Category: Red Sox

Life Is Meaningless – Emmy Rossum Leaving “Shameless”

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First Date Fiona. The Eldest Sister/Matriarch cum temporary fuck-up cum ultimate redemption story and entrepreneur. in real life, one of my ultimate Hollywood crushes is leaving my favorite show effective after this season. Announced just a few days before the beginning of next season, no less.

I mean what the fuck man. I haven’t even read the actual post. I can’t bare to. Thinking like I do about sports when I’m being the GM On The Couch, if this was about her equal-pay dispute, I kind of get it. The show is only a few seasons from shutting the books, that isn’t really up for debate. My friend who watches the show and I have talked about it at length. We finally became full-fledged adults when we acknowledge we’d rather one of our favorite thing – be it a player, a show, etc. – retire on top then limp to a hubris-hewed but humiliating finish. So if she was demanding primo cash for an expiring career, I get the hesitance of the Showtime. Why bother?

The words aren’t really coming at this point folks. I mean what the fuck. I keep hearing that AWESOME quote from “Gone Baby Gone” regarding the forced-into-retirement Captain Morgan Freeman played. “It was an ignominious end to an illustrious career”. Except this isn’t embarrassing as much as it is frustratingly sudden and feels unfair. But I hate telling other adults, like people sometimes do with other folks in pop culture, what is fair and unfair to do with their lives. She has reasons I know. It just sucks. This show led me out of college. It has made me laugh and cry, both hysterically. And now it’s lynchpin (a brilliant William H. Macy is given a lot of credit but it’s Emmy Rossum that fuels this ship) is leaving out of the clouds.

Goddammit Fiona.

****Bloggers note as the adrenaline wears off: The money part I’m wrong on. Most shows end while cashing out their actors. It’s how they get them to stay. “Friends” notably was the first to pay their cast $1,000,000.00 at the end. Fuck.

Congratulations to My Good Friend Rusney Castillo On Making His Second Straight Triple-A All-Star Team

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Rusney Castillo, now 31-years-old, is sneaky having one of the best seasons a Pawtucket Worcester Red Sox player has ever had. He just earned his second straight All-Star nod down in Triple-A and is batting a league leading .323 and if he keeps that up he’d be the first PawSox player to win a batting title since Wade Boggs did it in 1981. May he rest in peace.

This is just another stark reminder of how badly the Red Sox have bungled their roster and their payroll over the past several years. It’s not even all payroll luxury taxes the Sox are afraid of either, its just old fashioned money that John Henry is probably sick of spending. According to Spotrac the Sox currently have $164 million in salaries on the Active Payroll, $36 million in salaries on the Disabled List, and $42 million in RETAINED Salary. Thats $1 million to Allen Craig, $22 million to Hanley Ramirez, and $18 million to Pablo Sandoval. All of whom are obviously no longer on the Red Sox. Woof.

Oh and Manny Ramirez is making $2 million from the Sox this year in Deferred Salary as well.

While Rusney is only a career .262 hitter in 337 plate appearances at the major league level, it’s a goddamn shame the Sox can’t won’t call up a guy hitting the cover off the ball in Triple-A solely because of his salary.

The contract they gave him based off an out of context And 1 Mixtape was absurd, which is why he currently makes $11 million to play at McCoy Stadium. BUT to refuse to bring up a guy who is challenging for the Batting Title in Triple-A because of money is an unthinkable move from a franchise as rich as the Boston Red Sox. He could bat .400 and they wouldn’t call him up because they don’t want to go into the luxury tax.

Yup, I would much rather have Tzu-Wei Lin (career .230 hitter), Tony Renda (career .183 hitter), and Sam Travis (career .250 hitter) coming off the bench in September and October.

Oh well, here’s to you Rusney Castillo, friend of The 300s, Triple-A All-Star, and the highest paid person in the history of Rhode Island.

JD Martinez in Hot Water for an Old Instagram Post Quoting Hitler

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Boston Herald – Welcome, Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez, to the ever-expanding list of professional athletes whose social-media posts have been dug up, dusted off and placed on a pedestal for a fresh round of public examination. The problem this time is that we aren’t wringing our hands over decaying tweets from silly, uninformed teenagers who just happen to have ripened into big-league baseball players.

This time it’s an old Instagram post from a grown-up J.D. Martinez that uses Adolf Hitler to make a point about the evils of gun control. He posted it on Jan. 10, 2013. He was 25 years old, and soon to begin his third major-league season. It began making the rounds on Twitter on Sunday night, an old post with a fresh coat of paint and millions of new eyes.

The Instagram post includes a photo of Hitler with this quote, purportedly from Hitler in 1933: “To conquer a nation, First disarm it’s (sic) citizens.”  Martinez added his own commentary to the post: “This is why I always stay strapped! #thetruth”

Notttt a great look for Just Dingers Martinez here. I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t gotten more attention as it seems people have been tweeting about it for the past couple of days. Steve Buckley wrote about it in the Herald yesterday though, ripping JD, quite eloquently, for his abysmal knowledge of history.

“By almost all accounts, Hitler never uttered the words that were attributed to him in the Instagram post. He did, in the 1940s, make a comment that “the most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered eastern peoples to have arms.”

Hitler was referring to parts of Eastern Europe and Russia that he had already conquered, not to 1933 Germany. Applying the quote to 1933 suggests that Hitler and his thugs never would have come to power if only German citizens, Jews especially, had been able to use their guns to wipe out all the Nazis.

Crippled by economic chaos and a stunning loss of identity following World War I, Germans were left wanting for someone they believed could guide them out of the abyss. Along came Hitler, and millions of Germans were attracted to his message. They were not under gunpoint when they cheered Hitler at all those rallies.”

Now I despise the people that call for a guy’s job because of something he tweeted when he was 15 like we’ve seen time and time again and most recently with former top Red Sox prospect and current White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech. Are you really going to hold a guy to a joke he made before he could drive?

This JD IG is from when he was 25 though, which is a full blown adult. I’m not saying he needs to be placed on waivers, but its just a shocking lack of judgement from an adult let alone a professional athlete.

I’m sure the post is meant to be tongue in cheek, but Hitler is really one of the few things you should probably steer clear of. It’s why every athlete needs an “E” from Entourage to double check everything in their lives. A quick “hey you think I should gram this Hitler quote?” would have been shot down by anyone with a working brain.

So no, nobody needs to lose their job, but…

Alex Cora should just leave a history book in JD’s locker this week. No need to publicly flog the guy for an IG post, but probably a good opportunity to learn from a mistake and educate himself.

The Falcons Continue Their Assault on Overpriced Concessions With $5 Craft Beers

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ESPN – After peeling back prices on some of their most popular items last year to unprecedented levels, the Atlanta Falcons are ready to shock the sports world again with a $5 craft beer.

The Falcons will sell the $5 craft beers at their regular-season games — starting Sept. 16 against the Panthers — and any home playoff games. The craft beer price, along with all other concession prices, will remain the same next February when Atlanta hosts Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, despite the traditionally elevated concession prices at Super Bowls.

God bless Arthur Blank. We may have dropped years worth of 28-3 jokes on you and your franchise, but goddamn if the man doesn’t know how to please a broke cheap football fan.

Last year the Falcons made waves for slashing all their concessions prices to absurdly cheap levels, comparatively speaking. While having much lower prices than their peers, the Falcons are saying they did more business so it seems to be worth their while. Now they’re doubling down on that and will be selling craft beers for $5 a pop. That is insane.

When I go to games at Fenway, I go to the last beer vendor by the bleachers, which the same woman has worked at every game I’ve been to in the last decade, just so I can get the sweet sweet deal of a tallboy can for $11.50 instead of $10.50 for a 12 ounce Bud Light.

True story: I’m a huge craft beer guy. I never thought I’d turn into the beer snob, but here we are. My dad never drank anything, literally anything, other than Bud Light cans. So I was always a Bud Light guy, when I could spring for it, or some cheaper light beer like Busch when I wanted to get blind drunk for $22 bucks.

With the explosion of craft beer and breweries being the only bar I can actually bring my dog to without getting the cops called on me, I gradually started drinking more and more obscure shit.

Started with IPAs, dipped into Sours, discovered that Double and Triple IPAs are a thing and before we know it I’m three sheets to the wind off a handful of beers.

Downside to all of these mega alcoholic brews though is the fact that they are expensive as shit. College me would slap 29-year-old me in the fucking face if he witnessed what I did at the packy yesterday. Saw the brand new Nightshift Double IPA (I’m on the email list NBD) at the packy and audibly gasped when I read the price tag for a 4-pack of tallboys.

$18 dollars.  Eighteen Dollars for FOUR beers.

You’re goddamn right I bought those beers.

And now we sit here going through bank statements and credit card receipts wondering where all my money goes saying things like “well if I cancel Netflix and my car insurance I should be able to cover rent this month.”

Fucking millennials, man.

It Would Be a Shame if JD Martinez Missed the Triple Crown Because of Mookie Betts

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How wild would it be if arguably the greatest free agent signing in Red Sox history, J.D. Martinez, doesn’t win the Triple Crown only because his teammate is also having a historic season?

That could very easily happen.

Currently Martinez leads the league in HR with 38 and RBI with 108 (the tweet above is from Tuesday) and is second in Batting Avg. at .333. The only guy he trails in Avg is his teammate and fellow outfielder Mookie Betts, who is batting an insane .340. Mookie has dropped 4 points since Tuesday, but it would take a legit slump from a guy who was hitting .350 most of the year for Martinez to catch him at this point.

Obviously the Triple Crown is just a weird stat that we all give credence to that doesn’t actually mean anything like hitting for the cycle, but it does provide a historic moment for any and all bar trivia for the rest of time. To put into perspective Mookie’s batting average lets take a look at the AL leaders over the past 10 years.

  • 2017 Jose Altuve .346
  • 2016 Jose Altuve .338
  • 2015 Miguel Cabrera .338
  • 2014 Jose Altuve .341
  • 2013 Miguel Cabrera .348
  • 2012 Miguel Cabrera .330
  • 2011 Miguel Cabrera .344
  • 2010 Josh Hamilton .359
  • 2009 Joe Mauer .365
  • 2008 Joe Mauer .328

First off, golf clap for Joe Mauer. Holy shit, I forgot how good he used to be. The dude hit .365 (!) in 2009 and nobody even talks about it because he’s in the frozen wasteland that is Minnesota. Still doesn’t touch Nomar’s .372 in 2000, but to be fair that is the greatest display of hitting I ever saw and is also why every guy in my softball league still taps their toes 35 times before stepping into the box.

Also, for all the Mike Trout apologists out there its time to pipe down. I don’t care that he has a 7.1 WAR or that he has a 1.083 OPS, the dude currently sits at 60 RBI. Does not matter how bad the team in front of him is. You cannot win the MVP with under 100 RBI. That may be me turning my back on sabermetrics, but so be it. Can’t have it.

It’s either Mookie Betts or potential Triple Crown winner J.D. Martinez for 2018 AL MVP. Goddamn it’s a good time to be a Red Sox fan.

 

PS – You can in fact win the RBI with under 100 RBI, but that didn’t fit my argument so I threw it here in the PS section that nobody reads. It happened last year in fact when Altuve won the MVP with 81 RBI, Mauer in ’09 with 96, Pedroia in ’08 with 83, and Ichiro won the MVP in 2001 with 69 RBIs!

David Price Continues Good Will Tour, Rips 69-Year-Old Red Sox Reporter Jonny Miller

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Just to set up this blog, I’m not going to bury the lede (thats a Big J Journalism term) so you can see what David Price has been up to lately.

I really don’t want to keep doing this, David. It brings me no joy. I don’t enjoy the, often deserved, reputation of Boston as an overly critical and negative town.

It drives away plenty of players before they even give the city a chance. But it also breaks people, which is why Boston is such a die-hard city. If you can make it in the media fishbowl that is Boston, then you are forever a folk hero in the city that founded America. Not a bad trade off I’d say.

So I can understand to a certain extent some of the resentment David Price harbors for the Boston media. When he doesn’t perform he gets raked over the coals. But hey, thats the tradeoff when you make $30 Million a year. I’d let people be mean to me on the radio if it meant I could clear $30,000,000 a year.

Where Price gets into trouble though is he goes looking for these problems, drumming shit up with the media. I can hold a good grudge so I get it. But, buddy you’re (potentially) here for four more years. You get more bees with honey than vinegar. Build bridges, don’t burn them. Etc. Etc. So just when he’s starting to pitch well the past several starts the talk around Price dies down and people start to wonder if hey maybe he’s turning a corner.

Then he tries to roast 69-year-old Jonny Miller, a guy who has been covering the Red Sox for 40 fucking years. Yuck.

Now for most guys in the media they can take it and probably deserve it. You wanna throw a tantrum and yell at Evan Drellich in the clubhouse? Have at it. You wanna grandstand and yell at MLB Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley because you don’t like what he says on TV? Sure. Does that make you a dickhead, yup, but sure. Do you really need to shit talk Jonny Miller? Especially after the guy asked why you were pitching so WELL?

Whatever, pitch lights out in October and you can be a glorious dickhead a la John Lackey or Josh Beckett. Until then, pipe down.

In the meantime though, buy a YUCK shirt.

JD Martinez Hits Like Ted Williams When He Plays Left Field

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jd

JD Martinez has been crushing it for the Red Sox all season, regardless of what position he’s been playing. Martinez has made it clear that he likes playing the field and wants to play the field. What you might not realize, though, is how much better his production is at the plate when he does play the field.

JD Martinez has played 70 games as a DH this season and 45 games as an outfielder (30 in left field and 15 in right field). As a DH, Martinez’s slash line is .305/.372/.643, with an OPS of 1.015. As an outfielder, Martinez’s slash line is .376/.449/.694 with an OPS of 1.143.

Part of the variance is due to Martinez’s insane .452 batting average on balls in play as a left fielder. His career batting average on balls in play is .346, which means he may be getting a little lucky in a small thirty-game sample this season. He’s also only been hit by pitch four times this season, but three times came when he was the right fielder. Either way, it’s still obvious that Martinez hits even better when he’s playing the field. He doesn’t seem to be the type of hitter who needs to watch his at bats on iPads while his team is in the field.

So what does this mean? Jackie Bradley’s slash line this year is .218/.305/.387 with an OPS of .692. He’s been hitting a little better as of late with a .250 average this month, but if Martinez hits even better when he is in the field, doesn’t it make sense to put Martinez in the field and DH someone like Steve Pearce? I’d swap Pearce’s bat for Bradley’s glove. Pearce’s slash line with Boston so far is .310/.425/.634 with a 1.059 OPS. It’s a small 25-game sample, but Pearce is playing the best baseball of his career. Plug in JD in left field, make Pearce your DH, and JD wins the Triple Crown and MVP award in a run away. Boom. Everyone wins.

Image result for do it gif

You can start planning the parade now, Alex. You’re welcome.

Its Official, The PawSox Are Moving to Worcester.

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WORCESTER – It’s official. In just a few years, the Pawtucket Red Sox will relocated to Worcester and play in a newly constructed stadium in the city’s Canal District. According to multiple sources, the City will make an official announcement tomorrow. Members of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce will be present at the announcement. The Worcester Red Sox will begin play in 2021.

Specifically, the source told TWIW that Worcester’s offer will save the Pawtucket Red Sox owners “tens of millions” if they move to Worcester and build a stadium in the city’s Canal District. Another source told TWIW that it will save PawSox ownership around $23 million to move out of Pawtucket and into Worcester.

On one hand this is kind of sad to see as the PawSox have been in Pawtucket since the early 1970s, depending on how technical you want to get. We all grew up going to those games as it was just an hour down 95 and SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than my parents taking us to a game at Fenway.

The main reason for the move is a new stadium deal, which the state of Rhode Island had been negotiating, but ultimately were reluctant to foot the bill. A minor league team that charges $5 for tickets is piking for a new stadium? How? Why?

THATS LARRY LUCCHINO’S MUSIC!

Thats right, the guy most famous for driving the greatest baseball mind of our generation out of town over a pissing contest.

He’s why.

He’s also well known for being the driving force behind ballpark projects like the Orioles’ Camden Yards. Lucchino makes me laugh because when people don’t respect his ballpark building game I just imagine him flipping his shit like Mugatu. I INVENTED CAMDEN YARDS!

I have to admit though, all kidding aside, I am starting to soften on Lucchino over the years, but I think that has more to do with the fact that he looks like Jim Leahy than anything else.

Now I can’t blame Pawtucket for balking at building a new stadium for a minor league team that had to let me bring my dog to the game to actually get me to buy a ticket (and meet the legend that is Rusney Castillo).

Even more so when you see some of the details of how much this thing might have actually cost.

“Rhode Island approved an $83 million proposal to build a new Pawtucket riverfront stadium in June. As recently as last week, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien told the Providence Journal he believed his city had a 50 percent chance to retain the PawSox.”

Not to mention, Rhode Island has a bad history with financing the passion projects of the Red Sox.

But the real question here is what do we call them? The PawSox is obviously out. WoSox? WoostahSox? The one I’ve seen in actual print I cannot get on board with; the Woo Sox is a TERRIBLE name.  Might as well call them Woo Girls.

So long PawSox, we hardly knew ye. I can’t promise I will visit you often, but it is my moral obligation to film The 300s Reviews: The Worcester Red Sox whenever you do open up shop.

Mookie or JD for MVP? Who Ya Got?

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In some ways, this is going to be reminiscent of the 2012 AL MVP race, when Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown. but Mike Trout was the more valuable player because of his base running and defense on top of his extraordinary hitting.

Cabrera won the award. I don’t think Martinez has a real shot this year unless he wins the Triple Crown as well, and that’s going to require him making up some ground in the batting race. (Betts is at .350 right now, Martinez at .333).

In the end, I think Betts wins the award without much suspense. And I’m not especially concerned about Betts and Martinez splitting the Boston vote. Right now, it’s Mookie’s award to lose.

I’ve got no issue with Chad Finn’s column yesterday. Finn says the AL MVP award is Mookie’s to lose at this point, and he’s right. But that doesn’t mean I don’t take issue with the way BBWAA members vote for this award.

Let me get this straight. JD Martinez has more home runs and more runs batted in than Mookie Betts (and every other player in the game for that matter), but Mookie Betts should be the MVP because he plays the field more often and steals more bases?

Image result for yeah okay gif

Both players are having phenomenal seasons. I just don’t understand how someone could think the leadoff hitter is more valuable than the slugger hitting cleanup. The lineup is built around JD Martinez. Coming into 2018, he was the only real difference in the lineup from 2017. Last year’s team scored 4.85 runs per game. This year’s team is scoring 5.46 runs per game. Last year’s team hit 168 home runs. This year’s team has hit 168 home runs through just 121 games. Isn’t it logical to assume the new guy is a big part of the reason why? Wouldn’t that guy be a logical choice for MVP?

It’s true that Mookie’s WAR for 2018 (8.1) is higher than JD’s (5.6). But I think the reason why Mookie will probably beat out JD for the MVP award is much simpler than the formula for Wins Above Replacement. It’s the position that JD plays (or, does not play as the voters would likely point out).

The bias against designated hitters baffles me. It’s been a legal position for 45 years. Why shouldn’t a DH win the MVP? American League pitchers don’t hit but they’ve won MVP awards since 1973. And if fielding is so important, how come the MVP isn’t a gold glover every year? The last MVP to win a Gold Glove the same season was Dustin Pedroia in 2008. Daivd Ortiz was very valuable to the Red Sox for 14 years. Would he have been even more valuable playing below average defense at first base, and leaving a worse hitter in the DH spot? I think not.

If Mookie’s numbers and JD’s numbers are roughly similar at the end of the season, sure, give the MVP award to the guy who plays the field more. But right now it isn’t really close. JD gets my vote.

Can the Red Sox Catch the 2001 Mariners? Let’s Hope Not.

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soxwins

MLB.com – The Red Sox are red hot. And they just might make a run at history…

The Red Sox begin a nine-game road trip on Tuesday night in Toronto enjoying some rare air in the context of MLB history. And with 49 games and a little less than two months remaining in the regular season, they have at least an outside shot at chasing down the 2001 Mariners, who set a modern single-season record with 116 victories (The 1906 Cubs are the only other team to get to 116 wins).

Image result for no thanks gif

As of today the Red Sox winning percentage stands at .702 and they are on pace to win 114 games. If the Red Sox do win 114 games, they would shatter the franchise record for wins in season, 105 wins in 1912.

With 80 wins and still 48 games to go, as a fan I’d be downright disappointed if the Sox didn’t win 100 games. I’d love to see them set the franchise record for wins in a season, too. To grab the franchise record they would only need to go 26-22 the rest of the way. And as Andrew Simon wrote on MLB.com, this year’s Sox have an outside shot to set the big league wins record. That’s a record I want no part of, though.

What do the 2001 Seattle Mariners, 2016 Golden State Warriors, 1996 Detroit Red Wings and 2007 New England Patriots all have in common? Besides their respective league’s regular season wins record…

Oh, that’s right. NONE OF THEM GOT THE JOB DONE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

And it’s kind of easy to understand why. Going for the regular season wins record can be exhausting, and not leave enough in the tank for a long playoff run. Watching the Patriots lose to the Giants in Super Bowl 42, it was hard not to think that the Patriots had just run out of gas.

So once the Red Sox lock up the division, call up the Paw Sox and let them play at Fenway this September. If the big league squad isn’t ready for October for the third straight year, good luck getting people to pay attention to this team until next October.