- 2 days ago
On Thursday's edition of Felger and Mazz, with Matt McCarthy and Mark Dondero, the guys questioned whether or not the Red Sox are real contenders in the postseason. Jimmy Stewart made the point that due to the lack of talented teams in the American League, the Red Sox are still won of the favorites to win the pennant.
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00:00What's your level of concern with the Red Sox coming off the road trip?
00:03Is that better, Jimmy? You okay with that?
00:05Hi, Big C concerned.
00:08You don't believe that.
00:09No, I think they're going to be in the American League Championship Series.
00:13Okay, so there you go. Positive take from Jimmy Stewart.
00:15What's your level of concern, Don Darrow?
00:17I mean, I don't like the word concern.
00:20I've had concerns, so I guess the concern I have is the concern that I've had.
00:24They don't have enough pitching.
00:25I think the behavior at the trade deadline is going to come back to bite them.
00:28And obviously, I would have liked for them to win a series against one of these good teams on the road.
00:34They've been very good at home, so I know it's not going to sink them.
00:37They're in it.
00:38They're competing.
00:39They're contending, all those things.
00:42I didn't like that they couldn't win a series against a good team on the road.
00:46So the concern that was a little C is still there, and that C will grow as we continue to go.
00:53The C for concern, because I just feel like they don't have the pitching
00:57that I wanted them to have, and I thought they had the opportunity to get at the deadline.
01:00So is it a road thing?
01:01Is it an overall roster thing?
01:03What's your major takeaway from that?
01:05The thing is, I just don't think they've changed enough.
01:08I think the things that are going to come back to haunt them are the things that have been a problem in the past.
01:15Something is going to come down to they don't have the talent, they don't have the pitching,
01:19they can't get over the hump, and I think we're going to end up back to where we started
01:24before the trade deadline where they don't have the talent.
01:26Yeah, so this road trip wasn't concerning to me in any way, shape, or form,
01:30simply because I think I know who they are.
01:32I've watched them all season.
01:34I know they're not very good on the road.
01:36That's who they've been.
01:37They dominate at home.
01:38They're not very good on the road.
01:40They've been good, not great against playoff competition.
01:44They're better at home.
01:45They're not as good on the road.
01:46Right now, this team is 39-22 at home.
01:50They're excellent at home.
01:51They don't win on the road.
01:52They're 27-34 on the road.
01:54And more importantly, against American League playoff teams, they're 6-9 on the road.
02:01So that's kind of who they've been, and that's exactly who they were on this road trip.
02:066-9, you're winning one-third of those games.
02:09They won one-third of the games on the road against two playoff teams in San Diego,
02:14playoff quality teams in San Diego and Houston.
02:17So am I concerned by what I saw?
02:19Am I freaking out?
02:21No, because it's August 14th.
02:23I know who this team is, and I'm not surprised that they went 4-6.
02:27So let's not panic over that.
02:29It is what it is.
02:30That's kind of where I am with this road trip, Don Darrow.
02:33It is what it is with this team.
02:35They're going to come home, and they're going to be better.
02:37And that's going to be good enough for them.
02:39Okay, and I'm not panicking or freaking out.
02:42I'm just saying I was hoping, you know, I'm thinking about was there a turning point this year?
02:48Is it a different team?
02:50What they've been, they've been for a while, which is 500.
02:54It's spanned years where they've essentially been a 500 team.
02:57I'm looking for signs and signals that they've evolved beyond that and above that.
03:01Is this the line of demarcation that says, no, they can never be bigger and better?
03:07No, but, you know, hey, if they could start to be better on the road this year based on the turnaround that they've had where earlier in the year I didn't necessarily think they were a contender.
03:16Now I think they're an actual team that could get into the playoffs, and then who knows what happens or what could happen.
03:22I was hoping that I would see a sign, and that sign would have been, hey, let's go to San Diego.
03:27Let's go to Houston and follow up what you've been doing at home with a couple series wins on the road and maybe look like what the Brewers are doing or something closer to that.
03:36I didn't think that that was, you know, maybe it was too much to ask, but if you're really a different team on a different trajectory, I would have liked to have seen that, and I didn't.
03:44But I think they have proven they're more than a 500 team.
03:47I mean, they are.
03:48Right now, they're two and a half games clear of a playoff spot.
03:50They have dominated at home, and I think they have enough.
03:54I think they have enough to make the playoffs this year.
03:56This is different than it's been in years past.
03:58There is nothing I saw on this road trip that makes me think the collapse is coming because that's what's happened with this team in the second half in August and September.
04:08The last three years, they have collapsed.
04:112022, 2023, 2024, they have collapsed.
04:14This is not a good road trip for them, but nothing about this trip suggested that the collapse is imminent in any way, shape, or form.
04:21So, in some ways, I do think they've proven to you what you were hoping.
04:25You want them to be more than a 500 team?
04:28Well, they have been, and they are, and I think they will continue to be.
04:31Maybe my bar is just too high because I feel like that's pathetic what you're saying.
04:34I don't see the collapse imminent.
04:37That's what we're hoping for now, that we just don't see the collapse forthcoming.
04:41Like, I don't want to be, I don't want to live that life.
04:44I want to be in a spot where you're actually analyzing, do they have what it takes to win it all?
04:50Not am I analyzing, do I see the collapse out on the horizon?
04:53I am sick of that.
04:54I'm done with that.
04:55I thought this team had a chance to, forget about a collapse, to get to a point where we were talking about legitimate championship aspirations.
05:05And I, again, I like where they are.
05:07I'm not freaking out.
05:09It was fine.
05:10You know, they didn't get swept.
05:12But I was hoping at some, especially after that run into the All-Star break and leading into that point,
05:17I was hoping that they were going to really build off the momentum and get to an even higher level.
05:21And I'm just, you know, it doesn't feel like they're at that higher level.
05:25They're still okay, but not at that higher level I was hoping for.
05:28I don't think you have to be in the American League.
05:30Okay.
05:30I just don't.
05:32I don't.
05:32This team, you know, right now, so against record, teams with 500 or better records in the American League,
05:39the Red Sox are fourth, fourth in the American League.
05:43They're 32 and 33 against teams with 500 records, which, again, doesn't sound very good,
05:48but it speaks to the competition in the American League.
05:52Mark, this league is flawed.
05:55The Red Sox have their flaws.
05:56The Red Sox have their issues.
05:58I know you say you want them to be championship caliber, championship level.
06:02I know you don't believe it based on what you're seeing.
06:05I'm telling you, I'm not saying they're the favorite,
06:07but I'm telling you they have a puncher's chance to win the American League.
06:10And that has a lot to do with the competition,
06:12but the Astros are not significantly better than them.
06:15The Blue Jays are not significantly better than them.
06:17Detroit is not significantly better than them.
06:20This thing is wide open.
06:22So I know you say that bar is low, and I acknowledge that.
06:24You want the Red Sox to always be better.
06:26They're a big market team, all of those things.
06:28You want it to be, you know, 2018.
06:31I do, too.
06:32I just recognize that that's not what is going on right now.
06:35And given the state of competition in the American League,
06:38they have almost as good a chance as just about anybody else in this league.
06:43I think they're a tier below.
06:45I just don't think they have the star power.
06:47I think you need stars.
06:48I think you need talent.
06:50Granted, I understand baseball.
06:53You could have Todd Walker.
06:54You could have David Murphy, 2004, Carlos Beltran.
06:58Guys get insanely hot.
07:00Could change a team's complexion.
07:02Or if, you know, say Don Rafaela does in the playoffs,
07:04what he did right before the All-Star break, that's different.
07:09I just don't think.
07:10I mean, who's your best hitter?
07:11Roman Anthony.
07:12A rookie.
07:13Yep.
07:13You're going to get to the World Series, win the American League with a rookie as your best hitter?
07:17In a typical year?
07:18No.
07:18In this year with the competition?
07:20I don't rule it out.
07:21Jimmy, you think they're going to be in the ALCS?
07:24I do.
07:24I still look at how crappy the rest of the American League is.
07:28And there's an opportunity, especially if you get cheating Alex Gore in the playoffs,
07:32how he can manipulate not only the lineup, the sign stealing, the bullpen.
07:37We've seen it.
07:38Like, he's hands-on in-game.
07:39He's probably, you know, top three tactical manager.
07:42You know, if he just quit with the political BS off to the side, keeps cheating, keeps stealing,
07:48they got a chance to win it.
07:49Yeah.
07:49Mark, I agree with you.
07:50And they probably are a tier below.
07:53They're a second-tier team in the American League.
07:55But I just think it has more to do with the teams that you would put in that top tier.
08:01I'm not saying I'd bet the Red Sox, but it's not far-fetched to say that they could be right in the mix.
08:08They can beat Toronto.
08:09They can beat Detroit.
08:10They can beat Cleveland.
08:11They can beat the Yankees.
08:12They can beat Houston.
08:13They can beat Seattle.
08:13They can beat Texas.
08:15That's your competition, right?
08:16They can beat all of them.
08:17Yeah.
08:17And the same way that you could argue, and it sounds like you would argue,
08:20that all those teams could beat the Red Sox.
08:22Yeah, it's true, because every single team in this league has a flaw,
08:27which does make the trading deadline really frustrating.
08:29If you go back to that and you have every right to feel that way as a Red Sox fan,
08:32I feel the same way.
08:34If you had added Joe Ryan at the deadline, are you the favorite to win this American League?
08:39I mean, you might be.
08:41Based on the competition, you certainly might be.
08:43So I know you feel strongly about that.
08:46I just think I'm not letting them off the hook.
08:49And I'm not saying you're letting them off the hook or everyone's there.
08:52I'm not.
08:52This is a – I want them to have the championship aspirations and act like it.
08:57I want them to go after players at the deadline and not do these little dink and dunk moves,
09:03you know, like we saw this year and like what we've seen in years past.
09:05I want them to go for it.
09:06I think you're rewarded when you do things like that.
09:09And I didn't see it, and it's nice.
09:11I get – again, I understand in baseball you can get hot and teams –
09:15the Diamondbacks a few years ago, they had six more wins than the Red Sox.
09:18They made the World Series.
09:19Good run.
09:20Okay, you can do things like that.
09:21But they didn't win it, and I want them to act and operate like a team.
09:26You're not going to win it every year because it's baseball, but I want them to act that way.
09:30And I didn't see them act that way from an organizational perspective.
09:33And I look at the lineup.
09:34I like it.
09:36I'm enjoying this.
09:37I just don't think that they have enough to truly contend for the championship,
09:41even though they'll be there.
09:42They're not going to – it's going to be a 2002 Boston Celtics.
09:46They took the Nets to six games.
09:48It was fun.
09:48They made a comeback.
09:49But they were never actually really contenders for the championship.
09:53That's what it's going to be.
09:54I want them to be true, real contenders, and I don't think they are.
09:58They're good.
09:58They're fun.
09:59It's good.
10:00They're good.
10:00They're better.
10:01I'm happy.
10:02But they're not true contenders by my estimation, and that's where I want them to get.
10:06So how do you define contender?
10:09I want more talent, and I want them to behave from a front office perspective like what they used to do.
10:14Go after talent at the deadline when it's available, especially if it's a weak American League
10:19and you're poised to get over the hump with another arm, another bat, or something like that.
10:23I don't think they have enough dudes in the lineup.
10:27Yeah.
10:27Dudes.
10:28I think they tried.
10:29And that's not good enough.
10:30That's not good enough.
10:31But you're saying that organizationally they don't have the attitude.
10:35They didn't do enough, and they didn't.
10:37They failed to act.
10:39I don't think it was for a lack of wanting.
10:41I think based on Stu's reporting and based on Jared Karabas' reporting and based on all
10:45the reporting surrounding the deadline, they were in on Joe Ryan.
10:49So they were willing to part with Peyton Tolley.
10:51They were willing to make it happen, and it didn't happen probably because Craig Breslow
10:55didn't know how to make a deal, didn't know how to work with people, all that.
10:59I think it was more and more we get further away from this.
11:03I kind of feel like the Red Sox just didn't have the prospects that the Twins wanted,
11:07and the Red Sox were not willing to give up the Major League talent to either get prospects
11:12that the Twins wanted or to send them to Minnesota because Joe Ryan didn't move.
11:16And I know Dave Dombrowski tried to get Joe Ryan at the buzzer, but Dave Dombrowski didn't
11:21get him either.
11:22So if he moves in the offseason, maybe we have a different conversation.
11:26But right now, the Red Sox did whatever it took up until the buzzer to get Joe Ryan.
11:32Up until the buzzer, okay?
11:34You knew you needed pitching.
11:35You knew you could have used some pitching.
11:37Why didn't they do it instead of waiting until the 11th hour?
11:41Do it in advance.
11:42Or how about this?
11:43Why didn't they do it when they had the piece that they were going to move in a Raphael Devers?
11:48And it doesn't have to be Joe Ryan.
11:49Why didn't you get anything back for Raphael Devers that could have helped you?
11:53And then you're listening to Craig Breslow after the trade deadline at his press conference
11:56talk about it takes two to tango.
11:58And we needed, you know, we were looking at more impact players, but you need somebody
12:02that they wanted, blah, blah, blah.
12:03You had somebody that they would have wanted, and you've got developmental opportunities.
12:09So, Dendaro, I appreciate your passion.
12:11I think the Devers deal was money, and they got crap for Devers right now.
12:16It looks like they got porked on that deal majorly.
12:18I think they had a deal for Joe Ryan like four weeks before the deadline, and either
12:24ownership blocked it on the Red Sox side, the Twins side, maybe Carlos Correa blocked
12:30it because he has no trade clause.
12:32I think that they started going back to Joe Ryan two or three days before the deadline,
12:38and they came up without Joe Ryan, which they should have gotten Joe Ryan done, but they
12:43didn't.
12:44Yeah, and they didn't get anything done.
12:46I hate that I'm being logical about this.
12:48No, honestly, Stu, stop it.
12:50That's not allowed on this program.
12:52We can't be doing that.
12:53I don't like it.
12:54Makes me feel very uncomfortable.
12:55I feel yucky.
12:56No, I feel like I have the ick more so than usual today.
12:58I don't like it.
12:59Here's what I do like.
13:01I think the Red Sox, despite what happened on this road trip, they're a playoff team.
13:05They're two and a half games clear.
13:07They have 39 games remaining.
13:09Only 16 of those 39 games are against teams in the playoff race.
13:14The schedule is weak.
13:15Only seven of those games against playoff teams or teams in the playoff race are on
13:19the road, which is good because they can't play on the road.
13:22I mean, they're great at home.
13:23Can't play on the road.
13:25They're fine.
13:26They'll be okay.
13:27Mark wants them to be more than okay.
13:29I don't fault you if you're feeling that way.
13:30One bit as a Red Sox fan.
13:32They're not perfect.
13:33I get that.
13:34I understand that.
13:35But they're good enough.
13:36I think in some ways, my biggest concern might be the manager based on what happened again
13:43last night.
13:44I'm starting to think the manager might be a little bit unhinged, might be a little out of
13:49control right now.
13:49Don't you?
13:50You're in the parents.
13:51Don't you?
13:52Don't you?
13:54Don't you?
13:55I'm in the parents.
13:56I already know.
13:56Don't you?
13:57Don't you?
13:59Yeah.
14:00Don't you?
14:01Don't you?
14:06I just don't like the manager, not the manager.
14:09Don't you?
14:13Sit down here.
14:15Now don't you?
14:16Maybe maybe a companion, if you don't help me, let's call me you, oh, you
14:17listen, yeah.
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