Category: Boston

Who Was the Worst Red Sox Contract of All Time? I’ve Made It Easy for You

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Update: It was pointed out to me the compiled Batting Averages were calculated wrong, so those numbers and the graphic have been updated in the post below.

So as everyone knows by now, the Red Sox designated Pablo Sandoval for assignment today. Look the Red Sox have given out a lot of shitty contracts over the years. Thats what big market teams do. You throw money at problems that other teams can’t afford to do. Except the problem with that is by definition free agents are most often older players who rarely live up to the pay day. You’re usually paying for past performance and almost always are eating money towards the end of the contract when the player is a shell of what he once was. Which is fine. I accept that.

BUT, when you have guys that are a disaster from Day 1 and can’t even make it through an entire 162 games then you have a huge problem.

So who was the worst Red Sox contract of all time? Well looking back over the years the two names that standout as the frontrunners are soft-ass Carl Crawford (who STILL complains about his 2 seasons in Boston) and the recently departed Sandoval. While a lot of people want to say Crawford is the worse deal because of how toxic his attitude was and how bad his play was, its got to be the Panda. Look, I made a spreadsheet to make it easy for you.

Although Sandoval was here for parts of 3 seasons and Crawford only two, due to DL stints by both, their total number of games played for the Red Sox is the EXACT SAME at 161. Which makes this the perfect sample size.

Compared to Sandoval, Crawford had more:

  • Runs Scored
  • Hits
  • Doubles
  • Triples (shocking)
  • RBIs
  • Stolen Bases (Panda with the elusive 0 in that category).

Now want to compare their slash lines as members of the Red Sox?

  • Pablo .236/.303/.360
  • Crawford .260/.296/.418

Both completely SUCKED for guys who had signed gargantuan contracts. Granted Crawford’s deal was for $142 million to Pablo’s measly $95 million, but Pablo has been so bad that they’re gonna have to eat the last 2+ years of it. At least the Red Sox were able to dump Crawford onto the Dodgers. So while Crawford signed a much larger deal, he wasn’t so far gone that another team thought “Hey Boston is a bitch to play in, we can turn this around.” Barring an even more stunning deal than the Crawford/Gonzalez/Beckett Dodgers heist, there’s no getting out of this one.

So yea, the Kung Fu fucking Panda is by far the worst contract in Red Sox history.

Sox Move On After E5

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MassLive.com – Pablo Sandoval’s day with the Red Sox are over.

The club announced on Friday morning they designated the 30-year-old for assignment.

Sandoval appeared in just 32 games this season hitting .212 with a .622 OPS. 

From a pure baseball perspective, this move comes as no surprise. When the manager is afraid to put you at third base with a lefty on the mound – and your team has four left handed starting pitchers – the situation has become untenable. There’s no such thing as an $18 million pinch-hitting specialist. Clearly the team had to move on.

From a financial standpoint, though, it does come as a mild surprise. The Red Sox still owe Pablo Sandoval roughly $50 million and I’ll bet Dave Dombrowski had to run this move by John Henry before pulling the trigger. I’ll also bet that Dombrowski frequently reminded Henry during their conversation that it was the guy here before him that signed Sandoval to that outrageous contract. Classic office move, “I’m just cleaning up the mess left by the last guy.”

[On a side note, Dombrowski also better hope that David Price’s arm holds up. If that guy breaks down, it will make the Sandoval situation look like paying a parking ticket. And there’s no way to blame that one on anyone else.]

Obviously it’s disappointing the Sox couldn’t ship Sandoval off in a salary dump trade a la the Nick Punto Trade of 2012. But it’s hard to see another team taking a flyer on Sandoval at this point. If he got back into shape and still couldn’t play, what else is there left to see?

Boston was never a great fit for Sandoval. As is so often the case, he would have been better served taking a few less bucks to stay in a better situation in San Francisco. The next time a player does that may be the first time, though. In any event, the search for a third baseman goes on for the Red Sox. I look at players like Adrian Beltre and Travis Shaw and can’t help but ask, “Why can’t we get players like that?”

Ask A New England Blogger: When Does The Weather Give Me Permission To Drive Like A Puss?

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So yesterday we had some heavy rain. I use the term “heavy rain” deliberately. It was far from the worst I’ve experienced, it certainly wasn’t light. The meteorologists had actually predicted ceaseless downpours, tornadoes, dragon triplets raining hellfire and the like, as they tend to do. All said as storms go it was sort of whatever. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I got a snap from one of my buddies showing the rain outside his office and informing me he would be WAITING TO LEAVE WORK until the rain let down. Waiting to leave work. Delaying departure from his resented place of employment and the building that houses it until the evening sun gleams low in the sky. I was flummoxed. Baffled. Incredulous. A grown ass man waiting for the rain to give.

It did get me thinking however, at what point, if any, is this kind of behavior ok? When is it ok to change the “when” or “how” of your driving patterns due to weather. There needs to be guidelines. There needs to be rules. We’ve all gotten a little ripshit at someone completely overreacting to inclement weather, crawling down the middle lane of the pike like they are headed directly over the edge of the cliff but have accepted that as their fate. So let’s put this in internet-blood.

First a quick disclosure/request for absolution: I really am not trying to sound like Tommy Tough Guy here. To those not from Northern states or those who haven’t been here long, you have to understand that when you grow up here, the very second your hand touches a wheel you’re dealing with bullshit weather. Rain, sleet, snow, a mixture of all three weather people cheerfully refer to as a “wintery mix.” Fucking wintery mixes. The first time I had a friend actually read that off a weather report was in college and I briefly blacked out only to come to to find myself holding a half a bottle of Jack by the neck about to hit him over the head with it. Anyway, the bottom-line is we’re all used to the 50% chance of crap weather. We have no excuse, everyone who lives here however, needs to get better.

To start there are two variables we need to hone in on:
1.)How good or bad of a driver you and your friend see yourself. Other’s opinion matters because your skill behind the wheel is sometimes hard to  objectively judge yourself. Needless to say, if in general you are a disaster, just please stay off the fucking road. Because I’ll tell ya, I’m kind of a misanthrope. I’m a curmudgeon. To be honest I made a New Years Resolution that I’d hate less shit than I do now. But NOTHING makes my blood more than some nimrod who has no business operating motorized transportation fucking up my morning commute pre-coffee. Nothing*.

2.)The kind of bad weather it is. Snow is worse than rain, generally. A drizzle should be ignored while light snow is still gonna fuck with visibility a bit. Different levels of drivers need to take into consideration exactly what they are getting themselves into, not just that it’s “bad out”.

Let’s start by filtering by weather, and go from “Nuclear Winter” to “Are you fucking kidding me, buy a T pass”

The Worst

-In a white-out conditions, everyone sort of does just need to be a little more patient, I’ll concede that. However, and this is a point I’ll probably reference again, our speed limits are there for a reason. Our roads were designed by civil engineers who also had an input on the speed limits based on a qualified driver and fully functioning vehicle. So as long as you are comfortable behind the wheel of a car in general and the car is in basic upkeep for bad weather (breaks and tires), there is NO NEED to go 10mph. I get 50, 40, 30 even if you keep in the right lane, put your hazards on, and put signs in your window that say “sorry”, but do not overreact. Again as I said in qualifying variable 1, if you are that shitty of a driver, just stay off the fucking road. Tell your boss you can’t do it, if he/she endangers you, or more importantly me, by making you come in, get a new job.

-I would argue the worst of the rain is more dangerous, more because of people. They get so skittish and cause single car crashes. Then other people see that and get confused and scared and all hell breaks loose. The thing is, a very rain slicked, dark road is kind of a motherfucker. Go slow (same guidelines as a whiteout, maybe a little faster) but more importantly give space. No one will be slamming on their breaks and skidding if you don’t attempt to see the backs of their heads. Spacing is the key here. In terms of driver skill, if you kind of suck stay in the right lane, or right middle lane on a 4 way. Take it easy. I don’t blame/feel homicidal about slow people in driving rain like I do in other situations. Just their way of saying “I’m a below average human and I just want to live”. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

Be Weary, But Don’t Shit Your Pants

-In light-medium snow, put on your wipers and keep it going. If you are a bad driver you’ll know it here because you’ll be sweating thinking about it. Hitch a ride and save us all the trouble. That said if you go below 50 here you’re an asshole, not including obvious things like off-ramps. This is the kind of weather that is more visually unsettling than anything else. Sack up.

-Light-medium rain has to have the most absurd accident/fatality to rational creation of danger ratio. People see it and freak out, or cower in fear as my buddy did yesterday (again, yesterday was a tick above medium but still). As long as you, you know, don’t go 90 mph and you stay in your lane, you’re gonna be fine. Again it is rain so maybe be a little more aware of spacing, but that’s it. I’ll SORT of second my right lane comment when it comes to bad drivers, but in all honesty if this stuff makes you drive like you’re headed off the well aforementioned cliff, stay home.

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding Me.

-Light rain, light snow, sunshine, clouds, I don’t care. Speed limits are meant to be slightly broken. People in the middle and left lane are supposed to be allowed to break them. Do not be that dick who clogs the flow of traffic especially during rush hour. If you are a shitty or slow driver, get a ride or use the T. Shit I’ll pick you up if it means I don’t have to tailgate you going 60 at 7am with open roads ahead.

*Except for you Justin Bieber. You’re time will come.

Should We Be Concerned By What Gordon Hayward’s Ex-Teammates Are Saying About Him?

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So, unless you’ve been under a rock you know we signed Gordon Hayward a little over a week ago to a max deal. He’ll be be that pure scorer we desperately needed to take pressure off IT and keep the points coming, from a bigger man at that. He’s not Durant or Curry or anyone like that but he’ll get buckets and that’s really all we care about him doing for the most part (more on that in a second).

What’s just a teeeeensy tiny bit worrisome is that since the signing two of his former teammates, one of whom wasn’t even on the Jazz last year, have come out with some, in the least not-positive things to say about Hayward and his switching teams. In and of itself this isn’t anything to really take a deeper look at, there’s always going to be teammates rubbed the wrong way – especially when you switch teams – athletes are people and not everyone gets along with everyone. However the comments aren’t of the same nature and come from two widely different people.

First on the 9th, Trevor Booker, the now non-Jazz (he’s on the Nets) in question came out doubted Hayward really wanted to be “the man” and that he, to paraphrase, did not want the pressure that comes along with such a role. Ok, for us this isn’t too much of a biggie. We have IT. We have Horford, Tatum, and Brown. Even if this is true it shouldn’t be too troubling, and Booker also complimented Hayward in his comments, but he still felt comfortable enough with his opinion, and apathetic enough with how Hayward would react, to say them.

Then, just a couple days ago Ruby Gobert, one of Hayward’s teammates for the last 4 seasons, came out to, paraphrasing again, simply say he understood blah blah blah but didn’t exactly like Hayward leaving “went down”, which can mean a million things in the Sports world. I’m guessing Gobert either expected a heads up from Hayward before things became public or didn’t expect him to leave at all and is a bit salty. The bottom line is the Stifle Tower is another ex-teammate that probably will not be making the trip to lovely New England to spend the holidays with the Hayward family.

Again, all of these comments were pretty innocuous but they do beg the question of what Hayward is like around his teammates and in the locker room. They certainly don’t suggest his Jazz teammates hated him but he doesn’t seem completely beloved by them either. We signed Gordon Hayward to fill it up and that is what he is going to due. I don’t think we need him to play a KG-esque captain role, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have gained some leadership or at least a good example of a veteran personality. We still may have, but now we are certainly allowed to wonder.

Episode 008 of The 300s Podcast (VIDEO)

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Aaaand we’re back. Episode 008 of The 300s Podcast is hot off the presses and we’re diving into the Celtics offseason, grading Danny Ainge’s recent moves and the Paul George situation. We also debut The 300s Ballpark Reviews with the Miami Marlins, how Aaron Judge has put the fear of god into Red Sox fans, the dominance of Chris Sale and we ask what is wrong with David Price? LETS GET IT.

Paul George Now Says He May Not Sign With Lakers Next Year

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Yahoo – “I grew up a Lakers and a Clippers fan,” George says. “I idolized Kobe. There will always be a tie here, a connection here. People saying I want to come here, who doesn’t want to play for their hometown? That’s a dream come true, if you’re a kid growing up on the outskirts of L.A., to be the man in your city. But it’s definitely been overstated. For me, it’s all about winning. I want to be in a good system, a good team. I want a shot to win it. I’m not a stats guy. I’m playing this game to win and build a legacy of winning. I’ve yet to do that. I’m searching for it. If we get a killer season in Oklahoma, we make the conference finals or upset the Warriors or do something crazy, I’d be dumb to want to leave that.” “It’s too early for L.A.,” he says. “It would have to be a situation where the ball gets rolling and guys are hopping on. This guy commits, that guy commits. ‘Oh s—, now there’s a team forming.’ It has to be like that.”
“I’m in OKC, so hopefully me and Russ do a good enough job and make it to the conference finals and love the situation, why not recruit someone to come build it with us? I’m open in this whole process.”

Live look at every Celtics fan who didn’t want to trade for Paul George without an extension first.

Now I’m sure Paul George is just being smart by not burning his bridges in OKC before he even gets there. Just letting the fans know that if all goes well then who knows, maybe he does stay. So maybe he’s just playing politics here.

But if he’s not…Then this make Danny Ainge look like an asshole. If the Thunder have a good season and George decides to stay because the Lakers are, ya know, still a dumpster fire of a team, then that is a disaster.

Now I wasn’t exactly clamoring for Danny to give up the farm for a guy on a 1-year rental, but man people will have a field day roasting Ainge for that one. I can understand Paul George wanting to go play for his hometown team, but if they’re still a lottery team and if LeBron stays in Cleveland, then why would he want to go there? Go play for your hometown team just to get waxed and not even make the playoffs? Fuck that. Get out of Indy, link up with a new team that actually has a shot of winning and stay there and try and build there. You can always live in LA the other half of the year when you’re not playing basketball. So I guess we’ll see, but if PG13 doesn’t sign with LA next year then the Celtics will have missed a huge opportunity.

Chris Sale Named Starter for the AL in MLB All-Star Game. The March to a Cy Young Continues

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Not exactly unexpected, Chris Sale has been lights out this year. It’s rare that someone comes exactly as advertised and performs even better than expected (i.e. not David Price). Some guys can’t hack it in a market like Boston. Other guys *thrive* and Chris Sale definitely falls into the latter.

Among pitchers in the American League, Sale is top-3 in WAR, ERA, Wins, WHIP, IP & leads all AL pitchers in K’s by more than 30. Sale has 178 K’s, which is THIRTY strikeouts more than the guy in second. It would have been a slight against god to not give Sale the start.

Lets take a step back though and really examine Chris Sale’s dominance on the mound this year. He’s the most electric Red Sox starter since Pedro. He’s the first guy I will run home to sit down and watch since Curt Schilling in 04. Beckett was dominant for a stretch, Lester was great, Buchholz was infuriatingly amazing and terrible at the same time. But none touch Sale.

Can we also point out that Chris Sale is on pace for 356 K’s this year, which would be the most K’s in a single season since Randy Johnson had 372 in 2001. The Big Unit also won the Cy Young that year (the 2nd of his 3 in a row).

To put that into perspective, here’s the list of pitchers that have had 300 K’s in a season over the past 20 years:

  • Clayton Kershaw (2015)
  • Randy Johnson (99, 00, 01, 02)
  • Pedro Martinez (99)
  • Curt Schilling (97, 98)

Four guys in 20 years. Thats it. Pretty good company to have. Now it’ll be hard to ever top Pedro striking out 5 guys in 2 innings in the 1999 All-Star game at Fenway, but goddamnit Chris Sale will try.

Celtics Sign the Viking Known as Aron Baynes

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Tormund Motherfucking Giantsbane! I am all in on this move. A big man with an undercut and a massive red beard? Sign me up.

In case anyone was unclear, I just want to repeat that the Celtics now have a goddamn viking on the team.

Okay now that we’re clear on that, lets get down to the details. Baynes is a 6’10” center and the Celtics are a team in desperate need of someone who can bang the boards. ESPN compiled these stats in their story on the signing. Baynes isn’t much of a scorer, as he only averaged 4.9 points last year, but he did grab 4.4 rebounds in only 15.5 minutes per game last year. Not to mention the guy “grabbed 21.6 percent of all defensive caroms when he was on the floor last season.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty damn good to me.

Detroit averaged a defensive rating of 105.3 last season, which dropped to 98.5 with Baynes on the court, which is huuge. And according to ESPN his overall rebound rate last year was 15.8. The best the Celtics had last year was 13.1 from Kelly Olynyk. And for anyone who watched even a handful of Celtics games last year you know that Olynyk SUCKS on the boards. If Kelly Olynyk can get Pat Riley to pay him $50 fucking million dollars then I can be president. So any upgrade there is money in the bank.

While it may be a bit of a ragtag crew, the Celtics now have Aron the viking, second year big man Ante Zizic and the Daniel Wall himself, Daniel Theis signed out of Germany. Not to mention the Dancing Bear, second year Guerschon Yabusele if the C’s can fit him under the cap and squeeze him on the roster.

Not a ton of star power there, but when you consider who they are replacing (Olynyk and Amir Johnson) there’s nowhere to go but up.

 

NBA Allegedly Updates Its Logo

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I need to reevaluate my career goals and get into graphic design. Whatever the NBA paid some marketing firm to “refresh” and “modernize” its logo was way, way too much.

Seriously, I could’ve done that. I’d haven been happy to do it for no more than $20,000. I have Microsoft Office. I could’ve clicked through every font and made the decision that Arial Narrow worked better than regular old Arial. I would have lobbied hard for Franklin Gothic Medium, but I don’t know that the NBA would have gone for it.

But maybe I should be giving the NBA more credit for showing some restraint. The 1990s were great, but featured some garish NBA uniforms.

1990s

And then there was the Detroit Pistons logo, which is the New Coke of NBA redesigns.

detroit-pistons-late-90s-early-00s

If you want more information on the NBA’s updated logo, a press release describing the new “taller, leaner typeface” can be found on their website. I bet writing the press release was harder than actually updating the logo. Gotta own the story I guess.

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Avery Bradley Becomes a Cap Casualty, Traded to Pistons

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So first things first, trading Avery Bradley sucks. Especially for pennies on the dollar. Marcus Morris is a decent player. He’s 6’9″, averaged 14 and 5 the past 2 years and is due less than $11M over the next 2 seasons.  Bradley is going to be a free agent after this season and he is going to make $20M+ per year on his next deal. That is going to happen. There was just no way the Celtics were going to pay Bradley that, not with Al Horford and Gordon Hayward on max contracts and Isaiah Thomas needing to get paid too.

Danny wasn’t about to let a guy walk for nothing, not for a team that is playing the long game. Plus the C’s had to trade one of Smart, Crowder or Bradley to clear enough cap space to even make room for Hayward’s contract so everyone knew something was coming. Sucks to see him go, Bradley has been a member of the Celtics since he was 19 when he was a first rounder in 2010. The guy grew to be a key cog and a defensive stud (who got screwed out of All-NBA this year).

Bradley was a defensive pillar when he was in the game, his offense was up and down, but the guy could hit a corner 3 with the best of them. Game winner buzzer beater 3 over Cleveland anybody? And most recently when he went off in the playoffs against the Wizards this year.

But thats when he was on the court as the guy played in more than 64 games only twice in his NBA career. For a player with an ankle and shoulder injury history, it was never a long term deal Danny Ainge was going to hand out.

But Bradley was the only holdover from the Pierce/Garnett/Allen days and I don’t think that can be overstated. He helped bridge the Celtics from being one of the best teams in the NBA to a lottery team in the basement of the league all the way back to the No. 1 seed and playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. Gotta respect that, best of luck in Detroit man.

To steal a phrase from KG, Avery Bradley was all Grit and Balls.