- 1 day ago
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy joined the show and talked about the current 4 game skid, the lack of timely hitting, gave a Roman Anthony injury update, and more.
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00:00Chad, obviously this is a weird slump that the team seems to be going through.
00:06What has bothered you the most during these four losses from what you've seen?
00:13Afternoon, guys.
00:15I wouldn't say anything bothers me other than just the losses themselves.
00:22That's all.
00:22Obviously we're playing very well, and we're going through a little spell right here.
00:29And different things have popped up that are not the exact brand of baseball we've been playing for the last
00:35six or seven weeks.
00:37But you've just got to fight through it.
00:38It's part of it.
00:39You've got to fight through it and find a way out on the other side.
00:42Chad, I heard Jim Rice on Ness in the postgame last night evaluating some of the swings,
00:46and he described it as sort of over-swinging, a lot of uppercuts.
00:49I know it's a small sample size, but just over this four-game stretch where the clutch hitting has not
00:54gone away,
00:54do you see any of that with what Jim is observing, sort of maybe almost a trying-too-hard approach?
01:00It's usually the case when you go through a stretch like we are.
01:04And, you know, the crazy thing is we've had a chance to win all these games,
01:07but, like, you're struggling to push runs across the way we were before,
01:11and you see some of the runners in the scoring position numbers.
01:15Human nature is, like, these guys care so much, they want to get it done,
01:18that sometimes you try a little harder.
01:21And when we get back to the place where we get a big hit or two
01:24and everybody takes a deep breath, it'll work itself out.
01:27But, yeah, it's probably not wrong in some respects, you know, that observation.
01:32Can I ask you something, just backtracking a couple nights.
01:34How did none of the players know that there was only one out in the seventh Monday night,
01:38and it wasn't just you guys, it was Toronto as well.
01:41Like, when you were on the field, like, how did nobody know what the amount of outs were?
01:47I think it was a culmination of a handful of things.
01:50The play prior to the one that you're talking about was a weird play, too.
01:56It was a line drive hit to Vladdy's backhand that was, like, barely picked out of the dirt,
02:02and Wong had stopped thinking, did he catch it, and I'm doubled off.
02:06And then he ended up throwing to second anyways.
02:08So, between that play there, which we should still know the outs, there's no excuse, you know.
02:12But I think for both teams, like, it was just one of those moments where, you know,
02:17something happens that kind of messes with your brain.
02:19You're like, did he catch that?
02:20Was that a double play?
02:20Why did Wong stop?
02:22And that play, and then combined with the next one, you saw everybody react when the ball was caught,
02:26and some of the defense started walking off the field, and our guys were running,
02:30and there was a lot of confusion as to what was going on there.
02:33Chad, with the new lineup construction with Rutschman in there,
02:36how will that evolve over the last month and a half?
02:38For instance, do you need a leadoff hitter sort of locked in by the postseason?
02:42Are you going to experiment a little bit with things?
02:46I think it just depends, like, how we're going.
02:49I think right now when you look at it, as we were looking at that,
02:53like how well Masa has swung the bat over this stretch,
02:56that if you fire him in the leadoff spot and his ability to take walks and get on base
03:01and drive the ball, that it stacks quite a few good hitters up there at the top of the lineup.
03:05And then, you know, with the Sogey or Siegler combo with how we're constructed right now,
03:09and the nine-hole, both of whom can put the ball in play and get on base
03:12and flip the lineup in the nine-hole and get it flipped back to the top.
03:16It looks on paper at least like a really good construction.
03:20And with our roster the way it is right now, I don't see it changing much,
03:23particularly against right-handed pitching.
03:25You know, when there's a lefty in there, you might want to get Eli involved and Jam involved,
03:29but against right-handed pitching, it seems like the most logical thing to do.
03:33All right, we're talking to Chad Tracy, and Chad,
03:36Wilson Gutierrez plays as hard as anybody in your clubhouse.
03:38All season he's been doing that.
03:40And that's why last week doesn't really add up to me.
03:43There was the play where he didn't run one out,
03:45and the stuff that Sean McAdam reported about Wilson angrily refusing to speak with the media.
03:49I'm not trying to bury him.
03:50I just want to know if he's all right.
03:54Oh, no, he's okay.
03:55I just think there's a lot going on with him, you guys.
03:57Like, I mean, you've got to keep in mind, you know, a couple of weeks ago,
04:01you know, two, three weeks ago, whatever it was, he slams the ball off his foot.
04:05You know, so he gets through that.
04:08He gets hit in the head in L.A.
04:10He gets through that, has to take a little bit.
04:12Then he gets sick.
04:13And in the midst of some of the stuff that, you know, came out about,
04:17oh, Wilson doesn't want – it's like, he's this guy.
04:19At the end of some of those games, I'm pretty sure all he wanted to do
04:22was take a shower and go home and get in bed.
04:24He came back to us for those last two games and played.
04:28But certainly coming off of what he was coming off of was not necessarily
04:33at 100% physically.
04:36He's gone through a lot.
04:37Bumps, bruises.
04:38The guy posts.
04:38He plays, you know, and if he's banged up.
04:42So I think there's – I'm glad you let it off the way you did.
04:46You know, I don't know if you can make a case for anybody
04:48that plays as hard as the game as he does.
04:51And I even mentioned in the media that, you know, he's banged up
04:55in a lot of different areas where he had given myself and Flo a heads up
04:59prior to that game that, hey, like, I may not have the normal, you know,
05:03where he gets into complete overdrive, rounding first base on a routine hit.
05:08Or he's like, I may need to back off that a little bit, at least for right now.
05:12Like, so we know.
05:14And then the boos rain down, I'm sure, you know, as hard as he plays,
05:18you know, that's something when you look at it and say,
05:20well, they don't have all the information.
05:21So I don't blame anybody.
05:23I get why people are asking.
05:25But he's just – he's grinding through and has gone through a lot
05:29over the last handful of weeks.
05:31Okay, so I'm sorry.
05:31So he told you before the game that he might not have it.
05:36We know before the game if there's – you know, if he's in a spot
05:39where he's grinding through some stuff, especially in that case
05:42where he had been sick, you know, he's banged up,
05:45that he had let us know, like, hey, just so you know,
05:48like if you don't see my normal, you know, I'm busting down the line.
05:51He's like, I'm just trying to play it smart, you know.
05:53So those are things that – these are, again, cases of things
05:58that our awareness in the locker room, you know,
06:02and not everybody needs to know all that stuff,
06:04but our awareness in the locker room of things going on is much higher
06:08than other people have.
06:09That's why we don't blame anybody for reactions.
06:12But, like, no, I think right now our main goal is to get Wilson feeling good
06:17and get him swinging the bat the way he's capable,
06:20and when he does and he goes on one of those benders, we can go again.
06:23Hey, Chad, a trend that was kind of revealed itself before the winning streak
06:27to start the season was kind of just leaving guys on base stranded,
06:31and it seems to be kind of, you know, reared its ugly head again
06:35in this four-game stretch.
06:36What are you seeing with guys' approach at the plate
06:39that maybe explains that happening again?
06:44Actually, to be honest with you, like, the approach part overall,
06:47like, just holistically is pretty good.
06:49Like, you know, what we did last night against Dylan Cease was really good.
06:53You know, we swung at strikes.
06:55We took balls.
06:56We drove them deep in the count.
06:57We hit two home runs.
06:59We hit a sack fly for another run.
07:01When you get three runs off of maybe the AL Cy Young candidate, you know,
07:05potential Cy Young leader, and you get him out of the game by the fifth inning,
07:09like, that's a job well done.
07:11We didn't do as well against the bullpen, obviously.
07:14So, just overall approach, like, we're getting a –
07:17like, there's two ways of looking at, oh, they're three for whatever,
07:20their last 34 with runners in scoring position.
07:23I'm like, well, at least we got 34 at bats with runners in scoring position.
07:27So, like, there's obviously the first part's going well,
07:31and the second part of it is when we get them out there,
07:33if we turn that into a seven or eight for 34,
07:36it might have equated to a couple more wins.
07:38And so, we have to keep getting the runners on.
07:41We have to keep our approach and what got us here,
07:43which we started making better swing decisions.
07:46That's continued.
07:47We have to keep doing that.
07:47And it's just a matter of, you know, one or two big hits
07:50that turn some of these close games into three or four run leads.
07:54Hey, Chad, how optimistic are you that Curtis Mead could be healthy
07:57and contribute for you guys down the stretch?
08:00That's a good question.
08:01Hard to say right now.
08:02I mean, he's still in, like, some type of cast brace on his hand.
08:05So, I think that's going to be easier to answer once he gets that off
08:09or gets follow-up imaging.
08:11And once that occurs and you kind of see where's the healing at
08:14and can he come out of the cast, does he have to put it back on,
08:17like, that'll be easier to answer once that happens.
08:20We got some good news from you yesterday, though, on Roman Anthony.
08:23Can you kind of tell us where he's at?
08:26Because he seemed to go from zero to 60 on not being able to hold a bat,
08:29and all of a sudden he's hitting fastballs now.
08:32Is that right?
08:33Yeah, he's been doing – yeah, he's graduated from –
08:36he was basically doing tee and flips to start just to get moving.
08:39He graduated from that to the hack attack machine for velocity
08:44and foam balls, right?
08:46And then now he's hitting off of the traject machine,
08:48which is basically as live as you can get without actually facing a pitcher.
08:52So, he's made really good progress.
08:54He's going to be doing that, you know, obviously his full routine leading up
08:57to hitting live at-bats off a traject machine for right now,
09:02see and make sure how that hand feels,
09:04and then we'll kind of reassess as we get into this weekend
09:07and early next week and see where we're at.
09:08But, yes, he has made quick progress here in the last, you know, 10 days or so.
09:14I'm an idiot when it comes to, like, are those with real baseballs?
09:17Because you mentioned he was using foam balls before the traject machine.
09:20Is that baseballs?
09:21And if so, how fast are these pitches?
09:23Yeah, and there's baseball work in there, too.
09:25It's just sometimes when you're going to take a high volume of swings,
09:28foam balls, lessens the load.
09:30But he's been hitting real baseballs as well, a combination of all those things.
09:34And if you're going to hit off a traject machine, if you guys don't know what it is,
09:37it's basically a live – it's a video screen with a live pitcher.
09:42That ball's coming out of there 95.
09:43So, a lot of times there's, like, baseball foam-type balls,
09:47and that's mainly for because you're hitting off live that, you know,
09:52if you foul one off your shin or your ankle, that's why you use foam balls in that machine
09:57because now you're facing a slider and stuff like that.
09:59I don't want to – we don't want to create another injury.
10:01So, that's why I usually use foam balls in that machine.
10:03A foam ball can go 95 miles an hour, huh?
10:06I just think the –
10:07Well, it's like a – I'd say maybe it's not a foam.
10:09It's like a soft baseball.
10:11Maybe that's a better term.
10:12I don't know how to properly say it.
10:14There's weight to it.
10:15You know, if you happen to come around one and hit it off your foot,
10:18it's going to hurt a lot less than if you hit a real baseball.
10:20Fair enough.
10:21Fair enough.
10:21Hey, Chad, with about 43 games left in this season, what do you think –
10:26what are some areas that you can improve on?
10:28Is there anything that keeps you up at night?
10:29Like, what do you want to see maybe in these last 43 games that you haven't seen?
10:34That's a good question.
10:35I mean, I think you guys see it.
10:36Like, you know, I think it was very obvious for seven weeks or whatever it was,
10:40the brand of baseball we played, and it's pretty obvious in these last four days.
10:44You know, we've been – we have been a touch sloppier on defense.
10:48Like, that's one.
10:49We've made a couple of base running miscues.
10:51That's one.
10:52We're still doing really well as far as approach and getting base runners,
10:55but the clutch, you know, the clutch hitting, and that one tends to come on its own.
11:00And when it does, it tends to turn pretty quickly.
11:02But, you know, there has been in the course of these four games little things that we do so very
11:08well
11:08and have all year, which is we're a very good defensive team.
11:10We're a good base running team.
11:12And when you're not quite hitting the way you want to, it's important that those things are clean
11:17because you can still win close ballgames if those things are clean.
11:20So I'd like to see us get back on the horse with that.
11:24I think we will.
11:25You know, as a group, we'll grind through it.
11:27But those are a couple areas.
11:28All right, Chad, Tracy, I didn't want to address this, but I think it's our job as journalists to say
11:33this.
11:33There was an extremely credible post on social media that went viral,
11:36posted by a gentleman whose name I believe is CyberBob420, and he said,
11:42I guarantee the Red Sox have some MIT grad working for them in a back room that cracked the code
11:47on intercepting the radio frequency of pitch comm and has the access to keys to decipher each pitch.
11:53I legitimately don't remember a single Boston hitter chasing a breaking ball the whole series.
11:57I'm going to comb through the StatCast data on O-swing percentage, barrel percentage, et cetera,
12:03from start of the streak compared to prior to the streak.
12:05I'm fairly certain there's going to be some crazy differences.
12:07So, Chad.
12:08Chad, comment.
12:09We need the answers on this.
12:10CyberBob.
12:11CyberBob, man.
12:12He's very credible.
12:15How about now, CyberBob?
12:16I guess we're still doing it right now, right, in this four-game stretch?
12:19Well, the theory is that the MIT guy got left at the border and wasn't able to go into Canada.
12:24So, you didn't get to pull off his stuff.
12:26Yeah.
12:26There's always an extra theory when the theory no longer works out, you know.
12:32No, I think it's pretty obvious.
12:34I just talked about, you asked me the question, what could we improve?
12:37I said one of the things we've done really well is make really, you know,
12:40it was a point of emphasis with our group about swing decisions.
12:44And, you know, a lot of it was, hey, we don't have to swing.
12:48You know, there are certain counts, even if it's a strike, we don't have to swing.
12:51Like, choose the right one.
12:52That's why that turn.
12:53And that's, you know, the reason, oh, you don't sit.
12:56Well, because we have really good contact-oriented hitters that understand the zone.
13:00And when we're doing well, we're not swinging at balls.
13:02So, that's where I'll leave that.
13:05That's CyberBob.
13:06I think CyberBob is missing there.
13:09Awesome.
13:09Well, I mean, it's got to be so great that at a point your team is hitting so well
13:12that people are trying to figure out theories that involve somebody, like,
13:17hacking into NORAD and, like, cracking some sort of code like an MIT guy.
13:22That's got to feel nice.
13:24Yeah, I think – I will say we – like, there was some people that saw it.
13:29It gave us a laugh, you know, like, my goodness.
13:31Like, and I think probably just because of the drastic turn, you know.
13:36It was so – it had been so different before, and now it was the way it was.
13:39So, people just automatically try to figure all that out.
13:42It's like, no, just – we had some players that weren't right,
13:44and they're right now, and they're doing the right thing.
13:46So, yeah, I give CyberBob a lot of credit for his theory, though, I guess.
13:51I don't know.
13:53Sounds good, Chad.
13:53All right.
13:54Well, listen, we hope things turn around and go back in the other direction.
13:57Obviously, this team seems to have it in them,
13:59and we appreciate you coming on with us, Chad, as always.
14:02All right, guys.
14:03All right.
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