FORT MYERS, Fla. – “As currently constructed, do you think this is a playoff team?”

“I do,” answered Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow during his first media availability of spring training.

His manager offered a more temperate assessment.

“We have a pretty good team. It’s a solid team,” said Alex Cora. “Are we the best team in the big leagues? No, we’re not.”

“The 30 teams right now in the big leagues, they’re gonna say all the right things, right: ‘We’re a playoff team and our goal is to win the World Series,’” Cora continued. “For me, honestly, this year is about work.”

The Sox skipper struck a very different tone from the previous spring and summer, when he and other members of the Red Sox had been confident in their chances, and vocally so. On several occasions, Cora proclaimed that they weren’t settling for one of the three American League Wild Cards, but going for the division crown. But after entering the All-Star break holding a Wild Card, Boston stumbled almost immediately in the second half. They came perilously close to extending their streak of losing seasons to three, but managed to eke out a win in the final game to finish at .500.

“Last year, we had to manage the team a little bit different because nobody believed that we were a good team, and we were very loud about how we were a World Series contender,” Cora said. “This year is about working, getting better. And if we do that over 162 games, things are going to take care of itself and we’ll be dancing in October.”

“I’m not gonna be here and say, yeah we’re a World Series team, you know, like it’s World Series or bust,” Cora reiterated. “We can contend. We can play good baseball.”

Breslow’s vote of confidence in the current squad came with caveats, too. He said the front office would “continue to be as aggressive” as they could to improve the roster – noting that the Red Sox are stilling hoping to add a right-handed hitter and perhaps another bullpen arm – but cautioned, “I think we’re interested in making the right acquisition, not an acquisition for the sake of adding a player. … I don’t believe in adding a player simply to be able to kind of, check a box.”

That’s been a frequent refrain from the front office in recent years as the Red Sox slashed payroll and rebuilt the farm system, but Breslow was adamant that the priorities have been rearranged.

“There is a time where the needle is pointed more toward building for the future, and often my goal is to balance both of those things,” he said. “But there’s no question that we’re more calibrated toward winning in 2025.”

The two Red Sox leaders expressed somewhat differing opinions on paths to victory. In the coming weeks, several relievers will compete for the closer job, though it’s unclear if only one will be awarded the prize. Breslow expressed more openness to going the closer-by-committee route, while Cora is a longtime proponent of defined roles.

“We have a number of guys who have pitched at the back-end of games in Hendriks and Chapman, of course, but also Slaten is a guy that I think deserves some consideration. Whitlock is someone who I think could be deployed as a real weapon, given his ability to throw multiple innings,” Breslow said. “I think some of it is personnel-dependent. I think some certainty and stability is often helpful.”

“(In) ’19 we had the committee,” Cora said, alluding to the difficulties with that year’s bullpen. “I believe in (set roles), but we’ll see.”

But above all, Breslow and Cora understand what the fan base expects as much if not more than the current players, because they each won a World Series with the Red Sox during their playing days. Most of the current squad has yet to even experience a winning season in Boston, much less a playoff run; Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock, Connor Wong, Jarren Duran, and Rafael Devers are the only remaining players from the ‘21 Wild Card roster, and Devers is the last remnant of the ‘18 championship team.

“We play in a city that, the appetite for rings is real. They love it,” Cora said. “So, I understand how (fans) feel. But like I said last year in September, I do believe we turned the corner. We made some additions in the offseason that are going to put us in a good spot, and our job is to just keep working to get better.”

Confidences, caveats, and differences of opinion are to be expected this early in the preseason. Spring training was made for such things; this is the time when roles are defined, rosters are set, and baseball goes from abstract to reality.

Thus, the situation on Pitchers-and-Catchers Eve is this:

The 2025 Red Sox have immense potential, but talk is cheap. It’s time to get to work.