Tag: Red Sox

Dodgers Eat $35 Million to Designate Carl Crawford for Assignment

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Yahoo Sports – On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally decided enough was enough when it came to their relationship with Carl Crawford. With a roster spot needed, the Dodgers decided to designate the 34-year-old outfielder for assignment, which means the Dodgers have 10 days to put Crawford on waivers, trade him, release him or send him to the minors. 

To this day, I don’t know what was dumber, the Red Sox signing Carl Crawford to that albatross of a $142 million contract or the Dodgers trading for him. The Dodgers legitimately saved the Red Sox from a 5 year dumpster fire. If the Sox are still paying Crawford $20 mil per year to hit .185 on top of Adrian Gonzalez’s contract there’s no way they open up the wallet to get David Price. Not to mention 2013 never happens because the Sox don’t completely gut the roster and start over with all the character guys like Victorino, Gomes, Napoli, Ross etc.

Instead Magic Johnson and crew, for whatever reason, took a flyer on all of that money in hopes it would push the Dodgers over the top. What really happened; Beckett was OK and ended up retiring early, Gonzo has been pretty decent in laid back LA, but Crawford seems to be shellshocked by his time in Boston. No seriously, he still talks about how awful playing for the Sox was. Like he got Jodie Fostered in the dugout or something.

And talk about going back and seeing the red flags we should have noticed. Notoriously quiet guy that kept to himself all while playing well for a last place team that no one paid any attention to in Tampa Bay. Does that seem like a guy who would transition well to the constant pressure and bright lights of playing in Boston?

Now with $35 million left on his contract the Dodgers essentially said fuck it and just DFA’d him. Take on all that money, make the biggest trade in franchise history and then have it completely blow up in your face. Props to LA for just cutting bait and getting out though. Took them a couple years longer than the Sox, but they’d rather eat the cash than have Crawford take up a roster spot for another day.

Maybe the Sox learned their lesson and won’t be giving out mega contracts like candy to just anyone anymore?

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Nevermind.

Despite a Red Sox Loss, Mookie Betts Putting Himself in MVP Consideration

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Seriously though, can we start talking about Mookie for MVP yet? Or are people still not sold on him yet? After 3 HRs in the first game against the Orioles and then another 2 HRs last night he is absolutely smoking hot. It seems like he hit the national stage for real last night though when ESPN went to a split screen during the Dodgers game to show Mookie’s at-bat live. 5 HR in 2 games will have that affect.

I think the best part of this past couple of days is not the number of dingers, but the swagger Betts clearly is developing. Last night after his first inning HR, and 4th in two games, the Orioles were apparently a little burnt up about it and Mike Wright threw a clearly intentional fastball right over Mookie’s head. Major league pitchers don’t miss high over a guy’s head, that was a purpose pitch. So what does Betts do? Oh just proceeds to hit an absolute piss missile out of Camden Yards. And no one loved it more than Big Papi.

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Betts now has 14 homers, 1 behind Ortiz for the team lead, and is hitting .288 with 42 RBIs and 51 Runs – batting leadoff for christs sake! He’s on pace for 43 HR, 128 RBIs, 34 doubles and a measly 156 Runs. Now obviously he’s not going to stay this red hot and hit 40+ dingers, but if Betts is even close to this pace the rest of the year he has to be in the MVP ballot. And that my friends is how you find what was projected to be a dogshit team sitting in first place in June.

Jonny Gomes is (Not) Retiring; Shane Victorino Likely in the Same Boat

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Boston Red Sox's Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Red Sox’s Jonny Gomes flexes after hitting a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Boston, Saturday, April 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Sports Illustrated – Despite reports, veteran outfielder Jonny Gomes is not retiring, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com….After Gomes’s 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, SB Nation reported Wednesday that he would retire. He is not currently on a roster.

SB Nation reported yesterday that Jonny Gomes is calling it a career, then Rob Bradford came over the ropes and said not so fast. Either way, this is probably it for Jonny. He may not be filing the paperwork just yet, but it’s hard to see him getting picked up after hitting .213 last season. Needless to say this is a sad day for anyone who was a fan of the 2013 Boston Red Sox. Jonny Gomes, hate him or love him helped reset the culture in the Red Sox clubhouse after the disaster that was Bobby Valentine. Hell, he started the bearded brothers culture that the entire team took on as their identity. He was loud, obnoxious and fun as hell to watch. Not to mention all his gems like the story of fighting a guy in a grocery store.

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The guy came to play every day and there is nothing in this world that people from Boston appreciate more than a dirtdog who shows up to work every day and busts his balls. And with everything that was going on in Boston in 2013 after the Marathon bombing, that team became cathartic for the city and the team really embraced that role. Gomes especially embraced that and the team fed off of it en route to winning the World Series.

PS – I’d be remiss not to mention my boy Shane Victorino who was every bit the heart and soul of that 2013 Red Sox team as much as Gomes. Victorino is likely in the same boat after being released by the Cubs’ Triple-A team the other day and Sox fans will always love him for what he did in 2013. His career more or less went off the rails due to injuries after that season, but he was another guy who really relished what it means to play in Boston. I’ll never forget the chills I got from the Fenway crowd singing Victorino’s Bob Marley walk up song in unison and of course his grand slam in the ALCS as he’s POUNDING his chest rounding the bases.

Man that team was fun as hell.

Red Sox Riding 40 Year Old DH and Knuckleballer to Early Success

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Courtesy of Boston Globe

Courtesy of Boston Globe

ESPN – Ortiz’s strong night overshadowed that of Steven Wright, who had another strong start in a season full of them. Wright tossed a complete game, allowed three hits and faced two batters more than the minimum in the win. The knuckleballer extended his streak of games in which he pitched at least six innings and allowed two or fewer runs to six. In the past 50 years, only Roger Clemens (1993, 1991) and Clay Buchholz (2013) have started seasons with at least six such games for the Red Sox.

Led by a 40 year old DH and a Knuckleballer, the 2016 Red Sox continue to defy expectations. Again, let me repeat that; David Ortiz, a guy who is 40 years old and in the final year of his career is crushing the ball with 9 HR’s so far (MVP type start) and Steven Wright, a former journeyman Knuckleball pitcher, who was slotted as your No. 5 starter, is throwing zeroes and is currently trailing only 3 pitchers in all of baseball in ERA. Not to mention, going the distance and throwing a complete game 3-hitter against your biggest rival on Sunday Night Baseball; you know the stuff Aces do.

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Meanwhile the $217 offseason acquisition has been bad more often than good with an ERA of 6.75. I fully expect David Price to pick it up, for no other reason than it would be a fall off of epic proportions to go from Cy Young contender to guy with an era in the 6’s. Boston does indeed take some getting used to, but I think a guy with his track record figures it out. Probably won’t be in the Cy voting this year, but reel off a few good starts and we’re back on track and the Sox become a dangerous team both with the bat and on the mound.

Right now sitting 1/2 game out of first, most people picked the Sox to be a mediocre team and likely miss the playoffs with the 98.5 Sports Hub guys even dubbing May 5th, “Cinco de Fire-o” for John Farrell. But the offense has been dominant as the Red Sox lead the AL in Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, RBIs, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. So in other words – the best offense in the league. That has allowed the pitching to be very meh over the first 30 games.

Things will really get interesting when last year’s rookie stud Eduardo Rodriguez comes back from the DL and then again when Machine Gun Joe Kelly comes back. I think most people initially expected Wright to get the shaft once E-Rod came off the DL, but there is no way in hell John Farrell can yank Wright now. Not while he continues to carry the goddamn team.

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My vote would be for Buchholz to take his annual vacation on the DL. The guy weights 150 pounds, it’s prob for the best if he doesn’t make 32 starts. Give me 20-25 great starts and just be ready for the playoffs and we’re good. No need to force it and try to get more out of a guy when it’s just not coming. He’s been on the Sox for 9 years now, he is what he is. A decent middle of the rotation pitcher who can be lights out when everything is going his way. Put guys in a position to succeed, especially in a sport with athletes as coddled as baseball. And then when he asks for a $150 million dollar contract you politely tell him to kick rocks.

“Yoan Moncada is Going to Be a Freaking Superstar”

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Courtesy of NESN

Courtesy of NESN

NESN – “There was plenty of fanfare surrounding Moncada when he defected form Cuba in 2014, and the Red Sox went all out to get him, inking the switch-hitting second baseman to a $31.5 million contract in 2015. And in his short time in the states, Moncada is turning heads.”

I feel like Costanza after he ate one of Kramer’s mangoes from Joe’s fruit shop. You want to talk about excited? How about having a player waiting in the wings that many scouts say projects to be most similar to Mike Trout.
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Whether he sticks at 2B remains to be seen, Pedroia is signed through 2021 so that could be a logjam issue, but Moncada is also built like an absolute brickhouse so he may be better suited for the outfield in the long run. Of course I try and temper my expectations because it seems like the Red Sox are always overrating their prospects, but these reports are coming from national scouts. How soon is too soon to pre-order my Moncada jersey? Because I’ll never forget seeing this guy on Landsdowne with a stitched Craig Hansen jersey right after he got called up and we all know how that worked out. Let me just stick a copy of Baseball Prospectus under my pillow until then.

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Machine Gun Joe Kelly Goes 0.2 IP, Immediately Goes on DL

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Courtesy of ESPN

Courtesy of ESPN

I tweeted this last night from the game, but having a mound visit with one out in the first inning is a microcosm of the 2016 Red Sox season. Just slow, sloppy, poorly executed baseball. A couple batters later, Kelly pauses, another mound visit, Kelly reaches for his shoulder and even Hanley knows something’s off, immediately waving to the dugout for the trainer. Placed on the DL a couple of hours later. Hey, at least it was Mookie bobblehead night.

I will say the bullpen pitched admirably, Heath Hembree in particular, with 9+ innings of shutout ball, but for Barnes to then give up 3 in the top of the 10th is absolutely brutal. At that point you’re onto your 5th option coming out of the pen because of Kelly’s disastrous outing.

Can’t win without hitting the ball though and the Sox managed all of ONE hit. They went down 1-2-3 in 9 out of 10 innings. Zero baserunners after the 3rd inning. That is absurd and absolutely cannot happen for a team with this kind of payroll. The worst part is that this taxes the bullpen for the rest of the series since Machine Gun’s start required 10 IP from the pen. With Eduardo Rodriguez still a couple of weeks away from returning, the Sox will fire up the I-95 Express to poach someone, anyone from Pawtucket. Only a couple games out of first place still, but another poor week or two and they could easily be 5-10 games out by May. Again. Buckle up boys.

Red Sox Easily Could Have Josh Donaldson at 3B Right Now Over Pablo Sandoval

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Courtesy of ESPN

Courtesy of ESPN

God I wish Dave Dombrowski got to Boston a year earlier. A guy who gets aroused trading unproven prospects full of potential for legit major league talent. The Blue Jays gave up their top prospect and a few other players to land Donaldson, but in his first season in Toronto all he did was hit .297 with 41 HR and 123 RBI en route to winning the AL MVP. OK I guess. Meanwhile the Sox spent $95 million on the abomination that is the Pablo Sandoval contract. Not to mention Donaldson isn’t arbitration eligible until 2018! He made about $4 mil in his MVP year, which bumped up to $11 mil this year whereas Pablo’s making a cool $18 mil to ride the pine. (*Fun little note – Baseball Reference’s Top 10 most similar players to Pablo include Corey Koskie, Shea Hillenbrand and Aaron Boone. Gross). At the time of the trade Donaldson’s WAR was a ridiculous 15.4 the past two seasons, trailing only Mike Trout in the majors.

The Blue Jays gave up third baseman Brett Lawrie (injury prone career .262 hitter), right-hander Kendall Graveman (Oakland’s No. 7 prospect after 2014), left-hander Sean Nolin (Oakland’s No. 8 prospect after 2014/No. 14 after 2015) and top shortstop prospect Franklin Barreto (Oakland’s No. 2 prospect after 2014/No. 1 after 2015, No. 86 ranked prospect by Baseball America after 2014).

Ohh what could have been..

This.

Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

VS

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Clay Buchholz Bombs His Season Debut

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Give me a goddamn break, Clay. Four innings, five earned runs and a 7-6 loss to the powerhouse Indians. I did not have high hopes for Clay coming into the season and I’m not going to overreact to one outing, but holy hell this guy is brutal. I’m sure he’ll run off a string of a few starts throwing zeroes and every writer in town will tell you he’s finally put it all together. It’s great to have a guy with that potential in your rotation, but not as your No. 2 and someone you’re going to have to legit depend on throughout the year and if you somehow get there, the playoffs.

I read a Scott Lauber tidbit saying that during Clay’s 13 start stretch last season when he posted an ERA of 2.55, Buchholz only threw to veteran backup Sandy Leon, not once pitching to rookie Blake Swihart. Couple that with the fact he likes to call his own game and you seem to have a guy stuck in his ways. Awesome. Maybe after 10 years of shitty results we can try something new? No? Alright.

Somebody get this guy some BullFrog ASAP. So what if it was 34 degrees outside? Could not have been any more suspect than wearing sunscreen in a fucking dome.