January 31, 2012

Saying Thank You

I really don’t like the extra week’s break in between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. It gives you too much time to think (good and bad), it gives the media time to create stories that aren’t there (like Brady’s celebration story that made the front and rear pages of the NY Post), and most importantly it forces me to be creative with the blog so you don’t have two week’s straight of Pats posts.

So for all that I hit you with a couple baseball posts, I got a text message last night saying, “…enough with the baseball blog posts.” So enough it is.

There was a great article in the Herald on Sunday about CHad Ochocinco. I hope you take the time to click the link and read the article. It was a quick read but it showed the difference between Chad and that waste of space Haynesworth.

Remember, the two were brought in pretty much at the same time. The team parted ways with Hayneworth after he got in a fight with Pepper Johnson at the beginning of November. Chad stayed with the team.

Sure Chad didn’t have a 1,000 yard season that he’s used to. But that wasn’t his role. It couldn’t be with Welker, Hernandez, and Gronk on the team. If anything, as a fan, you’d hope he would leapfrog Branch on the depth chart and be the second wide out in the two tight end set. But that didn’t happen.

Instead Chad was pretty much off the grid. Ripped apart by sports radio on a weekly basis for drops. Yet when asked about him both Brady and Belichick said that he’s one of the hardest working guys on the team. Even in his reduced role, he still is putting in the work. That’s the reason he’s still here and the exact reason Hayneworth isn’t. You can tell by the article, he’s bought in.

As a thank you to all his teammates Chad bought everyone on the team Beats by Dre headphones. Which personally I think is a better gift than the UGGS Brady got for everyone. No offense Tom but I don’t think guys should be wearing UGGS.

So sure the Pats didn’t get the brash, thousand yard receiver that other teams need to plan for and fear. But it seems they did get another guy that’s bought into the Patriot Way. I’m really hoping he gets in the game and gets a couple touches. Also hoping he’s here next year too and that off-season workouts etc to help him be more productive in the system.

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January 30, 2012

The Whiff

I had posted last week that the Sox had freed up some money so they could go after Roy Oswalt. Reports were the full court press was on by the Sox and an offer for one year at $5 million was on the table. Well, Friday night reports started surfacing that Oswalt wasn’t coming.

Instead Oswalt was going to sign with the Cardinals. That was until last night.

Last night reports started surfacing that Oswalt was heading to Texas to talk to the Rangers.

Bottom line here is he’s probably not coming to Boston so you can just check that guy off your wish list. Not that I was really wishing for him, but I think he would have been a good insurance policy.

The team has reached out to super agent Scott Boras to see if they can get Edwin Jackson in a one year deal but all reports are that he wants a multi year contract.

Now it appears that the Sox will pursue Gavin Floyd in a trade with the White Sox. Reports are that they’d previously engaged the White Sox but the package offered wasn’t strong enough. Reports out of Chicago earlier this off-season had Floyd on the next flight of town. He has one year left at $7 million with a team option in 2013 for $9.5 million.

Chicago GM Kenny Williams is at a crossroads. He should be in a rebuilding year but fears he could lose his fan base when he trades away popular players like Floyd. But the flip side of that coin is that the team could be very powerful for a longer stretch of time if he does cut payroll and stockpile young talent now.

It will be interesting to see what the Red Sox do. Puppet Ben, or should we say Uncle Larry, clearly isn’t happy with the number of pitching options the team has right now and they’re clearly trying to add arms. We should see some movement before the end of the week.

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January 27, 2012

Yo Soy Fiesta

Not mailing it in, but seriously this guy has to be one of the funniest personalities to come through Boston in quite some time. Call Gronk the Anti-Red Sox. For all that the Sox had no personality and were completely detestable this past season, Gronk makes you want the Patriots to do well.

Listen to him during the game last Sunday.

So my friends over at Barstool Sports are selling the “Yo Soy Fiesta ” t-shirts. I haven’t bought anything off their site but may have to buy this one.

Like I said, he’s that likable. Almost like a big dumb animal…

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January 26, 2012

Sox Free Agency Fodder

We’ll start with the absurd and work our way back to reality.

“Jay is that Jose Canseco?” Yes, yes it is.

There was an article on NESN where they showed a Conseco tweet where he basically was asking for a try out. Canseco who is almost 50 does have good career numbers at Fenway hittiver over .300 and homering every 13 or so at bats. But that was 15 years ago. I think that it’s time to hang up the spikes and leave them hung up. He’s the poster boy for the steroid era and they testing for that and HGH now. No chance.

But on a more serious note, the Sox traded starting shortstop Marco Scuatro to the Rockies on Saturday night. They did it that late to try and get the transaction buried in the Pats dominance of the sports headlines. They also did it to prove that they want to have a different starting shortstop as many years in a row as possible. Right Pokey Reese?

The real reason they made the move was to free up some payroll. The Sox look to be the last few players in the Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson sweepstakes. This is after the team brought in Cody Ross to platoon in right field with Ryan Sweeney or be an insurance clause for Crawford coming off surgery.

The team really covets Oswalt. I’m guessing they’re realistic that signing clubhouse cancer Vicente Padilla probably wasn’t their best move. So they’re pressing hard on Oswalt who’s drawn other interest but it appears Boston is the destination. Jackson seems more like a backup plan though reports are out there that he’s got an offer from the team as well. If Both fall through look for the Sox to try and make a deal with the White Sox for Gavin Floyd.

So instead of shaking up the clubhouse as we were all demanding at the end of last season, the team made a series of smaller moves. They didn’t trade any of their chicken eating, beer swilling rotation. They didn’t attempt to move Youk (who by all indications is a cancer in the clubhouse), they let Lackey go to surgery for a year, oh and they’ll likely get Matzucrappa back mid season.

So blockbuster moves, no “ooooooh” moments. Nope, new manager, puppet GM, and Uncle Larry’s running the entire show. At this point, why not bring in Canseco, what’s the worse that could happen?

I’ve said it for a while and will continue to say it, not really excited about this season.

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January 24, 2012

Oh Timmy

I decided to take a break from the Pats for a day. I mean two weeks of Super Bowl build up is going to get old quick.

So we’ll talk about the Bruins trip the White House yesterday. Of course you’ve heard by now that Stanley Cup Finals MVP Tim Thomas didn’t make the trip for political reasons.

Here’s what he had to say on his Facebook:

Now let me start by saying I don’t disagree with a single thing that Timmy said. Not to get too political here but I think that the whole system is flawed and corrupt. That’s why I support Ron Paul in this election and it’s also why I’m registered Libertarian. I think the two party system is a broken system.

Now, as I get off my high horse.

I don’t think this is the place for Tim to do this. If I have the chance to meet the president, I’m not going to stay home. Nope. I’m going to use it as an opportunity to let my voice be heard. If Timmy thinks that the government is out of control this is your chance to tell one branch right to his face. I wouldn’t pass that up.

And for everyone saying he’s not a good teammate etc, look he’s one of two Americans on the team. You really think meeting the US President is a big deal to all the foreigners on the team. I don’t think it’s as big a deal as if they met their king, dictator, or whatever these guys have in their own countries.

The bottom line on the whole thing is that the media has blown this out of whack. Everyone needs to just calm down. It was one day and one man’s decision. We may not agree with it, but like Thomas said, he’s free to make that decision.

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