- 5 hours ago
- #live
- #mlb
- #tradedeadline
We are live at The Lobster Bar, in Newport, RI! What did Red Sox make of Contreras/Cavalli & benches clearing? What's the team's perspective on what was said? Red Sox President/CEO Sam Kennedy #live !
Kennedy on Contreras: "Elite player. He's a great leader in that clubhouse"
Still time to 'PIVOT'? 5 game win streak, now 2 losses- WHAT DIRECTION are the Red Sox headed in as #MLB #TradeDeadline approaches? Buy or Sell?
Kennedy on Contreras: "Elite player. He's a great leader in that clubhouse"
Still time to 'PIVOT'? 5 game win streak, now 2 losses- WHAT DIRECTION are the Red Sox headed in as #MLB #TradeDeadline approaches? Buy or Sell?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And it is the president of the Boston Red Sox, Sam Kennedy, who joins us this morning.
00:04Hey, Sam.
00:05Hey, good morning, guys.
00:07How you doing?
00:09Well, it's been a rough 48 hours, but we had a good homestand before that, so we're just
00:16grinding through, Greg.
00:18Yeah.
00:19I wanted to ask a little bit about what's going on with what went on with Wilson Contreras
00:25and the team's perspective, where the league is at with what happened the other night
00:32and what was said to him.
00:34And do you guys feel like that was a racist statement that was made toward Wilson?
00:43Yeah, look, I mean, Wilson is an incredibly emotional player, and there was some taunting
00:50that happened.
00:52And, look, I don't want to wade into what Cade Cavalli's intention was or wasn't.
00:58I just saw the apology and the position that was taken by their organization obviously does
01:06not excuse Wilson's behavior.
01:08So I think it's best to recognize that these things happen in our game from time to time
01:14and we move on.
01:15And it came in the wake of, you know, what's been a hugely emotional time for a lot of
01:23our players, given what's happening in Venezuela.
01:25So, look, it's unfortunate, but we're going to move on.
01:30I think maybe five times this season the benches have cleared for this baseball team and their
01:37opponent.
01:38And, you know, four of those times he was kind of at the forefront of that.
01:42Are you guys, is that something that you're talking to him about, super passionate, having
01:46a great season, but you want him to be able to play and not to be sitting on the bench
01:51suspended?
01:52Yeah, absolutely.
01:54I mean, Wilson is a very emotional player.
01:57He's an elite player.
01:59He's a great leader in that clubhouse.
02:01He cares as much as anybody on the field.
02:03And as you said, we need him on the field.
02:06So, yeah, that is something that the group's talking about.
02:09I know Brez spent about six innings with him post-ejection.
02:15Chad Tracy's been great supporting him.
02:18And he's, Wilson's appreciated that.
02:21So got to keep all our guys on the field.
02:24And it's really important.
02:25But we do love the fact that the grind and the care for his teammates is there.
02:32We just got to channel it the right way.
02:34Sam, before that interaction between those two players, there were reports about Jaron
02:41Duran.
02:41I saw one report about Sedan Raffaella possibly having fans removed from Fenway Park over, not
02:49necessarily Red Sox fans, but over heckling, for lack of a better word.
02:55Is that something that is happening that you are aware of in Fenway?
03:00And where do you see the line drawn in terms of the heckling that goes on at professional
03:06games and something that's actually inappropriate and warrants being tossed from Fenway Park?
03:11Yeah, I mean, look, 99.9% of our fans come to Fenway, have a great time, cheer, boo, scream,
03:21yell, yell, do, you know, whatever they want to enjoy the game.
03:27The one thing is we do take action when people cross the line.
03:31And in rare instances, that happens and security gets involved.
03:36And this was an incident where security needed to get involved, given what was happening.
03:41And that was led by Chad Fasey.
03:43We thought that was the best thing at the time.
03:45And it was.
03:46So we took action.
03:47But again, 99.9% of the time, our fans are incredibly supportive and well-behaved.
03:54And we appreciate that.
03:55Do you know what was said to Jaron Duran that crossed the line?
03:59Does the team know that?
04:01No, I don't know.
04:02I know there was something he said, she said.
04:05I'll just leave it at that.
04:06It doesn't do us any good to go into that.
04:08I guess, like, obviously, nobody wants anybody to be offensive in a ballpark and screaming
04:15and impacting negatively, impacting those around them watching the game.
04:18We all agree on that.
04:19But, like, it feels to me that there has been several instances where Jaron Duran has been
04:25antagonizing fans.
04:26Where it's, at best, it's 50-50.
04:30I don't think that's fair.
04:32I think there's been instances where, at times, the line gets crossed.
04:37And, you know, that's on our operations to monitor that.
04:43And that's what we did in this case.
04:46I guess I would just say, though, like, the player has a higher threshold of responsibility
04:51than the paying customer.
04:52Would you agree?
04:54Well, yeah.
04:55Yeah, certainly paying customers have the right to express their feelings and their own
05:01emotions.
05:02It's what's great about professional sports.
05:04But when a line gets crossed, it's on us to take action.
05:09I love having you have the opportunity to clear things up from the organization's perspective.
05:14So, I just, there was some reporting about Marcelo Meyer and the organization being frustrated
05:21with him.
05:22Can you clear that up when it comes to that player?
05:27Yeah.
05:27Marcelo, I mean, I saw the reporting.
05:30I can assure you that none of those sentiments came from anyone inside the organization.
05:36The feeling about Marcelo is as strong as ever.
05:40I mean, he said himself, you know, he wishes he were out there.
05:44And, you know, the decision was sort of taken out of his hand by our medical group.
05:49This is a tough kid.
05:52This is a great, talented young player who's transitioning into the big leagues.
05:58And we support Marcelo fully.
06:01Sam, we talked to you several weeks back about, you know, the direction of the organization.
06:05Maybe half in a pivot.
06:06You have a really good series against the Yankees where you sweep them.
06:09Then it looks like you could potentially do that against the Nationals.
06:13In the last couple of games, you've gone in the wrong direction.
06:17Where do you see you guys going when it comes to trade deadline, whether buying, selling?
06:23Do you feel like you're still, the jury's out on the direction that you might want to go
06:28in with this team?
06:31Yeah.
06:31I mean, consistent with, you know, where we were at a couple weeks ago, incredibly frustrated
06:36where we're at, 37 and 48, you know, at the beginning of July.
06:42And so it's still unclear.
06:44I mean, to your point, we had a great stretch there where we really sort of showed what we're
06:51capable of.
06:52I mean, starting pitching has been unbelievable.
06:55And the team started to demonstrate what we sort of thought we were going to get all
07:00year.
07:01That said, we are where we are.
07:03So we've got an incredibly huge couple weeks ahead, heading out to Anaheim and then Chicago
07:11and then in New York before the break.
07:14We've got to go out and win series and try to win every single night and get back in this
07:19thing.
07:19It's not out of reach entirely.
07:22But as you said, the trade deadline's coming beginning of August.
07:27And so we'll get more information as we go through the month of July and hope that we're
07:33in a much, much better position than where we are right now.
07:37Sam, we had Craig on last week and he discussed sort of the process by which you guys come
07:42to the understanding of your approach at the deadline by saying that he gives a recommendation
07:47to you, Mike Gordon, John Henry, Theo Epstein.
07:52Could you sort of bring us into that?
07:53Like, how is that?
07:54Is that sort of a presentation by him?
07:55Is it everybody speaks?
07:56John makes the final decision.
07:57How does it work when you guys are making, which is going to be, you know, a pretty massive
08:01decision regarding the future of the organization as to how you guys treat this deadline?
08:05Yeah.
08:06Well, I think you just said it really well.
08:08Like, we all talk every single day, multiple times a day.
08:12So there's not a need for a kind of a formal presentation.
08:16We all know exactly where we are.
08:18Um, so it will be just a continuation of that dialogue that, uh, that is, uh, ongoing and
08:25that is the group, you know, John Henry and Tom Warner, Mike Gordon, Theo Epstein, myself,
08:31uh, Craig and his team, uh, will get together and discuss exactly who we are.
08:36And we are committed to doing what's in the best interest of the Red Sox.
08:42Um, and right now we're hoping that it's either a very, very difficult decision, um, or an obvious
08:48decision, uh, to add.
08:50That's, that's where we are on July 2nd, but we got to start winning games and winning games
08:55really soon.
08:57There was, there was some reporting, uh, another opportunity to clear it up some reporting about
09:01the scouting part department being depleted.
09:04What, how, how is that accurate?
09:06And how many does the team actually currently have?
09:10We've got a couple hundred people that work in baseball operations.
09:14Uh, like to say, the department is not depleted, uh, scouting analytics.
09:20Um, medical, uh, pro scouting, amateur scouting.
09:25So, uh, no, the department and, and pro scouting, amateur scouting, not depleted at all.
09:31There, there, there has been change over the last couple of years.
09:33That's natural.
09:34Uh, so there's been some departures, there's been some restructuring, um, but definitely
09:38not depleted.
09:40Okay.
09:41Sam, I, I know that the, you know, all-stop breaks almost upon us and, and I talked to
09:45Bresbalt last week and one of the things that I said to him, we used to do in the NFL
09:49is
09:50we used to evaluate and we'd get grades.
09:52And I asked him what he felt his grade was on himself.
09:55I'd like to know from your perspective, especially ownership, um, if he is secure and where he
10:02is in the future of this team and what you guys would give him as a grade on what he's
10:07been able to do heading into this season and this season when it comes to personnel.
10:12Yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it's interesting.
10:16Wiggy, if you look back, I mean, baseball is, um, really enjoyed day to day, right?
10:20It's we're living and dying with every single game, but if you zoom out and look back at
10:26what Craig was brought in here to do, um, a lot of the work is ongoing.
10:32He has dramatically overhauled our pitching.
10:35Um, we've seen incredible success there.
10:38We've improved our defense, which has been an issue.
10:40We struggled on the offensive side of the ball.
10:43Um, we kept coming off a playoff appearance last year.
10:47Um, I think has really set up the expectations for this year.
10:52That's why it's been so frustrating and disappointing to be 11 games under 500.
10:58Um, but I look back at our off season.
11:01I look at the addition of Wilson Contreras, um, Ranger, Suarez, Sonny Gray.
11:07He's been one of the best pitchers in baseball, extending Chapman, um, making the deal to bring
11:13in Caleb Durbin.
11:14I know he got off to a slow start, but he's been incredible the past month.
11:19So, um, the off season, um, acquisitions and moves were positive.
11:25That hasn't been our, our issue.
11:27Our issue has been under performance in other areas.
11:29Um, so look, the, the, the team is a work in progress.
11:34Um, Rez would be the first to admit that we're not where we need to be.
11:38Um, so not going to grade each other and colleagues and employees, uh, out here publicly, but I just,
11:45I think it's important to look at what's gone right and what's gone wrong and then have an
11:49honest assessment, um, about how we fix things as we go forward.
11:54Before you go, I'll ask you what, uh, question about what everybody's been talking about this
11:58morning.
11:59What do you think of the Jalen Brown trade?
12:01Um, I, I mean, listen, we, we have enough of our own problems.
12:05Um, I am, I am, I am a big, big, big Brad Stevens fan in Brad.
12:12We trust.
12:13Um, and this guy has a, this guy has a track record.
12:17And, um, so I'm pulling for him no matter what they do.
12:20And just a quick one, because there was reporting out there this week.
12:23I don't know how serious the reporting was, but would you rule out a return of Alex Cora
12:26in some capacity with the organization?
12:29I, I saw, I saw that, um, look, there's not something that, uh, we're, we're discussing,
12:35but listen, there are lots of great feelings for, um, for Alex from people in the organization.
12:42So I could understand why there may be speculation, uh, about that.
12:47It's great feelings towards lots of people have been here over the last couple of decades.
12:50So nothing to that, but I understand, you know, where it may come from, given, um, given
12:56the close relationships that Alex has with a lot of people in the organization.
13:01Have you spoken to him or, or, uh, texted, uh, with him since Baltimore?
13:07Uh, yeah.
13:07Oh yeah.
13:08Yep.
13:08Been in touch, uh, been in touch with a lot of the guys.
13:11And, you know, you can't have decades long relationships with people.
13:16And when you make changes, just, you know, cut them off.
13:19I mean, this game's about relationships.
13:20And so, so yes.
13:22Okay.
13:23All right.
13:24Sam Kennedy, um, have a great, have a great fourth.
13:27We thank you for taking the time this morning.
13:29That is Sam Kennedy, the president of the Boston Red Sox.
13:32Everybody, Sam, you got it.
13:37Thank you, Sam.
13:39Thanks, guys.
13:40Happy fourth, everybody.
13:41All right.
13:41Happy fourth.
13:42Happy fourth.
13:42Happy fourth.
Comments