Jarren Duran has been the team MVP for the Boston Red Sox this season, and he continues to make an impact in many different ways. On today's show, Gabby discusses his big series over the weekend against the Cincinnati Reds and why his skills are too valuable for him to not play in the big game. Also discussed is Connor Wong's continuous dominance at the plate, and Brad Keller being a liability out of the bullpen.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. There are a lot of reasons some people choose cannabis. Whether you're tapping into your creative side or just trying to relax, the one thing we won't do is make it any more safe or legal to drive afterwards. It can slow reaction times, for example. And if you thought a few eye drops helped you get away with it, know that people can tell when you've been smoking marijuana, including law enforcement. If you feel different, you drive different. Drive high, get a DUI. Take your business further with a smart and flexible American Express Business Gold Card. It offers flexible spending capacity that adapts to your business. You can also earn up to $395 in annual statement credits on eligible purchases at Select Business Merchants. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com/businessgoldcard. Get Jaren Duran to the All-Star game, please. His push for playing in the big game continues in a big series for himself in a big way over the weekend against the Reds. [MUSIC PLAYING] You are locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the Lop Don Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hello, and welcome to Lop Don Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the Lop Don Podcast Network, your team, every day. I'm your host Gabby Herlba, former ESPN social media associate, and current host of the Boston Balling Podcast as well. And I am here to bring you the latest in all things Boston Red Sox Monday through Friday, straight to your favorite podcast feed. And want to know the best part, it is free. So you might as well take advantage of that and check it out. Locked on is your team, every day. This episode is brought to you by Price Picks, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prize picks dot com slash locked on MLB and use code locked on MLB all lower case for a first deposit match up to $100. Welcome to today's show. And I come to you on this fabulous Monday with good spirits because the Red Sox did win a series over the weekend in Cincinnati. This team continues to win games. They are playing vastly better baseball right now than they did earlier on in the season. And it's been really nice to see them start to click and start to figure things out. Friday night's game was rough. The Red Sox did lose that game five to two. The problem with the Red Sox primarily in that game was the errors. They made three fielding errors in that game all in the same inning. And that was a huge problem. And the Red Sox were also swinging and missing a ton at the plate 14 strikeouts total as a team on Friday night. And it was definitely frustrating because the Red Sox were getting into old habits that seemed like they had been starting to be fixed over the last week or so prior to going into that series. And then it was just like everything that they started to do well. They kind of forgot about on Friday night and they did not play well in that game. Crutacroffer did start. He went 6.1 innings giving up five hits and three earned runs. He did strike out seven and walked two, but his problem was the home run. He gave up three of them in the game on Friday night. And the home runs do continue to be an issue for the Red Sox pitching staff. Nick Pavetta as well gave up two home runs in the Red Sox four to three win on Saturday. So definitely something to continue to look out for is the fact that they struggle with the long ball. Pavetta primarily is somebody who could be so dominant if he could just cut down on giving up home runs. So that's something I'd like to see moving forward from him as the Red Sox progressed throughout the season, but they did grind to a win on Saturday four to three. And a one player who just continues to dominate in all facets of the game is Jaren Duran. On Friday night in the Red Sox five to two loss, he went two for four in that game. He did crush a home run in that one. And then in the narrow four to three win on Saturday, he also went two for four with a strikeout in that game. And then the Red Sox won seven to four on Sunday. And then in that game, he went three, four, five. So he is on an absolute tear, just continues to crush baseball. He has a two 88 batting average on the season now. And in total, he has 53 runs scored over 323 total at bats, 93 hits, 36 RBIs and 30 walks to go along with 80 strikeouts in seven home runs. He also has 20 stolen bases now on the season. So he's not going to crush the long ball a lot. That's not the type of hitter he is, nor do we need him to beat up because he contributes in so many different aspects of the game. And it's very important that the Red Sox continue to keep him in the lead up spot because he excels there. And it's an absolute game changer for Boston. If he's hitting in the lead up spot and he's able to get himself on base because more often than not, he will eventually score. And one example of that was in the game on a Saturday when the Red Sox won the game. He scored the go ahead run on a sacrifice by Rafael Devers that did not even go that deep. It was barely past third base. And most players do not score on that. But Jared Duran with his speed made it work and scored from third base for the Red Sox to go ahead in the game. And they ended up holding that lead. So he is just an absolute lightning bolt on the bases. And not only that, but defensively, he makes a difference too. In that same game on Saturday when the Red Sox won four to three, Kenley Jansen came in to pitch in the ninth inning. He just pitched the one inning and gave up one hit, but no earned runs. And Jared Duran made a huge catch to basically take away a home run that would have tied the game in the ninth inning for Cincinnati. Way at the wall, a ball that clearly would have been over the fence had he not caught it. So he robbed a home run and he scored the go ahead run for the Red Sox on a ball that wasn't even hit that deep. So he impacts the game in so many different ways. And that to me is what a most valuable player for a team does. Right now he is the Red Sox team MVP because he's making an impact in all the different ways that he could. And if you take him out of the Red Sox lineup right now, that's seriously, it becomes detrimental because the Red Sox need him on the base paths and his ability to make things happen helps the Red Sox tremendously offensively, especially on days where they're struggling to get things going at the plate. Having him in there who you know can try to get himself on base and come around to score is a very valuable thing. So when you're measuring a team MVP and who's most important to their team, you wanna think of the overall impact that a player has and what that team would look like if you take that player off of it. So Jared Duran for sure has that title right now of Team MVP and it's very well deserved. And it also just further solidifies the fact that he should be in the All-Star game. He's showing so much athleticism this year. And if you see his batting average on paper, obviously he doesn't have the best batting average in baseball and that number doesn't stream glamorous to me. But it's the fact that he does all of the little things to contribute and he's recording hits and RBIs constantly. So those are the important things when it comes down to it at the end of the day that make him as versatile and as valuable of a player as he is. So there really isn't a question that he should be in the All-Star game. It's just a matter of do the Red Sox have players like him who have a chance to get in as well. Is he the only guy who could get into the All-Star game? Are there other teams whose outfielders people feel are better? So there's a lot of different factors that go into this. If there are other players the Red Sox have that people feel are more valuable to the team than Duran's All-Star bid might get impacted and that's why that's important. But I think it would be an absolute disgrace if he's not in the All-Star game. The other thing that makes Duran so special right now is even off the field, he is emerging into a future team leader for this Boston Red Sox team. On Saturday, Alex Cora talked about how they need a team leader within the organization. He didn't exactly say that, Jared Duran is the team leader right now, but he did say that he's starting to mold into that, which is massive. He said Duran's gonna help the team for not only this year, but he's gonna help everybody in the future. He loves it and understands it. So he's becoming very vocal, becoming that guy that could help set up the organization for a very long time moving forward. So if you're able to showcase your leadership skills off the field, as well as be one of the best players on the field, there's no reason that you shouldn't be in the All-Star game. And I feel like Jared Duran is too important to this Red Sox team right now. And the fact that he's making an impact in every single game in one way or the other is so important, just continues to hit, continues to get himself on base and continues to turn one base into two or two into three. And that's just such a valuable skill for any team to have. So Jared Duran needs to be in the All-Star game. It would just be an absolute disgrace if he's not. Coming up, I'm talking about another player who potentially could be in the conversation to be in the All-Star game, because he just continues to be on an absolute tear for this Boston Red Sox team. I love sports, I love them so much, I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, we get fewer games and the sports aren't sports-ing like I want them to, but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. All I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood. And this summer, FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a booster of bonus daily. 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So make sure that you check that out today if you wanna stay in the loop on everything. Connor Wong is having himself an unbelievable season for the Boston Red Sox so far, not only defensively, but also at the plate. He is up to a 330 average on the season and he just continues to hit. Went two for four in Friday night's loss and hit a home run in the game. And then on Saturday, when the Red Sox one for three, he went one for four in that game with a strikeout as well, but did record a hit. And then in Sunday's seven to four, when he hit a home run again, drove in two runs on that home run. So he has been on an absolute tear right now. 330 batting average on the season for him. Over 200 total at bats, he has 26 runs scored, 66 hits, 29 RBIs, 14 walks, 42 strikeouts, seven home runs and three stolen bases. The thing that Connor Wong does the best to me is that he continues to put pressure on opposing teams, both behind the dish and at the plate. He is above league average and throwing out potential base stealers behind the dish. And he's hitting to all kinds of the ballpark and you don't really know what kind of damage he's going to do, whether he's utilizing the long ball or he's hitting a single that scores a runner or two. Connor Wong more often than not is going to make a positive impact. And that's why the Red Sox continue to get him into games as much as they can. Even when he's not catching that day, a lot of times the Red Sox will still use him as the DH so that they can still get him into the game, which is fantastic. Having those reps and having him continue to play basically every day is only going to serve him well in the long run. When you look at somebody like Connor Wong, he has a great future ahead with this Boston Red Sox team. And this I think was the guy that the Red Sox originally traded for when they moved Mookie Betts and they got him in return. They were hoping he would pan out and this is exactly what they were hoping he would pan out to be a guy who can facilitate all aspects of the game and make an impact in a variety of different ways. And if he can continue with this and then you add Kyle Teal into the mix relatively soon, whenever he's ready to get called up to the majors, you are looking at a very deadly catching tandem. And I really like that and that's exciting for the future of the Boston Red Sox. But Connor Wong has been doing a lot of things well to the point where you almost feel like he's going to get a hit every time he's up at the plate. And that's really cool because we can't say that about every hitter in the Red Sox lineup besides Darren Duran and Will your abreya really before he got on the injured list? And as of late state I'm Rafaela because he's been very hot overall, although he was cool in the series against the Reds. Connor Wong is really the only other hitter right now in the Red Sox lineup that you can consistently feel confident in being able to make hard contact and produce offensively. And the thing about Wong is that he's not always looking to hit it deep. That's something that Rafael Deverz tends to do is he's trying to be the hero too much and he's trying to hit the ball over the fence when he doesn't always have to do that. And then sometimes it ends up coming back to bite him because it results in a strikeout. And he doesn't need to do that. He doesn't need to over strenuate himself to be the hero. He should just be looking for his pitch and trying to do what he can to help his team and put them in the best position to be able to score during his at bat and as a result of it. And that's something that Connor Wong has been doing very well is he's just looking for his pitch that he can hit. He fouls off a bunch of balls and he does not settle. He will take a walk if he needs to. He has very strong plate discipline now which was something we didn't see as much of from him last year. So he's able to be aware and make it harder for an opposing pitcher to throw to him because he will continue to fight in his at bat until he finds his pitch and he's able to make contact with one that can do damage. So for this Red Sox team, Connor Wong is one of the best hitters on the team right now. And to me, he also is having an all-star caliber season right now, especially when you look at the catchers across the league, there aren't a whole lot of catchers that are better than Connor Wong at what he does. And it's difficult for opposing teams to steal bases on him because he's constantly staying alert, paying attention on his toes, not really allowing guys to steal because he's able to throw them out in the capacity and rate at which he is. And that's super important too. I feel like when people are voting on all-stars, they tend to only look at limited numbers. But if you look at the overall picture as a whole of what Connor Wong has been doing this year, he has made a huge impact positively to this Red Sox team. And you know somebody's very good for your team. When you can feel confident every time he's at the plate that more often than not, he will do something that makes an impact. And he's gotten those big hits when the Red Sox have needed it. He's blasted home runs to give the Red Sox the lead when they've been behind. He's hit singles to tie games or just to get a base runner because the Red Sox are having trouble generating base runners in certain games. So he is able to generate that from an offensive standpoint. And he has the overall package of being a star catcher in this league. And not every catcher who's good defensively is also good at the plate. So that's something that I believe sets Connor Wong apart is his ability to click on both sides of the ball both defensively and at the plate. And he's very good at knowing when to go out for mound visits with his pitchers. If whoever's pitching might be feeling a little bit off or their command isn't all there, Connor Wong immediately goes out there and talks to them and tries to walk them through it. And he very much knows when he should and shouldn't be trying to throw out a base dealer. Like on Sunday in the Red Sox seven to four when Connor Wong lets somebody steal second base essentially in the bottom of the ninth inning because the Red Sox were up by three runs and he didn't want to risk an overthrow and letting that run score and closing the gap a little bit. So by defensive indifference, the player was able to steal second base. And Connor Wong knew that it wasn't the best scenario to risk an overthrow by trying to throw out a base dealer when your team is up three runs. So I really like his baseball IQ in that way and his ability to have good reads on certain situations. And that naturally does come with being a catcher but I just particularly like his decision-making on the field and how he knows in certain situations what he shouldn't shouldn't be doing. So in terms of his abilities as a catcher, the Red Sox are very lucky to have him in the role that he's in and I'm excited to see him continue to grow and I'm excited to see where he lands in terms of the All-Star votes because I certainly think he deserves to at least be in the conversation and I certainly would not be surprised if he ends up getting a spot if he continues to play like this. The All-Star game is right around the corner at this point. So he's just having the type of season where he deserves it but he was big for the Red Sox in this series against the Reds. And it was a good series for Boston overall. Lots of competitiveness shown from the Red Sox grinding out a four to three win on Saturday, going into Sunday, feeling confident that they could close out the series and they did. And it was a bullpen game. Zach Kelly started the game, went 2.2 innings, gave up one hit but no earned runs. He did strikeout three and then Bretton Bernard Dino, Greg Weiser, Cam Boozer, Brad Keller, Chris Martin, Justin Sleigh and Kenley Jansen, all pitched in the game. So the Red Sox got quite a few guys reps in this game and it allowed for the Red Sox to be able to win the game but give a lot of guys some workload that hadn't pitched in a while. So that was good and now leads to Tanner Hauck starting tonight against the Blue Jays. So not a bad idea to do a bullpen game on Sunday and the Red Sox did pull out the win but coming up I'm gonna be talking about a player who absolutely has to go and has just caused more harm than good for this Red Sox team. Get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trades, supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC and electrical products online. 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See terms at discover.com/creditcard. - The Red Sox won seven to four on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds and it was a bullpen game lots of different pitchers getting in to get some work in. So that Kelly started the game when 2.2 innings giving up one hit in no earned runs and recording three strikeouts. And then Brett and Brunner Dino came in and pitched 0.1 innings giving up two hits in one earned run. He did also strike out one batter. Greg Weiser who actually earned the win in the game went one inning giving up one hit in no earned runs. Cam Boozer pitched one inning with one hit in no earned runs. And then it came to Brad Keller who was a mess in the game but then Chris Martin pitched an inning no earned runs Justin Slaton one inning no earned runs and Kenley Janssen one inning no earned runs and Kenley did give up a hit but he did record the save. So for the most part the Red Sox pitching staff did their job on Sunday to get the Red Sox the win but one pitcher who certainly did not do his job in that game was Brad Keller. One inning pitched four hits and three earned runs with one strike out. He is up to a 5.13 ERA on the season. He has not been very good at all overall. He did pitch Tuesday night in the loss against the Reds. One point one inning giving up one hit but no earned runs. He did also record a walk. That one didn't really matter as much because the Red Sox were losing the game anyway. So not like it really made a difference but generally he has not been very good. He's been super frustrating to watch on the Red Sox pitching staff this year. And I wanted to give him a shot because you don't really know how somebody's gonna pan out or what they're going to look like. And they might surprise you because you don't really know somebody could come in and just adjust really well if they're in the right system for them and where they were before. It just might not have been the right place for them. So I said, okay, let's see how he does when he gets here because his numbers prior to coming to Boston were not very good. And he has not shown an ability to pitch well for this Boston Red Sox team. He has been somebody who has been a weak link in the Red Sox bullpen. His K percentage is poor. He's only in the 12th percentile for that. He's not getting lots of swings and misses. He's in the below average percentile for chase percentage at 31%. His basketball velocity is in the 41st percentile averaging 93.5. So not fantastic. And in terms of his pitch distribution, he is relying heavily on his slider and his foreseen basketball. And I mean super heavily. He's relying on his fastball 41% of the time and the foreseamer 37% of the time. So those two pitches primarily in the slider and the foreseamer or what he's relying on the most. And then he does have a changeup that he uses 17% of the time in a sinker and a curve ball, each of which he uses 2% of the time. But the problem is it's quite literally always a slider in the foreseamer that he is throwing and it makes it very easy for opposing hitters to figure that out because he is not mixing up his pitches enough. And I feel like he's a temporary solution, especially because of the fact that Isaiah Campbell, still her and the Red Sox have had a lot of moving parts this year and have needed to bring in guys to make up for injured players. So I feel like he's a temporary solution, but oh my gosh, has it been a struggle watching this guy try to perform? And luckily for him, the Red Sox were able to pull out this win, but he did not look good out there at all. And it's very frustrating to see him. I think when you have a team like the Red Sox and you have other guys who are able to perform out of the bullpen, it makes up for it a little bit. So struggles like that often get unnoticed, but he is at the point where the Red Sox need to consider letting him go. And I do feel like he's a potential roster move that could be coming in the future when guys start coming back for the Red Sox and they get healthier. He could be somebody who's on the chopping block because he certainly is a weak link in a Red Sox bullpen that overall has some good pieces, especially between Zach Kelly, Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen. Those appear to be the seventh, eighth, and nine inning guys. They locked it down in Saturday's win against the Reds. It went Zach Kelly in the seventh inning and then Chris Martin in the eighth and Kenley Jansen in the ninth. So if those three guys continue to pitch the way that they are, those are going to be the shutdown guys in the late innings. And you need to have your other pitchers in there who can help contribute in the earlier innings when the starter gets pulled. And Brad Keller is just, unfortunately, not one of those pitchers who's going to be able to get the job done. He's very much in the poor or average percentile when it comes to most of his rankings and technique pitching-wise. He needs to utilize that change up a lot more. I'd like to see him mix that in a little bit more. If the Red Sox are going to be keeping him around, he is a veteran, which I think is good. It's always good to have more veteran presence in the locker room. That can never hurt, but is that worth it when he is not turning in good performances on the field as a result? So that's where it becomes to the point where it's like, okay, yes, this guy provides leadership, but what else is he providing to the point where we can justify keeping him around on this team? So he has been struggling, certainly to me, is the type of player who the Red Sox really need to let go of, but I don't know that they will because they do need the arms. And I think they're hoping that he can at least stay above ground and at least tread water when he's pitching. But if this was a game in which they were losing and then he gave up more runs, it would have been very bad for Boston. Like luckily when he came into this game for the Red Sox, they had a big lead, so that helped a lot for sure. But it's just an issue when he's coming in and giving up three runs when the Red Sox have a confidence seven to one lead and then all of a sudden it's seven to four. And then you're looking at having to use your closure because when Kenley doesn't have to pitch, it's nice for him and it's nice for the Red Sox because he likely is nearing the end of his career. We don't want him to be getting injured. We want him to stay healthy. So it would have been nice if he didn't have to be used on Sunday because he was also used on Saturday. So the Red Sox are gonna be in a tough spot if they're in a close game against the Blue Jays tonight and they wanna use Kenley and he isn't going to be available. So if Brad Keller hadn't come in and given up those runs that he did, then Kenley wouldn't have likely had to be used in the game because the other pitchers who pitched after Keller didn't give up any runs. So that was another big thing about it too is yes, you can look at a pitcher on their own and what they've done to contribute to this team. But then when you look at its effect and impact on everything else, that's what it becomes a bigger problem. Brad Keller caused Kenley Janssen to have to come in and pitch in a game in which it really looked like he wouldn't have had to come in earlier on in that game. So get rid of Brad Keller, please. I like to talk about the guys who are performing really well for this Red Sox team, but the guys who aren't getting it done also need to be called out for that as well because there are gonna be weak links and I would like to see the Red Sox reevaluate that situation with him. This was not nearly the first time this year in which he struggled. He has just not had a good season in a Boston Red Sox uniform coming out of the bullpen and there are rare times where he does look good, like he did on Friday night, but the bad performances have outweighed the good ones to the point where it's just not worth keeping him around. So hopefully the Red Sox get the message with that too and they do get rid of him once they start getting players back who are healthy because they do have a talented pitching staff as a whole. He just is not one of those talented pitchers, unfortunately. Good series overall for the Boston Red Sox, though, lots of positive things to take away from it, just playing good, clean baseball in the last two games of the series, lots of different players making an impact and contributing. So the Red Sox just need to keep winning series. They are very much in the playoff conversation. If they can keep winning series, taking two of three from teams, then they will land that spot in the playoffs and then, like we always say, anything can happen after that if you just get in. So as always, as the Red Sox are working towards continuing to win games, you just have to keep the faith. Go Red Sox and have a catch you on the flip side. There are a lot of reasons some people choose cannabis. Whether you're tapping into your creative side or just trying to relax, the one thing we won't do is make it any more safe or legal to drive afterwards. It can slow reaction times, for example. 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