Pick 6: What's going on with the Red Sox?

0:00Welcome back to pick six with Mullin Ha on 1043 the score in the Odyssey and I'd heard radio app. There's no question about that. How bizarre is the Red Soxaga and Alex Korra being let go and his entire staff just a month into the season. We're not even at May after a slow start. And what do you think happens next in Boston? Any role by Theo Epstein in all of this? Man that's there's a lot to that question. I was I was really stunned that they moved as fast as they did. I get it. They haven't started the season strong and things have gone awry but man they cleaned that place out and the players were not happy about it which is kind of interesting because they obviously weren't playing very well. But I think it's not just getting rid of Alex Korra. It was everyone connected with hitting in the organization. Coaches for hire. Yeah it was crazy and I think that those

1:05were highly regarded coaches. It wasn't like a bunch of bombs you know. It's really wild because I think that the question really has to do with whether or not this will become something you do quickly. Will you get rid of the manager and the staff if things aren't going well? I think it kind of will depend on the places but would I be surprised if three more managers were somehow fired in the first half of the season? I mean this is the first month. That spill is it who? Well I'm just saying there could be another one. It has to do with high expectations and underperformance. So it doesn't have to do with the number of losses or anything like that. It just has to do with what the expectations were and how poorly these teams have played.

2:07But yeah it would not stun me. Once something happens that other people feel like they've got to make a move. That kind of thing. I thought this staff was pretty safe to be honest with you. So I was really surprised that they moved not that they moved but that they moved as quickly as they did. And I don't know that they haven't insured that this is going to remain on the on the downside. I don't know that that's that this kind of move is going to get them better. But it's like you feel like there's some missing information. There's got to be more to this story because it was pretty much an absolute wipe out here. Yeah I mean it's the it's the it's not the core apart. That's obviously the main name of all of this. He's the manager. He's the skipper but they fire the entire offensive. Yeah the hitting coach the assistant hitting coach. Yes. The guy in the minors that the like the hitting strategist. You got rid of the bench coach.

3:09You got rid of the third base coach. The game plan coach. Great. Game plan coach. But this there's almost like a bulls tie in here. Like how you build or going to say a bulls. Bulls. Bulls. The you know Craig Brezlo was brought into the Red Sox with this manager already in place. Was never his guy. Then they gave him an extension. You mean the guy that won the World Series? Right. I'm just saying my point is you it just it's some point it doesn't work. And even in one of the stories I read it's out said that he had a role. The skipper had a role in getting Brezlo into this position. But then today's baseball is controlled by the front offices. Sejo Madden. Okay. The front office wants to tell the manager. Maybe it's not Craig Council. But he's one of the the last of the Mohicans if you will. The last guys it's not going to be told by the front office. Who to bat where? Who to start where? Do this. Do that because all the metrics and all the analytics tell me

4:13so there's also a riff that the story should not be batting second. And Korra's got him batting second and wouldn't budge off of that. And that was the reason that this all went to it's just but it could it's the only you can't fire the player. You can't fire the owner. Maybe if they really believe in the roster this ticks the players off just enough to get him over the hump and get him motivated. We're going to do it for Korra even though he's not here anymore. Through the Chicago lens this is so surprising and startling because Thea Webstein does maintain a minority share of the Red Sox. He is a minority owner of this team who is said to be in consultation with his buddy the owner Sam Kennedy and also maybe overseeing some of these things that are going on. I have a hard time seeing the wisdom in this and him signing off on this. But perhaps he has. Craig Breslow now has traded Rafael Devers. He has driven Alex Breggman away. Now he has fired

5:20a popular successful manager before the end of April. Yeah the Red Sox have the same record as the White Sox right now. And they're not paying for that kind of production. But it is so early in the baseball season there has to be more to this story. It has to be personal because professionally speaking this is an overreaction. Yes it's in that market and all the things might be more magnified. But now Craig Breslow has put all of the pressure on himself. Now he's got to make a move that makes an impact. David Ross. Grandpa Rossi might be next in line. He's a guy that was teammates with Breslow in Boston worked with him in Chicago and is available when he's not doing the level of reunion podcast which is fantastic by the way. But maybe Grandpa Rossi swoops in and saves the day or saves the season. Don't know but it is shocking that this all happened and it is definitely a saga. Here's a question for you guys discuss and ponder. We'll discuss and ponder

6:26with Mike Florio at nine o'clock this morning what you take on the word that the Texas Tech Transfer QB Brendan Sorsby is checking into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction projected NFL first round pick. Sorsby is under NCA investigation in the wake of his discovery of thousands of Betsy made via a gambling app. He also said to have made bets on his team while a red shirt freshman at Indiana going back to 2022. Are you concerned about sports gambling impact in the generation of young athletes if the right protections are not in place. If you're not concerned you're not paying attention and if you're not concerned you have your head in the sand. This is troubling and this might just be the tip of the iceberg. There's no way that we know how many college athletes with easy access to sports gambling apps on their phones at their disposal

7:26in a blink of an of the eye. Maybe before games maybe during games maybe whenever they want and there's got to be a way with all of these other things that we're asking for regulation for with NIL and transfer portal and all the things that seem to be occupying our time and our energy there's got to be some group some commission devoted to trying to monitor or regulate college athletes and gambling. If you can go if you if the app can control where you are and you can't place a bet on Illinois in the state of Illinois and you can't do certain things in certain jurisdictions because your phone knows all these things there's got to be a way that a college athlete on scholarship can be registered or can be identified when he or she goes to the app to bet their future away in the way that Brandon's Brennan source bee has appeared to do so far. You hope for the young

8:31man's sake that he gets the help that he needs. You hope that he is treated with some understanding here because this is all new ground and this is definitely new new territory and this isn't the first and it won't be the last but it is troubling because it's getting all this attention. This is third program he's a highly regarded transfer and let's hope that he gets the help that he needs. Well I think the number one thing is what you said right there at the end David is that let's hope that he gets the help that he needs. He's a five plus million dollar a year player at Texas Tech as an NIL deal to lead that program the Red Raiders to where they they want to go to. But I think the biggest problem is that he was betting on his team not to lose but to win back in 2022 as a rest. That's what's really troubling and could be and could be a reason for him

9:31being expelled from college football. You know I mean just that that fact alone could get him dismissed from college football. The rules say it should. It should correct and I don't know if it's because he wasn't playing if that doesn't matter. You and I are you and I are in agreement here. I want the kid to get the help he needs. Addiction is a real thing and it doesn't matter if you've got five million dollars as a 19 year old or you can't rub two nickels together. You're trying to make it three nickels. I'm just saying addiction is real and I hope he ends up getting the help that he needs. Yeah I um I was trying to remember when I gambled. I mean when the first time I gambled and we played cards as kids and stuff like that but I I thought there were all sorts of like limitations depending on the state the state of Illinois. I was positive you got

10:31to be 21 to gamble and if he was gambling in 2022 as a red shirt freshman at Indiana how old would he have been like 18 19 tops when that was going on so that's really wild. He's under investigation by the NCAA and they claim they have all these small wagers that he was making. Um I you know I also believe Cincinnati is trying to get a million dollars back from him and uh they sued him and I believe yeah because he reneged on his agreement. So you just had you can't help but wonder if you make five million dollars David and you had a million like how much of that is he gambled you know the problem with gambling is that it ends up ruining people because of the amount of money involved and the crazy things people will do to get money to keep the gambling going

11:37and all that stuff. So yes definitely hope he gets the help he needs but this this is the sort of thing that don't you fear it's kind of tip of the iceberg stuff that this is a story we know about this story we've heard. There are a lot of college athletes you saw this headline and this news break yesterday probably and then we're filled with anxiety because they may be worried that they would be discovered next. Yeah. I mean it's very prevalent and probably more than we have any idea and when we talk about protection we're not talking about protection for the programs or protection protection for the for the for the youth for young athletes. No doubt about it. That's what I'm talking about. That's what the program in the schools will be fine. They'll be fine. It's the kids that come into these programs. They'll survive in the next guy but but I'm saying this you can really you can ruin your life, ruin your future. You got to be you got to have better guardrails on all this stuff and agree frightening to think about very much so very frightening to

12:43think about. Okay we've got the the extra point. Next it is Mully and Ha one oh four three the score.