MILB – In partnership with Minor League Baseball, the Pawtucket Red Sox today announced a new initiative with the Latino community. The PawSox will change their name for virtually all of their Tuesday home games to Osos Polares de Pawtucket. The name Osos Polares de Pawtucket, “Polar Bears of Pawtucket” in English, was revealed this morning at a press conference at Ella Risk Elementary School in Central Falls, RI (a school that has about a 78% Hispanic student population)…The PawSox are honored to be selected as one of 33 teams among the 160 in Minor League Baseball to participate in this new form of outreach to the Hispanic Community. This initiative is specifically designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams’ local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities…To distinctively launch this exciting new program, MiLB and each participating team created culturally-relevant on-field personas that honor their respective U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities. All “Copa” teams will adopt these new personas via on-field jerseys and caps to be worn during designated “Copa de la Diversion” games during the 2018 season.
I’m not quite sure what a Polar Bear in Pawtucket has to do with Hispanic heritage, but I am fully on board if it gets me this fire flames hat and jersey combo.
Minor League sports crushing it per usual with the jersey selection. Being a farm team’s marketing department must be the best job in sports. The players are there to get experience and improve plus oftentimes they’re getting sent up to the next level halfway through the season so winning isn’t really a top priority for the team. Just sell some tickets, bring some families out to the ballpark, and come up with 25 different jersey promotions. I’m in.
NESN – “There certainly seemed to be something of a leadership void, and Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia admitted Monday that former Boston manager John Farrell was part of the reason the club didn’t seem to enjoy itself in 2017. “The overall approach, every day, would wear on guys. It wasn’t people not liking each other. We all love each other. Trust me,” Pedroia said Monday morning on WEEI’s “OMF.” “There’s the mindset of, ‘You show up to the yard, you put your work in, you have your approach that day, and you try to execute it. If you don’t, guess what? You’re going to show up tomorrow and still be in the lineup. We’re all going to have confidence in you. We’re all going to show up and try to win and accomplish the same thing.’ That’s what wore on guys and made the season that much more grueling — when everything that day was more magnified. It put a lot of pressure on our young guys, it put a lot of pressure on our veteran guys. That’s the part, when you hear Mookie (Betts) or (Xander Bogaerts) say they weren’t having much fun, you don’t ever have a chance to enjoy yourself if you don’t go 4-for-4, throw a complete game shutout, or we don’t win by 10. You don’t look ahead to the end of what we were trying to build for.”
Color me shocked. Dustin Pedroia came out and admitted on WEEI that last year sucked because John Farrell just beat guys down. It seems like his approach was just a grind on guys mentally. As much as we like to rail on players for whining and complaining, Boston may be the toughest city to play in the entire league so its important to manage that level of stress. This is where I’ve always been kind of disapointed though considering John Farrell came up in the Terry Francona school of management. Pedroia said guys were stressing because they were hyper focused on day to day success rather than building towards something bigger. If a guy didn’t hit the cover off the ball one day he’d be worried about getting moved down in the batting order or getting bumped from the lineup entirely. Farrell never really seemed as comfortable managing the Sox as we all thought he would be when Boston traded for him with Toronto.
Compare that to a manager like Francona who was infamous for sticking with his guys, almost to a fault. Anyone remember Mark Bellhorn? That guy was a goddamn enigma. In theory, a pretty solid player, but holy hell was he frustrating. Half the time he straight up SUCKED. He was a disaster in 2004 with his double ear flapped softball batting helmet.
He hit .264 with 177 strikeouts, which was 1st in the American League and 2nd in all of baseball. He did have a .373 OBP though! But Francona knew the guy could hit so he kept going with him day in and day out. Guess what? In the long run it paid off as Bellhorn had a HUGE 3-run HR in Game 6 of the ALCS to force Game 7 against the Yankees. Don’t remember? It was the one that smoked a guy sitting front row in the chest, but he was wearing all black so Matsui and those dirty Yankees tried to play it off like it hit the wall.
So theres definitely something to be said for consistency.
Everybody remembers Game 6 of the 04 ALCS for the legend that was Schilling’s bloody sock, but people forget that was also this game:
But, I digress.
As a manager you could also go the other way and tell these professional athletes to sack up. I mean if I have a few non-productive shitty days at my job, my employer is most likely going to chew me out. If you’re not performing the manager is well within his rights to sit you down. But, and I think this is what John Farrell’s biggest weakness was, if you’re going to do that you have to communicate why to the player. Build them up. Co-mmu-ni-cate. And that is where Farrell dropped the ball. The guy just did not have the social skills or the management skills or whatever you want to call it to relate to his players on a day to day basis. Not to beat a dead horse, but again Francona could call Pedroia in to play a game of cribbage and while the two are having a friendly competition Tito could tell him that he has sucked lately and is giving him a day off. Whether that was good news or whether that was bad news, Tito could communicate.
One of my favorite stories about Francona was how he would go out during batting practice every day and if he had to have a talk with someone he would bring them behind the backstop to chat. It was in the middle of everyone and completely public, but nobody could hear what they were saying except Tito and the player. So he was a master class in dealing with the players and their fragile egos and getting the best out of guys. Hell Francona could call a guy into his office while he was taking a dump and have a chat. I don’t really see that kind of comfort level existing between John Farrell and any of these Red Sox players. So the hope here is that Alex Cora is able to bring back that warm and fuzzy feeling back to the players. Maybe Cora won’t be sitting on the porcelain throne when he’s calling in Rafael Devers, but hey its only his first year on the job.
Boston Herald – The Patriots were in attendance at Texas A&M’s pro day today at the team’s indoor practice facility. They were there with 31 other teams to watch 14 Aggies players auditioning for next month’s draft. But there was also someone else there of note: Johnny Manziel. Manziel threw to receivers and running backs including Texas A & M’s star receiver Christian Kirk, who has drawn a lot of interest. According to a source, the Patriots spoke with Manziel both before the workout, as well as after the session..The Patriots certainly appear to be taking notes. It’s not out of the realm for them to be thinking about having him come to camp as a third quarterback. At the very least, it would be an interesting curve ball by Bill Belichick.
Karen Guregian reported on Tuesday that the Patriots met with Johnny Manziel both before AND after his workout at the Texas A&M Pro Day. Couple that with the Patriots taking Johnny Manziel aside to officially weigh him after he threw at the USD Pro Day last week and I think its safe to say that I am EXCITED. For a guy that has thoroughly enjoyed Johnny Football’s rise and subsequently agonized over his fall, I am pretty god damn jacked up about him potentially joining my favorite team.
If it was just one meeting its pretty easy to write off, especially with so many other team scouts at the various Pro Days to watch other guys with a Manziel workout included as a bonus. BUT, with the Pats going to not one, but two of Johnny Football’s workouts has my antenna’s up. Like way up. Erect almost.
First things first, the Patriots could sign Colin Kaepernick tomorrow and make a damn donation to the Fidel Castro Fund and Bill Belichick would kill the story within a fortnight. This is not a team thats afraid of a distraction, not if theres a player out there that can help them win games. They signed our lord and savior Tim Tebow for christ’s sake (sorry Tim).
So I wouldn’t worry about the Pats signing or not signing a guy for any reason other than Bill thinks he can help the Pats win a game.
Now, is Manziel worth it? Well would you rather 32-year-old Brian Hoyer? I like Hoyer as much as the rest of you in New England, but lets be real, the man is a career backup QB. Brian Hoyer is not the future of this team. The Patriots traded away their young, cheap, handsome, franchise QB in Jimmy G. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Brady is a freak of nature who won the Most Valuable Player award at 40 years old so I don’t blame the Patriots for doing what they did. Hell, I wouldn’t be able to dump Tom Brady even if he’s 65 and eating at the Early Bird Special after practice, but thats why I’m not a GM.
With that being said, the Patriots have a soon to be 41-year-old QB and a 32-year-old backup QB, so the opportunity is right there for a young developmental QB. We don’t need a guy to come in and start winning games in September obviously. Manziel is only 25-years-old. Or the Pats could draft a QB, but for a team that is so depleted on the defensive end and so clearly in Win Now mode, I wouldn’t be surprised if they restocked the cupboards with young defensive players and looked elsewhere for QB insurance.
On to my final point. Who in this league is better at rebuilding players careers and buying low than the New England Patriots? No one. It would be the ultimate Patriot move to sign a young, publicly chided, humbled, former Heisman Trophy winning Johnny Manziel (who has volunteered to play for free) as the new backup QB on the cheap. It makes perfect sense. If he sucks or he starts frequenting the Foxy Lady then you cut him. But, if he’s legit and he really wants to work his balls off and get back into the league then you get a former 1st round pick and former Heisman winner for peanuts. That my friends is what they call a win-win. And before you all start giving me shit, I know winning the Heisman doesn’t mean anything in regards to NFL success; Troy Smith won the Heisman. BUT Troy was a goddamn savage for my Madden team running the 5-wide spread offense and thats all that really matters isn’t it?
ESPN – New York Giants co-owner John Mara is not ruling out the possibility of trading receiver Odell Beckham Jr., or withholding a contract extension, in the wake of a viral social media video that was posted earlier this month. Mara, speaking Sunday to reporters at the NFL owners meeting, said there is a “possibility” that the Giants will let Beckham play in 2018 on the final year of his rookie contract. Asked if it was possible that Beckham could be on another team’s roster when the season begins, Mara said: “I can’t answer that one way or the other. We’re certainly not shopping him. Again, when you’re coming off a season when you’re 3-13 and played as poorly as we played, I wouldn’t say that anyone is untouchable.”
Hilarious. After years of enabling, coddling, and placating Odell Beckham the Giants have finally had enough of his shit.
“I think too often he allows himself to be put in bad situations and needs to use better judgment,” Mara said in a stern public rebuke.”As I’ve said before,” Mara said, “I’m tired of answering questions about Odell’s behavior and what the latest incident is. I think he knows what we expect of him, and now it’s up to him.”
ODB is a nutcase, he’s immature, he’s volatile, and he’s downright unpredictable. And I will take him on my team TOMORROW.
Absolute game changer of a talent. Despite his off field issues, its not like he’s ever done anything *that* bad. Just some excessive partying, maybe a little (alleged) recreational drug use, and some histrionics on the sidelines. I’ll accept that if it gets me ODB. Granted this dude probably has a shelf life similar to the one Randy Moss seemingly had everywhere he went. No matter how talented the guy was, after a few years every team eventually had had enough of him.
I finally got around to watching the last episode of Tom vs Time last night and like most of the Boston media has said about the finale; it didn’t make me feel great. Theres a lot of talk from Brady questioning his own motivation and commitment and the trade off between football and being a father. Questions that quite honestly weren’t being asked so loudly by our 40-year-old QB even just a few weeks ago.
Whether its a leverage play or a money play or whatever it ultimately is, it reminds me and every Patriots fan in New England that this thing is just about over. The bar is closing. The bouncers may not be escorting you out the front door just yet, but the lights are on, and the last song of the night is playing. As we all come out of our stupor of having drank 8 Bud Lights (Super Bowls) over the past several hours (2001-2018) the question becomes abundantly clear. Where are we going next?
And with that long drunken analogy laid out, my point is the Patriots have painted themselves into a corner where they are unabashedly in Win Now mode. By trading your backup and potential franchise QB this is exactly what you signed off on. Now is not the time to carefully plan for the next 10 years. Now is the time to maximize your HOF quarterback and get any piece you can to help win that 6th Super Bowl. Bring me anyone and everyone that can help Tom Brady get a ring for his incredibly lonely left hand. Quite simply, no more half measures.
I wanted Aqib Talib. I did not get him. I wanted Richard Sherman. I did not get him. I wanted the Honey Badger. I did not get him. What I want does not matter because I don’t run the Patriots, but the Patriots are going to have to pull off a couple of big moves if they want to solidify themselves as the team to beat for one or two more runs at this thing.
Bringing in ODB would be exactly that kind of move.
My goodness. For what its worth Drew Chatman, the guy front flipping off his unconscious opponent, was DQ’d with the guy napping on the canvas getting the much deserved W. Either way I would NOT want to be Chatman in any type of rematch. Or maybe a morality seeking enforcer goes looking for Chatman to teach him a lesson about respecting the game.
Reminds me of my slightly less “disrespecting the dead” and more “catching em all” type of rubbing it in celebration:
For a team that has employed all sorts of degenerates to seemingly have an offer (reportedly the biggest offer) on the table for Suh and yank it back is beyond strange. Did he do something to make the team hesitant to deal with his off the field baggage?? Or is he just pissing teams off by asking for way more money than he deserves?
Jets CEO Christopher Johnson on why team rescinded offer to Ndamukong Suh: “Our thinking just changed a bit.” Declines to be more specific. Johnson said he was part of decision-making process.
Its strange for a team that usually lets the GM handle all football business to suddenly have the CEO jumping in and killing a deal. And going out of his way to make it known they took their offer off the table.
Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said team has rescinded offer to Ndamukong Suh. Won’t go into specifics about why offer was removed.
I would think of Suh is just holding out for a monster contract the Jets would just say that. “We think Suh is an excellent player, but we realized we are too far apart in contract negotiations and have opted to go in another direction.” Nope, instead we get the mysterious “Our offer has been rescinded and I would rather not tell you why” answer from the CEO.
After signing a 6 year $114M contract with the Dolphins in 2015, Suh is obviously looking to make big money once again. Except he has to remember that he just got cut from said contract and he is now 31 years old. Plus his sack totals have gone down in each of the last 4 seasons from 8.5 in 2014 to 6 in 2015, to 5 in 2016, to 4.5 in 2017. He also had jut 29 tackles, his fewest in a season since 2012. Not a great combination of factors for a guy looking to reset the market and go to the highest paying team, regardless of anything else.
On ESPN, @diannaESPN said Ndamukong Suh is looking to go to the highest-bidder. Fit and team don’t matter. LOL
Seeing as its 2018 I’m sure more info will come out on this situation before I have dinner tonight, but we’ll keep an eye on it. Would have been fun, besides fearing for TB12’s health and well being, to watch and hate Suh twice a season for a couple more years though.
The Boston Globe – In an upcoming book, titled “From the Outside: My Journey through Life and the Game I Love,” the retired guard opens up about his relationships not only with the sport, but also with past teammates and coaches…“Allen also appreciated Garnett’s everlasting tenacity — an intangible trait that he felt didn’t necessarily light up the stat sheet. “He never took a game off. A possession off,” he wrote. “I can’t say that of anyone else I played with, and I played with some of the best.”…”Paul Pierce, on the other hand, would explicitly announce he was “taking the night off” when matched up against a player who wasn’t considered to be elite. Pierce’s attitude ticked Allen off. He was sure to express his disapproval to Pierce, who eventually no longer joked about taking it easy.
I just don’t get you Ray Allen. I feel like I’m dealing with Rocket Raccoon here.
Here I thought Ray and KG and Pierce and Rondo (not really) were all trying to smooth things over so they could reunite for the 10 year reunion of the 2008 championship. But instead Ray is in open rebellion against the crown. He’s currently promoting a new book, which takes plenty of shots at Rondo, who clapped back with a haymaker, and now he’s accusing Paul Pierce (the guy who was literally just inducted into the Celtics HOF) of dogging it.
“No player should ever have a night off,” Allen wrote. “The worst player in the NBA would not be in the NBA if he weren’t good, which means he has the potential to beat you on any given night. And if you think you have to put forth a greater effort against the top players, you clearly aren’t giving enough of an effort against everyone else.”
How I imagine Paul Pierce responding to Ray’s completely random shot?
What’s the matter with you Ray? If you want to get into pissing matches with Rondo thats one thing. You guys always hated each other and everyone knew it. He even refers to his teammate and starting point guard as a “role player” that was wrecking the chemistry of the Celtics.
“Rondo, eager to adopt an even bigger role, was “altering the dynamic that had worked so well for [the team] in 2008.” “I didn’t have quite the same feeling about the direction we were heading in as I had the year before,” Allen wrote. “No Ubuntu in this group.”
Jesus dude. But to start talking shit about the captain? The guy whose number 34 now hangs in the rafters? The one guy who could bring you back into the Celtics family? Welp ya done fucked that up now.
Its a shame, but it doesn’t look like Ray Allen and his old Celtics teammates will ever be buddies again. And I gotta say I have to believe that has more to do with Ray than it does the other three guys. This isn’t Mean Girls. Rondo, KG, and Pierce aren’t ganging up on Ray because he didn’t wear pink on Wednesday.
This is a microcosm of all the little things we always heard. Like how Ray never showed up to his teammates’ charity events when they all showed up to his? Stuff like that on top of how he skipped town to join his team’s blood rival and help the other guys win a title? I wanna let bygones be bygones, but it seems like Ray Allen does not.
PS – I legitimately may have to buy Ray’s book for the Kevin Garnett stories alone. The Boston Globe mentions yet another story of KG trying to get Joakim Noah to kill himself.
“When Joakim Noah once congratulated Garnett on a step-back jumper and asked if he could teach him the shot — an exchange Allen said was common between players in the NBA — Garnett responded, “Get off my dick.”
I have always lusted after Johnny Manziel; the dude just balls out. Plus I’m 5’8″ so any short mobile QB a la Doug Flutie will always get the first crack at my heart. I was actually kinda pissed the year Manziel won the Heisman because I was kind of hoping he might slip to the Patriots, but his huge year at A&M ended any hopes of that. Now as Joey B wrote about earlier today, Manziel was throwing at the USD Pro Day. To which we all said, ah thats good for him to maybe start taking some steps to get back on track, get in front of some scouts etc. But then…then… I saw this tweet.
I’m told there were 12 NFL teams in attendance for USD’s Pro Day where Johnny Manziel was throwing for receivers. The Patriots brought Manziel inside to get an official weight for him. (He’s back up to 199 lbs.)
The Patriots just happen to be in the market for a young, developmental QB after trading away Jimmy G. Who better to take the Johnny Football comeback bid and make it a reality than Bill Belichick? The Pats love to kick the tires on undervalued assets so this would be a good fit. Hell, Manziel even said he would play for free in a recent interview.
Johnny Manziel still needs to knock more rust off and get his timing down, but George Whitfield who has been training him over the last three weeks told me the juice in the QB’s arm is actually better than it was when he was coming out of A&M. https://t.co/3q0UEud0eT
Manziel is 25 so he’s young, it would seem like he’s back in football shape, and the guy has been eating humble pie for the better part of the last 2 years. Not to mention he’s playing in the Spring Developmental League and potentially the CFL just to get another shot in the NFL so he’ll have no problem holding Tom Brady’s clipboard.
ESPN – Given an out, USC quarterback Sam Darnold declined to move up his throwing session at his school’s pro day on Wednesday, choosing instead to throw under a steady rain in front of a throng of NFL decision-makers. “I don’t think it would have been fair to change the schedule with all of the other guys training for the pro day,” Darnold said. “So I just wanted my guys to be comfortable — my teammates — that was first and foremost. “But I also think it was a perfect opportunity to be able to throw in the rain and show these guys I could throw in the rain.”
Look I get it, Darnold has played in sunny and perfect Southern California for the past couple of years so he wants to show the scouts he’s not soft. But this is EXACTLY how the Buffalo Bills became infatuated with that bum EJ Manuel.
I remember it like it was yesterday. Scouts were going nuts because Manuel could grip it and rip it while water was falling from the sky, which is as we know a huge indicator of NFL success.
“Manuel set himself apart from other prospects after impressing coaches when he threw well during a thunderstorm at a private workout with the Bills’ brass in Tallahassee, Fla.”
The Bills play in Orchard Park, NY which is basically a hellhole with winters that would rival Winterfell. So the Bills saw a guy that could play in conditions less than 70 and sunny and thought, HAVE TO HAVE IT. Discounting the fact that he was highly mediocre at Florida State, but hey if he can throw in the rain at a Pro Day then he must be the next Montana.
Welp, in Buffalo he ended up throwing for 3500 yards and 19 TDs in the air with another 320 yards and 4 TDs on the ground…in 4 years.
Let this be a cautionary tale to the NFL scouts with a Top 5 pick in this year’s draft. Select Sam Darnold because you like his body of work, because you think he’s intelligent, hell do it because you think he’s less likely to get arrested than Baker Mayfield. But don’t be the Buffalo Bills and draft a guy because he can throw a tight spiral in a shower.
The 300s 