Major League Baseball is descending upon Las Vegas, Nev., home of the 2026 GM Meetings, the league's first major gathering of top executives this offseason.

For the first time since the Oct. 5 end-of-season press conference, Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow met with the Boston media in Las Vegas ahead of the meetings getting underway on Tuesday. 

Here's what you need to know about Breslow's media availability. 

On Sunday night, MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that he was hearing that trade discussions were "more advanced than is typical by this point in November." However, when asked about the amount of activity across the league heading into the meetings, Breslow seemed to contradict Morosi's report, saying, "It feels a lot like other years when I was having a bunch of conversations with other teams, with agents, and trying to get the lay of the land." 

"I think these conversations have largely taken the tact of previous seasons. I don't know if that's because it's just day one here, but I think mostly exploratory at this point," he said of those conversations. 

Of course, the entire offseason is shrouded in a cloud of darkness: the almost certain lockout beginning at midnight on Dec. 2. Some have speculated that the offseason could move faster than normal as teams try to get ahead of the lockout. However, so far, things are still moving at the usual slow pace. 

As we've been discussing since the wild card round loss to the Yankees, the Red Sox have nearly their entire roster returning for 2027, with only three players hitting free agency. Breslow acknowledged that reality when asked what position he could be looking at in both free agency and in trade discussions. 

"As you look around the field, there are major league capable starters at most every position. I don't think there is a straight forward, we need to go sign a player who plays this position, or we need to go add this to our bullpen or to the rotation," Breslow said when asked about his offseason plan of attack. "I think instead, we'll be opportunistic," he continued. 

As the offseason has progressed, one word has defined much of the discussion about Red Sox roster construction: creativity. And at least at this point, it seems as though that's exactly how Breslow is attacking things. 

After scoring by far the fewest runs in baseball in the last month of the regular season and only two runs in two postseason games, the Red Sox' biggest need heading into the offseason is more offense.

After finishing the regular season with 163 home runs, the fifth-fewest in baseball, many have pointed to power as the biggest need in the lineup. However, Breslow is keeping an open mind about what his offense needs. "We need to have a more consistent offense. We need to score more runs. I think there's a bunch of different ways to do that," he said, while pointing to Willson Contreras and full, healthy seasons from Curtis Mead, Adley Rutschman and Anthony as potential sources of power. 

Of course, one of the biggest roster-construction questions is how Breslow will handle the outfield logjam, which is entering its third offseason as the main topic of conversation. "For three years now, I've been hearing about the outfield logjam that we have. But the reality is we also haven't had all of our outfielders healthy," Breslow said when asked how he envisioned playing time sorting out. "Certainly, when everyone's healthy, it becomes a little more cumbersome," he continued. He went on to praise both Masataka Yoshida and Jarren Duran, the two likeliest trade candidates of the group, for the quality of players they can be at the major league level. 

Of course, Breslow was never going to lose more leverage in trade negotiations by outright saying he would look to clear the logjam. However, he did offer a hint of how he might handle things, saying, "I think there may be opportunities that we explore where we're moving from positions of surplus to fill a position of need or a deficiency elsewhere." 

The Red Sox limped to the finish line, losing several key pieces to injury. Third baseman Caleb Durbin needed two surgeries: first on his pinky, which dislocated several times during the regular season, and then on his right foot, an injury that was not made public. In addition to Durbin, it was revealed that reliever Garrett Whitlock pitched the final month of the season with an undiagnosed fractured right tibia. 

Of course, the biggest injury to the team was a reaggravation of the right wrist sprain suffered by outfielder Roman Anthony, which led to his removal from the postseason roster after Game 1. 

"Roman, still resting, [he] is going to be evaluated in a couple of weeks, then likely starts a range of motion progression and then eventually a hitting progression," Breslow said of Anthony's recovery. "[We] feel confident that the diagnosis has not really changed. Obviously, this is something that took longer than we anticipated to heal. But I feel like we have a pretty good handle on what's happening, rest, and that's going to be the most important part of the process," he continued. 

Breslow mentioned not having a defined timeline, and the pressure of wanting to return and help the team helps them handle things more patiently. 

Finally, Breslow discussed the recovery of first baseman Triston Casas, who missed the entire 2026 season after suffering a pair of setbacks in his quest to return from a torn left patellar tendon, the most recent of which required surgery on his left wrist. 

Breslow said Casas was recovering well and might play in some form of winter ball, though details were still being worked out. 

Over the last two weeks, the Red Sox have added two members to manager Chad Tracy's major league coaching staff, hiring Houston Astros major league field coordinator Jason Bell and Yankees Triple-A manager Shelley Duncan to undefined roles.

Breslow added clarity on their roles, saying Bell would serve as the major league field coordinator, while Duncan would handle one of the open base coach positions and work with the outfielders. 

Perhaps what was most interesting about Breslow's answer on the coaching hires was his note that Tracy was instrumental in Duncan's hiring and his desire to bring someone with major league experience onto the staff. "Tracy recognized an opportunity to add some major league experience, a big, gregarious personality, an uber-competitive guy... and, by all accounts, someone who is able to form meaningful relationships with players and willing to speak hard truths, but also willing to support them," he said. 

Over the last two years, the Red Sox front office has suffered from significant brain drain, losing assistant general manager Paul Toboni to the President of Baseball Operations job with the Washington Nationals in 2025 and assistant general manager Taylor Smith to the same role with the Athletics just a few weeks ago. 

"Our group is certainly smaller today than it was a year plus ago," Breslow said. However, he seemed to push back on the notion that there was a front office hiring freeze, as was speculated after Smith's departure. "We are always looking for great people that can come in, be additive to what we have here, that embrace the culture, the challenges of working for this organization... When those people become available, we're going to have some additions to make," he continued. 

The GM Meetings officially get underway on Tuesday and will conclude on Thursday.