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Nick Caserio is Staying With the Patriots Despite Months of Rumors

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ESPN – Longtime Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio is closing on a contract extension with the club, a source confirmed to ESPN. Caserio’s contract is set to expire after the 2020 draft, and head coach Bill Belichick has cited his dual role in personnel and coaching as a “great asset” to the organization. Caserio, 44, has played a central role in drafting and signing players under Belichick, while also contributing to the coaching staff as a regular presence at practice and in the coaches’ booth during games.

After all the drama and rumors of Nick Caserio potentially leaving town to go work for the Texans, he probably saw Houston promote Bill O’Brien to Coach/GM and had a come to Jesus moment. Wait, I wanna go *there*?

This wasn’t just some media concocted story either, the Patriots literally filed tampering charges against the Texans last offseason. The former Patriots priest or character coach or whatever you want to call him Jack Easterby left the team because Robert Kraft may have allegedly gotten some hand stuff done to him. Easterby then got a job with the Texans alongside fellow former Patriot Bill O’Brien, which the Pats were “livid” about. Then Easterby came back for the Patriots Super Bowl ring ceremony over the summer and allegedly tried to poach Nick Caserio to come be the GM/Executive VP for the Texans. IN ROBERT KRAFT’S OWN BACKYARD. The Texans even went as far as to fire their own GM the day after that party and then requested to interview Caserio three days later.

So this is great news for New England with all the turnover this team has had over the past year and thats before we even get to the uncertainty around Tom Brady. We’ve seen Joe Judge, Brian Flores, Matt Patricia, and Bill O’Brien all leave the team in recent years. Although a lot of former Patriots coaches and executives have gone on to less than stellar results, sometimes stability is a valuable asset. Not to mention Caserio has done everything in this organization and is one of the few, if only, executives in the NFL that has a hand in coaching and is on the headset on game day. I would expect a new title as he’s been the Director of Player Personnel since 2008, but I suppose a generous raise may do the job.

Have You Heard About This Proposed Change to the MLB Playoffs?

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ESPN – Major League Baseball is mulling significant changes to its postseason, including increasing the number of teams from 10 to 14 and adding a reality TV-type format to determine which teams play each other in an expanded wild-card round, sources told ESPN.

MLB is considering a move in which each league would have three division winners and four wild-card teams making the postseason starting in 2022, sources said. The best team in the league would receive a bye into the division series. The two remaining division winners and the wild-card team with the best record of the four would each host all games of a best-of-three series in the opening round.

Once the teams clinch and the regular season ends, the plan gets congested:

  • The division winner with the second-best record would select its wild-card opponent from the three wild-card winners not hosting a series.
  • The division winner with the worst record would then choose its opponent from the remaining two wild-card teams.
  • The final matchup would pit the wild-card winner with the best record against the wild-card team not yet chosen.
  • All of the selections, sources said, would be unveiled live on television the Sunday night of the final regular-season games.

I don’t like the idea of nearly half the league making the playoffs, but I do love that MLB is considering shaking *something* up. Baseball has been painfully slow to adopt any significant changes. Remember when they put in the rule that batters had to stay in the batters box and players immediately ignored it and MLB did nothing? Remember when MLB was testing a pitch clock in Minor League Baseball with the plan of then implementing it in the major leagues? That was in 2015. Whether it’s rules to improve pace of play or ideas of how to combat the culture of rampant sign stealing; baseball is afraid of change. So I am intrigued by this pretty radical shift in the playoff format. Baseball needs to become more like the NFL and try things out. Hell even the NBA tested a new ball in 2006, which was a complete and utter disaster, but the point remains; at least they tried something new.

My favorite part about this new format is it gives teams a real incentive to play for the No. 1 seed, which there isn’t really any of currently. Too many teams these days play out the string as they’d rather get their rotation set for the playoffs than try to win as many regular season games as possible. The new Wild Card format of the past few years has helped negate that a little bit, but a first round bye would have teams gunning for the top seed.

Another aspect that would be great is we would no longer have to hear the song and dance about how players don’t care who they’re playing in the playoffs. Bullshit! Now we’ll know exactly who you want to play and who you think is an easy out. Just imagine the Red Sox winning 100 games in 2022, 5 games out of the No. 1 seed behind the Astros, selecting the 90 win Twins for obliteration in the Wild Card round. How awesome would it be to see team officials cringe on live TV as their fates are sealed like an NBA Draft Lottery special? The reality TV aspect of it all just has me picturing Kramer hosting the Merv Griffin Show.

I am far from a baseball purist so count me in.

Not everyone is sold on the idea including Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer.

To be fair though, this is the guy who got scolded (and traded) by Terry Francona for launching a ball over the fence after getting yanked from a game. Seems like a guy who doesn’t take it well when things don’t go his way.

People who complain about changing the game forget just how much the rules have actually evolved, some faster than others, over the years. In 2011 the MLB added the new Wild Card format, the Astros changed Leagues in 2013, balls have been juiced and unjuiced, steroids were encouraged ignored then banned, the mound was lowered, and on and on we go. So testing out a little tweak to the playoff format is not going to have Branch Rickey rolling in his grave. It’s baseball, lets have a little fun.

It’s Official: Spring Training Arrived Before the Red Sox Hired a Manager

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Pitchers and catchers reported today and the Red Sox have still yet to officially name a manager. This is like when you showed up to class as a kid and the teacher was sick, but the school forgot to assign a substitute. Real Lord of the Flies type stuff going on down in Fort Myers right now.

All the rumors point to the Sox promoting last year’s bench coach Ron Roenicke to the manager role, but the team made a point to come out and deny that was official last week soo who the hell knows.

This is exactly what you want to get the 2020 season started right after you just traded your best player and the guy you signed to the biggest pitching contract ever. Nobody in charge. Confusion. Chaos. This team could win 95 games or miss the playoffs entirely and neither would surprise me. Too negative? Well, if you believe my old friend Petyr Baelish, all this chaos could actually be an opportunity for the Sox.

So the Red Sox Traded for a Shortstop Named Jeter

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Did he come with a gift basket?

So the Red Sox and Dodgers mercifully completed the Mookie Betts/David Price trade this week. The Twins backed out of the trade so the Dodgers had to throw in some additional prospects to get the deal done. In addition to Alex Verdugo the Dodgers will now also send catching prospect Connor Wong and shortstop prospect Jeter Downs.

Listen I have never heard of Jeter Downs before this so I won’t pretend to be well versed in his potential, BUT my god would it be great if this guy became a stud for the Red Sox. Nothing would be sweeter than snatching back the name “Jeter” from Yankees fans. He is their sacred cow. If there were Jeter shirts all over Landsdowne, and trust me there will be – just look at all the “Mookie” shirts:

It might just make a Yankees fan hang up his gold chain and unbuttoned pinstriped jersey for good.

Ok so lets get down to brass tacks. Jeter Downs was a 1st round pick by the Cincinnati Reds in 2017 before being traded to the Dodgers in the Yasiel Puig trade in 2018. Downs was ranked the No. 87 prospect on the MLB 2019 Prospect Watch and jumped up to No. 44 on the 2020 list, which would immediately make him Boston’s top ranked prospect. (I’m not counting Alex Verdugo here since he’s not a rookie anymore, but heading into 2019 he was ranked anywhere from No. 35 to No. 19, depending on who you read.) Brusdar Graterol, the guy who’s injury history apparently blew up the first version of the Mookie trade, is ranked No. 83 for comparison’s sake so a nice little upgrade from the Sox here.

Here’s his scouting report via MLB.com:

“Despite being one of the youngest regulars (age 19) in the pitcher-friendly Class A Midwest League, he produced 13 homers and 37 steals in his first full pro season — numbers matched by only one other Minor Leaguer (Padres outfielder Buddy Reed). The Dodgers acquired him in December as part of a package for Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer.

Downs has the tools to hit for average and power. He combines a simple right-handed swing with a patient, all-fields approach. He’s strong for his size, delivering most of his home runs to his pull side and driving the ball to both gaps.

Downs gets the most out of his average speed, parlaying his aggressiveness and instincts into stolen bases. He played shortstop in his pro debut but spent more time in 2018 at second base, where his arm and range are better fits. He returned to shortstop at the beginning of 2019 and there’s also a possibility that he winds up in center field, but the good news is that he has the bat to profile at all three positions.”

Yea Jeets.

#RushHourRap – NF – The Search

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NF is someone that I stumbled onto last year and is kind of a throwback to the underground rap days. Listening to this guy rap is like reading someone’s diary without any filter, which is refreshing in this era of mumble rappers. Back in college I used to scour HotNewHipHop for the up and comers, but given that I’m a 30-year-old guy with a 9-5 these days I was a little late to the party on NF. With four albums released since 2015 he’s been on a tear dropping music and even hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, but the first time I saw him really hit mainstream was on an ESPN college football commercial last summer.

There is Video of Samuel L. Jackson Asking George Lucas for the Purple Lightsaber and It’s Hilarious

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I’m not sure if this has already circulated around the internet in the past, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it and I laughed out loud. As Star Wars nerds know, every lightsaber has a certain color for a very specific reason. Jedi lightsabers are green and blue, Sith are red because they make the kyber crystals “bleed” to build their lightsabers. Then there’s Samuel L. Jackson. His is purple. No reason was ever given in the prequels and it was just assumed Samuel L. Jackson got a purple lightsaber because he is a Bad Motherfucker.

Well it turns out, thats pretty much exactly how it went down.

Lucas: “Good guys are green and blue. Bad guys are red. Thats just the way it works.”

Jackson: *nodding* No purple lightsaber?

Lucas: “….you might get purple.”

You can literally see the moment George Lucas collapses under the weight of Samuel L. Jackson’s charisma. That or he was afraid of getting MF’d on set by Jules.

Samuel L. Jackson (and Ewan McGregor) were the highlight of a pretty mediocre trilogy of movies so if giving him an unexplained purple lightsaber made for a better Mace Windu so be it. In fact, give me a Mace Windu spinoff and I will continue borrowing my friend’s my subscription to Disney+

#RushHourRap – 16 Years Ago Today Kanye West Released The College Dropout

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Say what you will about Kanye West and all the drama around him over the years, but you cannot deny the man put out some of the best rap music ever made early in his career. Kanye’s debut album The College Dropout alone featured mega hits like Through the Wire, Slow Jamz, Jesus Walks, and All Falls Down. Those are just the radio hits though.

If you haven’t listened to this album in a while, do yourself a favor and go back and listen to Spaceship, Never Let Me Down (ft. Jay Z), Get Em High (ft. Talib Kwelli and Common), Breathe In Breathe Out (ft. Ludacris) just to name a few. Thats basically the entire album, and I didn’t even mention New Workout Plan.

Kanye is without a doubt the most successful producer turned rapper after spending years mixing beats for guys like Jay-Z. Watching a young Ye at work in the studio really is incredible to see. Just look at Jay’s face when he first hears some of these beats that would later go on The Black Album. That’s inspiring man.

One of my all-time favorite Kanye West stories comes from the Tim Ferris Show when Jamie Foxx told the story of how Slow Jamz came together:

Also, in things I learned today is that the bear mascot that Kanye had become synonomous with over the years for incorporating into several album covers, was a completely unplanned thing.

Red Sox Reportedly Hire Ron Roenicke as Manager, Team Says Search is Ongoing!

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So it was reported earlier today that the Red Sox had ended their expansive search for a new manager and hired…the guy that sat next to Alex Cora all last season. At this point I do not care who they hire as the next lameduck manager, but at least by promoting last year’s bench coach in Ron Roenicke it confirms the Sox don’t believe any further suspensions are coming from the MLB sign stealing investigation. So that would be a positive.

Then later on came the conflicting reports and we were back to square one.

John Gibbons would be a terrible hire, essentially John Farrell 2.0, but he would make for great content since he’s a dead ringer for No. 2 in Austin Powers.

So who the hell knows what the Red Sox will ultimately do in their managerial search, but is any of this a surprise to fans? Something I thought of today as I cackled amidst all the chaos; do other fan bases find the same entertainment in watching their team implode or are we just fucked in the head? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Patriots could win 10 Super Bowls and the Red Sox would still be the most entertaining team in town because they are a reality show. They’re either flying high and winning titles or failing in a spectacular ball of fire. The Francona smear campaign, Bobby Valentine, Pablo Sandoval, David Price vs Eck, the Mookie trade; it’s. always. something.

Welp, we still have four days until pitchers and catchers report so theres PLENTY of time to figure it all out.

Tacko T-Shirts On Sale Now!

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Watching the Celtics game last night I could no longer deny the need for a Tacko t-shirt. Normally Tacko is utilized like a human victory cigar and fans go nuts like the days of Scalabrine. Last night though the Garden erupted in chants for Tacko while the C’s were up a whopping 5 points with 5 minutes still to go. The people simply want more. He is tall, he is nice, he has an elite PER of 24.0, and he now has a shirt on The 300s. Buy your shirt now at The 300s Store in premium grey or classic green!

#RushHourRap – On This Day 17 Years Ago 50 Cent Released Get Rich Or Die Tryin’

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For a white kid from the burbs, this album was like being transported to another world. I love Jay-Z, but was probably just a little too young to really understand what The Blueprint was about when it was released. When Curtis Jackson came out of nowhere in 2003, co-signed by Eminem, he took off like a rocket because he was authentic with a wild origin story to back him. In what is nearly an urban myth at this point, 50 cent was shot 9 times and lived to tell the tale.

There were FIVE singles from his debut album, three of which I’ve heard on the radio within the last week – 17 years after their release. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ had one of the greatest B-sides of an album I can remember too.  What Up Gangsta, Patiently Waiting, High All the Time, Heat, Like My Style, Don’t Push Me, Life’s On the Line are all still bangers to this day. I feel like I forgot about a lot of these early 2000s albums once they stopped putting CD players in cars. I have like 50 CDs in my trunk with no way to play them. Damn technology.

Hey Google, play 50 Cent radio!