RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesLOS ANGELES — One day after Jarren Duran made headlines by appearing to take issue with teammate Willson Contreras for not attempting to score on a fly ball to left field in the sixth inning of Thursday’s win over the Athletics, interim manager Chad Tracy said there’s no animosity between the two veterans. Contreras and Duran spoke about what transpired after Thursday’s game.
“Those two are in a great place,” Tracy said before the Red Sox faced the Dodgers. “The group is in great spirits. Everyone is in a really good spot. There’s more to that than, maybe, what’s getting put out there, which I won’t discuss. We’ll keep it internal.”
In the sixth, Contreras was on third base with one out when Duran lifted a fly ball to shallow left field. Interim third base coach Chad Epperson didn’t send Contreras home and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom — who has a well above-average arm — fired home. Duran was caught by NESN cameras gesturing in the direction of third base and appeared to take issue with the fact Contreras didn’t try to score.
After Boston’s 4-3 win , Tracy claimed Duran’s frustration was with himself for not driving in the run. Duran said the sequence was “nothing” and that it “doesn’t really matter.” Contreras said he wasn’t sure why Duran was frustrated and that the matter was “nothing personal.”
Witnesses said Duran also threw his helmet and hit a pipe, causing water to spray throughout the dugout. According to the WEEI broadcast, he also smashed an iPad in the dugout. On Friday, Tracy said the left fielder’s frustration with himself was one factor in the outburst but did acknowledge, for the first time, that the incident warranted a conversation between the teammates.
Tracy also said the theory that Duran wanted Contreras to run on the play is “not necessarily true” but declined to elaborate further.
“There’s things in a 162-game season, and this is like our family,” Tracy said. “That’s how we view it. During the course of that, there’s gonna be different things that happen. In our line of work, some of that stuff gets put on TV and it gets blown up. It’s not even close to as big of an issue as is being made up. They’re both great. They’re on really good terms. Everything’s fine.
“Anytime you can address things where it’s not on TV — and also, that ballpark (Sutter Health Park, a minor league stadium), there’s no tunnel and there’s nowhere to go. I still view it like, when things happen and your group goes in and is mature about it and they deal with it and everybody’s on good terms, you just move past it."
Duran, who is hitting .195 with a .589 OPS in 101 games this season, is hitting eighth and playing left field for the Red Sox at Dodger Stadium on Friday. Tracy said definitively that he did not consider benching Duran — who he repeatedly called a “good player” — over his outburst, which is the latest in a series of animated encounters with fans, media members and others in recent years . He did speak to Duran about keeping his head up after telling reporters Thursday that he was “ashamed” of his play so far this season.
“I’ll keep all that stuff internal,” Tracy said. “More than anything, he’s hard on himself. Jarren expects a lot out of himself. He’s a really good baseball player having a rough go of it this year. For me, I put it plainly, reminding him the amount of things he has done on a Major League Baseball field and in a major league uniform that so many people that are playing on that field with him would say, ‘Man, I’d kill to do some of the things that guy has done.’”
Tracy said Duran — despite having one of the worst offensive seasons in modern Red Sox history — would still get opportunities to play. While he is a candidate to be traded before Monday night’s trade deadline, the Red Sox don’t have much in the way of other options in left field with Roman Anthony still rehabbing a hand injury. Masataka Yoshida is a poor defender at the position and Jahmai Jones, who has been starting against left-handed starters at the position, is also a downgrade with the glove who struggles against right-handed pitching.
“I think you can give him some rope,” Tracy said of Duran. “You can’t ignore what he’s capable of doing. You can’t ignore the month he had in May. I get that he’s gone through some struggles. You can’t ignore the level of defense that he plays. You can’t ignore that he can bunt against lefties, get a safety squeeze down, can sac bunt and can steal a base. Sometimes, it’s very easy to look at a batting average — and I’m well-aware of (where he ranks) among qualified hitters and all that stuff — but you can’t ignore that he’s hitting .280 with runners in scoring position. There’s a lot more than I look at than batting average.
“You have to look at what you have, what do you have available to you and what’s best to help us win now. It’s not all that difficult to balance for me.”
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