- 2 days ago
From a need perspective, what are the priorities?
Curtis: "Craig, do you believe that Chad Tracy has proved to you that he should be the manager after this season?"
Tarik Skubal, "Are you picking up the phone and inquiring"?
Breslow: "If there are really good players, that make our club better, that fit what we are trying to do, whether that is because of a position, or control, or whatever the case may be... Absolutely."
Roman Anthony untouchable?
Curtis: "Craig, do you believe that Chad Tracy has proved to you that he should be the manager after this season?"
Tarik Skubal, "Are you picking up the phone and inquiring"?
Breslow: "If there are really good players, that make our club better, that fit what we are trying to do, whether that is because of a position, or control, or whatever the case may be... Absolutely."
Roman Anthony untouchable?
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SportsTranscript
00:00believe this is the first time we have spoken to this man since tracy's turnaround as some are
00:07calling it craig breslow joins us this morning hello craig hey good morning how are you doing
00:13well i'll tell you that i prefer uh craig's comeback or even perhaps breslow's bounce back
00:19i don't know which of those you like but that's what i'm going to go with thank you
00:26no no either one is fine with you or uh i think i've i've learned better than uh than to
00:34try to
00:34influence um what you're going to say about me so i will i'll sit back and listen listen it has
00:40been
00:41very complimentary of late i'll tell you i for one feel like i owe you an apology i it wasn't
00:46that long
00:46ago that i said uh you know i was more likely to go on a run than this team and
00:52didn't they just go
00:53on a big huge run right after i said it so uh my my sincere apologies on that i i
00:59missed the mark
00:59craig breslow well no i i appreciate that um you know from from my perspective i haven't changed um
01:08you know i try to we're trying to do the same things every day which is uh you know put
01:13together
01:13the best roster we can um provide the best information to our players and to our coaches
01:17that we can and set them up to be successful but the the players um trace the coaching staff they
01:24deserve a ton of credit for for the way that they've played over the last you know really
01:28month and a half or so um and it's a lot easier when the results are lining up with all
01:34the work
01:35that's going on uh kind of behind the scenes but um you know it's been really really fun to watch
01:41the
01:42way that these guys have grown together the way that they believe in each other and and the
01:45confidence coming out craig based on what this team has been able to do on how they're playing
01:50if they continue to play like this what do you believe this team can accomplish by the end of the
01:54season sure you know um we believe in this team um we believe in in in the roster and the
02:03players
02:04uh going back to spring training and obviously the first couple of months of the season didn't go the
02:09way that we had planned um but we wanted to build uh a team that was capable of making a
02:15deep playoff
02:16run um you know and and not sure it's fair to say like hey i think this is what these
02:22guys can
02:22accomplish because i don't want to limit it i also think that part of the success is driven
02:26has been driven by trace and and the group's focus on the day-to-day so doing everything to prepare
02:33to win tonight's game and then regardless of how that plays out doing it all over again tomorrow
02:38craig with the mead injury does that change how you're going to handle the trade deadline next
02:42week or are you staying kind of pat um it's well first uh just such a brutal injury for for
02:52curtis
02:52and for the team just really feel for him knowing uh how frustrated he is and wanting to to come
02:59in
02:59and continue on the great season that he's been been having and make a really positive impact on the
03:04team and i think the guys were really excited um you know to have a guy that can hit in
03:09the middle
03:09of the order um can hit for power doesn't chase can do so many different things well uh so just
03:15really feel for him um but with respect to how it affects um our deadline you know it's still we're
03:22still a few days out and we're still getting as much information as we can about what players might
03:28be available what the cost of those players might be um and we were going to approach this probably
03:34pretty similarly um you know maybe maybe one thing is it does is it it gives us a little bit
03:41more
03:41flexibility in terms of uh where or how we might be able to to find some opportunities to to upgrade
03:47um i talked for for a bit about how the the positional flexibility of the group really left
03:54multiple avenues open anyway um i know you won't be specific when it comes to players but
04:00from a need perspective you look at this team what are your priorities going into the deadline monday
04:08yeah um i think i probably just touched on it a little bit um you know in in that there
04:15are a
04:15bunch of different ways i think that we can improve the team still uh you know still looking at the
04:21way
04:21that we're scoring runs and and if there's opportunities to improve the offense there and then
04:26given that um you know we traded a really good young starting pitcher uh to to get curtis i think
04:33every every team at this at this time of year is looking at pitching and trying to make sure you
04:38have
04:38enough depth and and that's not a statement that i think you can ever make with with confidence is
04:42that whether it's the rotation or the bullpen feeling like you've got enough there um just just
04:46because the last month and a half or so of the season can be so unpredictable craig
04:51do you believe that chad tracy has proved to you that he should be the manager of this team
04:55after this season um you know i feel like i keep kind of going back to things that i had
05:03said
05:03previously where you know i think one thing that makes chad so good is his ability to focus on
05:09uh what is directly in front of him and the group and what we have seen is a guy step
05:14into a situation
05:15and be this incredibly positive calming reassuring familiar voice um you know and and someone that
05:23has gotten the most out of the group and when you think about uh the role of the manager and
05:28you know
05:29what what someone who's filling that position over the long term uh does and i think chad is showing
05:36that um you know i think he's a he's a true partner with with me we we collaborate we bounce
05:42ideas off of
05:43each other we challenge each other in a way that's really productive and and brings out the best in
05:47each other so i can't say enough positive things about the job that chad's done but right now we
05:52are focused on our 2026 season chad told us last week uh on the show that roman anthony was at
05:59the
05:59homewood down in fort myers rehabbing how much does his return impact what you guys do between now and
06:06the trade deadline monday at six sure uh i will say not much um in that we want roman back
06:18roman is
06:18doing everything he possibly can to get back uh and the you know the moment he steps back foot
06:24he steps foot back on the field uh for us we're going to get better at the same time we
06:30have to make
06:30all of these decisions uh kind of independent of each other just so that we don't find ourselves
06:36relying on something that that we're not certain about and so if there's an opportunity to get to
06:40get better in in front of us and it fits us we're going to we're going to do everything we
06:45can to
06:45take advantage of it knowing that roman in the background is working as hard as he can to get back
06:49and whenever that happens it's going to be a massive boost you confident in the way the team is
06:55diagnosing injuries i there's you know some some questions that are asked the the x-rays when it
07:02came to me being negative the roman anthony thing the garrett crochet thing are you comfortable
07:07that you guys are getting the the uh right answers when it comes to these injuries
07:14bam um you know the diagnosis the diagnosis for uh you know for for roman and garrett at least in
07:20in particular has not changed the amount of time it's taken to to get back on the field as and
07:26i
07:27think we're we're constantly battling this balance of trying to get information out and being respectful
07:33of of the fans um you know who want answers with getting the information that we can and and uh
07:40you
07:40know in the case of of courtesy at x-rays immediately they were negative that's true uh woke up with
07:46some
07:46increased soreness and felt like the kind of medically responsible thing to do was to get
07:51additional imaging which revealed the fracture um you know and and so i understand the the confusion
07:57it wasn't intended to be misleading it was delivering the information that we had in the moment uh to try
08:02to answer the questions as best we can in real time craig when you look at chad tracy's job his
08:07job is
08:08obviously to be day-to-day with these players and focus on that your job is big picture when you
08:14start to
08:14look at this team and you go all right if we want to make a deep postseason run we need
08:21to get better
08:22or address this area is there an area that you feel like you need to address in order to make
08:29a deep
08:29postseason run um it's hard to say need versus would like to or want to because um you know the
08:41roster that
08:42we have on the field uh you know will have on the field tonight is is one that uh there's
08:49won a bunch
08:50of games in in july and won 15 games in a row um now i think realistically we know that
08:56as uh you know
08:58as you work your way through the postseason you're getting only the team's best lineup the opposing team's
09:03best lineup and only the opposing team's best three or four starting pitchers and their best two or three
09:08relievers um you know in the postseason it's a lot harder to stack single after single after single
09:14and most runs come via the home run um you know so so power has been a conversation for for
09:19this group
09:19for a while but you know i think as a result of the work that the players are doing and
09:24the coaches
09:24are doing we're also seeing the quality of our bats go up and the uh the damage on balls that
09:30get put
09:31into play go up with with the same players um so i don't want to discount the improvements that
09:36have been made within the group and and the work that's being done but we're going to cast a wide
09:42that as as is the the responsible thing to do as we approach the deadline over the next four days
09:46there's a lot that goes into it wiggy thinks you just chat gpt it because that's all he does but
09:51there's a lot that goes in it turns out there is uh yes but you use chat gpt because it
09:58is a great tool
10:00what you're asking do i yes yeah i actually use it rarely um yeah i i've i've heard um that
10:09most most
10:10of my my dialogue is driven by chat gpt that's actually not true um well i think about the words
10:16that i right yeah great wiggy thinks you just reboot no no i i actually use it craig and i
10:22think it's a
10:22great uh it just helps so it's a great tool that's why i said if you don't you might want
10:27to try using it
10:27for certain things it could just help you in life in general i think he's doing okay right now
10:31but craig i i'm the connelly early so obviously that comes together it's probably not a second
10:37you get a call connelly early for curtis mead done deal are there players that you hang up the phone
10:41on when you get called about like if somebody called about roman anthony do you entertain it or do
10:46you just say no he's the future of this organization um i feel like there were there are times where
10:56you say okay there's there's no chance we're trading this player um and then there are other
11:01times where you say hey it's responsible to the organization for me to listen um and and understand
11:08where another team is coming from but it's just so unlikely that we're ever going to match up because
11:14we know how we value this player and it's it's impossible to think that somebody some other team
11:19is going to is going to value them um kind of at that level where it would make sense to
11:22to make a trade or transact on it um you know so it's probably a little bit of both um
11:30but there
11:31are players you know on on our on our roster that it just seems impossible for us to trade and
11:37think
11:37that we're going to be able to accomplish what we want to both in in 2026 and in the next
11:42three to
11:43five years you talk to people around the league all the time while you're working deals and just in
11:49general you talk to john henry a lot is there any feeling of extra urgency when it comes to this
11:56potentially being uh a final season of baseball before a lockout or or such sure every it seems
12:05like every team is handling this a little bit differently and i think that probably makes sense
12:11i also think um you know as an organization we just have to decide uh the the way that we're
12:17we're thinking about it and kind of run our race relative to that um i would say the way that
12:22we're approaching 2026 is more driven by the talent that we think we have on the team um you know
12:31the
12:31step forward that we made last year making it to the postseason and the organization stated
12:35intentions of building upon that um you know more so than what might happen in 27 i think there's so
12:42much uncertainty there that we we can kind of twist ourselves in a pretzel trying to figure out what
12:47that's going to look like we've got uh you know a great opportunity in front of us in 26 and
12:52and
12:52that's what we're focused on craig when you look back at uh the mead diagnosis he had a similar
12:58situation back in 2023 and that was a 62 day return for him are we looking at that same pattern
13:04here or
13:04is this not as bad as what he suffered in 2023 yeah i guess the first thing to say is
13:10that we're
13:10still getting some some additional information um just in terms of follow-up with uh with with the
13:17hand specialist and um making sure that we completely understand the situation that we have
13:22here um and i'm going to be reluctant to put a timeline on it outside of of saying that i've
13:29spoken
13:29to curtis a couple of times he can do everything he can to get back on the field as soon
13:32as possible he
13:33knows um he knows what's at stake here he knows what we're trying to work toward um but i also
13:40think it may be a bit different from from the last time not in terms of uh along it may
13:46or may not take
13:47to heal i don't think we're at that point yet but only in how how quickly this was diagnosed um
13:53getting
13:53all of the information immediately and making sure that we we kind of put him on the right
14:00path in terms of rehab i think last time um you know if there had been a bigger gap between
14:06the x-ray and the follow-up we might not know exactly what we were dealing with as quickly as
14:11we will this time ago craig it was interesting when you talked about some of the players that
14:15you might feel of all be off limits but you have to entertain calls because that's your job
14:19flip the coin to the other side do you do that for let's say a guy like uh school bull
14:26who there's
14:27rumors that detroit might want to trade are you picking up the phone and inquiring to see like
14:32what they're looking for for a guy like that yeah i mean um putting names and aside for a second
14:43but
14:43the answer is is yes um you know if there are really good players that that make our club better
14:49um that fit what we're we're trying to do whether that's because of a position or control or whatever
14:55the case may be absolutely uh you know we need to make that call i i always thought we we
15:00talked
15:00within the office like the worst thing that that can happen is you wake up one morning and you see
15:04a
15:05player that you were interested in but didn't think was available got traded right i feel like that's us
15:09not doing our job when you speak you said you you've spoken to curtis me do you call him mate
15:17he calls me mate i don't know like i'm still kind of learning uh yeah um you know the like
15:23i don't
15:23i want to be an imposter um but no anybody who anybody who answers the phone with tears mate
15:28gets like some extra bonus in my mind you could always throw you know a uh put another shrimp on
15:33the barbie out there or whatever or crikey or crikey that will get you guys closer i would assume
15:39yeah no i don't think he's ever heard that so uh at least i could have been the first
15:43all right listen thanks for taking the time we appreciate it and we will talk to you again soon
15:49and it will be after the deadline so go get him craig breslow thanks thanks have a good morning
15:55all right there he is that is craig breslow
15:58you
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