- 2 days ago
Chad Tracy addressed Buster Olney claiming the environment with the team is “terrible,” the team’s hitting woes, Roman Anthony’s injury, and why Tropicana Field is awful.
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00:00Chad, how's it going, my man? How you doing?
00:02Doing all right, guys. How are you?
00:03Hey, good. Obviously, we wish we were speaking with you on better circumstances.
00:07We, you know, it was unfortunate last night how things went.
00:11But I will say this. We spoke to Buster Olney yesterday, and he speaks highly of you.
00:17And he believes that no matter what's going on right now, that you have a very bright future as a
00:21manager in this league.
00:22And we were talking about how tough it must be to get thrown into a situation like this at a
00:27minute's notice.
00:28But the one thing that we were talking about, Chad, that we were unsure of is what exactly right now
00:33is your current contract situation with the team?
00:36Are you officially on an interim deal? And if so, does that designation affect how your players or your coaches
00:43see you right now?
00:45Yeah, I'm on an interim contract. I think most people know that.
00:48And I don't personally furthest thing from my mind right now with everything going on and trying to get us
00:55on track.
00:55And I think the players know that. The coaches know that.
00:59And that is – it's not front of mind for me right now.
01:03Has the organization given you any kind of private assurance that you're their manager for an extended period of time,
01:09like at least the rest of the season?
01:11Or are you still operating on a day-to-day basis?
01:14No assurances. And that's okay.
01:16Like I said, I know it's, again, a cliche answer, but it's like with all the work being put in
01:23right now to try to get us on a good stretch,
01:26like it's not something that we're talking about.
01:29So we're just, as a staff, as a group, day-to-day trying to get this thing on track.
01:35You know, Buster was telling us that his sources that – in his reporting about the Red Sox,
01:41they were reporting that the environment around the team and management were, in his words, terrible.
01:45How would you judge that assessment that Buster only had from his sources?
01:50I can only – I can only comment to you guys on the environment within our locker room, and it's
01:57fine.
01:59You know, I heard a little bit of that back and forth, but I can assure you inside these doors
02:04with our staff,
02:05our players, you know, that everybody's focus right now is on getting our team on a run.
02:11And for a lot of us, as you guys know, with the day-to-day of this and the things
02:16that –
02:16all the other things we have to worry about on a day-to-day basis, like anything that's happening outside
02:21here
02:21isn't productive for us, you know.
02:23So it's – inside these walls, as far as prep and everything, like this group is fine.
02:28They're together.
02:29We're still committed to getting this thing right.
02:31And that literally is where our focus lies.
02:33And quite frankly, it's where it has to lie.
02:35And the other stuff can just be a distraction.
02:37Chad, just a week ago, you know, everybody was talking about,
02:40oh, the bats seem to be turning around.
02:42These guys are getting hot with the bats, uncomparatively speaking to how the season started.
02:46And then the last, you know, four games, the bats have been quieted.
02:49Only one walk in the last four games.
02:51What do you attribute that to?
02:53Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong about that.
02:55I mean, obviously, yeah, the last game in New York, you're facing Cam Schlitter.
02:58You know, he's very good.
03:01You kind of go into a game like that, knowing that this is going to be a tight ball game
03:05with Ranger on the mound for us.
03:06Like, there are instances with certain guys where you kind of know this is not going to be
03:10an easy assignment.
03:11But you're right.
03:12And I do think that's part of a season, too.
03:14Like, we did have a long stretch there where the bats were going pretty good.
03:17Last night was not as good.
03:18And the guys know that.
03:21Usually when we're not walking, maybe we start expanding the zone a little bit too much.
03:25You know, so that all comes into play.
03:27But, yeah, no secret.
03:29Like, when, you know, when the bats got going, the runs were going on the board.
03:33You know, I think we were averaging about five runs a game.
03:35We've got to continue to do that.
03:36It's just part of it.
03:37And you've just got to keep turning the page and move to the next one.
03:40How about with Jaron Durant specifically, Chad?
03:41He had a hot streak there and now cooled off a little bit in June.
03:44Anything that you're seeing with his A-Bs?
03:47I think with J.D., it's often.
03:49Like, he always grinds on when he was hot.
03:51You know, he's being very decisive about what he's swinging at.
03:55When he's not, he's chasing a little bit more.
03:57That being said, like, he had a pretty long stretch there.
04:00It's as a group, you know, like, that's the thing is getting this thing going holistically
04:04where if everybody's going, that one guy can maybe go through it for a little bit
04:08and the rest pick him up.
04:09So, we've got to do it as a group.
04:11It's not one guy.
04:12But it is part of baseball, you know.
04:15I mean, you'd love to see a guy get on a hot streak and hit for four months straight.
04:20Usually, it's not how it works, you know.
04:22Guys are going to, individual guys are going to go through little spells
04:25and the rest of the group has to help pick him up.
04:27So, that's where we're at.
04:28And, you know, he's going to get hot again.
04:30And when he does, like, it'll be good.
04:33So, it's part of a season.
04:34So, Chad, I want to quickly circle back to what Ted was just saying a second ago
04:38about the offense.
04:39And, obviously, you know, the team could be hitting better,
04:43and you understand that.
04:44But the walk stat is really interesting to me.
04:48So, yesterday was a fourth straight game drawing just one walk,
04:52which is the longest streak of any team this season.
04:56Like, what do you think is behind that part of it?
04:59That, for some reason, stands out as being very strange.
05:02Sure, it does.
05:03I mean, you're not wrong about that.
05:04You know, it's a fine line, right?
05:07You don't want hitters going up there looking to walk, right?
05:10And you get very passive in the zone, and you're taking strikes that you should hit.
05:14But that being said, walks do help create innings.
05:19Oftentimes, with us, we're literally in spots on an even night.
05:22We're looking for one inning, one inning that can change the game
05:25because we play in such close games.
05:27So, that's part of it.
05:29And if you're expanding outside the zone, you know, it's going to be hard to walk.
05:34It's that simple.
05:35So, that is something we're constantly focused on is, you know, for us,
05:39like our chase rate and how much we're chasing outside the zone.
05:41When we have spurts, we're not doing that.
05:43We get some walks, and you guys know those show up, and you look up,
05:46and here comes a bases loaded inning, and there's another one,
05:48and you're giving yourselves big opportunities to score.
05:50So, when you're not doing that, you get, you know, you get more games like last night
05:56where you kind of scatter four hits and scatter AVs,
05:58and you never really gave yourself a really good, significant chance to score.
06:02So, we have to be better at that.
06:04The guys know that.
06:05We're focused on that.
06:05And for that stretch, we were, and we were scoring more runs.
06:09But this, I guess it sounds like when you add the walks into the team
06:13not really hitting where it should be,
06:15it just seems like a comprehensive, like, all-encompassing problem with offense and hitting.
06:22I mean, and so where do you point?
06:24Like, how do you, because, I mean, a good batting coach would usually be able to help you with that.
06:28But in this case, you know, you have players going outside of the team.
06:32Doesn't that stand out as a giant red flag with maybe where these people are getting their advice from at
06:39the plate?
06:40No, I don't think so.
06:41I mean, to your point, again, you're right.
06:43You're implying, like, oh, you get the walks.
06:45You still need to get the hits.
06:46You know, you're also not wrong there.
06:48When you create the bases loaded opportunity or the first and second no outs,
06:52like, you still, at some point, though, you're going to need the big hit, right?
06:55That still has to come.
06:57So, yeah, it's not, you're right in the fact that it's not a one-sided issue.
07:01Like, oh, we walk more.
07:01It's great.
07:02Like, no, you've still got to get the ball in the gap, you know,
07:04and have somebody hit a three-run double.
07:05That's all part of baseball.
07:07But, again, I don't want to make too much of, and I think too much gets made of,
07:13outside hitting coaches.
07:15Like I told you guys in studio, like, last week, there are, I mean, again,
07:19outside right now just walked in from five or six guys early hitting with our group
07:23and working on some of the same things that maybe you saw, you know,
07:27with Durbin and Durbin's comments even said, you know,
07:29working very, very hard on the same things with our guys.
07:32Those are our function.
07:33I think it gets blown up sometimes, but that's a function of baseball,
07:36and there are plenty of guys that have people that they talk to throughout the season,
07:41they work with for four months, that they can lean on and ask some things.
07:45That's part of it.
07:46As long as your coaches are in constant communication with what's going on
07:50and everybody's on the same page, that's not a much smaller thing that's being made of.
07:55But, again, as a group, like, you know, games like last night are ones we want to eliminate
07:59and just create more traffic.
08:01Chad, Brian Baio was adamant that he is a starter and that he was just going through a slump
08:06and he was going to work, figure some things out in the big, you know, on the big club.
08:09And then he was sent down to AAA right after that.
08:12Just curious how that – did you tell him that he was going down?
08:17How did that conversation go?
08:18And just your thoughts on Brian Baio being sent down to AAA?
08:21Yeah, I think – and Brian, you know, spoke the other day when he was in Worcester.
08:26And I think as a group, you know, you guys heard his comments.
08:30It was an emotional meeting for a kid that's been, you know, at times, you know, in the past,
08:35especially last year for a very long stretch has been very good for us
08:37and means a lot to our organization.
08:39So it's never, ever easy to have a conversation like that.
08:44You know, that being said, like, just felt like with all of the, you know,
08:49the commentary around that day and the rotation, that spot,
08:51and where he's trying to get himself and the confidence we're trying to get him
08:54to have in himself get it back, it just felt like for a stretch that maybe, you know,
08:59this is probably better done right now in AAA where he can take down some starts
09:03and help get himself in order.
09:04So – and for us, you know, like, we believe in Brian Bale.
09:08Like, I do think he's going to come back here and help us.
09:09It just – that day became a little bit of a grind as far as whether it's Brian starting
09:14or an opener, neither which scenario was going well.
09:18We tried, you know, openers.
09:19Obviously, Brian was thriving a bit in that role,
09:22but we were having struggles opening the game and keeping runs off the board.
09:25So for the time being, it was just about our team, about the Red Sox,
09:29and also about what can we do to help Brian get on track,
09:31the combination of those things, felt like that was the right time to do it.
09:35Chad, any good news on Roman Anthony?
09:38Nothing new yet.
09:39Nothing new yet.
09:40We're waiting.
09:40Question about Sunday.
09:42Ranger Suarez came out after 90 pitches, and I heard you say after the game,
09:45that was kind of where he has been.
09:47Is he capped there, or how does that work with him?
09:50No, not necessarily capped there.
09:51It's just there was, you know, as he came off the hamstring issues,
09:54we kind of slowly built him back up.
09:57And you also have to be very aware of certain things.
10:01Like in that situation, he's at a number where you know you don't have much room left.
10:07And when you guys – you have to look at lineups, right?
10:09And at that juncture of where we were at,
10:13Taron Guerrero is ready to go.
10:15You do have a three-batter stretch of righties.
10:17If you don't move there and you drag it on and then you have to pull him,
10:21you end up running into Ben Rice once you get past gold.
10:25There are times where it's like the three-batter lanes help make a very good,
10:31sound decision on if we're going to do this.
10:33If you wait too long and then you pull, you're going to have to run into an area
10:36of the lineup you'd rather not.
10:38So when you put all those factors together, you know you're at the end of the rope anyways,
10:43and you make the best decision for the guy on the mound and the guy coming in
10:46to give us the best chance to win.
10:47It's that simple.
10:48We're talking to interim Red Sox coach – manager, rather, Chad Tracy.
10:52And you mentioned in an interview recently, Chad,
10:54that you and Alex Cora have talked to each other a handful of times since his firing.
11:00First of all, that's awesome.
11:02I love the fact that you guys have been in contact.
11:05Second, how often has that happened and what did you guys talk about?
11:10Not as much recently.
11:12You know, a bunch of times early on, and it was mainly – I won't get into –
11:15I really don't want to get into all the details of everything.
11:17It's between me and him.
11:18But I would just say just mostly, broadly, support for each other.
11:24Obviously, I'm close with him, and I've – you know, what happened wasn't easy.
11:28And him offering support to me despite, you know, me coming in as his replacement
11:33and all the other stuff that happened, just knowing for me and him that that friendship is still there,
11:38the support is still there, and, you know, the offer of advice if I ever needed is still there.
11:43And that meant a lot to me.
11:45You know, I can speak for myself and say that meant a lot to me that how all that went
11:49down,
11:50that I know that a person that I feel very fondly of is still there.
11:54So it was mostly that, and I won't get into a lot of the other stuff.
11:59But, yeah, we talked a handful of times in the initial couple weeks.
12:02I love that because he had every reason to leave you hanging.
12:04Because, I mean, I would think that if, you know, whenever you get let go from an organization,
12:08there's probably that part inside it that's like, yeah, screw these guys.
12:11But the fact that he didn't do that at all and actually reached out to you,
12:15doesn't that say something about, you know, the kind of character he is?
12:19Yeah, I think so.
12:20I think most of us – you know, I saw something he had said about the fraternity of baseball,
12:26and most of us, you know, that have been around and understand how the game works
12:30are not going to sacrifice great friendships over stuff that sometimes is or is not in your control.
12:36And I won't forget that, you know.
12:38So he's – you know, it's a long time I've known him.
12:42And I don't think that just gets thrown away.
12:43It's just something that happened.
12:45How – brought up right side Marcelo Meyer home run yesterday, Chad.
12:49You see him breaking out here?
12:51Seen some signs?
12:52That's what we hope.
12:53You know, like it's – obviously you guys see he's working hard.
12:56He's, you know, doing a little work with the toe tap to get his timing mechanism right.
13:00The swings have been better.
13:01So that's what you hope.
13:03You know, you keep getting him in the lineup in the spots that are conducive form
13:06and get him out there, and you hope that happens.
13:08You know, if he starts to go with what we know he's capable of
13:13and he starts to provide some of that thump, you know, towards the bottom of the order
13:16that flips it over, obviously that would help.
13:18But, yeah, good to see him do that last night, particularly off a left-handed pitcher.
13:23But it was a welcome sight for sure.
13:25All right, finally, Chad, is Tropicana Field the worst stadium in the majors?
13:32You know, it's interesting.
13:33The roof, you know, obviously with the hurricane, the damage to the roof a couple of years ago,
13:39they redid the roof.
13:42And it's – I think just because it's new and maybe not as weathered,
13:45it's much brighter in the trop than I remember.
13:48I've been here a lot of times.
13:49I grew up in Sarasota, so I've been to games here.
13:51I've been – managed games here, came in spring training.
13:53A couple years back, they had spring training games here when the facility was messed up.
13:59So it's brighter.
14:01The sun lets through a lot easier, so it's brighter.
14:04Did they get rid of the catwalk that –
14:06The catwalk, all of them, all of A, B, C, and D, all of them are still there.
14:11Okay.
14:12I don't know.
14:13All four of them.
14:14Part of the charm.
14:14How could you possibly –
14:16There's an enormous amount of ground rules that you have to be aware of here.
14:19Like if it hits that one in that spot, that's in play.
14:21And if it hits that one, it's a home run.
14:24And if it hits that one in foul territory, it's foul.
14:27So you just got to be very well aware if a ball goes up very high in the air
14:31that it may hit something.
14:33That's just one of the stranger things, that that is just allowed to be a stadium.
14:37And who cares about, like, whether it's just going to –
14:39that ball's in the middle of play, just going to knock right out.
14:41And it happens every year, too.
14:43It always happens.
14:45Right.
14:45I've never seen it happen in person.
14:48But, yeah, you always wonder, like, when is the ball – you know,
14:50when is the high skyscraping routine fly out going to clip something
14:54and go fly in the other direction and land for a hit?
14:56You know, that would be tough to deal with.
14:59Well, let's hope you guys are able to hit that third beam
15:02and get a home run here and get the offense going.
15:04And, you know, we're obviously – two more games.
15:07Let's hope things get turned around soon.
15:08And, you know, let's get some runs on the board, right, Chad?
15:12That's the goal.
15:13Appreciate it, guys.
15:14All right, Chad.
15:15Great talking to you.
15:15We'll talk to you again next week.
15:16We appreciate it.
15:17All right, thanks.
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