Tag: WEEI

The Red Sox OWN a Newspaper, Yet Were Reaching Out to Social Media Influencers to Spin the Mookie Betts Trade

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Hey Red Sox, where was my offer? I’m out here defending the Mookie Betts trade for the price of on the house and now I hear about this? What exactly does something like that even go for these days?

So another glowing story in the news for the Sox who are batting a thousand this offseason. Red Sox CMO Adam Grossman spoke to WEEI in response to that report down in Fort Myers on Wednesday morning.

“We started probably about seven years ago. In some ways, it has always been there. Celebrity-driven marketing 
 We have fans like Matt Damon or Cardi B, we want to attach ourselves to those. But also as social has taken off these individuals who have become influencers have become more important. What we started to do about seven years ago was connect more to parents. With parent bloggers and influencers. We have had meetings with them about seven years ago when we created this Red Sox Mom’s Group. That was at it’s early stages about seven years and it has expanded. Again, as we look at all of the assets we have influencers are a channel in that.”

Normally I would just chalk this up to typical bubbly PR speak, except he repeats the words “seven years ago” four different times in the span of one paragraph. Hmmmm

Grossman’s right, influencer marketing is a strategy thats been around for a long time so this is nothing new, but if the team really was out there asking local influencer’s to spin the Mookie trade then that is hilarious. I mean the team literally owns a freaking newspaper so they could always use the State Sponsored Media, but even John Henry probably knows the kids aren’t checking boxscores in the paper anymore.

Any time your team is getting compared to the Fyre Festival on it’s own flagship network though means maybe it’s time to reassess your public perception.

The Red Sox Can Pay Mookie Betts $420 Million or Trade Him for Pennies on the Dollar. Clocks Ticking

By on • ( Leave a comment )

I love watching Mookie Betts play. He is one of the best homegrown talents the Red Sox have ever had. Betts has been insistent on reaching free agency, much to the chagrin of the Sox, but I don’t blame him one bit. Know your worth and go out there and get it. If I’m John Henry though, do I really want to pay Mookie $420 Million?? That is a lot of Schrute Bucks.

The answer seems more and more likely to be no he does not.

I don’t know if Mookie wants to be here or not and it’s not really fair to look at contract negotiations and decipher one way or another, especially with both sides so far apart in total dollars. Sure you’d prefer a guy who loves Boston over someone who hates the fishbowl mentality of playing at Fenway, but thats not even my concern. My concern is this contract becoming a disaster relatively quickly. 12 years is a long, long time. We laugh when we look back at the Albert Pujols Angels contract, the second A-Rod Yankees contract,the Giancarlo Stanton contract, the Miguel Cabrera contract etc. etc. Now of course you’re paying for the front half of that contract where guys are racking up MVPs, Triple Crowns, and ideally World Series rings, but a 12 year deal would have the Sox paying Mookie through his age 40 season. How many 40 year old baseball players do you know?

And Dennis Quaid doesn’t count.

Again, it’s not my money so if the Sox want to break the bank then have at it, but the team is already mired in a (self imposed) payroll mess because they can’t (read: won’t) foot the bill.

Betts is an absolute stud and although he had a bit of a down year last year, he is only 2 years removed from an MVP season. I just worry about a 5’9″ guy making $35M a year until I have kids old enough to be wearing their Sox jerseys to MIDDLE SCHOOL. The Sox are in a similar situation right now with another homegrown talent limping to the finish line in Dustin Pedroia. I don’t want to speak ill of a fellow short guy, but Pedroia’s body just could not hold up and the Sox are now on the hook for a player who sadly may never take the field again.

So should the Red Sox trade Mookie? Well if John Henry didn’t show his poker face worse than Teddy KGB with a box of Oreos then yea maybe.

But the entire league knows the Sox are looking to unload Mookie and shed salary so they are getting lowballed by everyone. Granted a lot of the best deals that get done are the ones you never hear of in the press, but the best offer we’ve heard, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, is with the Padres for Wil fucking Myers plus “two young major leaguers and at least one prospect.”

“Myers led the Padres with a 4.4 combined WAR (wins above replacement) in 2017 and ’18 but last season endured significant slumps and finished with a .239/.321/418 batting line and -0.3 WAR.

Betts posted a 33.8 WAR over the past four seasons, second in the major leagues to Mike Trout’s 35.5 in that span.” 

Oh and eating at least half of Myers’ contract to boot? PASS.

God damnit. Always look for the blue check mark kids.

Ken Rosenthal also reported something similar with names like Manuel Margot and Kirby Yates thrown in.

Margot is a 25 years old centerfielder who hit .238 with 12 HRs, 37 RBI, a 3.04 OBP and 1.8 WAR last year. Solid. Kirby Yates (who the Sox actually drafted in 2005) is a legit reliever, was an All-Star last year, and had 41 saves and a 1.19 ERA with a 15.0 SO9 (K’s per 9 innings). However, he’s also going to be 33 before the start of the season and had 15 career saves in the 5 seasons prior to last year. MLB relievers rise and fall like the ocean so I’m not exactly dying to have one be the linchpin of a Mookie trade.

I would rather ride out the season and take one last shot at a World Series with a still borderline elite Red Sox roster (if healthy) and risk losing Mookie for nothing rather than dumping him for 30 cents on the dollar.

Now all the Sox need is a manager…

Wade Boggs Sounds Off on David Price for Being Soft in the Ongoing Eckersley Feud

By on • ( Leave a comment )

WEEI – On Friday, Price surrendered six runs in a losing effort to the Orioles, the worst team in baseball.

Though Eckersley refrained from taking any shots at Price, his ex-Red Sox teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Wade Boggs went right in. “Everybody in the game loves Eck. He was a great teammate,” Boggs said to Shaughnessy. “And David Price? Please. He should ask me what it used to be like to play in Boston. These guys today don’t hear any noise compared to the stuff that was aimed at us. I mean, seriously.

“‘Yuck?’ Give me a break.’’

Lost in all the media noise around David Price pouring gasoline on the Dennis Eckersley feud last week was this quote from Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. After Price made this a gigantic story, he proceeded to get lit up by the Orioles on Friday, a team best described by Michael Felger as one that should be relegated. It was a PTSD flashback of sorts for Price who was faced with his first highly scrutinized start since getting lit up in Game 2 of the ALCS last year. Despite vehemently denying it,

“That doesn’t affect me at all,” Price told reporters after he allowed six runs, including two homers, in four innings in the Red Sox’ 11-2 loss in Baltimore on Friday night “I’m sure it’ll be used in Boston, but it doesn’t affect me. “If you think I’m thinking about that out there on the mound tonight, you’re 100 percent wrong,” Price said. “Or even last night or the night before or whatever the case may be. That’s not the case. No, it didn’t affect me.”

Price predictably let it get to him as he crumbled on the mount. Now granted this whole renewed feud is all the Boston media has talked about the last week and certain sports blogs have been hawking YUCK t-shirts for the better part of two years, Wade Boggs came off the top rope to basically call David Price soft.

“And David Price? Please. He should ask me what it used to be like to play in Boston. These guys today don’t hear any noise compared to the stuff that was aimed at us. I mean, seriously.

“‘Yuck?’ Give me a break.’’

Get your YUCK shirt today!

Depending on where you stand on the Eck vs Price feud you could take this as a laugh out loud funny quote like I did or you could compare Wade Boggs to the old man yelling at a cloud. Either way, it sounds like Price touched a nerve going after not just Eck’s work as a broadcaster, but his character. Eck may not want to get into the mud and talk about this anymore, but his former teammates like Boss Hogg are more than willing to do so. May he Rest in Peace.

David Price and Dennis Eckersley Just Renewed Their Feud. (Buy a YUCK Shirt!)

By on • ( 2 Comments )

Uhh what the fuck guys? I thought we had moved past this amicably? I’m sure Chad Finn asked Dennis Eckersley a very direct question and Eck being Eck he gave a very direct response.

“I didn’t know how to deal with that,” Eckersley said to Finn about the airplane verbal assault. “I don’t plan on saying a word to him, I don’t plan on seeing him, never. I don’t really give a (expletive) one way or another. I don’t think he really cares one way or the other.”

But for David Price to retweet this with the laughing emojis and basically give the story new life is just childish. Listen, I know Price “holds all the cards” now, but jesus christ be the bigger man and just ignore the story. You were a colossal asshole to a Hall of Famer for doing his job giving his opinion on TV and you got called out for it. Just accept the L and move on. Or don’t. As long as you buy a YUCK shirt I don’t care.

The Absolute Implosion of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers Just Reinforces How Rock Solid the Patriots Have Been

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Jesus, Aaron! Maybe just turn the other cheek? While he’s probably not wrong, he has absolutely zero to gain by sniping the “mostly irrelevant, bitter players.” It’s a lose lose situation because he just comes off looking like a dickhead. This all stems from the recent Bleacher Report article that absolutely smoked Rodgers and Mike McCarthy and the fault that each deserves for the Packers coming up short over the years.

It must be infuriating as a player because you really can’t win, but look no further than one Tom Brady for a playbook on how to handle “smear attacks” and media hit pieces. The most incendiary things he’s said in the past 5 years came from *leaked* emails such as him shitting on Peyton Manning’s longevity as well as his hatred of ill prepared pool cover companies.

Tom Brady also had the gall to politely tell WEEI to go fist themselves after someone called his daughter a pissant on the air. That was after ESPN dropped article after article on the crumbling Patriots dynasty including Seth Wickersham writing 20,000 word pieces on how bad the infighting and the drama had gotten within the Patriots organization. All they’ve done since was go out and win 2 out of 3 Super Bowls.

So my advice to Aaron Rodgers? Be more like Tom Brady.

The 300s Podcast: Celtics Rise Like a Phoenix on the West Coast, Red Sox Opening Day Nears, and Patriots Attack the Offseason

By on • ( Leave a comment )

The 300s boys are back in the podcast studio discussing everything from the manic Celtics to the Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day, some good old fashioned Vegas gambling stories, and the Pats are jumping right into the offseason. Lets goo!

– Celtics Rise Like a Phoenix from the Ashes on the West Coast

– What is up with Kyrie? Miserable malcontent one day and then all happy go lucky after the Lakers game.

– Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day

– Best sporting events to bet on? March madness? Just betting 10 football games every Sunday?

– Red Sox Going With a Closer by Committee?

– Steven Wright suspension

– WEEI 8 man radio rotation

– Patriots Offseason/Free Agency

– Michael Bennett in, Trey Flowers out?

– Danny Amendola Reunion?

WEEI Can’t Decide On One New Red Sox Broadcaster, So They Hired EIGHT

By on • ( Leave a comment )

WEEI – Entercom, the unrivaled leader in sports radio and one of the two largest radio broadcasters in the United States, today announced the new all-star team of play-by-play sportscasters for 2019 Boston Red Sox games on WEEI in Boston, the flagship station of the team. Broadcasters participating this season will include Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin and Mario Impemba, who will rotate in the radio booth alongside veteran broadcaster and Red Sox Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione, who has signed a multi-year extension with the WEEI Red Sox Radio Network and will begin his 37th season…

In adition to McDonough, Lewin and Impemba, Chris Berman, broadcaster for ESPN; Lou Merloni, on-air personality for WEEI; Dale Arnold, on-air personality for WEEI; Tom Caron, studio host for NESN; and Dave O’Brien, television voice of the Red Sox for NESN, will also call select games as part of the broadcast play-by-play committee. O’Brien will call a select number of nationally televised Red Sox games.

The WEEI broadcast booth needed a replacement to put next to longtime Red Sox play by play man, Joe Castiglione. Someone that could call the game, provide insights, have a regular conversation (don’t you dare call it a talk show), and essentially just create a more entertaining product.

But they couldn’t decide on one guy, so they hired EIGHT.

There’s a few familiar faces in here with current WEEI names like Lou Merloni and Dale Arnold as well as NESN personalities Tom Caron and Dave O’Brien. In addition to them, WEEI brought back fan favorite and Mass native Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin, and Mario Impemba.

Wait.

Is that what I think it is?

THATS CHRIS BERMAN’S MUSIC!

Chris Berman is back back back back baby! I honestly don’t know how many “backs” Berman is gonna be able to squeeze in when Mookie hits a piss missile over the Monster. There’s really not enough time, but he’ll adjust he’s a professional.

In all seriousness, I only really listen to the Red Sox radio broadcast if I have to. If I’m stuck in traffic or I’m crushing a few Bud Lattes win the old man in his backyard. So I don’t really care who they bring in, but it does scream indecisiveness. I know they probably wanted to test out a few guys to try and jumpstart a broadcast they had grown tired of, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. Having 8 different guys in there on any given night could do 1 of 2 things. It could provide excitement because you’re always hearing different voices and opinions. Or it could quickly create favorites leading to fans tuning out when they hear that Lewin’s calling the game and not Merloni on a given night.

Credit to them for trying something new, but it won’t be easy to build a rapport with Castiglione if some of the new guys are only working a game a week.

Just give Jonny Gomes the job and be done with it.

PS – It’s spring training and I just made a Jonny Gomes reference so get your Jonny Gomes Duckboat shirt before the season starts!

Alex Reimer Sets Record Straight on WEEI’s Red Sox Radio Broadcast Changes

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Image result for fenway park above home plate view

So it seems like The Boston Globe may have jumped the gun a bit earlier this week when they reported that WEEI planned to change their Red Sox radio broadcast format to more of a talk-show type of deal.

They left it pretty open as to exactly what the hell that even meant, but they seemed pretty damn confident in reporting that it was a real thing that was happening.

After the report was then refuted by WEEI’s Program Director Joe Zarbano, Chad Finn – whom initially reported the “story” – then doubled-down and referred to the email which alerted him to the official job posting for the open Sox play-by-play announcer position. At the same time, Zarbano has held firm in his response:

So, as of Thursday morning, all we had to go off of were a series of “he said/she said” tweets, which meant that either somebody got a lead on something they shouldn’t have, or they were entirely duped by a completely misleading email.

I’m now more inclined to believe it was the latter.

The official job posting from the Sportcasters Talent Agency of America makes ZERO mention of a “talk show format” in any way, BUT Finn did release the text of the industry-wide email promoting the posting, which said the following:

There is an opening on the Boston Red Sox radio play-by-play team following Tim Neverett’s decision not to renew his contract.

The Boston Globe has reported about plans for major changes to this broadcast format. STAA knows these plans to be true. WEEI wants to drop the concept of a conventional radio baseball broadcast to make the call of the game sound more like a talk show.

WEEI [program director] Joe Zarbano is eager to receive applications. However, he tells STAA he doesn’t want to be bombarded with email attachments.

So, to be fair, I totally get where Finn was coming from, but like Zarbano said, maybe, I don’t know, he should’ve checked in with the actual radio station first?

WEEI’s Alex Reimer then wrote an article early Thursday afternoon, and he said that the misleading information from the STAA email most likely comes from the fact that the station is thinking about adding one more person to the booth in an effort to create more chatter (and apparently rumors about this have been out there for a while). They want it to have a more conversational tone, which allows for more colorful analysis and insight, and above all it should help to add more excitement to what can at times be a very dull platform.

The three-person broadcast team has gained a lot of popularity, across multiple sports, in recent years, and it’s been met with great success. I’m totally on board with this.

So thanks to Reimer for clearing up that weird early-morning B.S. from yesterday, and here’s to hoping WEEI is able to find a solid trio who can get it done and finally bring the archaic station into the future.

Red Sox Have Re-signed Nathan Eovaldi

By on • ( Leave a comment )

WEEI – The Red Sox are reportedly nearing a deal with free agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on a four-year contract that could be worth nearly $70 million…Eovaldi, 28, was a tremendous find at the trade deadline, going 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA after arriving from Tampa, and then following it up with a dominating postseason that saw him go 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA. He delivered one of the signature performance of the playoffs, even though it ended in defeat, when he tossed six innings of three-hit relief in an 18-inning loss to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series.

While the terms of the deal are still unknown, most of the big baseball writers have been speculating 4 years at $70 million, which is $17.5 per year. It might sound like a lot for a guy who was a midseason pickup that had a really strong second half and an incredible playoff run, but I’m totally on board with this move. The Red Sox needed Nathan Eovaldi for this upcoming season, but more importantly for the next few years.

The Red Sox rotation is stacked, but is also top heavy and comprised of expensive guys in contract years. Chris Sale has had his last 2 seasons start off incredible only to stumble down the stretch due to injuries and is a free agent after this upcoming season. Are the Red Sox prepared to give him a $200 Million contract? I’m not so sure. Rick Porcello is also in a walk year and while he’s had his ups and downs over the years, he will be a 30-year-old free agent with a Cy Young Award under his belt next winter so don’t expect him to come cheap. That leaves the Red Sox with David Price, who has ranged from trainwreck to solid to elite so your guess is as good as mine for what to expect, but Price is signed for the next four years at least. After that the Sox are left with Eduardo Rodriguez, who seems to miss extended time with injuries every year, and a bunch of Triple-A pitchers.

Simply put, the Sox need someone to anchor this staff alongside David Price beyond just next season.

So the Sox needed to make this move. I’m less concerned with Eovaldi’s injury history as I am with projecting future performance. Even though he’s had two Tommy John surgeries, as we’ve said here before; that’s basically a prerequisite to being a great starting pitcher these days. Alex Speier dove a little deeper on that issue:

“The idea that a two-time Tommy John recipient could be seen as something other than an extreme risk illustrates how drastically the landscape has changed over the last decade…the chief risk appears to be whether a pitcher returns to his prior level from a second Tommy John surgery. There is a survival effect. Roughly 20-25 percent of pitchers never make it back from a first or second Tommy John, but those who do appear at no greater risk than other pitchers who hadn’t undergone even a single Tommy John procedure.”

Would I be shocked to see Eovaldi’s performance regress back to the mean next year though? No I would not. But at 4 years this deal is a drop in the bucket for John Henry and the Red Sox. Dave Dombrowski loved what he saw, primarily because Eovaldi saved his bacon and the Boston bullpen en route to a World Series title. Now Dealer Dave likely smells blood and sees a ripe opportunity for the Sox to repeat (and clinch Dombrowski’s spot in the Hall of Fame) so why pinch pennies now? Welcome back to Boston, Nate.

Kirk Minihane Moving to RADIO.COM

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Earlier this week, Kirk Minihane teased that a big announcement regarding his future was coming. He’d been off the air for about two months, and there had been lots of speculation online about when (and where) he would return to the air. Just hours before his highly-anticipated appearance on the the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch dropped, WEEI announced that Kirk will be leaving the “Kirk and Callahan” morning show on WEEI to start his own show on RADIO.COM in early 2019.

There was a lot of speculation online that Minihane was headed for Barstool Sports. Minihane would be a perfect fit for Barstool and Barstool Radio but as he pointed out on Deitsch’s podcast, he’s got a contract with Entercom (parent company of WEEI and RADIO.COM) that runs through 2021. Still, his new position at RADIO.COM sounds awfully Barstool-esque:

Kirk Minihane will launch a new radio show, podcast and column on RADIO.COM, the fastest growing digital audio app in the United States.

Selfishly, I’m glad he’s not going to Barstool Radio (yet). If Minihane went to satellite radio that would be another $20 a month out of my pocket because he is must-listen radio. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that he’s been the most interesting sports-radio personality in Boston the last few years.

Far too often sports-talk radio has fallen to the level of mindless DJ banter, an endless exchange of radio clichés.

What’s worse than that is when hosts discuss topics they obviously have no real interest in. I turn off 98.5 when I hear Mazz breaking down the Bruins third line. At least Minihane doesn’t bullshit listeners into thinking he cares about the Bruins third line or production out of the Celtics bench. For the most part, Minihane covers the topics listeners find interesting.

Minihane made the argument on Deitsch’s podcast that sports-talk radio has reached its ceiling. Recaps, previews, controversies, repeat. If you watch any of the Mike Francesa  clips posted on Twitter by Ƒunhouse, or remember listening to WEEI between the time 98.5 launched and when Minihane joined “Dennis and Callahan,” it’s hard to counter that argument.

By his own admission, Minihane moving to RADIO.COM isn’t quite like Howard Stern moving to Sirius in 2006. It will still be interesting, though, to follow Minihane as he works to shake up the sports-talk radio format in a new setting. This is not going to be another “Big Show Unfiltered.” He might not have the same number of listeners he had on WEEI, but Kirk Minihane unfiltered will undoubtedly still have an impact on the dialogue of Boston sports fans.