Tag: Portland

Who Was the Red Sox Prospect You Thought Couldn’t Miss But Flamed Out?

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The Globe raised this question and I immediately shouted CRAIG HANSEN at my computer. I’ll never forget seeing a guy walking around in a legit stitched Hansen jersey one summer weeks before the kid even got called up. People, including myself, were that confident in the St. John’s closer. Welp, he never really panned out. Him and Manny Delcarmen were supposed to lock down the 8th and the 9th at Fenway for a decade but it just didn’t happen. Craig Hansen only played four seasons and finished with an 6.34 ERA and now is literally an insurance salesman. One of my old buddies always theorized Hansen didn’t work out because of the stitches on the baseball. Supposedly he was so dominant in college because college baseballs have stitches that are more raised so it was easier to throw wicked breaking balls. Whether thats true or not I have no idea, but it was interesting to ponder. Well what about you? Who were you CONVINCED was going to be a stud but never made it? Cla Meredith? Anderson Espinoza?

NBA Conference Finals Preview and Betting Lines

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Here we go guys, this is where the fun really starts. Two of these teams are just four W’s away from the NBA Finals and thank god we won’t be subjected to Golden State vs Cleveland V. No mas. Just look at Rocky as the best example of this. Rocky 1-4 were all awesome and exciting flicks with Rocky 5 being one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. So I’m psyched for some fresh blood this year. But I digress, lets take a look at the Conference Finals matchups.

Golden State Warriors (1) vs Portland Trail Blazers (3)
(Game 1 – Tuesday at 9 pm)

In what ultimately made little difference for the Rockets, Kevin Durant will be out yet again for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night. Durant is one of the top 3 players in the entire league, but lets not forget just how stacked this Warriors team still is with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Thats a 2x MVP, a 5x All-Star, and a 3x All-Star/Defensive Player of the Year. Soo yea the Warriors are still in good shape.

It doesn’t sound like Durant is particularly close to returning either though and if he misses multiple games in this series then it starts to become a legitimate threat to the Warriors’ NBA Finals streak.

Unless you’re watching a ton of NBA games, I don’t think many casual fans realized just how good the Portland Trail Blazers are. Everyone knows how good Damian Lillard is 25.8/4.6/6.9 with a ridiculous 28.4 in the playoffs, but his shot just was not falling in Game 7 (13 pts).

Enter CJ McCollum, who is a bad, bad man. After averaging “just” 21 points per game in the regular season, McCollum has jacked that up to 25.6 in the playoffs, including 37 points in a ridiculous Game 7 performance against Denver.

Don’t forget about the brother on brother battle we’ll see with Steph Curry vs Seth Curry. Okay so maybe its not that big of a matchup with Seth only averaging 7.9 ppg to Steph’s 27.3 in the regular season but hey it’s still pretty cool to see two brothers playing against each other in the Western Conference Finals. Man, genetics are a trip.

While I can’t pick against the defending champs until I see them stumble, I really really like this Portland team. I just don’t know if they’ll be able to defend all of the Warriors elite shooters. If Durant misses a couple of games and Lillard and McCollum can keep scoring in the 25-30 points range each night, then I think they’ve got a real shot to dethrone the Warriors.

 

Milwaukee Bucks (1) vs Toronto Raptors (2)
(Game 1 – Wednesday at 8:30 pm)

The Kings in the North now turn their gaze towards conquering the East, which won’t be easy if you saw Giannis Antetokounmpo dropping 30 and 40 point games on the Celtics in the second round. There’s a reason the Bucks were the No. 1 seed in the East and why Giannis was my pick for MVP.

Kawhi Leonard is what Kyrie Irving wants to be when he grows up. Kawhi has singlehandedly willed this Toronto team from an annual playoff disappointment into one on the brink of the NBA Finals. He also produced the biggest shot in Raptors history with the immediately iconic Game 7 buzzer beater three over Joel Embiid.

After being acquired by the Raptors in a risky one year rental he’s proving exactly why it was worth the risk for Toronto. He’s averaging 31.8 points per game in the playoffs, up from 26.6 in the regular season, while also leading the team in rebounds per game at 8.5. This guy is getting it done all over the court.

He literally made Joel Embiid cry for christs sake. And I love Embiid so thats not a knock, but do you know how badly you have to rip a guy’s heart out to make him cry on the court?

Giannis showed just how borderline unstoppable he can be though after personally breaking the Celtics’ will to live. Now do I think the Celtics played garbage defense and failed to adjust to Giannis (and his goddamn spin move)? Yes. Does that mean I think any less of Giannis’ dominance? Hell no.

The Bucks destroyed the Celtics in games 2-5 in a gentleman’s sweep, but had huge performances from guys that aren’t exactly household names like George Hill, Pat Connaughton (did you know he’s from Massachusetts?!), and Ersan Ilyasova. Thats not exactly a second unit I would bet my mortgage on, but the Bucks moved like a well oiled machine with everyone playing a specific role, so what do I know? They were the No. 1 seed after all.

We’ll also get more of Mallory Edens on national TV too and thats never a bad thing.

Ultimately, the 2019 Finals could very well be the long-predicted battle between the Warriors and Bucks, who are -550 and -300 favorites to oust the Trail Blazers (+375) and Raptors (+250), respectively. Any bettors out there looking for a great mobile betting experience prior to betting should check out this site. In terms of valued odds, you could definitely do a lot worse than Portland at +275 to win Game 1 vs Golden State. The Blazers have been road warriors in the playoffs and won’t be at a size disadvantage with Kevin Durant out. Golden State is susceptible when opponents beat them on the offensive glass, and Portland is the third-best offensive rebounding team in the league (regular season and playoffs).

While I’m bummed the Celtics bowed out like absolute dogs, we’ve got some awesome storylines to keep an eye on in the Conference Finals regardless. Who ya got? Tweet me @The300sBoston and let me hear it.

Red Sox Are Calling Up Top Prospect Michael Chavis

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The Red Sox are reeling, currently sitting in last place in the AL East, and Dustin Pedroia has once again been placed back on the Injured List with knee issues. This team is in a bad spot right now so it was definitely in need of some changes. One of those will be the promotion of their No. 1 prospect in Michael Chavis to the major league roster. The Sox took Chavis with the 26th overall pick in 2014 so it’s time to see what the kid’s got.

Visual evidence that I watched Michael Chavis play in AA Portland.

As the Eagle Tribune points out, with the lack of production from Pedroia, Eduardo Nunez and with Brock Holt on the shelf,”Red Sox second basemen have combined for a .337 OPS, by far the worst in the majors.”

Chavis is only hitting .250 but he’s got an OPS of .954 with 4 home runs in 12 games. He did blast 31 dingers in 2017 between Single-A Salem and Double-A at Portland. This was of course before he was popped for PEDs last April and suspended for 80 games though. I worried that may be the end of Michael Chavis the Power Hitting Prospect, but he seems to still be whacking the ball around the yard. He actually had a higher OPS in 2018 as well as in 2019 (granted its a small sample size) than he did in 2017 so thats encouraging as well.

Now I’ve learned from the failed careers of super hyped prospects like Craig Hansen and Cla Meradith to temper my expectations when top prospects get called up, but its hard to not be excited to watch the kid play. He’s traditionally been a corner infielder,  but has been working at second base too so we could see him split time there with Tzu-Wei Lin, who was also called up today.

They’ll have to pry that second baseman’s mitt (I don’t think this is actually a thing) out of the cold dead hands of Christian Vazquez first though.

Kind Of A Slow Day/Week, So Let’s Talk About a Semi Crashing Into Evan Turner’s Backyard

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ESPN – A semi-truck hauling a large trash bin crashed and plunged into the swimming pool of the home owned by Portland Trail Blazers guard Evan Turner….Authorities say the truck’s driver lost control on a hairpin curve and wound up down a hill and submerged in the pool.

There really is not a whole lot going on, especially if you’re Dave Dombrowski (got em’) so let’s just gloss over this really quickly while trying not to think about how one of your fellow bloggers said something positive about Harry whatshisface from that boy band.

You all remember Evan Turner right? The former Ohio State star and lottery pick who just plain doesn’t have the athleticism or ball-handling skills to be an elite player but has had a tough time coming to grips with that? Who more specifically is completely oblivious to the fact that he really isn’t on the Melo/Paul George/Kawhi level? Well apparently his house, and more specifically his backyard and the pool that lies therein, is nestled just below a fucking deadman’s curve kind of road. Anddd that’s where things get interesting.

The story goes that and as you can see from above there aren’t a lot of details out there so I could be a little off, a trucker lost control of his rig on this treacherous strip above Evan Turner’s abode and careened down the hill right into his pool. CANON BALL! AMIRITE?!

Anyway, really the only intriguing thing about this other than, you know, that fact that Evan Turner bought a house below a stretch of road the Toretto gang would have a hard time navigating, is picturing Evan Tuner’s reaction. He’s just such a fucking weirdo. I like to picture Evan Turner at home, having just woken up. He’s in a robe and putting on a pot of coffee when he hears quite the chaotic, motorized hullabaloo coming from his backyard. I like to think Evan Turner glided over to the glass sliding door that leads to said backyard to find a 16 wheeler jutting out of his pool, the driver nowhere to be seen. His face expressionless, he sips his coffee and stares for another moment. And then he turns back to his kitchen and continues on with his day.

The Rafael Devers Era in Boston Begins Right Now

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So after another tough loss to the Angels on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox announced the promotion of Rafael Devers from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Devers, of course, is the Red Sox top prospect and has been a virtual untouchable in any trade talks since Dave Dombrowksi has dealt so many prospects the last couple of seasons. Devers started the year in Double-A Portland and dominated before getting nominated to Pawtucket on July 14th.

  • In Double-A this year Devers hit .300 with 18 Home Runs and 56 RBI.
  • Since being called up to Pawtucket, Devers has raked, hitting .355 with 3 Home Runs and 4 RBIs in 8 games.

Now, are NINE days in Triple-A a great preparation for the jump to the majors? Probably not. But last year, Benintendi jumped straight from Double-A to the majors and didn’t miss a beat, immediately taking over as the Red Sox every day left fielder. On the other hand, Dombrowski promoted Yoan Moncada straight from Double-A to the majors and he looked terrible. SO, this could go either way, but by all accounts from the local beat writers its more so his defense that isn’t necessarily major-league ready. If his bat is even half decent though, its a major upgrade at third base, especially after just cutting the fat fucking panda. This probably all but ends the Red Sox pursuit of a third baseman on the trade market. Welp, let the Rafael Devers era in Boston begin.