Tag: Boston Globe

Are the Patriots Going to Trade Up for Tua Tagovailoa?

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NFL mock drafts are largely useless, except The 300s Mock Draft from Mattes, but nobody really knows what the hell is going to happen in the draft. Joe Burrow is definitely going No. 1 overall, but after that its anyones guess which way the draft unfolds. With that being said there has been some chatter around the potential of the Patriots going against everyone’s expectations and trading up to draft Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa.

Is that really a possibility?

Over at Pro Football Talk Peter King has the Patriots trading up to No. 13 to snag a sliding Tua after the Dolphins take Oregon QB Justin Herbert at No. 5. Well that would assume Detroit (could use a young QB), Jacksonville (could definitely use a QB), and the Chargers (Tyrod Taylor is QB1 right now) all pass on him. Even with the medical red flags considered, I find that pretty hard to believe. King’s breakdown of the scenario below:

Ben Volin also has the Patriots trading all the way up to No. 3 to draft Tua, which would require an absolute truck load of picks and/or players.

I don’t think that would even be enough to get up to No. 3, especially considering Thuney’s on the franchise tag for one year at $15M.

In the past 20 years Belichick has traded up in the first round four times, but not since 2012 when he traded up twice to land Dont’a Hightower and Chandler Jones. They do have 12 draft picks and obviously BB loves to wheel and deal having made 77 draft day trades over the years so the Pats will likely be moving one way or the other.

On Sports Illustrated Bert Breer has the Dolphins taking Justin Herbert at No. 5 and Tua going No. 6 overall to the Chargers, but hedges by saying it’s a hunch because the Chargers GM Tom Telesco is “as cagey as they come.” Meaning they could legitimately take a Tackle here and ride with Tyrod Taylor at QB or it could just be the Chargers trying to throw people off the scent. Breer does go on to say though,

“And if Tagovailoa doesn’t go here? I really don’t know how far he’ll fall.”

That would seem to be the prime scenario for the Patriots and potentially fit in with King’s prediction. Tua slides a bit so the Pats don’t have to give up the farm to trade into the Top 5. Maybe Tua does fall to No. 13 and Bill swings a deal with San Francisco who just so happen to owe the Pats a franchise QB after the Jimmy G deal.

And with reports of the Patriots being nowhere close to an extension with Joe Thuney, who they franchise tagged, maybe he gets included to sweeten the deal for SF along with a few picks. This almost makes too much sense because what kind of team is going to trade for a guard on a one year $15 million deal? Oh I don’t know, maybe a team that feels like it’s on the cusp of a title and maybe even lost a close one in the Super Bowl last year?

The biggest knock on Tua leading up to the Draft has obviously been his health after dislocating his hip last season at Alabama. He’s also has had surgery on both of his ankles and has broken his wrist twice.

Belichick has NEVER been shy about drafting guys in the first round with blatant injury histories though, sometimes bordering on malpractice as the GM. Sony Michel has been on the field, but already had a repaired ACL when the Pats took him in 2018 and just this past offseason had a “minor” knee surgery quietly. In 2014 Dominique Easley already had two ACL tears when he was coming out of Florida and wouldn’t ya know it, could never stay on the field for the Pats because of ACL injuries. So don’t let injury history make you think Belichick won’t take a guy with potential because he will.

Plus then we have the well known Belichick mouthpiece Michael Lombardi with this quote below.

“That’s got to get around, that at least one team failed the physical on Tua,” Lombardi said on The GM Shuffle podcast. “Others have to be concerned now as well. … It’s not just his hip. … I mean, he’s brittle. You can’t deny it. … Look, I’m not disputing the evaluation. I’m saying that they flunked him on not just the hip [but] on the multitude of injuries. The risk far outweighs the reward.”

Is that Bill using an NFL media pundit to try and tank Tua’s stock value around the league?

Jesus christ did I just talk myself into Bill Belichick trading up to draft an injury prone QB? I think I did. If Tua slides and the team can get him without completely mortgaging the future with a Ricky Williams type trade then I say absolutely do it. I’m of the mindset that you should draft a QB every single year because they’re that valuable. Throw as many darts at the board as possible until you hit the bullseye because until then it doesn’t really matter how strong the rest of your roster is. With Tom Brady gone, that should be a draft strategy the Patriots strongly consider. Does Tua’s injury history and size concern me? Sure, but this is also a league that just saw a 5’9″ guy in Kyler Murray go No. 1 overall last year as QBs get hit less and less every year. Tua’s ceiling is so high as he was the hands down No. 1 pick heading into last season and was the 1A after Joe Burrow’s monster year before his hip injury. So if you can get him without completely hamstringing yourself, do it.

Scared money don’t make no money.

Paul Pierce Smoked Kyrie Irving While Discussing Celtics Leadership

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Boston.com – Jackie MacMullan and Paul Pierce discussed the Celtics’ new leadership: After losing on opening night, the Celtics have embarked on an eight-game winning streak. The team appears to have a different “vibe” this season in comparison to the underachievement of last season.

During an episode of ESPN’s “The Jump” on Tuesday, former Celtic Paul Pierce and longtime NBA reporter Jackie MacMullan touched on the difference in the team’s leadership. Specifically, the departure of Kyrie Irving and the arrival of Kemba Walker.

“They got better leadership in there,” Pierce said. “Let’s just call it how it is.”

After ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols — the show’s host — offered a clarification that the leadership was simply “different,” Pierce jumped back in.

“It’s better,” reiterated Pierce. “Kemba, he’s known throughout the league as being a great leader. I mean, he played on losing teams, he stayed positive. He went out and played hard every night, and that can be infectious. That can be the difference between losing and winning and chemistry. That’s what he’s brought to the Celtics.”

If anyone knows the behind the scenes story of the Celtics, its Paul Pierce. The guy is a C’s legend, he’s tight with ownership, he’s someone the young players look up to, and is a media personality so he knows all the broadcasters. The man has an “in” in just about every area stories and rumors would pop up about his former team.

That exchange between Pierce and Rachel Nichols legit made me laugh out loud because Nichols is trying to smooth things over and say no no its not better its just different. To which Pierce channels his inner Stanley in response.

I don’t think its a personal thing because there has never been any story I can recall about Pierce and Kyrie not getting along. Its not like Shaq taking shots at a young Dwight Howard back in the day. This seems to be Pierce the Celtic or Pierce the fan genuinely psyched about how much better this team looks this year. Its quite literally the definition of addition by subtraction. Of course Hayward was playing great before his injury, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were playing more freely, the ball was moving all over the court, and the team just seemed more relaxed. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a mercurial boss who was your best friend one day and a powder keg waiting to explode the next day, but that grinds on you. No wonder the team chemistry was shit last year, no one knew what version of their team leader they were getting, not to mention when they might get chewed out on national TV for missing a shot.

I liked Kyrie when he first got here, and while I don’t necessarily hate him now, I don’t really want him on my team. Over time it became clear that he was basically the best player on your high school team or better yet your college intramural teams. Just a guy that is a complete dickhead to teammates because they aren’t doing exactly what he wants.

Needless to say the Kemba Walker experience is off to a flawless start though.

David Price and Dennis Eckersley Just Renewed Their Feud. (Buy a YUCK Shirt!)

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Uhh what the fuck guys? I thought we had moved past this amicably? I’m sure Chad Finn asked Dennis Eckersley a very direct question and Eck being Eck he gave a very direct response.

“I didn’t know how to deal with that,” Eckersley said to Finn about the airplane verbal assault. “I don’t plan on saying a word to him, I don’t plan on seeing him, never. I don’t really give a (expletive) one way or another. I don’t think he really cares one way or the other.”

But for David Price to retweet this with the laughing emojis and basically give the story new life is just childish. Listen, I know Price “holds all the cards” now, but jesus christ be the bigger man and just ignore the story. You were a colossal asshole to a Hall of Famer for doing his job giving his opinion on TV and you got called out for it. Just accept the L and move on. Or don’t. As long as you buy a YUCK shirt I don’t care.

The Encore Boston Casino Opened Yesterday and You Had to Be Insane to Go On Opening Day

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So to be honest I have been dreading this day for months because I work less than a mile from the Encore Boston Casino. It looms over me from the parking lot of my 9-5 like the Eye of Sauron. The traffic in this city is murder-suicide inducing enough as is so adding another several thousand people to the mix on these one road towns seems like a great way for me to wind up on the news. But dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives all the same.

You have to be absolutely outside of your mind to wait in a line with thousands of people just for the opportunity to give your money to a casino. I am all for doing some gambling and blowing a few sheckles in Vegas, but thats passive money spent with a buzz. Waiting in line for god knows how long in EVERETT is a pre-meditated way to spend a Sunday.

I know this will simply be a matter of supply and demand and demand is never higher than the day of the grand opening, but people hoping to get a stack of high society on the cheap can think again. The hotel rooms in the Encore hotel are STARTING at $675 a night and quickly ramp up to four figures. The table minimums are going to shock the average joe looking to play some blackjack too.

Now with all that being said, from everything I’ve heard the place is insanely nice and you immediately forget you’re anywhere near Boston. All the reviews from people that got early access were glowing.

Plus you know any massive Las Vegas based company like this knows how to throw a party.

So despite everything I just bitched about above, you can bet your ass I’ll be taking a goddamn boat to the front door of this casino.

Thats really the main reason I want to go. Just pretend like I’m in an episode of Miami Vice, ferrying across the water to do some undercover gambling and bust a druglord on his way out of the high rollers room. CUE THE MUSIC!

Science Proves Once Again That My Life is Hell with Boston Traffic Study

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Boston Globe – “Boston must have the worst rush-hour traffic in the country. Now you can back that up with numbers. Gridlock during the peak of the morning and evening commutes was worse in Boston in 2018 than in any other major metropolitan area, even Los Angeles with its infamous traffic, according to a report from Inrix, a transportation data firm that publishes annual rankings of congestion around the world.”

Well I’m glad the tweets that I fire off in a blind rage during my commute aren’t completely falling on deaf ears. I can’t say I’m entirely surprised by this study though.

“Essentially, Inrix measured the time penalty for driving during rush hour, and there Boston topped the list of US cities: Commuters who drove at the worst peak hour conditions would have spent 164 hours in traffic that they would have avoided under regular conditions. On this metric, Los Angeles ranked sixth, behind Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, and New York.”

Well no kidding. I can get to my office on a Saturday morning in like 15 minutes, but 8 am on a Monday? That’s an hour. 5 pm on a Wednesday? 90 minutes maybe.

It also didn’t help that the city of Boston decided it would be a good idea to REMOVE A LANE on Storrow Drive, one of the most congested areas of traffic in the entire city. Ya know it’s only where 93 flows into North Station, the Museum of Science, and Cambridgeside Galleria, which is the only mall in the area.

If you look at some of my tweets from my time spent sitting in traffic over the years, you can actually see my will to live remain gainfully employed slowly deteriorating.

Here Was Boston’s Pitch to Amazon. Mad Men This is Not.

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Boston Globe –  The high-water mark of Boston’s unsuccessful bid to land Amazon’s second headquarters came on a brisk Monday in early March, beginning with coffee in the Eagle Room at Boston City Hall and ending with oysters and steak at More Than Words, a nonprofit bookstore and job-training center in the South End.

Press play before reading for the full blog experience.

The city of Boston was a finalist for Amazon HQ2, which as we know was unsuccessful, but some new details came out the other day on just what was in the pitch. Not exactly a Don Draper level presentation to be honest. Welcome to this hell hole of congestion where the traffic never ends, there’s always construction, and it’s impossible to get across the city in less than an hour during rush hour.

Without further ado, the pitch:

In their pitch, state and local officials worked together closely, promoted the region’s universities and educated workforce, and — unlike most other cities involved in the chase — offered no tax breaks beyond what is available to any large employer expanding here.

We have smart people for you to choose from, buttt you’ll pay through the nose to be here just like everyone else. Great start, really get the prospect interested from the get go. Always Be Closing guys, thats just Sales 101.

Then there were basic logistics to sort out, like what to feed the visitors from Seattle and how to show them as much of Boston as was practical in a short amount of time, without getting bogged down in traffic.

“I’m really nervous about Tuesday,” one City Hall staffer wrote at 1:50 a.m. the Friday before the visit, laying out the challenges of getting from Amazon’s downtown hotel — not named in the documents — to Dudley Square to meet with school officials, and then to the roof of the Bolling Municipal Building to see development sites. “Nice view — not enough time,” the staffer wrote.

HAHAH good luck showing anyone around Boston without getting bogged down in traffic. True story: my sister in law was running the Boston Marathon and a ton of family came up to watch her run, watching from various points throughout the course. The plan was to get from Newton to the finish line in real time to watch her finish, which with the traffic and the parking in this city is impossible. So I bombed down Storrow Drive with a car load of people, got as deep as possible into Back Bay and then just fell on my sword and told everyone to get out and walk the last couple of blocks while I went to find a parking garage by myself.

Long story short: traffic always has been and always will be a massive inconvenience in this city and I’m sure Amazon is smart enough to realize that.

Boston’s team tried to keep Amazon off tour buses. “We wanted them walking. We wanted them on the T,” Barros recalled Monday. “We wanted them to experience getting around the way people who live here do.”

“We wanted them on the T.” We should have just started and stopped the blog with that line right there. As soon as someone said this sentence out loud they should have known this pitch was doomed We really wanted Amazon to feel the inner rage that all of our residents feel on a daily basis.

Can’t believe they didn’t just write up a contract on a cocktail napkin after getting to experience the joys of riding the T. It was probably on time and everything.

Next, they hiked across Fort Point Channel to the penthouse of a Seaport apartment building to hear about buildings there.

The Seaport is dope, but it’s already running out of free space and will probably be underwater in 50 years.

The next day, after breakfast in Dudley Square and a visit to Assembly Row, Amazon’s contingent headed out of town.

I work near Assembly Row and it’s a cool little spot for some outlet shopping, but it’s not exactly where I’d take a trillion dollar company to try and sell them on my city. You may have nearly gotten out of your car in traffic to stab someone getting here, but hey the PUMA outlet store has some really sweet deals!

While having a company like Amazon in Boston would have been cool, it also would have been a logistical nightmare like oh I don’t know HOSTING THE OLYMPICS. Except this would bring 50,000 people to Boston for a lot longer than 2 weeks. I ‘m already in pre-road rage because the city is planning a massive overhaul on Storrow Drive (we have such great history with highway projects) to go along with the guaranteed traffic from the upcoming opening of the Encore casino in Everett. If this city added a goddamn Amazon headquarters I’d literally have to buy a jet ski and bomb down the Charles for my morning commute. So maybe we dodged a bullet here guys.

 

Alex Reimer Sets Record Straight on WEEI’s Red Sox Radio Broadcast Changes

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Image result for fenway park above home plate view

So it seems like The Boston Globe may have jumped the gun a bit earlier this week when they reported that WEEI planned to change their Red Sox radio broadcast format to more of a talk-show type of deal.

They left it pretty open as to exactly what the hell that even meant, but they seemed pretty damn confident in reporting that it was a real thing that was happening.

After the report was then refuted by WEEI’s Program Director Joe Zarbano, Chad Finn – whom initially reported the “story” – then doubled-down and referred to the email which alerted him to the official job posting for the open Sox play-by-play announcer position. At the same time, Zarbano has held firm in his response:

So, as of Thursday morning, all we had to go off of were a series of “he said/she said” tweets, which meant that either somebody got a lead on something they shouldn’t have, or they were entirely duped by a completely misleading email.

I’m now more inclined to believe it was the latter.

The official job posting from the Sportcasters Talent Agency of America makes ZERO mention of a “talk show format” in any way, BUT Finn did release the text of the industry-wide email promoting the posting, which said the following:

There is an opening on the Boston Red Sox radio play-by-play team following Tim Neverett’s decision not to renew his contract.

The Boston Globe has reported about plans for major changes to this broadcast format. STAA knows these plans to be true. WEEI wants to drop the concept of a conventional radio baseball broadcast to make the call of the game sound more like a talk show.

WEEI [program director] Joe Zarbano is eager to receive applications. However, he tells STAA he doesn’t want to be bombarded with email attachments.

So, to be fair, I totally get where Finn was coming from, but like Zarbano said, maybe, I don’t know, he should’ve checked in with the actual radio station first?

WEEI’s Alex Reimer then wrote an article early Thursday afternoon, and he said that the misleading information from the STAA email most likely comes from the fact that the station is thinking about adding one more person to the booth in an effort to create more chatter (and apparently rumors about this have been out there for a while). They want it to have a more conversational tone, which allows for more colorful analysis and insight, and above all it should help to add more excitement to what can at times be a very dull platform.

The three-person broadcast team has gained a lot of popularity, across multiple sports, in recent years, and it’s been met with great success. I’m totally on board with this.

So thanks to Reimer for clearing up that weird early-morning B.S. from yesterday, and here’s to hoping WEEI is able to find a solid trio who can get it done and finally bring the archaic station into the future.

Red Sox Have Re-signed Nathan Eovaldi

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WEEI – The Red Sox are reportedly nearing a deal with free agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on a four-year contract that could be worth nearly $70 million…Eovaldi, 28, was a tremendous find at the trade deadline, going 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA after arriving from Tampa, and then following it up with a dominating postseason that saw him go 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA. He delivered one of the signature performance of the playoffs, even though it ended in defeat, when he tossed six innings of three-hit relief in an 18-inning loss to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series.

While the terms of the deal are still unknown, most of the big baseball writers have been speculating 4 years at $70 million, which is $17.5 per year. It might sound like a lot for a guy who was a midseason pickup that had a really strong second half and an incredible playoff run, but I’m totally on board with this move. The Red Sox needed Nathan Eovaldi for this upcoming season, but more importantly for the next few years.

The Red Sox rotation is stacked, but is also top heavy and comprised of expensive guys in contract years. Chris Sale has had his last 2 seasons start off incredible only to stumble down the stretch due to injuries and is a free agent after this upcoming season. Are the Red Sox prepared to give him a $200 Million contract? I’m not so sure. Rick Porcello is also in a walk year and while he’s had his ups and downs over the years, he will be a 30-year-old free agent with a Cy Young Award under his belt next winter so don’t expect him to come cheap. That leaves the Red Sox with David Price, who has ranged from trainwreck to solid to elite so your guess is as good as mine for what to expect, but Price is signed for the next four years at least. After that the Sox are left with Eduardo Rodriguez, who seems to miss extended time with injuries every year, and a bunch of Triple-A pitchers.

Simply put, the Sox need someone to anchor this staff alongside David Price beyond just next season.

So the Sox needed to make this move. I’m less concerned with Eovaldi’s injury history as I am with projecting future performance. Even though he’s had two Tommy John surgeries, as we’ve said here before; that’s basically a prerequisite to being a great starting pitcher these days. Alex Speier dove a little deeper on that issue:

“The idea that a two-time Tommy John recipient could be seen as something other than an extreme risk illustrates how drastically the landscape has changed over the last decade…the chief risk appears to be whether a pitcher returns to his prior level from a second Tommy John surgery. There is a survival effect. Roughly 20-25 percent of pitchers never make it back from a first or second Tommy John, but those who do appear at no greater risk than other pitchers who hadn’t undergone even a single Tommy John procedure.”

Would I be shocked to see Eovaldi’s performance regress back to the mean next year though? No I would not. But at 4 years this deal is a drop in the bucket for John Henry and the Red Sox. Dave Dombrowski loved what he saw, primarily because Eovaldi saved his bacon and the Boston bullpen en route to a World Series title. Now Dealer Dave likely smells blood and sees a ripe opportunity for the Sox to repeat (and clinch Dombrowski’s spot in the Hall of Fame) so why pinch pennies now? Welcome back to Boston, Nate.

Boston Traffic Tips for Thanksgiving are Here and They are USELESS

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Boston.com – If your Thanksgiving plans include traveling by car, you can expect to join millions of drivers on the road this year. AAA projects that 48.5 million people will drive to their Thanksgiving destination, a 4.8 percent increase over 2017…For Boston, that means some of the “largest delays” in the country at nearly four times what’s considered typical, a distinction Boston shares with New York City and San Francisco.

According to Boston.com this Thanksgiving has the potential to be the worst traffic you’ve ever dreamt of because its “the highest anticipated travel volume since 2005.” Expect delays at nearly 4x whats considered typical! It takes me an hour to get home from work on a normal day and I live 10 miles from my office. Oh this should be fun.

The worst times to travel by car are during the early evening commuting hours, AAA officials said…For those taking I-90/the Massachusetts Turnpike, traffic in Newton was at its worst between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the holiday and the same times the Monday afterward

Soo basically any time you could possibly be in your car is a bad time to be on the road. Got it.

For those who don’t mind getting up early, Google thinks 3 a.m. Wednesday is the best time to travel prior to the holiday, while 4 a.m. on Sunday is the best time afterward.

Imagine the balls on Google to suggest that you get up at 3 in the morning just to beat traffic? Get to your Aunt Suzie’s house at 7 am so you’ve only got like 5 hours to kill until kickoff when it becomes socially acceptable to start boozing. Pass. I’d rather just verbally assault people in traffic on the way.

Google, which put out traffic predictions for the country’s major cities, predicts the worst time to travel around Boston before the holiday is 3 p.m. Wednesday.

For anyone who plans to put in an honest day’s work on Wednesday before taking off a little early for some pre-Thanksgiving cocktails, you’ll get hosed the worst. This is essentially a permission slip from Google to just bang out of work on Wednesday.

MassDOT will pause road construction at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 21, but officials will also evaluate conditions on Tuesday, Nov. 20, and “make adjustments” to any project schedules based on traffic

And to top it all off, MassDot even promises to stop making driving in Boston the most inconvenient activity of all time…until they decide otherwise. MassDOT reserves the right to change their mind here with a vague, but deliberate middle finger to anyone trying to get in the way of those union overtime hours.

Basically just don’t leave your house at any time on any day to avoid the worst traffic in the whole goddamn country. Subway sells turkey sandwiches too ya know.

John Karalis of Reds Army Joins The 300s Podcast to Talk Celtics

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We had a huge guest this week as the co-founder of Reds Army, John Karalis, joined The 300s Podcast to discuss everything Boston Celtics, his entrepreneurial background, the state of digital media in 2018, and we even break down some of the best craft beers to enjoy during a game.

You’ve seen and heard John on FOX 5, 98.5 the Sports Hub, Boston.com, as well as the Locked On Celtics podcast. As one of the hardest working guys covering the NBA today, you can find John on twitter @RedsArmy_John as well as http://www.thesportsdaily.com/reds-army/ and his latest endeavor with Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/JohnKaralis

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