So in what is becoming a recurring theme around here, Rafael Devers is still absolutely raking and has helped save this team from the crater sized hole the goddamn Panda left at third base. After taking a 103 mph Aroldis Chapman fastball yard in the 9th inning at Yankee Stadium the other night, Devers followed that up with a 2 HR performance last night.
The kid continues to display stupid power for a 20 year old as once again he hit what looked like a towering pop fly to left field that just carried and carried until it was over the Monster. John Henry must be thanking the gods that he didn’t let Dave Dombrowski trade this kid.
The Yankees just signed Aroldis Chapman to a 5 year $86 Million deal the largest deal any reliever has ever received. My initial reaction? Shit. My next response? This is the not fucking around crew.
And I love it. As much as its going to suck having to fear Aroldis Chapman coming out of the pen to slam a close game shut 19 times a year, this is phenomenal for the Sox Yankees rivalry.
To be honest its been pretty dull the past few years as both teams really haven’t been very good at the same time. Sox win the AL East last year? Yankees finish 9 games back. So it will be good to have a new stud on the other side for us all to hate. Plus both teams are young and getting better, which is great for breeding that next generation of contempt. You need guys going head to head beating each others brains in every season for years to really get that bad blood going. Throw in a nut job like Chris Sale and I think we’ve got a dog days of summer bench clearing brawl just waiting to happen.
This reminds me of the good old days back in the early 2000s when these two teams were getting after it like the Cold War, constantly trying to one up the other side with big signings, trades, digging up international gems (cue Theo Epstein trashing his hotel room after losing out on Jose Contreras to the Yankees). We had Theo and the whole front office flying out to Arizona to have fucking Thanksgiving dinner with Curt Schilling, all in hopes of getting him to waive his no-trade clause for the Sox over the Yankees. Reminds me of the days when each side was calling the other the Evil Empire. Red Sox trade for one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball? Literally the next day the Yankees sign arguably the best closer in baseball. Giving this rivalry the juice it needed. Love it.
The 300s 