Red Sox veterans Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras speak out about team's decision-making after elimination by Yankees

The Boston Red Sox were eliminated from the MLB playoffs on Wednesday . Two of their players had some notes for team leadership on their way out.

Both starting pitcher Sonny Gray and All-Star first baseman Willson Conteras clearly signaled disagreement with some part of the team's decision-making in the hours after their Game 2 loss to the New York Yankees . The Yankees swept the Red Sox, by an aggregate score of 18-2.

Game 2 hinged most on the decision to remove Gray in the fifth inning. Gray had been solid up to that point, allowing the game's only run on a solo homer by Luis García Jr. , but got into a jam with runners on the corners and two outs. Rather than leave Gray in to face left-hander Cody Bellinger , Red Sox manager Chad Tracy removed him for left-handed reliever Erik Miller . Gray was at 70 pitches.

The decision did not pay off, as Miller allowed a single to Bellinger that drove in a run, then another single to García, which was bailed out by an aggressive Yankees send resulting in an out at the plate.

The real damage arrived an inning later when Boston turned to ace Garrett Crochet , making his first appearance since April after an injured list stint due to shoulder and lat issues. Crochet failed to get an out, then the game got broken open when Tracy subbed in Garrett Whitlock .

It was an ugly loss, and it got even uglier when Gray openly questioned the decision to pull him :

"I think I'm the best pitcher in the American League going through the order the third time. I think that's a fact. I would have liked to live or die with with me in that moment, but that's the competitor I am. You can probably ask the guys and they felt the same way. I felt strong. I felt confident. I felt convicted.

Gray clearly believes the Red Sox were worried about the much-dreaded third-time-through-the-order penalty, which guides many teams' thinking during the postseason into counter-intuitive territory. To his point, that factor didn't appear to affect him much this season, as he held batters to a .180/.235/.280 slash line in his third time facing them this year.

There's also the matter of left/right splits. Gray has been better against left-handed batters than right-handed batters this season. Bellinger has been better against left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers this season.

Miller had better stats against lefties, but it could be argued there was little improvement for the Red Sox going with him over Gray. Tracy said after the game he was aware of Bellinger's reverse splits, but emphasized his confidence in his bullpen :

"With [Garrett] Crochet, [Garrett Whitlock] and [ Aroldis Chapman ] towards the back end there, and they were able to string a bunch of hits and we couldn't stop the bleeding there," he said. "It was pretty obvious that we were going to be aggressive in using that group. Like I said, they swung the bats. Didn't work out."

Contreras was also asked about the decision to pull Gray. His only response was to pretend to zip his mouth closed, clearly signaling disagreement.

Of course, the veteran had no problem telling reporters he was unhappy about the team's data-driven approach this year under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow :

"It's not enough when you have talent, or you have data, or you have computers telling you what to do, because this is baseball. The data is here to help us but at the end of the day, you're going to need experience and veteran guys to win games. There's a lot of stuff that I would like to say, but I'll state it like that."

Question: "You guys for much of the season, especially during the hot stretch, found so many fitting parts in the lineup. What do you think happened down the stretch and into the playoffs?" Contreras: "That's a good question. I'm not going to answer it because I don't want to give my honest answer. We got eliminated, that's the bottom line."

Question: "You guys for much of the season, especially during the hot stretch, found so many fitting parts in the lineup. What do you think happened down the stretch and into the playoffs?"

Contreras: "That's a good question. I'm not going to answer it because I don't want to give my honest answer. We got eliminated, that's the bottom line."

None of this is stuff you see in a harmonious organization, even after a playoff elimination. This is also far from the first time we've received signals that the players are unhappy with Breslow's guidance, as several spoke about the decision to fire manager Alex Cora in April and there was also Rafael Devers' infamous feud with the front office .

Ultimately, leadership comes down to results, and that's not exactly an argument in Breslow's favor. He took over for the fired Chaim Bloom in 2023 and the team has failed to win either 90 games or a playoff series in the three seasons since.