Wicked Sports Weekend

John Tomasi joins us at this time every week to talk about baseball, and it's been a great few weeks to talk to John Tabassi. Sir, I must ask you, did you please tell me you did watch the rest of that game last night? Did you watch the whole thing? Did you get it to the end? Please say yes. You know what, so I was going to ask, this is how I was going to start. I was going to ask you the exact same thing. And yes, I did. And for you. God, I am tired, but it does not matter. So worth it, though, right? I mean, you were allowed to lose that game. You'd won seven in a row. You're on this incredible run. The White Sox are a good team this year. You were allowed to lose that game. They gave you how many tens of they came back five times before they won it? And they still, I've never seen anything like this. To be as bad as they were to as good as they are now. I'm literally flabbergasted. And yet, like a little tiny part of me was almost expecting it to happen like that yesterday. Every time they got down, I was like, yeah, but maybe not. Maybe they'll come back. I mean, they were down in the ninth. They were down in the 10th. They were down in the 11th. They were down in the 12th, and they came back for every one of those. And frankly, even earlier in the game, right? They got down right out of the gate. They came back. They tied it a little bit late. I mean, it's just I don't even know what to say about this. And Caleb Dick Durbin, again, to win the game. Do you remember, sir, when we signed that guy, you and I had a text message exchange about it, and I didn't know anything really about him. I didn't really heard too much about him. I looked up his stats, and I thought they were like interesting, but didn't know too much about it. And I think, you know, you weren't exactly excited about the pickup either. And, you know, we weren't really sure what to expect out of him. But he might be my favorite guy on the team right now. I said he was a shrimp, I believe. If I recall correctly. And I did, I did say to you, be careful about talking about that about sort of short D3 level baseball players. I remember. You may be related to one. Yes. So what I would say is I'm not ready to say that letting Bregman go was the right move, but I am 100% ready to say that Breslo nailed this one. I mean, he did. And, you know, the numbers. between him and bregman are pretty much the same you did lose leadership i think postseason experience that bregman had will still matter but my god you look at bregman or Dick Durbin during this stretch 31 and 5 He's hitting 3-10. He's got six homers. He's got like a 900 OPS. He's playing gold glove defense. And he has suddenly become the guy that you won up in a big situation. And I don't think any of it. Even like a month and a half ago, no one would have said that. And he has just completely turned it on. And it's funny, you need to give these things a whole season.

the moves that Bresla made this winter, as bad as they looked early in the year, it's like hit after hit after hit. And last year was really the same thing, you know, the moves they made then as well. So I don't think we're going to be talking about the future anymore of the GM. No, I don't think so. I think he's clearly just fine now. But, you know, is there something to... I mean, when you bring in those kinds of guys, right, like they're in a new environment and they, you know, they have to gel as a team and get used to each other and figure each other out and the personality has to develop. I wonder how much of that is the explainer for, frankly, both of the last two years, where these guys have to sort of settle in in some kind of way and then find out who they are. And then as they get comfortable with it. suddenly they start playing a lot better. I remember a conversation with you like two months ago where, you know, you and I both pointed out that they had a truly amazing pitching staff and that they were playing excellent defense and that the hitting was extremely underwhelming, right? But if they ever got the hitting going a little bit and you married it with the pitching and defense, well, that's a hell of a team, right? Well, it happened. Yeah, the problem is they had dug themselves such a huge hole. It's one thing to say, okay, guys need to get acclimated to Boston. It's another to say they have the worst record in baseball or the second worst record of baseball, whatever it was at the worst. But even now you look at it and you say, Okay, the offense has clearly clicked. You know, I love, by the way, last night, one home run. Connor Wong hit the early home run to get them back in that game and it was for nothing. But otherwise, there was just a bunch of singles and doubles and sacrifice flies and relentlessness. But you look at last night's lineup and you say, you know, Nick Sogard leading off playing first base. Like what is going on? Dick Durbin, batting cleanup, Yoshida has been one of your more productive guys in the middle of that. lineup. Andrew Monasterio. You just go down this lineup and you say, how is this lineup the one that's unbeatable? But you talk about the sum being greater or the whole being greater than some of the parts, whatever it is. This team embodies that right now. It does. And it's also, I mean, maybe to be sober and rational for a minute, like, you know, they are probably playing above themselves right now, and they were playing below themselves before. So the reality is probably somewhere in between. But like, Monasterio, you bring him up. I mean, what a joy to watch that guy. I mean, he's on a fantastic tear right now. And he's super clutch. And every time you need a big hit, it seems like he's coming up with one. And he's playing some pretty good defense. I mean, I wonder what happens when Trevor Story, who is one of the new. one of the people who is injured obviously right now who might actually realistically be coming back this year. You know, do you really take that guy out and say, here, Trevor, you know, it's all you again? Like, do you really do that with how well he's been playing?

No. Good for you. Good for you for saying that. Why mess with it? Why mess with it? Now, I do think as Anthony Siegler has been a good stopgap, I do still think there's an opening at second base. And stories range had been so limited at short that I'm not moving him. And just honestly, you said it, like the wallball single or double that he had in that stringing. last night at the moment when that game was like, okay, now they can lose. My draft hits his second home run of the game, a guy the Red Sox traded. He's pumped. The White Sox are pumped. All right, you're going to lose one. Here it is. And Monasterio really gives you the hit that extends that whole game and allows Dick Durbin to be the hero later. Anyway, I'm with you. The guy has been a revelation. And that's another one, you know. You didn't expect it. Under the radar, you know, pick up that. in the same deal with Dick Durbin. So it's, you know, it's just kind of, or actually, no, he was in the, was he, yeah, he was in the Dick Durbin. I think he was, yeah. And Siegler, all three of those guys are in that deal. So it's actually, you know, another score, another one for Breslo. Yeah, that guys. Probably having a fun couple months, right? Going from being fired to probably be in one of the safer GMs in baseball right now. Oh, can I jump in with one thing real quick? Yeah, of course. I can be negative for one step. Yeah, sure. You know what I don't love? You know what I don't love? Here we go. Oh, suddenly John Henry is on the broadcast. Like the guy who you never see him at Fenway. Dude, he's down sitting with the people. He was, he's out. He was like down in the stands. Yeah. Front runner. Front runner. That is, that kind of turns my stomach. But, you know, it is the way of the world. Well, John, may I push back gently on you on that one, though? I mean, to be perfectly frank, you were talking about a guy who took a franchise that had not won anything in 86 years and has given you... four World Series titles, right? So a rather successful track record, right? That's history, pal. Okay. But then you, you know, you talk about his philosophy and building the team and hiring the GMs and being a bean counter and analytics guy or whatever and how stupid and annoying it is and whatever else. And yet it's working pretty well this year. I mean, like, okay. Well, I'm not, I'm not granting him the last seven years of nothingness. All I'm saying is that this guy is nowhere to be seen when things are bad. And maybe. you would want some accountability from your ownership group. But now they have a good month and suddenly, oh, he's in his booth and he's appearing on the Nesson broadcast. And I will stick with it. Frontrunner. Would you go down in the stands when you're at the historic losing side of this season? I mean, like when you were at the lowest of the low, what do you think would happen if you were down at the stance? Oh, I'm not saying he needed to go like throw himself from the mercy of the crowd or anything like that. A little Roman Coliseum. Show your face. Yeah, exactly. But now all of a sudden, and he's talking a little bit again. He gave a one word answer to a reporter the other day. But anyway, be that as it may. This is an incredibly exciting.

Red Sox team. It is. Okay, so John Tomasi, the other thing I want to ask you about, obviously, is the trade deadline. We had some, you know, late speculation about, you know, trades that we were going to make that didn't happen. We did not get Mr. Ditto at shortstop, which I'm fine with, actually, totally fine with. Adley Rutchman, though. is not something I really expected to be even a possibility. Seeing those in-division trades is pretty rare, especially when it's a guy like Ruchman that the Orioles, you know, they drafted that kid. He was supposed to be like the next great thing for them. He was well regarded there. He's an excellent defensive catcher. He's obviously a good offensive player. He's struggled with injuries a little bit this year, obviously. But that's not something I expected. And you did have to give up quite a bit to... To get him, your reaction to the trade, John Tomassi. Yeah, I mean, my reaction was, whoa, first of all, you know, that they would acquire a guy with that name. Now, Rushman's career trajectory hasn't been amazing. His best season was his rookie year, and he's gotten progressively worse since. But you were still talking about a guy when he's healthy and he's been hurt three times this year. So, you know, he's not a perfect player. But when he's healthy, he gets Veritech comparisons because he's a great defensive catcher. He's considered a really legitimate leader of not just a staff, but a team. He's a switch hitter with power. So you have a lot of that stuff baked in. I was just so happy to see them. To me, this is a repudiation of their approach of the last seven years that we were talking about, where it was always building for the future. It was never about today. Today was never more valuable than tomorrow. And finally they said, you know what, Effett, we are pushing some chips in. And they traded legit prospects, three of their top five, their best pitching prospect, a consensus like, top 25, top 30 guy in the game. And Anthony Iison, they pushed all of that into the middle and said, we are going for it. And I am here for it because this is what the Red Sox are supposed to be. And you know what? Maybe there's a little bit of arrogance here on Breslo's part, but he in a very short amount of time has shown the ability to draft and develop pitchers or to take the pitchers who are already here and make them better. So I think there's a part of him that says, I can trade our top two pitching prospects because I'm going to go find two guys. just like them next year. Anyway, I love that. I love what it represents. And I just hope that Rutchman gets healthy. You know, they just a few years ago with Kyle Schwerber. And we all said, why are you trading for a guy who's hurt? And he ended up being all the difference in a team that went to the ALCS. You want to hope that Ruchman can have a similar impact this year. And of course, one of the other trades that took place was the dumping of Marcelo Meyer, who when he was drafted, I will admit, I was super excited, loved the idea of the kid, you know, thought he was going to be, you know, the future. And he was, of course, you know, one of the big three future, you know, tent pole cornerstones of the franchise, struggled when he was given the opportunities. I don't think that it's fair to say like he's not what we thought he was yet or like that he's a failure or anything like that.

but it didn't really work out all that much in Boston, and they shipped him off for a lefty reliever, who I do actually like. I think his personality is very, I think it'll fit just nicely in Boston. I think he's got some of that dog in him, which I like a lot. But that's a lot to give up, or at least it used to be a lot to give up for a relieving arm like that. I mean, that's a little shocking compared to what they were demanding for Meyer, you know, say like a year ago, if they were going to maybe making a trade. Your reaction to that one? Didn't like that one. Didn't like that one. I'm being a little inconsistent here and where I'm saying I'm glad they're repudiating the whole. I mean, the big three, look where they are now. You know, Roman Anthony's swinging off a T. Myers gone. Kyle Teal's hitting a buck 90. Even Christian Campbell, you know, is that AAA and it's been there for more than a year. That said, I think they gave up on him too quickly. And there were certainly plenty of rumors that maybe he was a kind of a mopee presence and not a good influence on Anthony. And I say, come on, like, you needed to give him a chance to have a healthy stretch of the big leagues to tell you what he is. Because to me, we still don't know what he is. If you believe he's just injury prone, he's never going to be healthy, and that's that, I guess I can defend the trade. but I really feel like they dumped him too quickly. And Eric Miller, he's big, he throws hard, lots of strikeouts, but he walks a lot of guys. And that makes you nervous. I don't know that I'm interested in watching. He sounds like Felger and Mazz now. That was their first reaction to this. They just were griping about the walks. Honestly, honestly, I did not even hear that. Yeah, that's what they said. Not that it's wrong. It's not wrong. I mean, he does walk a lot of guys. But he's also, he's just such a, he's a monster. I love it. I love it. Dude, that's fine. But this isn't even about him. You traded the fourth pick in the draft who a couple years ago was a consensus like top five prospect in baseball for a middle reliever and you never gave him a chance to show what he is. I do think they are going to regret that one. Well, maybe they think, I mean, this is just speculation, but maybe they think that they did give him a chance and it just wasn't going to work. And I don't know. I mean, like I don't get in on that whole rumor mill about him and. Roman Anthony and him being a bad influence and all that kind of stuff too much. But, I mean, I can see it. I mean, he's a young guy. He seems to be pretty chill and laid back. Like, I don't know if he's got that fire in him. It's very California, the kid is. And this personality of this Boston Red Sox team is a little bit different than that. So maybe it just doesn't gel. And maybe they thought that they did try him out and it didn't work. And so screw it, cut bait. I mean, that is baseball, right? I mean, how many number one picks in the draft have turned into nothing? absolutely nothing and how many Hall of Famers were drafted in the 20th round of whatever. I mean, it's not football. It's not basketball in that respect. Yeah, and how many guys I would just push back? How many guys start their career with one or two bad years where you say bust, and then by year five, they're all-stars, you know? Okay, fine, but how many people started like that and then turned into- Going to be an all-star? But they just, to me, they didn't give him enough of it. He was always hurt, so he never had enough of a chance to show what he was. And if you think that it was off-field stuff, because we know that Alex Cora was not a fan of him, if you think that it's that.

He can't mature. He's still a kid. So I just, I think they dumped and sold low on Marcel Omeyer. Listen to you, Pearl clutching over a prospect. Listen to you. This is the kind of guy you wanted to dump. I told you. He was an exception. He was an exception to me. I do love razzing you about it. I need to be a, I can't just be, you know, trade off. all the prospects. No, I'm allowed to pick one or two that I thought they gave up on two. I suppose so. But you did love Dave Dombrovsky who put all of the prospects on the table and threw them all away. So I would be remiss if I didn't point it out, Mr. Tomazer. I would be remiss. Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of Dombo when he was here. It's only after he left and the team was irrelevant for seven years. It sort of, I finally came around. Well, that's fair. Appreciate it as always, sir. Hopefully we have just as much positive, happy good news to talk about next Friday. We will chat then. sir appreciate it