Veteran Pitcher, Right-Handed Bat: Dan Roche’s Prescription for Red Sox Trade Deadline Success
This morning on the Toucher & Hardy radio program, WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche shared his thoughts on what the Red Sox should do at the MLB trade deadline. He expressed strong support for the team and praised their surprising success despite low preseason expectations. Roche emphasized that the front office needs to show their commitment by making strategic moves to improve the roster, such as acquiring a veteran starting pitcher or a right-handed bat, to keep the momentum going and reward the players’ efforts. He also criticized management’s recent comments suggesting they were only now starting to take the team’s success seriously, arguing that the team deserves continuous support and investment.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Fred Toucher: Are you listening to the station and hearing what people are saying about the Red Sox? Everyone’s all tied up in knots about the Red Sox because they’re doing well. And there is a belief that they are not going to improve this team. The team has said a bunch of different stuff about it. Where do you stand in terms of your level of excitement or aggravation with the team right now?
Dan Roche: Well, I think you guys know me well enough over the years that I am in, right? I’m in right now with this team. I think we’ve seen a lot of good things come together. I’ll start with Alex Cora, and the mantra probably coming out of spring training is like, “Nobody gives us a chance. Nobody respects us. This is my last year of my contract,” blah blah. They’ve come together nicely as a team, and we’ve seen guys blossom, starting with Duran and Devers continuing to do what he does. Connor Wong has been outstanding. So, on and on, you guys all know the drill, and all the guys are pitching. So if I’m the Red Sox, if I’m a fan, if I’m Alex Cora, and if I’m the players, we’re all in, right? Everybody’s in. And now you just have to show me some love at the trade deadline, and it doesn’t have to be right now, but it has to be soon. This team deserves some kind of moves to make them a better baseball team and to give them a “thank you” for what they’ve done so far. With 60-something games left, you guys deserve a chance to have somebody help you out. So go find somebody, a veteran starting pitcher, right-handed bat, go find them. Don’t take away from this team, don’t rip the heart out like they did with Christian Vázquez. Go find somebody. That’s how I feel right now. Whether that be a journeyman veteran guy who could start some games for you down the stretch and help out with that staff, give you innings, or bring Nate Eovaldi back, do something crazy. Get guys excited about this team, get people excited about this team, and show everybody in New England that you care about your baseball team. It’s as simple as that.
Rob “Hardy” Poole: Yeah, and anything short of that is just gonna feel hollow because Craig Breslow, even when he’s trying to give credit to the team, says things like, “Yeah, well, they’re forcing us to take them seriously.” I don’t know that that’s gonna ring well with the clubhouse and with Cora and the players. It’s like, shouldn’t you be taking us seriously regardless of where we are in the standings and doing everything you can to improve this club? I realize there are some longer-term considerations, but this is for this season. To have him say something like, “Oh yeah, we gotta take them seriously,” well, yes, that should go without saying.
Dan Roche: Right. And how many times have we seen guys join the team at the trade deadline in the final year of a contract? It’s just, you know, you’re gonna have to give up something. We’ve seen the development of the farm system. We see the future of the farm system with Marcello Mayer and all the great players, Roman Anthony and on down the line. We see that. We see the draft they just had. They got college kids, and Fred was already talking about Montgomery yesterday. He comes in, gets a hit, so he should help the team sooner rather than later once he gets over the ankle injury. We see all that. Everybody sees that. Everybody also sees the ticket prices and what you’re paying to go to a game at Fenway Park. They see that they need help, that they need a push to get out into Orioles and Yankees territory. We’ve seen guys like Kyle Schwarber come in here, take off, and then leave. We see it happen all the time in baseball, so just do that, something as simple as that. The fans deserve that from you. I get what you’re doing. You’re trying to be like Tampa Bay now with your payroll and player development, but again, this is Boston. Give me a star. Give me good players, and then go from there because everything else looks like it’s trending in the right direction.
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