- 10 minutes ago
Chad Tracy joins the show to discuss the team’s lack of run support, Jarren Duran’s turnaround, Roman Anthony, and more.
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00:00And with us right now, Sox interim manager Chad Tracy.
00:03It's brought to you by Shaw's and Star Market,
00:05the official supermarket of the Red Sox radio network.
00:08By Arbella, here for baseball fans, here for good.
00:10And by John Sewer and Drain Cleaning,
00:12the name to know when your drains don't flow.
00:16Chad, you know what?
00:18It's got to feel good coming on to a radio interview
00:20where you actually had a game where you look like you guys were in complete control.
00:26Yeah, it's no question.
00:28Obviously, we've gone through a lot in the last couple of weeks
00:31to win the last couple of games and then win last night in the way we did.
00:35It definitely feels good.
00:36Is there like a – I know this sounds strange,
00:39and it's only been like two games that you've been going in the right direction,
00:43but can you build on something like this in a game like last night
00:47where even some players that haven't been playing so well
00:50seem to have their moment?
00:52Is there something you can take from that and build on?
00:55Yeah, I would hope so.
00:56You know, that's the goal with this.
00:58When you're struggling, you start to have moments like that you try to build off them.
01:01But really for me, like I know we didn't score as much the final day in Atlanta
01:05or even most of the series in Atlanta is when this started.
01:09We didn't score enough, obviously, but I think we had 24 hits
01:13and 11 extra base hits in that series in Atlanta.
01:16So there was just – there was things you were seeing, you know,
01:20with certain guys that had been struggling that made you feel like, you know,
01:23maybe it's starting to turn a little bit.
01:25So I wouldn't, you know, jump to say, okay, we're all the way good.
01:28No, you've got to sustain this for a period of time.
01:31But we have seen over the last handful of games better signs.
01:34Chad, with Jaron Duran, what are you seeing with him on and off the field
01:37that are leading to better results?
01:40For me, the biggest thing with Jaron always is, you know, what he's swinging at, right?
01:44I think within this three- or four-game stretch, because he hit a couple doubles
01:49in Atlanta, had a multiple-hit game there, but he walked.
01:53He started walking a little bit.
01:54He walked again a couple days – twice a couple days ago.
01:57He walked last night.
01:59So just overall doing a better job of recognizing some of the soft stuff below the zone
02:05and staying off of it.
02:06And when he does that and he gets pitches to hit in the area that he wants him
02:09and swings at him, he usually does damage.
02:10So for me, that's the biggest thing is when he starts to be real particular
02:15about what he's swinging at, it gets better.
02:17Well, I obviously like this version of Jaron Duran that we've been seeing.
02:20Did you speak to him by any chance, or did anybody say anything after that back
02:24and forth that happened with Michael Holley and the social media
02:27and how he jumped off of it?
02:29No, no, no.
02:31I know – I didn't read all the way into it.
02:33I know it happened.
02:35And, you know, I know the whole thing about, you know, he got off Instagram
02:38this, that, or the other.
02:39But I don't want to make excuses for it, but other than to say, like, I know
02:43and I've said this before about Jaron, Jaron is pretty relentlessly defending
02:47of his teammates, you know.
02:48And I know if he feels like, you know, there was commentary about Roman or whatever,
02:53like, that's just who Jaron is, you know.
02:55And I think at times he'll jump to people's defense within our group.
03:00And I've known that about him since I had him in Worcester.
03:03Has there ever been a general conversation that you have had with the players
03:07just about social media in general and how to handle it and what to ignore
03:13and what to respond to?
03:16Not in my, you know, 20 days I've been here, no.
03:21But generally speaking, like, yeah, there's, you know, throughout time as you,
03:24you know, come through, particularly my time in Worcester as players come through,
03:28like, there's some getting used to and some education around, you know,
03:32being in Boston, you know.
03:33And I think that starts in Worcester when you see – I mean, if you haven't been there,
03:38the media contingent in Worcester is also very large.
03:40And it's good for them to start to understand, like, you've got to answer questions
03:43after games.
03:44And there's going to be a lot of questions, some of them not about baseball.
03:47And so there is education around that and awareness that, you know,
03:51you're in a big market city and there's going to be sometimes a lot of things
03:54made of small things and just learn how to deal with that.
03:58But, you know, yes, yes and no, not in my time here.
04:03Chad, right now it's scheduled to have Brian Bale.
04:06You guys have him starting against the Twins on Saturday.
04:08And just the last outing he started, we saw how that went.
04:12Is there any thinking of maybe going back to what worked prior to that last start
04:16and having someone, you know, start the first inning?
04:19What's the thinking with Brian Bale on Saturday?
04:22There's definitely thinking of it, yeah.
04:24I mean, we've been pretty open about, like, over the last few that, you know,
04:28depending on where the bullpen's at, you know, and how beat up it is, it helps.
04:33It definitely is a factor in making that decision.
04:36If you're beat up and you start using somebody at the beginning of the game
04:40that now you don't have towards the middle end of the game.
04:42But we're talking about it.
04:43And we have, for the last three outings, deciding, you know, case by case.
04:46And we'll talk about it again and make sure Brian knows first if we're going to do that or not.
04:50But we're definitely in discussions about it.
04:51Is there anything that you see about, other than yesterday, of course,
04:57the lack of hitting that this team has had?
04:59You know, it's such a rarity.
05:01And we had some stats the other day of this team getting over three runs.
05:05And there was a great stat, Chad, that I forget who it was,
05:08but somebody with a lot of time in their hands.
05:09And it said that if the Red Sox were hitting average,
05:13or they were scoring an average amount of runs,
05:15which I think is four and a half in the league,
05:17that they would be in first place right now.
05:20Is there something that you see that can maybe explain
05:23the lack of runs that this team is producing?
05:27Having played, I would say because of how slow the start was
05:31and how many different guys we had that were not just like going through it a little bit,
05:37but really going through it,
05:38I just feel very strongly that it was just a group of guys pressing.
05:43I mean, you have to have been there and done it to know
05:45and know the feeling of when you feel like you're not producing
05:48and you're expected to.
05:50That's the expectation as a baseball player that, you know,
05:53you expect it out of yourself and other people expect you to perform.
05:55And when you're not performing
05:58and there's a whole bunch of other guys around you that aren't,
06:00and then you see the losses coming,
06:02I just, you know, just human nature, you know,
06:05when you're expected to perform and you're not,
06:06like you put more and more pressure on yourself
06:09and it starts to kind of, you know, I guess snowball on the group.
06:12I mean, that's my only explanation, I think.
06:14But I've been very clear about, like,
06:17I also think things can snowball the other direction, you know,
06:19and we've always heard that hitting is contagious, right?
06:21Things can snowball the other direction when a group gets going together.
06:24So there's other things in there to answer that question,
06:28like, hey, what are we swinging at?
06:29Like, are we going out of the zone?
06:31Are we swinging at strikes?
06:32Like, you can look at a lot of things that we weren't doing well,
06:35but sometimes it's just a matter of, you know,
06:38the building amount of pressure you put on yourself.
06:41There's already enough pressure in this game.
06:42And when you put more on yourself, it's not going to lead to a good result.
06:45How do you, the mental part of that, because that's very interesting, Chad.
06:48You know, because I can see how sometimes when things aren't going well,
06:51it can just build in your brain.
06:53It can make it tougher.
06:54And baseball is such a game that's in your head.
06:57And how do you, how do the players mentally get through that?
07:02Is there, like, a psychiatrist or somebody who can help them on staff?
07:07Or are there mental tricks?
07:08Or are there certain ways that, you know,
07:11you can trick your brain into getting out of that funk
07:14that you've known from all your years in baseball?
07:16Yeah, we do have, we have Jake Chaplin's one of our mental skills guys.
07:19He's around a lot.
07:20Great guy.
07:21Players love him.
07:22He helps with that.
07:22But also, to the second part of your question, yeah, it's not easy,
07:27regardless of how much you're tricking your brain.
07:29But I think, in a nutshell, if you're too, if you get too, like,
07:34mindfully aware, too focused on just the results you're getting,
07:38and you allow your brain to move away from, like,
07:40what's your process in the batter's box, like, that can snowball things.
07:44Like, and the results, meaning, like, I didn't get a hit or things like that.
07:48Well, baseball is a very difficult game.
07:50And more often than not, you're not going to get a hit.
07:52That's how our game works.
07:54But if you're focused on, you know,
07:56what do I need to do to have a good at bat?
07:59You know, what do I, what do I, where am I looking?
08:01What do I need to swing at against this particular pitcher
08:03to make sure it's a good at bat?
08:05That's more process mindset.
08:07And if you can get yourself there, and most hitters,
08:10they get there when you start to experience success.
08:12It becomes a lot easier to do that.
08:14But when you're not doing well and you're failing,
08:16it's hard to get there, but that's usually what helps.
08:19Chad, with Trevor out for a while,
08:21why not just put Marcelo at short for the bulk of the reps?
08:23What's the hesitation there?
08:26In a nutshell, until we know how long Trevor's going to be out,
08:32it's a little bit, it doesn't make a ton of sense.
08:34If you hear news on Trevor that, hey, he's going to be back in two weeks,
08:38I think you guys would agree how well Marcelo's done at second base.
08:41But if you feel like Trevor's story could be back in two weeks
08:44and now you're going to take one of your young, bright players
08:49who's settled in and is playing the heck out of second,
08:51hey, we're going to move you over here for two weeks
08:53and then move you back, that's not ideal.
08:56Now, if there's an extended absence,
08:58and that's why we have Marcelo taking ground balls at short right now
09:01just to kind of get a head start in case that becomes the case,
09:04we'll definitely consider that and start talking more seriously about it.
09:07But if we're putting ourselves and walking into a case of moving a guy
09:11for two weeks and then moving him back, that's not really fair to the player.
09:14Chad, reports were Roman Anthony went out there and tried to hit a couple days ago,
09:19had a minor setback, and it is now maybe going to try again
09:24to swing the bat tomorrow.
09:25Any updates on Roman and when you think he might be back?
09:31Yeah, first off, I wouldn't call it a setback.
09:34I would say a setback is if we were making this huge progress
09:37and he re-injured it, it was just that was the part of the progression
09:40we hadn't done yet, which was, hey, everything's going great.
09:43You know, the strength is good in the hand.
09:46The throwing has been great.
09:47He's been able to let it go and throw the ball.
09:49And now the next step was let's get a bat in our hands
09:51and swing it and see how that motion feels.
09:54And after a handful of swings, hey, that still doesn't feel right.
09:57So setback is probably not the right word, just we're not ready to –
10:01we just realized as we've gone through this he's not ready to hit yet.
10:03So no update as far as that.
10:06Once he felt that as a group, medical group, it felt, you know,
10:10fairly obvious like we're going to go home, we're going to have an off day,
10:13and after the off day we can re-explore it.
10:15But definitely can't have him swinging a bat or trying to fight through that
10:20or making it worse until we know that, hey, those swings were fairly pain-free,
10:24and then we can start advancing.
10:26So we're just going to play the waiting game right now until we get there.
10:30Back of the bullpen, Chad, has been amazing.
10:33What's it like to have that Slayton-Whitlock-Chapman trio?
10:37And also do those guys let you know on a day-by-day basis whether they're available?
10:40Is there like a limitation on how often you can throw them out there?
10:44Yeah, I mean, it's great.
10:46I think there's probably – you know, we're probably the envy of a lot of teams,
10:50you know, to have a 7, 8, 9, or actually it doesn't even have to be 7, 8, 9.
10:54It could be a big, big moment in the 6 for one of them to come in
10:57and strike somebody out and get us out of a jam from anywhere in that point of the game on
11:00to have those three guys, especially if they're all up at once.
11:04That is a blessing for sure.
11:07But, yeah, there's – we have our own internal things we look at
11:11and to make sure that we – you know, the important thing when you have three guys like that
11:15is doing your very, very best to keep them healthy and on the field.
11:18And so we all – we look internally.
11:20We know the players.
11:21We know what makes them tick and when they might need a day.
11:24But we also have, you know, Bale's high-level communication with the three of those guys,
11:30even on days where the load might be a little high to check in with them
11:33and see how they feel.
11:34So between all that information and then the players' own thoughts, like, you know,
11:39we try to be as educated as we can and whether they're up or down on a given night.
11:44Being on the road, Chad, have you observed any of the tarps-off phenomena going on in baseball
11:48with guys taking their shirts off, and do you expect that Friday at Fenway when you come back?
11:54You guys have to fill me in.
11:55I've seen only, like, maybe, like, little bits, but I don't know any of the origination of it
11:59or what it's all about.
12:00I don't.
12:01I haven't even seen it either.
12:02Like, Ken's bringing this up, and I'm like –
12:04Oh, it's taking over.
12:04I thought, like, the 80s and the 90s was all about, like, dudes writing the team name on their chest,
12:09and now all of a sudden it's, like, this thing that's got everybody freaking out.
12:13And I – I mean, granted, I don't want a guy with his shirt off standing next to me
12:17at a hot, sweaty day at Fenway Park, but nonetheless, I guess that's a big deal now.
12:22Yeah, it started in St. Louis, and it seems to be taking off.
12:26So it's just guys taking their shirts off in the stands?
12:29That's it, yeah.
12:30Dude's taking shirts off.
12:31That's something that used to happen all the time.
12:34Right, right.
12:34This is weird.
12:35Has Chad Tracy ever taken the shirt off at a sporting event?
12:39Definitely not.
12:40I have not.
12:41Just because it used to happen all the time doesn't mean I did it.
12:43Sure, right, right.
12:44You're old school.
12:45Right, right.
12:45You might be old school, but not that kind of old school.
12:47All right.
12:48Well, Chad, listen, it's – if anything, the last two games have been very entertaining,
12:52and last night was hopefully a step in the right direction.
12:55We shall see.
12:57Let's just cross our fingers that, you know, a lot of players, as I said, who –
13:00you know, like Jaron Duran, it's nice to see him off the schneid,
13:04and it's good to see this team playing ball.
13:06And I just want – I just want a good baseball team to watch, Chad, this summer.
13:10I think we all want that, don't we?
13:11I think – yeah, I wouldn't disagree with you on that.
13:14I'd like that as well.
13:15All right, Chad.
13:15We – like you said, we do have – there's good pieces, and, you know,
13:18we've got to get the offense going.
13:19But, like, you know, when you look at just baseball in general,
13:22the way we've pitched and played defense, like, that's fun to watch too.
13:25You know, I know there's a lot of focus on the offense, and there should be.
13:29But watching us catch the ball and pitch is really a joy to watch.
13:33Absolutely.
13:33And even Duran had a great one last night.
13:35That was – it was impressive.
13:37All right.
13:37Well, Chad, thanks again for coming out with us.
13:39We'll talk to you again real soon, okay?
13:40All right, guys, thanks for having me.
13:41All right, thanks, Chad.
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