Category: MLB

Matt Barnes Spills the Beans on Craig Kimbrel’s Secret Workout

By on • ( Leave a comment )

NESN – Some Major League Baseball players like to wind down after games. Not Craig Kimbrel. The Red Sox closer has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball for the last decade, and it’s perhaps due in large to his impressive work ethic, which fellow Boston reliever Matt Barnes recently shed light on in a conversation with Chad Jennings of The Athletic. “Every game after he pitches, it doesn’t matter if it’s 1 o’clock in the morning or it’s 3:30 in the afternoon, (Kimbrel)’s going to go upstairs and he’s going to run a mile on the treadmill,” Barnes told Jennings. “Every game. One mile.” MLB players can be creatures of habit, with each having a specific gameday routine. Kimbrel just so happens to do more after games than before games, and it’s a strategy that’s worked well for the seven-time All-Star.

Thats it? Really?

So let me get this straight, Matt. The reason Craig Kimbrel has been one of the most dominant closers in the game for years is because he runs after the game? One mile? I am far from a peak athletic specimen, but what does that take him like seven minutes tops? That lede had me all jacked up thinking there was going to be some psychotic Tiger Woods running in combat boots military workout. Nope, he just heads upstairs to the treadmill to run one mile after pitching for like 10 minutes. Well shit, theres the secret guys. Not HIIT cardio, not running iron mans, just a solid 1,600 meters ought to do it.

The 300s Podcast: Did Tom Brady Lift the TB12 Method from Entourage?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Anytime I can weave the Red Sox, Comic Books, Tom Brady, and Entourage into a discussion I will do it. Every. Single. Time.

Is This the End for Dustin Pedroia?

By on • ( 5 Comments )

ESPN – Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has doubts about whether he’ll be able to return this season as he continues to recover from major reconstructive knee surgery in the offseason. Pedroia, 34, returned to the lineup on May 26 but was back on the disabled list on June 2 with soreness in his knee. He is headed to Arizona to continue his rehabilitation treatment.

The Red Sox have not ruled Dustin Pedroia out for the year. In fact Alex Cora even said he expects to see Pedroia back on the field this year, but Pedey himself was much more cynical when asked about his return date.

“I’ve healed quick with every other injury I’ve had. But this is obviously different,” Pedroia told reporters Wednesday. “You can’t risk it. If I come back too early and the graft fails, then that’s it.”

That is scary. That sounds like a guy who is seriously concerned about his ability to recover from an injury. Forget returning to previous form, that is a guy who sounds like he might be done entirely.

It all goes back to the ominous quote from Dave Dombrowski last year when Pedroia injured his knee.

“The problem for Dustin is and will be, he has a bad knee. He’s had it for years. He’s going to have to deal with that and he does…but he has a bad knee that he’s going to have to watch and we’re going to have to watch for the rest of his career.”

At the time it was kind of out of left field. Sure we all knew Pedroia was constantly battling injuries, but I thought they were just an undersized dirt dog getting banged up from various ailments. Turns out it was a chronic knee issue and Dombrowski let it slip before any of the fans in town even realized.

So Pedroia seems to now be in wait and see mode as there’s not really much you can do to speed up recovery from a knee injury other than flying to Germany to get the A-Rod/Peyton Manning special sauce. For now he’ll chill out in Arizona and rehab at his own speed, but I doubt we see him back on the field at Fenway in 2018.

So if he does miss the rest of the year then what are the prospects for a 35 year old coming off a knee injury regaining his form next season? Can’t be great, right?

It’s something we discussed on The 300s Podcast on a recent episode; the days of Dustin Pedroia as your starting second baseman may be gone. Because when healthy, Pedroia can still absolutely mash and is one of the toughest outs in baseball, but therein lies the problem; Pedroia is rarely healthy anymore. Not even including the lost season that is 2018, in the past 3 years he’s played 105, 154, and 93 games. So in the past 3+ seasons he’s played more than 105 games once. Not a great trend.

The best option for Pedroia may be to accept a utility role and even then the Red Sox may be less than thrilled paying a guy $12-$15 million per year to play 75 games. But, hey that contract of 8 years for $110M was a fucking steal at the time he signed it and anyone who says otherwise is just lying to your face. Pedroia can still hit so slip him into the DH role a couple nights a week and maybe you squeak 100 games out of the former MVP. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than the 3 games he played in 2018 (so far).

PS – Let us never forget that Pedroia’s knee injury flared up and has refused to heal since one very specific incident and that was when that dirtbag Manny Machado spiked him sliding into second last year. If you want Machado on this team then you can’t drink from my canteen.

The 300s Podcast: The Dog Days of Summer Mean It’s Officially Red Sox Season

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Start your weekend early with The 300s Podcast + it only takes 2 minutes before the first “Homer at the Bat” reference. Listen, subscribe, rate and review on iTunes, Google Play, and The 300s Podcast is also NOW ON SPOTIFYYYYY

Seeing as its the dog days of summer and there’s no other Boston teams playing, unless you count the Revs and the Cannons, pretty much everyone’s attention has shifted towards the Red Sox finally. So that’s what we’re gonna focus on today.

BONUS: If you catch the obscure reference 37 minutes in and tweet us a GIF from that movie, you win a prize.

-The Death of Baseball has been Greatly Exaggerated
-Outlaw the Shift?!
-Why Does the Media Insist Nobody Cares About the Red Sox When Ratings Are in Fact UP?
-JD Martinez may legitimately challenge for the Triple Crown this year.
-The 300’s Top 3

Red Sox to Close First Half with 10 Games in 10 Days

By on • ( Leave a comment )

What a difference [not even] a week makes. After last weekend’s let down in the Bronx, the Red Sox appear to be back on track. Here are some thoughts as the Red Sox close out the first half of the season with 10 games in 10 days.

  • The Red Sox are in Kansas City this weekend for a three-game series with the last-place Royals. It’s the first of six-straight series for the Red Sox against sub-.500 teams. Their next 20 games will all be against sub-.500 teams, and nine of those 20 games will be against the three last-place teams in the American League. As Saul Goodman would say, it’s time to make hay while the sun is still shining.
  • David Price’s performance last Sunday night against the Yankees was the biggest disappointment of the weekend. The Red Sox did well to put it behind them as they went to Washington and swept the Nationals. Now Price will have a chance to put it behind him as he takes the mound Saturday night against the Royals. The Royals would seem to be a good team for Price to rebound against, as they’ve scored the fewest runs in the American League this season.
  • After the All-Star break the Red Sox will open the second half of the season on a six-game road trip. After that road trip, though, 34 of their final 58 games will be at home. The Red Sox have a .700 winning percentage at home so far this season.
  • If Price can get back on track against the Royals and then Blue Jays before the All-Star break, Cora could start him the second game after the All-Star break. That would set him up perfectly to miss the four-game series against the Yankees August 2-5. It’s crazy to think about managing opponents for a pitcher making $30 million this season, but that might be where we are with Price at this point. [Incidentally, that would also set him up to miss the series in New York in mid-September if the rotation stays on track.]
  • If the Red Sox finish the regular season with the best record in the American League, they could be on a collision course with the Yankees… in the division series. The team with the best regular-season record faces the winner of the Wild Card game in the division series. If the Red Sox have a chance to get “creative” down the stretch, they may want to remember that the division winner with the second-best record will likely get to face the winner of the American League Central in the division series.

Crushed Price

By on • ( Leave a comment )

It strains the imagination to conceive of Price pitching any worse than he did. He allowed eight runs courtesy of five – yes, five – home runs in 3 1/3 innings of an 11-1 laugher that left the Red Sox and Yankees tied once again atop the AL East.

After nine career starts against the Yankees with the Red Sox, Price’s ERA is 8.43. At Yankee Stadium, he is 0-5 with a 10.44 ERA.

Image result for not good gif

I don’t how much else there is to say about David Price and last night’s game. Another disastrous outing against the Yankees for him. If I were Alex Cora, though, I’d start thinking about finding ways to limit Price’s appearances against the Yankees. Seriously.

The Red Sox have ten games left against the Yankees in the regular season. Those ten games include a four-game series in Boston the first weekend of August, a three-game set in the Bronx in mid-September, and another three-game set in Boston to close out the regular season. At the very least, Cora should find a way to make Price miss the series in New York.

That’s more difficult with both Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright on the disabled list, but it’s still a proposition worth exploring. If the Sox have an extra off day the week of a Yankees series, maybe move up Price to miss the Yankees series. If the Sox are playing 12 straight days going into a Yankees series, maybe bring up a minor leaguer to “give everyone an extra day of rest,” and push Price back.

Cora shouldn’t embarrass Price, but he should get creative. It shouldn’t matter to Cora how much Price is getting paid. Do what’s best for the team by putting Price in the best positions to succeed.

Price is 9-6 through 17 starts this season, and the Red Sox are 11-6 in the games he’s started. If he could repeat that in the second half of the season, the Red Sox would take it. Wins against the Yankees in the regular season don’t count extra. If Price can give more for the team against the Rays, Blue Jays and Orioles, take it.

The 300s Reviews: Kauffman Stadium

By on • ( Leave a comment )

IMG_34851.jpg

The 300s Ballpark Tour moves on to Kansas City today where we check out the home of the Kansas City Royals, Kauffman Stadium.

Kauffman Stadium opened in 1973 and has been the home of the Royals for 46 of their 50 seasons. The Royals 50th Season logo was plastered all over the park, as well as that day’s giveaway item.

IMG_35771

Kauffman Stadium was one of only a few baseball-specific stadiums built between 1960 and 1990. [Candlestick Park and Anaheim Stadium were originally baseball-specific stadiums, but both were later modified to accommodate NFL teams.] The only other baseball-specific stadiums from that era that come to mind are Dodger Stadium and Arlington Stadium.

Maybe that’s why Kauffman Stadium has outlasted so many other stadiums from that era, including Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Busch Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium and Veterans Stadium. Those multi-purpose venues all closed down between 1996-2005.

By that time, though, “The K” had begun to show its age. Between 2007 and 2009, the stadium underwent a $250 million renovation that included a new video board, an outfield concourse and a kids’ area.

Those renovations helped the Royals get the All-Star Game in 2012, and were a big part of what made my trip to The K so much fun. The outfield concourse made it easy to walk around and access all parts of the park, and it allows fans to get up close to the famous Kauffman Stadium fountains. I can’t imagine how congested the concourses must have been before the renovations, when you couldn’t walk out in that area. And on a hot summer afternoon at the ballpark it’s nice to be able to duck into an air-conditioned bar for a half inning.

IMG_34881

The Royals Hall of Fame in left field was also fun to walk through (and air conditioned).

 

I ate my weight in ribs while in Kansas City, but I didn’t go for BBQ fare at the ballpark. I went with the footlong Kansas City Dog, which didn’t disappoint. Much better than the infamous Kauffman Stadium dollar dogs.

IMG_34621

Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and spicy mustard.

The Royals’ lease at Kauffman Stadium runs through 2030 and there have been rumors that the Royals would be interested in moving into a new downtown ballpark at that time. Kauffman Stadium would be nearly 60 years old in 2030, but it has been well kept up to this point and there’s no reason why the Royals couldn’t play there for another 20-30 years. Still, the prospect of playing at a shiny new stadium can be hard to pass up.

Whatever its future, Kauffman Stadium should be known as one of the best parks of its era. It’s not Dodger Stadium, and it’s not the destination ballpark that AT&T Park is today, but it is a fun place to catch a game at. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and wouldn’t mind making it an annual occurrence.

Big Z Ballpark Rating – 8.1

IMG_34821 (1).jpg