Latest / Foul Territory / Monster Territory: Sam Kennedy reflects on 2025, Casas update, Crochet impact, Devers trade flexibility

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Monster Territory: Sam Kennedy reflects on 2025, Casas update, Crochet impact, Devers trade flexibility · Foul Territory

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  Speaker 1: Everybody. Welcome to Master Territory, brought to about the Foul
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Territory Network and partnered with Nesson. We have a very
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  Speaker 1: special guest here today, Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: My friend, how you doing, Welcome to the show.
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Robbie. Great to be with you. Thanks
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: for having.
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  Speaker 1: Me absolutely, and I gotta say, first off, congratulations on
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the rebrand of the Salem Red Sox to the Riggiacs.
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  Speaker 1: Amazing name, by the way, I still think people are
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: still trying to familiarize familiarize themselves with a Riggiak. But
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  Speaker 1: I got to ask, when you first heard the name,
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  Speaker 1: what were your thoughts on that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I figured it was it was close to the
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  Speaker 2: yard Goats.
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  Speaker 3: I remember when when they first came out with that,
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  Speaker 3: we all sort of looked at it a little cross eye,
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  Speaker 3: but it's it's got to have connectivity down there in
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  Speaker 3: the Roanoke Valley and in the Salem area. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: listen that they're the lifeblood of our franchise, all of
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  Speaker 3: our mind and league affiliates are, so anything we can
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  Speaker 3: do to support them, get guys coming through there like
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  Speaker 3: Roman and Marcello and back in the day, Andrew and
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  Speaker 3: Mookie and Jackie, So it really is the lifeblood of
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  Speaker 3: our franchise and we're excited for them to launch this rebrand.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm probably biased, but you know, as a
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  Speaker 1: Red Sox fan for so long, but I think it's
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  Speaker 1: one of the best logos out there, honestly, So I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna get myself a hat as soon as i can.
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  Speaker 1: But we've been about a month now since the Red
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  Speaker 1: Sox exit from the postseason. Big step forward this past year,
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  Speaker 1: but you've had some time now to really reflect to
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  Speaker 1: kind of just think about this past year. What are
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  Speaker 1: your biggest takeaways from twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was a incredible postseason on so many levels.
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  Speaker 3: The World Series was extraordinary, and you know, you just
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  Speaker 3: I think all of us sort of got into the
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  Speaker 3: series even though we were out of it. The numbers
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  Speaker 3: around the country you work extraordinary, obviously, all of Canada,
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  Speaker 3: so it just fueled that hunger to get back there
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  Speaker 3: and to take that next step at October next year.
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  Speaker 3: So just it's it's hard to watch once you're eliminated,
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  Speaker 3: but it does fuel you for the next the next season.
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  Speaker 3: It was a great season in a lot of ways.
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  Speaker 2: It was a difficult season in a lot of ways
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 3: But we did get back to the postseason and hopefully
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  Speaker 3: it's something to build on as we go forward into
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know, I got a tip the cap
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  Speaker 1: to the Blue Jays division rival. But you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: funny when the Blue Jays made it to the World Series.
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't help but think of Alex Cora. At one
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  Speaker 1: point last year he said, Hey, look out for the
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  Speaker 1: Blue Jays. They're gonna be a good team this year.
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  Speaker 1: So Cora knows his baseball for sure.
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  Speaker 2: He does.
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  Speaker 3: Congrats to Mark Spiro and the whole organization that did
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  Speaker 3: a wonderful job. But I was up there for our
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  Speaker 3: last series in September, and you know, it's like, come on.
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  Speaker 2: We can beat these guys, you know.
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  Speaker 3: So it just shows you though, just the margin of
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  Speaker 3: error is so close, so it gives you a hope.
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  Speaker 2: But we also have a lot of work to do
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  Speaker 2: this offseason.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we'll get into that before I do. I'm
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  Speaker 1: always curious to ask anyone in baseball this question. Since
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of your Red Sox tenure, it's been a
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  Speaker 1: while now, do you remember any off season moves that
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  Speaker 1: you remember fondly, whether they were free agent signing or trade.
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  Speaker 1: Does anything come to mind to you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, so many, so many. I go way back to
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  Speaker 3: two thousand and two. So I'd have to say one
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  Speaker 3: of the more chaotic deals and exciting deals was the
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  Speaker 3: Dice Game Otsuzaka signing prior to two thousand and seven.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, I just remember we were Larry Lukino,
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  Speaker 3: the late great Larry Lukino, and myself and a few
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  Speaker 3: others were over in Japan a couple of times on
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  Speaker 3: that deal, meeting with Scott Borris and in the Parquyatt hotel,
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  Speaker 3: and then all the craziness with John Henry flying him
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  Speaker 3: from La back to Boston.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, it was crazy.
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  Speaker 3: And that was the first deal that just sort of
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  Speaker 3: opened my eyes to just how global baseball is and
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  Speaker 3: how impactful players from all over the globe can be
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  Speaker 3: in your organization.
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  Speaker 2: So that was a big one.
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  Speaker 3: And then probably recency biased, but the trade, you know,
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  Speaker 3: staying up all night in Dallas and watching Bras wheel
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  Speaker 3: and deal to land Garrett Crochet was extraordinary and just
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  Speaker 3: showed how bold and decisive he can be in the
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  Speaker 3: right circumstance. So in Boston and New England, we really
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: do have two seasons. In the hot stove season is
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  Speaker 3: in so many ways almost as exciting as a regular season,
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  Speaker 3: just because our fans are anticipating, you know, what's going
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  Speaker 3: to happened next year, so looking.
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  Speaker 2: Forward to it.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I'm glad you said the dice k one because
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  Speaker 1: that was going to be my follow up. That was
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  Speaker 1: probably the one time I can think of where I
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  Speaker 1: stared at a computer screen for hours on end. I
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  Speaker 1: don't remember if it was the dial up era still
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  Speaker 1: or right after it, but I don't remember. I was
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  Speaker 1: refreshing the Boston Globe, Boston Harold, anywhere I could find
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  Speaker 1: any kind of news on that. And I'm sorry to
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  Speaker 1: say this, it's a bit embarrassing, but I was one
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  Speaker 1: of the people that were following the flights unfortunately.
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  Speaker 3: So we love that passion, Robbie, we all that's why
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  Speaker 3: we all worked in baseball. If you know, if we
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  Speaker 3: had had dial up internet when I was, you know,
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  Speaker 3: in school or teenager high school, I would have been
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  Speaker 3: following it as well. Were we were following things through
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  Speaker 3: the Globe and the Herald, the print editions you know daily,
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  Speaker 3: So that passion is a really, really good thing.
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  Speaker 2: We're lucky to have it.
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  Speaker 1: I would have loved to have been a fly on
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  Speaker 1: the wall with all of that. So, but we got
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  Speaker 1: an off season coming up here. Every off season is different.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to have, you know, whether or not guys
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  Speaker 1: move quick, guys sign maybe a little slower even going
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  Speaker 1: into spring training. We saw how you know late Alex
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  Speaker 1: Bregman signed last year. You go back to twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: Bryce Harper mad him with shadow. Is there anything that
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  Speaker 1: you're noticing It's early still, of course, to get the
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  Speaker 1: GM meetings coming up this week, but is there anything
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  Speaker 1: that you're noticing perhaps that maybe could be a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a like a trend for this coming off season
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  Speaker 1: that you in the front office have your eyes on.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I just think the powerful nature of
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  Speaker 3: this postseason and how incredible the series were and the
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  Speaker 3: especially the World Series. So I look, I think there's
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  Speaker 3: a competitive fire in every single one of our front offices,
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  Speaker 3: a desire to get to October and have a sense
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  Speaker 3: of urgency about doing so.
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  Speaker 2: And so you'd like to see what I've seen in
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  Speaker 2: the past.
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  Speaker 3: I should say, I don't know, you know, who knows
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  Speaker 3: what will happen, but typically the GM meetings are a
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  Speaker 3: table setter for the Winter meetings, and the Winter meeting usually.
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  Speaker 2: Is when the first domino starts to fall.
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  Speaker 3: I'll never forget last December pulling into Dallas, literally walking
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  Speaker 3: into a restaurant seeing Scott Boris and then on my
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  Speaker 3: phone breaking news that Juan Soto had just signed, you know,
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  Speaker 3: and then that sort of kicked off the official off season.
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  Speaker 2: So look I to anticipate, you know, players.
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  Speaker 3: One thing I've learned from talking to players over the years,
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  Speaker 3: they really want to know where they're going to be,
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  Speaker 3: and guys get to spring screening so much earlier.
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  Speaker 2: Some guys show up in mid January.
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  Speaker 3: They have their workout routines, but a lot of guys
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  Speaker 3: want to get to Arizona and Florida earlier and earlier
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  Speaker 3: and earlier as.
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  Speaker 2: They focus on nutrition and weight training and strength.
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, signing early is a good thing for fans,
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  Speaker 3: it's a good thing for the players, it's a good
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  Speaker 3: thing for the baseball industry.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, maybe we'll see some earlier signings.
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  Speaker 3: But I do not know how the market's going to
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  Speaker 3: behave it seems to be different every single year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's an underrated part that you mentioned
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  Speaker 1: right there that you know, I think a lot of
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  Speaker 1: us we have this thing where we almost it's like
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  Speaker 1: we're playing MLB the show, where we think, Okay, this
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  Speaker 1: guy's gonna be a great fit with this team. But
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  Speaker 1: you gotta remember, they're human beings at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day, right, they gotta make choices for their own life.
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  Speaker 1: But with this offseason, and I'm sorry to backtrack to
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  Speaker 1: this subject, I know you've answered it a million times
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  Speaker 1: about it, but the trade of Rafael Devers this past season,
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  Speaker 1: now that obviously that's in the rearview mirror now. But
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  Speaker 1: with that trade moving his contract over to San Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: do you see that trade having any sort of significance
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  Speaker 1: for this coming off season, whether or not that's more
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  Speaker 1: payroll flexibility or maybe even valuing a bit more positional
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  Speaker 1: versatility for this coming off season.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think all the above, RAFFI. You know,
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  Speaker 3: anytime you take Rafae helped to that of your lineup,
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  Speaker 3: you are you know, you're you're taking out a massive weapon.
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  Speaker 3: And so while we while we made that trade for
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  Speaker 3: a variety of reasons, it does impact this offseason, next year,
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  Speaker 3: the year after, the year after that, because you missed
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  Speaker 3: that that bat in the middle of your lineup.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he was obviously an everyday third baseman.
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  Speaker 3: So now with Alex Bregman opting out, we've got to
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  Speaker 3: really figure out what we're going to do here at
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  Speaker 3: third base and first base. Hopefully Tristan is doing well
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  Speaker 3: on his road to recovery, so looking forward to having
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  Speaker 3: him back, But we do have some question marks and vacancies,
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  Speaker 3: and so yes, losing out and trading Raffie Devers does
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  Speaker 3: create some question marks as we go into next year
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  Speaker 3: and beyond for sure.
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  Speaker 1: And since you mentioned Tristan Costas, I do want to ask,
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  Speaker 1: is there any update on how the rehabs going with him,
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  Speaker 1: Just how he's doing in general.
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  Speaker 2: I saw Tristan a lot throughout the course of the season,
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  Speaker 2: and he was doing very well, very strong, and fully
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  Speaker 2: engaged and committed with the team, but also with his rehab.
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  Speaker 2: He's you know, he's very very very committed.
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  Speaker 3: That said, it's a really difficult injury that he's coming
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  Speaker 3: back from. So I don't I don't have an update
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  Speaker 3: on timetable or anything like that.
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  Speaker 2: Just know that he's working as hard as he can
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  Speaker 2: to get back and we need.
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  Speaker 1: Him, yeah, for sure. For this coming off season. We mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: you know, moving the contract of Rafie Devers to San Francisco.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to the payroll for this past year,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit over the competitive balance threshold and obviously
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I know you can't give me a number realistically that
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: you can't really do that at this point. But what
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: would you say is the thinking, the philosophy with the
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  Speaker 1: payroll going into this offseason.
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  Speaker 4: Well, the goal I can I can talk about sort
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  Speaker 4: of the plan, uh the strategic plan for the Red
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  Speaker 4: Sox offseason, and that is to make sure we do
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: everything in our power to take that next step forward.
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  Speaker 3: In terms of the baseball project. We're building an amazing
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  Speaker 3: baseball organization here led by by Craig Breslo.
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  Speaker 2: Uh So, we.
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  Speaker 3: Got into October, we're in that Wildcard series versus the Yankees.
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  Speaker 3: We want to we fell short of the ultimate goal.
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  Speaker 3: The ultimate goal, of course, is to win a World Series,
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  Speaker 3: and so all of our mindsets are Our collective thinking
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  Speaker 3: here at Fenway Park is rooted in the fact that
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  Speaker 3: we want to win the American League East.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's.
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  Speaker 3: Much better to have that little break after the season
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  Speaker 3: and we get get that buy And so now that said,
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  Speaker 3: we're in a very.
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  Speaker 2: Very tough division.
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  Speaker 3: But if we can take that that next step forward
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  Speaker 3: into October and have a team that's built to compete
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  Speaker 3: for the American League East and and then go as
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: far as we possibly can, that's the mindset.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, we had thirty plus sellouts at Fenway Park.
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  Speaker 2: The ballpark was rocking.
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  Speaker 3: The Red Sox were quote unquote back last year. You've
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  Speaker 3: got amazing young players, best fan base in baseball.
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  Speaker 2: So all the elements and ingredients are there.
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  Speaker 3: We just have to fill some of the holes that
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  Speaker 3: we've started to identify.
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  Speaker 1: Here for sure. And you just mentioned the you know
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in the division, in the ALE East, very strong division.
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  Speaker 1: I would even imagine the Orioles are going to find
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  Speaker 1: a way to get themselves back into the mix next year.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, with the Blue Jays getting to the
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  Speaker 1: World Series, do you think that maybe puts a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more, maybe lights a bit more, even more of
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  Speaker 1: a fire under the front office to you know, try
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  Speaker 1: and be aggressive for this coming off season.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we need much motivation or fire.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you saw the aggressive action last year, whether
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: it was Fragman, Crochet Chapman deal the Flies under the radar,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: signing it up Narvy, or making the deal for Narvy.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we we've got a group.
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  Speaker 3: Here that's very, very competitive, and so we we we
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  Speaker 3: have that desire to to go for you know, the
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  Speaker 3: deals that we think make the most sense.
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  Speaker 2: That's said, we've seen how.
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  Speaker 3: Well, uh are our minor league guys who have graduated
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: into the major leagues have done, and we have to
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: keep one eye on that as well. When the Red
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Sox are at their best, you've got young homegrown players
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  Speaker 3: doing their thing, complimented with the right free agent signings.
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  Speaker 3: And I think we're we're in a position where it's
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  Speaker 3: an exciting era for Red Sox fans as we as
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  Speaker 3: we go forward these next couple of years.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and uh now that the Red Sox have firmly
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: planted the flag of being back in this competitive window here,
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  Speaker 1: there are some needs for going into this offseason, craig
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  Speaker 1: Is said on record, needle moving, pitching, more production at
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  Speaker 1: first base, second base, both offensively and offensively. What would
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  Speaker 1: you say is the front office is thinking in addressing
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  Speaker 1: those needs?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it all starts this week out in Vegas. You know,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: the general managers getting together for the first time in
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: person in a window where you're able to start making deals,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: will set up that environment to start to begin to
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: think about, Okay, we have certain needs, you have certain needs,
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  Speaker 3: Maybe you have surplus in an area, maybe we have
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: surplus in an area, and you start those conversations. I
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: do think baseball front offices generally think a lot of
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  Speaker 3: like so I've also noticed, maybe I'm just getting old,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: been around for a while, but I've noted that there
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: haven't been as many trades as it felt like there
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: were quote unquote of the old days. So hopefully we're
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: you know, we see an off season where where more
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: trades are made in addition to free agent signings to
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: fill the needs that clubs have. It's exciting for the
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: fans and you know, obviously again recency bias, but we
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: use that as a weapon to acquire Garrett Crochet and
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: we saw what he did for us this year. So
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: exciting to think about what might be possible as we
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: get into the off season here.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm excited for it. All of Red Sox nations
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: excited for it, and I just want to say thank you,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: my friend, for coming on here today. Absolute pleasure. I
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: know you have things to do here, so we'll wrap
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: it up right there, but everybody here on Masa Territory,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: thank you for watching here today and we'll catch you
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: next time.