- 6/19/2025
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00with rob bradford he joins us every thursday here on jones and keep he's brought to you by
00:05mcfarlane energy uh bradfo how we doing this week from the west coast uh anything happen
00:10anything happen it's been really busy yes it's been a busy busy time out there there's no doubt
00:16about that it's not boring that much oh my goodness are you kidding me i mean i've flow
00:22i the minute that father's day thing happened it's been chaotic for the last whatever amount
00:28of days and that includes a cross-country flight that includes being around the team for the last
00:32couple days to get that vibe which is something that i ought to be perfectly honest with you did
00:37not expect uh there's a lot to pick through uh so let's pick through it let's go okay well let's uh
00:42pick away and again rob bradford brought to you by mcfarlane energy the heating cooling and bio heat
00:47delivery pros that easter mass and all of cape cod depend on mcfarlaneenergy.com all right you talked
00:53to uh breslow yesterday let's start with that and work our way back well you talked to breslow yesterday
00:57defending the uh interview tactics the interview practices of the red sox your two-minute grill
01:03uh what'd you learn from talking to craig breslow about how the red sox interview some of these
01:08candidates uh very interpersonally i didn't need to talk to breslow to realize that that was one of the
01:14stupidest part of this whole deal honestly like this is where we landed when we're we're picking
01:19through what that was and breslow sort of pointed that out and and you know let's start this off it's
01:24like both sides are to blame there's a lot to pick through the red sox are to blame we're getting
01:29endeavors about you know his shock and awe the last couple days but the whole ai interview was the
01:34dumbest thing because i think people were so desperate to find the the avenue to pin this on
01:41the red sox for being so impersonal and everything what this is and i knew it exactly what happened even
01:47before breslow talked when you get to when you're interviewing people when you're interviewing these
01:52lowest level people or whatever it is not the assistant gms not the people the meat and potatoes
01:58the the front office or the baseball operations you're going to do this this happens absolutely
02:04so this what frustrated me about it is that this is where we landed with this conversation
02:10so then we're picking apart how the red sox use zoom calls to interview low level people which it is i
02:20mean this is again this is i asked around i said hey assistant gm or hey baseball operations person
02:25who was hired did you go through this like no no no no no so this is what we're doing we're picking
02:30this apart to advance the rafael devers conversation so if you're going to ask me whether breslow just
02:38backed it up but like i do it before that that was the dumbest part of this and it had got to the point
02:43where again we this is such a complicated trade with so many different pieces of it that was a
02:49dumb piece all right so one of the other big pieces of it was whether or not the red sox or the team
02:54taking devers needed to take his entire contract and speaking of zooms when there was the zoom between
03:00sam kennedy and craig breslow they kept saying that it wasn't a mandate even though the giants were saying
03:05yeah they needed to take the whole salary the giants owner the giants owner said they needed to take on
03:09the whole salary so how do you make heads or tails of that one yeah i think that what the red sox did
03:15is and you know look i'm leaving seattle right now seattle the best seattle mariners everyone here
03:20would be like hey yeah that was a perfect fit why didn't we get rafael devers i think that it was why it
03:26wasn't a mandate it was probably a priority just to find the team to identify the team the ownership
03:32group that was going to take on that amount of money and then take on that amount of money and then
03:37pick through what you can get in return i mean sometimes you take on that amount of money and
03:42you get you know scraps in return remember i mean go back to when the red sox could have trade chris
03:48sale who was on the il a couple years ago you know the texas rangers were ready to take on the whole
03:53amount of money but give basically nothing in return hardly anything and they want red sox wanted more
03:58and they didn't get the deal done so i think the red sox just sort of hit the sweet spot in their eyes
04:03when it came to the giants but to answer your question yeah it might not have been a mandate but i
04:07think it was probably a priority so you uh i'm listening to you now you like the return i've
04:12been the highest person that i've heard no no no no yeah i i'm not saying listen i mean this guy
04:18gets this twisted is that as i wrote immediately after everybody should be mad about this fans should
04:24be mad about the every fish should be mad at the red sox for letting you get to the point if they're
04:28hitting the sweet spot on getting rid of the whole salary and what they're getting back that would
04:32in their eyes they were hitting the sweet spot in their eyes they were hitting the sweet in their
04:37eyes they were saying we're getting a team to pay down on the entire contract and we're getting
04:42back these players who we think who we like who we think can contribute and we can i'm not saying
04:47that hey listen i you trade rafael devers i think you're going to get more than kyle harrison
04:51jordan hicks and a couple minor leaguers like that's just how i feel but in their eyes they said
04:58if we can get a team to pay down the whole contract and get back to pieces that we like
05:03then you ask you ask me like what was their priority their priority was probably to find the
05:09team that was going to pay the most money and give them the most the best players in their eyes
05:14why paying that most money so i don't know you know that's it's not me so it's it's how they view
05:20it but like could they have gotten more either from the giants or from somebody else it seems like
05:25the timing of this the trade deadline's not for another month and a half there couldn't have been
05:29another team out there that would have been willing to give you more in return than what they got
05:34so that comes back to when you know was this a mandate to pay down on the whole contract no but
05:41was it a priority yeah so if they're making that a priority with the money then they say well what's
05:46the best deal we can get in their eyes that was the best deal they could get now it's a good question
05:51about the timing of it because a lot i've heard a lot of people say that why don't you wait to the
05:56trade deadline why wait to the trade deadline i will say this guys being around the team being
06:01dropped into that clubhouse the day after one element of this if somebody said to me i said this
06:07is a man this is a complex trade there are so many things there's so many aspects is that and they said
06:12really is it that complex you had a guy who was impacting the culture of a team who was basically
06:19who's trying to win games and like and that's my takeaway from being around the team the last
06:25couple days you heard it after like i think rafael devers is a good guy i think rafael devers
06:30is is a really good player it has been a good teammate up until this year but the reactions from the
06:36players from the team and then you double down on it with basically you're in the wheelchair and then
06:42all of a sudden you get to san francisco and you spring out of the wheelchair and start doing a 4-4-40
06:45i mean like but this is but that was sort of the mike that was the example of what we're talking
06:51about so you asked about timing right or wrong i think that the impetus for this trade was because
06:57of that because they said it just had gotten to the point where we think in order to move forward
07:03to be a better team having this cloud over our head is not worth it so is rafael devers basically
07:09what's owed to him now is essentially what nine and a half years yeah 230 i think 230 230 is that
07:18looked at as a really bad contract because if nobody would eat that contract and it's looked
07:22like that's a negative like oh get him to pay the contract so like if he was a free agent what kind
07:27of deal would he have gotten because you also hear from so many people about what a generational
07:32bad he is and how great of a player he is but it's also he has a bad contract where he's making
07:36actually less than 30 million a year i mean i would say this is that i don't you know the red
07:42sox might not necessarily viewed it as a bad contract they viewed it as a bad player who was
07:48fitting into the team and under that contract the giants clearly viewed it as a good contract
07:53if i was another team like i said like seattle or someone else i would view it as a good con it's
07:58fine i mean like my point would be rob my point would be if it's a good contract then like
08:03you get more than kyle harrison and jordan hicks for it i'm with you i get why the red
08:08sox traded me and jones are actually two of the few they're like see you later no i don't let the
08:11door hit you yeah rob i think we actually agree with what you just said we're good with devers
08:14which is devers was the main priority even ahead of the salary but it seems like if it was such a
08:18sticking point around the league you're like so you wouldn't pay 28 and a half million dollars a
08:22year for a guy that hits 30 bucks that's what i'm saying that's what i'm saying that i can't speak
08:26to the other teams if i was another team i would do it like i would do that i mean i've been on
08:31since this go radio and stuff and i've said listen you guys can you imagine getting this
08:37guy at the trade deadline never mind getting this guy in the middle of june and by the way
08:41he did spring out of the wheelchair and he is working out at first base and he is you know the
08:46best case scenario of rafael devers which is everybody was waiting for so i think it's just
08:51it's it's yeah i don't disagree with you but i come back to the red sox impetus for this
08:57and and i'll say it again like they are absolutely to blame and we we've litigated that up and down
09:03about the communication how they got to this point and how what a travesty both sides let it get to
09:09this point because you do have another player in his prime who's going to probably be in the hall of
09:13fame that's the frustrating part of it no way he's not the hall what hall of fame no way no giants hall
09:20not my hall we're hot we're small yeah you gotta get a top 10 mvp season in your first maybe on your
09:26ballot no chance no chance i think it's getting better i'm curious brad foe uh about and you said
09:34the the ai story uh is overblown and it's nonsense it's all it's all coming from somewhere like all of
09:40a sudden like this full court press is coming from somewhere not not that i'm asking you where it's
09:45coming from but what does it say that all this stuff is boiling over right after this trade the
09:51view of craig breslow what is what all these various leaks are you talking about i i mean let's be honest
09:57are we talking about the june lee story yeah mostly yeah yeah exactly so all right you take the
10:02i don't know what well buster only had some of the same stuff buster only had a lot of the same stuff
10:07the narrative so when we were i'll go to the buster thing first and you know buster is obviously
10:13tuned in i i actually talked to buster a lot and and you know i so i sort of know where he's coming
10:18from and a lot of what he's hearing and when the devers stuff is going on everybody like what is
10:24happening in boston like what is going on and that's the thing like i think that buster was confused about
10:31and that's what he wrote about and a lot of this stuff you know where people point out where it comes to
10:36the the front office and how they do things and it's the uncomfortable way of of how things are when it
10:42came to communications which is a big part of this but that was all part of the story leading up to
10:48the rafael devers trade there is no question about i mean that that was that was murmuring throughout
10:53baseball i mean this is they had turned it over they had vetted the organization and all of this
10:58stuff that was part of it and whether you pile on what is happening with rafael devers because no one
11:04could figure it out all the way up until he was traded then yeah of course it's going to be the
11:07part of the conversation but you know again to go back to the ai interview thing or it's like
11:14okay i get we can we can have this conversation about how they're doing things and how different
11:20it is but when we're using examples like that to me that's just dumb like that's just like that's
11:26like saying like these somebody the lowest level people who you know they get 500 000 applicants for
11:33and they're vetting through a couple zoom calls like okay if you if people want to jump on that
11:38that's fine because that's what that's what everybody's doing but i think the more important
11:42thing here is to look at the organization where they screwed up when it comes to the communication
11:47that was the biggest thing and i'll say this too in the last couple days what nobody really has
11:53talked about which i pointed out which is you know craig brezzo i think is learning a lot from this too
11:58because the fact is that he went to each of these players instead of just doing this this broad hey
12:04everybody let's get our act together i thought it was smart by him to go to each player hey you got
12:09any questions and i saw him do it i saw play him pull players aside you got any questions because if
12:14you have any questions just you and me let's talk about it then he should get credit for that but what
12:19the organization shouldn't get credit for is the lack of communication before how bad of a look is this
12:25for alex cora who is known as a players manager but ultimately they have to trade their best hitter
12:30because he couldn't figure out how to how to how to get them happy yeah well i don't think you know i
12:36think that the mistake they made was the whole plan tried to play both sides of the fence thing you know
12:41the reports coming out about how he that alex cora you know they they use alex cora as the guy to
12:46talk to the rafi whisperer why you know brezzo was going to be the bad cop and everything else
12:51but i think for alex cora you know i think he is a good communicator with the players but the
12:56problem is i mean he had a wall with this guy i mean this is this is go back to go back to gassing
13:02up the plane with john henry you know they can say that was productive but nothing came of it
13:07nothing and then it just kept going and going and going and i think even from alex cora point of view
13:13like it was all right you know there's nothing else he could do there's nothing else he's gonna do
13:17and you know i look at it this way look at remember back when mandy was traded now score was part of
13:22that team when mandy was traded for jason bay in that three-way deal terry francona was like a
13:27different person all like the day after the day after and i think that alex cora there's going to
13:33be an element of that like yeah i mean everybody's is the blame to go around all over the place
13:37especially when it comes to the red sox communication but i do think that the vibe
13:43uh about the communication going forward might be a little bit different going forward how would
13:48you describe the red sox uh current players reaction to the devers trade i would well let
13:56me before i answer were you guys surprised by it surprised by the trade i was surprised by the
14:01timing no no no no no no surprise that their reaction we run we run around we get the reaction
14:06oh no i well i was actually kind of i was i kind of thought that's what it would be
14:10yeah it was i can tell you this it was there was there was you couldn't tell a difference you could
14:19not tell a difference and i know that you know then doran had the sort of one of 26 and it's a
14:24little thing and um but you couldn't you couldn't tell a difference and and you know then you hear
14:29the comments after that game after that first game after they win oh there was great energy in here
14:35there was everything else i don't think it was to this extreme and this isn't apples to apples
14:39but i do remember when aj persinsky was was was let go in early july 2014 and and like okay everyone's
14:47oh yeah yeah yeah they blew somebody out and everyone was feeling great that's all well and good but to
14:53answer your question they're gonna they're gonna like hug rafi devers in san francisco everything will
14:58be fine but but guys like the fact of the matter is even that monday after that monday when rafael
15:04devers has his press conference and the go take out grounders at first base that is if you are a
15:10player on that team and you don't take offense to that then i don't know what you're thinking
15:15because basically he just like he just pushed it back in your face of this this thing that he refused
15:22to do to help the team oh i'm on this team now now i'm gonna help him like if you're a player in the
15:27red sox i already think that on monday that showed the sort of like whatever attitude but to me it has
15:34gone to the next level of that because because of rafael devers has agreed to do for his new team
15:40okay brad foe great stuff as always joins us every thursday here on jones and keith you can
15:46check them out all over weei and of course baseball isn't boring podcasts on the odyssey
15:51app as well uh brad foe we'll talk to you next week thanks so much all right guys excellent job
15:56i'll talk to you later see you thank you uh brad for joining us here uh jones and keith we're brought
16:00to you by jackson lumber and millwork you can visit jackson lumber and millwork for all your
16:04residential remodeling or commercial building materials and supplies at jackson lumber and
16:08millwork providing solutions and delivering results since 1946 uh i want to react to some of that on the
16:15other side from brad foe uh first of all doesn't sound like he and june lee are going to be swapping
16:20christmas cards anytime soon uh second of all uh alex cora and the entire team not just the players
16:27alex cora and the team sound pretty happy that rafael devers is gone uh we can react to that
16:32with all your phone calls coming up next
Recommended
12:16
|
Up next