Craig Breslow’s Message to the Red Sox: ‘Don’t Bet Against Me’

34 year old Craig Breslow might have wrapped up his worst season as a major league pitcher, but he is confident he can regain his greatness exhibited when he was part of the 2013 World Series Team. His message to the Boston Red Sox is that they should pick up the $4 million option for him; “Don’t bet against me.”

Even though he has sunk to a rating of one of the ten worst pitchers in the game from his former glory, Breslow can think of a “million things that went wrong” for him in 2014, and a lot of them can be addressed in the offseason. For one thing, he wasn’t allowed to rest enough in the prior offseason and get going with the training routine.

“I take a lot of pride in preparing in the offseason, and I didn’t get a chance to do that. I think all of us probably collectively need a chance to rest and recover and catch our breaths.”

Red Sox manager John Farrell said they have been “evaluating” Breslow’s performance and, without giving an indication of what decision will be made, said, “You look at any reliever’s track record, there is going to be variability in it … He’s been so consistent for a long period of time, I don’t want to say it was bound to happen, but because of how frequently a guy can be used, there’s going to be pullback at times. That’s the best I can tell you about that.”

Okay, nachas section: Craig Breslow was raised in a Jewish family and even fasted on Yom Kippur while pitching. He said, “Being Jewish is more difficult than baseball, but I try to do what I can to pay attention to the holidays.” When his sister was diagnosed with pediatric thyroid cancer and had to have her entire thyroid removed. Her sister’s illness inspired him to learn biophysics and biochemistry, and he formed a non-profit foundation to help children with cancer. His sister Lesley is now 20 years cancer-free and has two children.