The Boston Sunday Sports Section
The Hot Seat Gets Even Hotter
Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system, with an average surface temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit due to its dense, heat-trapping greenhouse atmosphere.
867 degrees is hot enough to melt lead.
Mercury bats second at 333 degrees. While it is closest to the sun, it does not have a thick atmosphere like Venus’s that traps heat.
The hot seat under Craig Breslow went from Mercury hot to Venus hot this week. His rigidity and poor communication have created a thick atmosphere around Fenway that seems to have melted Boston’s wooden bats, at least at home.
Two new pieces of damning information emerged this week.
On Monday, the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey reported that Breslow’s mentor and advocate for the Chief Baseball Officer job, Theo Epstein, has been disappointed in Breslow’s overly analytics-driven approach. No slouch when it comes to analytics, Epstein prefers a more balanced approach that combines the best of analytics and scouting.
Epstein also happens to be a senior advisor to Fenway Sports Group and owner John Henry.
Zack Scott started in the Red Sox front office in 2004 as an intern. He worked there until 2020, playing a part in four World Championships, two of those with Epstein in the driver’s seat. Scott did not create the Red Sox’ original famed analytic model ‘Carmine,’ but as Vice President of Baseball Research and Development, he oversaw the group that built its successor system ‘Beacon’.
And Scott tweeted this week that, based on the, well, analytics, the best results came when the team combined the input of stats and scouts.
Please note the part about purposefully NOT training the scouts on analytics, because otherwise they would be biased towards incorporating more analytics into their reports and lose the advantage of using the combined inputs.
It is amazing that we are still debating Moneyball twenty-plus years later. Bringing analytics and scouting together should be an established practice by now.
Dismissing the human voice of scouts is like Kyrie believing the Earth is flat.
Sorry for the flashbacks.
Scouts can evaluate more than a player’s five tools (hit, power, run, field, and arm). Those things matter for projecting a player’s future. The analytics show a player’s past performance. As anyone who has bought a mutual fund knows, past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Experienced scouts who have traveled the country, eaten too much fast food, slept in too many cheap hotels, and weathered too many scorching summer days have their own mental database to search for patterns.
Baseball scouts evaluate a lot more than velocity.
As importantly, the good ones get to know a player and his coaches and can tell you how he responds to failure, what kind of teammate he is, how well he makes adjustments, how well he handles pressure, whether he takes accountability or points fingers, how much he loves the game, how well he takes coaching and feedback, how he deals with the aches and pains of a baseball season, how quickly he bounces back from adversity, whether he has good baseball instincts, how much competitive fire he has inside.
Those things matter. A lot!
And computers don’t measure them.
I believe scouts should rate players on seven tools — the five current ones plus makeup and availability.
Let’s take some practical examples that are having an impact on this year’s team.
Brayan Bello has arm talent. He also appears to be a head case, and his comments this week did not exactly scream accountability or a willingness to sacrifice his own interests for the good of the team.
Brayan Bello was sent back to Triple-A Worcester this week.
I wonder where we have seen that before – oh yeah, Rafael Devers.
After a hot start last April, Kristian Campbell cooled down in May, in part because he was being asked to play multiple positions defensively, but also in part because the league figured him out and attacked his weaknesses.
There were reports that with all the failures, he got very down on himself and lost his confidence. As former Major Leaguer Braden Bishop shared in our Substack Live event this week on Second Acts, baseball is a game of failure, and it is very easy to get down on yourself and lose confidence.
Braden Bishop on Second Acts: baseball is a game of failing every night.
The Red Sox signed both players to long-term extensions well before they needed to, with very limited data on their Major League bona fides.
Bello is in Worcester with nearly $50 million in guaranteed money remaining on the six-year $55 million deal Breslow signed him to before the 2024 season as one of his first moves as Chief Baseball Officer for the Red Sox.
Campbell has now been in Worcester for nearly a year. In the minors in 2024, he hit 20 home runs and had a .997 OPS across three levels. In Worcester this season, he has two home runs and a measly .665 OPS. He is signed through 2032, with more than $50 million remaining on his contract.
I hope Bello and Campbell are at least buying dinner for the other guys in Worcester to provide some value to the organization.
I wonder if that $100 million could have helped sign Kyle Schwarber.
One last point.
Most teams are already embracing analytics. AI will make it easier for teams to conduct more sophisticated data analysis and further level the playing field in analytics. Then the difference will become the human element, the very element Breslow has de-emphasized.
These signs all point to a dysfunctional organization. A 10–21 home record and the lack of back-to-back wins at Fenway since April 7th and 8th demonstrate the on-field impact.
It seems only a matter of time before his seat gets even hotter and Breslow gets fired into the sun.
The Hits Just Keep on Coming — From Waltham
The Red Sox offense has been markedly better the past couple of weeks. Even Caleb Durbin has started hitting better.
The second damning piece of information that came out this week is it turns out that Caleb Durbin has been working with an outside hitting coach, Lorenzo Garmendia, founder of Gradum GSwing, in Waltham, Massachusetts, on home game days, doing about an hour of drills before commuting to Fenway.
He started working with Garmendia after being benched in late May. In his last seven games, his OPS is .952, roughly double what it was prior to the change. While not unprecedented for a player to work with an outside coach during the season (Breslow confirmed Alex Bregman did last year), it is not exactly a signal of trust in the team’s staff and has raised some eyebrows.
There has been a lot of criticism of the Red Sox embracing some of the analytics and hitting philosophy of Driveline. Driveline’s philosophy and approach, however, are not the issue.
Driveline is an Arizona-based company that uses advanced biomechanical info to assist training and development. Over the winter, you hear ‘he went to Driveline’ about a player with the reverence of the ‘he went to Jared’ commercials. Shohei Ohtani has worked with Driveline. Jordan Walker retooled his swing this winter at Driveline and has had a breakout year.
In season, though, you need experienced, credible coaches to help players translate the Driveline philosophy into on-field results and earn player buy-in. And it should be part of a hitting philosophy, tailored to what works for a hitter, rather than being crammed down players’ throats.
The Red Sox coaching staff has very little Major League experience. We detailed two weeks back that hitting coaches John Soteropulos and Collin Hetzler had a combined four weeks of experience coaching Major League hitters before taking their respective new jobs after Breslow fired most of the coaching staff, along with manager Alex Cora, in late April.
They are both Driveline alums, and therefore the Driveline angle has gotten a lot of attention. I think it is worth bearing in mind, though, that the Washington Nationals, now led by President of Baseball Operations and former Red Sox Assistant GM Paul Toboni, also hired Driveline coach Andrew Aydt over the winter as their assistant hitting coach and adopted the Driveline analytics-based hitting philosophy.
Toboni also hired Matt Borgschulte, now in his fifth season coaching Major Leaguers, as his hitting coach. Borgschulte was the Orioles’ co-hitting coach in 2022–24 and the Twins’ hitting coach in 2025. He coached Byron Buxton and Adley Rutschman to Silver Slugger Awards and Gunnar Henderson to Rookie of the Year.
That gives him credibility that the Red Sox new hitting coaches do not yet have with the players.
The Nationals lead baseball in runs scored. The Red Sox rank 28th out of 30 teams.
In addition to lacking Major League coaching experience, many of them are now coaching out of position, sort of like asking a catcher to play first base.
We will come back to that in a minute.
Third base coach Chad Epperson has made some very questionable send decisions that have resulted in several players being thrown out at home plate, including catcher Connor Wong as the potential game-tying ninth-inning run versus Minnesota.
His decisions have arguably cost the team some wins. But he was the Double-A Portland manager before Breslow fired the coaching staff. Best I can tell, Epperson had not coached third base at any professional level before bringing us back to the days of the late ‘Wave Him In’ Wendell Kim.
It reminds me of the ‘Tell him Wash’ scene in Moneyball where Billy Beane tells Scott Hatteberg how easy the transition from catcher to first base will be — ‘It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash’ — and Ron Washington replies, ‘It’s incredibly hard.’
The demotion, plus a defiant Bello presser. Chad Tracy: “We need Bello to start.” Bello’s reply was, in so many words, stop talking about the bullpen.
Breslow’s message: fall in love with baseball all over again. He says Bello lost his “big personality” and put too much pressure on himself — the human element, invoked.
Off a Buster Olney report: Boston is hunting a right-handed bat and willing to eat salary — counterintuitive for a team that has hit lefties better than righties this year.
Tony Massarotti on a Red Sox team with problems on the field and off it.
View on X → — @redsoxstats lines up Tim Healey’s “are the Sox better off than when they hired Breslow?” deep dive against Theo’s own words days earlier. The senior advisor isn’t thrilled.
View on X → — The numbers, with a pulse: FanGraphs still gives Boston a 27% playoff shot, but history is the bouncer at the door — only 7 of 231 teams since 1995 climbed out of a 23–31 hole.
View on X → — Jen McCaffrey on the deadline tightrope: the Sox should probably sell, but a murky AL picture could tempt them to buy. They’re shopping catcher Connor Wong and fielding calls on relievers.
The Best Argument Against Trading Brown for Giannis Comes From New York
The best argument for the Celtics not to trade Jaylen Brown for Giannis comes from a place Celtic fans are not going to like — New York City.
After a disappointing loss to Indiana in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals, the calls for the Knicks to make changes were loud. Times Square loud.
The Knicks fired coach Thibs and replaced him with Mike Brown.
They kept the roster intact.
And that continuity is now paying off with the team two wins away from a Championship.
The Knicks of course have a unique continuity in that much of their core — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — have won a championship together.
Ten years ago. In college at Villanova, on Kris Jenkins’ iconic buzzer-beater.
Damn, has it really been ten years since that shot?
Now they are known as the Nova Knicks, even without their one-time Knick teammate Donte DiVincenzo, who was also part of that 2016 Championship team.
The Celtics’ core of Tatum, Brown, White, and Pritchard has also won a title together. An NBA title. Just two years ago.
Giannis is the only clearly available player that might be worth breaking up the Celtics’ core.
The word on the street is that the Celtics’ interest in Giannis is rather lukewarm and that Miami is more interested than Boston.
The Celtics have some assets to work with to add to their current group, detailed in the first edition of Tyler Rourke’s new weekly column, This Week in Basketball. Tyler notes that Boston could benefit from a rim-protecting big and a pass-first playmaking guard to help unclog the offense in crunch time.
But with a healthy Tatum, Brown returning to his role of Robin to Tatum’s Batman, Pritchard and All-Defensive First Team Derrick White, the Celtics have a strong core four. Add in emerging talents like Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman, and Hugo González, and Brad Stevens might decide to add around the edges rather than go the King Solomon route and split the Tatum-Brown baby in half.
Just look at the Knicks. They haven’t won a title since King Solomon’s Days and are on the verge of doing so with essentially the same roster that lost in the ECF a year ago.
Brian Robb’s read: Boston will cast a wide net but isn’t thinking big. Tweaks over teardown, with the $15M mid-level exception and two 2026 draft picks to work with.
Sam Amick reports Giannis is wary of what Miami’s roster looks like after a deal — and points to the Celtics as a “pretty intriguing” option with a better chance to contend.
Vucevic the lone UFA, six team options, the mid-level exception, and why nothing moves until the playoff teams can deal. The dates to circle, draft included.
Celtics Talk breaks down Brad Stevens’ tricky summer: the extensions, the trade calculus, and the tax-apron math that shapes it all.
View on X → — Boston.com puts the Giannis sweepstakes in perspective: players with this many All-NBA first-team nods almost never get traded. Which is exactly why the asking price should scare you off.
View on X → — Fifty years on from the greatest game ever played: the Celtics’ triple-OT Game 5 over Phoenix in the ’76 Finals, and the 19 seconds of chaos that defined it. Karalis is right to resurface it.
View on X → — CLNS’s Big 3 crew asks the right question: with the Knicks and Spurs in the Finals, what’s the actual lesson for Boston — continuity and patience, or a bigger swing?
Pay the Man
The Patriots put a big red check on the #1 item on their offseason to-do list this week by trading for A.J. Brown.
Give Brown a gift certificate to a local bookstore to find some new sideline reading, and the Patriots’ biggest offseason move is in the books.
With Brown taken care of, the next big item on the Patriots’ to-do list is whether to extend Christian Gonzalez.
The Patriots already exercised Gonzalez’s fifth-year option, which was a no-brainer. They have him under team control for 2026 at a ridiculous bargain of around $4M and then in 2027 on the 50% discount rack at $18M. They could also choose to franchise tag him for 2028.
They do not have a gun to their head on this one. And it will take big money. The Rams’ Trent McDuffie is currently the league’s top-paid cornerback at an average annual value of $31M. It might take as much as $35M per year to extend Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is not happy with the current situation. He did not attend voluntary OTAs, not uncommon for a player in his situation, and was not treated as a holdout since they are ‘voluntary’. If he does not show up for minicamp, this gets more interesting, but fair to say you want your best player (yes, better than Drake Maye) in camp, participating and focused on football rather than finances.
Gonzalez and Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon were both drafted in 2023 (Witherspoon 5th and Gonzalez 17th). They are in the same boat contract-wise and represented by the same agency.
Witherspoon is a slot corner who excels against both the pass and the run and is an exceptional blitzer (last seen blitzing Drake Maye to force a pick-six in the Super Bowl). Pro Football Focus ranked him as the #1 corner in 2025, well ahead of Gonzalez, who ranked 13th.
But Gonzalez excels in what matters most for a cornerback – pass coverage. Gonzalez led the league in completion percentage allowed as the primary coverage defender (43.4%) and yards allowed per coverage target (4.7 yards per target). Essentially, he is the league’s best cover corner.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba averaged over 100 yards per game in the regular season. In the Super Bowl, he was targeted 10 times and held to 4 catches for 27 yards in large part due to Gonzalez’s blanket coverage.
Both elite corners showed off their wares in the Super Bowl. Despite Gonzalez’s superior coverage skills, if Seattle pays Witherspoon first and he resets the market, it will likely drive up the Patriots’ price on Gonzalez.
Ja’Marr Chase once compared himself to 7-Eleven for being open all night.
Gonzalez turns receivers into Chick-fil-A — closed on Sundays.
The Patriots need Gonzalez on the field and ready to take on JSN again for their Opening Week Super Bowl rematch in Seattle.
Pay the man.
The thorough explainer — the picks going back, the post-June-1 cap mechanics, Brown’s contract, and what he unlocks in New England.
Local flavor: Edelman on Cowherd, plus McDaniels comparing Brown’s game to Randy Moss’s. The “what a star receiver unlocks” angle, from people who lived it.
The analytical one: the Stingley comp, the Onwenu restructure clearing room, and the Maye-2027 timing pressure. Argument, not just news.
View on X → — The Pitchbot, doing what it does: Brown’s been a Patriot for all of a week, the season’s months away, and the hot-take machine has already filed its panic column.
View on X → — Evan Lazar with the receipts: nearly the whole offensive lineup around Drake Maye has turned over in two years. This is the “build around the young QB” plan, made visible.
View on X → — Jason McCourty makes the bull case for the Brown trade: McDaniels has a long history of turning a marquee receiver loose in year one. Moss, Welker, Marshall, Adams — and now Brown gets his turn.
Quiet on the ice, busy on the whiteboard. Don Sweeney heads into the draft and free agency with roughly $15–16M in cap space, the No. 23 pick, a clutch of free agents to sort (Arvidsson, Peeke, Harris, Reichel), and Pavel Zacha as his most appealing trade chip. Here’s what’s worth your time — and a reminder that the fanbase isn’t taking the summer off.
The one-stop foundation: who’s a UFA, the cap picture, and honest takes — Arvidsson a bounce-back but 33 and injury-prone, Peeke probably should’ve been dealt.
Fluto Shinzawa reports Boston is after right-shot D-men Rasmus Andersson and Darren Raddysh, with the cap space to do it and trade-market fallbacks in waiting.
Zacha as Sweeney’s most appealing trade chip, the Winnipeg No. 8 pick reportedly in play, and the no-trade-clause wrinkle that complicates it all.
Poke The Bear makes the case against a splashy swing: why Dylan Larkin shouldn’t be the Bruins’ summer target.
View on X → — A rare bit of good news in a quiet offseason: Jeremy Swayman finished third in Vezina voting with two first-place votes. The crease isn’t the problem in Boston.
View on X → — Local threads everywhere: Boston’s own Sean McDonough with the OT call of the year — on a Hurricanes franchise that New Englanders still remember as the Hartford Whalers. Haggerty’s right: it’s why Sean’s one of the best.
View on X → — The on-ice product may be in offseason limbo, but the fanbase isn’t: per STN Digital, the Bruins ranked second in the NHL in social media performance for 2025–26, behind only the Presidents’-Trophy Avalanche. Original Six passion doesn’t take the summer off.
One place. Every game. Every network. No hunting.
| Sun 6/7 |
Mon 6/8 |
Tue 6/9 |
Wed 6/10 |
Thu 6/11 |
Fri 6/12 |
Sat 6/13 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⚾ Red Sox | @ NYY 1:35 PM · NESN |
@ TB 6:40 PM · NESN |
@ TB 6:40 PM · NESN |
@ TB 1:10 PM · NESN |
Off | vs. TEX 7:10 PM · NESN |
vs. TEX 4:10 PM · NESN |
What a Team Is Actually For: The Knicks, the Finals, and a Night at Rikers
We spend a lot of words in this space on what a team is worth — apron math, trade value, whether the money could’ve gone to someone better. Here’s a reminder of what a team is actually for.
This week, while we were busy debating whether the Celtics should blow it up or build around the edges, the Knicks were doing something to a city. New York reached the Finals for the first time in 27 years, chasing a title it hasn’t held since 1973 — and the orange-and-blue fever reached a place most of the five boroughs would rather not think about. Nearly 2,000 incarcerated men at Rikers Island watched Game 1 together, past the 9 p.m. lock-in, in one of the city’s least visible institutions. The Guardian’s reporters and photographers went inside.
What they found wasn’t a story about basketball, exactly. It was a story about what a shared rooting interest can do in a room where almost everything else has been taken away — a few hours where men in tan uniforms argued about referees and rotations like anyone else on a Wednesday night. One inmate’s read on why the Knicks resonate: they don’t have a roster full of superstars. They win on chemistry. Make of that what you will.
It’s not a Boston story. But it’s the kind of story that reminds you why any of this matters.
▶ Read it at The Guardian — text and photos →Thanks for reading Issue 8 of The Boston Sunday Sports Section. If you’re not yet a subscriber, we’d love to have you. And if you enjoyed it, please share it with your fellow Boston sports fans.