Now baseball fans, this hour belongs to you. To you. To you. To you. To you. Yay, whoop-dee-doo. The Baseball Hour with Tony Mass. Bring the bat. The Baseball Hour is brought to you by Jackson Lumber, findmassmoney.gov, Golf and Blue Moon, Belchamite. Now Tony Mass on the Sports Hub. And it's a pattern you hate to see repeated. Yeah. No, that's what's driving people nuts too. Well, it's... you know, extra innings on the road. Defensive miscues. Strikeouts piling up. If it was something different than what we saw last year, you'd say, okay, it's just a different year, but... Yeah. It's like rinse and repeat. You mentioned a weird play last night. We didn't even catch it. Strike two on the swing and miss on the stone base. Right. Double error, another run scored. And to be honest with you, we're sitting there trying to figure out what we're watching, what's going on right now. We missed the fact that... So much happened. Strike three. Nobody saw it, but... How does Bayeau and the catcher miss it, though? That part is a little troubling. Or, you know, somebody on the bench... Well, I get it, but to be honest with you, they're probably thinking the same thing. Like, what was... What's going on? But if I'm a hitter and I got ball four and the umpire says three, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. That's four. All right, short show tonight on the Baseball Hour. We turn it over at 6.30 to Bruins pregame. I'm Ryan Johnson, Bob Beers, into the Bruins against the Panthers, right here on 98.5, the Sports Hub, which means if you want to talk baseball on the eve of the home opener, now is the time to do it. You have about 25 minutes. You know the numbers, so I'm not going to waste the time. But I do want to ask you a big picture question as we begin tonight on the show. Because I've been thinking more and more about this in the last, call it, 24 hours. Let me ask you simply and succinctly. What are the Red Sox? And I don't mean the 2026 Red Sox. What kind of organization is the Boston Red Sox? How do they want to play? What do they want to be? What is... When you say Red Sox baseball, they're going to play Red Sox baseball. What comes to mind? Because I know what comes to mind to me or has come to mind for me over the course of my lifetime here, watching the team. And I'm asking this today because it's something Lou Merlone just said in that conversation with Dave O'Brien that we played yesterday or that we played from yesterday's game. Where Merlone says, you know, I think part of the reason people are frustrated is the same thing every year, extruding losses, strikeouts are piling up, bad defense. So what are they? More importantly, what do they want to be? Because I said something yesterday about those mid-market and small-market teams in places like Minnesota, Kansas City. They preach fundamentals. They drill it into the heads of their players in the minor leagues because they know they don't have the money and so they have to excel at the little things to win. And I mean to preach here to give you some sort of lecture on what it is. But this is what I'm getting at. When this ownership group bought the Red Sox, their first season was 1992. The roster was built. I think the transition of ownership actually took place. I want to say on like the first day of spring training, Jimmy Stewart, if I remember correctly. And then the first thing they did was they basically fired Joe Carraghan and Dan Duquette. Those are the first two things that happened in their camp. But the roster was built. The team that year won 93 games. They missed the playoffs, but they won 93 games. The wildcard team that year was Anaheim, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at the time the Anaheim Angels. They won 99 games to win the wildcard, then they went on to win the World Series. But here's what I'm getting at. In the first call, like 10 years of the ownership of the Red Sox, you know what their win totals were? 93, 95, 98, 95, 86. That was in 2006. That was a quote unquote bridge year. Then 96, 95, 95, 89, 90. And the 90 and 72 team was the team that collapsed in 2011. Since that time, 69, 97, 71, 78. And then from 2016 to 18, 93, 93, 108. Do you realize that since that time, since 2019, when they won 84 games and were a huge disappointment, which that was a 24-win drop, since that time, do you realize the Red Sox have not had consecutive winning seasons? They have not had two years in a row where they have finished with a winning record. Two. The first 10 years, they were winning 95 every year. Now they can't string two in a row together. But again, so that's one thing. They've become losers. They have become losers. Secondly, in terms of stylistically, I would tell you that if you said to me, Red Sox baseball, what does it mean? I would say for the large majority of my existence, they had a team that would hit and hit you hard in this ballpark, but that they would hit overall. And if their pitching was any good, they would be championship caliber. Almost always, almost always, 80% of the time maybe. During my lifetime, the Red Sox have had what I would call something close to a championship caliber lineup. Now they don't. So again, if I ask you, what is the identity of the organization? Because year to year now, you know what it is? Roll the dice and see what you got. Who knows what the hell's going to happen? Could be good, could be bad. They don't build it with the same type of intensity or championship in mind. The position of roster is suffered. And I'll tell you this now that one of the real worrisome parts about the start of this season is that Marcello, Maya, Roman, Anthony, these guys are supposed to be part of your nucleus. So the rebuild took forever. Now they're here. And I would say the only guy that we can look at and say for sure among the guys they developed in their farm system that are going to be or that is going to be a real cornerstone is Roman Anthony. I believe in his ability. I think he's legit. And you know what? I like a brain, but I wouldn't necessarily call him the kind of talent that Roman Anthony is and he might have a terrific year this year. He's up to a great start. The pitchers, I think are going to be pretty good, but it's totally flipped. Now they're focused more in the pitching. They've had some success with that. But in the interim, they can't get them both right. So I just, I don't know what they are. And if you tell me now, why are you talking about this when it's a sixth game of the year? I would tell you because this is where they've brought us. They're one and five. They've lost five straight. They're striking out like crazy. It's the same crap that it was a year ago. It's the same crap. And where's the help going to come from? You're not getting hitters in the minor leagues this year. Roman Anthony is not coming up. He's already here. You're not getting the right handed bat anytime before the trade deadline. And if you're holding your breath on that one, good luck. So they could have had a middle of the lineup this year with Raphael Devers, Alex Bregman and Roman Anthony. Anthony's the only one left. And now with the way Alex Cora is talking, I think there's a leadership problem on the team. You know, Jared Carrabbas said as much last night on the baseball hour, I have no idea what they are anymore. I'm not sure they know what they are anymore. In the minor leagues, are they teaching their guys to make contact, to play fundamental defense, to move runners, or are they interested in just getting them all to the major leagues? Are they just trying to increase the value of the stocks? Because that's what it feels like. I don't feel like there's any real clear identity to what the Red Sox are, who they want to become, how they want to play. I don't feel like there's any of that. Let's take some calls. Colin is in Boston on Caleb Durbin. Colin, what do you got? Hey, thanks for taking my call. So on the radio broadcast for the game a couple of games ago, they said that Durbin, going back to last year, was now over 30 something or other. Over 30, yep, he's over 30 going back to last season. And I mean, between him and Isaiah, kind of falafel, I just, to have that now when we had Bregman and Rafi, like last year, it's just incredibly disappointing. Okay, so again, the kind of philephic thing, people keep bringing him up, and I don't, I'll tell you why. Kind of philephic is the 25th guy. The 25th guy almost always sucks. So don't include kind of phileph in any of the analysis. The irritating parts that kind of philephic has gotten in the lineup a couple of times, the core of plays them. But the fact of the matter is, it should be Marcelo Meyer's job at second and Durbin's at third. The guy you should be worried about is Durbin. And not because of Durbin, because the Red Sox brought him into the starting third baseman, at a time when they don't have legitimate middle of the order bats. They've put the guy in a horrible position. It's not his fault that he can't hit. He's not going to hit home runs even if he does hit. That's not, that's not Caleb Durbin's fault. They tried to bring in a guy who had 11 home runs last year, and now they're trying to squeeze water from the stone, change his swing, get a better launch angle, have him hit at Fenway Park, and he might hit 17. That doesn't solve their problem either. Unless he all of a sudden turns to Cal Raleigh overnight and hits 50, he's not going to solve your problem even if he has a good year. He's not good enough. The fact that Durbin is here in a starting role is an indictment on their philosophy. It's not an indictment on Durbin. George, hand over. Go ahead, George. Hey, what's up, Mads? I just wanted to talk about Sonny Gray real quick. I know people are on him and understandably so because of that bad defensive play he had at home plate. I think that if he's right, he can help this team. In terms of heads up plays a couple of years ago in the playoffs, he had that great pickoff of, I believe it was, flagrero junior. George, I'm going to stop you there because again, the reason I don't like Sonny Gray has nothing to do with the play he botched the other day. The reason I don't like Sonny Gray, again, is not because of Sonny Gray, per se. It's because the Red Sox somehow think that he is, or want you to believe that he is better than what he is. Sonny Gray is a number three starter. He can stay healthy and you'll be okay in the middle of the rotation for a pretty good team. Do you want him pitching game two of the playoffs? And before you say to me, well, you got to get there first. I would tell you the Red Sox this year should have been aiming higher. So the question again is why did they target Sonny Gray when they needed a legit number two starter? Why didn't they target Joe Ryan and make an earnest effort to get him? And if a men trading to ran or a braille, then you got to make a decision. What do you think people are going to give you players for nothing? Yes. All of a sudden people want to help the Red Sox out? That's what it is. The fact is Craig Breslow is not bold enough. The organization doesn't want him to be bold. They want to protect every young player they have because young players are inexpensive for the first six years. And if you do sign them to a six year contract, it's only 140 million or whatever the number was on Roman Anthony. I think it was, what was the number on Roman Anthony, Jimmy? I believe it was 140, but it could get up to 250 or whatever. Okay. So again, with incentives, but you never ever problem paying that money when the guy's playing in his 20s. You know who just signed a deal like the one the Red Sox signed with Roman Anthony? Stu, you want to help out with that? Is it a certain shortstop that's debuting for the Pittsburgh Pirates tomorrow? It is. It would be Connor Griffin, his deal with the pirates nine years, 140 million dollars. So you understand what the message is here. The Red Sox now do the kinds of deals that the Pittsburgh Pirates do. They don't do the kind of deals anymore that the Chicago Cubs do, which is why Alex Bregman is playing in Chicago. And so surprise, surprise, you know what you have this year? The same thing. One in five, strike out like crazy, fumbling the ball all over the place. And the strikeout thing is another one. Yeah. What about the hitting coach? Trevor's story is in his 30s. You think all of a sudden you're going to make him a contact hitter or Wilson Contreras? You think you're going to make him a contact hitter at this stage of his career? Sharon Durand is almost 30. You think he's just going to all of a sudden turn into, I don't know, take your pick. No more gosh, you're a pirate, slap the ball all over the ballpark. You understand the team is what it is because of the way you built it. Those guys aren't all of a sudden going to start spraying the ball over the ballpark and making contact and turn into the Toronto Blue Jays. So I guess this is to get back to the original question. I guess this is what the Reds arcs want to be. They want to be an 86 win team that strikes out a crap ton, can play fundamentals and maybe or maybe not make the playoffs. I was hoping for something better. Warrior calls when we come back. You obviously don't want to overreact to the first six games of the season at the same time. Is it kind of a... It's our win series. Don't look at the whole picture. That's the way you come out of stuff like this. Just win series, right? We have the Padres, we have the Brewers. Win those two series home and then go on the road and do the same thing. It's April 1st, right? It's the first game of April. Win 17 games this month and you're going to be okay. That's Alex Cora after the last yesterday. And look again, I'll tell you this. I'll say this over and over again. By all means, the manager's job in this town is to win, as is the GMs and the owners and the players. The job is to win. So Alex Cora deserves some of the blame. No question about it. Absolutely. At the end of the day, though, baseball is a game that's about players. It is. It's not like football where the pieces are all tied together with a string and the coaching can get a 4 and 12 team to be a 10 and 7 team or 4 and 13 team to be a 10 and 7 team. Okay, with good coaching and everyone plays together, you can maximize the value of the group. In baseball, that's hard to do. But your owner and your GM have to be aligned. Everyone's going to be on the same page. I don't know if they are anymore over there. I don't know if they have been in a long time. I think some people want the team to be one thing. Other people want the team to be something else. And then Breslow himself at the beginning of the offseason said they needed a power hitter. Then they end up building a team on run prevention. What does that tell you that their plan failed? That they didn't have a backup plan and that they're flying by the seat of their pants and just trying to piece it together. And that at the end of the day, what is really most important is not signing anyone to a $300 million contract because they deem that to be too great a risk. So you know what you end up with? Instead of a $30 million player for 10 years, you get two $15 million players for one year. And the next year you'll get another two. You understand how that works? But the great players require big commitments, which the Red Sox don't want to make anymore. So they end up with Caleb Durbin. Jason's in a car. Jason, what do you got? Mads, you know, two things. The first thing the Red Sox management and ownership should be worried about is the fact the team is boring. I mean, it painfully boring. But my ethical question is to you, the one thing that's happened with the Red Sox, and this was before Breslow, and I don't know if this happens with other teams, but they seem to be so noncommittal to some of the younger players to play a certain specific position. They move by around, they phase a third base, but he could play short. They did it with Campbell. Okay, Jason, I'm going to let you go just because I have other people on the line. Folks, you got to be quicker in your points. You can't just go through every player in every position he's played. So here's what I'm going to tell you. I agree. And you know why that is? Because they suck defensively. Campbell sucks defensively. That is what everyone needs to accept. The reason why they move Campbell around is because he sucks defensively. And Roman Anthony, by the way, isn't exactly great defensively either. He's okay. Watch his throws. Marcelo Meyer can play defense. Indisputable. He can play defense. Second, third, short, he can play them all. You know why? Because he's got the ability to play them. It's not because of the coaching and everything else. A lot of it's ability. So there is a development thing there, I agree. But at the end of the day, Roman Anthony is here to hit, just like Devers was. Can you make incremental improvements with some of those guys on defense? Yes. But let me tell you right now, Christian Campbell is going to suck defensively his whole career. That's not going to change overnight. Anthony and Waltham, good Anthony. Do you believe that they have a really bad year? Brezils on the hot seat and should he be? My answer is no and I'll tell you why. Because he's had success with the pitching. And you know what? Pitching is valuable. Pitching you can trade. Pitching allows you to get other things. Everybody wants pitching. It's the greatest resource in the game. So no, they won't fire Craig Brezil. I think Cora could be on the hot seat because I think it's been heading this way for a long time. And again, I'll tell you this. I keep, you know, this is why this dawned on me today. They haven't had consecutive winning seasons since 2018 and 19 and 2019 was a disappointment. So I would really say 2017 and 2018, the Red Sox with all that money and all these players in their farm system can't even win 82 games two years in a row. They can't do it or haven't been able to. So they need to commit to something and stick with it. And maybe that's what they're doing now. But I thought they'd be smart enough to recognize you need bats in the middle of the order to compete with the heavy hitters. Quickly, Jay and Vermont, go ahead. I would say that the fact that you don't know who they are is exactly who they want to be. The ballpark is the star. People will line up every summer no matter what team is on the field. They recognize that it's about it's basically a land version of the, you know, New England Aquarium. So it might be, Jay. And that's a scary thought. The ballpark is our greatest marketing tool. So we're going to build around the ballpark, change all the other things from time to time and that'll be it. Well, that's it. That is just great. That's it. Isn't that what you want every season and go to the ballpark again? Even if the team sucks?
