- 2 days ago
Rob Bradford joins Chris to discuss the Atlanta Braves becoming the first MLB team to reach 30 wins this season. They also evaluate the coaching turmoil surrounding the Red Sox, the job security of Carlos Mendoza in New York, and the ongoing success of Kevin Cash with the Tampa Bay Rays.
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00:00Rob, this time around, it is all good vibes, my friend, as the Braves are the first team
00:07to hit 30 wins this season.
00:10They're on cruise control, taking series from the Dodgers and the Cubs, and I gotta give
00:16you credit, sir.
00:17You have been my lifeline this entire time when things have seemed darkest before the
00:22dawn.
00:23What have you made of the start for the season for this club?
00:27Yeah, well, first of all, it's great talking to you, as always, and how come we don't have
00:32an MLB schedule release party?
00:35I mean, it seems so sad that NFL can do all this grandiose stuff, and MLB, they have a
00:43draft where nobody shows up, but that's a whole other story.
00:46But I would just say this, is that you have this optimism with the Braves, or I've had
00:52this optimism with the Braves, because I keep looking at them for the last couple years,
00:55and people, we cannot forget how this team was built, how everybody viewed them, how,
01:02you know, the good part of it all, and obviously, when you have injuries, it's tough.
01:07They had a ton of them last year, but I will say this, mea culpa, you know, when you get
01:12a couple starters hurt in spring training, and you say, oh, we're not going to sign Lucas
01:17to your leader, or we're not going to supplement, like, oh, really?
01:20Are you going to survive?
01:21Well, they've certainly done all right for themselves, and I just go back to it.
01:27I just go back to it, that Aleksandopoulos, what he built as a foundation, I know that
01:32he probably caught a lot of heat last year, but the foundation is paying off, and the
01:36foundation, of course, includes young guys like Drake Baldwin coming up and helping a
01:41ton.
01:42One thing that needs to be pointed out, though, as much praise as the team does deserve,
01:46rightfully so, you have any long-term concern now for Austin Riley?
01:50It's been a minute since he's been himself.
01:54Yeah, no, I think that he falls under a lot of guys, right?
01:58I mean, we're a month and a half into the season.
02:01I don't think I have long-term concerns.
02:04Especially, here's the thing, when you have a lineup, well, when you have a lineup that's
02:10really good, that you have guys who are producing at extremely high levels, some who are expected
02:16and some maybe who weren't, and you have, most importantly, a team that has won a ton
02:22of games and they've put themselves in a great position, and you have a guy who has a history
02:27that maybe is underperforming, then you can ride it out, and you can figure it out.
02:31It's okay, it's okay, you're winning, everyone wants everything to be perfect, it's never
02:37going to be absolutely perfect.
02:38If you had a guy who didn't have a track record, had problems, or didn't really have any sort
02:46of skins on the wall when it came to Major League Baseball, then maybe it's different.
02:51But Austin Riley isn't that guy.
02:52So, I just say, hey, keep winning games, keep riding them out, and you're probably going
02:57to get a better version of them.
02:59So, Boston comes to town, the team you are most familiar with on Friday for a weekend
03:04series.
03:05Rob, I mean, this team was a dark horse darling before the season started.
03:10You look a month and a half in, managers fired, guys are hurt, people not hitting.
03:15What is going on in your neck of the woods, sir?
03:19We don't have enough time for what's going on.
03:22You know, it's funny, you know, we, you know, someone said, is this the most chaotic time
03:29that you have been covering the Red Sox?
03:32And I said, well, no, 2012 with Bobby Valentine was from minute one to the very last minute
03:38of the season.
03:39This was out of nowhere.
03:40This was, yeah, you aren't playing well.
03:43And then all of a sudden, boom, on a Saturday night, Alex Cora and five coaches, see you
03:48later.
03:49And then you're trying to figure out, well, what does that mean for everybody?
03:53You have people with name tags on the coaching staff all of a sudden.
03:57And all the while, you're still having an underperforming team.
04:00So, where have we landed as they, as they get ready to fly to Atlanta?
04:04I mean, I think where they've landed is they have really, really good pitching.
04:08I mean, really, really good pitching.
04:10They have hitting that isn't so good.
04:13They have a team that doesn't hit home runs.
04:15They have a team that doesn't hit with any pop at all at the place they play 81 times at
04:22Fenway Park.
04:23That's the biggest problem.
04:25And honestly, it would be a waste if they don't try to fix things a little bit more aggressively
04:30than normal, because the American League stinks.
04:34And as I said, they have really, really good pitching.
04:37So, I think they have the potential, but I think that they've got to reorganize the deck
04:42chairs a little bit when it comes to that lineup.
04:45Speaking of which, how do you explain the left side of the infield, which is combined
04:48to hit 190?
04:53Well, you have, well, first of all, you have Trevor Story at shortstop, who is, you know,
04:59we've seen the good of Trevor Story, but he went through a 38-game stretch last year where
05:03he was terrible right around this time, and he came out of it.
05:07But, you know, he had a home run, so maybe he's coming out of it now.
05:11Like, they need him.
05:12And this isn't a luxury item.
05:15This is a guy who they obviously signed to be a middle-of-the-order guy, the shortstop,
05:20and he hasn't performed at the level that they need him to, either offensively and defensively.
05:24And really, what's going to make it challenging going forward is that when you take out his
05:29hitting coach, the guy that got him out of that slump last year, well, then you have
05:34to have him call him at home.
05:35I mean, he's not at the park to help you.
05:37So, that's just one of the many, many weird parts of this.
05:41And then when you talk about third base, well, it should be Alex Bregman, but it's not.
05:45It's Caleb Durbin, the guy who finished third in the rookie year, a guy who I think is going
05:50to be a good player, but right now, he is a guy who doesn't have a lot of experience
05:55in the major leagues, has been swallowed up by the expectations of Boston, hasn't been
06:01good offensively at all.
06:03I mean, he has been so far from what they need at the third base spot.
06:07I mean, that's all of it.
06:09Those are two spots which really, really have hurt them.
06:12All right.
06:13So, then you look at what you said before, the lack of power production.
06:17Were they assuming that Jaron Duran and Roman Anthony were going to, like, you know, have
06:2325, 30 home run seasons?
06:25Was that the idea going in?
06:27Well, I think, you know, let's start with Roman Anthony.
06:30Roman Anthony obviously had half a year last year, but they said, we believe in him enough.
06:36We give him the contract extension.
06:38We're going to put him at the top of the order.
06:39He's going to be the alpha of this lineup.
06:41We don't care, again, if he's 21 years old.
06:45And that was a lot.
06:46And every, and off of the WBC, everyone was like, oh, he can handle it.
06:49He can handle it.
06:50Well, if you don't have a safety net, it can be a real problem.
06:53And they didn't have a safety net.
06:55And he got off to a first month, which in a normal team, in an old Red Sox team, you'd
07:01be like, okay, he's fighting his way.
07:02But in this team, you're like, well, how dare you have OPS in 600 when you're expected
07:07to be in the top of the order?
07:08You're expected to be our Shohei Itani.
07:10And he wasn't that.
07:11So, yeah, I mean, they absolutely expected him to be the be-all, end-all, and alpha in
07:17this lineup.
07:18And when it comes to Duran, yeah, I mean, I think maybe they overvalued him in the trade
07:23market because they could have traded him.
07:25He has upside.
07:26He has that year from two years ago.
07:28But you also have the year from a year ago where he couldn't hit lefties.
07:32And this version of him isn't good enough.
07:35It just isn't good enough.
07:36They don't have a leadoff hitter.
07:38Anthony's hurt.
07:39He was a leadoff hitter.
07:40And then they're desperately trying to put Duran there.
07:43And he hasn't produced at all either.
07:45So, you know, we've just rattled off four guys and four really important guys who have
07:51all vastly underperformed.
07:54And, you know, we can go through now about six other guys and say the same thing.
07:59And that's where they've landed where they land with an 18-24 record.
08:03You think they trade Chapman and put Whitlock as the closer to try to beef up the team?
08:10It's a good question because you have to start thinking about what the deadline looks like.
08:15And here's the thing.
08:17I'll say it again.
08:18The American League stinks, right?
08:20So, they can be 10 back right now.
08:23But they're not 10 back in the wild card.
08:25And if you get within, you know, three or four of the wild card at the trade deadline after doing
08:31what you did to the coaching staff,
08:33like, is that, are you going to say we're going to sell?
08:36I mean, I don't know if that's going to be great for Craig Breslow's job security, to be perfectly honest
08:42with you.
08:43But if they ever did get to that spot where they did sell, absolutely, Aroldis Chapman will be at the
08:48top of the list.
08:49Why, you know, why wouldn't it be?
08:50He's been nailed again this year.
08:52But this is, and this is one of the problems, I think, of the trade deadline for a lot of
08:58these teams,
08:59is that you don't want to get to the trade deadline and have to make tough decisions.
09:03But if you do, you better make big and bold ones because the last couple of years, they've kind of
09:09whiffed on them.
09:10Talking all things Braves, Sox, and MLB with our good buddy Rob Bradford.
09:14Make sure you check out Baseball Isn't Boring.
09:16A couple of around the league, around the diamond notes before I get you out of here.
09:20How surprised are you that the Mets are so committed to keeping Carlos Mendoza as their manager?
09:28Yeah, I think they're committed to a level.
09:31I think they're committed to a point.
09:34You know, if, you know, I don't know, man.
09:37Like, I think that they're saying all the right things.
09:41They're getting behind them.
09:42But I don't think they're blind to what's going on.
09:45And I don't think they're blind to what happened in Philadelphia when they did make a change.
09:50It's, you can't get, it's a definition of insanity.
09:53Did this keep doing the same thing and just having the same results?
09:56And I know they'll say, well, you know, he deserves, Mendoza deserves a chance.
10:01And things will turn around.
10:03Well, you know, sometimes they won't turn around.
10:06Sometimes you do need a jolt.
10:07That's what's happening in Philadelphia right now.
10:10I don't think Rob Thompson's a bad manager.
10:12It's just they needed everyone in that clubhouse to take a look in the mirror a little harder.
10:16And sometimes that happens if you have veterans in there.
10:20Like, I think the Mets do.
10:21If you have veterans in there, like, you understand.
10:24Like, that's how you win.
10:26That's how the Phillies started to win.
10:28And the Red Sox, conversely, you know, they switched their manager.
10:31They don't have a lot of guys in there who can look in the mirror and say, I know how
10:34to get through 162-game season.
10:36So, you know, it just comes back to, we're in mid-May, man.
10:41We're in mid-May.
10:42We're creeping up on June.
10:44If you're the New York Mets, you have to do something.
10:48No matter what it is, whether it's a player move, whether it's a manager move, you have
10:52to do something because things, as we know, are flipping away pretty fast.
10:57Outside of Shane McClanahan and Junior Caminero, I would dare the average baseball fan to name
11:04a Tampa Bay Ray, Rob, but they're 28-14.
11:08First of all, Kevin Cash is the best manager of this generation, I'm convinced, for what
11:13he's done with as little as he's had over the years.
11:16How does this team continue to retool and rebuild with the resources that they don't have?
11:22It's amazing.
11:24Yeah, I am fascinated by them.
11:26You know, I just saw them, and you're right.
11:29You walk in that club aisle, so you see the lineup, and the average baseball fan wouldn't
11:34know 75% of the people that you're dealing with.
11:37There's no question.
11:37And even more than years passed.
11:40But I guess the best way to explain it is that they have all the puzzle pieces fitting
11:45perfectly.
11:46So, you do have Caminero as the big stumper, which I think is important for any team.
11:51But what you also have is a lineup full of other guys who just make contact.
11:57Chandler Simpson is about as opposite as Junior Caminero, if you can get, but he fits.
12:02He's the guy who runs faster than anyone and bunts all over the place.
12:05You have a bunch of other guys in that lineup who make contact.
12:08And then, of course, with the pitchers, we always, our favorite thing to do is, hey, what's
12:13the secret sauce in Tampa, and they'll tell you to throw your best pick for strike one?
12:17Well, when Nick Martinez went to the Rays, I said in spring training, I said, oh, there
12:22you go.
12:23Nick Martinez, Cy Young.
12:25Now, did I mean it?
12:26Probably not.
12:27But guess what?
12:28Nick Martinez is one of the top four or five pitchers in the American League right now because
12:33the Rays are doing Rays things.
12:35Kyle Snyder is doing stuff once again with these pitchers.
12:39And you just can't discount them because, and I want this last thing about Kevin Cash
12:43too.
12:44Yeah, he is an elite manager.
12:46There's no question.
12:47But I think the one thing that he's done this year, which everyone says they want to do
12:51but can't, which is play to the strengths of their team, adjust how they play, and actually
12:57be successful at it.
12:59They've done absolutely that because this isn't the Rays team that we've seen before.
13:03This is a Rays team that's making much more contact, that's pushing much more emphasis
13:08on bunts and such.
13:09And that's a huge, huge credit to Kevin Cash.
13:13Rob, great stuff as always.
13:14We'll enjoy the series this weekend.
13:16We'll chat soon.
13:17All right.
13:18Thanks so much.
13:19Talk to you later.
13:19All right.
13:19That is our good buddy there, Rob Bradford.
13:22Baseball isn't boring.
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