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00:00We'll get back and talk to Red Sox here with Rob Bradford.
00:02Baseball isn't boring and WEEI.
00:04He joins us every Thursday at 1130 in studio today, Brad.
00:08McFarland, McFarland, my friends.
00:10Yeah, I mean, two weeks in a row, I get to see your smiling faces.
00:14Very, very, very impressive.
00:15He is brought to you, as you heard, by McFarland Energy,
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00:36Bradford, time to panic with the team again.
00:37First of all, where's my crowd?
00:39I demand a crowd.
00:40Like last week, a lot of studio audience.
00:43A lot.
00:43The man got a pop last week.
00:44I mean, I demand, people can be like basically saying,
00:48yelling, pounding against the glass, yay, yay, baseball.
00:53I heard a few of those.
00:53Yay, Bradford.
00:54I heard a few of those.
00:55People wanted the stickers.
00:56People wanted the bracelets.
00:58Oh, they love the bracelets.
00:59I'm huge in Toronto.
01:00Huge in Toronto.
01:02People were asking for the shirts after you left.
01:03Yeah.
01:03Keith was wearing them.
01:04Everyone likes a good shirt.
01:05They're like, we want one of those.
01:06We're like, Bradford's coming.
01:08They saw the Tyler O'Neal in the shirt.
01:10That's why.
01:10Yeah.
01:11So your question was, panic, panic, panic, panic in the streets.
01:15No, no, no, no, no, no.
01:16I mean, it's, boy, man, I sat down with Bo Bichette yesterday.
01:20I said, and the only question I had for him was, besides, how much do you bench?
01:24Which is obviously the logical question.
01:27But also, how do you play baseball in this?
01:30I can't fathom this.
01:32But you know what?
01:33How does Bo Bichette play in it?
01:34Because the Blue Jays are so good at it and the Red Sox are so terrible at it.
01:36Is that what you meant?
01:37That's what I was going to get to.
01:38I mean, like, we can't say, oh, it was cold.
01:40Because the Blue Jays were cold.
01:42The Blue Jays hit.
01:43The Blue Jays didn't swing and miss as much as the Red Sox.
01:46I heard Craig Breslow today on the Craig Hill Show, and they talked about strikeouts.
01:50And he's like, yeah, you know, we'll have to keep our eye on them.
01:53Yeah, you'll have to keep an eye on it.
01:55Yeah, you will.
01:57And I tweeted this out.
01:58It is bizarre that they are, like, neck and neck with the Dodgers with everything offensively.
02:04One and two in strikeouts, yet the Dodgers are the Dodgers.
02:07But where it leads me to believe, and this is where we should keep an eye on this,
02:12is the whole driveline thing.
02:14I don't know if you guys are familiar with this, but the whole mentality of hit the ball in the air, right?
02:21And so, sometimes it works really well.
02:24Christian Campbell is a perfect example of this.
02:27But when you have this many strikeouts, and you have the other opponents not striking out as much
02:32against Major League pitching, then it is something, as Breslow said, you have to keep your eye on.
02:38So, yeah, I mean, to come back to your question, it's not panic.
02:42They're still as good as...
02:44This is such a flawed American league, you know?
02:46Such a flawed American league.
02:47And Toronto is right there.
02:49Like, that's another reminder.
02:50You sign a big extension, you get some wins.
02:52That's how it works.
02:53Because they did strike out a lot last year.
02:55Yeah.
02:56Right?
02:56Like, they struck out a lot last year.
02:57I was looking this up, because I don't remember it being like this, but last year in the regular
03:01season, they had the third most strikeouts.
03:04Yeah.
03:04And they would go through stretches where they would hit, they'd go through stretches where they didn't like it.
03:07Well, that's one of the reasons why they also wanted to get Bregman, because, well,
03:11we need to counter this a little bit.
03:13And it does drive me a little bit nuts, because you go back to a couple World Series, and when
03:19you're in the World Series, you say, oh, look, they're putting the ball in play.
03:21Look at that team.
03:22That's how everybody's going to do it.
03:24And I think the Red Sox were sort of going down that road.
03:26But I can tell you the mentality of the people that they've brought in.
03:31And I think Pete Fast is a really, really good hitting coach.
03:33But they brought in a ton of people from driveline.
03:37And the mentality is, power, string hard, swing up, get the ball in the air, all of that.
03:43Once again, something to keep your eye on.
03:45Well, so I think on three episodes into the clubhouse, you've seen, is it Kyle Boddy?
03:48Is that how you say his name?
03:49Kyle Boddy, yeah.
03:49Boddy, yeah.
03:50You see him a couple of times from driveline in the clubhouse on Netflix.
03:56Cora's been very adamant.
03:57I think he was asked directly about this after the game last night.
04:00He's very adamant.
04:01He wants them to make contact.
04:02He hates strikeouts, is what he told WEI Afternoons yesterday.
04:06I mean, is he on board with the driveline approach?
04:08Yeah, I think so.
04:09But it's also, to his point, at some point, you can't keep doing it this rate.
04:15I know that you're neck and neck with the Dodgers and strikeouts.
04:18But you can't keep doing it this rate because the bread and butter of this team is
04:24Rafael Devers not swinging and missing, not striking out.
04:28Alex Bregman making contact.
04:30Tristan Kassas making contact.
04:32Jaron Durant making contact.
04:33You have to have these guys produce.
04:35And this comes back to when Devers was struggling so much, guys.
04:38Is that, well, why is this so important?
04:41It's because you have to have those guys that you pay the money to to actually hit the ball forward.
04:49That helps.
04:50Yeah.
04:51That's the plan.
04:52Jones brought up the clubhouse.
04:53How are the players responding to all of this stuff being out there now?
04:57Clearly, Jaron Durant's comments became the most public.
04:59But plenty of other players are sharing a very personal side of their lives, stuff that we haven't seen before.
05:05So what has the reaction been like inside the clubhouse, knowing that this stuff is now all out there in the public?
05:10Yeah, I mean, I think that I could talk about the clubhouse for an hour because I spend a lot of time.
05:16Usually, I don't invest in powering through something.
05:19So it's good and it's bad.
05:22And, you know, my overall grade, I'll give it a C+.
05:24I think Red Sox fans will probably give it a B, B-, because I have access.
05:29So the Duran thing, when Alex Cora keeps saying we're saving lives, he's right.
05:35Like, that is accurate.
05:37It's true.
05:37I mean, even where, as a parent, when you hear stuff like that, you want to talk to your kid.
05:44I haven't talked to my kid.
05:45I haven't talked to – I have one kid in L.A., one kid in Scotland.
05:48I'm like, how have I talked to them?
05:50I shouldn't assume anything.
05:51And I think that's a powerful thing.
05:53That is a very real thing.
05:54Everybody understands that.
05:57But outside of Duran, and Duran, we were talking about this, Duran is in it a ton.
06:01Not just that episode.
06:03Oh, it's a year with Jaron Duran is what the name of the thing should be.
06:06And independent of, you know, the moment we're talking about where he's contemplating suicide,
06:11he comes across sympathetic anyway.
06:13He comes across very likable anyway, independent of that episode.
06:16But, yeah, he's the central figure.
06:17No, there's no question.
06:18And I think Casas may have been more if he didn't get hurt.
06:22And Bayo's a guy.
06:24And Boozer's a guy.
06:26But to answer your question about the reaction at Clubhouse, I don't think there's been a lot of reaction in the Clubhouse.
06:31To be perfectly honest.
06:32We haven't had a single call, text, or tweet about it.
06:35No.
06:35Like, we haven't.
06:36And I was waiting for it because it just came out Monday.
06:38No, Tuesday.
06:39Or Tuesday.
06:40You're right.
06:40Tuesday it came out.
06:41And so – but all eight episodes are available.
06:43Some people like to binge stuff.
06:44But it does seem like – and maybe it's the nature of it.
06:48But, like, the dynasty, which was also not a great documentary, got a lot more attention.
06:53There's a lot more sort of, like, talking points from it.
06:55Yeah.
06:55I mean, there's no question about it.
06:57The biggest talking point is going to be the Jaron Durant.
06:59There's not even – it's not even close.
07:02But big items, big picture items, there's not a lot of, like, talking points, especially for sports radio.
07:08I will say this.
07:09They missed a few things.
07:11Like, I can tell you they missed a few things.
07:13Like, what – Colorado last year, they weren't there for the most momentous day an entire season.
07:19Cal Quantrill.
07:19The – Alex Corr extension.
07:22Cal Quantrill bench clearing.
07:24The players walking down ready to fight the Rockies.
07:27Reese McGuire hasn't even been in this thing.
07:29No.
07:30So –
07:31Follow him to a Dollar General?
07:32What do you want him to do?
07:33I don't want him to do that.
07:34I think the overall –
07:36Release the tapes.
07:38The now –
07:38You'd watch Bradford.
07:42Yeah, that was for the job.
07:43But, well, that's another part of this, right?
07:45Is that, you know, we're juxtaposing against other ones that this group has done.
07:50The Last Chance U.
07:51They did Last Chance U.
07:52And there's always leaning into controversy.
07:55There was always leaning into that.
07:57Poor kids.
07:57Now all those kids are suing Netflix, right?
07:59Right.
08:00There's not a lot of leaning into the controversy.
08:03There's really quick mentions of controversy.
08:06Well, I was going to say, I haven't finished this series yet, but nobody comes across bad.
08:11That – I was saying that to someone.
08:13Yeah.
08:13Like, there are two or three guys that I think come across the best.
08:16Cassis has a couple of border –
08:17Maybe.
08:17I'm only three episodes in.
08:18Cassis has a few borderline moments.
08:20I think –
08:20Where he's telling a kid he won't sign his autograph.
08:22Well –
08:22And when he – the whole dugout ignores him after he gets thrown out stupidly trying to steal third.
08:27Like, he's had a couple of moments where you're like, man.
08:29But here's the thing.
08:30You have to really think about it and dig into it to understand that.
08:34Like, Brian Bale come in complaining about how Connor Wong is calling two-seamers.
08:38Yeah.
08:39Like, okay.
08:40So I haven't gotten there yet.
08:40He was telling me about that.
08:41That's the last thing I saw.
08:42I haven't even finished that episode, but I saw that.
08:44Bale is losing his mind at Connor Wong.
08:47Bale was bullcrap at Duran when he butchered that ball against Baltimore.
08:50And you see them pass each other in the clubhouse and they even look at each other.
08:53So there's some of that.
08:54But it comes and it goes.
08:55Like, this isn't – and then it jumps to, like, Bale and his kid and his wife or whatever.
08:59You just hit the nail on the head.
09:00And I'm not saying, like, hey, listen, you don't want people to feel bad about it.
09:05But they didn't make anyone look really bad.
09:08Jaron Duran's dad did the mea culpa about the parenting situation, which we understand.
09:13But there is that, which I don't think helps business for Netflix.
09:19There is a dynamic, I think I was telling you guys, about how with these things, you get to 10 o'clock at night and you're ready to go to sleep.
09:27Do I have to watch the next one?
09:29And am I going to stay up or am I going to go to sleep?
09:31There isn't that feeling.
09:32No, you'll go to sleep.
09:33I think it leads – it lends itself because of the season.
09:35Maybe even during the episode.
09:36Right.
09:37But that's the point.
09:38Right.
09:38That's the point.
09:39Well, here comes the trade deadline.
09:40Well, okay.
09:41Danny Jansen.
09:42You know.
09:43Is it also because they want to be able to do this with other teams going forward?
09:47Well.
09:48And they can show them, like, hey, nobody came across bad in this.
09:50Yeah.
09:51We didn't screw you.
09:52It is striking how little controversy they leaned into considering how they said, hey, Red Sox didn't have final say in this.
10:00Yeah, because I remember that last year.
10:02I was talking about that and being like, oh, look out.
10:04Right.
10:04And again, we're using the Juco, the last chance you, as the example of this.
10:10But it is – now, they didn't let them in a certain time.
10:14There's one episode in the trade deadline where Craig Buslow takes a call while I'm being interviewed and they're like, can we follow you?
10:19He's like, no.
10:21And they show that.
10:22Right.
10:23They show that.
10:23Oh, wow.
10:23And then they have this sort of – everyone goes, hey, we got James Paxson.
10:27Okay.
10:28Pending physical.
10:29You know, it's like, all right, great.
10:30Did they do the physical?
10:31Yeah.
10:32How'd he pass that?
10:33But it's – you know, I think that you raise a good point.
10:37Another thing I've been thinking about, because you have that strip of the top 10 viewed ones, right?
10:42Yes.
10:43At Netflix.
10:43Oh, it ain't on there.
10:44Netflix doesn't release – here's our top 100.
10:47That's all they do.
10:49This is what's being watched the most.
10:51Is it on there?
10:52Let's take a look.
10:52Yeah, no, it's not.
10:53I noticed that much.
10:54No, I've been checking for two days because when you have the massive amount of publicity, which they have had, including, by the way, MLB getting behind it, then you're like, oh, it's going to pop.
11:04It's going to pop there.
11:05And it hasn't.
11:06Not to say that in some way it won't be successful, but what that lent me to believe and think about was they're not doing this again.
11:14They're not.
11:15Hard knocks, they couldn't do it fast enough.
11:17The tennis stuff, the golf stuff, all of this, they're doing it again.
11:22And I would love to know if they're going to do it again.
11:26I don't know if a team – I know the Phillies, they want the Phillies to do it initially, I think.
11:31And they said no.
11:33So I don't know.
11:34I don't think they're going to do it again.
11:36It's also they picked a tough team.
11:38You know, it's a team without stars.
11:40It was a team that was 500, so they weren't even, like, the worst.
11:43But they weren't a playoff team.
11:45They were legitimately 81-81.
11:48And, you know, you didn't expect them to be good.
11:51It's not like there was drama in them being way worse than you thought.
11:53Right.
11:53Like if you said we're doing the Dodgers.
11:55Or way better than you thought.
11:55We're doing the Dodgers this year.
11:56For the Red Sox, this was a marketing tool, right?
12:01That's what it was.
12:02And it probably paid off in that respect because, as we said, nobody – we thought somebody's going to get ripped here.
12:09Somebody's going to come off looking bad.
12:11Somebody's going to be the kid in the Juco kid who walks off the team.
12:14Right?
12:15But there was none of that.
12:16But is the point you're going to end up liking all these guys more?
12:21And, like, they keep hammering the point, like, we take for granted, like, these guys are people, too.
12:26These guys are people, too.
12:28It's like, yeah, but they lose six games in a row?
12:31Fenway Park's not going to be like, guys, guys, don't boo them.
12:33Don't boo them.
12:34They're humans.
12:35But that's the theme, right?
12:36Yeah.
12:37I mean, they slam that in your face.
12:39That's the – like, it's how hard it is to get through a baseball season.
12:42That's the theme.
12:43And then they get to –
12:43Then play something else.
12:44And we all know, like, they ran out of money, you know, halfway through the year.
12:48They disappeared for a month and a half.
12:50Just when, coincidentally, when the Red Sox disappeared as well.
12:53So they come back at the end and they – thankfully, they did an episode on Joe Castiglione.
13:00Like, good for you for pivoting.
13:01Yeah.
13:02Because I don't care about –
13:03They make it seem like they're in it till the end, but they really aren't.
13:06But another example how they didn't lean into controversy, you know, guys know,
13:11Kenley Jansen, friend of the program, there was none of that.
13:14Okay, so I was just going to ask about this.
13:15Between Jansen and Devers, does it say anything that neither of those guys were even in it?
13:20Like, Hart – I mean, you see them, but they're –
13:22Yeah, they didn't want to be in it.
13:23Okay.
13:23So what does that say about – does that say anything about – specifically Devers,
13:27because he's still on the team?
13:27Like, does that say anything about him and his resistance to, like, being the star,
13:32being the leader, that hesitance?
13:33Like, I feel like the fact – he wouldn't let himself in.
13:36It's not a second language thing.
13:37Baio's all over this.
13:38So, I don't know.
13:39I wonder if that says anything about Devers.
13:41I think it says – I don't want to be part of it.
13:44I mean, there was people saying, I don't want to be part of it.
13:46It's just not my thing.
13:47And this is one of the problems with baseball players, to be honest with you,
13:50which is baseball players are more reluctant than any sport to be – to show themselves
13:55because it's such a long season.
13:57And we've gone through this years upon years upon years.
14:00This is the problem with baseball.
14:02But to your point about Devers, I just think that he was – and there was other guys.
14:06I think, again, Kenley was – I don't think wanted to be part of it.
14:09There was other guys who didn't want to be part of it.
14:10I haven't seen Yoshida much in the first few.
14:12So, he – no, they show – you see that with – he comes up more.
14:16It's sitting down and acclimating himself to – so, it was kind of interesting.
14:21There's interesting stuff in it.
14:23Yeah, there is.
14:24The Cam Boozer stuff was awesome.
14:26Yeah, that was a great moment.
14:28But, again, it's kind of few and far between.
14:30Duran and I think Cora are the two that jump out as like, ah, these guys are great.
14:34Well, it's kind of like if you said to me, when this was released and you had the release
14:39to say, we're doing the clubhouse and we're also doing the 04 one.
14:42Was it called The Comeback or something?
14:44If you told me that The Comeback was going to be more interesting than this one, I would
14:48have said you're crazy, but it was.
14:50Yeah, you're right.
14:51Comeback was great.
14:51Comeback was great, but to your point, you're thinking, all right, we've kind of –
14:54I know everything.
14:54I think I know everything between the books and the stories and the whatever.
14:58And also –
14:58So, I read Chasing Steinbrenner.
15:00Like, I know everything I need to know about this.
15:02I mean, we walked so they could run.
15:04Yes.
15:05But it's sort of like with the Celtic City thing going on right now, right?
15:09You have these guys who say, I don't give a flip about whatever.
15:13I'm Robert Parrish, and I'm going to tell you why I didn't stick up for Larry Bird.
15:16Are you liking Celtic City?
15:17Oh, yeah.
15:18It's great, right?
15:18Yeah, you know why?
15:19That's in your real house, yeah.
15:21Well, not only that, but when you have guys who just don't care anymore.
15:24Yeah.
15:25And these guys who are playing right now, they are still caring about what they say and
15:31what they do.
15:32But that's why I think Celtic City, and that's why I think the 04 thing was so good, too.
15:36Yes.
15:36They were both great.
15:37Yeah.
15:38So, yeah, I mean, I suspect that a lot of people will give it a B, a B- that's where I'm going
15:44with it, because for Red Sox fans, it's cool.
15:48It's entertaining.
15:49I do wonder the two things.
15:51Outside of Boston, what the reaction is going to be, and also what the reaction will be in
15:57terms of what they'll do going forward, because that was part of this plan, right?
16:01Unprecedented access to a baseball team.
16:04First time ever.
16:05Remember, okay, you've got to get better access.
16:08Here's the thing, especially with a trade deadline.
16:10Better access that matters.
16:11You've got to get, yeah, you have to get better access, exactly.
16:15Better access that matters.
16:17In Hard Knocks, you have the transaction stuff.
16:21Even in Behind the B, you have transactions.
16:23And we know the hammer.
16:24Florida traded for Marsh.
16:25Right.
16:26But remember, Florida traded for Marsh?
16:29Yeah.
16:29You traded for Marsh.
16:30Yeah.
16:31The Tyler Sagan thing going back, you know?
16:33Oh, yeah.
16:33No, that was great.
16:34So, you know, I think that Red Sox fans will enjoy it.
16:38I think that the Duran thing was impactful and powerful, and that was important.
16:43But, you know, that's my overall take on it.
16:45All right, Bradfoe, good stuff.
16:46Check him out.
16:47Baseball isn't boring.
16:48You can check him out on WEI and the Odyssey app.
16:51And, of course, you can see him.
16:52He's in some of this clubhouse.
16:54Sure is.
16:54No, not really.
16:55Some of it.
16:55Not really.
16:56Not as much as it's you and me.
16:58No.
16:58Me and Jones are in it way more.
17:00No.
17:00Jones make a war can all over that thing.
17:01Sammy from Play Tessie is in it more than I am.
17:05Yeah.
17:05So.
17:07All right.
17:07Well, check out Bradfoe there, anyway, on the Odyssey app.
17:09Baseball isn't boring.
17:11Bradfoe, we'll talk to you next Thursday.
17:11All right.
17:12Good seeing you guys.
17:13All right.
17:13We'll get to Jalen Brown.
17:14What's the plan?
17:14Did we get any more news about the plan with Jalen Brown?
17:16He actually sat out a game and wasn't forcing himself to play 20 minutes last night.
17:20We have some thoughts on that coming up next.