Opinion | The Sporting Page’s view
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said Monday, October 5, that Boston’s playoff pitching changes were his decisions. He denied receiving a script and accepted responsibility for taking Sonny Gray out of the season-ending loss to the Yankees.
“Those decisions are mine,” Tracy said at the club’s end-of-season press conference.
The Sporting Page’s view is that Boston is trying to save face after its early exit. The Red Sox should be honest about how they reached those decisions and explain what convinced them to take their starters out.
Our earlier report on Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras’s criticism documented the frustration inside the clubhouse. Gray wanted to continue after 70 pitches. Contreras said data needed to be accompanied by experience and veteran players.
Tracy pulled Gray and Payton Tolle after 4⅔ innings in their respective Wild Card starts. Left-hander Erik Miller entered both games and allowed a Ben Rice home run in Game 1 and a Cody Bellinger RBI single in Game 2.
Tracy said Boston’s bullpen had earned his confidence during the season. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow also said he and Tracy met with Contreras for more than two hours on Sunday.
A manager can reasonably favor a bullpen matchup before a starter is tired. Tracy has acknowledged that his call went badly, and the public record does not establish that the front office ordered the pitching changes. Those points deserve to be part of the discussion.
Gray led qualified AL pitchers with a .180 average allowed the third time through the order. That record should make Boston’s explanation more specific, particularly with an effective starter at 70 pitches.
The club should explain which matchup factors and observations outweighed Gray’s effectiveness, then say how it will assess that judgment. Its confidence in the bullpen is a reason worth hearing, but the same quick hook in both games deserves a fuller account. Being candid about that process would serve the players and fans better than protecting appearances.
