam Hendriks (free agent, Feb. 20, 2024)Jordan Hicks (trade, June 15, 2025)Nathaniel Lowe (free agent, Aug. 18, 2025)Steven Matz (trade, July 31, 2025) Dustin May (trade, July 31, 2025)Jovani Morán (trade, Dec. 24, 2024)Patrick Sandoval (free agent, Dec. 23, 2024)Justin Slaten (2023 Rule 5 Draft pick)Payton Tolle (2024 second round pick)Greg Weissert (trade, Dec. 5, 2023)Justin Wilson (free agent, Nov. 14, 2024)

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