- 2 days ago
Red Sox Interim Manager Chad Tracy joins the show to talk about the team's struggles at home, outside swing coaches, Roman Anthony’s injury and more.
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00:00we are in the ford clubhouse at fenway studio brought to you by new england ford dealers
00:03employee pricing for all you pay for what we pay for the official vehicle of major league baseball
00:08and that dirty water and with us right now socks manager chad tracy and he is brought to you by
00:14shaw's and star market the official supermarket of the red sox radio network by our bella here
00:19for baseball fans here for good and by john sewer and drain cleaning the name to know when your
00:24drains don't flow thanks for coming back and hanging out with us today mr tracy thanks for
00:29having me um so we were kind of speculating because i know originally our interview was set
00:33up for 215 and there was like we kept getting texts saying that you were going to be a little
00:38bit later anything going on that we should know about no there was just a few different a handful
00:43of conversations that popped up that i had to handle before i came down okay none of those were
00:47like team meeting ask or no no no no no okay nothing like that all right um there was an
00:52interesting
00:53comment yesterday obviously the team you know it's at home it's just you seem to be snake bitten
00:58it's a very strange thing i know that right now um i believe nine wins at home which i think
01:06is the
01:07worst in the league but i i i did find a comment yesterday um from izzy to be after the
01:13game it
01:14raised some eyebrows because it might have given us an interesting look as to what he believes might
01:19be going on and why the team isn't doing well at home he said i feel like on the road
01:22we're a very
01:23close-knit team we come home and there's just a lot of people a lot of people it's different it's
01:28just a different vibe at home and we've got to figure out a way to make it small like how
01:33it is
01:33on the road just feel like at home we see a lot of people that we don't know or you
01:38know that are
01:39around this area it's just a close-knit group and we were becoming a really close team and yeah we
01:44got
01:44to find a way to bring that back home what do you feel about his comments what do you think
01:49he means
01:50by all of that i just broadly i just think there's a lot more people at fenway you know it's
01:55it's the
01:56nature of uh first of all it's a big market there's a lot of people you go out for batting
02:00practice
02:00there's fans on the field there's tons of media um that's part of it here um i do think and
02:06i don't
02:06want to speak for them it's not wrong like when we do when you go on the road you're all
02:10together
02:10there's nowhere to go like you're not necessarily rushing out to get to your family because it's just us
02:15you're getting on the bus together to and from the ballpark and there's a very small contingent
02:19media that's there they're in there for 45 minutes and it really is a little bit but when you come
02:24here it's it's different um i do like as i watched him answer that like there was a long pause
02:29before
02:29he answered when you watch it and i had the similar pause when they asked like sometimes you're searching
02:34for that answer we all are right um and we know that we're you know a good streak at home
02:40away from
02:40from turning this around but sometimes you're you know it's that feeling of like you're searching for
02:45the answer and you're you know playing out what could it be right um so we're always looking at
02:50like how can we do that but i think i think broadly he means it feels smaller on the road
02:54because it is
02:55it just it is when you go to kansas city or detroit or whatever it's it's not fenway park and
02:59there's
03:00just less going on but at the same time like we got to find a way to make it small
03:04and deal with that
03:05ourselves because it's not going to change how do you make it small like that's like how do you
03:08address that because obviously he feels that this is probably something that or at least hopes it
03:14sound like that he wants to have this be a little more controlled with less people how do you do
03:18that i don't you can't control uh you know i gotta ask is too but i don't think you control
03:22how much
03:22media there where but you broadly you want to know the answer you win some games you win some games
03:27here and it becomes less of a conversation that's that's my answer sure is you you come home and you
03:32have a stretch at home when you play and you win four or five in a row and everybody stops
03:36talking
03:36about it like that's a big part but i but i don't ignore what he says and i think you
03:41know just extra
03:41effort from all of our part to make it mostly about us our group of 26 that's playing the game
03:46that night and try your very best to eliminate all the other stuff like that doesn't matter over
03:50there that doesn't matter over there it's just about us right and let's get it done so but i do
03:54think a lot of things like this these these topics tend to disappear if you you go out and have
03:59a good
03:59stretch at home oh sure yeah yeah waiting cures all yes are there some people read into this
04:04chad maybe incorrectly that there are too many hitting coaches or voices hitting voices or people that are
04:10around the cage is that related at all to what it is no there's there hasn't been a single random
04:15hitting person that's come in it's the same four guys that we've had since we the changes were made
04:20and those are the same guys that are in there so no there's that's the thing there's a lot of
04:24things
04:24like oh there's a bunch of extra people that's not necessarily the case it's just i think broadly
04:28there's just more people around and i don't think it necessarily means just red socks people just think
04:33there's just a lot more going on at fenway park than there is at other places what do you make
04:37of
04:37caleb durbin and our navias as well going outside the organization to get batting help we actually
04:43talked to uh lorenzo garmandia who runs a place right up the street i think it's grad and baseball
04:49um caleb i guess reached out to him and ended up getting help with him i think he came to
04:53the park
04:53yesterday and actually helped him you know it it is shocking from the outside looking in because
04:58you're like wow this is the this is the boston red socks you would think that they had the best
05:01batting coaches and you wouldn't have to go outside of the organization what do you think about
05:05that when something like that i think broadly there's probably a lot more players than you
05:10guys know that like hat i mean when these guys go home in the offseason they don't you don't have
05:14enough hitting coaches to go home with them they have people they work with and i think there's a
05:18ton of players that have hitting coaches or people they work with in the offseason that know them that
05:23they probably reach out to but this is in the season at home right we he's working hard with our
05:29guys too like shoot he's taking early hitting in in kansas city he's working on all the things that he
05:33talked about getting the ball in the air the vacancy on the right side of the field that he
05:37talked about like i watched him take two sessions early hitting on the one of the most recent road
05:41trips working on driving the ball the opposite field and getting the ball off the ground so
05:45um i i these things get play you know because it shows up on social media i'm like it doesn't
05:51mean
05:52that he's not working with our guys working his tail off like a lot of hours with our guys to
05:56get
05:57right but i do think people talk to other people you know as well outside of here you know if
06:02they have
06:02people they're close with that happens a lot in baseball that's that's just kind of understood
06:06that's how the ecosystem works because in i mean if i had a coach that would never want us getting
06:12advice from anybody they're very territorial whether it be trainers coaches hitting coaches
06:17baseball is different that's a different i think there's there's uh the ecosystems particularly i know
06:23it's during the season but in the offseason like there's you know cohesion on finding out every
06:28guy when they go home in the offseason where are you going where are you going to be training who
06:32you're working with so we can be in communication with those types of people say here's what we're
06:36doing in the season here's what we've been really pushing and you're trying to get on board because
06:40you know that's going to happen it's a it's a long offseason where they spend a lot of time alone
06:43and you have to have that communication so yes it's i think it is a different ecosystem you know
06:48guys have to go get their work and they're going to have people that do that but you want to
06:51be on
06:51the same page so i i think that doesn't throw up any big radars for me uh the most important
06:57thing to me right now is caleb durbin starting to swing the bat pretty good um and that helps the
07:01bottom of our order in a big way speaking of swinging the back how's roman anthony taking his
07:06injury he's doing okay i think um i think he's probably you know frustrated on a couple of i think
07:11he's frustrated that he can't be out there with us i there's been a lot of attention around it that's
07:15another it comes with the territory there's a lot of attention around it because he's not able to play
07:19right now um but i do think enough people internally have reached out to him and let him know like
07:24try not to get too caught up in the noise of things that are happening that maybe people don't
07:28know that are involved like we got your back we want you healthy we want you back but we want
07:32you
07:32to get back healthy you know not playing hurt so um i think roman's very even keeled you guys have
07:39heard me say that before he's a very even keeled person he doesn't get too high or too low he's
07:42focused on getting himself healthy and right so he can be in the lineup and help us has he expressed
07:45any frustration on the uh mischaracterization of what his injury was by sam kennedy he doesn't roman
07:52doesn't do a lot of expressing frustration i've talked to him a good bit he's not one that gets
07:58too bent out of shape about a lot of things he doesn't do that um whether or not he is
08:03you guys
08:03could ask him but i think roman right now is is just fine as far as knowing the people inside
08:08the
08:08room like we're good like we got to get you healthy and we certainly don't want to ask you to
08:13go out
08:13there and swing a bat if you're having jolting pain in your hand or whatever it is yeah we just
08:17got
08:17to get him right so he's believe me you talk enough to him you'll realize he doesn't get
08:22you know even on the bad end he doesn't get overly frustrated and boisterous with that stuff he just
08:26focused on what he has to do that's good because that's got to suck being in his position like just
08:30wanting to play and then especially when you you know you you feel that you're about to take that
08:34next step as you're seeing the dry swings right and then you just go here we go again and where
08:39he
08:39has a little bit of a of a back i don't want to say a backslide yeah but but you
08:43know it's not
08:44where he wants to be right and that's got to be tough having a young player especially like that
08:48where you just kind of almost got to be like dude just hang in there don't listen to the noise
08:52right and just try to keep your head in it right and you're right about it's like the a lot
08:56of people
08:56that want to go to the term you know oh he had a he had a setback right not necessarily
09:02like when
09:02you're coming back from an injury you expect there to be you know especially that you expect there
09:07to be things like i'm going good oop that didn't that didn't feel very you know there's it's ups and
09:11downs that's part of coming back from an injury um it very rarely just goes perfectly like oh we're
09:16going to start and everything boom boom boom and everything's perfect like that's not usually how
09:20most of them go yeah um so making sure that he knows like you know that we support him and
09:25like
09:25that um you know that we're not like pushing this guy to play hurt you know we want him to
09:29be healthy
09:30and i think he knows that does your gut say after the all-star break most uh i i don't
09:35know yeah i don't
09:36know and i won't say that because i i we usually get in trouble when we try to put timetables
09:40on
09:40things and sure and it doesn't happen or it happens earlier like you just don't know i think the most
09:47the best way you can handle that is everybody's body is going to respond to different things
09:52different injuries differently and you got to go with the flow of how that guy is improving and how
09:55he's feeling yeah and when he starts to feel really good you give him more you give him more you
09:59give more than you get him on a rehab assignment and get him back so when that happens we'll do
10:03that
10:03with roman um but i yeah i don't uh i don't want to put a timetable like i hope it's
10:08sooner than that
10:09but like um you just don't know well we'll chat we're talking to chad tracy um and there's i just
10:14want to get your opinion on because you you the players seem to like gravitate towards you you seem
10:21to be a guy who talks their language and um there was an article in the boston globe about how
10:25there's
10:26an impression around the league that the team has been leading a little too hard on analytics and less on
10:32getting to know the actual player when they're looking around to you know either bringing
10:36players in but even theo epstein said on a recent podcast he had a really interesting quote saying
10:40what really makes a person tick as a player has become a lost art do you kind of feel the
10:46same
10:46is that baseball not as much even the red sox but just baseball in general might be relying too much
10:52on numbers and not as much in actually doing the work and spending time with the players and getting
10:58to know them and saying you know what a guy like kyle schwarber may be over 30 and he might
11:02not be
11:03exactly you know what the algorithm says is good but my god this guy can still hit bombs and he
11:07seems
11:08like a gamer he can't hit yes he can unfortunately uh so that's who i think i think the um
11:14it's a good
11:15question i think the secret in that whole thing is doing both yeah and being good at doing both i
11:21think
11:21you're both are right like you there are over time um and i don't want to even use the word
11:27analytics
11:28like you know it's it's statistics statistically when you look at players like over time over larger
11:34samples like you know have a pretty good idea of what players they reveal who they are who they are
11:37what they may struggle with you know in certain situations verse lefties like it revealed but at
11:42the same time like yes like that piece that you talked about like understanding the player
11:47yeah having conversations with them knowing who needs to be pushed and who needs to be patted on
11:52the back like all these different kinds of things like those are really really important um and you
11:56but that being said you still need to know what are they good at and what are they not and
12:00and that
12:00doesn't mean you just say oh he's not good at oh we got to try to make him better at
12:03it but if i have
12:05x player that's a little better at that then maybe maybe there's a pinch hit opportunity there or
12:08whatever so you have to know that information and it's very rarely wrong information yeah but at the same
12:14time like you got to communicate and you have to know that other side of it um and that makes
12:20players feel more more engaged too so for me it lies somewhere in the middle there is like knowing
12:24the information but having people around that aren't afraid to have those conversations and really get
12:29in deep with the player that's really important too chad any good news on whitlock's return or
12:33crochet whitlock's doing really good he threw a pretty intense um side yesterday so uh everything on
12:39on track feels good he's been feeling better every single day so uh we'll see what next steps
12:44are for him he may go throw a rehab or something just to make sure that he's up and right
12:47he hasn't
12:47been down long but things are progressing really nicely there and then uh yeah garrett just uh the
12:53imaging just showed a a very small strain in the lat he's been improving each day too so we're just
12:58basically in wait mode of like when he's asymptomatic to the trainers you know testing and stuff he can
13:03resume throwing when that's going to be i don't know but it wasn't a serious thing that we found but
13:07we
13:07do have to wait until he's asymptomatic what does this team need to win more games at home
13:12i see you're gonna ask me i'm gonna give you the pause right like like like izzy or i did
13:18yesterday
13:18with the media too i'll give you the pause because it's like we did nothing we just need to play
13:23like
13:23we did in cleveland right like we you know there's there was games here last week that we very easily
13:28could have won and it's like you can pick apart and why didn't you it's like well maybe one was
13:32we had a lead and the bullpen didn't hold one day right or one was not a great start but
13:37then we
13:38started banging the ball around and came up one run short there's games within that that we we could
13:43have won and we just need to put together a little stretch where you know you win four or something
13:48in a row and you kind of get this whole thing and the player feels like all right we've conquered
13:51that
13:51now let's go yeah that's easier said than done i get it but i i don't we need a we
13:57need a stretch we
13:58need a good stretch that's really it can i throw out just you you can shoot it down the one
14:02suggestion
14:03is the team profiles as a young team so young guys playing in fenway yep it's a different vibe
14:08you have new players that are coming in for the first time is is it all maybe just the profile
14:12of
14:12the team because it's young and you have so many new guys on this team and playing for the red
14:17sox
14:17in fenway for the first time that that might be somewhat of a factor why they're not playing as good
14:21at home ah it could be but then you'd say well what about x game that we lost eight to
14:27seven we scored
14:27seven runs we banged it around they looked fine they were comfortable um i think there's something
14:32to like you know like i think izzy had made a comment like man if you know jump out to
14:37like a
14:37three or four nothing lead and play with league get the fans involved early like that stuff happens
14:41sometimes it's out of your control if a guy's out there dealing against you um but i mean i won't
14:46ignore dismiss like you know guys that are here for the first time maybe you know they look around
14:51but i i think there's been plenty of instances in my time here at least at fenway we're like
14:56we're playing a good baseball game you know we're everything looks fine nobody looks nervous to me
15:01they're getting after it like and they're doing what they're supposed to and we come up a run
15:05shorter one thing happens in a game that goes against us and ends up costing us the game so
15:09we have to win at home like there's no we're not hiding from that like if we continue this like
15:14you know we're gonna end up treading water like we have the good thing is we're playing very good on
15:19the road most teams don't do that so in a way that's helping us you know somewhat stay afloat
15:24um but we need we need a stretch at home we absolutely do chad tracy should the team have
15:28to earn it sweet carolines like if the team is getting their ass kicked is it okay to play sweet
15:33caroline i don't even know if i should answer i don't know um it's a staple it's a staple of
15:39fenway i guess you know it's like it's but but it's like i mean you look at like uh with
15:44gino time
15:45at the celtics they only play that when it's like near the end of the game and it's a blowout
15:49and it's a big party it's a celebration there's nothing weirder than having like a game just get
15:54like blown or somebody gives up a you know a bomb and you're sitting there and you're all pissed off
15:58and then you're like no right no i'm not feeling it right all the more reason we need to stretch
16:04at home that's right that's right play sweet caroline we're winning five nights in a row that
16:08will feel a lot better well chad tracy thank you so much for coming in and we always appreciate you
16:12coming in studio and listen let's let's cross our fingers man let's hope we get some home wins
16:16thanks for having always great to have you chad all right um that was chad tracy your manager of
16:21the boston red sox brought to you by shaw's and star market the official supermarket of the red
16:26sox radio network by our bella here for baseball fans here for good and by john sewer and drain
16:30cleaning the name to know when your drains don't flow rob bradford will join us next
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