Tag: Red Sox

Introducing the MLB Players Weekend Hats AKA Straight Acid Trip Apparel

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To go along with Players Weekend and the nicknames jerseys, MLB is also rolling out some new wacky hats to match. This is some straight up acid trip apparel that I am unfamiliar with. Are the managers going to be required to wear Kramer’s technicolor dreamcoat?

But seriously, these are some wacky color combos. I’m 100% a jaded man and see this is a blatant marketing cash grab, disguised as a fun, quirky gimmick to show how fun baseball is. Now unsurprisingly you’ve got your usual suspects of teams that did the bare minimum like the Yankees, the Giants, and the Angels.

The Giants and the Angels basically just rolled out their normal hats. Good job, good effort guys.

Then you’ve got teams who said, “Acid? Why not make it 2 tabs, lets fucking go!”

Now theres actually a few pretty sharp hats in here too that take advantage of the wild color schemes and use it to create something fun and eye catching:

This is a choice hat by the Rockies going with their secondary logo, that is a great goddamn hat.

Doesn’t matter if you’re the worst team in baseball if you look slick in a new cap and the Liberty Bell logo here does that as both bold yet minimalist.

Really solid hat here for Minnesota, combining the state outline with the Twin Cities logo.

Unfortunately the Red Sox were not one of those teams, which hurts to say coming from a HUGE hat guy like myself. The Sox Players Weekend hat is a decidedly mediocre “meh.”

The other contenders for “hats I would potentially buy.”

You can never go wrong with a sexy throwback A’s hat. Pair this with a bushy mustache and a YUCK t-shirt to go full Dennis Eckersley and David Price legitimately may fight you on Yawkey Way.

Pirates usually have some pretty solid caps as I am the proud owner of the throwback striped pillbox hat.

This is a solid effort from the Pirates for Players Weekend, probably could’ve used a black brim though to even things out a bit.

Despite the fact I just deducted points from Pittsburgh for going too yellow, the Rays embrace it with the still ridiculous sunburst logo to make an exceptionally loud hat.

Now THAT is how you break down the apparel of professional sports teams. Your move, Uni Watch.

 

 

John Farrell’s Reaction to Not Knowing a Rule in Last Night’s Game is a Hall of Fame GIF

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So in last night’s dramatic come from behind win, there was a moment that spawned one of the greatest GIFs in a long time. John Farrell came out to the mound to make a pitching change, immediately following a mound visit from the pitching coach, which you can’t do. Manager John was legitimately stunned by this, which is not a great look for a Major League Baseball manager.

To be fair, I wasn’t 100% sure on this rule either because I’ve seen it done before, but then again its always due to an injury mid at-bat. I’m also not a MLB manager who should probably have a tighter grasp on the rules than a blogger.

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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The 300s Podcast is Officially on iTunes. SUBSCRIBE

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So after more than a year in existence The 300s is finally starting to round into a moderately functional website. With that, as of today The 300s Podcast is officially available on iTunes so you can listen on your iPhone and subscribe to the podcast. Never miss an incoherent rant again. Put every single episode of The 300s Podcast in your pocket, just hit that SUBSCRIBE button on iTunes. You can also find us by searching for The 300s in your Podcast app. SUBSCRIBE, rate, and review the podcast on a real platform finally.

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.