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  • 2 days ago
WEEI Red Sox Insider Rob Bradford talks about Roman Anthony and where the disconnect with the team is over his injury and whether the front office is looking to trade him.
Transcript
00:00It is WEI 93.7. Rich, Ken, three-time Super Bowl champion Ted Johnson, and on with us right now,
00:07a gentleman who is sponsored, Ken, and who is that by?
00:09Well, of course, it's McFarlane Energy, the region's most dependable provider of home heating oil delivery, as well as expert
00:15HVAC services at McFarlaneEnergy.com.
00:17And they should be proud they're spending their money today, because we got Scoops Bradford on with us, who was
00:22shaking the tree yesterday when he talked to Roman Anthony
00:26and got the truth from him after Sam Kennedy seemed to be saying something opposite of that.
00:30Rob, you've had quite a day, huh?
00:33Well, I will say this.
00:36McFarlane Energy, great partner, great sponsor, always in honor to do the Two Minute Grill, and also history was made
00:42yesterday,
00:43because that was the first time a Two Minute Grill went eight minutes.
00:46So, yeah, it was a lot going on, but I think that when I was talking to Roman, it was
00:54really matter-of-fact stuff.
00:56It was, if you listen to the rest of the interview, you can hear he's explaining exactly what's still uncomfortable
01:02for him,
01:03where he's at, both hitting, throwing, and everything else.
01:06And then I was kind of just wanting to talk to him a little bit about the perception,
01:10and not just come out and say, hey, listen, have you seen social media?
01:14But how do you deal with sort of basically people giving you advice or whatever it is?
01:21And that's when he kind of paused and gave that answer that you guys played, and it is what it
01:27is.
01:28I thought he handled it really well.
01:29I mean, like everybody else, for the life of me, I don't understand why they wouldn't just say it was
01:37a terror to begin with,
01:38other than just being freaked out by the word tear, but that's their problem,
01:42that they're freaked out by the word tear.
01:43Rob, I don't, can you describe kind of what his mannerisms were like when he was saying that?
01:48Because to me, it almost sounds like, like, I want to make sure this is perfectly clear.
01:54In other words, I've heard what people have been saying about me.
01:58Did it seem like he was trying to set the record straight in a way that was,
02:04I'm not really appreciating the type of stuff that's going around about my injury?
02:08Yeah, I think that for, and we said this a lot about Roman, right?
02:11For a 21, 22 year old, he's really mature and handles himself really well.
02:16And a lot of, I've been in that situation with other people and you can tell they're sort of amping
02:21up to it
02:22and a little bit frazzled and a little bit nervous.
02:25And he was none of that.
02:27He was just, I think you're dead on.
02:31There's undeniably, it was a case of, I want to make this clear what I'm dealing with here.
02:37Because as he also said in the interview, a lot of people look at, oh, it's a hand injury.
02:42What's the big deal?
02:44Well, we know it's a big deal.
02:45We've been saying it's a big deal.
02:46And now that you know it's a tear, it's definitely a big deal.
02:50And he just wanted to make that very, very clear for that purpose.
02:55So to answer your question, Rich, yeah.
02:57I mean, I think there was definitely a motivation behind it.
03:00And you could hear that in the way that he phrased it to lead into the answer.
03:04Why do you think Sam Kennedy completely classified it in a wrong and inaccurate way?
03:12I don't know.
03:13The injury thing is bizarre to me for a lot of teams, for a lot of executives, for a lot
03:18of managers, for a lot of coaches, whatever it is.
03:21I get the HIPAA stuff.
03:23This isn't a HIPAA situation.
03:25I think that they're just freaked out by the word tear.
03:28But as I said, why?
03:31Why?
03:31What you're doing, and I hope, and when Sam comes on next week, I hope what he says is that,
03:37first of all, explain why he said what he said.
03:40And also takes ownership of the fact that this did not do the player well.
03:46This was not a good thing.
03:47This put a target on the player more than it needed to be put.
03:51And that's just a fact.
03:52We all know this, that everyone could go, oh, well, it's a sprain and a tear.
03:57It's the same thing.
03:58That is not what we're talking about.
04:00What we're talking about was Sam saying, definitively, it is not a tear.
04:04And when you do that, you're leaning to the sprain.
04:08And sprain, for most people, is not nearly as serious.
04:12And so if it's not nearly as serious, they're going to say, well, why isn't he back?
04:16Bradford, can we assume that Roman has not spoken to Breslow directly about this?
04:21At least he hadn't before he gave you a interview.
04:23I mean, it sounds like they're not talking about it, right?
04:25I have no idea if they're talking about it.
04:30I would imagine that they haven't had this direct conversation.
04:34Like, I don't, and I don't know this at all, but I don't think that Roman said, went up to
04:41Sam and said, what are you doing?
04:42Or he said to even Breslow, what are you doing?
04:44Why the messaging?
04:46Because the messaging from the Red Sox side of thing has been kind of consistent.
04:51And if Roman did go to them and say, hey, can you please define this as a slight tear of
04:59my finger?
05:00Can we please define this?
05:01Because I'm catching a lot of heat here that I shouldn't be catching.
05:05Then if they said, oh, well, no, we're not going to do that.
05:08We're not going to clarify it.
05:10Then that's bad.
05:11So that's why I think that common sense would lead you to, like, that maybe he just hasn't gone upstairs
05:17and said, hey, can you correct this?
05:19You know, Chad Tracy's already got a lot to deal with.
05:22I don't know if you heard him on our show being asked.
05:25Are you kidding me?
05:25If I don't hear it, my dad tells me about it.
05:27That's right.
05:28His favorite interview.
05:29That's his favorite.
05:30Your dad's a P1.
05:31Dadfo loves it.
05:32Hell yeah.
05:33So did Dadfo give you any info about it?
05:35Because when he talked to us, it seemed like he wanted everyone to know that I got Roman's back.
05:42And, you know, he tried to – he did a good job illustrating truly how painful it is for him
05:48when he swings and has any kind of motion right now and how he's ramping himself up.
05:53Doesn't it seem like Chad's almost trying to make up and do Roman right after what's been going on with
06:00the management?
06:00Yeah.
06:01And Chad can't come out without clearance, you know, especially in the situation he's in, and say, by the way,
06:08it's a tear.
06:09Because once the president of the team says it's not, it's like, oh, by the way, what the president of
06:14the team said, that's not true.
06:16That's not what Chad Tracy's going to do.
06:18All he can do is support the team and sort of paint the picture of how painful this is.
06:22And to come back to the interview, like, if you listen to it, he goes into really good detail about
06:28where it hurts, when he swings, why it hurts, when he swings, how this is different.
06:34And I asked him after he had that answer that you played, hey, if there's a tear, because I don't
06:40– you're going to be shocked I don't have a medical degree.
06:43Dr. Nick Rivera, maybe, like, but it's – I don't – I didn't know.
06:48If you have a tear, can you fix it?
06:50Yeah.
06:50Is there a surgical procedure?
06:52He said, no, all you can do is heal.
06:54And as we know, everyone heals different.
06:56And the worst thing they can do, by the way, is have him go out there and force the issue,
07:03swing when he shouldn't be swinging, re-aggravate it.
07:07And the problem is, is that with this narrative out there, with this 22-year-old guy being sort of
07:14pushed, like, why aren't you back?
07:16Why aren't you back?
07:17Human nature would be like, I got to do this, when honestly, he probably shouldn't be doing it.
07:22So all of it is not good.
07:23Rob, do you see Roman – do you think they see Roman as untouchable?
07:30There's thoughts that maybe, you know, they were talking – downplaying his injury to maybe be – Ken came up
07:37with this idea that maybe – to offer him up in a trade.
07:40Is he a guy that's untouchable, or do you think they would be open to trading Roman Anthony?
07:45I like – any time you say Ken came up with this idea, my ears perk up.
07:52So just in case it's pure trash, I'm throwing at you.
07:54Would you be surprised to hear that Ken came up with this idea?
07:56This is – no, dude, I missed the kerosene Ken tank.
08:00Are you kidding me?
08:02But it's funny, because I did hear you guys talking about the Jordan Alvarez thing, and I will say, Ted,
08:09no, I don't think they have any intention of trading Roman Anthony.
08:12This is a blip on the radar for them.
08:14They know how good – we cannot forget about their narrative with this guy leading up before you had this
08:20hand injury.
08:21Like, this was – and it wasn't only from the Red Sox.
08:23It was from everyone in baseball, and he still has to prove it.
08:26We get it, but in terms of trading him, no, I don't think that's an option.
08:29But when you mention – you're hitting the sweet spot.
08:33You're throwing a straight ball right down the middle with me when it comes to your Alvarez conversation, because you're
08:38– I'll say it again.
08:39Your Alvarez, you do whatever you can to get him, but if you take away Roman Anthony, you're playing for
08:46the tie there.
08:47You want to keep adding and not subtracting that.
08:50So, yeah, no, I think that if he's about as close to untouchable as you're going to get on this
08:55roster.
08:56But then – and I almost don't blame Ken for coming out with that theory because it's so ridiculous that
09:03they are downplaying this.
09:04And the only thing I can think, if it's not what Ken said, is that they are freaking out that
09:10this team is so bad, jobs are on the line,
09:13and they are rushing him back, doing everything they can to put the pressure on him to get back out
09:19there.
09:19And if that means downplaying what the actual injury is so he seems soft and he feels that – he
09:27hears the talk
09:27and feels that he gets pressure to get back out there, then, damn it, that's what they're going to do.
09:32Because that's the only theory I could come up with as to why they did that.
09:36Yeah, so my take on it isn't as sexy as that.
09:40It's literally like –
09:41Because I have sexy takes, right?
09:42I know.
09:43It's like – I mean, I want tarps off right now when you're actually doing it.
09:46My takes have knockers.
09:49Hold on.
09:50Let me write that down.
09:51I'm going to put that on a T-shirt.
09:54But it's one of these things where I don't think they would rush him back.
09:58I don't.
09:59Even as bad as they are offensively, they still understand this guy is the future.
10:03They understand the dynamic of this injury and everything else.
10:07I honestly think that they just messed up and they got caught in this world of we have to be
10:13so protective of injuries
10:15and we have a way of disseminating information when it comes to injuries.
10:19Think about this.
10:20Like, this is not anything new when it comes – Roman Anthony was supposed to be back in a couple
10:26days.
10:26We keep hearing this.
10:28Garrett Crochet was supposed to be back when his IL stint ended.
10:32And it never happens that way.
10:34Sonny Gray was the first time in the last few years that the guy actually came back when his IL
10:38stint was done.
10:39Yeah.
10:39So this is how they do things.
10:41I don't know why they do it.
10:43They just make things more difficult for themselves.
10:46And I think this was just an extreme example of that.
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