Tag: Jonny Gomes

WEEI Can’t Decide On One New Red Sox Broadcaster, So They Hired EIGHT

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WEEI – Entercom, the unrivaled leader in sports radio and one of the two largest radio broadcasters in the United States, today announced the new all-star team of play-by-play sportscasters for 2019 Boston Red Sox games on WEEI in Boston, the flagship station of the team. Broadcasters participating this season will include Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin and Mario Impemba, who will rotate in the radio booth alongside veteran broadcaster and Red Sox Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione, who has signed a multi-year extension with the WEEI Red Sox Radio Network and will begin his 37th season…

In adition to McDonough, Lewin and Impemba, Chris Berman, broadcaster for ESPN; Lou Merloni, on-air personality for WEEI; Dale Arnold, on-air personality for WEEI; Tom Caron, studio host for NESN; and Dave O’Brien, television voice of the Red Sox for NESN, will also call select games as part of the broadcast play-by-play committee. O’Brien will call a select number of nationally televised Red Sox games.

The WEEI broadcast booth needed a replacement to put next to longtime Red Sox play by play man, Joe Castiglione. Someone that could call the game, provide insights, have a regular conversation (don’t you dare call it a talk show), and essentially just create a more entertaining product.

But they couldn’t decide on one guy, so they hired EIGHT.

There’s a few familiar faces in here with current WEEI names like Lou Merloni and Dale Arnold as well as NESN personalities Tom Caron and Dave O’Brien. In addition to them, WEEI brought back fan favorite and Mass native Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin, and Mario Impemba.

Wait.

Is that what I think it is?

THATS CHRIS BERMAN’S MUSIC!

Chris Berman is back back back back baby! I honestly don’t know how many “backs” Berman is gonna be able to squeeze in when Mookie hits a piss missile over the Monster. There’s really not enough time, but he’ll adjust he’s a professional.

In all seriousness, I only really listen to the Red Sox radio broadcast if I have to. If I’m stuck in traffic or I’m crushing a few Bud Lattes win the old man in his backyard. So I don’t really care who they bring in, but it does scream indecisiveness. I know they probably wanted to test out a few guys to try and jumpstart a broadcast they had grown tired of, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. Having 8 different guys in there on any given night could do 1 of 2 things. It could provide excitement because you’re always hearing different voices and opinions. Or it could quickly create favorites leading to fans tuning out when they hear that Lewin’s calling the game and not Merloni on a given night.

Credit to them for trying something new, but it won’t be easy to build a rapport with Castiglione if some of the new guys are only working a game a week.

Just give Jonny Gomes the job and be done with it.

PS – It’s spring training and I just made a Jonny Gomes reference so get your Jonny Gomes Duckboat shirt before the season starts!

Dodgers Eat $35 Million to Designate Carl Crawford for Assignment

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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?

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Nevermind.

Jonny Gomes is (Not) Retiring; Shane Victorino Likely in the Same Boat

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Boston Red Sox's Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Red Sox’s Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Sports Illustrated – Despite reports, veteran outfielder Jonny Gomes is not retiring, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com….After Gomes’s 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, SB Nation reported Wednesday that he would retire. He is not currently on a roster.

SB Nation reported yesterday that Jonny Gomes is calling it a career, then Rob Bradford came over the ropes and said not so fast. Either way, this is probably it for Jonny. He may not be filing the paperwork just yet, but it’s hard to see him getting picked up after hitting .213 last season. Needless to say this is a sad day for anyone who was a fan of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. Jonny Gomes, hate him or love him helped reset the culture in the Red Sox clubhouse after the disaster that was Bobby Valentine. Hell, he started the bearded brothers culture that the entire team took on as their identity. He was loud, obnoxious and fun as hell to watch. Not to mention all his gems like the story of fighting a guy in a grocery store.

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The guy came to play every day and there is nothing in this world that people from Boston appreciate more than a dirtdog who shows up to work every day and busts his balls. And with everything that was going on in Boston in 2013 after the Marathon bombing, that team became cathartic for the city and the team really embraced that role. Gomes especially embraced that and the team fed off of it en route to winning the World Series.

PS – I’d be remiss not to mention my boy Shane Victorino who was every bit the heart and soul of that 2013 Red Sox team as much as Gomes. Victorino is likely in the same boat after being released by the Cubs’ Triple-A team the other day and Sox fans will always love him for what he did in 2013. His career more or less went off the rails due to injuries after that season, but he was another guy who really relished what it means to play in Boston. I’ll never forget the chills I got from the Fenway crowd singing Victorino’s Bob Marley walk up song in unison and of course his grand slam in the ALCS as he’s POUNDING his chest rounding the bases.

Man that team was fun as hell.