- 5 minutes ago
Red Sox Manager Chad Tracy joined the show and talked about the removal of the interim tag and new contract, game one playoff starter, Payton Tolle’s impact, and whether taking to avoid the Yankees in the playoffs is a good idea!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Chad I just feel that I have to do this because it's habit so I want to do it one
00:04last time even
00:05though it makes no sense now when the hell are they going to remove the interim tag from your
00:09title that's done now hey finally I had I had to keep it going it's like this OCD and the
00:16thing
00:16about I mean it cost us a lot of money to have the scene set when Chad walked in literally
00:21a
00:21Brinks truck was going by on Lansdowne Street so excellent excellent form we were just talking
00:27about I've never seen a guy wanting to get out of a suit so quickly than you on TV last
00:31night like
00:32you're a baseball guy that's like that that just felt like it was a cool thing to do but you
00:36wanted
00:36to be with the guys right that was a great really cool thing obviously for myself for my family for
00:40everybody involved um but yeah wanted to put my my baseball pants on and a hoodie and go get to
00:47work
00:47and get ready to prepare for the game so um but no it was uh it was it was a
00:52special day obviously
00:52well congrats and you know I saw you yesterday speaking about how you know this has been a moment
00:58that you have been thinking about you know the majority of your professional career and you know
01:03I wonder how did the moment itself compare to that image that had been in your head all of these
01:09years
01:09and it never plays out the way you have it in your head um that's the beauty of it and
01:15most people you
01:15talk to say like you know do you are you going to get the opportunity to do something like that
01:20I mean
01:20in your head you said you could wait there's only 30 of these jobs you know that's I never lose
01:24sight
01:24of that so are you going to get the opportunity to do it you may have to wait 10 15
01:29more years to
01:30get the opportunity to do it when you get the opportunity the likelihood is that how it comes
01:34about is not going to be anywhere close to what you envisioned which is you think you go through a
01:40process and get the job and have all off season to prepare for spring and in our in my case
01:45it was
01:46end of April thrust right into it and got to find a way so um but you often don't get
01:52an opportunity
01:52to plan out great opportunities they just land on your doorstep and you got to just uh it's what
01:56you do with them when they come you've had the opportunity to give some speeches to the team
02:00for the clinching and obviously you know yesterday but the champagne speech how difficult is that
02:05because you've got to time it everybody's got their bottle of champagne ready to pop you don't
02:08want it to go too long you want to hit the right note that's got to be a tough one
02:11yeah you
02:11you thread the needle on on timing uh their desire is to start partying um but you do want to
02:20make sure you acknowledge a few things so keeping that to you know a minute or less and uh quickly
02:25acknowledge you know people that need to be acknowledged and acknowledge mostly what they
02:29what they did it's it's i said this well it's a players game players play the game and everything we
02:35saw this summer everything that happened like that was them you know it's what they did so just to
02:40to remind them of that and then and then get the party started when your dad who went on also
02:45went
02:46on an epic run as an interim manager in 2009 with colorado rockies one manager of the year
02:51went to the playoffs he didn't get the interim tag off until november right correct after the playoffs
02:57was there at any point that you just thought i'm not gonna this isn't gonna happen i'm just gonna ride
03:02this out not to say that this was a priority or important but you maybe they weren't talking to
03:06you and like this is just how it's gonna be yeah there's there's subtle differences in those
03:11situations he was on the major league staff um at the beginning of that season yeah so this was a
03:17little different since i was pulled from the minor leagues um he was the bench coach of that team so
03:22was already on the major league staff didn't have to relocate or anything like that so um no and the
03:27second part um i wasn't really thinking about it i think brez was very very we were on the same
03:33page
03:34from the jump as far as very very honest on right now between you and i together our goal is
03:39to get
03:40this thing on track let's identify areas we can improve and get after that and we'll worry about
03:44that other stuff when the time comes and we didn't put any timetable or date don't worry about it on
03:49this date he's like you know you get an opportunity here go do your thing and and he's like as
03:54we go
03:54along you know if i feel like i need to do stuff to start preparing the organization for the future
03:59we'll do that but like we we had a very good understanding of like what our job was which is
04:02we had to
04:03start playing better so that was i kept saying that to everybody like that was literally the sole
04:07focus um obviously as things got really good um i just felt in my head like you know if if
04:14we you
04:15know continue to do what we're doing this thing will work itself out well now that you're signed
04:18when was the moment where they essentially told you that you were going to be made the manager
04:23uh it wasn't a uh a drop drop dead moment it was um you know we i'd say like maybe
04:31in august early september we at least had some conversations around just and it was not
04:35contracts so just broad conversations about how things have gone how much you know he and i have
04:40enjoyed working together on the same page stuff like that breslow this was craig breslow yeah and
04:45then that that just you know initial conversations around that where you felt like we didn't get into
04:51uh an extension or anything but we felt like you know we're we're on the same page and things are
04:55going the right way and um it was really just this last month this month of september where things
04:59started to advance a little bit okay and that conversation was essentially basically like them
05:03saying that you know we're going to work things out later but we like we want you um to a
05:09degree
05:10yeah i think it was uh to a degree that you know that conversation again this wasn't two months ago
05:14yeah um you know we had worked really hard uh with the players to get it where it was and
05:19you
05:19felt like after that conversation you felt like we're at least going to talk about it yeah put it
05:23that way we're at least going to have a conversation does not mean it's going to work out
05:26but we're at least going to talk about it um and we you know started to do that and obviously
05:30got
05:30to where we are here can i ask you about your conversation i i take it you talked to your
05:33dad
05:33after it was announced what is that like oh i'm awesome i mean uh said this yesterday like i grew
05:41up
05:41around the game i obviously was like followed his journey intently and um and um and he followed
05:49mine while he's managing i'm playing and um to be able to tell my mom and dad that you know
05:55and um
05:55that was uh a special moment and he just you know it's been it's been a cool year in respect
06:00of
06:01you know he he was away from the game for a while um has been away from the game for
06:06a while
06:06wasn't watching much you know uh i don't say disinterested but less interested and and he has
06:12just uh to see his renewed interest in the game and he watches major league baseball every single
06:18day right now yeah that's cool for me uh that his his and i've in some way helped drive his
06:23interest back into the sport um we talk all the time and it's been fantastic has alex cora reached
06:28out i have uh yes yeah i won't get into all the details but like i like i said broadly
06:34with alex
06:34like has been supportive from start to finish and by the way kind of full circle right because your
06:39father managed alex and five years ago when you were hired from the angel system was there some i'm
06:44sure alex had a little input in that right bringing you into the into the fold or who was
06:48the guy that brought you in no no no i think uh i mean at the time haim was here
06:51but alex was
06:52certainly involved you know like um yeah he played for my dad i knew him a long time and uh
06:58i know that
06:59that's probably a big big part of the reason um why i ended up here you know among a lot
07:03of other
07:03people too that are still here but um but yeah you know and i and i spent time talking to
07:09some of
07:09those people ate brian abraham and different people and hugged them and said thanks for bringing
07:12me here it's been an amazing five years who had the biggest reaction in the clubhouse like because
07:16you've been with some of these guys for years now um i think everybody it was it was flattering just
07:23looking around the room everybody's there um but when you look around and you see the amount of faces
07:29that you're like i've built relationships with so many of these people for five years now yeah and
07:34they're still here and and they get to share this moment with me and um just a i guess broad
07:39eruption
07:39which made me made me feel really good all right so now we now that you're the actual manager are
07:46you
07:46saying to yourself oh wow now i'm the dude really responsible this is now i'm not now i've everyone's
07:52gonna blame me i'm the guy there's no excuses anymore i've got all the responsibility on my shoulder and
07:56i've got a very big a playoff series coming i don't think anybody hesitated to do that before to be
08:02um just because there's an interim uh title there you know when things don't go right here generally
08:09people are looking for someone to blame and that's that's the nature of the business that's how it
08:13goes um so no i carried i carried uh i do that every day i carry strong weight on my
08:18shoulders every
08:19day to to be prepared and make the best decisions possible i don't think that's any different i don't
08:22feel any different about that now than i did before well let's talk a little bit about going into
08:26the playoffs and obviously you know the team has not been playing that well over the past several
08:31weeks this is not you know but and i know there's been a lot of guys who've been injured and
08:35you know
08:36there's also something to be said for when a team knows they're going to be in the playoffs in the
08:40playoffs sometimes i know people take their foot off the gas but it is is there anything that concerns
08:45you over these last couple of weeks you know that the team is there any element of of how they're
08:51playing that actually concerns you going into the playoff um not necessarily the biggest the biggest uh
08:56and it's it's less of a i say at this point the word wouldn't be concern it's more keep going
09:01the
09:01right direction the biggest thing right now is health yeah um getting our getting our team healthy
09:05like you know can we get wilson healthy and get him back in the lineup rafaelo back in the lineup
09:10um obviously we got whitlock through what he had we got tyron through what he had going on and got
09:14him back in the bullpen get chappy out there and make sure he looks healthy those are probably number
09:19one priority right now um that's not to say you can't you can't and shouldn't go out and win
09:23baseball games even when guys are banged up we've proved all year we can do that yeah um but those
09:28are some pretty key contributors um and guys that you're talking about that like if they show up and
09:33won at bat with people on base can change a game like that yeah having those guys healthy and and
09:39ready to go as we get into next week is is probably the the most important thing right so let's
09:43talk
09:43about health what's your heart rate no i'm just kidding um the health a couple guys wilson
09:49mutteras took a crap load of swings yesterday holy mackerel he took a lot of swings um any idea
09:55his i think his goal was to play obviously by the weekend i know you just got here any any
10:01signs of
10:02where he's at he's doing better obviously like you said you saw him hit a lot yesterday hit after jack
10:06got on the field and hit bp um so we're we're heading quickly in the right direction um it's just
10:14a matter of
10:15him uh getting to a point you know where he's comfortable with you know there's different
10:19swings right some balls drive you further away and you got to reach out there and some balls are in
10:23and different areas of the zone may give him a little discomfort so it's just a matter of him
10:28getting to the point of comfortability of like that feels good i'm ready to go um and you know uh
10:34when
10:35that is i don't know or do you get to a point where he realized okay now i'm at the
10:38point where i got
10:39to get in there and get a couple games so that is very fluid situation that is definitely heading in
10:44the
10:44right direction quickly but um you also work with wilson and and make sure he's comfortable with
10:50where he's at so we're getting there with him and another one obviously yesterday crochet i i said to
10:55these guys crochet gave the air of optimism yesterday he felt pretty good about how he threw
11:01where he was at um but he also said today was an important day understanding once again that you're
11:06just here any news on him um not not today yet obviously yesterday was the best one that we've seen
11:13um there's and that's another one very fluid a lot at play right like um you're talking about
11:21the ace of your staff like you're talking about a guy that's here for years to come and the playoffs
11:26has demands uh that you can't control the demands of it you you know throw people out there you you
11:32have to ask people to be able to throw two days in a row you might have to ask people
11:35to throw
11:35multiple innings so with garrett obviously yesterday regardless of the playoffs was very encouraging to see
11:42him on a mound throwing hard you know breaking balls look all that's great but we still got to
11:47be very aware what can we do this weekend can he get through that and still look at it holistically
11:52as do we feel like he can meet the demands of the playoffs or are we asking too much so
11:57like there's
11:58a lot at there a chance he gets in a game this weekend um i i'm not overly optimistic about
12:04that
12:05but i i'm not ruling it out we just got to see how he comes in today and then plan
12:08plan
12:08next steps um it could be another live ep and um you know it's it's hard to say how tough
12:15would
12:15it be mentally to have your first game back be during the playoffs for a guy like him probably
12:22not too tough you know this this guy is built different um but again it's just a matter of uh
12:29very fluidly looking at what are you seeing right now if he does another one what are we seeing what
12:33does that look like and are we comfortable with him meeting those demands so there's there's just
12:38still too much at play there to to know yet mickey gasper pinch hit home run last night what goes
12:43into
12:43the decision in the postseason of him in the starting lineup versus him as a bat off the bench
12:48uh we got to keep looking here i mean i don't know how many lefties we're going to face over
12:52the course
12:52of this week i think there's a handful so getting him into games against right-handed pitching
12:56here this last week as much as we can is is important um and i don't think you can ignore
13:02uh the quality of of of that at bat uh you know what we've seen over the course of the
13:07last month
13:07plus of the quality of that at bat from the left side of the plate so but we still got
13:12another five
13:12games here to assess things also i keep saying this and we've seen it happen over don't know what's
13:17going to happen with the health of our team between now and sunday um and sometimes somebody goes down
13:22and it it it solves itself so we'll uh we'll we'll definitely keep an eye on that but he's done
13:28an amazing job are we talking to chad tracy um the million dollar question what are you considering
13:33when picking your game one starter a lot of things um i'm not going to get into who that is
13:41because
13:41actually we're still talking through it um and we also arrange the rotation this week um in a fashion
13:49that once we get to next tuesday any one of of those three guys is rested um fully rested at
13:55least
13:55six days um or more so uh we have the ability to kind of to to do what we want
14:01to do there um and we
14:03haven't made any final decisions um who's we i'm sorry when you say we all of us myself brez bales
14:08we
14:08talk with the pitching staff all of us deciding and going through that do you have final say on it
14:12uh we'll do that together okay you know i mean in our case it's it's tough right because like
14:17i don't think you're going to make a bad decision we have definitely we have three really good
14:22starting pitchers that we know um can pitch in that series so um there's a lot of things will
14:27factor but we we just haven't gotten there can you give me a case for a peyton toley as a
14:32rookie
14:33like he's been so good this season he is also though a rookie but he's been good against the
14:38yankees can you give me a case for him well there i'll just say because you're you phrase that as
14:44he's a rookie there's been plenty of moments this year uh in high big high leverage spot starts and
14:50has he seen phase to you in in any way not at all it's like he doesn't hear the noise
14:54so he's he's uh
14:56he's well equipped in any environment that's the way we we've talked so much about peyton toley and
15:01like who he is as a person um the things he's been through and he he's not going to make
15:05any
15:05situation bigger than it needs to be so like um i i wouldn't read into peyton toley as a rookie
15:10and
15:11that's you know uh there's there's a lot of guys that are rookie pitchers that go out there and
15:14they're really good and uh so it's uh that that part won't factor in do you see him play in
15:19high
15:19school basketball i saw the video but he saw it yeah yeah yeah he's got a hell of a three
15:26point
15:26three shot you know five out i mean let's let's go i've seen him take at bats in college oh
15:32oh yeah
15:32yes uh ken's guy brayden ward he was well ahead of the curve yeah i was oh yeah does it
15:39would you
15:39if brayden ward is part of the equation i know that you're still sifting through things would you
15:44like to get a guy like that here to play in a major league game before he gets puts on
15:49postseason
15:49roster sure but sometimes you can't you know if you're going to get somebody in in this part of
15:55the season it means you have to lose somebody else so as easy as that sounds um if you have
16:01a roster
16:01of players right now you feel like all these guys could factor in well in order to get him you
16:04have
16:04to send somebody down you do that you lose that player for the next 10 days there's an injury so
16:09uh sure but you you can't sometimes so um he's down in florida with a whole group of guys in
16:16fort myers he's there for a reason which means he's a factor in our eyes um whether or not he's
16:22on there i don't know yet but any of those guys that are down in fort myers are either there
16:26to be
16:27able to help us at the end of this season if we need it and or be options and be
16:31ready to go to help
16:32us in the playoffs and and that's why they're there so um but to answer your question yeah but there
16:37are things that happen as far as rosters that just you know you have to be aware of too um
16:42there
16:42is a a dumb theory that's out there and i just want you to address it and people are saying
16:46that
16:46the red sox would benefit by tanking the rest of the games in order to not have to play the
16:51yankees
16:52just address that weird statement that's out there because we've had some fun with it no no
16:58first of all you have to do that and somebody else would have to win every game that's right
17:02second of all you don't um you don't really uh you know you'd rather not lose every game so no
17:09that's not that's not something you game for you just go out now we we have put ourselves in position
17:16because of how well we played and and we're got such a large lead and we're able to clinch with
17:20a
17:20week left in the season we have put ourselves in a position to unload pitchers on days that we
17:25want to optimally line them up for next week yeah that's the right you earn when you clinch early is
17:30you have the ability to kind of set yourself up how you want um within that you hope that hey
17:34this
17:34is how we're going to do it today and i hope we i hope we hope that lines up to
17:37us winning a
17:38baseball game yeah um you still go out there and play it hard but no there's uh you're never going
17:42to get professional athletes to do anything like they're those guys get out there between the lines
17:46their goal is to go out there and win yeah no question you could start monasterio on the mound
17:50though you know actually you can't no you can't no i don't think you can okay i mean position player
17:56yeah all right all right well you know you can put someone out there for you know go bail out
18:00there for bradford out there today i tell you that yeah yeah well listen congratulations chad i have
18:05a gift oh jeez there you go he's here today yeah oh yeah he's here with him like they're doing
18:11their parents together yeah i just chatted with him for a while oh great was it what the fired up
18:16pedroia was it a a very good congratulations i think it was it was a little bull a little
18:21really just getting going yeah yeah yeah pedroia to destroy a t-shirt well congratulations uh cool
18:27day and i guess that means we'll be talking to you a lot more in the years to come