16 replies to this topic

[Charley Weir]

Craig is a lefty, 6'1", 180, from the small town (32,000) of Trumbull,CT - went to Yale, and was drafted by the Brewers in 2002.

Has improved slowly, and IMO when given more innings, does better and better. Especially from the W/9 and K/9 standpoint.

BP has him at 3.8 VORP from his '05 time with San Diego; stuff at -5, but his Major-league numbers project well from the AA biger sample.

For the feminine viewer, he also looks passable in underwear. (Third from left)

Edited by Charley Weir, 07 March 2006 - 01:09 PM.

[Charley Weir]

Look for a lefty: In Mike Myers, the Red Sox had one of the best pure lefty specialists in the game. When Boston let Myers go (he wound up with the Yankees), the Sox cited the fact that they were looking for pitchers who could retire batters from both sides of the plate. However, they come to camp very thin in the department of left-handed relievers. Lenny DiNardo is more of a long man. If you're looking for a dark horse, keep an eye on non-roster invitee Craig Breslow, who was strong in limited chances with the Padres last season.

This is a quote from mlb.com, and, if the caption above is correct, it appears that Craig has beefed up some. I'll try to get some more info on how his stuff is coming, but judging from his debut, he's sneaky fast, as both looking strike 3's were FB.

Hope to see them at least offer him a ML contract, just to keep him stashed in the system, in case his upside expands.

[Charley Weir]

Out came Terry to call in Craig Breslow to face Andy Abad. Breslow retired Abad who flailed at a 3rd strike. Abad hurled his helmet in disgust after the AB. Breslow had a nice innings worth of support as Luke Allen made a nice running catch in deep RF, Shortstop Macho made a VERY nice stop and JT made a better stretch and play (I awarded ½ stars to each) and then a soft fly to RF.

If Mike F likes him, it's a start.

[Charley Weir]

Lefty should help Pawtucket: Triple-A Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson will have a quality left-hander out of his bullpen this season in Craig Breslow. And don't be surprised if Breslow (1.69 ERA for the Red Sox this spring) makes his way to Fenway Park at some point during the 2006 season.

Breslow, who graduated from Yale as a molecular biophysics and biochemistry major, nearly quit baseball last year, but he instead wound up pitching 14 games for the Padres, posting a 2.20 ERA in 14 outings.

"Breslow had the ability to kind of get that ball under right-hander's hands with his changeup," said Francona.

Tito's on board with Mike F, let the Craig Breslow era begin!

[Charley Weir]

Another of the LHRP in the hunt for a possible job, Craig Breslow, wasn’t so effective today. He got as routine 5-3 before walking the nest hitter and got a Broke Bat humpback liner to short for the 2nd out. The next hitter whacked one back to Breslow and on his toss to 1st the ball, 1st baseman and ball all arrived at the same time.

Mike, you're a tough room!


routine 5-3, walk, Broken bat, come-backer . . . what would constitute a GOOD outing?


If Foulke gave you that inning, would it be joyous?

[Charley Weir]

Sorry for the long interregnum.

Craig has my vote for Vulture of the Week (Or month).

W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO
4 0 4.63 7 0 2 11.2 6 6 6 1 10 13


Craig still shows decent K/9 and hits allowed, with too many walks, but, man, 4 wins and 2 saves in 7 games!!!!

Slippery as an eel, and a smart ballplayer - me likee!

[Charley Weir]

Ok, here's two pitchers at Pawtucket with 17.2 innings of work so far:

Name / W / L / ERA / APP / Inn / Hits / Runs / ER / HR / BB / K / Whip / GF

Pitcher 1 / 4 / 0 / 3.06 / 9 / 17.2 / 9 / 6 / 6 / 1 / 10 / 17 / 1.08 / 5

Pitcher 2/ 0 / 1 / 3.57 / 10 / 17.2 / 17 / 7 / 7 / 1 / 11 / 6 / 1.58 / 4

OK, you can tell #1 is my boy, from the 4-0 Vulture stat.: #2 is the immortal Tim Bausher.

My point is, in 9 appearances, he has finished 5 games, so he's in leveraged innings, and his K/9 (17 in 17.2 innings) compares quite favorably to these guys in Paw.

(21 / 41.2) = Abe Alvarez

(25 / 36.2) = Matt Ginter

He reminds me of Tom Glavine a little; smart, getting by on guile; just enough stuff to fool batters; see Andy Abad's reaction; "I shoulda moidered the bum" One home run, 17 K's. The BB may be from wasting too many pitches, may be from command. Still, I grew up with a crafty lefty, and they're good to have handy against a left-handed *cough*MFY*cough* lineup

Edited by Charley Weir, 13 May 2006 - 11:40 PM.

[Charley Weir]

Interesting choice over Craig Breslow.  There's no doubt Abe has pitched very well, but Breslow has done the job as a reliever. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed. It seems that the 40-man spot is holding Craig in Paw right now.

3 K's in 2 2/3 vs. the same lineup that Boomer got 3 K's in 5 innings says something to me. Granted, Boomer was toying with the boys, but I'm looking for Craig to face Bernie in the Toilet before Bernie's done.

[WakefieldFan]

I'm Yale '07 and know a bunch of guys on the baseball team -- I've heard nothing but positive things about Breslow. Coach Stuper has raved about his presence on the mound and his leadership abilities.

I saw him pitch in Pawtucket a couple weeks ago and he looked fantastic. He put up 2 scoreless innings with one hit and one walk, striking out five batters, one of whom was Lastings Milledge. He was throwing all his pitches for strikes, and picked up K's on both the fastball and the breaking ball. His fastball had decent life on it, and sat at 88-90 mph on the stadium gun. Nothing overpowering, but certainly enough giddy-up to contribute at the major league level. If he can only get those control problems fixed, he could be a valuable asset to the pen.

On a lighter note, some of the players at school were talking to Breslow in the '06 offseason, after he had his brief stint with the Padres. They asked for the Padres' advance scouting report on Bonds. His reply? "Don't throw him strikes"

[WakefieldFan]

As of this writing, Breslow has accumulated 43 and 2/3 innings for the Pawtucket Red Sox, logging a 5-1 record with 5 saves, a 3.30 ERA, 37 hits allowed, 16 walks, and 49 strikeouts. The middling walk rate limits his major league upside, but it is worth noting that he has allowed only 2 home runs over the entire season.

Edited by WakefieldFan, 06 July 2006 - 11:07 AM.

[irishkg]

I'm Yale '07 and know a bunch of guys on the baseball team -- I've heard nothing but positive things about Breslow. Coach Stuper has raved about his presence on the mound and his leadership abilities.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Would he be a good candidate to provide his views of minor league baseball here?? If so would you be the emissary?

[WakefieldFan]

Would he be a good candidate to provide his views of minor league baseball here?? If so would you be the emissary?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd be willing to do this, though it would take a bit of digging to get his contact information. Send me a PM and maybe we can work something out.

Breslow has been called up to Boston as of 7/13, with the accompanying roster move of optining Jason Johnson to AAA Pawtucket. Go bulldogs!

[Razor Shines]

Craig's 2007 and 2006 in AAA Pawtucket:

94.1 IP
106 Ks
29 Walks
67 Hits

2.29 ERA
10.11 K/9

They should probably do something with this guy soon. Seems like the minor leagues might be a waste for this guy while he's entering his prime.

[pvg44]

Craig's 2007 and 2006 in AAA Pawtucket:

94.1 IP
106 Ks
29 Walks
67 Hits

2.29 ERA
10.11 K/9

They should probably do something with this guy soon. Seems like the minor leagues might be a waste for this guy while he's entering his prime.

Totally agree. I was watching him last night and looking through the different threads here for more information on him. His numbers for the year and performance last night was impressive. I'll look further at his splits but I'd feel better with him in the pen than I do with Romero.

I also have a personal interest in that my nephew's little league coach in trumbull was Breslow's as well and he (coach) said that Breslow stops by whenever he can to talk to the kids. A real nice guy.

[EP Sox Fan]

Totally agree. I was watching him last night and looking through the different threads here for more information on him. His numbers for the year and performance last night was impressive. I'll look further at his splits but I'd feel better with him in the pen than I do with Romero.

I also have a personal interest in that my nephew's little league coach in trumbull was Breslow's as well and he (coach) said that Breslow stops by whenever he can to talk to the kids. A real nice guy.

I too have been rooting for Breslow to get a shot with the big club. Considering that Romero was brought in because of his rep for being death on lefties and that his performance this season has been somewhat lacking:

Romero v. LH - 31ABs .355AVG .417OBP .516SLG .933OPS

not to mention he can't get righties out either...

Romero v. RH - 35ABs .286AVG .432OBP .543SLG .975OPS

He has been a bit unlucky to the tune of a .339 BABIP but his peripherals are terrible: 7.16 BB/9, 4.96 K/9 and .069 K/BB.

Meanwhile, Breslow has been successful this season against lefties and righties:

Breslow v. LH - 26 ABs .115AVG .207OBP .115SLG .322OPS 14.09 K/9

Breslow v. RH - 62ABs .226AVG .258OBP .355SLG .612OPS

and has pretty good preipherals - 1.80 BB/9 9.72 K/9 but has been a bit lucky with only a .254BABIP. Granted all of thses comparisons come witha caveat of SSS, but they do present a case for giving Breslow a shot in the bigs at the expense of Romero who has been the weakest link in the bullpen this season.

[Lose Remerswaal]

We went to the Pawsox Hot Stove bash yesterday, got a chance to ask Manager Ron Johnson what happened to Breslow, since he had such a miserable second half.

Johnson commented that after a year and a half of Breslow being nearly unhittable, both in AAA and in the bigs, he just lost it, "I think I must have overused him".

Said Breslow is still on the 40 man roster and expects him to contribute this year

[thisyearisthe]

He recently appeared at a Danbury school talking about the importance of math in baseball.

Breslow at Middle School in Danbury