- 14 hours ago
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy joined Rich, Ken, and Ted and talked about Willson Contreras being tossed from last night’s game, Jarren Duran having a player ejected from a game this past weekend, and the team’s current 5 game winning streak.
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00:00When your drains don't flow, Chad, you swept the Yankees and you added another win last
00:04night and all five wins at Fenway Park, which is a place that has apparently cursed you
00:09all season.
00:10How do you explain what's happened this past week?
00:14Oh man, I don't know.
00:15I think it's mostly, uh, you know, came home after, I mean, really it started on the road.
00:20We, we got, let some games get away from us on the road that we felt like we should have
00:24had, but the offense started to show up.
00:25But I think, um, the Yankees being in here, it kind of maybe made our guys feel like it's
00:31time to go now or never.
00:33And we had a heck of a week, a heck of a series against them.
00:36And like you said, got a win yesterday, but we're, we are at the moment, you know, we're
00:40getting outstanding starting pitching.
00:42The bullpen's been pretty good here and, and, um, the offense has showed up and we're, we're
00:46taking consistent at bats.
00:48Well, let's, let's jump right into the crazy moment that happened last night.
00:51So Contreras hits a three run bomb.
00:53Um, the emotions of everything that are happening in his home country of Venezuela, obviously
00:58made him very emotional.
00:59It overpowers him.
01:00He's poised to have a great night.
01:02And then at his next at bat, he struck out close call and was walking towards the dugout,
01:07tapped his helmet, as if to say, check the ABS system.
01:10And then the softest up in the game threw him out.
01:13Uh, I'll say it.
01:14You don't have to say it later on.
01:15The umpire was asked.
01:16I don't know if you heard this.
01:17If like tapping the helmet for a non challenge is an automatic ejection.
01:21And he said, yes, it was, but also noted that there is discretion with the call, which
01:27to me says that it isn't automatic.
01:28First of all, did you know that rule?
01:30And what did you think of how everything went down?
01:33I was somewhat aware of the rule in the sense that I think it was something told, you know,
01:38with the intro with the introduction of challenge and things like that, that if that players
01:43use those signals and sarcasm or anything like that, that they could be subject to ejection.
01:48So I think most people knew that.
01:50I think the discretion part of it for me is, uh, where it lies, uh, you know, maybe my issue
01:56with it is just nobody in the stadium really knew what happened, you know, even including
02:01myself, um, when he was removed from the game and somebody in the dugout told me, I said,
02:06who, I thought somebody had said something from the dugout, like a player that was on
02:09the bench.
02:09And, um, so obviously went out there and figured out what's going on.
02:13I don't think Wilson knew he was thrown out of the game, but for me, the discretion part
02:16is that is like, if something occurs two steps from the dugout where nobody sees it, nobody's
02:21paying attention to him.
02:22Now they're already focused on the next hitter.
02:24That's where I would have liked to have seen, uh, the discretion part come in.
02:28Um, but obviously that's Nick's, Nick's call and Nick's decision to do that.
02:33Uh, uh, Chad, how do you see the personality of the team evolving and is Wilson becoming
02:38sort of your emotional captain, your emotional leader?
02:40He's not becoming our emotional captain.
02:42He is our emotional captain.
02:44Like he is, uh, pretty much since the outset, you know, like the, uh, you, you guys know that
02:48you've seen it, you've watched the games, like hit them, the emotion with which he plays
02:52and the intensity with which he plays.
02:53And when he gets a big hit and you see his reaction, um, he's fired up buddy.
02:59And it's, and it fires the rest of the group up.
03:01So, um, and you hear him hollering in the dugout, like he's, he's, uh, he's gets after
03:06it.
03:06He's a highly emotional player and guys feed off of it.
03:09So I think there's no question.
03:10He's the emotional leader of our team.
03:11Chad, I'd say in the last seven games, there's been an uptick in, in offense and in hitting.
03:16You guys are almost, uh, averaging more than close to a run more a game in the last seven
03:22games than you were prior.
03:23Uh, what do you contribute to that to or any explanation for that?
03:27Well, I think a combination of things.
03:29One, we're, we're hitting some more balls out of the ballpark.
03:31That helps.
03:31Um, we had a, you know, three or four there in the last couple of games in Colorado.
03:35We've hit some balls out of the ballpark during the course of this week.
03:38And, um, we've done a better job executing.
03:42We've, we've had a lot of opportunities with men on third base and we've got those jobs done.
03:46Um, we did it two more times last night.
03:48I went a lot of attention on the first inning with the home runs, but the additional
03:52tack on runs were, uh, runners at third sack fly situations.
03:55And we executed and got the job done and didn't strike out.
03:58So, uh, probably a combination of factors when you start to get, get some home runs and
04:02extra base hits that obviously helps.
04:04Um, but, but executing the small ball parts of the game helps as well.
04:07How about Caleb Durbin?
04:09The minute he saw our guy, Lorenzo, the batting coach, all of a sudden he's popped seven
04:13big ones.
04:13I think, I think, I think he's honestly had seven home runs since he saw the batting coach,
04:18Lorenzo.
04:19He's swinging the bat great.
04:21He's swinging the bat great.
04:22And it has been, and it's like, not like a blip, like, Hey, it's like a good 10 days.
04:26It's been over a month now.
04:27Um, you know, Kansas city, I think you guys, I think it was in Kansas city in the office.
04:33We had talked one of our initial conversations.
04:34He was struggling at that point and had a conversation with him at that time.
04:39If you remember, kind of Falefa was hot.
04:40Yep.
04:41Um, and a conversation occurred with Derb saying, Hey, you may have to spend a little time on the
04:45bench here.
04:45Like, you know, you're struggling and this guy's hot and it's the responsibility of the
04:49team.
04:49We gotta, we gotta try things.
04:50Right.
04:51And, uh, he spent maybe seven out of 10 days or something of that nature on the bench.
04:56Um, in the meantime was working hard.
04:59And I know there's a lot of attention on the outside hitting, um, but the, the work he
05:03was, the diligent work he was putting in, in here too, like with our guys, um, spent a
05:07lot, he utilized the time like a pro and, and just said, I got to get my stuff right.
05:12Um, worked very hard at it, had a nice day at the end of Kansas city or, uh, was one
05:17there.
05:17We sat some more and I think he saw it was like, when I get my opportunity back here, I
05:22got to run with it.
05:22And he is, uh, he has been fantastic.
05:25All right.
05:25So Chad, there was a report that came out that I wanted to ask you about.
05:28Sean McCadden, who's a good reporter.
05:29Um, he published a report about Marcello Meyer that, uh, uh, that some in the organization,
05:34I'm going to quote him.
05:35Some of the organization were quote, would question his mental toughness and his tendency
05:40to withdrawal during slumps, as well as his willingness to play through pain.
05:44And then the day after those comments were published, Marcello went on the IL.
05:48What do you make of Sean McCadden's report and what's going on with Marcello right now?
05:52Well, I mean, the willingness to play through pain is tough to, tough to swallow.
05:56And he just did it for about a month and a half, you know?
05:59So, um, he, he's, you know, and then until you finally figure out, Hey, there's, that's,
06:03uh, not a fracture, right?
06:05It's a stress reaction.
06:05Well, yeah, it pretty much acknowledges he was playing through pain.
06:09Um, I, I honestly think guys, like, um, some of that stuff, it's an easy target at times
06:14because, um, you know, Marcello went through a lot of stuff in the minor leagues.
06:18You guys know that as he came up, that there was some injuries and a lot of them were,
06:22or not preventable, you know, um, with a back issue and different things that popped up
06:27that were very real things.
06:28Um, so it can become an easy, uh, an easy target, uh, when things happen to, to bring
06:34up soft or to bring up, won't play through this or won't play through that.
06:38And I think in a lot of cases, it's just been unlucky.
06:40It's as simple as that.
06:42He's had some serious things pop up that, that nobody can prevent.
06:46And, um, I don't share that sentiment.
06:48Um, but I really think it's the case of that.
06:51Chad, if Wilson is the emotional leader, uh, is Anthony Siegler trying to get involved?
06:55He seems like a, he's developing a personality.
06:57Yeah.
06:58He, he's paired up with him nicely, isn't he?
07:00Yeah.
07:00There's a lot of emotion there too.
07:02It's good.
07:02I saw some of that in Worcester when he first got there.
07:04Um, another guy plays the game, high energy, um, very emphatic with his fist pumps and all
07:11that.
07:11He, he, he, he loves playing baseball.
07:13It's easy to see guys like that when you can see the emotion come out and you feel like these
07:16guys
07:17really enjoy playing baseball.
07:18But he has absolutely given us the lift as well.
07:21So Chad, we had a caller calling yesterday and he was fairly passionate about Jaron Duran
07:26and what Jaron, and by the way, he's, he's not the only one.
07:29There's a lot of people calling about him and, you know, obviously he's someone who has been
07:32playing better, but at the same time, he has a pretty big track record now of getting into
07:39altercations, verbal altercations with people in the stands, whether it be fans, you know,
07:44saying one thing or the next.
07:45And sometimes people don't even know what they said.
07:47You know, there was obviously just the other day, you know, there was the thing he did
07:50with Michael Holly on social media.
07:52I know that at target field versus the twins back in April, he had one.
07:56And there's of course, some other ones in his past.
07:59Have you spoken to him about that?
08:02Because it, that can't be a, I know the fans don't like seeing that.
08:07Obviously.
08:08Have you spoken to him about his emotions and, and how that can possibly backfire on somebody
08:14like when you continue?
08:16Because as I said, this isn't one or two, this is a pretty decent amount of times that
08:21he's been jawing to the fans.
08:23Yeah.
08:23First of all, the, the one the other day and Jaron made comments after and people are saying,
08:27oh, he just won't say anything.
08:28You know, when he said nothing happened, um, that's fairly true, just to be honest with
08:32you.
08:33I don't know if anybody, you don't have video of it, but like there was a fan behind us
08:36that was pretty, uh, you know, pretty, I guess, excessively taunting over the course
08:42of multiple innings, just taunting.
08:44And you can see by the look on the, on his face that it was in, with the intent of
08:47trying
08:47to invoke a reaction, which by the way, I have, I have very limited, that's ridiculous.
08:51If you're going to come to a baseball game, come enjoy a baseball game, but to deliberately
08:55be as a grown person, taunting players, trying to evoke a reaction.
08:58I find that to be nonsense as well.
09:00But Chad, you gotta be able to take that as a, if it's not, if it's not personal, if it's
09:04like, cause, cause what we heard is that he was just yelling out his batting average
09:07or something.
09:08That's the report.
09:09I don't know if it's true, but don't you think that you, you kind of gotta be able to
09:13take that if you're a professional athlete, it's not fun, I'm sure, but yelling back at
09:18the, at, at, at the fan seems like an overreaction.
09:22And that's the part where I'll cut you cut in there because it wasn't just Jaren.
09:26And actually, because there was a handful of us that have been listening to it, there was
09:30a handful of us at the simultaneous moment that looked at our security.
09:34He'd say, can we please get this guy out of here?
09:35Because we don't have, we don't have to sit, you can move him to somewhere else, but we
09:38don't have to sit there and listen to that.
09:39So it's, I understand where you guys are coming from.
09:42I really do.
09:44I think it's easy to find these moments and, and he has moments.
09:48Jaren's, Jaren's another one.
09:49We're talking a lot about Siegler and Wilson, right?
09:51And they play the game with a lot of emotion intensity.
09:54Jaren plays the game with a lot of heart, emotion, intensity.
09:56And obviously, you know, he has at times has a pinch and a snap a little bit, but in
10:01that case, like we had him down in the dugout and, and a lot of the, the, the conversation
10:06going back and forth between the security and the fan was some of the coaches saying, can
10:10we please identify that person?
10:12Get them away here.
10:12We don't need any of that right now at this part of the game.
10:15So, yeah, I mean, I've, I've had Jaren to get back to your original question.
10:20I've had Jaren, I've known Jaren since 2022, I've had him for as long as anybody in this
10:26organization, I've had been around him as long as anybody that's in here.
10:32And, and I know that the kind of emotion that he plays with and, and I'm there to support
10:37him and make sure that if I, if I'm able to kind of get him pulled down from something
10:41that I can do that.
10:42But I also don't want to take away the emotion with which he plays the game.
10:46Well, what was the fan saying that you thought justified getting kicked out?
10:49I don't want to get into that.
10:50I said that the other day to the media in here.
10:53I don't want to get into it.
10:54It was three days ago now.
10:57And my biggest thing was we got Jaren down in the dugout and I think I got a lot of
11:01attention
11:01for Jaren.
11:02And I was like, there was a lot, there was a lot more conversating going on between
11:05Flo and myself and the security than there was Jaren with that fan.
11:08I guess as, as the reason I'm asking, I don't mean to continue to press, but as a fan,
11:12you want to know where the line is, because if it's just, because one of the great
11:17things about going to a game is, is razzing people on the other team.
11:20And I know it's, it was a game at Fenway, so it seems odd, but you know, there's, I've
11:25always thought like the guy who's like the good ball buster in the crowd is always kind
11:29of funny as long as they don't cross that line.
11:31And I, and I, and I feel we know where the line is.
11:34Can you just at least kind of paint a picture of like, was, was he over the line?
11:38Was it something personal that he was saying?
11:40I'm not going to get into it.
11:42Now I'm not going to get into more details about it.
11:45I really, I honestly like would like to move past it.
11:49Cause I think it's getting a lot more attention than it needs to.
11:51And it's our job to, it's our job as staff and Wilson was there as our job as staff to
11:56prevent things from getting out of hand, which is what we did.
11:59And it was like done and we move on and we go out there and win the game.
12:02So I don't want to keep getting into it.
12:05All right.
12:06Go ahead.
12:07No, I was real quick.
12:08Chad, I'm just curious.
12:09You passed the halfway mark.
12:10You're nine games under 500, four games out of the wild card.
12:13What is, and it sounds like you guys are having fun and kind of the best run you've
12:16had all season.
12:17What do you, how are you talking to the players?
12:18I mean, how are you keeping them engaged and in it?
12:21What is your message to the players right now with this five game win streak,
12:25considering where you are in the standings?
12:28I think that's an easy, well, first of all, they're feeling it themselves.
12:31You can feel the difference when the club's winning and you can feel it when
12:35you're executing offensively and you're executing on the mound.
12:38So you just keep, keep, you go into a hitters meeting, for example, you go through the
12:42start or whatever and you get to the end of it and just, you know, just talk to them
12:45about you guys are, you're doing this, you're doing this, you're doing A, you're
12:48doing B, you're C, you're supporting each other.
12:50You're fired up.
12:51The energy is good.
12:53And you just keep identifying the things that are happening right now that were not
12:57happening.
12:57Let's call it 10 days, two weeks ago and beyond.
13:01And, and keep helping them identify those things and feel like, all right, that's, this
13:06is what it feels like when we're doing things right.
13:08And that's what it felt like when we were doing things wrong.
13:10And let's do everything in our power, not to go back to feeling how we were when we were
13:13doing things not so well.
13:15It's good.
13:16It's good that you can like have an example of, of doing good things, right?
13:19A sustained, where you sustained it, where you can say there's a, clearly there's a
13:23difference.
13:23If it's all bad, then you have nothing to kind of play it off of.
13:26So that makes sense.
13:28We had a lot of bad and that's, that's fair.
13:30We did.
13:30We had a lot of bad.
13:31We weren't, we weren't, and we had some moments of good, but even when we did, it was like,
13:35you know, a couple of games and then you'd feel like it would go away, but like, and the
13:39same problems would resurface.
13:40So this, this stretch, um, and I said, I said earlier, even dating back to the end of
13:45the road trip, um, maybe one of the longer stretches we have where we feel like, you
13:48know, everybody across the board is contributing and doing their job right now.
13:52Just do your job.
13:54That's it.
13:54Right.
13:54And, um, we're getting a long stretch of that now and hopefully we can continue it through
13:58the break.
13:59It's interesting too, because Rob Bradford said this on the show and I, I, I completely agree
14:04with him because I heard it as well.
14:05People are actually talking about the Red Sox now.
14:08And I know that sounds kind of, I don't mean to dismiss what it was beforehand, but it's
14:12almost like people are getting excited again.
14:14And I know it's five games, but when you sweep the Yankees and you do it as dramatic as, as
14:20it was on Sunday night, and my God, that was a rollercoaster.
14:23It just gets people back into it.
14:25And hopefully you guys will be able to ride that.
14:27And, and, and I hope the, the locker room feels it and that kind of can carry them throughout
14:31these next several series.
14:33They definitely feel it.
14:34Believe me that the Yankee series was, was something else for everybody.
14:38And it was a really, really good, um, moment for, you know, Derb and this, the guys that
14:43haven't, haven't been here, they're in their first season that probably, and when you think
14:47about the way the year has gone, that most of the season, uh, has been feeling, you know,
14:51disappointment and feeling the stadium booing or whatever.
14:54And to give them a glimpse of like, this is what it feels like when you start to reel them
14:58back
14:58in, you know?
14:59Um, and it makes, it makes, uh, it's what makes Fenway special, wakes the Boston fan special.
15:05Like even when we've, you know, they've endured three months of struggles and, and now this is
15:11happening.
15:11It's like, you can feel them.
15:12It's like, that's all it took.
15:13And they're like, let's go.
15:14This is how we're going to play.
15:16So, uh, and to the first part of what you said, like, but it's now our responsibility to
15:20continue that, you know?
15:21So like, you're right, it's been five games and that's as long a stretch as we've had
15:24all year.
15:25Um, you know, it's our responsibility, uh, to have to carry that.
15:28Cause five games, like we have been talking about before for us, like we're in a position
15:32where it's like, this has to continue for an extended period of time.
15:35That doesn't mean you have to go 27 and 0.
15:37Um, but, uh, you got to win more than you lose and you got to do it for an extended
15:41period
15:41of time.
15:41And the guys know that, but, uh, we have some traction now, so hopefully we can, uh, carry it
15:45over.
15:45And the kids are finally eating free at the 99.
15:48You guys are winning some games.
15:51All right, Chad, uh, great stuff and congratulations on this streak.
15:55And, uh, as I said, let's keep it going.
15:56It's been a lot of fun.
15:57Yeah, we're going to try.
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