- yesterday
On Monday's edition of Felger and Mazz, the guys reacted to the Red Sox winning two out of three games against the defending world series champions, the LA Dodgers. While discussing the Sox' performance in the series, Mazz explains why the team is in the perfect situation to add at the MLB Trade Deadline.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Give me your thoughts on the weekend. What was your takeaway from that? I'm just curious as to because I have a particular take on this that I'll get to in a minute. But what is your takeaway from the weekend?
00:10Take away from the weekend is that I came away impressed. I got to give I got to give it to him because when I look at the Nationals and I look at the Rockies, that's not real to me. You know, that that was really the genesis of their 10 game winning streak. Okay, what does that really tell you? Not that much.
00:28You take on the Dodgers at home. It's a real team. I know the Dodgers haven't been running away with the NL West like everybody expects them to. They got an all-star lineup and had some injuries. Mookie missed a game, came back in. So I know it's not the same Dodgers, but that's a real team, Maz.
00:46And it's not just they beat beat them in the series. It said I was able to see the Red Sox win some close games when they had to make some real baseball decisions. They had to they had to pitch effectively.
01:01They had to come up with timely hits, things that I usually don't give this team credit for because I think they are a talented team. I think they're a really stupid team. Still, I think they're a dumb team.
01:12They are a dumb team.
01:12And if they don't get to where they want to go, it's not going to be the talent. It's going to be their collective brain drain. It's going to be the stupid things they do, running the bases, catchers interference.
01:26I mean, like you think about all the ways they've lost games this year. So but that aside, I'm going to give them credit for coming away with a series win against a very good team.
01:35Murray, good series win for them, especially that they were playing de facto road games in their own building.
01:40I mean, this was a this was a Dodgers home series. If you happen to tune in for a few minutes, you could just hear it like, oh, there's more Dodger fans here in terms of the vocal, you know, the vocal aspect of it.
01:49They were louder than the Red Sox fans. It sounded like yesterday. It was like 50 percent full of Dodgers.
01:53I mean, Friday night right out of the gate was striking. Yeah, you couldn't you couldn't miss it.
01:58It was so obvious that Dodgers were getting more cheers than the Red Sox. And we'll get to more of that in a second.
02:04But post All-Star break, I can understand wanting more of the series in Philadelphia.
02:08I thought it was gross. You know, I like that final game in Chicago, but they lost that series against the Cubs, too.
02:13But going into the All-Star break, the talk was like this is the toughest schedule in Major League Baseball coming out of it.
02:19You went four and five against playoff teams. Cubs are playoff team. Philly's going to be a playoff team.
02:23Dodgers haven't been great, but they're going to playoff team reigning World Series champion.
02:26And right now they're in the second wildcard. So I can get wanting more.
02:31I know Jay Stu's one of those people, but considering where they were, especially coming out of Philadelphia, look, they're in it.
02:37And they should invest in this team come Thursday. I think no question. No question.
02:40They have to. They have to invest in the team. Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they invest?
02:44Because they're cheap. Well, they're cheap and obsessed with their model, but kind of kind of obsessed with their model.
02:52But then you look back and you say, who's the best starter in the American League right now?
02:57I would say it's Garrett Crochet. And they went away from their model.
03:01Not only did they trade minor, that prime minor league talent for Garrett Crochet, then they signed him.
03:08They signed him to a big deal. And he's actually pitched and he's already hit a career high or approaching a career high in innings pitch.
03:15So they've shown that they can go away from their model. Do it again.
03:19OK, so I was just going to read you the headline from Peter Abraham on the Globe.
03:22OK, he wrote it on baseball column. And the headline is this.
03:25With their recent play, Red Sox have proved they are worthy of acquiring reinforcements.
03:31True or false. True, true. 100 percent true.
03:35I know. I feel that way, too. I'm just, you know, and here's what I would tell you, that the four and five.
03:40If you were to ask me, is four and five against this competition good?
03:46Here's what I would tell you. And I'm totally half assing it.
03:51Not bad. Not great. Not bad. It could have been worse.
03:57So they had to scrape to get wins against the Cubs and Phillies.
04:02Against the Dodgers, they played better. And I'll tell you what I did like about this weekend.
04:06Like you mentioned, they played low scoring games, Michael.
04:08It was a very similar series in that way to Tampa Bay.
04:12So the last two home series have been some pretty entertaining baseball over Fenway Park.
04:18Even the Tampa series, which, again, the Dodgers got the star power and the firepower that Tampa Bay doesn't have.
04:24But the baseball was pretty good and the games were entertaining and there were some big plays made.
04:29I thought one of the biggest plays of the weekend was Jaron Duran's triple on Saturday because they were down early.
04:35And to get right back in that game quickly, you know, to me, really changed the flow of the weekend.
04:40I thought they were on their way to another loss. And then all of a sudden that happened.
04:44OK, here you go. Now you're in the game. You get a sack fly. Now you're ahead 3-2.
04:48Now you have a chance to win. And here you go.
04:50So I thought all the momentum kind of changed at that particular point.
04:55But when I say not bad, here's the ultimate summation.
05:00I asked Thomas, our intern, to do some of this research because I was in the car on Saturday when they fell behind.
05:06And I said, you've got to be kidding me.
05:08Every time here since out of the All-Star break, every game they're falling behind in the first inning.
05:15Seven out of nine games they have allowed runs in the first inning.
05:18Right out of the gate, they're behind constantly.
05:21Seven of the last nine.
05:22Seven of the nine since the break.
05:24What?
05:24OK.
05:24The nine against the three good teams.
05:26OK.
05:26The Cubs, the Phillies, and the Dodgers.
05:29Behind, behind, behind. Every single time.
05:31And when it happened again on Saturday, I said, this is getting ridiculous.
05:34They can't beat any of these teams because they're always chasing.
05:37And for Crochet to come out and give up runs early, big mistake.
05:42So Thomas did the research.
05:45Since the All-Star break, they've been outscored 12-2 in the first inning.
05:49They've been outscored 21-8 in the first three innings.
05:53In the 84 innings that they've played, they've led for just 25 and a half of those.
05:59They've been behind twice as long.
06:01It's 47 and a half as they've been ahead.
06:03OK.
06:04So again, you're chasing constantly.
06:06And those 25 and a half innings that they've been ahead, 14 of them came Saturday and Sunday.
06:13So in other words, I'm telling you, I asked for this data when I was in the car on Saturday.
06:18They were behind two zip.
06:19From that point forward, they took the lead and basically didn't trail.
06:22So based on those numbers, even though we all said true to Peter Abraham's comment that they've earned the right to have management step up and add to the team,
06:36none of them have really earned it.
06:38They need it.
06:39Because when you trail, what was that?
06:41It's a good way to put it.
06:43So look, you've played 84 innings since the All-Star break and you've led for 30% of those innings?
06:51Correct.
06:52No, that tells you you're not good enough.
06:53Correct.
06:54So you need the help.
06:56Now, I didn't think they needed another bat, but this tells you they could probably use another bat.
07:01Yeah, so definitely.
07:02And look, I heard them say this on Zolak and Bertrand.
07:05I don't remember who said it, whether it was Beatle or McCone.
07:09One of them said, well, look, this is who they are.
07:12They're not quite good enough to beat the good teams.
07:17And they're a wild card.
07:19They're the third wild card.
07:21So this is sort of a representation of who they are.
07:24And I think that there is some truth to that.
07:26They are the perfect team to add to.
07:30So if the Red Sox don't add at this deadline, what team would ever add?
07:35Think about it.
07:36They're in, okay, but they're kind of on the cusp.
07:40And they're young, which means they should get better, not worse.
07:42So if you have a young team that's on the cusp and getting better, why wouldn't you add?
07:50This is exactly the kind of team you should add for.
07:54Let me answer that question.
07:55Why wouldn't you add?
07:56If you're the Red Sox, why wouldn't you add?
07:57Because you go in and you're thinking from top to bottom, because I've heard this of some version of this from Sam Kennedy.
08:06I've heard this from Craig Breslow.
08:09I've heard this, some version of it from Alex Cora, that they made some moves in the offseason that to go for it.
08:18We're a playoff team.
08:20We're a playoff team, and we did a great job.
08:22We brought in an all-star closer and Chapman.
08:25We brought in Alex Bregman, who's a great player.
08:28We brought, you know, we ponied up for Garrett Crochet.
08:32In other words, if you think you got what it takes right now, and that this team just needs to come together,
08:39and they need to gel and whatever, you wouldn't do it.
08:42Now, I don't buy that, but I can see them saying, hey, we got everything we need right now.
08:46What else do you want?
08:48We made it, and we made another trade.
08:50We got rid of that bum, Raphael Devers, for clubhouse sanity.
08:57And we've got every – Alex Bregman, we missed Bregman for a month and a half.
09:01He came in, and look at him, hitting a home run over the weekend to secure a game.
09:08And you do that old – Tony, since you covered this guy, you know this.
09:11You go to that old Dan Duquette line.
09:14You know, better than any acquisition we could make.
09:17Oh, God, please.
09:18Yeah, don't get me wrong.
09:20Marcelo, coming back from injury or something like this guy coming off the injury list
09:25or this guy starting to figure it out is better than anybody we can acquire at the deadline.
09:30It's ridiculous.
09:31Yeah.
09:31Listen, again, if you were to drop the perfect team to add to at the deadline,
09:36to me, this is pretty much it.
09:38And when I say the perfect team to add to, I understand I'm not talking about a championship caliber threat.
09:43But, you know, you want –
09:44DNA-wise.
09:45Yeah.
09:45Just like, this is the profile line.
09:46Right.
09:47And where it's trending, where it's going.
09:50And this is part of the reason I want them to go out and make a legitimate trade for a starting pitcher
09:55who can help them not only this year but in the future.
09:58So Joe Ryan's easy because we all like him.
10:00Okay?
10:01He's a good pitcher.
10:01He's got two years left.
10:03He fits in behind crochet.
10:05He's right-handed to go with the left-hander.
10:07All of the above.
10:08So if you get Joe Ryan, you will now have, you know, two pitchers basically 29 and younger,
10:14one right-handed, one left-handed, all these young guys who are just starting to grow into their ability
10:19and you can legitimately say we're in position to challenge here for the next two or three years.
10:26Or if you take it in two or three-year blocks, maybe longer because of Anthony and Meyer
10:31and Raffaella and William Abreu, you go right up and down the line.
10:35You haven't mentioned Duran, so you're okay with giving up Duran for Ryan.
10:38I am.
10:39I am, too.
10:40I am.
10:41So, to me, if they don't add to this team, well, then they're never going to make a substantive trade at any deadline.
10:48Now, look, at the time, you want to go back to 2018?
10:51Could you say that team had championship aspirations?
10:53And they did.
10:55What they added was what they thought were role players.
10:59And they were good ones.
11:00Steve Pierce ended up being excellent.
11:02Unbelievable, right?
11:03But he was a specialist, right?
11:04He was a twice-a-week kind of guy.
11:06And played for everybody, and they played for everybody in the division, right?
11:09Yes.
11:09Pretty much an ALE Stevie Pierce.
11:12And none of us knew what Evaldi was going to be,
11:14and he turned into something bigger than anyone could have imagined.
11:17But at the time, it was a depth piece, and he ended up being more than that, which is fine.
11:23So that type of team, you're adding smaller pieces.
11:26This is the kind of team where you should make a big trade.
11:28And the reason, yeah, that kind of team, you add smaller pieces.
11:32But think about what their record was, too.
11:34Like, we knew, maybe people weren't buying into it, but at the trade deadline in 2018,
11:41I mean, this is one of the great Red Sox teams of all time.
11:44That's not an exaggeration.
11:452018, I mean, look at everything that they did from start to finish.
11:49Amazing.
11:50Including Mookie Betts MVP.
11:51I mean, they had it.
11:52First year for Alex Cora.
11:54I mean, everything was going right for them.
11:56So it made sense that they would look at these pieces as, hey, he's a role player.
12:02Right.
12:03We look at this team now.
12:04They're not the best team in their division.
12:07They're clinging to a wild card spot.
12:11Like, this time next week, will they still be in the wild card and playoff position?
12:15I don't know.
12:15They need the help.
12:16Yeah, they need something.
12:18They need something big.
12:19They need the help.
12:19And to that point, Michael, maybe this is the better way to say it.
12:23The 2018 team may very well have won the World Series without a trade.
12:28They might have won without those two guys.
12:30Pierce was the MVP of the World Series, but they dominated the World Series.
12:34They dominated the postseason.
12:35They dominated the whole year before that.
12:38Now, would it have taken a couple of more games?
12:40Maybe.
12:40But they were good.
12:41I mean, they were clearly the best team in baseball that year.
12:44This team needs the help.
12:47They need it.
12:48If they're going to play the Dodgers and they're going to play the Phillies, and I mean teams
12:51like them, or even the Tigers, I know the Tigers have been struggling, but the Tigers
12:55are a good team.
12:57They need the help.
12:58If they're going to get to that next level, they need the help.
13:01Why don't they play smarter?
13:03Okay, so a good question.
13:05I think some of it is a bigger than them problem.
13:08I think it's a problem throughout Major League Baseball.
Recommended
15:13
|
Up next
19:18
3:26