Celtics Fall to Knicks 112-106 // James Hagens WON’T Play on Saturday // Craig Breslow and the Red Sox Front Office - 4/10 (Hour 1)

I'm not sure what you think. I'll tell you something. I'm going to rub me right in the filter and that is a 98 five to sports. I'm delighted to have Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow with us. Great to see you. Thanks for popping in. My pleasure. Thank you. Two and six. Tell everybody a great reason to feel better. Thanks right now. Craig, you get a couple of good lines here. Well, you know, I think we still believe very, very strongly in this team and it's funny on the way up. I was just saying that, you know, your rational brain says baseball needs to be evaluated over the long term. Eight games in, you know, it's not the time you want to draw conclusions, but your heart says, OK, you know, how do we, how do we help the group? What do we need to do? What are we missing? How do we turn this thing around? But we have a bunch of good players who are not performing up to their potential right now and that's going to turn. Agenda free and that means it's agenda free as Mass tells you agenda free Friday is brought to you by our friends at catches law at catches. They specialize in helping those who have been injured not only from a one time incident, but from a lifetime of hard work and labor. Does it sound like you then visit catches law dot com K E C H E S the format of agenda free Friday is well known by now. You load the phones with your thoughts, your agenda and we follow you. We have no agenda today. We have released a hound at 617779 0985. The call screen is already populating. We'll go to you. First segment. If and when you're ready, we give you opening takes first. That was Craig Breslow from earlier in the week. It's just a way to get into masses opening. Take go ahead, Anthony. Okay, so Craig Breslow did an interview with Alex Beer of the Boston Global, which you talked about the state of the Red Sox and to be one of the real critical elements in the story comes at the end where Alex Speer asked Breslow what I would call an excellent question. Okay, now I'm going to read from this quickly, but Speer writes Breslow has frequently cited the ability to remain strategically nimble. As one of his foremost lessons since taking this job, meaning he likes the flexibility, never lock yourself into a corner and you don't give yourself wiggle room to get out of anything. But Speer writes, but given that he had identified upgraded power as a key offseason focus, might a more meaningful lesson be the need to extend further beyond the team's current and on the team's current, I'm sorry, beyond the team's comfort area and admitting a short coming to shore up a short coming. Breslow's answer and by the way, excellent question by Alex Speer. You said you needed power, so given what happened, don't you think there's a lesson here that you need to go beyond your comfort zone? Excellent question. Quote, I don't think there's a clear answer said Breslow. I think the answer is both. You are constantly solving, working back and I stopped. What do you mean there's no clear answer? So this is what scares me about Craig Breslow. Sometimes you shouldn't extend yourself. He's afraid. He's afraid because that bold move requires exposing yourself on some level to failure. That's what the bold move requires. That's why it's bold. You have to have the balls to make that move and say this could blow up in our face, but if it works, we could get a championship. So do I just here's the way I look at it. The great GM's. They look at certain things as essentials if you're going to win a championship and I would argue a elite, an elite middle of the batting order is one of those things you've got to have. It is very difficult to win a championship without an elite middle of the order and you have to have the order. And you can define a lead however you want. But the point is there is some standard there that has to be maintained. If you're going to win, it can't be on just pitching. I think Breslow's because he's from a pitching background is locked into a pitching background and doesn't have the capacity to make that move. Murray, the Bruins are bores or perhaps more specifically their coach, Marco Sturm is Langweil. That is the German word for boring. I might have butchered it, but either way, maybe he'll be a good player. He and the team are either too boring or too cautious. You can take your pick because a couple of hours ago, Marco Sturm announced, James Hagen's not playing tomorrow against Tampa Bay, to which I say boo, boo, boo, boo. Why call him up? He said at the press conference Sturm, quote, I'm not going to throw that kid in and fail. All right then, if not tomorrow win. You have three games left before the playoffs. If you call him up, I don't know, shouldn't you play him, put him in the lead. If you call him up, you're overwhelmed. All right, but at least you have he and they will have a baseline on what to work on. Otherwise you want his first game to be a playoff game or does he just not going to play at all? What's it going to be? I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I'm sure you love it. Marco Sturm and the Bruins, too cautious and Langweil. Boring, boring boo. I hate it. Yeah, I disagree on all fronts. It's not boring at all. It's pissed everybody off. That's interesting to me. And the only mistake they've made is bringing him up in the lead. And then obviously he's not ready. Like you don't have to have watched him. It's obvious he's not ready. See, it now makes me wonder, are they in agreement over there on this? Like, is that was this whole part of the plan or does management want him and Sturm doesn't? They're on the same page. They did it to make him happy and appease the agent and just, you know, cratered, caved to the agent or the player, which is the one thing you criticize him for. Otherwise, playing the kid before he's ready is just, you all want them to do it in all sports and all walks of life. And it's just kind of stupid. Just kind of a fan thing. He's ready. He's ready. If he's not, he's not. He's not ready. Isn't it obvious? Porter-Martone, two goals, four assists and six games. Why can't this kid play? Maybe he's not as good as Porter-Martone. Maybe he's not as big as Porter-Martone. He's definitely not as big. I know he's not as big. Maybe he's not as ready as Porter-Martone. Maybe in Bartone's not ready. He's just so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. He's so dumb. their games. I have been calling for this for years. If you've listened to the show on the air or the off air show or in any context. And every time I've said it, I say, I know this sounds goofy, but this is what the government should be there for it should be there to protect the consumer. And I think that the way sports, I think these streaming services have turned into a complete, not just gouge, but it's, they've really been doing the consumer a disservice that it's a duplicitous business model in all on all fronts that they employ and the government needs to look at it. But especially when it comes to sports, it's one thing if it's movies and entertainment, there's no real antitrust. There's no real public trust connection there or relationship there. But when it comes to sports, that's different. These leagues have been granted, granted antitrust exemptions. They've been given exemptions that other industries don't have. And there's a implicit sort of relationship there. There's an implicit understanding there. At least when it comes to the NFL, that the games, the payback is that the games are accessible and affordable to fans. And that's sort of the trade off and that the streaming services are now getting in the way of that. And I've been calling for it forever. And they're finally doing it. And I'm here to tell you that I know, I know, I know that the impetus behind this inquiry is not to protect us. I know that ideally I want it to be ideally that I'm being idealistic by saying the government's there to fight for the consumer. They're not, they're there to pick a side over billionaires fighting over money, which is what they're doing here. They're doing this. I know the real score, folks. I know they're doing it because Rupert Murdoch is raising a stink because he has the over the air rights. And now all these streaming services are infringing on his business. And now this is just billionaire broadcasters fighting with billionaire streamers and lobbying in DC and getting a certain set of politicians to go after another set of politicians because they're fighting for their business. I know that you can stop with the emails. I know. I think in this case, though, Murdoch's interests are our interests and they and they and they align anything that gets in the way of these streamers, anything that puts the brakes or governor on these streamers and the streaming services is a win for us. So for the time being, that side of it works for us. And so I'm all in anything that shines a light on these streaming services. I'm in and is ultimately good for us. You're with Rupert 6177790985. I haven't logged in yet. So this is truly agenda free. I don't know what you're calling about. Gino in the car. Go Gino. What's going on guys? I'm talking about the honest to the Celtics rumors. So personally, if I was the GM, I would not do it. But my question for you guys is from the Celtics point of view, do you think they view it as Brad Stevens just being so good at developing role players and finding diamonds in the rough that they would feel more comfortable making kind of a big splash move like that because they know they're able to replenish the roster elsewhere. It's part of the reason maybe yeah. I mean, I'm gonna have confidence in Stevens for that reason or what they look at it and say, Is Derek White really irreplaceable? Is Peyton Prichard really irreplaceable? I mean, presumably you could trade Prichard White Houser stay under the tax and your role players would be Gonzalez, Shierman, etc. etc. or like players. And at the end of the day, are you really that much worse off and leave it to Stevens to find the next guys in the draft, you know, presumably your training weight draft picks it, you know, etc. I think that might be part of their calculus. The other part of the calculus is when do you get a chance to have a generational this generational talent wants to come here. And we can get him at a discount of what what he would have, you know, all we have to give up is Derek White and Peyton Prichard and freakin Sam Houser. And it's actually less on our books. That's all that that's going to you know, and some draft picks. Maybe they look at that as just a deal you can't refuse. Yeah, look, and if you're getting Yanis, you can give up Derek White. Like that, you know, it's you can look at now I know they play different positions, but the point being in theory, you'll be a stronger team all the way around. So like, yeah, they think they do believe that. And the owner said it the other day, we believe in Stevens ability to develop talent. I mean, I wouldn't do it. But you can build a case for Yanis here. I'd be stupid. But listen, Cam and taunt in Europe next. How you doing, Cam? Hey, Mike, so I just want to point out to you, you realize with this pitch, you're doing what you accused fans of doing when they think teams are good enough. Oh, they're not going to win anyway. So why bother? So Mike, the way you're about to get why bother drafting at all? I don't understand that first thing that you just said. You always say to fans, Hey, oh, oh, if you don't think they're going to win, why bother watching? Like that's what you accused fans of. This is what you're doing with draft picks like if they're all going to suck in every sport, why don't they just trade every pick every year and never draft? I honestly don't get that connection of those two things that you just said. Okay, so I can give you the abbreviated version because I think it's what I said to you yesterday that does every guy you draft have to be a superstar? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm all for drafting. And I'm all for they brand the Bruins have to draft. They just they they've sucked at it for so long. They've got to they got to keep you know, got to keep taking their shots. What I'm diametrically opposed to is we drafted a kid seven we bring them up. I'm diametrically opposed to playing kids before you have to just because you've got something in your pants, because you think automatically oh, a top 10 pick we that's that's what's stupid. I'm all for drafting and when the kids ready, the kids ready when the kid is ready to help impact winning. Then I'm into it. If you're doing it just because you want to see it. That's like and I keep hearing this. I want to see it. I want to see it. Well, no kidding. That's the top five stupidest reasons to do anything. Well, then I'll just take it out and show you. You want to see it, but he could help impact winning is the thing. Obviously not. He could. I obviously not. Obviously not playing them because they play them. So I told you to me the thing I would like is you think he's like so bursting at the seams ready, but the team is like no. Do you think that front office is the real men of genius? I mean, come on, then they've drafted the wrong guy. Uh, if they're the real man, then I don't trust the draft pick period. I'm just not for bringing up. Yeah, it just we have all these prospects. I got the prospects. I brought something to overall pick for the sake of doing it. You mean if the if the kid puts in his time proves himself is ready to come in, that I think is the healthy way to bring along young players, not just we drafted him seven. We have a second part player to throw him in there. That doesn't that to me is just that's just to give you a little it's fun. Marie, I agree. It's fun for a fan. It also doesn't help their development and more often than not, it doesn't work. So I don't need to do it. I don't need to see it. I'm fine with their approach. The only thing I have a beef with is they're burning a year of service because they just want to kiss up to the agent or fulfill a promise that they didn't need to make. Well, I think that one was made a long time ago in retrospect be my guess like I think it's almost become part of the deal now with these high picks. John in the car. Go ahead, John. Yeah, John Henry made all his money by managing rest when they opened with this ownership when the original ownership group bought the Red Sox, Tom Warner and Larry Latino, who are voices of dissent in the room. You can argue as much as you want as to how much to send. Hold on. Hold on. No, no, no, no. Hold on. You hold on. You hold on. I'll give you Larry. I'm not giving you Werner. Okay, Larry. Yes, because Werner's still there and I don't hear him putting up a fight now. It was Larry, Larry, Larry, Larry, that I'll give you. Good. Well, go with Larry, but there was a voice of dissent in the room that was willing to make bold moves. Okay. He is now surrounded himself now that there aren't anybody. There's nobody left in the room to back him up and he surrounded himself with risk managers. That Craig Breast to your comment earlier, Matt, Craig Breast was a risk manager. He's in it not to lose it. He's not in it to win it. And that's it. Okay. So John, I agree with you. I just, you can't put Tom Werner in that group. I'm sorry. So that's the only thing. But I agree with you. Larry was the one that was willing to roll the dice. And Henry was at a different place. Definitely. And but that's why they got rid of Lucchino because he wasn't at the same place anymore than they get rid of Larry. But it was also a different business model, Mass. When Henry first took over, he didn't have, he had investors, but not like now. Correct. And he had other money and influences, but not like now. And they hadn't won. And they had it. So he was in a different place and it was a different business. Now it's a conglomerate. Now there's private equity money in there. Now there's investors he has to satisfy. It's a whole different, the whole thing's different. He's different. The business is different. If Larry were here, I don't think it'd fly. I don't think Larry would fly because one thing when he's just convincing Henry for all intents and purposes, now he's got to go to the board and the investors and up, he wouldn't work now. Well, but that's why I think he got pushed out is what I'm saying. Yeah, I get it. I think it ran its course, you know, in terms of how they want to do it. And so that was the end of Larry. But without him in there, you have no shot. Jennifer Friday often running back to you after this. Belgeron mass continues on the sports hub. Celtics down six, 12 seconds to go. Pritchard into the front court gets rid of it towards Butchermitch. He drops it, has it back. Butchermitch went out of five seconds to go. Pritchard has to launch a crazy deep three. It's no good. It will go out of bounds with five tenths of a second to go. And the Knicks will survive the game and the Atlantic Division two seed race for at least one more night inbound to Shamet clock hits triple zeros. And we're just the fourth time in the last 25 years. This Knicks have beaten the Celtics three times in a single season. The final score New York 112 Boston 106. The the I thought the Celtics did a pretty good job hanging in most of the night. The game was winnable. Like I'm not going to sit here and tell you they had no chance because Brown was out. They played a little bit more. They were up seven with like absolutely and honestly when they got down, I think it was at the end of the third quarter beginning of the fourth. They got down by about nine or 10. Do you remember that? And they came back and took the lead. They were there. What they just absolutely when they get going at the three point lines. I mean, as much as I hate it, like it's pretty impressive. Yeah, look, Shierman was shooting the lights out for crying out loud. So to me, you know, I thought it was when I say winnable game, I think a lot of people when they heard Brown was out, probably just wrote the game off and I may have been one of them. Then when I saw the way the game was going, I said, you can win this game. Go and win it. They were up 92 85 with 822 left. So that's that. That's the point where I didn't think they were coming back to that point because they were behind right before it. Tatum Tatum had hit a three and then he had a baseline and one to make it 92 85 with 822 left. Absolutely full command. So what happened and what continues to happen? They've lost three or four to the next this year, four of six, obviously in the playoffs last year, we've seen all sorts of iterations. They've lost to this next team with Brown and Tatum. They've lost to this next team with Brown, but no Tatum. They've lost to this next team with Tatum, but no Brown. The Knicks again, I could can go back, but they've obviously had guys not had guys. The bottom line is you've lost. Well, what would that be seven to the last 10 something like that? So is this a bad matchup? It might be one. One thing that's so to me. So that James Hart time and again, it felt like in that postseason last year, he torched them. He torched them again last night. It's like they don't, he gets open against them or they just didn't defend him all that well. That that to me felt like deja vu and I haven't taken the Knicks seriously this year because it feels like there's an internal thing there and there's a times where it feels like they all want to collectively choke out Carly Anthony Towns. But I don't know. I left that last night maybe this would be a tougher matchup than I think. So would it play you? They look all right. They're very confident. They get up for it. Yeah, it's clear. They get out. You can see the intensity in the Knicks when they play these games. So if you want my honest opinion, they may not. I understand what you're saying about when everybody's there. They've also lost. They can't beat this team without jail and Brown though, because they need his toughness. And so to me, that is, you know, they're going to need him to get in someone's face or do something that alters some of the momentum at the end of these games because the Knicks smell it when they play the Celtics at the end. I meant Josh Hart, by the way. Sorry. 100% Here's my takeaway. I got a couple. One. There is something about the late game thing that you still, I think have some questions and the Knicks with their confidence against you and Jalen Brunson being a good late game player, I think is a problem for you. I still don't know that Jason Tatum is a great player at the end of these games. And I think Jalen Brunson kind of is. And I know it was Hart hitting those shots last night in towns. I think those two guys had bigger shots down the stretch than Brunson, but Brunson, he Brunson had a couple of great passes. And Brunson sort of is the trigger man. And it all goes to him. And I think that's advantage. Next, they're, they're not afraid of you, which I think is kind of half the battle. And then I wonder, man, is anyone afraid of all your winning and all the greatness? And are they the teams look at you and go, give them a good pusher at the end, they'll go down. And I just wonder if that, did that exist even through the championship? Yes. And no one ever got him to that point. But you just get him to that point and they're going to go down. And the Knicks know it. And so as you said, they smell it and you were in full command of that game. When you, you know, when you got hot behind the line there in the third quarter, that carried right into the beginning of the fourth quarter, you were in full command. Then you start to turn the ball over, you have five turnovers in the fourth quarter, you had five turnovers, they had none. I think you had only three turnovers all game. Then in the fourth quarter, you turned it over five times. Tatum threw it away going cross court to Pritchard. Tatum tried to get it to Kata in the, in the lane and a little low sort of ball. It was like a little bounce pass in the lane that got kicked away. Tatum tripped over himself on the three point line and then lost the tip. You've lost every, I think you lost every tip in that game, by the way. So all of a sudden you get shaky there. I think Pritchard had one coming around a screen. So you turn the ball over five times, they turn it over none. They get, they're very handsy on defense and that sort of puts that pressure on you and you kind of succumb to it. That's when they struggle. When teams get up on you and all of a sudden it becomes some, there's hand fighting, if you want to call it that, like that pass by Tatum, there was traffic in there. You know, like, so this, the game gets like the, the, you know, the system breaks down and they collapse. There's a size, their size. I mean, it shouldn't be a mismatch if you've got Kata and Vucevich and you have big guys, but something about Robinson and Towns is just a problem for you. The way you play Towns, like that drop coverage that you, why can't you defend their two man game at the top of the key? Like you're either, Towns is getting a, you know, a pass into the lane where he's dunking or he's wide open at the top of the key. So there's just something about that that, I mean, you should beat that team, but there are problems for you. What else? I mean, if you were going to play the Celtics, go ahead. No, I, if you were going to play the Celtics, how would you play him? I'd get up and Tatum's face. Definitely. Push on, you lean on him. And I'd be handsy with Brown and Brown's not going to back down physically, but you can, you know, pressure his handle because he still doesn't have a great handle. That's what you do. And just quickly, because this was, I don't know if you saw that the Celtics, you know, if they wrap it up, they're going to be in a position to potentially affect the seven, eight seed and all this over the weekend. I don't know if you saw some of this. So, but the question is, would you choose Charlotte or just choose Orlando? And what do you think the Celtics would choose? Orlando. I think they would choose Charlotte. Both are handsy and tough defensively. And Charlotte is more offensively. I think Orlando is way more physical and way, but they have no offense. No, they don't. I mean, in theory, they don't, you know, Bain was supposed to make a difference there, but I don't think they want any part of Orlando because of the physical nature of it. Okay. I'm frankly not worried about the first round. This is the second round. These are great games. There's a good product last night. You also got the Knicks into foul trouble. They had their fourth team foul with just under seven minutes left. And I don't think you got them into the bonus unless I'm mistaken on that. You can check me on that. But it's not like, you know, you were up, you had them in the, what effectively was the bonus with seven minutes left, and you could have lived there at the line. So I think if Brown's in that game, he pounds the lane and gets to the free throw line. So definitely he makes it better, but you've had Brown and Tatum together and you've still lost to this next team. Why? They're not that good. Is Derek White a problem? 0 for 6 from beyond the line. I mean, you could say that game came down to Josh Hart hitting those two threes and Derek White missing his. He was given a good look by Tatum who could have kept going to the rim, could have tried to get to the line and said he kicked out from the lane on that key possession, kicked it out to an open Derek White. He missed the three 0 for six from beyond the line, two for 10 overall on that night. Derek White, he was garbage shooting the ball last night. So the answer is yes. How's he been shooting all year? He was bad early, but he got better. Yeah, he had one stretch there in the middle where he was going pretty, you know, pretty good for a little while. But it's fair point. Is he a good running mate? I mean, I know the teams had a good year with the bulk of it being Brown and White, but was it Jaylen Brown in the ensemble or was it Brown and White? You know what I mean? It was mostly Brown. I think it was Brown in the ensemble. But I'll tell you, I still want White there. I just think White generally makes winning plays. I'm not saying bench him or anything. I'm just telling you the diminishing returns the more you rely on him, that kind of thing. Water seeks its level. I don't know. I hurt you in that game, but there's something about that next team. Not that, you know, I don't know if I'd have the guts to flat out pick them over you because they could be a pretty healthy underdog as they should be. But they expose, they expose some of the problems that still remain on the Celtics. So there's a little Celtics thought for you back to your calls. I promise after Big Jermurry gets updated. We go. We look at the goalie. Oh my God. He sucks in the play. That's great. No, wonderful. Good. The sports hub. He's got in Canton. What do you got for us today, Scott? Two things. Number one, Bob Gronkowski deserves to go to the Patriots Hall of Fame. And number two, I would like to see Matthew Jude on come back to the Patriots. Okay. Why are you making a noise, Murray? Matthew Jude. I'm so overrated here. A guy that disappears every December that he was here. No, and he's kind of washed at this point too. I'm with Murray. I'm done there. Rob Gronkowski and Adam Vitieri are on the same ballot. Who gets your vote? Finitieri. Finitieri. Okay. I wouldn't put the tone on it like you just did. I'm just saying because of how long he's had to wait. No, the tones deserve. This is team. I understand. Okay, go ahead. What? It's okay that he got into the pro Hall of Fame before he got into the Patriot Hall of Fame? The tones deserved. These people are idiots because they still hold it against them. If he was in Indianapolis Colt, why do you think that happened? Don't be coached. You don't hold it against Gronkowski that he quit on the Patriots. These are factual statements. He quit and only came back when Brady went to Tampa. That you don't hold that against Gronkowski, but you hold it. I don't think that they do because Gronk is fun party guy. Okay, then you know what? Put the tone back on. You dopes. You children. You blame. Vinitieri because the paths are too cheap to pay him. That's Adam Vinitieri's fault because Belichick was an a hole and the Patriots are cheap, but it was at the heart of our wars with the Colts. I deal with this with my dopey buddies. They they're not. It's going to be Gronk. They're not going to vote for Vinitieri this year. The fact that Adam Vinitieri is not in the Patriots Hall of Fame yet is a freaking embarrassment. It's an embarrassment. Okay, Scott. I hope that answers your question. Brian in Fitchburg. Go ahead, Brian. Mike George, George, Miraculous, Fabian Liesel, Patra, Providence is where dreams and talent go to die. Yeah, you pretend that Fabian Liesel can play. Did the Providence Bruins killed Zach's Anishin? No, no, he died long before that. The Providence Bruins killed Jacob's Borough? Did they kill Fabian Liesel? No, sometimes you are what you are. Steve, Steven Rossi. They might have killed Patra, though. Steven Rossendale. Go ahead, Steve. I don't know if you guys in Bruins fans in general know just how bad the Bruins have been in one specific category. I've been trying to figure out, you know, why is the league so high on Jeremy Swamin this year when he's got kind of middling stats? And what I found was pretty bizarre. The Bruins are giving up shots, the quality and number of shots of like a bottom of the seller team. And there's a stat called Expected Goals Against. It's an advanced stat, but don't have a popsicle headache. It's just a measure of the quality and number of shots the Providence are getting at you. Steve, let me cut you off. I got it. I know they give a lot of high danger chances and Swamin's safe percentage and high danger chances at the top of the league. I got all that. What's your conclusion? My conclusion is that they're not just not a playoff team. They're third in the league in the stat next to Vancouver, who has 52 points. Toronto, who is last in the Atlantic. Chicago, who we've been saying. And if it's not for the Bruins being an elite goal for above expected team, you know, we're 79 games in. That's kind of a lot to be lucky, but I don't think there are a bunch of snipers either. So it's definitely a lot of luck. And yes, the Bruins goal tending has been, you know, outside of games here and there. Little long winded for my liking. Let me just cut to the chase. They've been lucky. Yes, they have. They're lucky to be here. They're not that good of a team. But believe me, I'm not, I'm all for it. I'm glad they're making the playoffs. I'll be watching every minute of every game. And as far they want to take it, I'm here for it. And can they pull some upsets? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. But I've been on this for about a week. I think Bruins fans got a little deluded by some of those wins. Call it two weeks ago. Yeah. Buffalo Dallas. We got high on our own supply. A little bit. Yeah. A little bit. And I think that, uh, Swamin, on one hand, I want to tell you, still overrated, but on the other hand, those advanced numbers speak to a goalie that's bailing you out of a lot of bad situations. And you've still scored way more than you could have or should have expected of this middling. Oh my gosh, not even close. I mean, the one thing I'll say about them, they play hard. I mean, they don't quit. No, they do. So that's probably part of the reason they've overachieved is they play hard. They've been a good watch and it's been a good year for them and all of that. But at no point should you've been deluded into thinking they're like actually a good team. Ari and Brookline. Go ahead, Ari. Hey, thanks for taking my call. So I think this Mike variable story is really not good news for the Patriots. And I'm curious about your, um, your angle on this line of things is, you know, Drake may seems like a really high character guy, high moral quote in the Bible versus his wife makes sourdough and Mike rabble is saying I'm family first, family first, and then he's off doing this. So you think he's going to tune him out in a year to come because he's all about leadership and all the soft things. And here's Mike. They believe in this duplicitous kind of life. I think it's going to ring hollow for Drake may. And I think it bodes very poorly for the Patriots going forward. I wouldn't draw that line yet. Me either. Drake may doesn't strike me as a very pious, you know, I don't think that that would be a thing even if this becomes a bigger thing. But just you've got to look at variable a little differently today than you did last week. Definitely. Yes. And there's a little chink in the armor, a little dent in the facade. And let's see where it goes. And maybe it's a part of his story. Maybe it's a one off. But I'm not dismissing it yet as just a one, you know, one off. I mean, I think just to go to the other extreme, Bill Belichick's personal problems, and his way he carried himself on a personal level, I think is very much a part of his professional story is how he handled himself as a coach. Sure. It was all part of a piece. Then it was all the same package. And so let's see where it goes with rabble. And sometimes, you know, I mean, I don't know what he was doing. We don't know. But next page, guys that run around like that, I don't know. Sometimes they're not the greatest leaders in a workplace. And sometimes that's a sign of it falling apart all over the place. Yeah, again, one way or another, if that's what it is, it's a facade. And so if you can show a facade in one place, why can't you show it in another? I mean, Belichick's obviously, you know, I mean, Urban Meyer. Right? Good one. I mean, that's a great example. Like, I mean, the judgment or where he was at, just where he's at in his life to send the team home, stay behind, go party at his bar in Columbus with the grinding with whatever. Like, dude, what's your deal? Exactly. And it spoke to his personal life. It spoke to his professional life, and it was all part of the same piece. Let's see where we go with rabble. Yeah. And just quickly, the caller said, you know, he wonders how the locker room will look at rabble. And I would say, just as a matter of math, what percentage of men in the real world are unfaithful to their wives? So I isn't reasonable to assume that the same percentage exists in the Patriots locker room. I think most are going to be okay with them. Could there be one or two that aren't, you know, who knows? Right? I'm just saying whatever that percentage is in the real world, it's reasonable to assume that there's a percentage in the Patriots locker room that'll look right by it. More your thoughts on an agenda free Friday right after this. Sean and Lawrence, go Sean. He keeps saying like, oh, I didn't actually watch the game. You know, there's Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, whatever. Like, isn't your job as talk show host to actually watch sports? So I would say my job is to get you to listen. That is the job. Mission accomplished. Take this job and show. Felgar and Maz. 98-5, the sports hub. It's back. Golf's most prestigious event. And with the return to Augusta comes the crowds most obnoxious fan. It's time once again for the Masters. Hey, I guess we're not going to see Tiger this year, huh? Guys like the World Cup when it comes to DUIs. Every four years, here he is again, crashing his car, all banged up on pills. Damn near kills himself and never even loses his license. Next time, calling Uber, you loser. Ha ha ha ha ha. Got her up. Hey, Chris, got her up. I think you saw. Ow, look at you, got her up. One of the hottest players on the tour this year. Yeah, my ass. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Got her up. Hey, Chris, got her up. I think you saw. Ha ha ha ha. Hey, Patrick Reed. Reed, I know you hear me. Think you're so good putting here in Augusta, do ya? Well, I got news for you, pal. Georgia's been bone dry for months. Ha, meeting these greens are going to be just like mass. Firm and fast. Ha ha ha ha ha. That's when it really starts to feel like spring, I gotta tell ya. The Masters. What do you see today, Maz, real quick? Uh, McElroy is starting to open up on the field. The only other thing I saw, Tyrol Hatton. You know, I haven't seen a lot of guys crap their pants yet, but Tyrol Hatton is like 700 power on the day. 600 a day. Okay, all right. So he gave one back then, because a little while ago he was minus seven. So the course is playing tough, which means along with those $1.50 hot dogs, they should be selling diapers at every T-Box and coming off the greens for that matter, because it won't be long before these guys leave in trail marks from the T-Stuff, from the greens to the T-Box. Who are the real pants crappers in this top 10 as of right now, Maz? Okay, I gotta look at the names. Do you think Hatton? Uh, no, Hatton's got some grit to him, but he is, he's one of these guys that when he blows a gasket, I'm like, everything goes. Your guy Goderup is having a good day. No, he could crap his pants. He shot his pants crapper. 72 yesterday, finished with a nice 69 today. Yeah, wait till tomorrow. Moving day at the Masters. He'll be moving down. Down in Brown. Yep, you got it. Back to your calls. Here's Nick and follow up. Hi, Nick. Hey guys, what's up? I wanted to ask you something, uh, mainly Matt, I wanted to ask him about paint and totally, uh, Matt, is there a reason why he's not on the red socks right now other than arbitration and business reasons? No, I mean, well, yes, but that's the big one. Uh, you know, he, he got to the big leagues fast, Nick. I'm not, you know, he could use a little more time to develop. It's fine, but that's, I don't think that's the real reason they did it. He looked just about as good as Connolly. I dare even say, don't get me wrong, Connolly looked really good last year, but totally he's got, he throws 98 miles an hour and he's like 6 6 250 pounds. There's potential. Therefore, I'm not saying he's as good as Paul Sping. He never will be, but he's got stuff like him and he's the same size as him. So how do you not give him a chance? They will. He'll get one. I mean, they're not going to move him. I like, I don't think he's trade bait anywhere down the line. You know, skiing throws off speed stuff too. Let's not forget that slider and curve and whatever he throws, uh, makes him lethal. Uh, Matt, in your bed for go. Uh, so this, this overhype of James Hagan is really starting to go up my ass. I want him to succeed so badly, but they have a better chance of screwing this kid up than by getting him to develop faster by putting him in and everybody saying that, Oh, Providence sucks or they pull. He didn't say Providence sucks, but Providence is where players go to die. Now they have a really good team. They're first in the A H L. They'll craft themselves in the playoffs like every year, but they're first in the A H L. He stepped onto a really good team and he was not exactly laying the world up. Secondary assist and whatever. So everybody just cool it on James Hagan. I want to succeed, but Jesus Christ, take a chill pill, everybody. Please. He's 19 years old and undersized. It's okay if he's not ready. The only thing I think the Bruins deserve criticism for is agreeing to bring him up in the first place and burning a year when he's clearly not ready. Joe in the car. Yes. I say Joe in the car. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. So Hagan's is 5 11 roughly like 190. Sagan was six foot, maybe 61 170 when he came into the league and I'm pretty sure it was during the playoffs against Tampa. I understand keeping him down in the HL for a little bit, but why are you assuming James Hagan's is Tyler Sagan? I'm not, but he's quote unquote should have been the first round pick, but then now he's also a top 10 pick. So what if you're so what just because you're drafting the top 10 doesn't mean you're ready to play in the NHL. Yeah, either playoff hockey or playoff like hockey at 18 19 years old when just you know, six weeks ago you were playing Bentley. That doesn't mean you're ready just because you were drafted seventh, but people get this notion. He was drafted seven. You throw him in there. Well, no. Whatever. He's not ready. So I told you I would play him. I just I like the idea of letting him get it because I think put him on the power play. No, well that too. But I think I think him coming up was foregone conclusion. I think that was part of the deal. So that being the case, let him get his feet wet and then he's ready to go at the start of next year. Yeah, it's sort of obvious. They don't think he's ready there and the timing here again is sort of obvious. There's a chance they clinch on Saturday. Is that right? Yes. Okay, so they clinch on Saturday. Now your last two games are sort of like these. You're sort of emptying the miners. You're just that's when you bring the guys up. That's when you're just sort of resting everybody and they're half lineups and low leverage games. And that's why he's in there. You'll give them those. But he's not ready to play a high leverage NHL hockey game. I mean, that's really what it tells you is that they're playing a game of consequence on tomorrow. They're playing a game of consequence and they're not putting them out there. And that's okay. And if they've made that determination, then good for them. Rusty in Chicago. Yeah, Rusty. Mike, I haven't seen enough of Steve's, Aesamon and Rykel. You haven't seen enough of those guys. That's not about those guys, is it now? What is it about? It's about because it's about winning games and being a competitive team. And if he's stuck, then you just put one of those steps in and you let the kids, you know, like be with the team, be on the ninth floor and like experience the playoffs. I don't get where you're getting like all of this. I don't know where you're getting that you think that James Hagans right now is ready to give you more than Rykel. How do you know? I'm not sure, but let's see. Well, maybe they can tell because they're watching him every day. How low is the bar, Mike? I mean, it's pretty low. Exactly. You're making my point, but he can't be worse in more reckless with the Puff than Posterdock. And Posterdock usually plays with Lindholm and Geeky. So why not throw him out there? See if he gives you something because he's not ready. Isn't that the simple answer? Yes, of course. Yeah, I see. I think it's bad that they're not playing tomorrow and not for the entertainment value or it's Sturm is like Joe Missoula. And I like my guys and I don't want to have to crowbar in a new guy. They saw him in college. They saw him in the A. H. L. They've seen him the last two days of practice. Is it possible they've you could throw me in there too? What do you have to lose? You couldn't give it away any more than Posterdock. Yeah, but we know you suck. Well, what if they know he doesn't suck is not close? What what if they know that? Yeah, he's still better than you. You can sometimes tell that you can often tell that just to practice just in a H. L. Games. Just you can tell. But they promise the agent and him that he'd they burn the year on the contract. So he's here, but they're not going to throw him in there if he's not ready. That makes sense to me. The first part doesn't burning a year just because you want want to be nice. That's kind of dumb. But not throwing a kid in there who's not ready makes perfect sense to me. And I the fact that doesn't make sense to you just emboldens me. Because people suck. And the consensus is often wrong. Throw him in there. You're driving him something. What do you have to lose? What if he's not ready? What if he's nowhere close to being ready? Did that ever occur to you? No, you're thinking what if he is? I think this is going to you are thinking what if he is? I know it in my gut. You're just being stubborn to be stubborn. If he is, they'd see it and put him in there. I don't trust them. That's fair. I hope he's the balls just despite you. Here's Murray's. But I but you know, just just to finish the conversation. Wouldn't you want him like if you wanted to evaluate the player? Wouldn't you want to see him in a game like this? And I don't mean you if you're them like I understand they haven't clinched anything yet, but I think they're going to get in. What if they've seen all they need to see some guys play better in games than they do in practice? Okay, fair. So but just your guy Garoppolo. Yeah, exactly. He was a classic case. He was balls on game day. What he wanted to get out here. Here's a very latest from Murray 90 seconds. No commercials. And we're right back on agenda for you Friday. There's open lines if you want to grab them.