Tag: Adrian Gonzalez

Adrian Gonzalez is Skipping the World Series to Go on VACATION Instead

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LA Times – There is no better World Series tradition than the introduction of each player in uniform. If you work for the home team, you get a nice round of applause, even if you are an obscure reliever, a quality assurance coach or a soft tissue specialist. The fan favorites draw the loudest and most sustained applause. Adrian Gonzalez would get a warm ovation, but he is not expected to join the Dodgers for the World Series. It’s his choice. It’s too bad. Gonzalez has played more games without a World Series appearance than all but two active players: Ichiro Suzuki and Brandon Phillips. He would not have played in this World Series because of what the Dodgers said was a recurrence of a back injury, but he had earned a round of cheers from a large and loyal fan base that cherishes him.

I guess it just wasn’t in God’s plan for Adrian Gonzalez to be a part of the Dodgers first World Series in 29 years. Ever since Gonzo made that tone-deaf comment back in 2011 after the epic collapse by his Red Sox I knew he didn’t give a shit about baseball. He just happened to be good at it and was collecting a paycheck. But people would always argue no he does care, he’s just very religious, that quote was taken out of context blah, blah, blah. But now, now that shit has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I get that the guy is hurt and wouldn’t have played, but you’re not even gonna SHOW UP?? You couldn’t push your vacation back 2 weeks? You just made a hair under $22 Million this year and are still on that 7-year $154 Million contract the Red Sox signed you to back in 2011, I’m pretty sure you can afford the airline fees to reschedule your flights.

Not to mention he’s not exactly Derek Jeter with countless World Series rings. This isn’t exactly a routine occurence for the Dodgers or Gonzo.

“Gonzalez has played more games without a World Series appearance than all but two active players: Ichiro Suzuki and Brandon Phillips.”

Played a game my entire life and I’m 35 now, nearing the end of my career and I *finally* reach the pinnacle of my sport??

Sounds like his teammates are thrilled with the no show too.

Justin Turner, who occupies the locker next to Gonzalez, declined to say whether he was disappointed that Gonzalez had chosen not to bask in World Series applause.

After that Carl Crawford bitchfest article that came out a few weeks ago it reignited my long dormant disdain for that whole 2011 Red Sox team. I almost forgot how much Gonzo was disliked after that whole debacle too. Sure he wasn’t pissing and moaning about Boston the same way his buddy Crawford was, but if there’s one thing Boston hates its a guy who just doesn’t give a shit. You can be the biggest cocksucker in the world, but if you produce, Boston will love you. Josh Beckett was a total asshole, but he was dominant in 2007 helping the Sox win a World Series. Same for John Lackey in 2013. We respect those guys because half of Boston readily admits, practically brags about being a dickhead. We call ourselves Massholes for christ sakes. But give us a guy who doesn’t care? Get the FUCK off my team. At least JD Drew had that grand slam in the ALCS in 2008; that one hit erased years of a disinterested, nonchalant corpse in right field. Theres a reason Trot Nixon, a career .274, is revered in New England and it ain’t his bat.

I love Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, that goes without saying. That guy is a legend and will never have to buy another beer in Boston until the day he dies. But I cannot root for a team that currently employs no show Adrian Gonzalez and “David Price before David Price” Carl Crawford. Sorry Dave, but the Houston Astros throwback jacket is coming out tonight.

Who Was the Worst Red Sox Contract of All Time? I’ve Made It Easy for You

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Update: It was pointed out to me the compiled Batting Averages were calculated wrong, so those numbers and the graphic have been updated in the post below.

So as everyone knows by now, the Red Sox designated Pablo Sandoval for assignment today. Look the Red Sox have given out a lot of shitty contracts over the years. Thats what big market teams do. You throw money at problems that other teams can’t afford to do. Except the problem with that is by definition free agents are most often older players who rarely live up to the pay day. You’re usually paying for past performance and almost always are eating money towards the end of the contract when the player is a shell of what he once was. Which is fine. I accept that.

BUT, when you have guys that are a disaster from Day 1 and can’t even make it through an entire 162 games then you have a huge problem.

So who was the worst Red Sox contract of all time? Well looking back over the years the two names that standout as the frontrunners are soft-ass Carl Crawford (who STILL complains about his 2 seasons in Boston) and the recently departed Sandoval. While a lot of people want to say Crawford is the worse deal because of how toxic his attitude was and how bad his play was, its got to be the Panda. Look, I made a spreadsheet to make it easy for you.

Although Sandoval was here for parts of 3 seasons and Crawford only two, due to DL stints by both, their total number of games played for the Red Sox is the EXACT SAME at 161. Which makes this the perfect sample size.

Compared to Sandoval, Crawford had more:

  • Runs Scored
  • Hits
  • Doubles
  • Triples (shocking)
  • RBIs
  • Stolen Bases (Panda with the elusive 0 in that category).

Now want to compare their slash lines as members of the Red Sox?

  • Pablo .236/.303/.360
  • Crawford .260/.296/.418

Both completely SUCKED for guys who had signed gargantuan contracts. Granted Crawford’s deal was for $142 million to Pablo’s measly $95 million, but Pablo has been so bad that they’re gonna have to eat the last 2+ years of it. At least the Red Sox were able to dump Crawford onto the Dodgers. So while Crawford signed a much larger deal, he wasn’t so far gone that another team thought “Hey Boston is a bitch to play in, we can turn this around.” Barring an even more stunning deal than the Crawford/Gonzalez/Beckett Dodgers heist, there’s no getting out of this one.

So yea, the Kung Fu fucking Panda is by far the worst contract in Red Sox history.

Adrian Gonzalez Flips Out on the WBC and I Cannot Blame Him

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Yahoo – “A few days later, Adrian Gonzalez obviously has not gotten over his anger at the way Mexico was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic — via a tiebreaker scenario based on runs allowed per defensive inning.”

Adrian Gonzalez is historically a top notch whiner, but I cannot get on him for this. The World Baseball Classic is a fake ass tournament contrived to try and replicate the World Cup. Hell even basketball’s FIBA cup is more exciting than this. And to get knocked out on a fucking COIN FLIP? What is this the Friday Night Lights playoff tie breaker between Midland High, Lee and Permian? Holy shit what a screw job. Vent away Adrian, vent away. Still doesn’t really matter though because its the WBC.

But getting screwed, regardless of how minor, is what develops life long grudges. You ever get hosed on a call from the refs in Madden? My God, I still have memories of those incidents in college. The amount of $50 clickers we went through as broke college kids is truly amazing. Saved just enough money to buy a 30 of Busch Light and replace the clicker my roommate Gronk spiked into a million pieces after I took a pick 6 back to the house to beat him in OT. So get your grudge on Adrian, rip that shit tournament to shreds.

Dodgers Eat $35 Million to Designate Carl Crawford for Assignment

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carlcrawford

Yahoo Sports – On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally decided enough was enough when it came to their relationship with Carl Crawford. With a roster spot needed, the Dodgers decided to designate the 34-year-old outfielder for assignment, which means the Dodgers have 10 days to put Crawford on waivers, trade him, release him or send him to the minors. 

To this day, I don’t know what was dumber, the Red Sox signing Carl Crawford to that albatross of a $142 million contract or the Dodgers trading for him. The Dodgers legitimately saved the Red Sox from a 5 year dumpster fire. If the Sox are still paying Crawford $20 mil per year to hit .185 on top of Adrian Gonzalez’s contract there’s no way they open up the wallet to get David Price. Not to mention 2013 never happens because the Sox don’t completely gut the roster and start over with all the character guys like Victorino, Gomes, Napoli, Ross etc.

Instead Magic Johnson and crew, for whatever reason, took a flyer on all of that money in hopes it would push the Dodgers over the top. What really happened; Beckett was OK and ended up retiring early, Gonzo has been pretty decent in laid back LA, but Crawford seems to be shellshocked by his time in Boston. No seriously, he still talks about how awful playing for the Sox was. Like he got Jodie Fostered in the dugout or something.

And talk about going back and seeing the red flags we should have noticed. Notoriously quiet guy that kept to himself all while playing well for a last place team that no one paid any attention to in Tampa Bay. Does that seem like a guy who would transition well to the constant pressure and bright lights of playing in Boston?

Now with $35 million left on his contract the Dodgers essentially said fuck it and just DFA’d him. Take on all that money, make the biggest trade in franchise history and then have it completely blow up in your face. Props to LA for just cutting bait and getting out though. Took them a couple years longer than the Sox, but they’d rather eat the cash than have Crawford take up a roster spot for another day.

Maybe the Sox learned their lesson and won’t be giving out mega contracts like candy to just anyone anymore?

pablosandoval

Nevermind.