Tag: MLB

Red Sox Will Use $17M Starter Nathan Eovaldi as the Closer When He Returns from Injury

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NESN – The Boston Red Sox spent an off-day trying to recover from a transatlantic flight and two losses to the New York Yankees. The bullpen again became a concern as the Yankees scored 22 runs in 12 2/3 innings of work by Red Sox relievers over the weekend. And now the team has decided to make a move to shore up that bullpen. Multiple sources have told NESN’s Tom Caron that Nathan Eovaldi will serve as the closer for the Red Sox when he returns from the injured list. They also told Caron that he will serve as a traditional closer, and not as part of a bullpen-by-committee. Last postseason Eovaldi made four appearances out of the bullpen, tossing 9 1/3 innings and giving up just one run — the Max Muncy home run in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series after Eovaldi set a series record throwing 97 pitches in relief. In addition to helping the bullpen, the Red Sox believe bringing Eovaldi back as a reliever will get him back on the roster sooner, meaning they won’t have to wait for him to get stretched out in multiple starts over a long rehab stint.

We all saw what Nathan Eovaldi can do out of the bullpen in the playoffs last year, but that was out of necessity. Coming into this year the Red Sox resigned Eovaldi to a 4-year $67.5M contract to be a STARTER and now the Sox will once again turn to Nasty Nate to save the pen. I think we all had a feeling the Sox would mess around with this because with how good Eovaldi was in the postseason, how could you not think about him back in the pen?

This makes sense when you’re paying Eovaldi like a mid-season acquisition. When you’re paying him like a top starter though, and at the same time completely cheaping out on adding any bullpen help, then it starts to look like a piss poor management of resources.

Sweet Lou may have a stroke covering this year’s Sox team, but he seems to be in the same boat as me here.

Its not like anyone could have predicted this right?? This is why I was ecstatic the Sox won the World Series yet also a bit annoyed at how they got there because it only emboldened Dave Dombrowski. He punted on fixing the bullpen all last season and then fell ass backwards into a journeyman starter with a bum elbow that turned into a super reliever, along with Price, and Porcello acting as roamers. Winning the title last year had Dombrowski feeling himself a bit too much because hey we did it last year so we’ll figure it out again on the fly this year.

Thats how $240 Million teams end up 11 games out of first place in July.

The 300s First New York T-Shirt Has Arrived and the Circus is in Town!

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Managers yelling at reporters, big money free agents injured yet again, and just general dysfunction at all levels. The Circus is in town!

Buy The 300s Circus t-shirt now!

Papa Giorgio rightfully brought to my attention that The 300s didn’t have any swag for our miserable fans in New York. I’ve always kind of rooted for the Mets solely because Yankees fans hate them too so the enemy of my enemy is my friend I guess. Where my Mets fans at??

Get the custom Circus design on t-shirts, tank tops, stickers, iPhone cases and whatever else your heart desires. Hell, we put it on shower curtains just in case you really want to bathe in it. Buy The 300s Circus gear now!

Larry Lucchino is Writing His Magnum Opus With the New Worcester Red Sox Ballpark

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 Boston.com –  “We want a ballpark that really looks like Worcester, tastes like Worcester, smells like Worcester — a ballpark that is really representative of its home town,” Rea, the executive vice president of real estate development and business affairs for the Pawtucket Red Sox, recently told Boston.com in an interview.

Over the last month, PawSox officials have begun to reveal what that exactly could mean.

Rea says they’re currently “knee deep” in the planning efforts for the future home of the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate, who will begin playing in Worcester in 2021. The team announced the move last August, along with plans to build a 10,000-seat stadium in Worcester’s Canal District as part of a development project that includes restaurants, apartments, and a hotel overlooking the ballpark…

…has partnered with Worcester-based craft brewer Wormtown Brewery and beverage distributor Atlas to curate a locally inspired beer menu.

“We want people to be able to have Coors and Miller and Bud, but also have the local flare that I think the Worcester and Central Mass. area is becoming known for,” Rea said.

Welcome to Worcester. Dollar Twenty Five.

Larry Lucchino is most famous for three things: 1.) Designing the beautiful Camden Yards ballpark in Baltimore 2.) Leading the revival and renovations of the modern day Fenway Park and 3.) Running Theo Epstein out of town over a pissing contest. Obviously No. 3 is not ideal, but No. 1 and No. 2 are great legacies, which is why I have faith in Larry building something awesome in Worcester.

At first glance Polar Park seems like just another licensing rights sell out that means nothing. Whether intentional or not, it actually works really well because (at least for the Pawtucket Red Sox) the Triple-A team’s mascot currently is…

Yup, a polar bear. Or “Osos Polares de Pawtucket” if you happened to grab the fire flames hispanic themed hat like myself.

Larry’s even brought in the same architects to design the new park that have been leading the Fenway renovations for the last two decades.

It sounds like they’re being pretty creative with the entrances too, which is great not only for designing a unique experience but also helps with the bottle neck problem so many parks have.

Similar to Fenway, team officials are planning to have entrances all around Polar Park, so that fans can enter from different angles and the “full circumference of the venue is busy and activated,” Rea said. The park will also be built into a hill. So while fans entering the home-plate side on Madison Street would come in on street level, those coming from the direction of Worcester’s lively Green Street restaurant and bar scene would actually walk down into the stadium from center and right field (think Baltimore’s Camden Yards with a Jersey Street-type scene above the outfield seats).

I can’t tell you how many times theres been a massive line at Fenway right when you cross over the bridge to only just bomb down around to the Ted Williams statue and just double back to save a few minutes.

“I think there will be some unique outfield geometry and architecture,” he said. “We’re still putting those final pieces in place. But I think there will be some unique Fenway-esque architecture, if not identical dimensions and identical height walls. But some things will certainly have that sort of feel to it — not just some generic, perfectly symmetrical outfield.”

Fenway-esque architecture? Hell if I know what that means. I would think as the Triple-A team you would want players to get used to the same dimensions that the parent club is using in their home ballpark so that would make sense, but who knows.

Anddd its gonna be pricey!

According to the Worcester Business Journal, it will be the fourth-most expensive minor league park ever built when adjusted for inflation.

“We want a ballpark that has Fenway charm, but with the modern amenities that you expect from a 21st century ballpark,” Rea said.

The “flexible seating and social areas” are a great idea because sometimes you just want to grab a sausage and a couple beers and shoot the shit with your buds.

Around 7,200 to 7,500 of the park’s 10,000-person capacity will be traditional, fixed ballpark seats, Steinberg said at a fan preview night in Pawtucket last month. The rest will be flexible seating and social areas catering toward younger fans and families. Rea thinks such gathering spaces will be key for attracting students from the 13 colleges in the Worcester area, who have reportedly complained about not having anywhere to mingle with each other.

I’ve done this at plenty of Sox games when I stumble onto $10 tickets and its a blowout. The roof deck down the first base line is one of my favorite spots in Fenway. It also reminds me of the open local brewery and picnic table areas I raved about in our Portland SeaDogs ballpark review.

We’ll be heading back to Portland in August for another SeaDogs game and I’ll probably hit Pawtucket again for the seasons over. Needless to say I am a huge fan of minor league ballparks, whether its Pawtucket or Portland or the NH Fisher Cats or even some Brockton Rox games back in the day. Still need to make it to the Hartford Yard Goats who apparently have a sick brand new stadium downtown, but I will 100% be checking out the Worcester stadium once the PawSox move their in 2021.

Until then, please please just don’t ruin the team name with some gimmicky mascot. As Frank Lucas once said, “thats a brand name.”

I Love Marcus Stroman, But Dennis Eckersley? NOT a Fan.

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I am all for players celebrating, jumping around, bat flipping, even flipping the bird to opponents if they feel the need. If you want to act like Kenny Powers on the mound then I encourage you to do just that. Take Max Muncy for example, who did not appreciate Madison Bumgarner telling him to “don’t watch the ball” after Muncy took him yard a couple weeks ago.

I love it. Baseball needs more of this stuff. Which brings us to Marcus Stroman, who I personally love. The guy gets under everyone’s skin, is a bonafide stud major league pitcher at 5’8″, and oh he can spit bars too.

Marcus Stroman likes to get fired up, yell on the mound, and generally make wild hand gestures like an Italian girlfriend, but Dennis Eckersley was NOT a fan of Stroman’s celebrations on the mound on Sunday.

Does he sound like he’s trying to go Super Saiyan on the mound while up 5 runs in the 6th inning? Yes he does, but whatever. If I’m a player I just quietly bide my time until Stroman’s next start comes around and I hit one of his hanging curves onto Landsdowne.

And I love Eck, he’s one of my favorite people in America. I vehemently defended him in the David Price debacle, hell we even made YUCK t-shirts in his honor. However, Marcus Stroman clapped back on Twitter with the perfect response and unfortunately I think Eck has to just take the L and move on here.

The Tampa Bay Rays Are Exploring Becoming a Two…City…Team?

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Upon first reading this story, I immediately looked at the calendar on my computer screen. It is not April Fools Day.

I then asked the Google if it was some sort of April Fools Day in any other part of the world. It would appear it is not.

I then scrolled Jeff Passan’s timeline to see if he showed any signs of mental illness or drug abuse. Now neither are a laughing matter, but either would explain such an outlandish tweet. Nada.

So this is real folks. The Tampa Bay, nee Devil, Rays are indeed investigating if it’s viable to become the baseball equivalent of most north of the Mason Dixon-living recent retirees. Winters through spring in Florida. Summers back to the real world to see the kids and Grand kids. The best of both worlds.

This whole plan, if I understand it right, solves two problems while, in the opinion of this blogger, creating another. The first problem it solves is the fact that the team has really never been fully embraced by Tampa and things are never going to get any better. There just won’t ever be that kind of demand for a pro baseball team in that city. I mean hell, a pro hockey team does better there. But how do you ramp up demand? By cutting supply (BA in Econ here nd nd). So you go from offering the residents of Tampa 40ish games instead of 80ish and suddenly you may just see a rise in interest. You might also see them completely forgetting about the Rays but hey, that’s the risk.

The second problem being solved here is that you give the city of Montreal A FUCKING BASEBALL TEAM AGAIN. While never being a money maker, Montreal’s baseball fans loved their Expos and were crushed to see them go. They are akin to us “Arrested Development” fans back in the day. So while the ‘Expos aren’t coming back (although some sick throwbacks might be) the city of Montreal might get baseball again. Baseball is the most nostalgia-inducing of all pro sports, bar none, so if a city getting a team again after like, 20 years without one doesn’t give you the feels you’re heartless.

Now, the problem this creates is that I don’t really know how two completely different fanbases coexist. I don’t know how the team pulls this off. I just picture that oft-posted cartoon of two Spiderman’s pointing at each other. Will they get along? Will they argue? Can you launch a marketing campaign aimed at two cities at once? Don’t even get me at how much capital expenditure you purpose towards each city and why. The logistics there are just tough.

Luckily, pro sports franchises NEVER FUCK MAJOR LOCATION-centric MOVES UP. Like ever. So Im sure if this gets green lit everything will go smoothly. If not we’re down a franchise for a year or two until Jon Gruden is also coaching the AL West’s newest team the Las Vegas Greased Poles.

-Joey B

It Was an Absolute Shitshow at Fenway Last Night as We Saw Once Again Why We Need Robo Umps

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ESPN – Both managers and Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi were ejected from Texas’ 9-5 win over Boston on Tuesday.

Benintendi and Red Sox manager Alex Cora were tossed in the fifth inning by first-base umpire Vic Carapazza, and Texas manager Chris Woodward was booted by plate umpire Angel Hernandez in the sixth.

I was about to turn off the Sox game last night once the Rangers started putting up crooked numbers, but sometimes those blowouts provide the best entertainment and boy did it ever. First off, Angel Hernandez and his flunkies can kick rocks with that sideshow of a baseball game last night. It was just another example of MLB umps inserting themselves into the game in completely unnecessary situations.

After grounding out and getting thrown out at first, Benintendi was pretty heated about a missed call by homeplate umpire Angel Hernandez earlier in the at-bat. Benintendi glanced in the direction of home plate and swore to himself basically. Well in steps the shining knight that was the first base ump Vic Carapazza who took it upon himself to defend Angel’s honor by ejecting Benintendi. Benintendi by the way was’t even looking at Carapazza when he quietly motioned for the ejection so Red Sox first base coach Tom Goodwin had to break the news.

Benintendi, rightfully so, flipped the fuck out.

I don’t know why, but Benny yelling “You fucking suck too” at the first base ump is the funniest line I’ve heard in a while.

Then just 15 minutes later we got this circus at second base.

The ump definitively makes the safe call before changing his mind and pumping his fist to signal the out call. All of which happened in the span of 2 seconds. The Sox got the call, but that whole series of events is a joke. It also led to the Rangers manager getting chucked too as Angel Hernandez remains the smuggest official in all of sports.

Hernandez said Woodward apparently didn’t hear when he was told time was running out to challenge the call.

“We were not going to review the play once time expired,” Hernandez said. “These are rules. It’s my job to enforce them.”

And here’s Hernandez on the Benintendi ejection:

Hernandez spoke to a pool reporter following the game but said little to explain the ejection.

“He violated the rules of the game,” Hernandez said. “I’m not at liberty to discuss anything until I submit the report tomorrow.”

Lets be done with this. Just fire them all into the sun and bring me the robo umps.

Listening to Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek Talk About David Ortiz Will Break Your Heart

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From all the latest reports out now it seems like David Ortiz will make a full recovery, but that doesn’t change how scary the entire situation has been. I still can’t believe someone tried to assassinate Big Papi. It all sounds like a fake story, but thankfully he’s back in Boston and seems to be in a good spot. His former teammates have begun reacting to the news and its just heartbreaking. Pedro played with Ortiz on the Sox for 2 seasons, but they’re both DR guys and thats a pretty tight knit community in baseball.

Jason Varitek is one of the most stoic guys you’ll ever see and was always pretty reserved in how he addressed the media. So to see this coming from Tek was really emotional.

To hear him nearly break down in tears while discussing David Ortiz being shot is heartbreaking. These guys were more than just teammates, they were like family. They played together for 9 years and both are still involved with the Red Sox organization to this day. It says a lot about how much people genuinely care for David Ortiz.

 

Prayers up to No. 34.

A Dominican News Network is Reporting David Ortiz Has Been Shot

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I really hope this isn’t true, but CDN 37, a blue check marked news network in the Dominican Republic, is reporting that David Ortiz has been hospitalized with a gunshot wound in Santo Domingo. I’ve seen some other rumors on Twitter saying that it happened during a robbery at gunpoint, but I don’t know if thats true or not. A couple of websites are reporting that he was shot in the leg after an altercation and that the suspect has been arrested.

This is exactly why a lot of players make it big and never go home when they come from less than well off countries. It must be an insanely scary feeling to be the richest guy in one of the poorest parts of the world while everyone knows you’re the richest guy in the country. Even if you’re the humblest, most modest dude, just having Big Papi’s face would be like me walking through the Bronx with hundred dollar bills hanging out of my pockets. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do David Ortiz harm. He’s Big Papi for christs sake. Street justice will probably be swift on the dude thats responsible if its true. We’ll keep you updated with any info we see come through, but for now prayers up to No. 34.

Godspeed, Koji Uehara

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So unbeknownst to probably anyone Koji was still an active player until yesterday. He is 44 and didn’t come to the bigs until he was 34 after a 10 year career in Japan.

He is most known for his 2013 run with the Sox when he was the polar opposite of Craig Kimbrel and others we’ve had tasked with recording our final three outs. He was unflappable, reliable, and most of all, giddy as all hell as he posted a 1.61 era as our closer that year.

So happy trails, o ye of the many high 5s. Thanks, in no small part, for the ring.

David Price and His Unique Elbow Placed on the IL With Another Elbow Injury

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ESPN – Boston Red Sox left-hander David Price has been placed on the 10-day injured list because of tendinitis in his pitching elbow. Boston announced the move Monday, a day ahead of Price’s scheduled start at Baltimore.

The 33-year-old Price is 1-2 with a 3.75 ERA in six starts and has allowed three runs or fewer in his last four appearances. The 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner with Tampa Bay, Price was slowed by elbow problems throughout 2017. He did not make his first start for Boston until May 29 due to a strained elbow and did not pitch for the Red Sox between July 22 and Sept. 17 because of elbow inflammation. He was 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts and five relief appearances, then rebounded to go 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 30 starts last year as Boston won the World Series. Boston made the roster move retroactive to Friday. The Red Sox selected the contract of 28-year-old right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Pawtucket.

David Price has been more or less our best pitcher to start the year, which says more about the shitshow this rotation has been than it does about Price’s start. He was pitching well as of late though so this is the last thing the Sox needed right now.

I can’t say I’m super optimistic about another elbow injury for a 33-year-old starter coming off his shortest offseason ever after a World Series run. This shouldn’t be a problem though if you remember what Price said about his “very unique elbow” in 2017.

“[They told me] that I have a very unique elbow, and I’ve heard that before but not from guys that have done the surgeries they’ve done and looked at as many elbows as they’ve looked at. So just to hear it from those two guys, it felt good,” said Price, via MLB.com.

Heres to a speedy recovery for Price because love him or hate him we need him to pitch well if this team is to go anywhere.