Tag: Adrian Beltre

Joe Kelly Picked His Top 5 Teammates for a Fight Club. Who Ya Got?

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NBC Sports – To celebrate the second anniversary of the brawl, WEEI’s Rob Bradford chatted with Kelly on the Bradfo Sho podcast and asked the Los Angeles Dodgers hurler to name five current and former teammates he’d want in his Fight Club.

Yadier Molina, Mitch Moreland, Austin Barnes, David Freese, and Chris Sale were his picks.

Joe Kelly will always be remembered fondly for his dominant 2013 postseason, but the man will never be forgotten for instigating a brawl and laying the smackdown on Yankees slugger scrub Tyler Austin. Kelly recently drafted his Top 5 for a Fight Club and it got the wheels spinning in my head. To keep this from spiraling into a 10,000 word think piece I kept my Top 5 to former Red Sox players. So anyone thats played so much as an inning for the Sox was available to draft for my Fight Club.

Adrian Beltre

No. 1 out of the gate for me is hands down Adrian Beltre because that man is a psycho. And not in the way that your skinny friend who wears polo hats says he’s a psycho. No, Beltre is unhinged. Just let someone touch his head and watch the carnage ensue.

Gabe Kapler

My No. 2 is 2004 Gabe Kapler because that man was a walking muscle who happened to play baseball. Remember how he maimed the Yankees Tanyon Sturtze? Sturtze’s pride may have never recovered from that.

Jason Varitek

Tek is a former Georgia Tech linebacker and he straight up bullied one of the greatest athletes of my generation in A-Rod so yea I’m taking the goatee as my No. 3.

Jonathan Papelbon

Every Fight Club needs a wild card and Jonathan Papelbon is that crazy sonofabitch.

Besides being a nutcase from the deep south, this was a guy who relished a fight, even if it was with his own teammate. Hell remember that time he almost ended Bryce Harper just because Harper wasn’t hustling?

Alfredo Aceves

This man may be in jail for all I know, but Aces always kind of frightened me and I only watched him on TV. Larry Walker once compared the guy to Satan for christ’s sake. Imagine this loose cannon hurling fastballs under your chin? This man got into a legitimate brawl during a Canada-Mexico matchup in the WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC so you know he’s just itching for a reason.

MLB Trade Deadline Day: Red Sox Trade for Second Baseman Ian Kinsler

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In the midst of walking off with their 75th win of the season, the Red Sox and Dave Dombrowksi were working the phones and acquired second baseman Ian Kinsler from the Angels while most of us were sleeping.

The Sox PR team wasted no time in announcing the trade as I got this email at 1:02 AM.

Now I know what you’re thinking, no, Ian Kinsler is not a relief pitcher. The Indians, Astros, and Yankees continue to load up on bullpen arms while the Sox are doubling down on whats gotten them this far; hitting the shit out of the ball. So while I would like to see the Sox acquire some arms for the pen, barring any deadline day deals it doesn’t seem to be a top priority for them.

I guess the thinking is you can just take whoever doesn’t make the playoff rotation and throw them in the pen with the rest of that motley crew. So take Nathan Eovaldi, Drew Pomeranz, and Hector Velazquez and have them handle some innings in the playoffs. It worked with David Price last year, but I’m also not crazy about throwing starting pitchers into high leverage relief situations in October and hoping for the best.

Anyways, Kinsler is a big name and a 4-time All-Star with more pop than your typical second baseman. Similar to my old favorite Dan Uggla, except Kinsler is actually a pretty slick fielder having won a Gold Glove in 2016. He’s not the same guy he used to be as he’s now 36-years-old, but I like the addition.

He’s batting a weak .239 on the year, but if you factor out a slow start to the season he’s been pretty good the past 2 months.

“In 51 games since May 29, the right-handed batter has hit .286 (57-for-199) with an .866 OPS, including .417 (20-for-48) with a 1.137 OPS in his last 13 games.”

Incredible irony in the move though as Kinsler is taking over for the injured Dustin Pedroia at second base, years after Pedroia took Kinsler’s job.

“Pedroia and Kinsler were teammates in college at Arizona State, where Pedroia took over Kinsler’s starting shortstop spot in 2002. Kinsler then transferred to Missouri the following year.”

For all the hype “Dealer Dave” gets he sure does love trading for the same players over and over again, having traded for Kinsler when he was with the Tigers in 2013.

Unfortunately this probably takes the Sox out of the running for old friend Adrian Beltre as the Kinsler move frees up Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez to platoon at third in Rafael Devers’ absence.

We’ve got just a few hours before the Trade Deadline so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any additional moves the Red Sox make today.

Why Can’t We Get Players Like Adrian Beltre?

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It would take some creative thinking to bring Adrian Beltre back to the Red Sox, nearly eight years after a different front office regime let him get away.

Dombrowski’s mostly winning habit of wheeling and dealing has left the Boston farm system thin in the caliber of prospects required to entice Beltre’s employer, the Texas Rangers, to send him this way…

The margin might be even thinner between the Red Sox’ current payroll (in the range of $233 million) and the massive financial punishment that comes from surpassing the highest luxury-tax tier ($237 million).

It’s a bummer, but it’s the truth.

I’m always in favor of trading prospects for established veterans. Buy low, sell high. Who is the last prospect the Red Sox dealt that turned into a Hall of Famer, MVP, or All-Star? Jeff Bagwell? The Red Sox didn’t get much out of the Jon Lester or John Lackey trades in 2014, but they were sellers that year which kind of proves my point. Even with the Lester trade, though, they later flipped their return in that deal (Yoenis Cespedes) for a future Cy Young Award winner (Rick Porcello).

And remind me, what’s Anderson Espinoza (from the Drew Pomeranz trade) up to these days Tony?

I also do not care about the Red Sox luxury tax situation. Obviously it’s not my money, but the Red Sox have the money. Can you really put a price on another ring?

So when I say the Red Sox shouldn’t pick up Adrian Beltre, it’s strictly for baseball reasons.

Beltre is by all accounts a great teammate and still hitting .309 at age 39 this season. He could give the Red Sox some better at bats lower in their lineup, but it would take plate appearances away from Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. Devers is hitting just .234 through 77 games, but he does have 12 home runs and 40 RBI. Bradley is hitting .199 this season, but he’s at .303 over his last 10 games and still provides excellent defense in center field.

Even if you think taking plate appearances away from Devers and Bradley is a good thing, and that Beltre would improve their offense, the offense is not the Red Sox problem. The Red Sox have the highest team batting average in baseball and more hits than any other team. They’re second in runs scored and home runs.

If Dave Dombrowski is going to break the bank next month, he should do it for a bullpen arm.

And one last thing about the Red Sox letting Beltre “get away” after 2010. Before coming to Boston, Beltre was a .270 career hitter who averaged 24 home runs and 87 RBI per 162 games. He had a great season in Boston in 2010, hitting .321 with 49 doubles, 28 home runs, 102 RBI and an OPS of .919 at age 31. How were the Red Sox supposed to predict that Beltre would hit .308 from age 32 on? Nearly 40 points higher than his batting average from age 19 to 31. How would they have predicted he’d average 30 home runs and 104 RBI per 162 games from age 32 on? They also had a chance to acquire the younger Adrian Gonzalez.

I’ll rip the Sox when I think they’re wrong, but I would’ve made the same move and would still make it again tomorrow. Not all moves pan out, but to say the Red Sox let Beltre “get away” is a little bit of revisionist history.

Adrian Beltre Gets Ejected for Being a Hilarious Dickhead

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I respect the shit out of anyone who can really dial up the sarcasm and Adrian Beltre had that here in spades. The former Red Sox third baseman got ejected for essentially not warming up in the on-deck circle. “Oh you want me to move over there? Let me just drag this plastic fucking rug over here if its such a big deal.”

SEE YA LATER.

Beltre is such an enigma I love it. He only played here for one year, but the guy was loved by fans, unlike half the assholes we trot out there now. Don’t touch his head, crushing dingers over the monster from one knee, and now he’s out there rearranging the field just to tweak the umpires. Love it. Never change, Adrian.