Red Sox Truck Day Arrives But The Big Bat Never Did As Craig Breslow Fails To Deliver On His Power Promise

(Sound on for the full...experience) 

Today was Truck Day for the Boston Red Sox. 

What the hell is Truck Day, you might be asking? Well, it's the day the Red Sox equipment truck leaves Fenway Park for their spring training site in Fort Myers, FL. Has a bunch of team equipment, baseballs, etc. Duh.  

Yep. Fans show up. The team sold out and sponsored the whole thing. Local TV coverage. 

And look, some people are built to celebrate Truck Day. They see it as a fun milestone of the offseason, a sign that a harsh New England winter is almost over, and a reminder that baseball is right around the corner. 

I am not one of those people. 

No, I'm much more concerned that the Red Sox and Craig Breslow have appeared to fail at accomplishing one of their major off-season goals. A quick reminder of Breslow's own words over the last few months. 

November, Las Vegas 

“There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said. “So we didn’t slug nearly as much as I think we can, or we will, and we’ll pursue opportunities to improve that.” 

“That said, when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter,” Breslow said. “We have found that lefties who can use the Wall create a good offensive environment. Righties who can pull the ball in the air do the same thing. So there are a number of different ways for us to improve our slug, but I think this idea that we can do more damage on balls in play is certainly a good one.” 

December 8, Orlando 

"We still haven’t addressed some of the position-player needs that we have,” said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow on Monday. “We still are going to prioritize someone who can hit in the middle of the order and kind of change the overall outlook of the offense.” 

“Home runs are a foolproof way to put runs on the board,” said Breslow. “Typically, that type of profile comes with a trade-off, most often contact-ability, which is another area that we feel like we need to improve, kind of the identity of the offense. But at the end of the day, we’re trying to score as many runs as possible.”

When the team traded for Sonny Gray

"That said, a disproportionate number of runs are scored in the postseason via the home run. And that’s not something that we can ignore."

Turns out they kinda can. Over and over again, Breslow sat there and said adding power to the Sox lineup was his plan. He can say the team tried to get that middle-of-the-order bat, but it consistently came up short. Well, Breslow came up short. Or in some cases, didn't seem interested at all. 

John Fisher. Getty Images.

Pete Alonso - Offered "less money and fewer years" for the Slugger, who ended up with AL East rival Baltimore. Not close. 

Jamie Squire. Getty Images.

Kyle Schwarber - Reports have them never making an offer, let alone getting close to the 5/$150 million he got from the Phillies. 

Steph Chambers. Getty Images.

Eugenio Suárez - No offer. WTF. Was he a perfect fit? No, but he settled for just 1 year at $15 million from the Reds. Has legit power and, based on some defensive metrics, would have been okay at third base; not Alex Bregman good, but okay. 

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The team added Wilson Contreras at first base; he would not qualify as the type of 'impact bat' Breslow suggested the team was after. They also lost Bregman. The Sox were 15th in MLB in home runs last season. They hit just one home run in their playoff series loss to the Yankees. The President of Baseball Ops made a point to say it was something the team needed to address in the offseason. And yet here we are - his team relying on pitching and run prevention after telling us how important the big bat would be. 

You're going to get sick of me saying this, but the Rangers pitched well last year. In fact, they led the majors in ERA, but didn't make the playoffs, going 16-62 when scoring three or fewer runs. Yikes. 

And come the playoffs, home runs are pretty important. My math says that from 2021–2024, teams that out-homered their opponents in the postseason went 95-19, good for a .833 winning clip. 

None of this would be a huge deal if the team hadn't traded Rafael Devers to the Giants in one of the worst trades in Boston sports history last season. Devers will hit plenty of home runs for San Francisco this season.  

So yeah, there's some big trucks leaving Fenway Park today, bound for spring training. They have equipment, bubble gum, and sunflower seeds. Awesome! 

But there's still no power bat in the lineup for a Red Sox team in desperate need of one.