- 3 minutes ago
Rich, Ken, and Ted open their show with their reactions to the disappointing Wild Card series loss to the Yankees, including pulling pitchers based on analytics, an offense that didn’t show up, and whether Chad Tracy is the right man for the manager position.
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00:00Oh, I thought you were going to cheer. You finally got one right.
00:06God, did that suck.
00:11Well, still a successful year. Still a good year.
00:15We hashed that out Tuesday.
00:16There might be some take retraction right here on the show.
00:20There's certain things.
00:21There'll be a lot of it.
00:21I mean, a lot of take retraction.
00:23It couldn't have gone any worse.
00:26Nope, nope, nope.
00:27If you would have said before the series that it would play out like it did,
00:31you would have said that's the absolute worst possible outcome.
00:34Well, no, they got two runs, a couple of solo homers.
00:37I told you Sogard was going to be coming through, and he did.
00:40Way to go.
00:42These small wins you have is hilarious, Kent.
00:47Just love it.
00:48It is 93.7 WE.
00:50I'm sorry.
00:50I just got the pitch count up, too, by the way, early in the game.
00:52Harry's pitch count was going way up.
00:54Yeah, yep, yep.
00:54You've got that pitch count up.
00:55That's good.
00:56I didn't even do the stupid show intro.
00:58It's Rich Kentad.
00:59We're all here.
01:00You can call us, 617-779-7937.
01:04I mean, I was just talking to Ted in the hall.
01:06There's like 14 things that happened last night, and actually through this series,
01:11that are just how could that have possibly happened?
01:15Are there just idiots on board here?
01:17Like, I mean, who's in charge?
01:19Who's making the calls?
01:21The players?
01:22I've never been prouder of guys like Sonny Gray or even, I mean, not Wilson Gutierrez,
01:28plagues.
01:28There's some stuff you got to question about yesterday as well.
01:31But I, man, everything's wrong now.
01:34Like, the players and management and these moves that they made where they're extending
01:39Breslow and Tracy, and I've got so many questions.
01:42But the first thing that I thought of when I watched that game, and I actually watched
01:47the series, is congratulations, nerds.
01:49You've ruined baseball.
01:50Way to go, boys.
01:52Well, not baseball.
01:53Red Sox baseball.
01:54Yeah.
01:55You finally took the one sport where a guy could be absolutely dealing, mowing people
02:01down, feeling it, locating everything, dominating the other, and you found a way to say, yeah,
02:05but the spreadsheet says he's done.
02:07But Schlittler went 117 pitches in game one for the Yankees, so it's not every team.
02:11No, it's not every team.
02:12You're right.
02:13Peyton Tolley pitching his ass off in a playoff game against the Yankees.
02:16He's got the Yankees on the ropes.
02:17He's thrown 82 pitches, which he has done 20 times this season, and allowed one run,
02:21and the Sox say, okay, that's enough.
02:24Take him out.
02:25For whom?
02:26Eric Miller?
02:28He did like the dump truck at one time.
02:29Again?
02:30A guy who has been a gray turd for weeks comes strolling in because somewhere in the bowels
02:35of the Red Sox organization, there's this computer that determined that this is the optimal
02:40pitching matchup.
02:41Optimal?
02:42Dude, I watched the game.
02:43My eyes told me that Tolley was just fine.
02:46Pitching great?
02:47Told me the Yankees maybe were a little uncomfortable.
02:49My eyes told me, don't take this guy out.
02:51And then Miller comes in and, of course, immediately gives up the home run.
02:54Congratulations, nerd.
02:55You won the spreadsheet battle.
02:57You lost the baseball game.
02:59And then, you know, what's that thing I was thinking last night when I was watching Eric
03:03Miller warm up?
03:04The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different
03:08result.
03:09And then we do it again the next night.
03:11Sonny Gray, a dude who has 18 wins, a 2.7-something ERA, a veteran pitcher who has spent the
03:18entire
03:19season proving that he can pitch, is dealing it with the Yankees.
03:22Boston is down one run.
03:25Gray has thrown 70 pitches.
03:27Not 117, 70.
03:30And what happens?
03:32Okay, Sonny, thanks for coming.
03:33We got a computer to consult.
03:34Out he goes.
03:35Eric Miller comes in again.
03:37Boom.
03:37Yankees score.
03:38Because baseball has apparently played on a spreadsheet now.
03:41And sometimes, like, the...
03:42Not now, but yeah.
03:43Well, the most...
03:44I just love how, like, somehow the most important statistic is the one that doesn't show up
03:48in StatCast, and that is the guy on the mound is filthy right now.
03:51Keep him in.
03:52Don't get too attached to Sonny.
03:54Yep, yep.
03:54Well, yeah, after hearing him afterwards.
03:57You know what analysts are supposed to do?
03:58They're supposed to help you make decisions.
04:00They're not supposed to make decisions for you.
04:02And if the numbers tell you that Toley is getting crushed the third time through the
04:07lineup, fine.
04:07Look at it.
04:08If the numbers tell you that Sonny Gray is suddenly losing his command, fine.
04:11Look at it.
04:12But if your eyes are telling you, this guy's got everything tonight, maybe, just maybe,
04:17use your eyes.
04:19I mean, isn't that the whole point of having a manager?
04:23Is that he's supposed to be able to watch a baseball game and understand what's happening.
04:28You don't need a supercomputer to tell you when a pitcher is dealing.
04:31You can see it.
04:32The hitter is late.
04:33The fastball's jumping.
04:34The breaking ball's nasty.
04:36Everyone can feel it except the stupid spreadsheet.
04:38I just, man, that pissed me off so much last night because I know they're looking at the
04:42spreadsheet and going, well, actually, based on the expected WOBA against left-handed hitters
04:47in the fifth inning under these specific leverage, shut up!
04:51Sometimes the answer is just let the dude pitch.
04:54And you know what the most, and this is the most maddening part about all of it, is that
04:59the Red Sox, what did they do?
05:00They spent their entire season building a pitching staff that it was supposed to be their
05:03identity, and when the season is on the line, they don't trust their pitchers?
05:07Well, it's kind of the opposite, Rich.
05:09They trusted their bullpen.
05:10You remember Tracy told us, we have the best bullpen in baseball.
05:14A couple weeks ago, when he joined us, we asked him about the bullpen.
05:18They became so infatuated with the volume of their pitchers and their perceived strength
05:23there that they just went down in flames with it inexplicably after Guerrero got hurt,
05:28Slayton got hurt, and the dump truck stopped dumping.
05:30I'm just wondering, who do they trust?
05:32Do they trust the algorithm?
05:35They trust the spreadsheet?
05:36They seem to trust everything except the guy who is standing on the mound 60 feet, 6 inches
05:41away, throwing the baseball.
05:44And listen, this is an argument against analytics.
05:47I mean, they're valuable.
05:48Use them.
05:49Help them to build the roster.
05:50Prepare for opponents.
05:51Regular season.
05:52Yeah, regular season.
05:53Go for it.
05:54Sure, but once the game starts, watch the damn game.
05:57They don't think of him as a pitcher.
05:59He's a pitch bot.
06:00He's just an item on the field.
06:02And the manager is just, he's not even, interim doesn't matter.
06:05Interim, full-time, he's useless.
06:07Ted, you could manage this team.
06:08Yeah, the manager's there kind of like Roger Goodell is for the NFL.
06:12He's just there to take arrows and bullets for the guys above him.
06:17Can we all just agree that Chad Tracy did not have the power to make those decisions?
06:23Correct.
06:23Okay, so here's...
06:24Because he's getting killed.
06:25And I feel like unfairly.
06:27Here's my problem with that.
06:29And I have been the biggest Chad Tracy supporter this entire season long.
06:33But Chad Tracy has the job now.
06:35He's not fighting for the job.
06:37It's his.
06:38If we're going to go into a whole, however many years, was it three years that Chad Tracy
06:44ended up getting, where he's just a yes man for the upper management, I don't like that
06:49one bit.
06:49But that is your job as manager to stand up and be the one who's watching on the field,
06:54who has a feel of what these players can go through and what they can deliver.
06:58And if he's just going to say yes, why have a manager?
07:01That was not on his job description when she applied for it.
07:03They told him, you're going to be our puppet.
07:05That's right.
07:05He hasn't even cashed his first check yet, Rich.
07:07He can't rebel now.
07:08He remembers his predecessor.
07:09What happened when his predecessor fought back?
07:11What happened to him?
07:12Correct.
07:13Gone.
07:14Cora, gone.
07:14You just, it's like, congratulations, nerd, you've optimized baseball.
07:18You've maximized the matchup.
07:20Great job.
07:20You modeled the probability.
07:22But you know what you did?
07:24You lost the effing game because you didn't use your sense of baseball.
07:28You did not watch what was happening in front of you.
07:31You turned it into an effing Excel spreadsheet.
07:34So congrats, nerds.
07:34You ruined baseball.
07:35I just watched that yesterday, and everything tumbled after that.
07:38There's certain things that you can get mad about, like the offense being stagnant and bad.
07:43I totally understand.
07:44That's it.
07:45They scored two runs in two games.
07:46So that's, I mean.
07:47It's bad.
07:48But take a look what happened.
07:5015 to 1 is how many hits, or runs rather, were scored.
07:55Once you got the two guys, your two stars, Toley and Sonny Gray, once you yanked them, it all went
08:01to hell.
08:01And both guys still had pitches in them.
08:03Sonny Gray was only at 70 pitches.
08:05What were they thinking?
08:07And Sonny Gray, by the way, I can't wait to play this audio.
08:10Because he's absolutely right.
08:11Because I looked it up.
08:12Because I didn't know whether he was just talking because he was angry.
08:15Oh, Sonny doesn't make up stuff.
08:16He doesn't.
08:17He is the best pitch pitcher in the American League third time around in the batting order.
08:22I guess their spreadsheet didn't have that on there.
08:24That was on somebody else's.
08:25It was superseded by another set of facts.
08:27If we're talking about they're going to the metrics and the analytics, the analytics will tell you that Sonny Gray
08:34is the best guy to be on the mound third time through the order.
08:37Yeah.
08:37But I'm sure they had numbers against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Wednesdays after 4 p.m. with the
08:43wind blowing.
08:43I was in the car when Eric Miller was warming up.
08:48That was shocking, wasn't it?
08:49And listening to it.
08:50Well, you were in the booth, right?
08:51I was.
08:52Listening to Fleming.
08:53I yelled at Fleming.
08:53I said, don't announce this.
08:56I thought Fleming was kind of I didn't hear any emotion.
08:59I was like, dude, you can't.
09:00I was listening to it on.
09:01He was just kind of stunned, I think, as well.
09:03Like, is that Eric Miller warming up again?
09:05Yes, it is.
09:06OK, so I maybe missed that part.
09:08So he was questioning that decision.
09:11I just it's unbelievable that they went to the same guy that choked it up the night before.
09:17Yeah.
09:17By the way, somebody just said on text.
09:19So, Rich, someone says, listen to what my sheet says.
09:22And you just sit there and get paid a lot of money.
09:24And you're going to say, no, thanks, I'll pass.
09:25I'm going to say then that they had the wrong manager.
09:29If he's a guy that will because they were not looking for your job should be to feel the game
09:35and judge by what you're seeing in front of you and override analytics when you know it's wrong.
09:41Everybody watching the game knew it was wrong because you know what else you've done now.
09:47Now, all of a sudden, those players that loved you and supported you and had your back this entire season
09:53and maybe even lobbied to get you to be the full time manager.
09:56They're now they're now taking shots at you.
09:59Well, the veterans are.
10:00I mean, I was in there and there weren't many young guys piping up at all.
10:03The veterans who talked obviously said their piece.
10:06And I'm not saying that's nothing, but Sonny Gray is out of here.
10:08He is.
10:09He walked in the clubhouse.
10:10He's making the rounds from stall to stall, dapping guys up and saying his goodbyes.
10:14So he is gone.
10:15Wilson Contreras might get traded after what he said.
10:18I don't know.
10:18I think he's kind of hoping that that would be the ultimate outcome.
10:21I think those guys spoke in a way that they were like, I don't you know, I'm not gonna be
10:27here next year anyway.
10:28So I'm just gonna let it fly.
10:29Yeah, that's how they that's how they talked.
10:31It was it was fascinating.
10:32This kind of you just think about this whole season, but there's a lot of the players that just you
10:38can tell are not happy playing here.
10:41And that is a major problem.
10:43I mean, you the list is long.
10:45I mean, Roman Anthony, not happy.
10:47You'd be Marcelo Meyer.
10:48I read an article where he he was the greatest thing ever happened to him was being traded with a
10:52giant.
10:53So there's there's a there's something there's just some stinky going on where the players are not on board with
11:00what's going on there.
11:01And so that's that's to me, that's troubling moving forward.
11:04I don't know.
11:04Yeah, that's right.
11:06Yeah.
11:06I mean, you know, and the Dale started with the the whole Roman Anthony thing, which is so weird.
11:10I mean, everything is just strange.
11:11Oh, yeah.
11:11But we'll take your call.
11:12Six one, seven, seven, seven, nine, seven, nine, three, seven.
11:14Someone said, Rich, you just explained why Cora isn't here.
11:17I mean, maybe it's true.
11:19I mean, you might be right because Cora would stand up to those guys, but they didn't like that.
11:23And a lot of times my manager is going to stand up to these guys and they're going to do
11:26what he's told.
11:27And that sucks because, you know, a lot of people are letting Tracy off the hook because they're saying, well,
11:31it's absolutely Breslow's stat sheet that made that call.
11:35But to that, I say, then why do we have a manager?
11:37His job is to stand up and say and override those stats and go, I'm sorry, but the stats are
11:43wrong because what I'm watching, how do you put Eric Miller in two nights in a row in that 70
11:49pitches is all Sonny Gray was at?
11:50Oh, man.
11:51All right.
11:51Thanks for letting me have that moment.
11:53I'm sorry.
11:54I think I texted you guys when I saw that he was warming up.
11:57I just wrote, mother, is Chad Tracy doing nips in the dugout?
12:01What is he doing, man?
12:02What the hell was that?
12:03I just think there's a nod and a wink that you're my guy now.
12:09You're carrying out my orders.
12:11You're a good foot soldier.
12:12And I don't like that at all.
12:14And there is a second bigger thing at play here, which I would like to just lay out at some
12:18point this hour.
12:18Let's do it.
12:19Obviously, that's the main story is the four and two thirds.
12:21And by the way, they were just getting walking out of there.
12:24Everybody from WFAN and the New York media was just mocking the Red Sox and Chad Tracy.
12:28They are a punchline.
12:29They are a joke.
12:30They are an embarrassment.
12:31They are.
12:32And you know what?
12:32And I hope it stings.
12:34And I hope they're listening to it, especially the front office.
12:37Because, I mean, listen, if you want to say that it rots from the head down, it absolutely does.
12:41And to me, if you just point it right at Breslow, Breslow telling Chad Tracy, you need to do this,
12:46Chad Tracy doing that, and it ruining everything.
12:48I mean, there's other things to pick on, but for me, that was the big thing that stood out.