Tag: NESN

Reports of Baseball’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

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Dan Shaughnessy’s column from Sunday afternoon on the demise of baseball generated a lot of buzz, and the topic has dominated Boston sports talk radio this week. When Shaughnessy, a J. G. Taylor Spink Award recipient, says that Major League Baseball is in trouble people listen. His points are fair, even if not fresh: too many bad teams, slow pace of play, too many strikeouts, the rise of analytics, and the lack of star power are all hurting the appeal of the game. But as Nick Cafardo pointed out on Tuesday night, they don’t appear to be hurting the game’s appeal in Boston.

The Red Sox are victims of their own success (and drama). They broke the curse in 2004, went wire-to-wire and won another championship in 2007, experienced one of the biggest September collapses in the history of the game in 2011, and won another championship in 2013 after a city tragedy. There have been lots of highs, lows, and drama over the last 15 years. What could they do in July, 2018 that could match any of that sports talk radio buzz? What trade deadline deal could possibly top the Nomar trade? No wonder the Sox aren’t talked about as much on WEEI or the Sports Hub as they were 5, 10 or 15 years ago. That doesn’t mean that people don’t care about this team, and it obviously doesn’t mean that people aren’t watching.

The Red Sox sold out every game at Fenway Park from May 15, 2003, to April 8, 2013. [Sure, the sellout streak was a bit of a joke at the end, but it was very real for poor college students trying to get tickets at face value in the mid-2000s.] The Red Sox dominated the Boston sports scene for most of that time. The fact that they are no longer the most discussed team is largely out of their control.

The greatest quarterback and coach in the history of the National Football League are both in New England right now. It’d be shocking if the Patriots didn’t own the region. With the Celtics championship in 2008 and the Bruins Stanley Cup win in 2011, the city’s sports talk landscape became a lot more crowded over the last 15 years. All four Boston teams have never all been this good at the same time.

That’s not to say that baseball is fine and that it’s never been better. Baseball does need to make some changes to adapt to the times. The NFL has shown far more willingness than MLB to tweak its rules over the past 20 years, but baseball has shown an ability to adapt in the past. Lowering the mound and adding the designated hitter seemed like radical ideas at the time, but those ideas worked out okay. Rob Manfred has shown a willingness to make changes and improvements, and I’m confident more will be done.

The changes don’t need to be radical, either. Eliminate shifts [and increase offense other than home runs] by requiring two infielders to stay to the left of second base or by requiring all infielders to remain on the infield dirt. Implement a salary floor to disincentivize tanking and hopefully more decent non-playoff teams emerge. Take a few games off the regular season, and increase the division series to seven games, to make the regular season more interesting.

Baseball ain’t perfect, but don’t tell me people don’t care about the Red Sox the way they used to.

 

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Tuukka Rask and the Bruins Avoid Near Disaster to Pull Out Game 7 Win

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Holy hell what a game. As many of my buddies that are not Bruins fans texted me last night; that was an incredible game, probably the best game of the entire first round of the playoffs. As a Bruins fan though? That shit was beyond stressful. From puck drop that game was a sprint and luckily, despite some massive miscues, the Bruins pulled out Game 7 in exciting fashion.

I’ve never been a TRADE TUUKKA guy. I think he’s fine. He can flash the mitt sometimes, but he’s not a top 3 goalie. He’s just not. Among goalies with at least 30 Games Played this year, Tuukka Rask ranked 15th in Save Percentage at .917, 17th in Shutouts with 3, and 15th in Quality Starts with 30. Its not like he was a workhorse either, he was 18th in Games Played with 54, which are the fewest games he’s played since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season.

He’s also not a complete bum. He was 6th in GAA at 2.36, but holy shit does this guy have a scary tendency to disappear in big moments. Going into last night Tuukka was 1-2 with a .849 Save Percentage in Game 7s, which is cringe inducing. Still, thats a small sample size and anything can happen in a Game 7.

So what happens 2 minutes into the game? Tuukka gives up a goal. Ok, ok it was a powerplay goal so its hard to get on him too much, but this is a bad sign.

Bruins tie it 3 minutes later on a goal from Jake DeBrusk!

Less than 2 minutes later, Tuukka gives it right back.

Tuukka, buddy, you have got to be shitting me. Are you trying to get run out of town? I’m still waiting for Ol’ Milk Crates to make an appearance.

If you’re not familiar with that reference, back in 2009 when he was still playing for the Baby B’s in Providence, a young Rask gave up a goal to lose a game in a shootout and he went berserk. He goes after the ref, throws his stick, skates off the ice, walks down the tunnel, and then reemerges to chuck milk crates onto the ice like an absolute psycho. Thats the guy I wanna see. A crazy asshole.

Not to mention the short handed goal Rask gave up to Kasperi Kapanen in the 2nd period. It was a disaster of a play from the Bruins in the offensive zone ON THE POWER PLAY, and Marchand got bodied trying to get back in coverage. But still, Tuukka got deked out of his goddamn shorts.

It was an all around ugly play. If you want to be the man on a Stanley Cup winning team you need to pull some saves out of your ass every now and again, which Tuukka hasn’t done a ton of this series. He had a huge night in Game 4 for 31 saves, but he followed that up by getting yanked in Game 5. To make matters worse, Freddy Anderson was making Superman saves all night at the other end of the rink. Hell even Joey Hags was calling for the B’s to yank Tuukka.

Imagine that? Imagine your $8 Million/year goalie getting yanked in a Game 7? That would have been disastrous.

It wasn’t just Rask though as Boston was sloppy all night long. Whether it was fatigue or injuries piling up, they just could not clear the puck out of their own zone and they were turning it over in the offensive zone constantly.

Luckily the Bruins were shot out of a rocket in the third period scoring FOUR unanswered goals (including an empty netter) all but removing the necessity for great goaltending.

We also got this laugh out loud interview with Matt Grzelyck after the game. Keep in mind that NESN cut to this on-ice interview like 20 mins after the game ended so its not like it was live.

One more thing, how about DirecTv pulling a Newman and refusing to work in the rain?

Its 2018. I can talk, text, tweet, and stream the Bruins on my iPhone, but DirecTv can’t figure out how to not completely crumble every time the doppler radar gets a little spotty.

Now we move onto the second round where the Bruins will take on an even tougher opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Awesome. If the Bruins play the way they played in Games 3-7, they’re going to get their teeth kicked in. If they play more like they did in Games 1-2 then they’re in business. Tampa finished as the No. 1 seed in the East with 113 points, winning 54 games, and they have an absolutely stacked roster. BUT the Bruins need to remember they went 3-1 against that team this year. As good as Tampa has been, the Bruins have had their number in the regular season. Now they just have to translate that to the postseason. See ya Saturday for Game 1.

Former Bengals Receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh Drops in from the Clouds, Calls Bill Belichick and Patriots a “Dictatorship”

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NESN – “Former Cincinnati Bengals wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who has been out of the NFL since 2011 and irrelevant for the past decade, was a guest on FOX Sports 1’s “Speak For Yourself” and jabbed Belichick for how he runs the organization.

“I think every team is player driven,” Houshmandzadeh said. “Every team is player driven. They’re just kind of fed up. I was watching football this past fall, and it just tripped me out when I’m watching the Patriots playing Miami Dolphins, and then I see a (Rob) Gronkowski interview. I couldn’t believe it. He’s, ‘Oh, I want to talk about the celebration but I’m scared that Bill is going to get mad at me. I really want to talk about, but I guess I can’t I’m scared.’…They are completely scared of Bill, it’s a dictatorship in New England

T.J. Houshmandzadeh, he of the 1 Pro Bowl, 1 playoff win and 8 playoff catches pedigree, recently came out of the clouds to criticize the way Bill Belichick runs the Patriots, calling it a dictatorship.

As much as I respect the opinion of TJ Hooshamazode

I’m gonna have to go ahead and disagree with him on this one. People see a more rocky than usual ship in New England and want to use it as an opportunity to criticize the Patriots so if they ever do fall off they can be the one to say I told you so. And don’t get me wrong, that day may come, but to criticize Belichick with comments like this are asinine:

“They are completely scared of Bill, it’s a dictatorship in New England. Things are going to have to change or he’s going to lose the team.”

Its literally been this way in New England for 17 years. Things aren’t going to have to change, TJ. Not after winning 5 Super Bowls. You know where things probably should change? Cincinnati, which is where TJ played for 8 seasons and won a total of 0 playoff games under Marvin Lewis. In fact, Cincinnati hasn’t won a playoff game since 1990, which is a cool 27 year stretch. Shit like that will lose you a team.

So while the Patriots locker room probably isn’t as fun as a Chucky Cheese birthday party like the Bengals may be under Lewis, I’d rather take the consistent systematic success for nearly 2 decades straight.

Dexter Manley Rips Tom Brady, Says Joe Montana is the Goat. Wait, WHO?

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NESN – Dexter Manley won a pair of Super Bowls in his day, and when asked a question about the best quarterback he ever played against (mind you his playing career stretched from 1981-1991), he used it as an opportunity to really rip into the New England Patriots quarterback. “People give Tom Brady too much credit,” Manley said, via WEEI.com. “It is a team effort. No. 1, he gets the ball out of his hand quick. He has good mechanics, but he’s no Joe Montana. My daughter could out-run Tom Brady. Joe Montana is the best of all-time. He’s the best passer — him and Dan Marino. That guy don’t fit in those categories. I don’t care what they say.”

So former Washington R-Words defensive end Dexter Manley was on TV discussing who he thinks is the greatest QB of all time.

Dexter scoffed at the idea that Tom Brady is the best to ever do it. Why?  He gets the ball out quick, he has good mechanics, he has 5 Super Bowl rings, but he can’t run fast so I gotta give the nod to Joe Montana here.

Ya know what Tom Brady doesn’t have?


Oh and Dan Marino is better too? The guy with as many Super Bowl rings as me. Makes sense, Dexter.

Sure Brady has had great players around him too. Take for instance Randy Moss, who he played with for parts of 3 seasons (not including the year Brady missed to a knee injury) and never won a SB with. He also has Gronk of course, who is a first ballot HOFer no doubt, but Brady has won 4 Super Bowls without him. Brady’s had 5-star recruits and household names like the 7th round QB out of Kent State he turned into one of the best receivers in the NFL in Julian Edelman. Or the time the undrafted WR out of Texas Tech came out of nowhere and Brady molded him into the most reliable hands on the Patriots. TWICE. Danny Amendola and Wes Welker of course. I could go on and on.

Meanwhile Joe Montana had by all accounts the greatest receiver to ever play the game IN HIS PRIME. The NFL’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns played with Joe Montana for 6 seasons, winning 3 Super Bowls together.

All that and Tom Brady still has him beat by the numbers. Tom Brady has a better career Completion Percentage, TD Percentage, INT Percentage, Passer Rating, more 4th Quarter Comebacks, more Game Winning Drives, and Brady has over 26,000 more career passing yards, and over 200 more Touchdowns than Dexter Manley’s lord and savior Joe Montana.

What about the fact that Brady “gets the ball out quickly” and just dumps it off as Dexter Manley put it? Well Tom Brady and Joe Montana actually have the same exact average Yards per Attempt at 7.5.

Oh and Tom Brady also has more Pro Bowls, wins, division titles, Conference Championships, Super Bowl rings, Super Bowl MVPs, and NFL League MVP awards.

Hey Dexter?

John Henry Just Son’d Tom Werner Saying “We Don’t Need to Be Popular, We Need to Win.”

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ABC – As the Boston Red Sox stepped out into the sun Monday for their first full-squad workout of spring training, owner John Henry maintained that he’s more concerned about W’s and L’s than the team’s Q rating. “We really don’t need to be popular,” Henry said. “We need to win.” But despite winning 93 games and the American League East title for a second straight season in 2017, questions were raised about the Red Sox’s likability. Although attendance at Fenway Park remained almost unchanged, regional television ratings were down 15 percent on New England Sports Network, according to Nielsen Media data, while sports-talk airwaves were filled with the grievances of dissatisfied fans.

If you’ve ever read “Feeding the Monster” then you know exactly what I’m talking about here. In the behind the scenes book covering the inner workings of the Red Sox you read about a young Theo Epstein going to battle time and time again with Tom Werner and the entertainment side of the Sox over player personnel.

Theo wanted to build a farm system and sign smart, albeit boring, free agents to, ya know, win. Tom Werner isn’t against winning per se, but goddamnit the Red Sox needed to be sexy. He wanted more big names, more story lines.Winning be damned. The team had to be marketable to more demos with more attractive stars. Seriously. Read the book, Werner said that shit. You think hits like Roseanne just fall into place? No way. It takes years of creative genius steering the ship and shame on Theo for not listening to the Neilsen Rating System more when building his roster. Guy never stood a chance as a baseball executive going up against brainpower like Tom Werner.

Goddamnit. Can you tell I’m still bitter about the Red Sox running the best baseball mind of our generation out of town?

Anyways, if we’re going to take John Henry at his word, it seems like he may be smartening up. He’s not exactly George Steinbrenner so he’s not going to just punt on everything that doesn’t directly lead to winning. But, Henry is a smart dude, he knows that popularity follows winning, not the other way around. If the Red Sox are hammering opposing teams all summer on their way to a World Series then they’ll be pretty damn popular. However, if the team is focused on signing guys based solely on their marketability (i.e Pablo Sandoval the Panda) well thats how you find yourselves in a shit storm you’re still digging out of 3 years later.

Dan Le Batard Takes a Shot at the Crown, Implies Tom Brady is On Steroids

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NESN – What Tom Brady is doing at age 40 defies all logic. The New England Patriots quarterback has a very real chance of finishing his age-40 season with an NFL MVP award, a Super Bowl MVP award and yet another Super Bowl championship. Most people attribute Brady’s incredible longevity to a combination of alternative wellness, all-time great coaching and, of course, skill. Some, like ESPN’s Dan Le Batard, wonder if there’s a more cynical theory, however. During Monday’s episode of “The Dan Le Batard Show,” the popular radio host essentially asked whether Brady is using performance-enhancing drugs. Le Batard tip-toed around the topic, and never specifically said “steroids” or PEDs,” but it was abundantly clear what he was talking about.

So Dan Le Batard took some time off from ugly crying on his own show to take a shot at the crown and insinuate Tom Brady is popping PEDs.

“And this is what I want to ask you: … When faced with a quarterback who is aging in a way that has no precedent in the history of aging, is there any particular reason that people aren’t questioning that?” Le Batard asked co-host Stugotz. “Man, we climbed into Peyton Manning … Peyton Manning doesn’t look the part on pharmaceuticals, and Al Jazeera was climbing around in his wife’s stuff, trying to get at the hormones. “And so what I’m asking you is, is it an unfair question to wonder whether, when facing something that has literally no precedent in the history of football or aging, to be like, ‘how?’“

What is Dan Le Batard even talking about here? We climbed into Peyton Manning? NO YOU DID NOT. This is exactly why people around here hate Peyton Manning. Guy got a total free pass from the media. The Peyton Manning comparison makes absolutely no sense. It was an absolute NON-STORY on ESPN, ya know Le Batard’s network, because the Manning Mafia hit the wrap it up box on that whole story real quick.

ESPN barely mentioned it and when they did they basically said, no you see Peyton wasn’t taking anything, his wife was just getting HGH shipments to a since-closed facility in a fucking strip mall in Indianapolis, even though they live in Denver.

And for the record, I don’t care if Peyton was taking horse tranquilizers from the Eastern Bloc. Do what you gotta do, especially if said remedies have you tossing 50+ TDs a year after a debilitating neck surgery.

I just know Brady would be on the cover of the New York Times and every other media outlet in the world would be screaming some nonsense about cheating if it came out he was having boxes of HGH shipped to Giselle.

Its times like these I need to remind myself and everyone around me to not do exactly what I’m doing right now and get all riled up. Tom Brady has 5 Super Bowl rings and people want to poke holes anywhere and everywhere they can. So Dan Le Batard, Rob Parker, and Max Kellerman can all go take a fat hike.

 

Reports: Red Sox Are a “Lock” to Land One of These Three Superstars

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WEEI – So, as the meetings kick off Monday, with Dombrowski offering his first update at approximately 5 p.m., such rumors as the ones involving Giancarlo Stanton shouldn’t be pushed aside. Sure, some are saying the Red Sox are all hot and heavy for the outfielder, while others suggest St. Louis and San Francisco are the favorites. No matter. Pay attention to every minute of it. As we found out with Sale a year ago, the end-game might not be found during the GM meetings, at least there will be a legitimate road to conversation. It is almost a lock-solid certainty that at least one of the top names in this offseason’s rumor mill — J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Giancarlo Stanton — will be holding a Red Sox press conference in December.

So Rob Bradford just reported that he believes the Red Sox are “a lock” to land one of these three guys: JD Martinez, Eric Hosmer, or Giancarlo Stanton. Now obviously Stanton is hands down the best player of the three, he also is the only one thats not a free agent so he would require a boat load of players and prospects to acquire. Not to mention the nearly $300 Million left on his deal. While I think he’s hedging a bit by including Stanton with the other two guys mentioned, all three are power hitters. Bradfo is pretty in the know so if he’s saying it you can bet the Red Sox have at least privately acknowledged their desperate need of a power bat. Now lets break down each player and see what the fit would be.

JD Martinez – Hit 45 Home Runs while batting .303 so he would definitely fill the power vacuum the Sox have, but he’s also reportedly looking for a $200 Million contract. I don’t know if Dave wants to give out yet another 9 figure contract. Especially for a guy thats only topped 23 HRs one other time before this year over the previous 6 seasons. Plus he’s an outfielder so he’d have to DH and slide Hanley back to first base, who all but refused to play the field last year, or the Sox would have to make room in the OF by dealing someone.

 

Eric Hosmer – There’s something to be said about a player that knows how to win and Hosmer fits that bill. He’s played in two World Series (and won one) over the past 4 seasons. And the WS the Royals lost went 7 games, so Hosmer has some serious experience in the pressure cooker that is October. And thats what the Sox need; a guy that isn’t going to crumble under the pressure of the playoffs, which about half of the current Red Sox roster has done the past 2 postseasons. Not quite the power stroke of Martinez, but he still hits 20-25 HRs a year and he also plays first base, which is where the Red Sox happen to have a vacancy. He’s also a stud defender, having won the Gold Glove four out of the last five years. Plus he dates resident NESN royalty Kacie McDonnell so that shores up my confidence argument.

 

Giancarlo Stanton – I don’t know much about Stanton the person, aside from the fact that before he was Giancarlo he used to go by Mike.

So he’s got that going for him. But I don’t need to remind anyone here that the guy can MASH. He’s up for NL MVP, which will be announced on Thursday night after hitting 59 HRs with 132 RBIs and an OPS of 1.007! The guy had a WAR of 7.6 for christ’s sake. I’m sure he’s a great dude too, but hitting 60 fucking home runs will make up for a lot of shortcomings elsewhere. Manny Ramirez was a complete dickhead most of his time here, but the guy was mashing 40/140 every year so nobody gave a shit. But I just can’t see the Red Sox pulling the trigger on a deal with the amount of players and prospects they’d have to give up before even mentioning the $295 Million left on his contract. Buster Olney said earlier today that even baseball execs are saying the asking price from Jeets is “out of touch with reality.”

The fact of the matter is the Red Sox finished dead fucking last in the American League in Home Runs. Dead. Last. Thats a sentence I never thought I’d type. I grew up watching guys like Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Manny, Ortiz, and all the other power hitters that have come through Fenway. The Sox have always mashed and more or less pissed on the idea of bunting and playing small ball. So to see such an anemic offense (OBP was top 5 though!) was shocking to see. However John Henry, Dave Dombrowski and the crew decide to do it, just bring me the power. Bring the bats and the rest will fall into place.

If I had to guess? I’m saying Eric Hosmer. Positional fit at first base, character guy, tons of playoff experience, provides some power, gold glove defense, and a (comparatively) reasonable contract.

After Last Night’s Win the Red Sox are Now 15-3 in Extra Innings Games

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So last night the Sox went into extra innings AGAIN, which I believe Dave O’Brien said was their 5th game with bonus cantos of this road trip. With last nights W, the Sox are now 15-3 in extra innings games, which is tied for the most wins in extra innings in franchise history. 18 extra innings games is insane. Thats gotta be at the top of the league if not the league leader for extra innings games played this season. For some reason this is not an easy stat to find so I’m gonna need the baseball nerds to hammer out that research for me.

But to go 15-3 in all those extra innings games is downright impressive. Resilience like you read about. Thats the kind of identity this team has been looking for all season. Seriously, look at this shit:

Still not sold on this team going very far in the playoffs unless they put Chris Sale on the Game 1, Game 3, and Game 7 Randy Johnson schedule, but this team battles can’t deny that.

UPDATE: It would appear the Red Sox are second in extra innings games played this season in the AL, according to Boston Sports Info, but LOOK AT THAT BULLPEN!

Dice-K 2.0 Watch is ON as the Red Sox are in on Japanese Phenom Prospect Shohei Otani

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NESN – It appears the Boston Red Sox want a seat at the table of the Shohei Otani sweepstakes. The Red Sox are one of many MLB teams to express interest in the highly-touted Japanese pitcher/outfielder, according to multiple reports. The Sox and New York Yankees have the most international allotment money in the majors — $8 million apiece — and thus are in the best position to pursue a player like Otani, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. And according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and The Athletic, Boston and New York are among 13 teams who have requested to scout Otani in person.

Tomato/to-mah-toh. While some may see Dice-K 2.0 others may see a pitcher/outfielder who excels at both and think of the immortal Casey Kelley! Another can’t miss prospect who was so good at pitching and playing the field that he ended up being good at neither as a pro.

The Sox have been gearing up for a move like this though as they are tied for the most international allotment money in the majors at $8M. Tied with the goddamn Yankees to boot.

So you know the Red Sox are just itching to throw some money at a sexy foreign prospect because they have such a great track record with expensive international players like Dice-K and colossal bust Rusney Castillo. Boston tends to fare better with smaller deals when dipping its toe into the international pool with guys like Junichi Tazawa and Hideki Okajima. We did also get guys like Xander Bogaerts and Yoan Moncada (top prospect in MLB despite his early career struggles).

Obviously the Sox aren’t going to shun the international market, nor should they, because of a few (HUGE) swings and misses, but I am a little reluctant to give another gigantic payday to an unknown player because he’s mowing down 140 pound Japanese guys halfway across the world.

Either way Shohei Otani played in the WBC for Japan and currently plays in the Nippon Pro Baseball League (just like ya boy Dice-K) and is straight up DOMINATING.

“He started 20 games on the mound for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2016, tallying a 10-4 record and a 1.86 ERA. He also has thrown the fastest recorded pitch in NPB history, at 102 mph. Otani excelled as a hitter last season, as well, posting a .322 batting average with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs in 2014 games played.”

So definitely someone to keep an eye on, especially if David Price continues to circle the drain amidst his $217 DL stint. Shohei Otani watch is ON!

PS – Fun fact. A few years ago I made the pilgrimage to Queens to check out Citi Field as the Mets were playing the Red Sox. And who was on the mound? Yup, Dice-K. Didn’t even realize he was still in the league. How’d he do you ask? Left the game due to injury of course. What a career.