Alex Cora: Red Sox offseason plans, Bregman convos, Chapman's Yankee comments, Roman Anthony leadoff?

00:00:04
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna get Alex Cora joining us momentarily on FT. Excited to talk to the Red Sox skipper about what he's doing. He's gonna join us maybe in a minute or two. You gotta talk about the Red Sox.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: I got a phone call.

00:00:17
Speaker 1: Perhaps the signing.

00:00:18
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe Alex Pragman. He's gonna break the Alex Bregman signing on our show.

00:00:22
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna take a little more time.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: Maybe not, maybe not.

00:00:25
Speaker 5: We'll ask him about it.

00:00:26
Speaker 2: Let's get him.

00:00:27
Speaker 1: I think he's ready to go. Alex Cora joining us right now. Alex, great to have you on this show.

00:00:31
Speaker 2: How much? How much? How much did you guys just signed bren How are you guys doing? How much?

00:00:38
Speaker 4: How much?

00:00:38
Speaker 3: What you just signed Bragman for? You got a phone call? I thought that was Bregman calling you, saying going back five years.

00:00:44
Speaker 4: Two million, the only person that calls me baseball wise is Joey your favorite krah Where about it?

00:00:51
Speaker 3: By the way, before we even dig into this, he is, and it's it's Jose. By the way, it's not Joey. If people that know him know it's Jose. Okay, So, but I just went last year, I text both of y'all and I said, who's getting bregnant? I text you guys separate and you both set back? Is that meant for the other? Korra brother? So I don't know if you guys have like telepathy or if you guys were sitting in the same room or.

00:01:13
Speaker 4: What, but it ended up being you not in the same room. And honestly, like free agent conversations, we killed that one. We don't talk about it because, as you know, last year, he got to the point that I thought he was gonna get him. Like you said, you know, like I hate talking to my brother about free agents because you never know, you never know.

00:01:39
Speaker 1: That's a fun Thanksgiving.

00:01:41
Speaker 3: So we had we had Joe Spota on yesterday, right, and he's married to Brandon Hydes.

00:01:46
Speaker 2: Their their brother in laws through marriage.

00:01:48
Speaker 5: Right.

00:01:49
Speaker 3: So he said that we can't go together because the wives talk too much about baseball and they know more than us. So is that like when you and because Joey thinks he's the smartest guy in the history of the game, So like, when you guys get together, do you guys have a who's smarter contest? Because he went to Vandy and you went to Miami, no offense. Vandy's a little better than Miami on the smart scale.

00:02:11
Speaker 5: I just.

00:02:13
Speaker 4: Like I always tell people, I think Joey knows a lot about the Tigers, and he knows a lot about the Red Sox. You know, Like during conversations, I'm like, hold on, I'm the manager. I know more about our team, you know. But I gotta be careful. He's still the older brother. He's a presence. As you know, he'll stare you down and you know that's when you have to shut up. But I just let him be. You know, he's still the older brother, So just just be you.

00:02:44
Speaker 2: Joe I love it.

00:02:47
Speaker 4: I love it too.

00:02:48
Speaker 1: So aside from talking to Joey about you can talk to us about it. What would you like to see the Red Sox do this offseason?

00:02:56
Speaker 4: Just continue to be aggressive like we were last year. You know, after the season last year, in November, we talked about trying to get back to the playoffs. Actually we talk about winning the division and we needed to accomplish a few things in the off season, and we did. We signed Alex, we traded for Cruzchet, we got Chapman, we got Justin Wilson. So just stay aggressive. Playing three games in October is not good enough for us. Yeah, we got a taste. We got back to the playoffs, but honestly, from my end, it feels like we actually didn't play it. It was so like short, right, and yeah, it was a great accomplished getting back, but we have to be better. And I think listening to Craig last week in Vegas, he was very very straightforward with what we're trying to accomplish. We want to be better from the mount, trying to get somebody that we can pair up with Bayo and Crochet and offensively, we have to improve. We we have some holes. We showed it last year towards the end, and hopefully we can do that.

00:04:07
Speaker 5: All right.

00:04:08
Speaker 3: How often do you and brez talk? How often do you and Craig Brezilo talk? Is it every day? Is it twice a day? Is it before night?

00:04:16
Speaker 4: It's not every day, It's not every day, you know, I get a text from him. Obviously he has people that worked with him and they connect with me. But I'd let him be. Man, it's a tough job. I'm getting to the point now in my job that if I get too many updates and every every day I get anxious, you know, I get a little bit desperate, and uh, I don't want to do that. So whenever we have something moving, cooking, you know, we meeting with when we meeting with players, we have some meetings. Whenever that comes up, he lets me know. But I got a job to do. My job is to get ready for spring training, map out the things that we want to do. Me and Ramon Vaskis who see here in Puerto Rico, and uh, while we add during the off season, we make adjustments.

00:05:07
Speaker 3: Okay, So here more of you just called John Henry type of guy you just you skip over, bros.

00:05:11
Speaker 2: I know how see, we know the we know how you are. You just skip them. You just John, listen, John, No, we need this John.

00:05:17
Speaker 5: Thanks.

00:05:18
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm gonna go back to the beach though, love you.

00:05:21
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no. I mean he did an amazing job last year. I know a lot of people don't give you credit, but if you look at the offseason we had last year, Chapman, Justin Wilson, Alex Bregman, Garrett Cruche, three All stars. Wilson was great. So uh let him be let let let him do the job. Obviously, he will ask me about how I see it. But at the end of the day, you know, we we make decision based on what we have to improve on our forty men roster and our twenty six men roster, and hopefully we can do that.

00:05:52
Speaker 5: How did you how did you feel your defense was as a team as a whole for the season, because you talked about things you need to improve And my second question will kind of depend on what you how you answer.

00:06:04
Speaker 4: That, Well, we have the best defensive outfield in the big leagues if you go by the metrics. And this this is a trick question because, uh, two years ago or three years ago, although we have led the league in errors for for three or four years. You know, people talk about the metrics, right, Uh, defensive run saves when we when they talk about the catchers, you know, uh, framing numbers and all that. Last year, Carlos was really good. Hard field defense was good. I think as far as like defensive run staves. We were fifth in the league. The tree of the outfielders, we have two Gold Glovers. One should have been a Platinum uh winner rough Eyelight. I don't know how that works, you know, but he should be. So we were okay, erratic early in the season. I think our pitching staff can do better holding runners and uh, you know, doing the pfps we weren't good. So I don't know. Going back to the question C plus, so we have to improve.

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00:08:11
Speaker 3: Rafaela is he possibly moving back to the infield, because I know he was great in the outfield, but he also has value in the infield.

00:08:20
Speaker 4: He he has a lot of value, but he's the lead in center field. He's a game changer. The one thing we're going to challenge him again. He's offensively this guy, as you remember, there was a I think it was right before the All Star break. Offensively he was locked in chasing too many pitches, doing some damage, pulling ball in the air. And then towards the end of the season he ran out of gas. And this is the second time, you know, his career, you know, obviously two full seasons that you know, September is tough for him.

00:08:53
Speaker 5: He's he.

00:08:55
Speaker 4: Waits one sixty man and to play one sixty two games. He's hard, So challenge him, challenge him, you know, physically get stronger, get bigger and stronger, and then defensively just keeping as long as possible in center field because he's that good.

00:09:14
Speaker 5: Have you ever seen it, because obviously you go with comps comparisons. Have you seen somebody chase and swing it's so much and then say, you know what, I can make these decisions. I can make the change that needs to be made to take that next level offensively. Have you seen other guys that you've played with, or coached or managed that have made that change, Because that's a tough thing to do. It's like somebody that doesn't very hard. You got to swing.

00:09:41
Speaker 4: Is very hard because you're running into the Okay, we want you to swing at the right ones, but you don't want to take away his aggressiveness, right and it is a balancing act. The one thing that I truly believe we can accomplish is if we're going to be aggressive, we have to make sure you know, we do damage early incounts. And how you accomplish that, then obviously swing at the right ones, and he can do it. He can do it. He did it in the minor leagues early incounts. He's shown some flashes at the big league level to do that. This is something that in eighteen when I got to the Red Sox, I challenged some of the guys you know there were it was the opposite, right, They were very patient and I want them. I wanted them to swing early, but swing and do damage. You know. And if you look at Saddan, there's a few things that he struggles with. There's a few things that he can he can accomplish that and that's something we're going to keep preaching to him and hopefully with time, you know, and this is you know, experience at the big league level, he can get to the to the hitter that we envision.

00:10:58
Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to go back to this because you didn't give me the answer I wanted. So how often do you talk to Alex Bregman?

00:11:03
Speaker 2: Do you call him.

00:11:04
Speaker 3: Every day and see where he is? Are you flying to his hometown to hit him ground balls? Are you flipping to him? Are you trying to bring him back? It's very hard to get me out of the island.

00:11:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think my next Yeah, I ain't going to Arizona to see Alex, but we stay in touch. Uh, there's a guy that I have a lot of respect. I really enjoy manage him last year. We have a good relationship, so we stay in touch, talking about he's off season and him asking me questions about my kids and all that. So we talk a lot to be honest with you.

00:11:43
Speaker 2: Okay, that's better.

00:11:44
Speaker 3: By the way, is there something that happened at sant Are you a santaurse crabber?

00:11:48
Speaker 2: Are you were you?

00:11:50
Speaker 3: No?

00:11:50
Speaker 4: No, no, we're We're Kyle's creolios. Kyle was creatos.

00:11:54
Speaker 3: Because I saw Johnny Damon down there like throwing out the first pitch, And was there some something that happened recently in Centers?

00:12:00
Speaker 4: I don't know, No, opening day, Opening day?

00:12:04
Speaker 3: Oh it was opening day. Okay, Yes, that's okay, Okay, So I don't know. You got Johnny to the island. We can get you off the island.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: I'm just saying.

00:12:13
Speaker 4: I'll be up the island and I'll go visit you in Orlando in a few weeks.

00:12:17
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'm gonna see you there. I'm gonna be like Alex, come on right here, we're gonna Scott and are gonna be there. You can come say hi and you can buy me a drink for once.

00:12:28
Speaker 5: All right, I'll talk about a guy that's still on your roster that you guys extended Eraldus Chapman. A lot was made about when he made on competo. He went on a podcast and he said he'll never play for the Yankees again. Do you feel like some of his resurgence was kind of like spiteful to the yank like I'm gonna go sign with the one team the Yankees hate and it's the Red Sox. And that fueled him to have, at age thirty seven, the season that he had.

00:12:59
Speaker 4: No, no, no, it was. I mean, I played thirteen years in the big leagues, have managed what six or seven was a bench coach for one, and I have seen guys that their work ethic has been outstanding. Others they performed at the Big League devil because they were talented. And this guy is a combination of both. Just the way he goes about his business is second to none. Get him on in the morning, go to the gym at nine, take his nap, comes back to goes to the ballpark, his cardio plays catch. It was on point, you know. And I seen great seasons by relievers starting with Eric Ganya you know two whatever that was that was impressive. But to do it at his age and with all the quote unquote red flax right, you know he's older. He doesn't throw strikes, his hostpeed pitches in his own he cannot do that. It was fun to watch, you know. And the other thing for him to be willing to sign an extension when he did it, he really likes Boston, he really likes the program and he was having fun. Man, And I saw the quotes, and that's you know, fuel to the to the rivalry if you want to say it. But I think it's just a combination of a lot of things. But the credit goes all to him. You know. He he was amazing and I'm happy that he's going to be back to us.

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00:15:44
Speaker 3: Okay, by the way, you played thirteen years, jeez, slap it in a little flee like you played thirty man.

00:15:49
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I didn't realize, you know what. I didn't even realize.

00:15:53
Speaker 4: That if I was playing nowadays, I'll be playing thirteen years in triple A. I'll tell you that.

00:16:02
Speaker 3: Anyway, you people, I'm getting way off to I know we got but do you had the you had to won at bat that everybody remembers. Do you know that I was catching during that bat and I got absolutely obliterated when I came in the dugout because you had like a twenty pitch at bat and you hit a home run.

00:16:18
Speaker 2: It was in Dodger.

00:16:19
Speaker 3: Stadium, and we just kept throwing the heater, heater, heater, and you finally hit a home run. And I came in and Felipe lou was like, whoa, it was so else and I'm like, sleep, did you really think Alex car is gonna go jep? I mean a j He wasn't against you, guys, Oh it wasn't. I thought it was because you had one.

00:16:36
Speaker 4: Against against the Cubs.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: Oh as Actually you know what good for you because I'm not a Cup fan, but your dad won against us. It was like ten or twelve pitches and we just kept throwing you heaters and.

00:16:49
Speaker 4: You kept so it was uh it was matt Cleman slider cutter, right, cut her yeah, and uh people keep giving him a credit man, and he threw sixteen pitches right down the middle.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Bro.

00:17:03
Speaker 4: You know at one point you gotta hit one, right, So yeah, I don't know what was harder me getting the homer on the eighteenth pitch of Mattie Clement throwing all the strikes in a row.

00:17:16
Speaker 3: But no, okay, anyways, I know there was one, but I'm wrong. I mean, I'm wrong, but there was one.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: Right.

00:17:20
Speaker 3: Felipe Louse screamed to me for throwing you this many pitches and you gotta.

00:17:24
Speaker 4: You you actually it was you know four right, were you there two thousand and four? Yeah, Franklin the lefty, Yeah, come out of the bullpen. That was the Finley homer. Remember the walking.

00:17:37
Speaker 2: You know I was. I was out of the game.

00:17:39
Speaker 3: They defensively replaced me that that game because we were winning three to nothing, and so.

00:17:43
Speaker 4: Let's say war against against Franklin the lefty. It was a Franklin I don't even know Wayne started.

00:17:50
Speaker 2: Yes, thanks for bringing that.

00:17:52
Speaker 3: Thanks for bringing that memory up, because we took me and the shortstop out and we ended up losing day.

00:17:58
Speaker 2: They took out putting ransom. Yes, but I barely remember that game. Anyways.

00:18:04
Speaker 3: You're a manager now, you've been managing since what twenty eighteen, I think was your first year. What is the one thing that Alex Korra wishes he knew in twenty eighteen That Alex score in twenty twenty five notes.

00:18:16
Speaker 4: The media side of it is very challenging. I still remember Kevin Gregg in eighteen. He's with the Phillies now. He was our media relationship, the prison of media relationship. And he tells me in four myers from tomorrow on. You got to talk before the workout and after the game, like what I gotta do this twice And that's something that it's not easy because the game is the game and the game has evolved. But you have information and you talk to people and you're going to keep growing up as a manager and as a baseball person. But the media part of it is a challenge. You know, like right now we're talking, it's gonna come out and somebody's gonna make something out of this, you know, because he talked about mccleman, or he's talking to Alex Bregman every single day, or he doesn't talk to Trep Breslo every single day. And that's a challenge, man is you know, you guys call it what soap oper us right like Days of Our Lives right at one o'clock. I remember watching that in college. You know, probably Joey didn't do that in Vanderville, but I did in Miami. But it's an novela like we call it in Latin America. It's NonStop and you gotta be on top of it. You got to know their narrative. You have to control the narrative and if I wouldn't known that in eighteen and eighteen was quote unquote simple in that aspect because that team was amazing, But I didn't know how challenging it is and I'm still learning that that part of the game.

00:19:53
Speaker 5: One last quick one that we probably could have spent fifteen minutes on Roman Anthony, Roman Anthony getting third in American League Rookie of the Year voting. What do you see not his ceiling, but what do you see him doing next year? Because the future is very bright, but what do you see him doing for this team in a new role that he's going to need to take for you guys to make it to the series.

00:20:17
Speaker 4: Yes, the one thing that we still have to quote unquote solve is him against lefties. And that's something that as hitters, you know, left handed hitters is always a challenge. And it's funny because throughout the years, if you look at our roster, we have this problem. We had this problem quote unquote throughout the years Castes against lefties, Jaron Durant against le lefties, William braw against lefties. And there's a I call it a process, right like the evolution of the of the hitter. They come up to the big leagus and we platoon them and it happened with Roman for a week, you know, and he's gonna be okay. I see him hitting the top of the lineup. He's gonna be a debate if we're gonna lead him off or hitting second or hit him forth. We'll see what the roster looks when we get to Cincinnati next year for the home for Opening Day. But he's a guy that he's gonna keep getting on base. He's gonna hit for power. I think he was getting to the point that he was hitting the ball in the air. And the thing that people don't realize is that this guy is a great base runner and a good defender. I think he ended up plus four as far as defense. He runs, saves, and uh, he's just really good. One thing that we have to be very careful, and this happens in every big market, is like people put these players in a pedestal and they expect them to carry the offense, carry the franchise to the next level. And that's not the case. We have to protect him from that. But as far as the keep him healthy, let him be who he is, and uh, you know, we are far away from the best version of Roman Anthony, but the one we have right now and the one we're gonna have next year, he's really really good.

00:22:14
Speaker 3: So before, since you like Novella's, is Tristan Cassis your first baseman next year or are you gonna sign pet Alonzo?

00:22:21
Speaker 4: We gotta we gotta get him healthy, man.

00:22:23
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:22:24
Speaker 4: I think Christian is a big part of what we're trying to accomplish, but we gotta get him healthy. You know, last year we were talking about Tristan hitting thirty home runs, driving in one hundred, and that happened right early in the season. So we're not giving up of him, but we know that we he hasn't been healthy throughout his career, so that's very important.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: This guy looks so good.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: Look Peter a Lonzo like this hitting dingers at the Monster, the Gators, the Gators. Oh cn clip that clip down.

00:22:57
Speaker 4: Never went to college.

00:22:58
Speaker 2: He never went to college.

00:22:59
Speaker 5: He doesn't know. Don't worry.

00:23:00
Speaker 3: Flip flip that, by the way, clipped the Hurricanes.

00:23:04
Speaker 1: The Hurricanes, they teach you to be friendly to.

00:23:06
Speaker 2: Your Yeah, okay, go to Miami and give back.

00:23:09
Speaker 3: By the way, I've said this to thom mkainley, Miami beat Notre Dame, but they're ranked behind them. Anyways, I and I'm not a Miami fan, but that's some crap.

00:23:19
Speaker 4: You know what. This is the point of the season in college football the last four or five years, you know, and I hate to say it, you know, early in the season everywhere they're back, they're back, they're back, and now we're what sixteenth in the nation.

00:23:37
Speaker 2: Like, man, man, that's a you guy right there, that's a you guy.

00:23:43
Speaker 5: You know.

00:23:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wait, I wait, because it happens. Unfortunately, it's really kind of been twenty years like that where you get teased every once in a while and it just doesn't do it. It's not a complete season. So it is what it is. I don't want to talk about it.

00:23:59
Speaker 2: Alex.

00:23:59
Speaker 1: Enjoyed the offseason, actually enjoy your Well see you in a couple of weeks exactly. We'll see in Orlando in our backyard.

00:24:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, hey, and thank you for everything you guys do. I think it's refreshing. It is a great platform. And there's a reason we talk to you guys because I think for for the audience that we have now in the game, and we saw that in the World Series. Man, you know, game seven broke older ratings, right, and it's international and all that, and you guys are part of this. I appreciate you guys.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: Thank you well said, yeah, that's why we do it. So, you know, thank you, Alex, appreciate it. We'll see in a couple of weeks you will