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00:00Doing good, doing good. How are you guys doing?
00:02We're good, thanks.
00:04We've got to start with last night's game
00:06and obviously that performance from Garrett Crochet.
00:08One of the strangest things I've witnessed.
00:11Just nothing was working.
00:12You had to pull him in the second inning.
00:15Was it hard for you to watch from the dugout
00:17and how do you explain that start?
00:20Yeah, it's very hard.
00:21You know, as a manager, like, man,
00:25just take him early, you know, and see what happens.
00:28But at the same time, you still have to manage
00:30the rest of the series, right?
00:32And at that point, it's kind of like how many outs
00:35he can give us, right, regardless of the score.
00:37But then that second inning happened
00:39and we had to pull him out.
00:40And then the bullpen did a good job,
00:43kind of like helped us survive as far as like innings.
00:46And we're still ready for today and tomorrow.
00:48As far as like Garrett, you see the first inning
00:50and, you know, ground ball over the third base,
00:53two ground balls, a base hit up the middle,
00:55a blue single to left.
00:57That's part of baseball, right?
00:58Guys are going to have an approach.
01:00They're going to put the ball in play.
01:01And sometimes you're going to run into bad luck.
01:03But the second inning wasn't bad luck.
01:05They put some good at-bats.
01:06There were some walks involved.
01:08Command was off.
01:10The sweeper wasn't part of it.
01:11And, you know, credit to the Twins, too.
01:13You know, they have faced school ball,
01:15Franber, Crochet, and they have done an amazing job
01:18the last seven or ten days.
01:20And we just have to be better.
01:22Real quick, can I follow up on that?
01:23Matt, you mentioned it, those stats have been making the rounds
01:25on social media, Franber and Schuble and Crochet
01:29and 22 runs, I think, allowed and all of that.
01:32Is there something to that?
01:33Is there something going on in Minnesota?
01:35Like, how do you explain great pitchers struggling
01:37so badly in Minnesota?
01:39I think, actually, I had a conversation with my brother.
01:44You know, he's a third-base coach for the Tigers.
01:47And, you know, they played at Minnesota more than us
01:49during the season, of course.
01:51And he mentioned that the approach is different.
01:53You know, they have a new hitting group here.
01:56Just, they were very precise.
01:59If you look at the video, they were hunting inside.
02:02They got some pitches to hit.
02:03They didn't miss them.
02:04But they lay off pitches in the outside part of the plate.
02:07And it's game planning, to be honest with you.
02:10They're really good.
02:11I've been watching the last 10 days.
02:13They went to Toronto.
02:14They faced two lefties.
02:15They hit them hard.
02:16I think Scherzer, too.
02:18So, credit to them.
02:19You know, it's a new program, a new manager.
02:21And so far, they've done an amazing job.
02:23Alex, I'm just curious.
02:25A game after, I kept a game like that from Crochet.
02:28You just didn't see that coming at all.
02:30I mean, is that a performance that you feel like
02:32you've got to go talk to them?
02:33Hey, man, you know, is he feeling pressure?
02:35Do you talk to him about pressure or expectations
02:38after a game like that?
02:39Or you just don't approach him at all?
02:41He let the kid figure it out.
02:42How does that work?
02:44No, no, no.
02:45There's a lot of people working right now,
02:47watching video and the in and outs of the outing, right?
02:51Looking at his mechanics and trying to make adjustments.
02:53But he talked to me yesterday.
02:55And, you know, he walked me through the outing.
02:57And, you know, what I try to do, regardless of the results,
03:02I don't watch right after the game because the emotions are going high
03:07and, you know, the human element comes into play.
03:10So this morning, you know, I start watching the game
03:13and thinking about what he said and the pitches that he felt that were good.
03:17There were some that were good, the others not so great.
03:20So, you know, he'll get back to work.
03:22You know, he has Sunday against Detroit, obviously a good team.
03:25And we expect him to bounce back.
03:28Alex, over the weekend, there seemed to be a little bit of a,
03:31shall we say, online dust up with some words from Ken Rosenthal
03:35during a baseball broadcast.
03:37And your reaction was, I think, to some that know you
03:40as such an easygoing guy, uncharacteristically agitated.
03:45Have you had a chance to talk to Ken Rosenthal?
03:48And where does all of this shake out in terms of, you know,
03:52playing kids on new deals and how this is kind of like changing the game
03:55with younger guys getting the long-term deals
03:58and how that affects the way that you're able to manage?
04:01No, I mean, as an industry, this is where we're going.
04:05And, you know, if you think back, I'm not sure if this is kind of like
04:11the first guy, you know, Acuna, Ozzy Alves, right?
04:15Alves with the Braves.
04:16They signed long-term deals while they were young,
04:20and look what the Braves have been able to do.
04:22And this is an industry brand.
04:25This is how it's going.
04:26You see it in Seattle.
04:27You see it in Pittsburgh.
04:28You see it with us.
04:29And, you know, it's a new business model that teams, you know,
04:33are doing their job, you know, lugging up their young players, you know.
04:37And it's up to us up here to help them, you know, perform at this level
04:42and develop at this level.
04:43You know, as you guys know, back in the day, and I said it yesterday,
04:46you know, you have to go to a rookie ball, A ball, double-A, triple-A,
04:50and then you get called up to the big leagues.
04:52And if you weren't good enough, they send you back to triple-A
04:54to work on a few things.
04:56And, you know, over the course of four seasons, five seasons in the minor leagues,
05:00you get 1,000 at-bats, man.
05:02Sometimes now they barely play in the minor leagues, right?
05:06And that's what player development, you know, it comes to play.
05:10And for us as coaches, as an organization, we have to be on top of it, right?
05:15Like right now, you know, I'm running from Roman Anthony.
05:18He's working on his defense, right?
05:19And we've been talking about that for the last few weeks, you know.
05:23So at the end, the main event is the main event.
05:27It's 7 o'clock.
05:27We've got to win games.
05:28But before that, there's a lot of stuff that comes into play.
05:31And I think it's more because of where we're at as an industry.
05:34So that dynamic and the schedule, how does that change?
05:37And even in your tenure from player to manager, because you guys do play every night,
05:42so there's only so many hours in a day.
05:44It's not like high school baseball where you get three days between games
05:47and you can do infield, outfield, and do all these things.
05:50How do you teach and develop players at the big league level?
05:54Yeah, it's very structured.
05:55I think it's a lot different than, you know, when I grew up in the game.
06:00You know, now, you know, like today, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on with us,
06:06you know, from early batting practice with the machine and Roman doing his thing.
06:11The other day, we were throwing to the bases.
06:13And everybody, you know, this is part of getting teams ready, you know, to play at 7 o'clock.
06:18But I do believe it's more structured now.
06:21We know what we need to do for Roman to keep developing here at the big league level,
06:26while at the same time, he goes to battle and try to win games at 7 o'clock.
06:30And that's kind of like on an individual basis.
06:33And also, you know, it's not only the rookies, right, the young players.
06:38You know, we've got veterans that, you know, they're still developing.
06:41They're still trying to get better.
06:42And we work with them early.
06:45Obviously, you know, taking care of them, watching, you know, how many reps they get,
06:50making sure that, like I said, I repeat myself for the main event, they're ready to play.
06:54You know, you're the perfect guy to ask this question to because you were a player and now you're a
06:59manager.
07:00But, you know, besides just the dynamic of guys maybe getting paid and still not really maybe having the requisite
07:07skills
07:07they need to play at this level consistently, is there also a dynamic where you have older guys on your
07:12team
07:13that are maybe more accomplished that are making less than what these young guys that are unproven?
07:18Is there, you know, is there guys, you know, hey, man, why is that guy making that when I'm, you
07:22know,
07:22I'm an older, more accomplished guy making what I make.
07:25Do you think that is a dynamic of play at all that you have to manage?
07:29No, no, I never lived it as a player.
07:32I have never lived it as a manager.
07:35I remember if you go back to, I think it was 2002, 2003, I was with the Dodgers.
07:44Remember Darren Dreifert, right-handed pitcher.
07:46He went to Wichita State.
07:48He was a good hitter and a good pitcher.
07:50You guys remember him?
07:51Yep.
07:53Yeah, so Darren was kind of like the first contract that was based on projections, right,
08:00because Darren was a 500 pitcher with not so great ERA, but the stuff was up the charts, right?
08:06And he got that five-year deal.
08:08Scott Burrows was behind it.
08:10And, you know, in the clubhouse, people were like, man, you know, like, ah, but then you turn the page
08:15and you just, you know, take care of your career and you're going to make money.
08:19So, you know, that dynamic of, ah, why he's making more than me, that never happens here.
08:24Alex, I've always sort of thought that coaching in a lot of ways is a lot like parenting.
08:28And I was curious as to your philosophy on when should a manager get involved, call a meeting,
08:37and bring the guys together if you're scuffling or you're underperforming?
08:42And when do you let the clubhouse police itself, if you will, and let the veterans take care of the
08:47young guys
08:48and, you know, let them sort it out amongst themselves?
08:53Yeah, I think there's a balance.
08:56I always said that there's X amount of meetings that you have in your pocket throughout the season, right?
09:01Hopefully you only have two or three.
09:04It's kind of like early in the season, let's go boys, halfway through the season, keep it going,
09:09and then pop champagne at the end, right?
09:12But that's not the case, right?
09:13And you have to be very careful when you get the group together.
09:17Having the pulse of the clubhouse and, you know, relying on the coaches is very important.
09:23I think we have small meetings on a daily basis, right?
09:28The outfield coaches with the outfielders, the infield coach with the infielders,
09:33obviously the hidden part, you know, we got a meeting every day to talk about the opposition,
09:38and you take that opportunity to send a message.
09:42But, you know, I think too much is kind of productive, you know,
09:49and you just have to be very smart and very careful with that.
09:52Red Sox manager Alex Corey here on WEI Afternoons.
09:55To go back to Crochet for a minute, one of the questions he was asked about last night
09:59was his velocity, average velocity being down a mile per hour or so,
10:04and he's not the only one.
10:05If you look at some of these numbers, Bayo, Whitlock, Chapman are all down a mile per hour,
10:09almost two miles per hour early in the season.
10:12Is that a concern for any of those guys?
10:14Is that just early in the season?
10:16How do you explain that?
10:19No, from my end with Garrett, there's something coming into the season.
10:24I started thinking about Chris Sale right after, you know, 300 punch outs in 17 and in 18.
10:33We were very careful with him early on, and then around May, he kind of, like,
10:37got his velocity back, and then he took off, and it's very similar.
10:41Last year was a different year for Garrett, and, you know, not only on the field,
10:46but off the field, right?
10:47Having a kid, that changes a lot as far as, like, your schedule, right?
10:52And there's a lot of new stuff in his life, and I'm not using that as an excuse
10:57for the kid to struggle yesterday, but you guys know, you know,
11:01you have to make adjustments, and I do believe we're going to get to the point
11:04that the V-Low is going to get to where it's supposed to be,
11:08but in the meantime, you know, we have to execute better pitches,
11:11go to the locations that we want to, and if he does that, he's going to be fine.
11:14You know, he had the tough one in Houston.
11:17In between that, you know, he did a good job in Cincinnati.
11:19He pitched well against Milwaukee, so I expect him to go Sunday
11:23and do a good job against the Tigers.
11:24Alex, where are you at with Trevor's story?
11:26There was a time last year where he just went through kind of a dreadful period
11:30as well at the plate.
11:31He's going through it now, 22 strikeouts, only one walk,
11:34so he's not even getting on base.
11:36Just where are you at with him because he's an everyday player?
11:39That's not a good sign.
11:40Too many strikeouts, one walk, and he knows it.
11:43I think in Cincinnati – not in Cincinnati, in San Luis,
11:46he did a good job using the whole field.
11:48Yesterday he hit a ball up the middle, a ground ball, and he knows it.
11:53You know, when he uses the right-center gap, that's when he's at his best.
11:57Early on, the first 10 games, he was very pull-happy,
12:01chasing pitches up in the zone, down in the zone, and away,
12:04and that's a tough way to live, right, as a hitter.
12:08So just get back to backtrack the ball, hit it hard to the right-center gap,
12:11and when he starts doing that, good things happen.
12:15Alex, what can you tell us about right-handed pitcher Jack Anderson,
12:18who's being called up to replace Oviedo, who is now making his way to the 60-day IL?
12:24Yeah, this is a situation we needed to do, a move we needed to do, of course,
12:28what happened yesterday.
12:29So just bring him in here to give us multiple innings in case we are way ahead
12:34or something like yesterday happens with Sonny.
12:37So good fastball, good command.
12:39He pitched in the WBC for Great Britain.
12:41And I do believe he started that game against Team USA.
12:44So he's been doing a good job.
12:46The last one was really good for Worcester.
12:47So, you know, happy that he's going to be here, and he's going to be a big leader.
12:52Alex, along the way here with some of these lineup changes,
12:54you've had a few different guys in the two-hole.
12:57Yoshida was there.
12:58Now Durbin is there.
13:00Why is Caleb Durbin the best guy for the two-spot,
13:03and do you foresee that being his role with this team?
13:07No, I think it's more about the opposition.
13:09You take a look at the bullpens and how many lefties they have,
13:12who's available, and we're trying to do our best to split up our lefties.
13:17As you guys know, we have a lot of them.
13:19So just to make sure, you know, we split them up
13:23and then to jump into an opportunity to use one of them late in games, you know.
13:27And I think, you know, Caleb, of course, the numbers are the numbers,
13:30but yesterday was a good game for him.
13:33Since Saturday, he's been on base, I think, six times.
13:36So just put a good at bat, you know.
13:37That's what we're trying to accomplish here with him.
13:39You know, don't chase pitches.
13:41Just play the game.
13:42Minute second, hit the ball hard the other way, advance the runners,
13:45and minute third, drive them in.
13:47So it's more about what they have in the bullpen
13:49and what we're trying to do with our lineup instead of just numbers.
13:53Alex, you got in your six wins, your six starting pitchers won six or more innings.
13:57So is that just that simple?
13:58That's the formula?
13:59Or, you know, you need your pitchers right now to go long,
14:04and that's how you win games.
14:05But it's not going to be that way the whole season.
14:08But just your thoughts on six wins, your starting pitching going six innings or more.
14:13I mean, if we pitch, we're going to win a lot of games.
14:15But at the same time, I think offensively, the last three days have been pretty solid, right?
14:19We're taking our walks.
14:21We're running the base as well, hitting the ball all over the place.
14:23So offensively, we're going to be better than the first 10 games,
14:2612 games, whatever it was, you know.
14:28But as you guys know, you know, we have a good rotation.
14:31We have a good bullpen.
14:33We pitch.
14:33We play good defense.
14:34We're going to be okay.
14:36Yeah.
14:37And finally, Teddy sort of alluded to the last couple things I was interested in.
14:40Three straight games with six-plus runs is always a good sign,
14:44preferably in victory as opposed to defeat.
14:47But good starts from Baio and Suarez over the weekend.
14:50Sonny Gray looks like he's right at the ship.
14:52Is this around where you wanted these guys or expected these guys to be
14:55as plus members of the rotation?
14:58Yeah, I believe their track record speaks for themselves, right?
15:02Sonny has done it before.
15:03Baio had a solid season last year.
15:06I know he didn't pitch well in September and that game in October.
15:09And Suarez, he's done it before.
15:11So, you know, we will pitch.
15:15We will pitch.
15:16And that's something we talk about in the offseason and something that we have to do.
15:21And, you know, the last time through the rotation was good.
15:25Obviously, yesterday, you know, that happened.
15:27I don't think that's going to happen very often.
15:29That's the last guy I'm worried about.
15:31But just be consistent.
15:33Give us five, six, and we should be okay.
15:35As we let you go here, any lineup nuggets or changes?
15:38Anything for the game tonight with Gray on the mound?
15:41Yeah, we got Jaron in center, Roman in left, Yoshida is DHing,
15:46and Izzy is playing second base today.
15:50All right, Alex, good luck tonight.
15:52Appreciate you joining us, and we'll talk to you next week.
15:55See you guys next week.
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