[whimsical, expectant music plays]
[metal detector clatters]
[engine rumbling]
[man 1] We're at beautiful Hadlock Field in downtown Portland, Maine,
home of the Portland Sea Dogs,
the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
[announcer] Now let's say the words that we have…
-["Y.M.C.A." plays over speakers] -♪ Y.M.C.A. ♪
[Chris] We like to say we're not really in the baseball industry.
We're in the memory-making business.
We have no control, as a minor-league team,
what happens on the field.
The Red Sox control what happens on the field with the baseball.
What the Sea Dogs control is the fan experience,
and so we want to make sure that fans can come here and create lifelong memories.
[commentator] Hello, everybody. A very happy Saturday to you.
Welcome into Hadlock Field with your Portland Sea Dogs,
the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
And we are just about set here in Portland, Maine.
-[man 2] Let's go! -[stadium organ plays]
Hey! You ain't gotta go anywhere.
[commentator] The payoff.
That's called strike three.
-McDonough thought it was ball four. -Badass, let me tell you.
[commentator] The first out in the inning.
Fuckin' horseshit!
Let's go.
Oh, for saying, "Let's go," you fuckin' asshole?
For saying, "Let's go"?
[commentator] And the home plate umpire…
Darren, do you understand how bad you guys have been?
…has ejected the Sea Dogs manager.
Do you understand that these guys are competing
for fucking… and you guys are doing this shit?
What the fuck is going on with you guys?
The fuck?
[mellow, pensive music plays]
These fucking guys are assclowns, bro.
[Chris] Major Leagues, you know, there's a big focus on winning,
but we're here to create a very special experience for our fans.
You know, we've got one of the best mascots
in all of Minor League baseball.
He's actually the only Minor League sports mascot
inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame, Slugger the Sea Dog.
[Chad] You guys are fuckin' unbelievable.
And then the 3-1 pitch to McDonough was a fucking…
The fuck are we doing?
[boy] Yo, Coach! Coach!
[man 3] Like, the strike zone was terrible all weekend, Coach!
[boy] Take your… Take your time! Give them shit!
They're fuckin' awful, bro.
The guy's the worst fucking umpire behind the plate I've ever seen.
[dog whines]
[Chris] There's four main levels of Minor League Baseball,
Low-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and then the big leagues.
Double-A being the second-highest,
so these guys are on the cusp of breaking into the big leagues.
[announcer] Designated hitter number 18, Marcelo Mayer.
[fans whoop, applaud]
Mayer, the top prospect for the Boston Red Sox.
There are a lot of highly-touted prospects on this team.
We're very lucky to have the top three
in the Red Sox system with us all at one time.
Marcelo Mayer, the top prospect for Boston,
along with Roman Anthony, the second prospect in the system.
-[clack] -[fans applaud]
[Rylee] And Kyle Teel, the number three prospect
and the top catching prospect with the Red Sox.
-You all right? -[Darren] Goddamn it.
-Where'd it get ya? -[Darren] Right in the asshole. Ugh!
[Rylee] These are guys that I really do believe will be big leaguers
and hopefully making an impact for the Red Sox pretty soon.
[Speier] When players enter professional baseball,
usually that's an exercise in daydreaming.
What… what possibility exists?
And then the years that they spend in the Minor Leagues
tell you what they are.
But this is one of the most significant assemblies of talent
that the Red Sox have had, giving this glimpse of a group
that the Red Sox hope is kind of the bedrock
of the organization moving forward.
-[keyboard clacking] -[music fades out]
[Craig] Having just gotten the job, you know, in late October, early November,
I believe that, you know, we had a really strong farm system
with really talented players and great coaches.
That has turned out to be true.
But also, the reason I'm here
is because the Major League team finished in last place over the last two years.
[contemplative music plays]
[Cora] The balance of developing and winning at the big-league level
is hard to accomplish. It's very hard.
Traditionally, teams that are in a playoff race like to add.
They wanna fill holes.
Trading away a couple of prospects could solve a need on the Major League level.
[Craig] The trade deadline represents an opportunity to going all in.
Fans have built expectations that we're going to compete every single year.
It's a critical decision,
and if you get it wrong, it can serve to set the organization back sometimes years.
[indistinct chatter]
[Sean] Is it worth it to give up some prospects at the deadline
to position the team for the stretch run?
This is where we are. That's where we wanna be.
-[acoustic guitar strumming] -[players chattering]
[Kyle] Hey, I got a good question for all of you guys.
Who do you take in a fight, two gorillas or a grizzly bear?
[player 1] One gorilla beats a grizzly bear.
-[Kyle] No chance. No chance. -[player 1] Bro, yes.
Hey, what was the reason you started playing guitar again?
Um, no, uh, I taught myself in eighth grade
'cause I wanted to pick up chicks.
-[players chuckle] -[player 2] Fire way to pick up girls.
-[player 1] A fire way. -[Kyle] It worked.
Picking up chicks with a guitar, sixth tool.
-It's a good tool. -[Kyle] Hey, I got a good question.
If you could understand the answer to any one question, what would it be?
I don't know. That's a deep question, bro.
You can get the answer to anything.
-[player 3] So one question… -Anything.
-…you can know the answer to. -What's the pitcher gonna throw me?
-[Kyle] Hmm! -That'd be sick.
-Sick. -[Kyle] That's money right there.
-[chuckles] That'd have to be my answer. -Yeah, for sure.
-I don't wanna know any of the deep stuff. -Right.
That's gonna happen. I just wanna know what the pitcher's gonna throw me.
-[chuckles] -[guitar continues]
[Craig] Trying to win tonight's game
while being anchored to what is best for the organization can be really difficult.
But I think when you make those decisions, you need to get them right.
[acoustic guitar continues strumming]
-[ending chord rings out] -[strumming fades]
[Kyle] All right. Let's go.
-Let's get some steak. -[player] Yeah.
[Roman] Bro, that was good, though. You were hitting it.
[horn honks]
[Sam] Today marks the end of an intense search process,
uh, and it represents a new chapter for our baseball operation.
I'll turn it over to the new chief baseball officer
for the Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow.
[crowd applauding]
So I've watched a lot of baseball games at Fenway Park. [chuckles]
Some from the stands, some from the bleachers,
but most from the bullpen.
I know what it's like to put on a Red Sox jersey.
I know what it's like to stand on the mound.
I know what it means to win in Boston.
I understand that some of you will see me
as another Ivy League nerd with a baseball front office job.
-[Sam chuckling] -It's true. I am that.
But I'm also a 13-year big leaguer
and a 2013 Boston Red Sox World Series champion.
And I know what it takes to win here,
and I'm willing to make the hard decisions necessary to deliver.
[man 1] Hey, Breslow!
[Sam] If we don't play meaningful games in October
and, frankly, if we don't win the World Series,
many, many, many people view our season as a failure.
[woman 1] Breslow!
[Sam] That's the mindset that we have to have.
-[man 2] Mind if I take a selfie with you? -Yeah.
[Sam] Craig Breslow is incredibly bright and hardworking,
but we haven't accomplished anything together yet.
[woman 2] You're doing a good job.
-[Craig] Despite what they say, right? -Despite… Right.
[producer] So far, do you like this job?
[chuckles] It's funny. Um…
I haven't given myself a chance to decide whether or not I like the job,
because… day to day, there's not really time to stop and think about that.
I enjoy thinking about how great it's going to feel
to win here and share that experience with the people of Boston,
but I suppose it's my overly practical self
that kind of says, "Man, I don't have enough time in the day to do the job."
I certainly don't have enough time to remove myself
and ask whether or not I'm enjoying it. [chuckles]
-All right. -You're out?
-Yes. See you in Atlanta. -I'll see you in Atlanta.
-Yeah. Awesome. -Yeah. We'll obviously be in touch.
-Enjoy the family. -Thank you.
Take it easy, guys. Have a good trip.
Once I leave the field, it's not as though my job is over.
I can never really unplug, turn off, you know, put the phone on silent.
There's always the possibility that something is critical and…
-[chime] -[GPS] Turn left on Boylston Street.
…time sensitive that arises.
You know, a GM from another team reaches out
and has interest in one of our players,
or, you know, there's a player who's available
that can make our team better.
And so, there's a huge opportunity cost to stepping away.
Now I have to balance that with the fact that I'm a father and a husband,
and my kids need to see me, and I need to be present for them.
And I try to balance those things as best I can.
[boy 1] I beat you by a million miles!
[boy 2] Luke is first.
[woman] Anyone get hurt today?
[Craig] Um…
I saw the bat boy took a foul ball to the chin.
-Oh, right to the… Bat girl. -Oh, it was a girl?
-I saw that. -Right to the chin.
-Did she get added to the IL? [chuckles] -Stone faced. Like this.
[soft piano music plays]
All right, come on, Mason. Come on.
[Mason grunts]
You keep doing this, it's gonna keep going over there.
[coach chatters indistinctly]
[Mason grunts]
Darn it.
[Kelly] They're loaded, Mase.
Come on, Mason. Here we go.
-Attaboy. -[clang]
-Catch that. Catch it. Catch it. Catch it. -[boys chatter]
[Craig] Oh.
[producer] When you're evaluating an eight-year-old,
are you tempted to bring some analytics from the office?
When they throw, I tell them as fast as they can.
When they swing, swing as hard as they can.
When they run, I tell them to run as fast as they can. Um…
That, eventually, is what underlies good players.
[man 1] Strike three.
-[man 2] All right! -[Craig] Mase. Mase.
[parents clapping]
-[Craig] All right, go get a knock. -[indistinct chatter]
[man 3] All right, boys. Who's ready?
Big third inning. You ready?
[music fades out]
[crowd chattering]
-[fans whistling] -[stadium organ playing]
[producer] Are you guys letting yourselves have some hopes for this season?
[man 1] I feel like we kinda need to have hope.
I mean, the three of us have…
Since we started, they haven't made the playoffs once.
So we've never worked a playoff game.
[man 2] For the record, they have a winning record when I'm working.
-I've tracked it. -They definitely have when I'm working.
I've tracked my record of games I work.
-My first ten, like 11 games… -There were over 500.
My first 11 games, I was 10-1, even though we were last in the division.
[Morris chuckles]
[producer] What would you do at the trade deadline?
-[Morris] Pfft. Oh man. -[Jake] Uh…
My dad wants us to trade for Vladimir Guerrero, so…
-[Morris chuckles] -I mean, I'd like that.
I don't know how realistic that is.
[woman] I don't know. I think we need some more power hitting.
I read a thing about maybe they would trade for Pete Alonso,
but then there would be some…
They would have a problem at first.
But Casas is supposed to come back soon. That's a good bat.
[Sean] The Red Sox are in the position of being the third wild-card spot,
as the July 31st trade deadline approaches.
[rousing rock music plays]
[Speier] This season has been a considerable surprise,
in terms of what the Red Sox have accomplished.
They're at least within shouting distance for a playoff spot.
Now, the tricky part with the trade deadline is,
are they going to make a big-splash addition?
[Sean] The trade deadline's the last opportunity.
You're either a buyer trying to get better,
or you're a team having a disappointing season
that becomes a seller and trying to acquire younger players
in exchange for your veterans who aren't helping you enough right now.
[Ian] The trading deadline is always
where you find out what vibe your team is gonna have for the season.
Are we a team that's just kinda going for it,
or are we a team that's looking ahead to the future?
I think Breslow is gonna have a lot of very interesting decisions to make.
He's gonna have to look at this and say,
"Where we going with this team? Can this team make the playoffs?"
"Would we benefit more from the trading a veteran for prospects,
or should we ride it out with this team and go for it down the stretch?"
Which they didn't do the last two years.
[Cora] Last year, we were one game behind at the trading deadline.
The year before, the same thing.
They didn't buy, and we missed the playoffs.
When you're sitting there for 162 games,
you feel like you can do it, you know?
Like, up there, it's a little bit different, you know?
They have to think about the now, the future,
the business side of it, where we at.
Yeah. I don't… I don't have those conversations.
If we're in this situation this year, and we're close… and we sell,
well, the message better be a good one for the fan base.
[Sean] I think it's gonna be a fascinating time
to watch Breslow operate,
having to determine do we go for it at the deadline,
or do we sell off what we have and keep getting better
until we're really ready to compete for October?
[music fades out]
[indistinct chatter]
…City, Houston, Seattle, like, those are the four I remember being there.
[Craig] All right, so we've…
We've got a tall task ahead of us for the next five days or so.
The overall playoff picture is pretty cloudy.
I've been adamant, right, about we have to pick a lane.
You know, we… we can't really take this, like, buy-sell hybrid approach.
I think there are three needs.
Right-handed hitter, starting pitching, and then right-handed reliever.
Not necessarily that we don't have talented guys there,
but they're… they're overworked.
The other thing we have to address
is four guys are gonna be free agents at the end of the season,
in O'Neill, Pivetta, Jansen, and Martin.
[rock music plays]
And that means if a team comes forward and is willing to blow us out of the water
with asks on… on any of those guys, we have to listen.
So the four guys that are going to be free agents at the end of the season,
they are really good players.
They've helped put us in the position that we are right now,
and for that reason, it's very, very difficult to trade them,
knowing the impact they could have on the rest of our season.
But it's for the exact same reasons that other teams are interested in them,
and so trying to find the appropriately high threshold
to navigate this is what we struggle with.
But the line that I keep using is "We need to do what's best for the Red Sox."
[man] We have an analyst who built this really cool app that said,
"If we trade away certain players, what'll it do to our expected wins?"
So using O'Neill as an example,
we lose about 9% to 10% playoff odds.
In a perfect world, if we were to trade Tyler O'Neill as a right-handed bat,
but we could get a right-handed bat back,
especially one with control, like, that's a great outcome.
[Giolito] When you get drafted,
the team that drafted you has control over you for six years.
And once those six years are up, you're a free agent,
and that is the first time in your career
that you get to seek compensation at a free-market value.
O'Neill is going to be a free agent at the end of this season.
He's a guy that made a tremendous impact right away.
He starts the season as their… their best hitter, really.
He carried the team for… for days at a time.
[Will] A swing and a drive. That one hammered, way up there.
-And gone! -[crowd cheers]
[Will] He hit the daylights out of it.
Red Sox keep talking about how they're looking for right-handed bats.
Where would they be without that right-handed hitter, Tyler O'Neill?
He so openly talked about wanting to stay here.
He loves playing for the Red Sox.
[chuckles] They're loving it too.
[Sean] He's become a pretty popular player.
The question is, is whether he'll be able to finish the season here.
O'Neill could very well be a guy that gets sold at the deadline.
Or do the Red Sox keep him
with the understanding that he could leave as a free agent after the year,
and they get next to nothing for him in return?
That's a sort of no-man's-land that Breslow does not want to find himself in.
[pensive music plays]
-[birds chirping] -[music fades out]
[dog barking]
[O'Neill] I really like to be able to work in my own environment,
just having a tee and home plate and just figuring it out all myself.
So this kinda gave me the opportunity for that.
It's nothing crazy. It's like 40 feet or so.
Hi, Audrie girl.
Yeah, no, it's plenty wide. It just gives me everything I need, right?
You know, I got my own Trackman,
so I like to set her up right behind home plate and then,
you know, it's long enough where it gives me enough of a read
that it can calibrate the batted-ball data most of the time.
You know, it's like, obviously, it would like to track it
a little further sometimes, so it'll miss some,
but it helps me stay small.
-It helps me work small. -[Audrie babbles]
It gives me video feedback, tells you where the ball goes.
Usually, it tells me where it is in the strike zone that it hits.
-[Stephanie] Whoa. -[O'Neill] Ninety. [exhales]
-[Stephanie] Pretty good off the tee. -No warm-up, so… [chuckles]
-[Stephanie] No warm-up. [chuckles] -I'll do my routine down here.
Steph will come down and do some flips for me,
and then I'll have all the camera and batted-ball data that I need.
[intriguing music plays]
Go middle in, Steph. Go middle in.
-Okay, that's good. -[Stephanie] Awesome.
Boston's been amazing so far.
It's been such a… an easy transition for us,
which you never know how it's gonna go when you're traded.
Yeah, I know, and playing in Fenway Park every day is like a dream come true.
For sure, and it's, like, maybe… maybe it's only this year.
-[Stephanie] We don't know. -I don't know. Maybe…
-[Stephanie] Maybe two months. -…till August 2nd.
I don't know what that looks like. I hope not.
-[Stephanie] We don't know. -I hope it's longer than that, but…
[Stephanie] At the end of the day, it's still a business.
It's still business.
Nobody's got a fortune-teller ball to tell you the truth of what's coming.
And hopefully, like, Craig Breslow decides
that you guys are buyers at the deadline and not sellers,
and we can enjoy another few months here, you know?
Hopefully the team's performance is strong enough
that it kind of forces the hand that way too,
'cause obviously Craig's trying to put a winning product on the field,
and, you know…
Well, we've seen how electric Boston can be when we're winning.
-That place is… it's a fun place to play. -The fans really show up.
-And Audrie loves the environment there. -[O'Neill kisses]
We literally got off the elevator during your games there,
and she's like dancing and clapping
'cause it's just, like, so energizing in that ballpark.
[Audrie babbles]
-Audrie, can you walk to Daddy again? -[babbles]
Walk to Daddy. Walk to Daddy.
Walk to Daddy.
-[Stephanie] Nope. [laughs] -Oh.
[Stephanie] As soon as you ask her, "I'm gonna go the easy way."
She literally just did.
I think we're a pretty good team.
We definitely have a chance, you know, at the wild card, I would say, this year.
You know, Baltimore and New York, they look like they're…
they're kinda running up there a little bit in terms of games ahead.
So it just depends on the boys staying healthy
and staying in routine, you know?
It's the toughest part about this game, you know, staying healthy for 160 days.
[car horns honking]
[Casas] I'm pretty bummed out about everything.
I haven't been able to do much, you know, for right now,
catch up on, like, big-boy activities, I guess.
So, yeah… maybe I take up an instrument or something in this time.
I'm trying to stay positive.
I'm low maintenance. I don't need a lot, so a bed and a TV,
reading, watching shows.
I hate watching baseball though. I never watch baseball.
I, uh… [breathes deeply]
It just makes me upset, so I don't even… I don't even tap into it.
What's up, Will? How we doing?
-Hey, Triston. How's it going? -[Casas] Nice to see you. Good.
[dance music plays over speakers]
[Giolito] Damn. Jose Abreu released.
[Casas] He's washed.
He had his time.
[Giolito] Thirty million bucks they're gonna give him.
That's it?
[Giolito] Here's $30 million. Don't play anymore. It's crazy.
Isn't that what we're doing to you?
It's a little different.
-[chuckles]♦ -[player] You ready?
[Giolito] That's what we're doing to you, but for what? 500? 700?
Minimum?
Okay, I hit six homers this year. That's, like, worth 700,000.
-[Giolito] It is. -If I didn't play again,
they'd get their money's worth, ultimately.
[Giolito] Do you have a WAR point? Did you get to one?
No, I have like 0.3.
-[Giolito] That's 700K. -Right.
-[Giolito] There ya go. -[chuckles]
-You played up to your value. [chuckles] -[Casas] Exactly.
[Craig] We are a much better team when he's in the lineup.
He's a young player that should be in the middle of our order
for a really long time, and, you know, what he adds,
not just by his own presence and what he's capable of doing,
but the way it lengthens the lineup,
and it probably takes some pressure off Raffy and guys like Jarren.
And it's really difficult to miss that much time,
but we've gotta play good baseball here.
[rhythmic music plays]
[Will] You know, first of all, get us updated.
It's been a huge loss not having you in the lineup.
I know it's driving you nuts,
but update us on your rehab with the injury.
Right. Driving me nuts too, driving you guys, everybody.
But it's tough,
'cause if the team's doing well, I wanna be a part of it,
and if they're doing bad, I feel I can contribute a little bit.
You know, I'm trying to find a balance between activity and staying in shape,
but also trying to let it recover and give it some time to heal.
So it's just been a weird recovery process up to now.
[man 1] The rehab world and the IL can be a fucked-up, shitty-ass place.
They've taken away what we love the most, right?
They've taken the game.
So setting those little daily goals, "All right, tomorrow, I'm gonna get this,"
just makes it something to look forward to.
[Giolito] I got fat.
I was lead to believe you were eating healthy
and walking on the treadmill.
I walk on the treadmill every day.
-[chuckles] -Not enough.
[Giolito] This stinks.
Now, my normal is rehab.
It's just, like, extremely boring.
-I don't know. What are you gonna do? -[woman] Yeah.
I can't believe how fast you're recovering.
Fuck, Brad.
[woman chuckling] He asked the surgeon if he could throw this year.
-And he was like, "No." -"No."
-[chuckles] -Worth a shot.
Oh, this is what's called "eyewash."
-Right. -All of this bullshit.
-[man 2] It's the most important thing to… -Fuck you, Nick.
The most important thing to do is throw.
-[Nick] Straight extension. -Throw a hunch.
It's important
and it's very helpful to have these goals and to have these benchmarks,
but understand that they're very fluid.
We were supposed to swing today, but, "Man, I just don't feel right."
Let's wait an extra day.
[Hendriks grunts] God fucking damn it!
-[man 3] Rehab isn't linear. -Fuck!
[man 3] Some days, I'm going to have to take a step back
to go two steps forward.
[Hendriks] Fuck me.
-[man 3] You're gonna be slow… -[grunts]
…and I know you guys wanna get back fast.
[Grissom] How many minutes would you last with me wrestling?
You're assuming that you would win in a wrestling match with me?
Right.
[Casas] Sometimes as a guy who's on the IL, you can feel alienated.
You know, I'm not really in the middle of the grind with all the same guys.
-I'm stronger than you. -No.
-I'm taller. -I'll give you bigger.
I'll give you bigger than me, but stronger than me, no.
[Casas] Maybe I could have gained some type of perspective
or maybe getting this time away from the game,
um, maybe could've helped me somehow.
But, you know, getting better happens on the field.
You know, it happens in at-bats.
I'm way longer than you. What are you talking about?
[Garrett] When you're on the IL,
your biggest job on the team is support in any way you can,
just be a really good teammate.
-Hey, good turn. Attaboy. -[Giolito] It's a very exciting team.
Obviously, I wanted to kind of, like, anchor that rotation,
but they have been such a blast to watch.
[producer] Are you a buyer or a seller right now for the Red Sox
leading into the trade deadline?
[chuckles] Yeah, always buying.
[man on radio] James Paxton got DFA-ed today by the Dodgers.
If you're a building team, is James Paxton a pitcher you wanna go get?
What type of team would want a James Paxton?
[rhythmic music plays]
[Craig] James Paxton,
he's a really good fit for us, given he's left handed,
which is something that we don't have.
-[crowd cheers] -[commentator] Devers is gone.
A starting pitcher was pretty high on our target list.
I would put him in the rotation,
balance out the five right-handed starters.
We would have a conversation
about what we do with whoever he displaces.
Obviously, we want to talk to AC about it, but that's how I'd approach it.
Yeah. I think we should do it.
If anybody wants to stand on the table and scream that we shouldn't…
Being able to get that done four days, five days, whatever it is,
out from the deadline gives us a chance to kind of exhale a little bit
and shift our focus to some other priorities.
All right, we got a Paxton.
-[man 1] Nice. -All right.
Yeah. Pending medical. Uh, pending medical.
-[man 2] On it. -Yeah.
-Nice. -[Craig] All right.
[rhythmic music continues]
[man 3] Craig Breslow is going to work here at the trade deadline.
-[ball thwacks] -[player] Oh my gosh.
[man 3] They just made a trade for James Paxton,
in which they dealt away a 17-year-old kid in Moises Bolivar.
To see Breslow do that early, get Paxton, not give up much,
it's a good sign to everybody,
the fans, Alex Cora, and more importantly, the players in that clubhouse.
They've made a commitment to this team.
Go out and get it, guys, 'cause we believe in you.
[Craig] One action item for today would be to get those deals
for O'Neill, Pivetta, Martin, Jansen.
You know, in a perfect world, a controllable right-handed bat
beats the rental right-handed bat.
You know, a controllable relief pitcher over a rental relief pitcher.
If there's a chance to make the team better right now,
we should strongly consider it, a chance to make the team better
in the future, we should strongly consider it.
All right, why don't we take a little break, make calls,
um, and then we can get back together here shortly?
All right? Thanks, guys.
[man 3] Now go get a right-handed bat,
don't give up much, stay away from the big three
in Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and as well as Kyle Teel,
and go make another deal.
[car horns honking]
[producer] Is it hard to be home and present?
It seems like it's a job that's never done.
I don't think it's hard. I think it's impossible.
Uh, because I think in two minutes I'm probably gonna get a call,
and that's going to be, you know, one… piece of information
as to whether or not we can, uh, you know, try to execute this, like,
potentially sign a new player, but have him here for tomorrow.
Trying to balance all of those things while also
knowing I need to put the kids to bed here shortly is… [chuckles]
-Hey, dude. -[Mason] Hey, Dad.
-[Craig] What's up? -[Mason] Not much.
-[Mason chuckles] -[Kelly] Um…
You waited for me.
What are you doing in the morning? We don't have any breakfast here?
-Blackbird makes breakf… Uh… -[smartwatch buzzing]
-Oh. -[buzzing continues]
Wait. Hang on here, guys.
Hey, Brad. It's Bres. How are you doing?
Good. I feel like we've been…
-[indistinct chatter] -[soft, brooding music plays]
[Kelly] We were married in 2013…
11 days after he had just won the World Series for the Red Sox.
It's hard for others to understand what this life is like.
When he was playing,
he would come home for like a 24-hour window.
If he had an off day, he would fly in to see the kids.
It's a lot more isolating than I think people would think for the families.
[indistinct chatter]
[Kelly] Players leave for all of February and March for Spring Training,
and then there's 162 games of being away from your family.
-Can you see Daddy? -[Mason] I see Daddy.
[Kelly] That's a lot of bedtimes to miss…
-Hi, Daddy. -[Mason] Hi, Daddy.
…birthday parties to miss…
funerals to miss.
It's hard for others to understand what this life is like.
-And so where you guys are right now… -[Craig] Yeah.
-…so what decisions are coming? -[music fades]
I mean, the elephant in the room is gonna be what we do at the trade deadline.
When do you feel is the point at which it's the go or no-go when you decide
for the season, or does it change every day, or…?
Even if we went into the season saying,
"Hey, like, we're absolutely ready to compete,
or we're absolutely not ready,
like, the most compelling data is what's happening on the field.
Right? Like, there's only 29 other people in my position.
There's only one team that's gonna win the World Series,
so I don't want to fuck it up. [chuckles]
What do you worry about?
Like, I wouldn't say I'm worried about the trade deadline.
I feel like finally we're in a place
where, I mean, a lot of things could happen to you,
but getting traded is not one at this point, so I feel stable with that.
I just came from a baby shower,
and I do feel like, on my side of things,
I think,
as I was talking to the girls tonight, I was like, "Oh, when are you due?"
And I'm thinking, "Ugh, I can remember that feeling of being like,
'What if you got traded
right after the boys were born or before the boys were born?'"
And so I feel like I have secondhand stress
for all of the family side of that.
-I also feel… -[soundscape fades]
I can tell you what it's like
to be sitting home and wondering if your husband's getting traded
and that feeling of, "How comfortable should I be here?"
"Should we start packing?"
I know the nagging of, "Do you think you're gonna get traded?"
Like, "What do you think we should be doing?"
"Do you think I should start packing up?" Like, "Do you think I should go home?"
[Garrett] Hey, buddy.
[Kelly] That uncertainty right now in a lot of homes is probably high.
[soft, brooding music plays]
He's still asleep.
[Kelly] It's a stressful time of year, I think, for everyone.
[music fades]
-[cars honking] -[indistinct street chatter]
[telephones ringing in background]
[Craig] The team has played really well.
We have put ourselves in a place
where we are focused on trying to improve the club.
That's how we're gonna spend our time.
We've talked about needing a starting pitcher, needing a reliever,
needing a right-handed bat.
We are super excited to… to continue down this path
because we're playing really good baseball right now.
[cell phone buzzing]
Oh, I've gotta… I gotta grab this, guys.
-[producer] Okay. -Yeah.
[producer] And we can't film it?
[door opens]
[Craig] Hey. What's up, man?
[Kelly] He told me he probably wasn't going to be home
at all until the trade deadline…
Like, at nighttime, until the trade deadline.
I think he wants to make the playoffs this year.
He also would like to make the playoffs next year
and the year after and the year after, so… it'll be interesting,
even for me, to see kind of what happens.
[Cora] What up? What up?
-[Craig] We can do the Jansen thing. -[Cora] Okay.
[Craig] So I just wanted to, before we give the final yes,
just kind of talk through it…
-Pulls the ball. -[Craig] He's a really good fit here.
-Like… -He hits it hard.
[Craig] Yeah. So I think we should do it.
Our best lineup on paper is going to be Jansen catching.
I recognize there's a lot more involved in that, but, like…
-Yeah. Cool. -…wanted to check in.
-Yeah. There you go. -[Craig] I'll give you a text.
-One down. -[Craig chuckles]
-One down. -[Craig] Yeah.
[tense music plays]
[Craig] All right, I talked to Alex. We talked through playing time.
Given where we are, we should do it. So we gotta give them the okay.
-[man] Yeah. -Get medicals exchanged.
Think we got ourselves a right-handed hitter.
-All right. -[Craig] All right.
-All right, I'll call 'em. -Yep.
So trade for… for Danny Jansen,
right-handed-hitting catcher, uh, which is a little bit complicated
in that we have a really good right-handed-hitting catcher right now.
Um, but fortunately, Connor is athletic, can bounce around the diamond.
I think there's an opportunity to find significant at bats for both those guys.
-[man 1] You leak it to the media yet? -In two seconds.
[men chuckle]
It's a lot of mixed emotions. It just kind of happened.
I think I saw it on the TV right away. Um… but, um…
Yeah, you know, it's… um, mixed emotions.
[Craig] We ended up giving up three Minor League prospects.
We think they're really good players, but in order to get a good player,
you have to give up good players.
-Feeling pretty good? -[man 2] Yeah.
-[Craig chuckles] -Very good.
[Craig] All right, so we came into this thinking
starting pitcher, right-handed bat, reliever.
Let's shift focus to a right-handed reliever, all right?
[tense music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[music fades out]
-[man 1] Yeah, Wilyer. -[man 2] Yeah, faster.
[player in Spanish] To Wilyer. Wilyer. That was great.
[Giolito in English] I'm rarely out here. You guys gave me a good excuse.
What happened to you?
I had, uh… It's called the internal brace.
-[Casey] Yeah. -Can you still throw as hard?
Hopefully I throw harder when I come back.
-Really? -[Giolito] But I have to miss this year.
-You gotta miss the whole year? -Yeah. Luckily, I signed a two-year deal.
-So… -You got it right. [laughs]
-You're in my favorite movie of all time. -What's that?
-Saving Private Ryan. -Oh man. Yeah, that's a good one.
But, yeah, it's weird. I, uh…
I do this for a living, but my whole family's in entertainment.
-Right. -[Giolito] My mom was an actress.
My grandfather was an actor.
My little brother's an actor now, actually.
-Oh really? -Yeah.
He's in LA, just like grinding auditions.
-I've been there. -Yeah.
-It is a constant hustle. It never stops. -[Giolito] Yeah.
And now with what's going on with, like, generative AI and shit…
-…it's gonna get so weird. It's like… -[Giolito] Oh shit. Yeah.
-You know, it's… it's a weird time for us. -[Giolito] The AI thing is a little scary.
Yeah, we got it too. We're gonna bring in the robot umpires soon.
-Oh really? -Yeah.
It's looking that way. They're gonna test them out next Spring Training.
And they're good?
-[Giolito] Yeah, they are. Yeah. -[woman] Oh my God.
[upbeat music plays over speakers]
-[Cora] Who's the other guy? -[man 3] Casey Affleck.
-[Cora] Actor? -Yeah, it's Ben Affleck's brother.
-[Cora] Oh, okay. -[man 3] He's got the same, like, talent…
[Cora] What's going on? Nah.
-How you doing? Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you. Big fan.
-[Cora] What's up, man? Good? -Good to see you.
-Yeah, good. How you doing? -[Cora] I'm good.
-Attaboy. -[Cora] Yeah, I'm doing good, yeah.
The boys are playing well, and it's been fun, right?
-[Matt] Oh, it has. -Yeah. So… see what happens.
I'm worried with Matt getting in here, it's gonna jinx things. Know what I mean?
-[laughs] -[Cora] Oh, well… Nah, nah. He'll be fine.
-Five and a half minutes like that. -We'll be fine.
-Throwing out the first pitch today? -Yeah. Last time I did was '04.
-Come on. -Oh, okay. Good.
-That was two years ago. [laughs] -[both chuckle]
[clack]
[Will] It is just a spectacular setting here in Boston
for the Red Sox and the Yankees.
Trades going left and right. The Red Sox have acquired Danny Jansen,
the catcher from the Toronto Blue Jays, who you would assume is coming over
to not only make the Red Sox a little bit more right-handed,
but to back up Connor Wong.
You wonder what that means for Reese McGuire.
Rumors flying like crazy.
It is that time of year. Two days to go until the trade deadline.
Then, as of this exact moment, the Red Sox are closing in
on both the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.
They are 3.5 games back of the Yankees and five behind Baltimore,
with a big game looming here tonight at Fenway Park.
Hey, guys.
-Hey. What are you doing out here? -What are you doing out here?
-[Nick] I catch first pitch. -Oh.
[Andy] Who are you catching today?
[Nick] Uh… Ben Affleck's brother.
-Lucas has, uh, Matt Damon. -[Holt] Wow.
[Cora] Did you pitch on Monday?
-[Nick] Yeah. -[Cora] Wow.
-I know. -Things might change in two days.
-You never know. -No, no, no, no.
-[chuckles] -They're not gonna change.
It's done. What's done is done.
[expectant music plays]
[Will] So here come the Red Sox. Kutter Crawford is on the mound.
The former Boston Red Sock, now in his first year with the Yankees,
is Alex Verdugo.
-[crowd booing] -[Will] He's getting ready for some boos.
[booing continues]
[inaudible]
[Joe] 1-0 pitch, swing, and a line drive hammered deep to right field,
back by the bullpen,
and this ball is off the wall.
And Verdugo's only at first.
Oh, he thought it was gone. He only got to first base.
[Will chuckles]
Get out of the box, Dugie, fuck!
-This isn't New York, Dugie! -[Story] That's unbearable!
[Joe] Here's Juan Soto now. He's hot again with 26 homers.
2-1, he doesn't go.
And the pitch is in, high to right-center field and deep,
back by the bullpen, and it is gone!
Two-run homer, Soto, 2-0 Yankees.
[Will] A little alarming how many Yankee fans are here. That was very loud.
[Joe] Tough start. Here's Aaron Judge, and the pitch.
Swing, and there's a high drive, left field. This one's long gone.
Wow, over everything and deep into Lansdowne Street.
The contact is deafening.
Fuck!
[player] I mean, that 1-2 punch is, bro, crazy.
[Joe] Bottom of the first inning, first and third still one out.
If the Red Sox get even two to cut into that lead, it would be huge.
The pitch, swing and a drive, left-center field.
-On the go is Grisham, toward the gap. -[music lifts]
He dives. He can't get it. It gets by him.
It goes all the way to the wall. One run has scored.
Raffy being waved home, and the tying run crosses the plate.
And the Red Sox have tied it, just like that at three.
What a wild start tonight at Fenway Park.
Hey, great inning, boys!
[music abates]
I got them… That's the only runs they score tonight, boys.
Yeah. Oh God.
[Will] And Cabrera lifts one down the line.
Abreu towards the corner, all the way to the track.
-He leaps up into the crowd! -[commentator] Did he get it?
-[Will] And he held on! -[commentator] No way. Has he got it?
If he dropped it, it's a home run. If he held on, it's an out.
And now, the first base umpire is gonna say home run, he could not hold on.
-Wow. What action we have had. -[commentator] Whoo.
Only an inning and a half in the books,
and it's the Yankees, four, the Red Sox, three,
second and third, nobody out.
The pitch, swing, fly ball, shallow right-center field.
Grisham coming on, still coming hard.
He makes a running catch, and the runners hold.
[players chatter]
[umpire] He's out.
[Will] Rafaela could've scored, and he's been called out.
Did they have a hidden ball trick on? Yes, they did.
-[Joe] Oh my. -[Will] They tagged Ceddanne out at third.
Wow.
They snuck in the little league move.
[Joe] Red Sox, five, Yankees, five.
What a wild one as we go to the bottom half of the fifth inning.
[chuckles] That's all we've played so far,
and plenty of action all the way around.
And here's Tyler O'Neill, who's six of his last 13, hitting a .268,
20 homers and 39 knocked in.
[mellow, pensive music plays]
[O'Neill] I'm just grateful to an organization like Boston.
It's been awesome these last few months.
You know, the friendships and the chemistry in the clubhouse,
and the boys are just bumping and vibing.
I'm just really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it.
And it's something I haven't felt in… in a long time.
[music continues]
-[umpire] Strike. -[O'Neill] Baseball's so tough.
It's so hard to score up a round ball and a round bat when it's moving at 95,
a couple different ways, off-speed off of it.
Like, it's tough. You gotta be balanced. You gotta see it.
And you gotta be mechanically stable.
The only focus I'm on is that baseball.
Let's go compete. Let's win this at bat. Let's win this pitch.
[Joe] He drives one high to left field and deep.
-This one is long gone, over everything… -[crowd cheering]
[Joe] …deep into Lansdowne Street, and the Red Sox regain the lead, 6-5.
-[cheering continues] -[funky rock music plays]
[Will] Here we go with Cam Booser,
who's just been fantastic for the Red Sox of late,
and what a spot this is.
First and third with one out.
Here's the pitch, and it is popped up into center field.
Duran camping out underneath. Tagging at third is Judge.
Jarren makes the play, tagging, throwing is Duran.
-It is a little late. -[crowd groans]
[Will] And the game is tied at six.
Put the Sox ahead did Tyler O'Neill in the fifth inning,
but we're tied again at six.
The 1-2, swing and a high drive into left field.
This thing is back, at the wall!
-Gone! -[cheering erupts]
[Will] Into the front row of the Monster seats
for the second time tonight.
Tyler O'Neill puts the Sox ahead with a homer.
It is 7-6.
[commentator] The left field Green Monster looms large when you miss your pitch
against a dangerous right-handed hitter like O'Neill.
A lot of intrigue. Again, trade deadline 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.
Joe, listen up.
With all due respect, with all due respect, you're wrong.
He says Kyle Teel has two more years until he's playing with us.
[Nick] Who said that?
Our Double-A catcher, our number-one prospect,
who's got an eight-something OPS in Double-A.
I said, "They could possibly trade Wong."
And he goes, "Oh, Wong's not going anywhere."
-I go… "Well, he could though." -Of course. He could.
[Refsnyder] Wong could be a really good trading piece.
-Goddamn neck. -Logical. You're always logical, Rob.
[player 1] Hey, come on. We gotta win, or TO's fucking gone.
[player 2 laughs]
-[tense music plays] -[Will] To the ninth we go.
Kenley Jansen on for the save, with the Red Sox holding on by one.
[Joe] 8-7, Boston, two out, 9th inning.
A lot of pressure.
So Trent Grisham, the batter. Jones at third with two down in the ninth.
And the big right-hander fires.
And a strike over the inside edge, great cutter.
[Will] Our new close friends Matt Damon and Casey Affleck
were playing catch before the game, and Kenley yelled out,
"Tell Jason Bourne not to kill me."
[both chuckle]
When he has no room for error… he… he goes right after it, bro.
It's when he has, like, a three-run lead or a two-run lead that he…
[Will] Well, this is just so critical on a number of levels,
but most of all, because Kenley is the last high-leverage reliever
available in the bullpen.
I mean, this thing goes to extras, who knows what Alex would do?
[Joe] The 2-2 to Grisham.
Swing and a drive, left-center field, hit well.
Back goes Duran on the warning track.
O'Neill, it's going to hit off the wall and tie the game.
-[crowd groans] -[Joe] A Fenway wall scraper.
And we're tied at eight.
This would really hurt to lose this one.
[Will] And it's Chase Anderson, the game's 15th pitcher,
on for the 10th inning with a man in scoring position.
[tense music continues]
This has totally underscored the need for more bullpen depth.
2-1 with two down, the pitch.
Swing and a high drive into deep left-center field.
Back to the wall, and it is off the wall.
Two runs will score.
Soto and Judge come home,
and it is 11-8, Yankees.
Ouch.
Most everybody up here at Fenway Park,
with two down in the bottom of this 10th inning.
And here is Masa.
1-2, the pitch, swing, a ground ball to first.
LeMahieu has it. He'll take it to the bag.
He wins the footrace,
and the ballgame is over.
Yankees win it, 11-8.
The Sox were one out away in the 9th from a really great win.
They couldn't get it done,
and the Yankees have knotted this three-game series at a game apiece.
[somber music plays]
[man 1] I'm not giving up.
I'm not throwing in the towel.
I mean, I'd say, you just gotta take that one on the chin.
[man 2] This team needs so much,
and just to be competitive, like, the bullpen's shot.
[man 1] Tuesday's the trade deadline.
Can the Red Sox even do enough to help what this team needs?
Can they even do enough to plug the holes that need to be plugged?
[man 3] The answer's obvious. You gotta get guys…
You have to get relievers.
[man 1] James Paxton, sure, why not? You need… you need innings.
Danny Jansen, oh, uh, I guess.
Fine. Sure. Okay.
But, like, none of those moves are great.
[man 4] Yeah, not great.
[Craig chatters inaudibly]
[somber music continues]
[reporter 1] And today, of course,
was the Major League Baseball trade deadline,
and it has just passed ten minutes ago.
And the Red Sox got a deal in at the wire.
The Red Sox added two players, both relievers.
Craig Breslow, his first trade deadline.
He made some moves at least.
You were a buyer. You were not a seller.
But you didn't trade a top-ten prospect in the system,
and you didn't trade a single player off of the active roster.
[mellow guitar music plays]
[Craig] There's a few months left in the season,
and everyone will evaluate these moves from kind of this moment forward.
There's a chance over the next two or three months,
we did make a huge splash.
We just, you know… Uh, we have to let that play out, right?
If Danny Jansen comes in and has a great couple of months
or Paxton comes in and starts like he… like he did against us a week ago,
then that was the big splash.
[reporter 2] What is it like leaving a place you've been for so long?
Yeah, strange, for sure. Um…
I've been there for a long time. Uh, I've got two beautiful kids now.
I've had my family out there throughout the seasons, and all that.
So, yeah, it's an emotional time, but, um, I'm excited for the new chapter.
[Craig] Are there scenarios in which it makes sense to talk about
some of our best prospects in trade situations?
Of course, there are.
You know, but having those conversations as a reaction to emotion
or as a reaction to a moment in time,
I think, is a really fast way to get this train off its rails.
[Speier] "Can't-miss prospect" is an oxymoron
because can't-miss prospects can always miss.
The Red Sox have had elite prospects, some of the best in all of baseball,
who've never become what they were supposed to be.
Although, with regards to quote-unquote the big three,
if this goes right, then you're looking at players
who have a chance to be all-star caliber players
and potentially superstars, if they're able to remain healthy.
[man] I hope we're not sitting here a month from now, two months from now,
at the end of the season, saying,
"Man, if they had just done a little bit more,
if they had made one more move."
Why would you not want big moves?
You want the Red Sox to be the Red Sox again.
'Cause of your top 30 prospects, you probably have three guys
you'd really like to hold on to.
Mayer, Anthony, and Teel.
If you trade one of those guys, you maybe get a real impact major leaguer
who's going to be here for a while.
As we learned today, Roman Anthony was untouchable.
It seems that Marcelo Mayer was untouchable.
It seems that Kyle Teel was untouchable.
They're better today than five days ago. Cora's not lying when he says that.
This should keep them in the hunt… ish.
-[music continues] -[patrons chattering]
It's crazy to think about how many people are constantly asking us, like,
when we're gonna get out of here.
It's wild.
I mean, like, you say all the time, that's out of our control.
For us, it's like, just how fun it's gonna be when we get called up, and…
It's gonna be sick, bro.
It's like being where your feet is, but, like, also having that vision
of the future at the same time.
-You know? -[Mayer] We've done it since we were kids.
And now that we're, like, close to it, like…
[Kyle] In freaking Boston, dude. That's sick.
-I know. -[Kyle] Sick.
Dude, I want to get there already.
[music continues]
[Craig] In this position, you always feel pressure to win,
but I would not want to hold this position
in a place where there wasn't the expectation or the demand to win now.
We've asked our fans to be patient, to make sacrifices,
while we built out this foundation,
and we're now putting all of our efforts into building a playoff team.
-I'm gonna go get some sleep. -You do that, man.
-Good job, man. -Thanks.
-All right. -We're good.
-Nice work, my man. See you tomorrow. -All right. Take care.
[music fades]
[producer] Are you tired?
[Craig] I am.
[rousing rock music plays]
[music mellows]
[music fades out]
[mellow electric guitar music plays]
[music fades out]
[earth skitters]
-[baby giggles] -[gulls calling]
[waves crashing]
[clicking]
-[commentator] Number 23. -[crowd cheers]
[strings stab]
[cheering fades]