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00:00We're joined by Rob Bradford of WEEI and the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast.
00:05He's brought to you by McFarland Energy, the heating, cooling, and bioheat delivery pros
00:09that Eastern Mass and all of Cape Cod depend on at McFarlandEnergy.com, by the E.L. Harvey
00:15Companies, including Nauset Disposal and Mega Disposal, your local trash collection and
00:20recycling providers, and by Aviva Trattoria, Italian-inspired, locally made from fresh,
00:26whole, locally sourced ingredients. Bradford, what's up?
00:30Man, I didn't know I was so popular. I was going to yell McFarland, but I didn't start
00:34yelling all these other things, too. But we'll start with McFarland. McFarland, my friend,
00:39how are you?
00:40McFarland to you, Rob. McFarland to you.
00:42Very popular, man. Sales goes crazy for Bradford.
00:45I really do.
00:47I think it was because I went viral trying to put my sunglasses on the other day.
00:53And so I think that might have put my... I think my brain has never been hotter because of that.
00:59So, Rob, I actually have my Team USA glasses. If you're watching on Twitch.tv,
01:02here's how you put them on. It's very simple. But yeah, what happened with that? If you haven't
01:07seen the viral video of Bradford struggling to put on his glasses, Karambis tweeted it out.
01:11You can check out Jared Karambis' timeline. What was going on there? Why can't you put
01:15on sunglasses?
01:16Well, I was standing in back of Trevor's story, and I knew the camera was on me,
01:20and so I'm blind. And unfortunately, I lost my regular glasses, so these...
01:26My sunglasses are the only glasses I can see out of, so I couldn't tell
01:30if my tape recorder was running. So I tried to put my sunglasses on,
01:35and I knew I was in that nesting shot. I knew it. I was like praying. I said,
01:39please don't say anything interesting. But sure enough, that's what pops up.
01:44And it's just a complete mess. But yeah, and I actually asked Trevor,
01:51before Spring Training ends, can we do a simulation where you stand there and I
01:55expertly put my sunglasses on in back of you? So yeah. Well, listen, again,
02:00my brain has never been harder.
02:02And you've been day-to-day since, and yet you're still grinding. So no time off,
02:06no I.L. stint?
02:08Nah, nah, nah. I mean, you put your eye out with sunglasses, you got to power through it.
02:14That's the first rule of Fight Club.
02:15I get it. I get it. So baseball isn't boring, and neither has this week for the Red Sox.
02:21How do you think Alex Cora is enjoying putting out the fires of Devers and Kassus so far?
02:29Well, I think that the Devers thing, they knew that was probably coming in some form or fashion.
02:36And that's actually what Cora says. I knew that I was going to go after Devers because
02:42we had met with him, and we knew he was going to be the no, no, no, no. Maybe he wasn't expecting
02:50how much do you weigh, saying 240. But everything else, they were sort of expecting. And I thought
02:56Cora did a really, really good job of sort of bobbing and weaving his way through that press
03:00conference. The Kassus thing, they were not expecting. And I think that was a little bit
03:05more exhausting for them because it's just like, really, really, really? We have to do this?
03:11And you juxtapose that against Alex Bregman talking outside the clubhouse,
03:16I think it was that same day. And it was just like him just expertly doing the veteran thing.
03:21I'll do it with Devers for the team, whatever is good. We just want to win. And you have Kassus,
03:27who's like, yeah, Bregman should play second. Devers should play third. All these rookies,
03:32they should start in the minors. And I said to the other providers, we missed such a great
03:38opportunity. We could have asked him about foreign policy. We could have asked him anything.
03:43Yeah. Oh, anything. He would have answered it.
03:46Oh, I mean, we totally missed that. We could have gone for another hour asking about
03:52climate problems and whatever it is. But that was good enough for that day. So anyway,
03:58yes, it's been exhausting. But it's not. For Cora, I think that he's pretty understanding that
04:04this is early in spring training. And it is what it is. And you guys, we probably talked about that.
04:10I've talked about it. This is how it used to be all the time. Like, we used to have this stuff
04:14all the time. And it's kind of refreshing his back. Yeah, no, I love it. I mean, for us,
04:19it's fantastic. Do you think the Red Sox put the clamps on them? Because if this was a Patriot
04:23player, we would never hear from this guy ever again. Whereas it is spring training. Like,
04:28there are different opportunities to talk. Do you think he'll be out there again sometime soon?
04:32Oh, Kassus? Yeah. Kassus? Yeah. Oh, yeah. He'll be out there. No, you can't stop him.
04:37You can't stop him. I talked to him today. He's already ready to do the wasabi challenge.
04:42And is there anything more controversial than the wasabi challenge? Let me tell you,
04:47I smoked the wasabi challenge when we did that last. Didn't even taste buds. You actually did.
04:53It was like you were an alien. I mean, it was like you had no taste buds. I didn't know even
04:58how you did it. But that'll be back. And I think that Kassus, you go back to last year.
05:06And I told Cora, I said, the best line, I can't remember whose show it was on. But when
05:11Cora was on last year with you guys, and it was after the Kassus had talked to Cotillo and myself.
05:19And he said, yeah, I'm fine. And then an hour later, he talked to Lars Sickles and said,
05:23there's a knife sticking through my chest. Right. And then so Cora comes on the radio.
05:28And he says, you can't be telling Robin the brand one thing and everybody else something else. And
05:34I'm like, thank you. That was the best line you had all time. But actually, I told him T-shirts
05:41are in the way, the brand. But he is, you know, this is sort of what they have to deal with Kassus.
05:50And I think that the biggest thing with Kassus and talking to guys, like I had a conversation
05:55with Von Grissom. And it was one of these guys who could impact it. Like you said, you have a guy,
06:02a teammate say that Brighton should play second base. And meanwhile, the guy who is trying to make
06:07the team and start at second base is sitting there right in the same locker room. And Grissom's like,
06:12no, it's all good. You know, we all know the deal. And everyone thinks it's chaotic, but it's not
06:18chaotic. And I think a large part of that is because it is the end of February. And they
06:23also know what Tristan Kassus is sort of, he's going to say what's on his mind. But I think
06:27really, it's not like he's a bad teammate. He just, he has no filter. Like it's good for us.
06:34Well, so good for us. So Rob, and maybe he's not a bad teammate, although I don't know,
06:39he's saying minor leaguers shouldn't be on the big league club. So I don't know how he's viewed.
06:42You would know better than me on that. But you use the word exhausting, no filter.
06:48Is Tristan Kassus a long term fit in Boston based on those sort of things he brings to the table,
06:54aside from his talent, how long term of a fit is he here?
06:59Really, Adam, like, I think that it comes back to it's a simplistic way of thinking,
07:03looking at it. But with Tristan Kassus, if you're good, then all this other stuff doesn't matter.
07:09But we have to find out how good he is. That's the problem. I mean, we do these shows.
07:14And I don't remember a more polarizing player in a long, long time. And when he's not playing,
07:21or he's not producing, everybody is is this guy, get him out of town. He's a distraction,
07:28all this stuff. But when he's good, he's entertaining, and he's wacky. And he's saying
07:34what's on his mind. And I just think from the organization's point of view, it really comes
07:39down to that. I think, listen, this guy still has options. I mean, this guy still has options.
07:45He could be sent down. He has to produce. I mean, there's no question that he has to produce.
07:50He knows that. They know that. But he has a little bit of a track record, a little bit of
07:55a track record, enough of a track record, you think he is going to be a good hitter for them.
08:00But he better be a good hitter, especially this year. Because if he isn't the answer,
08:05and he does go the way of Bobby Dallbeck, then all of a sudden, Vlad Guerrero,
08:10that conversation heats up in a hurry. Any legitimacy to my theory that Kassus
08:17is annoyed about being in trade rumors, is annoyed about all the Vlad Guerrero talk,
08:22that he took the Devers thing and said, all right, I'm just going to add
08:25gasoline to the fire and just kind of make it worse?
08:28Well, if you're going to go down that road, the way you look at it is you're talking about Devers
08:35potentially one of the places he might land is first base, right? So you could say Tristan Kassus
08:42doesn't want Rafael Devers to play first base. He wants to end that conversation.
08:47So that's what he's, the way to go that the route to go is, well, Devers plays third,
08:52I play first, Bregman plays second, all is right in the world. So if you want to sort of give the
08:58impetus for him doing something like that, because of his own deal, I think that's the biggest thing.
09:04I don't think the trade rumors have anything to do with it. I don't. I think that in another part
09:09of this, like bizarrely with Kassus saying this, I think he's trying to be a good teammate to Devers
09:15in a way like Devers is viewed as a popular guy in there. Devers is viewed as a gamer in there.
09:21Devers is understood like he can not have his great moments with the media and all of that,
09:28but still like they understand the importance of Rafael Devers. And I think that Tristan Kassus
09:33in his weird way was trying to sort of get behind him in that way. You mentioned this earlier,
09:38Cora was asked about it. Is Devers in shape? No, no, no. I mean, he was said 240. I mean,
09:46I don't know who, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's not, I couldn't tell you. I mean, this,
09:52the Pablo Sandoval, 19% will go down and in Red Sox history is the most
09:59ill-advised conditioning mention of all time, because 19% is pretty good.
10:06And Pablo Sandoval was not pretty good. Rafael Devers is, for him, not, this isn't in the type
10:16of shape that you would like to see him in. Is it Pablo Sandoval? Is it, you know, George Scott
10:23running around in a rubber suit? No, this is, I'm totally dating myself, by the way. I mean,
10:30I always, it used to be where you show up to spring training, you put in the rubber suit,
10:34smoke some cigarettes. The next thing you know, the season started. But, but, but no, I mean,
10:41I think right now he's a little bit heavier than he was certainly when playing last year. So,
10:49but we're, we haven't, I, you know, we haven't seen him play. Like we hear about him hitting,
10:56I don't think he's like crazy, crazy out of shape, because I think that's just what his body type is.
11:03But I would say this, you will, you will like to see him get in better shape as it goes on,
11:08particularly because this is a reality. This is a results business. You can say he's a big guy
11:13who hits the ball hard and he can function at that weight and everything else. But the last few years
11:19in August and September and in October, he hasn't been healthy. And I got to imagine that
11:26one leads to the other in some respect. So you can need this guy to get in better shape,
11:30to understand that dynamic, to get through a season. And I think, honestly, that's one of
11:34the things they're thinking about with DH besides breaking into better third baseman, is that we
11:39need this guy to get through a season. And the wear and tear playing third base is not going to
11:44be as conducive to that as maybe DHing, I don't know, 50% of the time. So ultimately, whose decision
11:51is it whether Devers plays third or not? Is it Cora? Is it Breslow? Is it somehow Devers? Like
11:56whose, whose decision is it? Well, according to Devers, it's Devers. Although we, we couldn't
12:03quite do that math. I mean, I'm not a math major, but science would suggest that the player doesn't
12:09have that. And as someone said to me, I've never seen a player retire after switching positions.
12:16So we can say no, no, no, no. It's so bizarre. And well, what are you going to do? I don't know.
12:24I'm a third baseman. So to answer your question, I think it's Al's Cora's decision. And, you know,
12:30I think the front office weighs in, obviously. And I think the front office already has
12:34that they're, they're, they're leaning towards something because you hear what they say,
12:39you hear what Breslow said, that it's our responsibility to put the best team on the
12:44field that we possibly can. And the best team defensively is undeniably Alex Bregman playing
12:50third. So, but I think that at the end of the day, they're going to defer to Cora and Cora's
12:54also going to be the one that has to manage the situation. So yeah, you know, I do think it's
12:58going to be Cora. Real quick. I know you got to run, give us a name here. Who's your opening
13:02day third baseman? Who's the Red Sox opening day third baseman? I think it'll be Bregman. Nice.
13:10Good. And part, and part, and part of it, part of it is they can slow play the Devers, you know,
13:15the whatever is his shoulder. And, and, and also you have a couple of guys who are intriguing
13:22second, which you can't ignore. Juan Christens looks really different player. He looked like
13:26a different player who looks good. And Christian Campbell, obviously everybody loves him. So yeah.
13:32Yeah. I mean, and Bregman's today back at third, I think he's been bouncing back and forth from
13:37second or third. But this is another reason why you should listen to the Red Sox broadcast every
13:42single day. Well, any day, any day other than when you're not listening to you guys.
13:47Great point. We'll put it, we'll put it, we'll put it on demand so you can go to sleep listening
13:52to me talk about big number 97 coming in in the seventh inning. Well, you can hear it here on
13:58all over the odyssey app as well. That's also where you can find the baseball isn't boring
14:03podcast. Check that out from Brad Foe. He joins us every Thursday here on Jones and Keefe. Rob,
14:07we appreciate it. Thanks so much. And by the way, trace Thompson, my random Red Sox of the day,
14:12brother of clay Thompson, he's in camp. So yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Good basketball. He talked about
14:19how he took an Uber from Worcester to go party till five o'clock in the morning on June 16th,
14:242022 after the Warriors won. I mean, that's what spring training is all about.
14:29That's a good nugget right there. Okay. Brad, I appreciate that. All right. See you guys.
14:34You know, what's going to happen is Bregman. If, if Bregman starts the season at third,
14:39it's going to be because Devers is like on IL like Devers is like not, not healthy enough.
14:44And it's gonna be like, all right, he's not even even in the lineup. And then he's playing third
14:47base. Like the, not a great start. No, you're complaining about having to move positions,
14:51but you're not even healthy enough to play. And you're not in shape. How about that? Awesome.
14:54Is he in shape? Nope. Who's your third baseman? Who's the third baseman Bregman.
14:59Great. So good stuff there from Brad.