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.

Friday Morning Randomness

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Going anywhere for Spring Break? Fly like George Clooney in Up in the Air. Don’t fly like an amateur.

Also, don’t pay extra to board first. Why would you to watch everyone else get on, hitting you with their carry on as they walk by you?

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.

Big Baby Davis Calls Doc Rivers Overrated and Lucky as Hell with Celtics

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CSNNE – “Appearing on “In the Zone with Chris Broussard,” the former Celtics big man expressed his frustrations with Doc Rivers, under whom he won the only NBA title of his career…Because what Doc had in ’08 was special and he was lucky as hell. Lucky as hell. The year before that, they was wearing trash bags. [He could have gotten fired and] nobody would [make] a peep.”

There is one reason and one reason only that Glen Davis is ripping Doc Rivers and that is because of his nickname; Big Baby. I always liked Big Baby, he was a decent player, a key bench guy for the 07 championship team and he was a ton of fun to watch back in the Shrek and Donkey days with Nate Robinson:

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But this just sounds like the sourest of grapes. I think I can actually pinpoint the exact moment that Baby snapped and turned on Doc.

Now I also think that its fair game to question and criticize Doc. Back before the Big 3 era Doc wasn’t an up and coming genius of a coach. In fact I remember Bill Simmons had a near crusade to get the guy fired. Then once the Celtics had 3 Hall of Famers on the squad he was all of a sudden a better coach. It’s a lot easier to coach 3 HOF talents hungry as hell to win, but I think thats selling the guy a bit short because how many talented teams do we see implode, especially with older players. The argument is there though. Especially when you look at Doc’s Clippers and how they’ve never gotten over the hump despite being loaded with talent. And the Celtics have been just fine post-Doc with Brad Stevens at the helm.

But then you read quotes like this:

“I would play good games and Doc wouldn’t even give me, ‘Hey, what up?’ I’d play a great game and he’d be, ‘Go do it again.’ You know, you want to hear that, ‘Hey, great job, kid. Good job, man. Keep it up,’ but not, ‘Go do it again.”

And it sounds like Glen Davis is pissed because the coach never took him to Denny’s for a Grand Slam after a game.

Never forget the good times though, like when he hit that game winner against Orlando in the playoffs and almost truck sticked a little kid celebrating.

Marquette King Punting Moon Shots Will Change Your Opinion of Punters Forever

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So Oakland (read: Las Vegas) Raiders punter Marquette King was showing off his bionic leg for some charity event recently and holy hell. All punters more or less look like guys that just wondered off the soccer field and fell into a million dollar salary ass backwards. But when you see shit like this from up close, my god I will never (not true) disrespect a punter again.

Marquette King may be my favorite non-Patriots player in the entire league when you pair that video with his electric, flag inducing celebration dances.

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Hey Raiders, you move to Las Vegas and I’ll be first in line to get a Marquette King jersey.

AP Set to Test Market

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No surprise here. No way the Vikings could justify paying Adrian Peterson $18 million next year with the decline in his productivity since his superhuman 2,097 yard season in 2012. That 2012 season came after offseason knee surgery to repair the MCL and ACL he tore in December 2011.

After that 2012 season, Peterson appeared in 14 games in 2013. He still averaged about 20 carries a game, but his yards per rushing attempt dropped to 4.5. Peterson averaged a career-high  6.0 yards per rushing attempt in 2012, and his career average was 5.0 prior to 2013.

His 2014 campaign was limited to just one game due to child abuse allegations, but he came back in 2015 and appeared in all 16 of the Vikings games. In 2015 he again averaged 4.5 yards per rushing attempt en route to a league-high 1485 yards (the second-lowest league-leading total in the last quarter century).

This past season Peterson was limited to just three games and 37 carries due to injuries. After rough weeks Week 1 and Week 2, Peterson came back for Week 15 against the Colts as the Vikings were fading from playoff contention. Peterson managed just 22 yards on 6 carries, and also lost a fumble in an embarrassing 34-6 home loss to the Colts. It could be Peterson’s last game in purple.

If I were an NFL GM, I’d stay away from Peterson this offseason. Regardless of the price tag, bringing on Peterson is inviting him to hijack your offense. The guy averages 19.7 carries per game for his career, and I don’t think his future production will warrant him touching the ball that much. Picking up at Peterson at this point would be more like the Jets adding LaDainian Tomlinson in 2010 than the Patriots adding Corey Dillon in 2004.

Dillon was a very good player when the Patriots picked him up, but he was never the league’s premier running back. He was a very good player for a very bad franchise, hungry to prove himself on a contender. That fueled Dillon as he went for a career-high 1635 yards for the Patriots in 2004, helping them win their third Super Bowl in four years. Tomlinson was already a Hall of Famer when he left San Diego, and put up two respectable but ultimately forgettable seasons with the Jets on the back nine of his career.

Don’t get me wrong, AP won’t lose you games in 2017. I just question whether his price tag and baggage will be worth what he can still bring to the table in what will be his 11th NFL season.

Celtics Lose to Hawks, But Jonas Jerebko SHATTERED a Guy’s Ankles

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Oh what’s that, I’ve gone 3 for 15 over the past 3 games?? Must be this goddamn mask.

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Let me just take off the Rip Hamilton Special…

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…and lets see what happens*

ANKLES SHATTERED. BONES AND LIGAMENTS AND SNEAKER PIECES EVERYWHERE!

*Jerebko scored 7 points last night, sans mask.

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.

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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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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.