Aaaand we’re back. Episode 008 of The 300s Podcast is hot off the presses and we’re diving into the Celtics offseason, grading Danny Ainge’s recent moves and the Paul George situation. We also debut The 300s Ballpark Reviews with the Miami Marlins, how Aaron Judge has put the fear of god into Red Sox fans, the dominance of Chris Sale and we ask what is wrong with David Price? LETS GET IT.
Paul George Now Says He May Not Sign With Lakers Next Year
Yahoo – “I grew up a Lakers and a Clippers fan,” George says. “I idolized Kobe. There will always be a tie here, a connection here. People saying I want to come here, who doesn’t want to play for their hometown? That’s a dream come true, if you’re a kid growing up on the outskirts of L.A., to be the man in your city. But it’s definitely been overstated. For me, it’s all about winning. I want to be in a good system, a good team. I want a shot to win it. I’m not a stats guy. I’m playing this game to win and build a legacy of winning. I’ve yet to do that. I’m searching for it. If we get a killer season in Oklahoma, we make the conference finals or upset the Warriors or do something crazy, I’d be dumb to want to leave that.” “It’s too early for L.A.,” he says. “It would have to be a situation where the ball gets rolling and guys are hopping on. This guy commits, that guy commits. ‘Oh s—, now there’s a team forming.’ It has to be like that.”
“I’m in OKC, so hopefully me and Russ do a good enough job and make it to the conference finals and love the situation, why not recruit someone to come build it with us? I’m open in this whole process.”
Live look at every Celtics fan who didn’t want to trade for Paul George without an extension first.
Now I’m sure Paul George is just being smart by not burning his bridges in OKC before he even gets there. Just letting the fans know that if all goes well then who knows, maybe he does stay. So maybe he’s just playing politics here.
But if he’s not…Then this make Danny Ainge look like an asshole. If the Thunder have a good season and George decides to stay because the Lakers are, ya know, still a dumpster fire of a team, then that is a disaster.
Now I wasn’t exactly clamoring for Danny to give up the farm for a guy on a 1-year rental, but man people will have a field day roasting Ainge for that one. I can understand Paul George wanting to go play for his hometown team, but if they’re still a lottery team and if LeBron stays in Cleveland, then why would he want to go there? Go play for your hometown team just to get waxed and not even make the playoffs? Fuck that. Get out of Indy, link up with a new team that actually has a shot of winning and stay there and try and build there. You can always live in LA the other half of the year when you’re not playing basketball. So I guess we’ll see, but if PG13 doesn’t sign with LA next year then the Celtics will have missed a huge opportunity.
Yankees Aaron Judge Just Previewed a Decade of Pain for Red Sox Fans Last Night
Yankees rookie Aaron Judge put on a goddamn show last night to win the Home Run Derby and it’s time for Red Sox fans to start being afraid. It’s hard to have missed what Judge has been doing this season unless you’re literally refusing to watch baseball until the leaves turn. The Yankees rookie hit 30 home runs in the first half, which already broke Joe DiMaggio’s rookie team record. And he’s well on his way to besting Mark McGwire’s MLB record of 49 home runs as a rookie.
Mac was obviously on the juice for a long time, but Judge is a genetic freak. The guy is bigger than Gronk for christ’s sake. He’s 6/7″ 282 lbs so its not like he’s just peeling the skin off his chicken. He’s built to smash things.
But its hard to really get the fear of god in you just by reading boxscores. Its only when you see that goddamn horse hitting 519 ft home runs do you realize that as a Red Sox fan we are fucked. This guy is going to be hitting moonshots onto the Pike for the next decade. So settle in guys, this guy is going to be the next great Red Sox killer. And the worst part is, Judge hasn’t really done anything yet to earn my ire. As much as I want to, I don’t hate him. Yet. He’s gonna need to legitimately kill a Red Sox fan sitting on the Monster for me to get some hate flowing.
Chris Sale Named Starter for the AL in MLB All-Star Game. The March to a Cy Young Continues
Not exactly unexpected, Chris Sale has been lights out this year. It’s rare that someone comes exactly as advertised and performs even better than expected (i.e. not David Price). Some guys can’t hack it in a market like Boston. Other guys *thrive* and Chris Sale definitely falls into the latter.
Among pitchers in the American League, Sale is top-3 in WAR, ERA, Wins, WHIP, IP & leads all AL pitchers in K’s by more than 30. Sale has 178 K’s, which is THIRTY strikeouts more than the guy in second. It would have been a slight against god to not give Sale the start.
Lets take a step back though and really examine Chris Sale’s dominance on the mound this year. He’s the most electric Red Sox starter since Pedro. He’s the first guy I will run home to sit down and watch since Curt Schilling in 04. Beckett was dominant for a stretch, Lester was great, Buchholz was infuriatingly amazing and terrible at the same time. But none touch Sale.
Can we also point out that Chris Sale is on pace for 356 K’s this year, which would be the most K’s in a single season since Randy Johnson had 372 in 2001. The Big Unit also won the Cy Young that year (the 2nd of his 3 in a row).
To put that into perspective, here’s the list of pitchers that have had 300 K’s in a season over the past 20 years:
- Clayton Kershaw (2015)
- Randy Johnson (99, 00, 01, 02)
- Pedro Martinez (99)
- Curt Schilling (97, 98)
Four guys in 20 years. Thats it. Pretty good company to have. Now it’ll be hard to ever top Pedro striking out 5 guys in 2 innings in the 1999 All-Star game at Fenway, but goddamnit Chris Sale will try.
Celtics Sign the Viking Known as Aron Baynes
Tormund Motherfucking Giantsbane! I am all in on this move. A big man with an undercut and a massive red beard? Sign me up.
In case anyone was unclear, I just want to repeat that the Celtics now have a goddamn viking on the team.
Okay now that we’re clear on that, lets get down to the details. Baynes is a 6’10” center and the Celtics are a team in desperate need of someone who can bang the boards. ESPN compiled these stats in their story on the signing. Baynes isn’t much of a scorer, as he only averaged 4.9 points last year, but he did grab 4.4 rebounds in only 15.5 minutes per game last year. Not to mention the guy “grabbed 21.6 percent of all defensive caroms when he was on the floor last season.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty damn good to me.
Detroit averaged a defensive rating of 105.3 last season, which dropped to 98.5 with Baynes on the court, which is huuge. And according to ESPN his overall rebound rate last year was 15.8. The best the Celtics had last year was 13.1 from Kelly Olynyk. And for anyone who watched even a handful of Celtics games last year you know that Olynyk SUCKS on the boards. If Kelly Olynyk can get Pat Riley to pay him $50 fucking million dollars then I can be president. So any upgrade there is money in the bank.
While it may be a bit of a ragtag crew, the Celtics now have Aron the viking, second year big man Ante Zizic and the Daniel Wall himself, Daniel Theis signed out of Germany. Not to mention the Dancing Bear, second year Guerschon Yabusele if the C’s can fit him under the cap and squeeze him on the roster.
Not a ton of star power there, but when you consider who they are replacing (Olynyk and Amir Johnson) there’s nowhere to go but up.
Avery Bradley Becomes a Cap Casualty, Traded to Pistons
So first things first, trading Avery Bradley sucks. Especially for pennies on the dollar. Marcus Morris is a decent player. He’s 6’9″, averaged 14 and 5 the past 2 years and is due less than $11M over the next 2 seasons. Bradley is going to be a free agent after this season and he is going to make $20M+ per year on his next deal. That is going to happen. There was just no way the Celtics were going to pay Bradley that, not with Al Horford and Gordon Hayward on max contracts and Isaiah Thomas needing to get paid too.
Danny wasn’t about to let a guy walk for nothing, not for a team that is playing the long game. Plus the C’s had to trade one of Smart, Crowder or Bradley to clear enough cap space to even make room for Hayward’s contract so everyone knew something was coming. Sucks to see him go, Bradley has been a member of the Celtics since he was 19 when he was a first rounder in 2010. The guy grew to be a key cog and a defensive stud (who got screwed out of All-NBA this year).
Bradley was a defensive pillar when he was in the game, his offense was up and down, but the guy could hit a corner 3 with the best of them. Game winner buzzer beater 3 over Cleveland anybody? And most recently when he went off in the playoffs against the Wizards this year.
Live look at Avery Bradley #Celtics #Wizards #NBAPlayoffs2017 #NBA pic.twitter.com/of8rP1Wfzs
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) May 11, 2017
But thats when he was on the court as the guy played in more than 64 games only twice in his NBA career. For a player with an ankle and shoulder injury history, it was never a long term deal Danny Ainge was going to hand out.
But Bradley was the only holdover from the Pierce/Garnett/Allen days and I don’t think that can be overstated. He helped bridge the Celtics from being one of the best teams in the NBA to a lottery team in the basement of the league all the way back to the No. 1 seed and playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. Gotta respect that, best of luck in Detroit man.
To steal a phrase from KG, Avery Bradley was all Grit and Balls.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Are Now Just the Los Angeles Angels
SportsLogos – The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim still the butt of jokes on social media and elsewhere due to their clumsy name have officially changed their name to just “Los Angeles Angels” finally dropping the “of Anaheim” part.
Apparently the Angels quietly made this change awhile ago, but didn’t make any grand announcements about it because, well, its always been a ridiculous name. Los Angeles is a cool 40 mins from Anaheim, which if you’ve ever driven around LA you know is more like 2+ hours.
That would be like Charlie Baker deciding to put a team deep on the South Shore. Might as well be the goddamn Cape League at that point.
This is the FIFTH time the Angels have changed their name and the teams only been around since 1961. Thats fucking bananas. Not to mention they’re going back to a name they already used with LA Angels. They’ve also been the Anaheim Angels and the California Angels, but its hard to top Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
I still hold out hope that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will get drunk and green light an NL expansion team in Boston. Then we could really get wild with some team names. Lets just say the Minutemen for now. The Boston Minutemen of New England. The Seaport District Minutemen of Boston. My personal favorite? The Allston Minutemen of Brighton.
Gordon Hayward Joins the Celtics and #WycFireworks are ON!
Holy hell what a start to Free Agency. Blake Griffin as a potential Celtics target was already off the table before I even had a buzz on Friday night. And then the Pacers flipped out and dealt Paul George to the Thunder for peanuts. So before I went to bed on Friday night I was already rattled and blogging in a panic as the Celtics had firmly placed all of their eggs in the Gordon Hayward basket. If Danny didn’t land Hayward then the Celtics were basically smoked.
#Celtics and #Jazz fans arguing over who signed Gordon Hayward. #NBA pic.twitter.com/Dd46sbYH5l
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) July 4, 2017
Then comes the 4th of July and its reported that Hayward is a Celtic! Wait, nope actually Hayward hadn’t signed with anyone yet!
Gordon Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells ESPN: “Gordon hasn’t made a decision yet. We are still working through it.”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 4, 2017
Was he having second thoughts about leaving Utah? Was he pissed off the news leaked before he could talk with the Jazz? Did that fucking snake Pat Riley swoop in and steal Hayward at the 11th hour? Nah, turns out he was just checking his Players Tribune article for AP style and hadn’t hit publish yet.
Burn those #20 jerseys Jazz fans because ya boy is officially shipping up to Boston.
I will gladly drink all your Salty Lake City tears. #Celtics #WycFireworks https://t.co/YESvFy5llT
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) July 5, 2017
Isaiah Thomas. Al Horford. Gordon Hayward. Avery Bradley/Marcus Smart. Ante Zizic (?)
Is that a team that can beat the Golden State Warriors? Probably not. Is that a team that can beat LeBron and his suddenly on the verge of imploding Cavs? Definitely. And thats all you can ask for. Lets get to the fucking Finals and cross that Warriors bridge when we get there. The fact that Danny has landed two legitimate All-Star max contract players in back to back offseasons without having to trade any of our top picks is a fucking feat and he should be commended for it.
BUT, as the Wolf once famously put it:
As Felger likes to say, this team may very well be the Bridgies, the team that gets you to the team that wins a title when all your young guys grow up. And that may be true, but I’d much rather have a Bridgies team thats going to the Finals and competing for titles WHILE YOU’RE STILL GETTING BETTER AND STILL BUILDING. The future is bright in Boston. The future is bright and it is green. #WycFireworks for everyone.
PS – All of this excitement was dampened a bit because we had to say goodbye to the one and only Kelly “Maple Jordan” Olynyk. C’s had to renounce his rights to make cap space. Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened.
— Mayor of Allston (@MayorOfAllston) July 5, 2017
Guess I’ll just throw my box of these out. #Celtics https://t.co/ddgBBZZZVz
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) July 5, 2017
The Celtics Free Agency Plans are Crashing and Burning and Free Agency Hasn’t Even Started Yet
I swear to christ, Celtics fans need their own personal J. Walter Weatherman. Blake Griffin re-signs with the Clippers, Paul George gets traded to the Thunder, and now the Celtics free agency plans are spiraling out of control.
Blake Griffin already re-signed w/ #Clippers & now Paul George is headed to the #Thunder? Live look at Danny Ainge’s office #Celtics #NBA pic.twitter.com/nKj8v7x7Gk
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) July 1, 2017
We are now BANKING on Gordon Hayward signing with the Celtics or we are all fucked. I forgot my own rule to never get excited about rumored #WycFireworks until the pen was put to paper. This could all have been avoided if Danny Ainge had only left a note.
Hanley Ramirez is Store Brand Manny Ramirez
ESPN – [Hanley Ramirez] was told he’s 5-for-35 with eight strikeouts in 45 plate appearances against lefties, a far cry from his .346 mark last season or his .300 career average against southpaws. “You’re kidding me,” Ramirez said. “It took you long enough to tell me that. I didn’t know that, for real. So OK, after this conversation, let’s see what’s going to happen now. I’ll say it: Bring it, OK? I didn’t know. I swear. Interesting. Thank you.”
What a shitshow this guy is. I gotta tell you, I’m souring on Hanley Ramirez pretty quickly this season. Ever since David Ortiz retired, without the benefit of someone telling him to get his shit together, Hanley has increasingly become more and more like Manny Ramirez. Just doing Manny Being Manny shit.
Like laughing off how abysmal he’s hitting lefties this year. Or legitimately refusing to play First Base. Or sitting out with sore shoulders, while his much less heralded teammate Mitch Moreland is mashing home runs and playing First Base with a broken fucking foot.
Hanley Ramirez has become store brand Manny Ramirez. He acts like Manny, he gets babied like Manny, he is a general pain in the ass like Manny. Except he doesn’t hit the goddamn ball like Manny. If you wanna be treated like a superstar then you better be hitting moonshots onto Landsdowne. If you wanna sit out games and laugh about how shitty you’re playing, then the Manny treatment is over.
Even for one of the greatest righthanded hitters of my generation, eventually that act wore thin in Boston. And LA. And Tampa Bay. Imagine how much quicker that shit happens if you’re hitting .241/.341/.406 with 10 home runs, 29 RBIs and a WAR of 0.1. Let me repeat that, Hanley Ramirez has a WAR of 0.1, which means he is BARELY better than an average guy out there at first. Thats essentially what Mitch Moreland is and the Red Sox have fared far better with him playing than Hanley.
The 300s 