- 5 weeks ago
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy joined the show to discuss last night’s walkoff win, the return of Roman Anthony & Trevor Story, tough decisions when sending players down to Worcester, and an update on Garrett Crochet.
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00:00Well hello Chad Tracy. How we doing? Where does last night rank? It's up there for sure. We've had
00:07quite a few games you know that you could probably point to here at home especially over the last
00:13couple months that you would say man how'd that happen? That one that one ranks up there you know
00:18it was good and then we lost the lead and it looked not so good and all of a sudden
00:22it's a
00:23it's a walk-off win so it ranks up there for sure. Trevor Story getting the big hit I mean
00:28that has
00:28to be for everybody we know what kind of season he had we know what kind of guy he is
00:32and to have
00:33a moment like that must have been pretty special for the whole clubhouse. Yeah two big hits. Yeah
00:37the first one just as just as big you know eight to eight to five game and and he you
00:43know gets one
00:43off the monster down the left field corner to get the game to eight to seven you know if that
00:46doesn't
00:47happen that inning ends you're you're in a really bad spot so two big hits one to set it up
00:51and then
00:51one to win it but to your point yeah he's he's uh you know gone through a lot with the
00:56injury the way
00:57he was playing before he playing through an injury and um to see him and then a lot of uh
01:02I guess
01:02narrative around him coming back at bats have been great so far so in two games he's looked really
01:07really good so is Roman so we're in a good spot there. I look I don't know Jack about baseball
01:11when
01:12you know considering how much you know uh so you know I was a little bit surprised to see Roman
01:16in
01:16the number one in the lead off you put him in the lead off and dude he's he's stroking the
01:20ball just
01:21was there any hesitation to not put him in the lead off when he came back? No um mainly just
01:26because I know who Roman is and I know who Roman is even if he's not completely locked and that
01:32is
01:32he doesn't he doesn't typically swing at balls um he he's got a very good knowledge of the strike zone
01:38and at his worst still finds his way on base like he'll he could go over and draw two walks
01:44like
01:44so he's he's very very good his knowledge of the strike zone is very very good in my opinion that's
01:49what you want in a lead off hitter is somebody that's that even even if he's not going good he
01:53can find his way on so but he's been both he's you know he's swinging at strikes and he's hitting
01:57the
01:57ball really hard. Chad I'm sure you saw the uh the notes going around about the month that Mickey
02:01Gasper had historically compared to Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, and Carlos Pena. You had to send him
02:06down for a day or at least send him to New Jersey. Did you know he was coming back in
02:1124 hours? No
02:12no um you know that the stuff uh the next day you know as we went through the rest of
02:18that next day
02:18uh that's when the stuff with you know the conversations with Wilson and where that hamstring
02:22was after the the nightcap of the day before um getting through that game and feeling like you
02:28know this is something we have to do to like get get him some rest so we don't keep going
02:32back and
02:32forth with it so no um did not um you know we we definitely told Mickey when he left like
02:38you got
02:39to be ready to go because once we expand the roster and you're able to grab Izzy like Mickey becomes
02:43a
02:43very viable candidate to replace anybody on the roster whether it's an outfielder infielder
02:48or a catcher um it just happened to happen in one day. Tough decision then? Oh my gosh yeah one
02:54of
02:54probably the toughest conversation I've had to have although he's an uber pro and understands his
02:59role and he's going to be ready to go and I've had him for a while so he'll do whatever's
03:03asked
03:03but when a guy's performing that way you know to have to have that conversation that's not a lot of
03:08fun. Do you get the final word on that? Do you guys take a vote? I have to imagine that's
03:11an
03:11agonizing decision to have to make and that a lot of people had to make it. Yeah there was that
03:16was an
03:17ongoing conversation you know Trevor and Roman are creeping towards health um and so you know
03:23something's coming so that was it wasn't like you know we just decided to sit down on the last day
03:27and talk about I will do this is like we talked about that for seven eight days as we knew
03:31that
03:31their arrival was as fast approaching like you know what what are we going to do here you know
03:35because there's there's clearly not a deserving person to have to go with everybody that's contributed
03:39to the roster um so you you have an idea of what you could do but you you're you know
03:45pushing it
03:45and you're seeing like once it becomes reality like let's see where we're at like you don't know
03:49in that span of time is somebody going to get hurt and is that going to make it very clear
03:52to us
03:53what the move is it didn't that didn't happen and um like we said we had to do Mickey for
03:5724 hours
03:58and he's back. Besides Mickey I listened to your post game on Saturday uh the Yankees series this past
04:04weekend and I don't know if I heard you even come close to this you sounded just down and defeated
04:10in this when you were talking about Mickey and Anthony Siegler yeah having to put those guys back
04:16down that obviously that had to be a tough you know decision for you so you know we talked about
04:22Mickey but what about what about Anthony and what he's brought and what's your thoughts on him?
04:26Actually thanks for asking that because he doesn't you know he's there's a lot of people asking about
04:30Mickey and he doesn't he hasn't been asked about a ton uh just because how hot Mickey was but
04:34Sieg was here for two and a half months he was here for the duration of what went on here
04:39to turn
04:40things around his energy everybody knows like he became a fan favorite his energy um his performance
04:45um so it just over the course of the last couple weeks was playing less so like that one felt
04:50like
04:50it was coming too but you know that conversation was no easier you know when you know that you're
04:55talking to somebody that was a a massive participant helping turn turn the season around for this team
05:01um also very difficult extremely difficult Aaron Boone was saying that he was shouting back and forth
05:08from his dugout to yours about the the running and the late inning stuff was that the first time
05:12you've had a shouting exchange going on with a manager I wasn't shouting back I'll be honest with
05:16you I didn't hear that okay um there's a lot being made of that whole situation and it's less of
05:23a
05:23of a thing as as you guys know I often downplay stuff there are things that get played up um
05:28publicly
05:29or on on x or on the internet um I've talked to Booney like there's it's it's not a huge
05:36thing I see the
05:36the other's perspective as well um so there's a lot of uh hoopla around that that's way more than
05:43what it actually is amongst the with us there's there's less opportunities this year to get thrown
05:48out of a game did you think about it when Sadon when the the catch call was overturned is that
05:53maybe
05:53a moment it was it's a unique situation because I thought I was going to have to take Rafa out
05:57of
05:58the game I'm standing out in like shallow left center field and we're checking his neck
06:02um I'm trying to like observe you know the play as I'm listening to the trainer talk to him and
06:07I'm
06:07trying to observe the play on the jumbotron to see like what does that look like as I'm watching it
06:12I do felt like he caught it but I also felt like when the glove turned you couldn't see it
06:16like is
06:17this going to be able to be over one of those ones I said in the post game sometimes they
06:20make a call
06:20on the field and if you don't have a discernible look they're not going to be able to overturn the
06:25call on the field so I do know the rules um I was upset in the moment of like well
06:30if we call on the
06:30field is out they're not going to be able to overturn it either but in the moment it was like
06:35I still don't know if Rafaela is going to be able to stay in the game we have to figure
06:38that out so
06:39um my biggest concern was the health of my center fielder and making sure that he was okay back to
06:43the chism play for a second uh why weren't you holding them on it wasn't that big a lead uh
06:48you
06:49know more so felt like they weren't going to run um and we're down seven to one so uh you
06:54guys know the
06:55whole you know the situation around that and we put them behind um they did run the other side
07:00of the coin is like as the other team feeling like if you're doing that that you're putting
07:04them in that position you know that you're forcing them to not run so I see the other side of
07:07it as
07:07well we've had that conversation um I know you know Booney was telling him go so it's like there's a
07:12lot
07:13of narrative around jazz or whatever jazz is doing what he's told that's why I'm saying there's so much
07:16getting blown up on that that is um not the whole picture um none of us looked at jazz in
07:23a bad light
07:23because we know what was going on so um again I said this yesterday like at the end of that
07:28game the end of
07:29that series like there's a laundry list of things that are on the priority list and like that one
07:33was you know it's a thing that happened it was really low on the list and not as big of
07:37a thing
07:37as as people are making it is it tough to sort of because you understand obviously that even though
07:43you know things happened after the raffaella call and you know at that point the game was certainly
07:47out of reach but you do kind of get the sense and maybe we heard that in the broadcast a
07:52little bit
07:52that that could be more frustrating and sort of compound and you do have some fiery guys in that
07:56dugout it really didn't it didn't go over that badly you're saying oh no no no no I don't think
08:01so I think you know guys were looking at it but I don't there wasn't a lot of conversation around
08:05that I think that um you know no I that wasn't something that was a huge thing and it certainly
08:10wasn't after I really think the focus was on man you know we lost the game that was our our
08:15bigger
08:16concentration was on we lost the game we got to get on the plane and we got to go home
08:19and start you
08:20know get our get our stuff together and start playing good baseball so no it was not not anywhere near
08:25as much of a conversation in there as it has been elsewhere and you never thought about sending a
08:29message back to them or anything like that um no no okay did you I mean even though you lost
08:35series
08:35maybe there's probably a lot to glean from that series and learn from that series and if you had
08:39a chance to you know when you get a chance to probably play them again in the playoffs you feel
08:43like if things went a little different here and there that you'd be you'd be okay Sonny didn't pitch
08:47in that series things like that yeah for sure I mean think about like the first game it's one to
08:52nothing for the pretty much the duration of the game the second game flips it right it's pretty
08:57much one to nothing we add one late it's two to nothing for most of the game and then even
09:01the
09:01game on uh on the last game it's zero to zero in the fifth so like you kind of look
09:06at it and you're
09:07like those were what if you want to talk about like playoff baseball when pitching becomes so
09:13prominent you know and matching up and all this like all like three of those four and actually even
09:17the other game we added runs late to win the game six to nothing but um it was very tight
09:24well-pitched games um throughout the entire series and a lot of those games got decided like late in
09:30the game so yeah I don't I you did you want to win the series of course you do you
09:35want to win every
09:35series you definitely want to win that series but you got to move on and and try to finish off
09:39this
09:39last month this season and whatever wherever it lands that's what we're gonna have to take down
09:43Chad Tracy our guest here on WEI did you get to meet any of the A-listers here last night
09:47so Paul
09:47Giamatti was here and John Turturro and uh I know they were there I didn't actually get to meet them
09:52okay but um you know they were you know cheering and they were really dialed into the game I could
09:57hear that it's amazing how close the fans are to you here you're like it's like between you and I
10:01right now there are moments like where you guys see where I kind of lean and there are moments when
10:05they really get into it and they all stand up that I actually have to go around and sit because
10:09I
10:10can't see the plate when they really get going I don't know how y'all how y'all do that
10:13it's
10:14great they're on their feet and they'll like lean over and I'm like I have to actually come around
10:17here and sit so I can make sure that I see home plate um but it's when that's happened it's
10:22good
10:22it means the fans are getting into what's the best heckling you've ever heard in any ballpark ever
10:27is it here uh I mean you hear stuff all the time um anything that makes you laugh when you
10:35hear when
10:36you hear you don't you don't hear it as much because you like to think your your fans are on
10:39your side right you like to think they do make they do yeah uh so you I don't hear a
10:44lot here our
10:44guys they're supportive of our players um but yeah you I can't think of a specific instance but you
10:50hear plenty of stuff on the road you hear plenty of wild things what uh what what do you what's
10:56your
10:56thoughts on on Ranger he's his he's uh you know a little bit since the all-star game he's slipping
11:02a
11:02little bit just any concerns with Ranger Suarez no I think I in big picture he's still got uh you
11:08know a bunch a handful of starts to take down here for the end of the year we got to
11:11work to get him
11:11right there's been some talk like oh he hasn't he hasn't uh finished six innings was like well the
11:16first two off the I.L. he wasn't going to finish six innings anyways because he was on a pitch
11:19count
11:20you know um so we got to get him there I do I trust the player I trust in his
11:25history his history
11:26is that when he gets down to the end of the season and he's got um pedigree that like we'll
11:31get him
11:31right uh so and I do think you know do you want him to go deeper in the game of
11:35course you do but
11:36like there has been some of these games where he hasn't where he leaves after five and it's he's
11:39given up one run or he's given up none um he's he's found a way to navigate and be competitive
11:45and
11:45keep us in obviously the Yankee game the home run from Ramos was was a bit of a dagger but
11:49but um he
11:50will continue to compete we'll continue to work with him and as we move along here hopefully get him to
11:55where he's you know pounding that strike zone and working ahead in the count uh Wilson Contreras uh
11:59obviously out and we remember him uh early on since we were talking about fans and uh
12:04maybe not always having the most support for a guy which I thought was ridiculous by the way but
12:08uh now that he's uh hit the I.L. here do you maybe look back at those uh games where
12:13he was
12:14struggling to make it down the line and think maybe he should have should have done this sooner
12:17not really because uh what we're doing right now um with him like nothing got significantly worse it
12:25just you know it creeps up like you you're able to manage a day here a day there and then
12:30he's good
12:30and he was productive uh for periods of that homestand before um and then as it continues to
12:37creep up and we did a an off day in front of the off day in Miami that was two
12:41days um hits that ball
12:43in the corner in New York runs that triple and wakes up the next day you're kind of like it's
12:47it's
12:47you know nagging at him again it just felt like we got to the point uh in talking to Wilson
12:53too is like
12:53do we get to the point where it's like can we get past this thing and get you to full
12:56health for the
12:57last 16 or 15 games of the year leading into the postseason or whatever that's that's what the
13:02thought process was there not that something drastically different happened just he's continuing
13:06to battle it and you want him to be able to you guys have seen him when he's when he's
13:10healthy the
13:11way he plays the game the way he goes down the line the way he rounds first base the intent
13:15you want
13:16him to be able to play the game like that and not have his mind on is this going to
13:19bother me is that
13:20going to bother me so we just got to that point where we felt like it's the best thing to
13:23do
13:23for for everybody before we let you go chad how's the weather forecast tonight um from last i saw we
13:28were going to get a lot of this and hopefully as it creeped towards game time we were going to
13:31be
13:31good but i gotta check when i get in there and see but that's the last thing i heard and
13:35your
13:35pitching plan for tonight is paez right paez starts what do we expect from him well rule five he was
13:41rule five from us uh went to the white socks um pitched a couple outings with them um they dfa'd
13:46and we were able to get him back he's pitched very very effectively um in double a and triple a
13:50if you
13:50number strike thrower um he's got four pitches and throw them all for strikes in the zone in any
13:55count and with our situation in the bullpen like you're hoping you can you can get you know strikes
14:00innings and get some length out of them and then go from there depending on where the game is at
14:04so
14:05as far as where we were at and needing to give sonny a break um you know he gives us
14:09a good
14:10opportunity to go out there and throw strikes and get us a chance to get into the game some
14:13and crochet progressing as you said progressing yeah progressing so i think we're due for
14:17i think it's today another what i mentioned mound catch which is basically his throwing program then
14:22he gets on the mound and has intentful catch like on the slope um and then we'll see how he
14:26feels and
14:27go from there but he is still taking uh positive steps forward and adley's healthy and he's uh be
14:32back in just whatever the lineup says yeah adley is he's dealing with some stuff with that elbow i said
14:38that yesterday we're not completely out of the woods like we are still monitoring and trying to give
14:43him you know uh appropriate time to like make sure that thing's okay um it's probably something we're
14:49going to deal with off and on through the year they're looking at different avenues to help
14:52alleviate that so um we have to be mindful of that because just like him he's active but like keeping
14:58him healthy and doing what we need to do to make sure we keep him healthy is important so um
15:02yeah there
15:03will be days where he's not in there um probably won't be today uh but we have to keep in
15:07mind like how
15:08do we do this properly to make sure that he stays active and healthy