Category: Boston

Red Sox Finally Announce Porcello As Opening Day Starter

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ESPN – “For starters, the Boston Red Sox will go with Rick Porcello. Porcello is the choice to be the Red Sox’s Opening Day starting pitcher April 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Fenway Park, manager John Farrell said Wednesday. The decision was made at the beginning of spring training, according to Farrell”

And thats a good thing. I say finally because the guy became your de facto ace last year when Price was imploding and was the AL Cy Young winner. Add in the fact they both melted in the playoffs and that measuring stick is a wash. Plus as much as I think Chris Sale is going to be an excellent addition to both the rotation and the clubhouse, he’s the new guy in town. You just cannot insert him as your Opening Day starter. John Farrell is lying through his teeth saying this decision was made weeks ago, not simply because the decision was made for him with Price’s elbow injury. As much as we all want him to be that alpha snarling ace, that just ain’t Price. Porcello might be that guy though.

And while you obviously don’t want to pay your No. 2 (or No. 3) guy in Price $30+ million a year, thats what you get for letting your ace Jon Lester walk out the door because you lowballed the shit out of him. You pay through the nose trying to replace him. But thats fine, we don’t need Price to be Josh Beckett or John Lackeys threatening to kill people’s families. We just need him to be an elite pitcher, which I think he’s probably more apt to be as a behind the scenes guy with less pressure. Don’t force it. Let the guy be a supporting character and maybe then he actually pitches well in the playoffs. They’re pro athletes John, manage them.

Celtics Turn Golden State Green

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Obviously a huge win for the Celtics last night. Even if the Warriors are banged up, it’s not easy to win in Oakland. The win is the Celtics’ second-straight in Oakland, after snapping the Warriors’ 54-game home win streak almost a year ago. The last team to win back-to-back games at Oracle Arena was the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

The win also evens the Celtics record on this road trip at 2-2. After tough losses in Phoenix and against the Clippers, a disappointment at Golden State felt almost imminent. Now, the Celtics have a chance to win in Denver tomorrow night and finish the west coast trip at 3-2. Wouldn’t be a bad showing for five games in eight days in the Pacific Time Zone.

Last night’s win also keeps the Celtics a game ahead of Washington for the second spot in the East. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, but after tomorrow night’s game in Denver 11 0f the Celtics’ final 16 games will be at home. If the Celtics can wrap up the number two seed heading into the playoffs, maybe Brad Stevens can finally get off the playoff schneid.

Any Price Works for a 2017 Title

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Baltimore Orioles v Boston Red Sox

The first year for a free agent pitcher coming to Boston can be exacting. Whether it be pressure from the fans and media, the difficulty of pitching in the vaunted AL East, or adjusting to the bandbox that is Fenway Park, results don’t always match expectations for pitchers in their first year in Boston.

Year two is an opportunity to reset, an opportunity to prove the critics wrong. Here are some notable Red Sox pitching acquisitions over the past two decades, and a look at year one versus year two in Boston:

  • Pedro Martinez
    1998 – 19-7, 2.89 ERA, 233.2 IP, 251 SO, 67 BB, 1.091 WHIP [CYA – 2]
    1999 – 23-4, 2.07 ERA, 213.1 IP, 313 SO, 37 BB, 0.923 WHIP [CYA – 1]
  • Josh Beckett
    2006 – 16-11, 5.01 ERA, 204.2 IP, 158 SO, 74 BB, 1.295 WHIP
    2007 – 20-7, 3.27 ERA, 200.2 IP, 194 SO, 40 BB, 1.441 WHIP [CYA – 2]
  • Daisuke Matsuzaka
    2007 – 15-12, 4.40 ERA, 204.2 IP, 201 SO, 80 BB, 1.324 WHIP
    2008 – 18-3, 2.90 ERA, 167.2 IP, 154 SO, 94 BB, 1.324 WHIP [CYA – 4]
  • Rick Porcello
    2015 – 9-15, 4.92 ERA, 172 IP, 149 SO, 38 BB, 1.360 WHIP
    2016 – 22-4, 3.15 ERA, 223 IP, 189 SO, 32 BB, 1.009 WHIP [CYA – 1]

Not included above, due to injuries and other mitigating factors:

  • Curt Schilling – Schilling was excellent in 2004, but his well-documented ankle injury in October definitely affected his 2005 campaign.
  • Matt Clement – Clement was okay in 2005 and was actually named to the All-Star team that season. He faded in the second half, though, before being sidelined for good with shoulder issues in mid-2006. Some have said that he was never the same after getting hit in the head by a line drive (thanks again, Carl Crawford).
  • John Lackey – Lackey was a big-time disappointment in 2010 and 2011 before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. He did post solid numbers in 2013 and 2014, though, before getting shipped out of town.

Health aside, most pitchers post better numbers in their second year in Boston. Will David Price be able to follow that trend?

Price has as much talent as any one mentioned above not named Pedro Martinez. He already has a Cy Young Award and two Cy Young Award second place finishes on his resume. But does he have the mental toughness to put an underwhelming 2016 behind him and kick ass in 2017? His postseason resume does not seem to indicate that. Concern regarding the status of his left elbow could also make it harder for him to focus on just pitching in 2017.

Maybe some time off for Price is the best thing for him and the Sox right now. If he starts the season on the DL, Rick Porcello and Chris Sale can take the heat off him for a few weeks. If the Sox come out of the gate strong, Price can come back a few weeks into the season without the pressure of having to be the team’s No 1. guy. That would make it easier to focus on just pitching.

It would also mean that a strong improvement for Price in 2017 wouldn’t make or break the Red Sox championship hopes. A campaign similar to his 2016 campaign could be a enough on a team as talented as this one.You’d like more from a guy making $30 million, but Dave Dombrowski knows that championships aren’t cheap.

Ep 005 of The 300s Podcast Has Arrived!

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Episode 005 of The 300s Podcast is straight fire flames. We talk the early mayhem that is NFL Free Agency, Jimmy G on the trading block, Bruins surging after canning Claude Julien, the Celtics making zero moves at the trade deadline, Red Sox Spring Training and why the World Baseball Classic is a disaster.

Once Dominant Red Sox Reliever Daniel Bard is On the Comeback Tour

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danielbard

Yahoo! Sports – For a time, Daniel Bard was one of baseball’s most effective and feared relievers. Now the 31-year-old right-hander is scratching and clawing for one more opportunity in the big leagues, which he hopes will come this season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I admit I had completely forgotten about Daniel Bard. The once heir apparent to the best closer in Red Sox history, Jonathan Papelbon. Guy was absolutely lights out as a setup man and then the Red Sox fucked everything up. Seriously, don’t mess with success.

Remember when the Yankees had the same EXACT situation on their hands with Joba Chamberlain? Guy was an absolutely dominant reliever who was in line to take over as closer for Mariano Rivera. Nope, Yankees tried to move him into the starting rotation and the guy folded. Admittedly he had some sparks of dominance as a starter. I was at a game at Fenway he started and the guy went 7-8 innings and struck out 10. But for whatever reason, his build, his control, his endurance the guy unraveled and was ruined as a pitcher. They had a specific set of rules called the Joba Rules to keep this guy in tact for christ’s sake. Probably not the ideal guy to be messing with his whole workload and mindset. But I digress…

This is the latest team in a long list of teams kicking the tires on Bard. Theo was the first to try and resurrect Bard’s career unsurprisingly, picking him off the scrap heap in 2013 after the Sox placed him on waivers. He signed with the Rangers next season before actually re-signing with the Cubs organization in 2015, signed with the Pirates organization in January 2016 and didn’t even make it to April before getting released. Bard ultimately signed with the Cardinals last year and that’s where the comeback tour rolls on.

Reports say Bard seems to have his control back and is still throwing 96 mph. And this isn’t from some scrub St. Louis reporter, by “reports” I mean that this is coming from Peter Gammons, the human Britannica of baseball himself. So that’s gotta count for something.

With guys like Bard who were absolutely filthy for a short stint and then flamed out just as fast, it always reminds me of the Stellan Skarsgard quote from Good Will Hunting.

goodwillhunting_wishinevermetyou

Best of luck, Dan.

Danny Ainge is Wary of Becoming the Knicks By Trading All His Assets and I Can’t Blame Him

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carmeloceltics

I’m as frustrated as the rest of you that the Celtics didn’t make any trades, not a single move, but at the risk of sounding like a Green Teamer did we really want to blow up our team for another guy? If you believe the rumors of what Larry Legend wanted for Paul George (both Brooklyn picks and 3/4 of Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder) then there’s no way in hell you make that deal.

I don’t even need to leave the Atlantic Conference to point out the last blockbuster trade a team gutted their roster to acquire a new stud; the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony.

The Knicks sent Wilson Chandler (16.4 ppg that year), Raymond Felton (17.1 ppg that year), Danilo Gallinari (15.9 ppg that year), Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick and two second-round picks to the Nuggets. All this when Melo was set to become a free agent like 4 months later. So say what you want, but the Knicks did themselves no favors in gutting the roster. “Felton, Gallinari, Mozgov and Chandler were four of New York’s top six players,” this 2011 ESPN article reminds us.

Since making the trade the Knicks have finished:

  • 2011: 36-30 (lost in the 1st round)
  • 2012: 54-28 (lost in the Eastern Conf. semis)
  • 2013: 37-45
  • 2014: 17-65
  • 2015: 32-50

Not great. And with exactly two playoff appearances, never making it past the second round. My point is just taking every asset you have and throwing it against the wall to get one player doesn’t guarantee success. In fact its the main reason Carmelo is so untradeable now, he’s got an albatross of a contract that is weighing down a team’s cap so much that they can’t justify giving up much of any assets for him at all. Oh the irony.

I didn’t mention Boogie Cousins because I 100% wanted him but for whatever reason the Celtics were never in on him. They just flat out did not want the guy. So as shitty as it sounds, Trader Danny will continue to lay in the weeds waiting to bite some unsuspecting GM in the ass. Or the price of Paul George or Jimmy Butler goes down.

PS – Regardless of the fact the Knicks still aren’t any good, that Melo MSG “Coming Home” commercial still absolutely BANGS 6 years later.

I really hope the C’s/Nets trade becomes the Herschel Walker trade of the NBA

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ainge

Business Insider – The infamous Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett trade with the Brooklyn Nets is the gift that keeps on giving for the Boston Celtics.

In 2013, the Celtics sent Pierce, Garnett, and Jason Terry to Brooklyn as the Nets tried to build a star-packed team to rival the Miami Heat. In exchange, along with some role players, the Celtics received the Nets’ 2014, 2016, and 2018 first-round picks, with the right to swap picks in 2017.

We’re still in the midst of the annual NBA Trade Deadline Sweepstakes and everyone knows that the Celtics have a big stack of chips to play with if they want to get in on the fun this year. I’m writing this blog because I still have to remind myself of the Brink’s Job Trader Danny pulled off in 2013.

In exchange for their picks, the Nets got three guys that would be at least 36 years old by opening night with 47 combined seasons of experience. On what planet did they think that would work out well?

People were afraid the new Big Three would have a very short window in Boston when Ainge put that group together in 2007. The Celtics wound up getting six seasons out Garnett and Pierce (five out of Ray Allen), and that felt like a success. More championships would have been nice, but one championship, two trips to the Finals and a renewed relevancy were more than the Celtics had offered at any other time since Larry Bird’s retirement. How long did the Nets think they could keep the band together?

The Nets got 206 games out of Garnett, Pierce and Terry between 2013 and 2015 and one playoff series win. All three have since moved on from the Nets.

I’d rather lose by ten points going for the win than lose by one point and look back and say “Goddamn, we should have gone for the win”. But right now, it looks like the Nets are gonna lose by 50.

Ranking the Patriots Super Bowl Calls

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We talked about it on The 300s Podcast this week, and I think the time has come to rank the game-winning calls from the five Patriots Super Bowl wins. Here’s my list, and my thoughts on the broadcasters and their calls. Apologies in advance for having to watch some of the clips on YouTube, but at least all the links are in one place now.

5. Super Bowl 38 – CBS – Greg Gumbel

Back in 2003, Jim Nantz was still on studio duty hosting The NFL Today and Greg Gumbel was the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS. Gumbel is a sold broadcaster, but there’s not much here. Neither the call after the field goal nor the call after the kickoff add much. There’s something to be said about letting the moment “breathe” and letting the pictures tell the story, but some narration here would have been great.

4. Super Bowl 39 – FOX – Joe Buck

Joe Buck’s first Super Bowl broadcast. I think Buck takes far more criticism than he deserves, but he falls into the same trap here that Gumbel did at the end of Super Bowl 38. It’s nice to let the moment breathe, but some excitement or commentary would have helped distinguish this interception with nine seconds remaining in the Super Bowl from an interception in Week 9.

3. Super Bowl 36 – FOX – Pat Summerall

This call gets a lot of flack. I remember not liking it much at the time, either, but it has grown on me. Sure, a little more excitement or commentary would have been nice. But this moment benefits the most from the broadcasters letting it breathe and letting the pictures tell the story of complete bedlam after time expired. This was also Pat Summerall’s last game as FOX’s lead football broadcaster. Watching game replays today I half expect him to start talking about the leather helmet days and about when men were men.

2. Super Bowl 51 – FOX – Joe Buck

The easiest call in sports might be the walk-off home run, and this is the closest equivalent in football. Buck does a good job to call the play, shows some excitement, and sums things up pretty well at the end. “Brady has his fifth! What a comeback!”

1. Super Bowl 49 – NBC – Al Michaels

Not the first time Al Michaels has taken the top spot on a “best sports calls” list and hopefully not the last. I love the excitement in his voice, and am very impressed that he was able to spit out the name Malcolm Butler so easily. Butler wasn’t exactly a household name at that point.

EXTRA POINT

Not sure what the NFL television contract situation looks like right now, but I’d love to see ESPN/ABC get another Super Bowl soon. No one beats Sean McDonough in moments like these.

B’s Look Good Heading Into Bye Week

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ESPN – The NHL will work in a five-day “bye week” next season as part of the negotiation with the NHL Players’ Association to sign off on the All-Star format changes announced this week, according to sources…

[T]he league will build in a five-day bye week for each team into their schedule between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 next season, sources told ESPN.com.

Players will be completely off with no practice during this break. There will be practice permitted after 4 p.m. local time on the fifth day if there is a game on the sixth day; otherwise no practice will be allowed on the fifth day.

I won’t lie, I had no idea NHL teams had bye weeks until I heard it mentioned on the pre-game show last night. A quick Google search revealed that the NHL bye week is, in fact, new for the 2016-2017 season. A complete list of NHL bye weeks can be found on reddit.

With their 4-0 win over the Canadiens last night, the Bruins head into their inaugural bye week winners of three in a row, 3-0-0 in the Bruce Cassidy era. The Canadiens also have their bye this week after back-to-back losses over the weekend.

The Bruins got skewered for firing Claude the day of the Patriots parade and rightfully so. But maybe the timing of Claude’s firing wasn’t so bad after all. The Bruins have strung together three straight wins, and now have six full days off before opening a west coast road trip in San Jose Sunday night. They will play four games in California and Texas in eight days before returning to the Garden on February 28.

In the past, I always expected the Bruins to fire a coach after a disastrous west coast road trip when it was probably too late anyways. At least this year the Bruins made the move before it was too late. We’ll have a better idea in two weeks if it really made a difference, and if the Bruce Cassidy era will extend into May, June or beyond.