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WEEI Red Sox Insider Rob Bradford joined the show to dissect last night’s loss to the Yankees, including pulling Payton Tolle at the wrong time, the bullpen blowing up, the lack of offense, and more.

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00:00We have a gentleman here who can maybe explain a few things to us, and that would be Mr. Rob
00:04Bradford, brought to you by McFarland Energy,
00:06the region's most dependable provider for home heating oil delivery, as well as expert HVAC services at McFarlandEnergy.com.
00:14Mr. Bradford, hello.
00:16McFarland to you all. You obviously can work in the clubhouse after the game last night. It was so impressive.
00:21I talked to Adley. I mean, I was hard at work.
00:23Wow, look at you. I talked to a big leaguer. All right.
00:27Yeah, I was listening to you guys on my sweet drive over from Secaucus, which, I mean, there's no better
00:33drive in America.
00:36And there's a lot to pick through with this.
00:38And I'll start with, I guess, Ted, what you said about why you can start Baio.
00:42I would say this, though, is that you were one batter away from basically getting Schlittler out of the game
00:51with a 1-0 deficit.
00:54Yep.
00:54And then you're into the bullpen. So, that's the frustrating thing to me.
00:58I mean, that home run given up by Miller was everything.
01:02I mean, I don't care what the final score was, and there's a lot to pick through with that, with
01:06the entirety of the game.
01:07But that was everything because you were so close to getting out of the game with this Cam Schlittler dominance
01:14and still being within one run.
01:16You played the clip, guys, of Will Fleming after, you know, Abreu gets the hit.
01:21And, like, the tying run comes to the plate, and that's it for Schlittler.
01:24But did you ever get the sense that they could ever get two runs?
01:28Like, it didn't seem that way.
01:30So, the big question that we had is, ultimately, whose decision was it to pull Peyton Tolley?
01:36Was it Chad Tracy, or do you believe that was something that was predetermined by Craig Breslow and the people
01:42in the front office?
01:44So, I think that it was – how do you put this?
01:48It was structured so that when that situation came up with a preparation, with a front office, that that was
01:55what they're going to go to.
01:56Like, so, I guess I'm answering that question saying, I think – now, I don't know this definitively.
02:00I think that if you ask Chad Tracy, he would say, it's my decision.
02:03But I do think that they had mapped this out.
02:06In other words, they get together.
02:08This is what's going to happen.
02:09Ben Rice, third time through the order.
02:13Griffin is – I'm sorry.
02:15Miller is going to come up.
02:17He's a good matchup for Rice because he's a sinker baller.
02:19They're going through all this.
02:21This is the perfect scenario.
02:22And so, I think when they're going through this strategy and this preparation, they're looking at that situation right there.
02:30Like, okay, this is what you do.
02:32The problem is – and I'm not going to say this was Blake Snell circa 2020, which cost the Rays
02:38a World Series.
02:39But it was the same type of thing, I feel like, because you have to read the room.
02:46Number one, Peyton Toley, yeah, he wasn't the dominant Peyton Toley.
02:50But he had gotten those two outs.
02:52You had gotten Rice out the time before.
02:55He is your ace.
02:57And that's another part of this.
02:58He's your game-win starter, guys.
03:01Like, if he's your game-win starter, then let him pitch to this guy.
03:05Because I think, Rich, you said it to the point of Eric Miller.
03:09In the last month, you don't know.
03:12You entered the series.
03:12You don't know what you have with Eric Miller.
03:14This wasn't Eric Miller circa August.
03:17It was Eric Miller circa September.
03:19And you don't know.
03:21So, through all of that, to answer your question, yeah, I believe, without any knowledge about anyone telling me that,
03:27but I do believe that that was a case of where they said, this is going to come up.
03:32This is what you should do.
03:33Can I ask you why the computer spit out something that said, take out Peyton Toley after 83 pitches?
03:38Because he's pitched 83 pitches or more 20 times this season.
03:43Yeah, I think a big part of it, and you say, well, why did they do this, right?
03:48And you're right.
03:49In a normal world, you just say, hey, Cam Schlittler just went 117 pitches.
03:54Why can't you do that?
03:56And that was obviously the right decision.
03:58So, how they view it is, well, okay, it might be 83, it might be 93, it might be whatever,
04:06it might be 73,
04:07but I think the way they looked at it was Ben Rice is coming up for a third time.
04:12We do not want him facing Peyton Toley, their best hitter, for a third time through the order,
04:18and we feel like Eric Miller is a better matchup in that situation.
04:22That is what the computer is saying, that's what they're saying, but once again, read the room.
04:27Like, read the room a little bit, and I think that all of us, I mean, I don't want to
04:31speak for you guys,
04:32but when it happened, even before he hit the home run, I'm like, no, like, what do you, like, no.
04:38Because I think for me, the biggest thing was, you don't know what Eric Miller is.
04:43Like, you don't know what he is right now.
04:45So, that was a big problem for me.
04:48So, the Traject Machine, Bradfoe, how many texts did you get after the game?
04:52Not texts.
04:53You know, you have something like a Twitter, this is why, like, I don't, like, Twitter bugs me sometimes.
04:59It just, I don't care, like, I think it's funny, and I was showing Ken before the press conference yesterday,
05:04look at all the memes, it's hilarious, of Yankee fans, are like, oh, that Traject Machine,
05:10that wearing out the Traject Machine, that really worked.
05:13Like, did they have the memes of the guy taking batting practice for the first time and all of it?
05:18So, it's still going on, and it's funny.
05:21I do find it interesting that, you know, you do whatever you can to prepare.
05:26The Traject Machine isn't going to simulate some things about Cam Schlittler.
05:29It's going to probably simulate about 50% of what Cam Schlittler does, including, by the way, the extension,
05:34which is, you know, the guy is delivering the ball, like, two inches from your face when he does it.
05:40Traject Machine doesn't simulate that, but I just find it interesting that he came out
05:46and he threw more curveballs than he had ever thrown, and I guarantee you that when they're dialing up
05:52that Traject Machine all that time, it is primarily fastballs because this guy throws more fastballs
05:59than any human being on the planet.
06:01It's just the cost of the game.
06:02You should have thought about that.
06:03Yeah, probably.
06:04I mean, you know what?
06:05There's only one way to prove it is by keep bugging me on Twitter.
06:10Does the Traject Machine, like, talk back, like, Cam Schlittler-style, like,
06:14please stop making fun of my mother, you're a four at best with glasses?
06:19It'd be great.
06:22Because I was waiting for it.
06:23Like, after the game, I was just like, you know what, Schlittler, that was badass,
06:26and if he would have gone on social media and started ripping on Red Sox fans,
06:30I would have been like, yeah, man, you know, you can do whatever you want when you do something like
06:33that,
06:33but it's almost, like, a little more insulting that he's been quiet.
06:39Like, he's just like, you don't even mean anything to me anymore.
06:41Yeah, well, listen, Clubhouse opens in whatever an hour.
06:44We'll see how quiet he is day after the start.
06:47But it's a – I mean, I think that this is – he's just a badass, man.
06:50Like, that's – it is.
06:51Like, that's the reality of this guy.
06:52He talks about keeping receipts.
06:54He talks about all this stuff.
06:56It is legit fuel.
06:57And, Ted, I'd be anxious to kind of get your perspective of a guy who is like that.
07:02A lot of these guys say they're like that.
07:03Like, I'm feeding off the criticism.
07:05I'm feeding off the animosity and all that.
07:09But very few actually do what Kim Schlittler has done consistently after going through that.
07:15I don't know if you agree with that or not.
07:18Yeah, no, there's guys that definitely get fueled by that.
07:21Some guys don't respond, you know, great to it, and some guys do.
07:25And the problem is, is haven't we figured out he's the guy that responds really well to that?
07:29You're just giving him fuel.
07:30So, I would think you would – I don't know.
07:32Stop poking the berry, if you will.
07:34But I got to ask you, Brad, I'm curious.
07:37There was a report out there that Dan Roman Osterio knew before the game that maybe, perhaps,
07:42maybe Roman Anthony might not be able to play the whole game because of his hand.
07:46Just your thoughts on, you know, should Roman even have played last night
07:51considering that perhaps he may be injured in that game on Sunday?
07:55I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that.
07:57Well, the problem is – and, you know, listen, I don't – I'm maybe the minority of people.
08:03I don't begrudge Roman Anthony for this injury.
08:07It is what it is.
08:08It's a hand.
08:08It's a hand.
08:09It cropped up.
08:10They knew when he came back, even as good as he was,
08:13they knew that there was going to be a risk that, you know,
08:16that you're putting a lot of stress on a natural act for this specific injury.
08:21It might crop up again.
08:22And that's exactly what it seems to happen.
08:25I think, Ted, really, it's where do you go?
08:28Like, you ask, like, should he have played?
08:30I mean, we saw what happened when they had to pinch hit for him.
08:33It's Andrew Monasterio.
08:34I love Andrew Monasterio.
08:35I love surfacing his baseball no-S-I burrito shirt every chance I get.
08:40But nicest guy in the world.
08:42But this is where you've landed with this team.
08:45They said there's no Mickey Gasper.
08:47There's no Romy Gonzalez.
08:48There's no Masa Yoshida.
08:50There's no other answers.
08:52So you're just kind of hoping, well, we hope that Roman Anthony's hand all of a sudden
08:57is able to function.
08:59And clearly in the first two bats, he wasn't able to.

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