13 WS Champion, current WEEI analyst Will 'Brooksy' Middlebrooks! Why are the #Redsox so up and down so far this season?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00on Boylston Street. And Will Middlebrooks is here early. Good morning, Brooksy.
00:04Good morning. I did leave early because you never know.
00:08Yeah. And by the way, it sounds like a judgment zone, to be honest.
00:12It's unfair to Wiggy. I mean, he lets himself go.
00:15It doesn't bother me.
00:15He lets himself have some fun today.
00:16He didn't even flinch. I watched her.
00:18No, no, no, no. It's like, you know, what do they say in sports? You just got to move on.
00:23Tough skin.
00:24Yeah, that's it.
00:24I mean, Wiggy basically took liberties and created Brooksy. Is that okay with you?
00:31That's what I was called when I played.
00:32Okay, so that's fine.
00:34Game one of spring training, Will Fleming and I declared that.
00:38Okay.
00:38So it was just because he was there first. Will squared's a little weird.
00:43And then every time someone says Will, we both turn around.
00:46So I'm still trying to default to Brooksy. I'm working on it.
00:49Shyam, what did you want to tell him? He's doing a great job.
00:52Yeah, he did a great job yesterday.
00:53I thought your breakdown of the Kelly implosion in the seventh inning was very well done.
00:59Yeah, I didn't want to bring that up today.
01:01It was a new day today. I wanted to start fresh.
01:03But yeah, that was, I mean, if we're going to get into it, that was an ugly loss.
01:06I guess a really bad team.
01:07They should sweep these guys.
01:08It's like a Jekyll and Hyde, though, for them.
01:10Yeah, it is. It's hot and cold. There's really no room temperature whatsoever.
01:13They're really, really good.
01:14And we're like, oh, this is who they're supposed to be.
01:16And they do it for four or five days in a row.
01:18And then they'll pull out one like yesterday.
01:20But what is that from your mind?
01:21If I have the answer, I think I would already have told them.
01:24You'd be managing? You'd be Alex Gora?
01:26No.
01:26See, you're trying to put me on a tee right now.
01:28Smoked me in the fairway already.
01:30I just got it. I haven't even had coffee yet.
01:31You think it's the manager? No, I don't.
01:33I think it's, there's a lot of different variables.
01:35I mean, yesterday was a trickle-down effect.
01:38So if you look at the first game where Weiser came in, who Weiser's been really good.
01:42He gives up the homer to Robert, which sends the extra innings.
01:45Then we have to go to Garrett Whitlock in the 10th.
01:48He probably would have thrown two innings yesterday had he not thrown in the first game.
01:51So it's like the domino effect of trying to space out your best guys.
01:55And then one thing goes wrong in the first game.
01:58You have to turn to that guy because you don't want to lose that game,
02:00which he came in, did a good job, did a job.
02:02But then he couldn't pitch yesterday.
02:04And you go to Zach Kelly and you saw what happened.
02:07You give Tana one more inning then if he's rolling like that, maybe?
02:10I don't think so.
02:11Not that pitch count.
02:12And I thought he needed to bounce back out.
02:14He needed some confidence.
02:16And let's say you send him back out to face those guys a third time through.
02:20Who knows what happens?
02:21And then that snowball effect just mentally of coming off a terrible start,
02:26having another bad start.
02:28You have to build these guys up for the 162.
02:31When it comes to the offense struggling,
02:33we talked a little bit with Craig Breslow about this.
02:36And he brought up not being prepared coming out of spring training
02:43and then kind of backed down and flipped it and said he felt like they were prepared coming out.
02:50Is that just because every excuse in the book has been utilized,
02:55whether it's the cold weather here.
02:57What's the issue when it comes to some of these guys struggling offensively?
03:03Well, I mean, you have to break it down individually.
03:05It's not one cookie-cutter thing for every guy.
03:07Every guy's got – Tristan Costas, I think, is probably the main guy right now I'm worried about the most
03:11just because his power potential is his ability to hit 30 homers.
03:13And at the first-base position, you're not getting much of that at all.
03:18He had the walk-off hit off the wall.
03:19It was great.
03:20And he had some at-bats over the last, like, week where you're like, okay, he's close.
03:24But then he just – it's not turning that page.
03:27It's not getting over that hill.
03:29Let's knock that down.
03:30Yeah.
03:30But what I think with him is he is a naturally passive hitter, which is okay.
03:37But if they want him to be aggressive, they're telling him, hey,
03:39why don't you just swing early in counts?
03:40Because that's when he's getting his best pitch to hit.
03:42You see him take breaking balls down the middle first pitch.
03:45That might be the best thing he gets to hit that entire bat.
03:47So they're trying to make him more aggressive, and I think he's uncomfortable doing that.
03:50And that's what it looks like.
03:51So he's trying to become that guy where he's aggressive.
03:53You're seeing a lot of swings early in counts because he's pushing that.
03:56He's trying to be that guy.
03:58It's just I think he's uncomfortable doing that, and it's going to take a little bit of time.
04:01Wiggy has this theory it's an overall league thing where guys are swinging for the fences.
04:07Of course.
04:07It would be the best thing.
04:08That's the analytical thing is, like, look at the Red Sox.
04:11When they win games, they hit homers.
04:12Look at every team around baseball.
04:14If they out-homer their opponent, they win.
04:16That's just the game.
04:17And it's hard to string together five, six hits an inning when guys are throwing 100.
04:21The days, I feel like the days of, like, the Tony Gwynns who's trying to put the ball in play,
04:26opposite field, looking for the gaps.
04:28I feel like those days are over where it's, you know, guys are swinging for the fences.
04:34And, you know, even with pitches, they're just trying to mow down guys rather than, like,
04:38you'll get paint on and stuff like that.
04:40And then back control.
04:42And the old school way of baseball, yeah, it's gone.
04:45When it comes to issues defensively, though, like, Bregman has had a bit of an error problem.
04:50And I know it's early in the season.
04:51He's on a new team.
04:52But is that something that they should be worried about?
04:55I don't think so.
04:55Especially because there's been so much buildup.
04:57I don't think so.
04:58I think part of your job as a first baseman, too, there's some of those balls that should have been caught at first base.
05:04And even if you look at Trevor Story, he's worn, like, three errors that he should – one was a pop-up.
05:08He lost in the sky.
05:09He dove for it and missed it on that left field.
05:12Christian Campbell gave him a bad feed.
05:14He had to, like, bare-handed and try to throw it to first.
05:16They didn't pick it up.
05:17And then two days ago, Costas had that double play ball where he should have caught it and just went to second base on the inside where he had a lane to throw.
05:25Tagged the bag instead.
05:27And at that point, as a right-handed first baseman, you have no lane to throw to the baseball.
05:31There's a base runner in front of you.
05:32Wide throw.
05:33Tries to make a play.
05:33Throw the tag down.
05:34The ball rolls out of his gloves.
05:35The runner moves up.
05:36So, he's worn errors that – I think Trevor Story is one of the best shortstops in baseball.
05:41But you look at the errors, the errors don't always tell the full story.
05:43But Bregman, as far as Bregman goes, I thought there was a throwing – there were some throw issues, maybe even starting in spring training, just throwing the ball low.
05:52So, we started looking at the metrics.
05:54I know you hate that, right?
05:55You hate that.
05:56But that's baseball.
05:56I love him all day.
05:57But that's baseball now.
05:58And if you don't evolve, you just kind of get lost in it.
06:00So, it's like he's getting to so many more balls than we haven't even seen third baseman in Boston get to in a long time.
06:07Since Will was there.
06:08Yeah, probably not.
06:09But I was all right defensively.
06:12I was good at it.
06:13I was like, Greg, get the plate.
06:16I wanted to shot you.
06:17That was shot at me.
06:18It's fine.
06:20I'm used to it.
06:21I'm used to it.
06:22To your original question, I think there's no worries with Bregman.
06:25I still think he's a goal goal third baseman.
06:27He's made some errors.
06:28I'd say two or three throws that probably should have been caught at first base.
06:31That's part of the job at first base.
06:33It feels like this all goes back to Casas at the plate and at first base.
06:37Right now, he's having a tough time.
06:39And so, as somebody that played that position, I mean, we all know baseball players, you know, the judgment of the official scorer is put into question.
06:49If the guys on the infield feel like they're getting errors because Casas can't pick them up, and then he's not picking you up at the plate.
06:56I mean, I heard Lou on Nesson right after the walk-off saying, you know, maybe this is Casas' shot to catapult himself back in.
07:03And it just feels like he's just uncomfortable.
07:08You hate him, though.
07:09I don't hate anything.
07:11I hate the fact that people say that they're –
07:13It's a strong word.
07:14Right.
07:15Strongly dislike.
07:16I hate some people.
07:17They're struggling on one side of the ball.
07:19A lot of times it bleeds over onto the other side, unless you're elite.
07:21It's just hard for you to separate the two.
07:23So, it's just a confidence thing.
07:25That's in any sports, in any job.
07:26If you have a couple bad shows in here doing your show, you probably don't feel great about yourself.
07:30Yeah.
07:30I mean, is it a –
07:31It's off-market, too.
07:32Is it like a yoga thing?
07:33Is he not – like, does he need to adjust the yoga routine?
07:36I stay out of the personal routine, right?
07:38Yes.
07:38I just think –
07:40What was the strangest routine of a guy that you played with?
07:42Oh, jeez.
07:43Or yourself?
07:43Well, when I played, it wasn't – you weren't really allowed to be like that.
07:47Yeah, no, no.
07:47You kind of had to – you would get –
07:49That's society in general.
07:50I take it up in a closet somewhere.
07:52But that's just the difference in the eras of baseball.
07:55Wasn't a lot of fingernail painting?
07:56I sound like an old head saying that.
07:56I'm 36.
07:57But baseball has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
08:00Yeah.
08:00Because I like it.
08:01I like that he's different.
08:02I'm fine with it.
08:03Look, be you.
08:04Do what makes you happy.
08:05And if it doesn't hurt anybody else in the locker room, who cares?
08:09Yeah.
08:09The problem is – and you know this – in this city, if you want to do all that stuff, you also have to be –
08:15you have to be producing.
08:17Yeah.
08:17Well, then – because, yeah, all of a sudden, those are the reasons you're not producing.
08:20Yeah.
08:21Right.
08:21Yeah.
08:21I get it.
08:22Right.
08:22If Greg didn't have a Marconi, we'd give him crap about the Peyton Pritchard sweatshirt.
08:25I mean, isn't this nice?
08:27I mean, really.
08:28Pritch, please.
08:29I mean, it's almost too cool.
08:30I got the full pitch, please, in the back.
08:33There you go.
08:33All right.
08:34You're here for a little bit?
08:35Yeah.
08:35All right.
08:36We're going to take a quick break.
08:37We are with Will Middlebrooks.
08:38When we come back, this particular day has significance for you and the guys on that 2013 team.
08:48You posted about it yesterday, so I want to talk to you a little bit about that and more on Marathon Monday at the Capitol Grill at WEI.