Tag: MLB

The Yankees Have Succumb to Names on Jerseys for Players Weekend and it Makes Me Laugh

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For years the Yankees and their fans have had a smug sense of entitlement because they all sport a Boys Regular haircut, shave their beards, and most importantly don’t have names on the backs of their jerseys. Well that and the obscene number of WS trophies. But, hey its the Yankees, you should know who the players are without any names on the jerseys.

Welp, throw that shit right out the window because later this month, just like the rest of us common folk, the Yankees players will be wearing jerseys at home with players names on the back for the FIRST TIME SINCE 1915.

And its not just any jersey its the ridiculous cash-grab of a marketing scheme jerseys with not only players’ names on the back, but WACKY nicknames to boot. Names like “All Rise,” “Red Thunder,” and “All Staarlin” will desecrate the sacred confines of Yankee Stadium. Welcome to the poor house with the rest of us, Yankees fans.

PS – Shoutout to Brett Gardner for saying ya know what fuck this, just put my name on the back. Respect that hate.

2016 Cy Young Winner and Current 14-Game Loser Rick Porcello Threw an Immaculate Inning Last Night

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After winning the Cy Young last year Rick Porcello has struggled mightily in 2017 with 14 L’s to his name currently. He is gunning for the rare distinction of not only winning 20 games, but also losing 20 games in a season. This guy is a fucking enigma. He undoubtedly is better than his record as he has had the worst run support of any Red Sox starter this year so its definitely not all on him. But, the closer you inch to 20 losses with an ERA approaching 5, the less people really care about the details.

So last night he throws 5 dominant innings before getting knocked around in the 6th. In the bottom of the 5th though Porcello had the uber rare Immaculate Inning, which is getting 9 strikes on 9 pitches to record 3 outs. Do you realize how rare that is? There have been 89 Immaculate Innings pitched all-time compared to 296 no-hitters. Its less common than a NO-HITTER!

So hopefully this Immaculate Porcello shows up in the playoffs and not the 14 (and counting) game loser or the freshly minted Cy Young winner who got lit up in the playoffs last year. An enigma indeed. The Many Faced Pitcher.

 

 

Red Sox Ownership Blocked Dombrowski from Trading More Top Prospects. Good.

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WEEI – After a number of deals involving top-level prospects thinned the Red Sox farm system, ownership ordered president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski not to deal any top-end talent at the July 31 trade deadline, according to a report. Per Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal (subscription required), ownership made it clear to Dombrowski at the deadline that he was not to touch the top of the farm system. He instead dealt middle-tier prospects to acquire infielder Eduardo Nunez and reliever Addison Reed.

I know, I know, the Red Sox brought Dave Dombrowski in to build the team his way. And his way just happens to be to trade every prospect under the fucking sun to win now. Except theres GOT to be a point where you sit back and think hey maybe lets pump the breaks so we have SOME young guys in the pipeline. I am far from a bleeding heart prospect hoarder. I’ve seen too many “untouchable” prospects turn into absolute scrubs like Henry Owens (Baseball America No. 44 prospect in 2015). And for every Anthony Rizzo (Red Sox No. 8 prospect before getting dealt) you regret trading away there are 10 Casey Kellys (as high as Baseball America No. 24 prospect in 2009).

Something we talked about on our all Red Sox podcast this week (SUBSCRIBE!) was how Big Z and I disagreed on what to do with prospects. He says ship em all out because you’re going to miss with prospects more than you hit. I disagree. Not because I think they’re all going to be studs. I’m more concerned with the PERCEPTION of value they bring, which is why I always hated the Pomeranz trade. Admittedly he’s been pitching really well of late and Anderson Espinoza just blew his arm out and will have to get Tommy John. BUT, at the time Espinoza was your top pitching prospect and one of the most highly regarded prospects in all of baseball. Dombrowski traded him for a reliever turned starter who ultimately ended up being a middle innings mop up guy for the Red Sox down the stretch.

Sure he’s pitched well as of late, but you can’t point to the Espinoza injury and say Dombrowski won the trade. Thats using the benefit of hindsight. My point is the PERCEPTION of Espinoza’s value was much higher and the Sox should have gotten a lot more for him or held onto him. Not because I think he’s going to be the next Pedro, but because the consensus around the league was he would be a stud, which means you gotta get more.

Not to mention, take a look at Dombrowski’s last place of employment; the Detroit Tigers. Dombrowski had them humming along pretty good for a couple of years but he GUTTED the farm system and now they are in the middle of a brutal rebuild. I would hate to see the Sox in a similar position in 3-4 years. You can always add expensive free agents, but you need to supplement that with young, cheap prospects or you’ll quickly turn into the pre-Baby Bomber Yankees with Teixeira, CC Sabathia, A-Rod and others collecting paychecks on their way out the door towards retirement.

All of this is a long winded way of saying I’m glad someone put the stop sign up on Dombrowski IF it was over concerns of dealing more top prospects. If it was about concerns of going over the luxury tax then I retract this whole blog post because you’re the fucking Red Sox, you can afford it. But since he took over as President of baseball operations Dombrowski has stripped the farm system. In the two years since taking over he has traded 16+ prospects. You can read Alex Speier’s breakdown of them all, but here are the highlights below.

  • Manuel Margot (Part of the Craig Kimbrel trade: the No. 14 prospect in MLB at the start of 2016 and last week’s NL Player of the Week)
  • Yoan Moncada (Part of the Chris Sale trade: Sale has been a stud so no regrets about this, but Moncada was the No. 2 prospect in MLB this season behind only…Andrew Benintendi)
  • Michael Kopech (Sale trade: 100 mph heater with a 3.25 ERA and 134 K’s in 105 innings in Triple-A this year)
  • Travis Shaw (Tyler Thornburg trade: not technically a prospect, but Thornburg has yet to pitch for the Sox and Shaw is batting a cool .291 with 24 HR and 74 RBI for the Brewers)

I’m just not sold on Dombrowski’s player evaluation, which is probably my biggest concern. At least when it comes to the health or mental fortitude of players. Guys he’s traded for that have gotten injured include Thornbug, Carson Smith, Drew Pomeranz and not to mention signing David Price who has battled injuries as well as the local media. Yuck.

At some point you have to hold onto the young guys. The current team is littered with home grown talent (that are cheap too) including Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi. Thats a pretty stocked roster why not trade away some young guys then? Well because when the Red Sox have needed depth due to injuries they’ve basically been up shits creek because of all those prospects dealt. Thats how you get Henry Owens (now in Double-A) and Doug Fister making starts. Thank God for the way Devers has played or the Sox might be in a real bad place down the stretch.

The Red Sox currently have 3 prospects in Baseball America’s 2017 Top 100 – Benintendi (No. 1), Devers (No. 18) and Jason Groome (No. 43) — down from 5 in 2016 when they had Moncada (No. 3), Benintendi (No. 15), Devers (No. 18), Espinoza (No. 19) and Kopech (No. 89). Kopech jumped from 89 to 32, Moncada jumped from 3 to. 2, Benintendi jumped to 15 to 1, Devers stayed at No. 18, Espinzoa actually went down from 19 to 21 (2017 is Groome’s first year in pro ball).

My point is you don’t need to hold onto ALL of the prospects, but you do need to hold onto SOME of them. Your move, Dave.

Yoan Moncada Nearly Decapitates Teammate and Almost Blows Out His Knee Making a Play

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Everyone remembers Yoan Moncada, the top prospect in all of baseball, who was the centerpiece of the Red Sox trade for Chris Sale. With the White Sox coming to town this weekend, its a bit of a bummer if he’ll miss any time, but he avoided any serious injury. Holy hell this looked bad though.

Speaking of Moncada though, I spotted this moron walking around Fenway last night. A Moncada Red Sox t-shirt jersey. Seriously. The guy played 8 games for the Red Sox. Reminds me of the time I saw a guy on Landsdowne Street rocking a stitched Craig Hansen jersey before his first appearance. Come on guys, we’re better than this.

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I Think I Saw the Greatest Catch Ever Last Night at Fenway

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So I was at the Sox game last night, sitting up in the bleachers like any self respecting fan does, when I ended up having a front row seat to maybe the best catch ever. Hanley Ramirez hit an absolute BOMB, basically flipped his bat, thing looked gone. Except Austin Jackson tracked it and tracked it and leaped at the bullpen wall in CF to ROB Hanley of a huge home run.

It was like an alternate reality where Torii Hunter makes that catch for the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS.

A Mets Fan’s Perspective on Addison Reed

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Editors note: Had to get Papa Giorgi’s perspective on Addison Reed because as a Mets fan he’s seen Reed a lot over the past couple of years. So on the off chance as a Sox fan you haven’t seen many Mets games recently, here’s a look at what to expect from Reed.

Hey Sox fans, your resident Mets fan here to give you the scoop on your newly acquired deadline acquisition, Addison Reed.

For those of you unsure of who Reed is, he’s been the Mets closer for the better part of this season after Jeurys Familia went to the DL. He was also our setup man for the miracle 2015 run to the World Series that eventually led to me consuming thrice the legal limit. So far this season he’s posted a 2.57 ERA in over 49 innings pitched.

I’m pretty bummed we lost him to be honest as he’s been our best reliever this year and he’s always pretty consistent. I get the move as his contract is set to expire at season’s end and the Sox could use the bullpen help. The return for him was pretty light, but it’s hard to get much back in a rental situation. The Mets have clearly set their focus to 2018 and I’ve come to terms with it. Stud shortstop Amed Rosario is set to debut for us tonight so the sting of losing an all around professional in Reed hurts just a little less. Enjoy him Red Sox fans, he’s a reliable player and I think you’ll find yourselves at ease when he comes in to get the job done.

Dave Dombrowski is Playing Fast and Loose With the English Language to Cover His Ass if Red Sox Falter

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So the MLB trade deadline was yesterday and the Red Sox added a legitimate reliever in Addison Russell, whom they acquired from the Mets. However, the Yankees did more than just add a nice piece, they loaded the fuck up. They added Sonny Gray, the A’s ace thats currently sporting a 3.43 ERA and 8.7 Ks per 9 IP. Not to mention their slew of other moves, without having given up too much of value…

So now we’ve got Dave Dombrowski in full on Cover Your Ass mode it would seem. The Sox added Nunez, who’s been playing really well and then just picked up Reed, but this is a team with glaring holes that has been struggling badly, and now the hottest team in the division just got a LOT better.

Now after the Yankees were wheeling and dealing all week loading up and basically making the Bombers the favorite to win the AL East, Dombrowski starts off by jokingly calling them the Golden State Warriors.

Just really playing up how great the Yankees are and how the Red Sox are really just underdogs for the rest of the season, except leaving out the fact that the Sox were the heavy pre-season FAVORITE to win the AL East. This is the definition of hedging your bets.

Now, I’m sure Dombrowski had some limitations put on him by ownership to avoid going over the luxury tax, but he still built this team. He signed Price and traded for Sale, and Kimbrel, and Pomeranz. Not to mention the trades for guys who have been injury plagued disasters in Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith. If this team fails its on him. But, by pointing out how stacked the Yankees are and how the Sox are just some plucky underdogs  (with a $190M payroll) scrapping to compete, he’s already hedging so that if the Sox falter and don’t win the division or even straight up miss the playoffs, its not on him. Bullshit. Dave’s conveniently forgetting the fact that the expectations for this team were to compete for a World Series, not sneak into a Wild Card one-game playoff.

Dombrowski has been doing this a lot recently too, its not just his reaction to the trade deadline yesterday. After the Sox put David Price on the DL the same day he was supposed to start and potentially take a verbal beating from the fans, people were rightfully suspicious. Dombrowski scoffed at the suggestion they DL’d price just to skip a start. Dave went on a rant about how you can’t just put a guy on the DL without a serious medical issue that gets clearance from MLB. Uhhh did we already forget about Pablo Sandoval’s ear infection that knocked him out for like 2 weeks?? Thats a vicious ear infection. Did the Sox send a full ear X-ray to the commissioners office to get approval? Get the fuck outta here.

Dombrowski is preemptively chilling his seat before it gets too hot if the Sox do get bounced early, but I’m on to you Dave.

Steve Bartman Gets a Cubs World Series Ring. He HAS to Throw it in the Ocean like the Old Lady at the End of the Titanic Right?

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WGN -“On behalf of the entire Chicago Cubs organization, we are honored to present a 2016 World Series Championship Ring to Mr. Steve Bartman,” the Cubs told WGN in a statement. “We hope this provides closure on an unfortunate chapter of the story that has perpetuated throughout our quest to win a long-awaited World Series. While no gesture can fully lift the public burden he has endured for more than a decade, we felt it was important Steve knows he has been and continues to be fully embraced by this organization. After all he has sacrificed, we are proud to recognize Steve Bartman with this gift today.”

What an absolutely hollow gesture from the Cubs. You can’t pay off your guilt like a goddamn credit card guys. Hey sorry we totally fucked up your life, here’s a big shiny ring that you can never wear anywhere because you’re Steve Fucking Bartman. This guy got hosed plain and simple. If Steve Bartman got excommunicated from the city of Chicago, then everyone sitting in his section should have been forced to walk the ice on the Chicago River like they did in The Dark Knight Rises.

They all reached for the ball guys. Bartman just got blamed for it. So Bartman became a notorious recluse, never did any interviews, declined to be in any documentaries, basically just wanted to be left the hell alone.

Bartman did issue a statement though saying how grateful he was for the ring and bringing him some closure:

“Although I do not consider myself worthy of such an honor, I am deeply moved and sincerely grateful to receive an official Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Championship ring. I am fully aware of the historical significance and appreciate the symbolism the ring represents on multiple levels. My family and I will cherish it for generations.”

So maybe it does help? I don’t know, but I think if you’re Steve Bartman you have to just throw this thing in the ocean like the old lady at the end of the Titanic right? If there’s one thing I can respect in a man, its a long standing grudge. Keep the grudge alive, Steve.

George Costanza Protege Danny Tartabull Calls Cops, Forgetting That He Himself Is On The Run

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Yahoo –  Danny Tartabull was finally arrested by police Wednesday after more than five years on the run. The former New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals outfielder was caught after he called the cops, according to TMZ.

Tartabull wasn’t calling police to turn himself in, though. He was calling them to report that someone broke into his car. Cops ran his name when they arrived at the scene and realized there was a warrant out for Tartabull’s arrest.

This is just incredible. Not just because of the basics of the story itself, which are indeed awesome – a non-pro athlete nobody calling the cops when he himself is wanted is still an absolute hoot – but a pro athlete from the 90’s who guested on “Seinfeld” getting caught in a self-devised sting – a scenario that very well could serve as a “Seinfeld” episode? Now we are in the “GOLD BLOG CONTENT” category.

Really though, I feel for my man Danny Tartabull, and not just because I had his card growing up and I thought he looked like a badass with that face full of chew. I feel for him because I too lose all sense of reality and rationality when my car situation gets fucked up. Tickets, towed, fender benders, the one time I thought it was stolen (had taken a cab home drunk, was looking for it on the wrong street). Any and all the above happens and I lose my fucking mind. It sucks. It just brings your day to a screeching halt. Us city dwellers don’t always need our cars, but when we need them, we absolutely need them. If I can Lyft or T-it I will rather than drive 100000% percent of the time. But if I have to be somewhere not applicable to other means of transport, I fully need and expect access to my car. That said I’m sure Danny Tartabull was fucking pissed his carefully planned day was washed by someone swiping his car and called the authorities, with the 2% chance they’d find his car with enough daylight left to accomplish even half his day’s to-do list, in mind. It just so happened he himself was wanted by said authorities and they locked him up. The real shame is that George gave Tartabull tips on his at bats instead of tips on how to get out of an unavoidable arrest. The Summer of Danny it is not.

P.S: This episode would be the called “The Warrant(s)”.