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.
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.
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.
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.
I am tired of everyone pointing out the other Super Teams around the NBA just to make LeBron feel better. They had multiple great players, see they’re a Super Team too. LeBron “I’ve never been on a Super Team” James can cut the shit.
People pointing to the 2008 Celtics as an example of one is what really drives me nuts. Listen, in my mind a Super Team is a team created when the AAU super friends get together, whether its at the Olympics, offseason events, or riding banana boats together with your besties, and decide hey lets all work together to put ourselves on the same team. Which is exactly what LeBron, D Wade and Bosh did with the Heat. They constructed that shit themselves intentionally.
You ever play Madden with a Fantasy Draft team and just ROLL through the league? Yea while it sounds fun going 19-0 with some fake team, you don’t really feel the same accomplishment than when you scrap by as a Wild Card team and win the SB on All-Madden with your auto-generated backup QB because Tom Brady broke his fucking wrist in Week 4.
The 08 Celtics were a team put together by the GM through trades. Danny was shaking hands and kissing babies to put together that team.
Sure they had 3 Hall of Famers on the same team, but one of them didn’t even want to come here in KG. Thats a great, championship winning team built through trades and the draft (who do you think Danny traded to get Ray and KG?).
Rather than 3 assholes sitting on a boat saying you know what forget this team and this city, lets all join up and play together! And as much as I’ll always be like a disappointed parent in Durant going to the Warriors, even that team was built primarily through the draft. Super Team is the new buzzword of the NBA, but however you define it LeBron you sure as shit were on a few of them. End rant.
The Undefeated – “Just like Rajon Rondo used to set up the fast break for the Boston Celtics, he is setting up a vacation with his former Celtics teammates from the 2008 NBA championship team to celebrate the nearing of the 10-year anniversary of their title. This party, however, doesn’t include an invite to ex-Celtics star guard Ray Allen. “I asked a couple of the guys. I got a no, a no head shake,” said Rondo to The Undefeated when asked why Allen wasn’t invited.”
If there’s anyone that can hold a grudge it’s Rajon fucking Rondo. It’s been five years since Ray Allen ditched the Celtics to chase a ring with blood rival Miami. And Rajon still wants Ray dead.
“It will be a long story about that, but it is what it is,” Rondo, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, told The Undefeated. “I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now.”
I actually find it refreshing. Everyone is friends in the NBA now. It’s the AAU generation, all these guys grew up playing on teams together and then once they’re playing against each other in the NBA they just publicly opine about how they wanna play together or in Miami’s case massively collude to get it done. We need more venom in this league.
Now I’m sure all those stories over the years of how Rajon and Ray just didn’t ever get along contribute to this. For whatever reason they just always kind hated each other. Kinda like Jesus Shuttlesworth and his dad really, but I digress…
It’s not only Rondo though. Garnett and Pierce are like old college roommates, they’re still boys. But Ray never seems to be included in that circle of trust. It sounds like he always kind of kept his teammates at arms length, even in the good old days. I remember a story of how Ray was the only guy not to show up for teammates’ charity events like a total asshole. This isn’t football where theres like 50+ guys on the roster. This is basketball where you only have to deal with 10-12 guys.
Even Pierce let some venom slip in an old interview. This seems more like someone who got dumped w/o explanation and harbors resentment for the way it ended.
“That was a tough situation because we thought it was betrayal,” Pierce said. “That’s why the whole thing evolved like it did with us not talking to him. Ray didn’t really have the best relationship with Rondo anyway. That was nothing. [Rondo], me and Kevin, he didn’t have any talk with us [before his Miami decision].”
And don’t forget when KG basically told Ray to go piss up a rope when he came back as a member of the Heat and tried to dap him up. Denied.
It’s a shame the Celtics didn’t win another title when Garnett, Pierce and Allen were all here. Seems like they definitely should’ve won 2 if not 3 rings together. Ray did exactly what he set out to do though. He jumped ship and singlehandedly saved LeBron’s ass and pretty much delivered him a ring with that corner 3 in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals, which is probably what hurts his former teammates the most.
Another aging, overpaid and undermotivated former NFL star is cut and whats the first thing everyone in the league does? Looks to see what Belichick does. At first glance this does look like a player that the Patriots would take a chance on, especially with some potential holes to fill in the defensive line this offseason. But Mario Williams is now 32 and his numbers have gone down across the board the last 3 years. He doesn’t strike me as a high motor veteran in a shitty situation like Chris Long this past season. But hey if he wants to take a massive pay cut and reserve his spot on the Duckboats for next year, far be it for me to stop him.
Super Mario did outlast his incrediblyyy hyped up peers from the 2006 draft though. I still remember ROASTING the Texans for passing on Reggie Bush, who had just finished one of the greatest college careers of all time at USC.
What a wacky draft. Then of course there was Vince Young at No. 3 who had the highest of highs winning Rookie of the Year and landing on the cover of Madden before having some personal issues and fizzling out. He is on the comeback trail now though!
There were some pretty good players in that draft with Pro Bowlers like D’Brickishaw Ferguson, Jay Cutler (pre-smoking Jay Cutler meme days), Vernon Davis, Donte Hitner (Whitner). But holy shit do I feel old looking through the rest of this draft class. These guys have either been in the league for 10+ years or are already retired: Haloti Ngata, Tamba Hali, DeAngelo Williams, Nick Mangold, Devin Hester, D’Qwell Jackson (the original fall guy for Deflategate), Maurice Jones-Drew and my man Antonio Cromartie.
Required to post any time Antonio Cromartie is mentioned:
I’d be remiss without mentioning the thunder to Reggie Bush’s lightning, my man LenDale White. And how about these two HOF picks from Belichick himself; Laurence tap-dancing Maroney and Chad Jackson. Yuck.
Chad Jackson’s No. 1 claim to fame to this day is still having been on MTV’s Two a Days back at Hoover High (RIP Angels and Airwaves).
PS – Ever wonder what happened to those guys? This is absolute porn for anyone that used to actually watch Two A Day’s like me. And yes Hoover HC Rush Propst is 100% Bud Kilmer from Varsity Blues.
ESPN – NBA owners are scheduled to vote this week on putting ads on jerseys for the 2017-18 season, multiple sources told ESPN. The measure is expected to pass, according to sources. Several teams have begun testing the market to sell the potentially lucrative ads, which would be placed in a 2.5-by-2.5-inch patch on the left shoulder.
*Hate* this move. You knew it was coming, there were whispers in the dark corners of the NBA rumor mill and there was no way the NBA was going to let the profit orange remain unsqueezed. But seriously, RIP to the Jersey Guys like myself. I never thought anything would legitimately make me grow up and stop wearing jerseys in public. Maybe turning 30? Probably not. But slap a Hot Pocket patch on my Isaiah Thomas jersey? See ya later. This is what ruins most soccer jerseys, which all have the potential to be really cool. Starts with one small ad, then you get a Manchester United jersey with a giant goddamn Chevy logo in the middle and you look like a NASCAR driver. I am out on this move. Brace yourselves Jersey Guys.
The 300s 