It’s the week before Thanksgiving, you’re just punching the clock until it’s time to take that 5 day weekend, so we’ve got a Grab Bag of random topics here on this episode. LETS GO!
-As we pretend to be members of the local sports media I think it’d be crazy to start the show without touching on breaking news from one of the biggest names in town with Kirk Minihane officially headed to Radio.com
-The NFL took a hard gulp and swallowed their pride moving the Mexico City game back to the states.
Did you see this quote from Kyrie Irving all but putting out a job offer in Carmelo Anthony’s locker?
The disaster that is the Miami Marlins Park. I even had a Marlins fan chirping me on Twitter about it — “They’re not seats, they’re standing room”
Fantasy football update – Big Z held onto the hand grenade that was Le’Veon Bell which has now exploded in his palm.
All that and more on this episode of The 300s Podcast!
This is why it’s impossible to beat the drama of playoff baseball. No other sport’s intensity kicks up as much as MLB in the postseason. I mean aside from the 9 pm start time and the 1:30 am finish, that game was incredible. Unforgettable. Classic. It wasn’t without it’s controversy though.
So with the 8:39 pm start time I already knew I was in trouble because I am old and #washed. I started fading in the 7th inning. Luckily I have a Cosmo Kramer-like internal alarm clock that woke me up in time for the 9th inning.
Boy am I glad I saw that shit show. I almost threw up in my bed watching Craig Kimbrel nearly give the game away. Seriously this guy has been the only member of the Boston bullpen fans have felt somewhat confident in all year. Ever since the playoffs hit he’s been a wild, erratic, mess of a closer. Kimbrel threw 35 pitches over 2 IP last night, with only 19 for strikes.
In case you missed this tightrope walk, let me give you a quick summary of how the bottom of the 9th went with the Sox up 2 and their $13 Million closer on the mound.
Yuli Gurriel pops out. 1 out.
5 pitch walk to Josh Reddick.
5 pitch walk to Carlos Correa. Winning run is now at the plate.
Brian McCann flies out. 2 outs.
Alex Cora mound visit. I legit thought he was going to bring David Price into the game here.
6 pitch walk to Tony Kemp, the NUMBER NINE HITTER. Bases loaded.
Alex Bregman (.286/31 HR/103 RBI/51 Doubles) steps to the plate with the bases chucked. He’s also hitting .350 in the postseason this year.
Bregman hits a sinking liner to LF that had me standing up in my bed. Andrew Benintendi is sprinting in with the game on the line and LAYS OUT TO MAKE THE DIVING CATCH.
But Kimbrel, what the hell man? Now I gotta worry about you imploding at every opportunity? You shall henceforth be referred to as Byung-hyun Kim-brel
Now lets get to the catch everyone is talking about. Mookie Betts made an all-time classic play that will be played at his Hall of Fame induction and Astros fans will be analyzing that play for years to come like it’s the Zapruder film.
Mookie Betts was about to rob José Altuve of a home run … until a fan’s hand got in the way.
Hey, Adult Jeffrey Maier, keep your hands to yourself. Mookie makes that catch 100 times out of 100 if unimpeded. Cowboy Joe West got it right.
Mookie’s absolute hose of a throw in the bottom of the 8th will be forgotten because of how much went on last night but that was another series altering play for Betts in a week full of them.
It also makes me laugh hysterically that this is the hill Evan Drellich will die on. He must have tweeted no less than a dozen times about the play and how awful of a call it was. Just a quick reminder that Drellich was the Astros beat writer for nearly three years.
I don’t quite know how to explain to you all how horrendous that call was. I don’t care who wins. Maybe I’ll get a book deal if the Red Sox win a World Series. Go Red Sox! But I can’t fathom that. It’s too big a stage.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the disaster that nearly was. After YEARS of fans ripping David Price for his lack of big game performances, Cora had him ready to go with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. You think Price actually wanted the ball there?
Game 5 is tonight and David Price gets the ball with a chance to get his first postseason win ever…oh and with a chance to send the Red Sox to the World Series! First pitch is at 8:09 pm so don’t sleep now!
Just wanna point out that it’s 10:11 pm and we’re *just* starting the 4th inning. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to start a game at 8:39 pm?#RedSox#Astros#ALCSpic.twitter.com/US7veJVZOk
Start your weekend early with The 300s Podcast + it only takes 2 minutes before the first “Homer at the Bat” reference. Listen, subscribe, rate and review on iTunes, Google Play, and The 300s Podcast is also NOW ON SPOTIFYYYYY
New ep of #The300sPodcast: #RedSox on pace for 110+ wins, JD Martinez legit may win the Triple Crown, should #MLB ban the shift & we launch #The300sTop3 BONUS: If you catch the obscure reference 37 mins in & tweet us a GIF from that movie, you win a prize. https://t.co/WULqCqMk5O
Seeing as its the dog days of summer and there’s no other Boston teams playing, unless you count the Revs and the Cannons, pretty much everyone’s attention has shifted towards the Red Sox finally. So that’s what we’re gonna focus on today.
BONUS: If you catch the obscure reference 37 minutes in and tweet us a GIF from that movie, you win a prize.
-The Death of Baseball has been Greatly Exaggerated
-Outlaw the Shift?!
-Why Does the Media Insist Nobody Cares About the Red Sox When Ratings Are in Fact UP?
-JD Martinez may legitimately challenge for the Triple Crown this year.
-The 300’s Top 3
Pro Football Talk – We posted an item earlier today regarding a report from WEEI that the Patriots will be trading tight end Rob Gronkowski in the coming weeks. The report, which was being picked up by other websites, appeared in a single tweet that had no equivocation of any kind. It was clear, it was plain, and it was getting noticed. And it was all some sort of time-delayed April Fool’s Day gag, apparently. Chris Curtis of WEEI called me a little while ago to explain that it was a joke. I’m still scanning the tweet for the setup, the reinforcement, and/or the payoff. That is a humorous anecdote. I can’t wait to tell that one at parties and other social gatherings. I told Curtis I’m not happy about any of this. Needless to say, nothing WEEI ever reports again will be taken seriously in this space. It’s hard enough to keep people up to date on everything that’s happening in the NFL without people throwing gratuitous and unfunny hurdles in our path.
Nothing like a little sports media beef to get you through a Tuesday afternoon. Pro Football Talk is absolutely bullshit that they got hoodwinked by an April Fools joke from WEEI. WEEI’s Kirk and Callahan show tweeted out that one of their guys was reporting Rob Gronkowski would be traded in the next couple of weeks.
Breaking: @KenLairdWEEI is reporting that Gronk is going to be traded in the next couple weeks.
Now if you ever listen to Kirk and Callahan you know they like to screw with people, especially those in the media. So while its not a particularly hilarious joke, April Fools jokes aren’t really meant to be funny. They’re meant to pull one over on people and make them look stupid.
So for PFT to get so pissed off seems like a little much. I understand the frustration of posting something on your website that ultimately turns out to have zero truth to it, but you should probably also be checking sources to confirm before posting a story OR just run it with the disclaimer that WEEI is saying this but you can’t confirm or dispute it. Problem solved.
You gotta be extra vigilant on April Fools Day or sometimes you get hoodwinked on Twitter and risk taking the L like me.
NESN – “There certainly seemed to be something of a leadership void, and Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia admitted Monday that former Boston manager John Farrell was part of the reason the club didn’t seem to enjoy itself in 2017. “The overall approach, every day, would wear on guys. It wasn’t people not liking each other. We all love each other. Trust me,” Pedroia said Monday morning on WEEI’s “OMF.” “There’s the mindset of, ‘You show up to the yard, you put your work in, you have your approach that day, and you try to execute it. If you don’t, guess what? You’re going to show up tomorrow and still be in the lineup. We’re all going to have confidence in you. We’re all going to show up and try to win and accomplish the same thing.’ That’s what wore on guys and made the season that much more grueling — when everything that day was more magnified. It put a lot of pressure on our young guys, it put a lot of pressure on our veteran guys. That’s the part, when you hear Mookie (Betts) or (Xander Bogaerts) say they weren’t having much fun, you don’t ever have a chance to enjoy yourself if you don’t go 4-for-4, throw a complete game shutout, or we don’t win by 10. You don’t look ahead to the end of what we were trying to build for.”
Color me shocked. Dustin Pedroia came out and admitted on WEEI that last year sucked because John Farrell just beat guys down. It seems like his approach was just a grind on guys mentally. As much as we like to rail on players for whining and complaining, Boston may be the toughest city to play in the entire league so its important to manage that level of stress. This is where I’ve always been kind of disapointed though considering John Farrell came up in the Terry Francona school of management. Pedroia said guys were stressing because they were hyper focused on day to day success rather than building towards something bigger. If a guy didn’t hit the cover off the ball one day he’d be worried about getting moved down in the batting order or getting bumped from the lineup entirely. Farrell never really seemed as comfortable managing the Sox as we all thought he would be when Boston traded for him with Toronto.
Compare that to a manager like Francona who was infamous for sticking with his guys, almost to a fault. Anyone remember Mark Bellhorn? That guy was a goddamn enigma. In theory, a pretty solid player, but holy hell was he frustrating. Half the time he straight up SUCKED. He was a disaster in 2004 with his double ear flapped softball batting helmet.
He hit .264 with 177 strikeouts, which was 1st in the American League and 2nd in all of baseball. He did have a .373 OBP though! But Francona knew the guy could hit so he kept going with him day in and day out. Guess what? In the long run it paid off as Bellhorn had a HUGE 3-run HR in Game 6 of the ALCS to force Game 7 against the Yankees. Don’t remember? It was the one that smoked a guy sitting front row in the chest, but he was wearing all black so Matsui and those dirty Yankees tried to play it off like it hit the wall.
So theres definitely something to be said for consistency.
Everybody remembers Game 6 of the 04 ALCS for the legend that was Schilling’s bloody sock, but people forget that was also this game:
But, I digress.
As a manager you could also go the other way and tell these professional athletes to sack up. I mean if I have a few non-productive shitty days at my job, my employer is most likely going to chew me out. If you’re not performing the manager is well within his rights to sit you down. But, and I think this is what John Farrell’s biggest weakness was, if you’re going to do that you have to communicate why to the player. Build them up. Co-mmu-ni-cate. And that is where Farrell dropped the ball. The guy just did not have the social skills or the management skills or whatever you want to call it to relate to his players on a day to day basis. Not to beat a dead horse, but again Francona could call Pedroia in to play a game of cribbage and while the two are having a friendly competition Tito could tell him that he has sucked lately and is giving him a day off. Whether that was good news or whether that was bad news, Tito could communicate.
One of my favorite stories about Francona was how he would go out during batting practice every day and if he had to have a talk with someone he would bring them behind the backstop to chat. It was in the middle of everyone and completely public, but nobody could hear what they were saying except Tito and the player. So he was a master class in dealing with the players and their fragile egos and getting the best out of guys. Hell Francona could call a guy into his office while he was taking a dump and have a chat. I don’t really see that kind of comfort level existing between John Farrell and any of these Red Sox players. So the hope here is that Alex Cora is able to bring back that warm and fuzzy feeling back to the players. Maybe Cora won’t be sitting on the porcelain throne when he’s calling in Rafael Devers, but hey its only his first year on the job.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks at WEEI. After Alex Reimer’s “pissant” comment late last month and Christian Fauria’s racist impression of Don Yee last week, the station has been getting all sorts of bad press and hemorrhaging advertisers. Something had to be done to address this situation, and it now appears that WEEI will shut down for the day on Friday to host mandatory sensitivity training for all employees.
The fact that WEEI’s sensitivity training will probably resemble Dunder Mifflin’s sensitivity training is irrelevant. Something had to be done. If nothing else this station, and its parent company, had to do something to show that it was taking these incidents seriously. They’ve had enough incidents lately for it to become a full-blow situation over there.
And based on the timing, right before the start of spring training, I wouldn’t be surprised if WEEI wanted to show the Boston Red Sox in particular that it was taking this situation seriously and handling it appropriately. Even with deals in place for years to come, I can’t imagine John Henry would want the logo of an embattled radio station all over his ballpark all summer. Especially since his club has plenty of its own marketing issues to worry about.
Friday seems as good a time as any for the station to take a much needed timeout. It should give everyone a chance to discuss, reflect and reset. As was written about in the Herald earlier today, WEEI needs to get back to basics, and fast. I don’t want WEEI to turn into some bland midwest “Sports Animal” sports talk station. Its brash style is what has made WEEI wildly funny and entertaining in the past. But if it can’t get back to basics, I don’t want to listen as it continues to spiral out of control.
So the internet is ablaze today with a hot take from Ron Borges that was shot out of the sky before I even got to my desk this morning. Literally. I was driving in listening to Kirk Minihane just DESTROY Ron Borges and I was wondering if it was just for past indiscretions (ya know like plagiarism) or if he did something else. Fired up a quick Twitter search while I was driving, I was in bumper to bumper traffic relax Mom, and whats the first thing I see? Ron Borges’ colleagues in the media openly mocking him for a fabricated rumor about Tom Brady planning to hold out for a new contract.
And on and on it goes.
All this before 9 AM. A couple of quick phone calls from guys like Tom E. Curran and they had already shot so many holes in the story that it wouldn’t get past the editor at a student newspaper. Yet somehow the Boston Fucking Herald ran with it.
Sure it was already taken off the website, but the newspapers (the paper versions all you old bastards absolutely have to have) were already on the stacks.
Pretty damning evidence for ya boy Ron. And thats before we even get into the details of *how* he reported this story. Again, according to Kirk and Callahan, basically some random guy got Borges’ phone number and started texting him pretending to be Tom Brady’s agent Don Yee.
Eventually fake-Don Yee tipped off Borges about the disgruntled Tom Brady and how he planned to hold out for Jimmy G type money and skip OTA’s. Huge right? So rather than picking up the phone and asking someone, anyone, for any kind of supporting evidence or even hearsay…rather than do any of that, Borges runs it for a front page column.
How does that get past an editor?
“Who’d you talk to, Ron? Some guy who’s identity you haven’t actually verified just texted you out of the blue with huge news? Print. That. Shit.”
Never rely on one source and never plagiarize. Those are the cardinal rules of journalism. Trust me, I have a degree in big-J Journalism. And Ron Borges has now broken both of them.
I’m not here to call for anyone’s job, but if we’re being honest, I’m calling for Ron Borges job. It’s one thing to write thinly veiled hit pieces and describe the team you cover with so much disdain for 30 years, its another to print something defamatory as fact because fucking Johnny from Weymouth sent you a text at 1 AM like its last call at the Harp.
When you become the real life Ron Burgundy, just reporting whatever you’re told, its time to go.
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.”
Some rival execs view the Marlins’ prospect asking price for Giancarlo Stanton as shockingly high and somewhat out of touch with reality, and not discounted nearly enough given the whopping $295 million he’s owed (with the forthcoming out clause after the 2020 season).
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.
So after last week’s wild story of Craig Carton getting a visit from the FBI for allegedly running a multi-million dollar ticket scam, he resigned from WFAN today. What a wild situation to find yourself in. As a guy who appreciates a good contrarian in my local sports talk radio, its unfortunate to see a dude submarine his own dream job. Looks like Boomer Esiason is going to need a new co-host for one of the most popular sports talk shows in the country. Gary Tanguay was on WEEI this AM throwing out rumors that Fred Toucher could be Carton’s replacement. Gonna be an interesting story to follow, thats for sure. Carton’s full statement below:
“For 10 years I’ve had the great privilege of showing up to work every day at my dream job. I have nothing but love and respect for my co-host, the show and the entire CBS Radio family and I’ve always tried to represent them in the best possible light.
Unfortunately, the unfounded legal issues currently plaguing me will only be a distraction to everyone at WFAN and the show I helped build. With that in mind, I have submitted my resignation to the station and they accepted. I am sad to see this chapter of my life close but know that it will allow me to focus on my family, my well-being and clearing my name, while giving the show the best opportunity to succeed without further disruption.
I’ve always felt a personal connection to our listeners and want to thank them for making me a part of their daily routine. I hope they can respect the fact that as much as I want to talk about the allegations against me I can’t at this time. There will come a time when I will be able to speak directly about the case and I hope our listeners will be there.
From the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank my family, friends, listeners and especially the executives at WFAN and CBS Radio for their continued understanding and for giving me the most amazing platform to do what I love to do the most, besides being with my family.”
Being from Boston, I don’t regularly listen to Francesa. But on a day when Craig Carton got hauled into the pokey? I figured the Sports Pope would be must-listen radio. The guy is done in three months, why hold back? If I had his platform, all I would do is kick my enemies when they were down.
But I was wrong. Just another reason to tip the cap to Kirk Minihane. When his buddy and coworker got bagged for a DUI, he did what we all would do in his position.
The 300s 