A Lack of Compensation

Wow, it's been almost four months since the Theo Epstein train scampered away and while Larry Lucchino was expecting "significant compensation" the Red Sox obtained the equivalent of two marbles, a paperclip and some pocket lint.

The official deal Theo Epstein, Chris Carpenter and a Player to be Named Later for get this, a Player to be named later. So not only did the Red Sox get hosed on the prospect they also have to give up a prospect in order to make it a "baseball trade". You may be asking yourself why do the Red Sox have to give a player back to the Cubs? Because trading for a top ranking CEO is unprecedented, if you get a player from a team you have to give a player to a team. Horse shit, I realize.

There were a few things that were askew about this "trade":

1. The Red Sox brass screwed this negotiation up royally. The Cubs were smitten, no, obsessed, no downright ga-ga over Theo. One of the abc's of business is supply and demand. The Red Sox had something they Cubs wanted (yearned for?) therefore they should have held Chicago by the short and curly's. They should have told Chicago, "You can have Theo, but at a cost, otherwise he is under contract and he is ours." Simple as that. Then you obtain the prospect that YOU WANT, rather than what you can get. Larry was so hell-bent on getting Theo (the only person that would challenge him in the organization) that he forgot the principals of business. Smooth move mud whistle.


2. Something that I'm not understanding is why Theo is dealing with Ben Cherington. Theo is no longer a GM that's Jed Hoyer's job. Theo is, as far as titles go, the Larry Lucchino of the Chicago Cubs there is no reason that he should be dealing with a subordinate as Cherington is. He should be dealing with Lucchino, or better yet, Theo shouldn't be involved in his OWN compensation at all. The two new GMs need to get their feet wet, let them duke it out. This dynamic doesn't seem right to me on either the Chicago or Boston end. If Theo was doing the negotiating than Larry should have stepped in, but at the same time Theo should have had Jed be the point man.


3. It could just be splitting hairs here, but when Ben Cherington says, "the trade was more difficult because it involved not just an executive, but a friend." I'm all about friendship, really I am, but you are running one of the top 3 most profitable baseball organizations and you can't put friendship aside to get a deal done. My ideal GM would keep both the short-term and longterm success of the ballclub in mind while also being a shark at the negotiating table. I don't' want to hear that something was difficult because there was a "friend" involved. Yet another reason Ben should not have dealt with Theo.

Here's the rundown on Carpenter:

Chris Carpenter, 26, made his Major League debut with Chicago in 2011 and posted a 2.79 ERA (3 ER/9.2 IP) over his 10 games with the Cubs, all out of the bullpen. He limited left-handed batters to a .143 average (2-for-14) and held opponents scoreless in eight of 10 outings. The right-hander also combined for 32 relief appearances between Chicago's Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa clubs last year, going 3-4 with two saves and a 5.91 ERA (28 ER/42.2 IP) between the two stops.

My synopsis: Carpenter has a power arm, can touch triple digits, he also throws a splitter and a hard slider. His ability to command the zone has been an issue as shown with his 1.966 WHIP. So he's essentially putting 2 runners on ever inning he's on the mound. Here's a video of him in the bullpen. If you watch carefully in the video, the last pitch he throws is his splitter. His front side leaks open and you can easily see the splitter left up and in. Repeating his delivery according to scouts has been one of the biggest reasons for inconsistency. If he wants to crack the Red Sox bullpen he's going to have to fine tune that issue.

Ultimately the Red Sox got more than I thought they'd get. Remember the illusions of grandeur; Theo taking on Lackey's salary, Matt Garza or Starlin Castro, and even one of the top 5 prospects (Brett Walace or Josh Vitters). Pipe dreams. But had business have been done with an iron fist rather than a feable hand the Red Sox could have come away the victor.

Stay Tuned

Norton

Carter Was Quite a Catch

Once again the world of sports has suffered a loss. More particularly the world of baseball lost not only one of the best players it has ever had, but one of the class individuals as well.

Just look at what everyone says about what an exemplary human being Gary "The Kid" Carter, here are a few excerpts:

Former Mets teammate Darryl Strawberry: “I wish I could have lived my life like Gary Carter. … He was a true man. … I have always respected him.”

Tom Seaver: “Nobody enjoyed playing the game of baseball more than Gary Carter. He wore his heart on his sleeve every inning he played.”

Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk: "We had a lot in common, from family to our profession. He endured a lot as a catcher, as did I. And making it to the Hall of Fame was over the top for Gary, as it has been for me. We knew each other for more than 30 years, he meant a lot to me. I'm crushed by his passing."

He was truly an inspirational human being, the catalyst of the 1986 World Series that crushed our beloved Beantown 9 and the ultimate family man. While many ballplayers enjoy the night life (some a little too much) Gary Carter was a guy that was quoted as saying, "I wish I could take my wife on the road." His youthful exuberance drew the ire of many teammates but his refreshing spirit is something baseball needs more of and his passing is an epic tragedy.

With Gary Carter's tragic passing, it got me thinking where he ranks all-time as a Catcher. For me, Gary Carter is a Top 5 catcher of all-time. I am very particular about my catchers which is first and foremost a defensive position. If you are not a defensive-minded catcher I have no use for you (I'm looking at you Jarrod Saltalamacchia). Defensively he is Top 5 and he was the rare blend of excellent offense from a defensive position which makes him one of the 5 Best Catchers in the history of Major League baseball.


The list goes like this:


1) Yogi Berra
2) Johnny Bench
3) Carlton Fisk
4) Ivan Rodriguez
5) Gary Carter

Yogi Berra is pretty clearly the class of the elite here, Essentially throwing out every other runner having very few pass balls, having the highest OBP and SLG%.

Johnny Bench is the most powerful, and was the leader of the Big Red Machine and according to
Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams was the Best Catcher in the 70s.

Fisk didn't lead in any of the major categories categories but was a cornerstone catcher for the Boston Red Sox and his longevity and consistency were models of excellence when looking at backstops.

Ivan Rodriguez is probably the best all-around offensive catcher here. Despite steroid allegations, Rodriguez is the best catcher that I've seen in my lifetime. He will be the first catcher in history to have 3000 hits and should be a first ballot Hall of Famer when his playing career is over.

Gary Carter only tied for first in one category but was second in a few others. Jim Leyland once said, "One of the reasons the Mets have the best pitching in the game is Carter," Leyland said. "Get a runner on third, and every one of those guys knows that he can throw his best breaking ball without fear, with conviction. They know that no matter where that pitch goes, Carter will block it and the runner at third won't score. High Praise.

All in all Gary Carter is one of the Top 5 players to ever play the position of catcher and that's something any baseball fan and player would like to hang their mitt on.

Rest in Peace The Kid, and I hope that you are greeted with open arms in the big Field of Dreams in the sky.

Stay Tuned

Norton

The Expense of Epstein

It is about that time. It’s time for us to delve into the Red Sox once again, and why I am thoroughly pissed off at the mess that Theo Epstein left the Red Sox in.

Let’s get one thing straight, I am NOT aggravated with the amount of money the Red Sox are spending. Approximately 180 million dollars is more than enough to win baseball games. But when you are told that you are up against the cap and can’t sign a pitcher for between 5 and 7 million dollars without shedding some payroll first, I’m calling bullshit. Anyone else clambering for their brick or RSN Card now?

The Red Sox right now have GAPING holes in their rotation and everyday lineup. The Red Sox go into the season with 3.5 starting pitchers and without a starting shortstop. Their bullpen conversely has the chance of being damn good. But, you need horses to get to the finish line and right now the Red Sox just don’t have them.

The Scutaro trade makes little sense from the perspective of not having a bonafide shortstop waiting to assume the position. As unspectacular as Marco Scutaro was, he was exactly what the Red Sox have made a living trying to preach; Average or above average at every position.
Nick Punto- Very good, gritty player but best-served in small doses. He is a leader in the clubhouse which the Red Sox sorely needed. But in no way, no how is he a starting caliber short stop.

Mike Aviles- A year removed from being a .300 hitter in the major leagues, but yet another player that is better-suited for the super-utility role than an everyday player.

Jose Iglesias- He is my candidate for the starting shortstop position. If he can play error-free baseball, or close to it, while hitting .220 he’s worth it, with the caveat being that everyone else is producing along the same lines as their career numbers would indicate.

The problem I have is that you have created a hole instead of filling one. They didn’t fill the need of another pitcher that they are in desperate need of and have created one more hole in their roster. There are only so many players you can have that are “utility” players before you need someone that’s better manning a position.

The Red Sox will enter Ft. Myers without a SS and 1.5 pitchers short of a 5 man rotation. In all honesty, I’m not worried about the top 3 guys in the Red Sox rotation. I expect them to be healthy, productive and by and large dominant more times than not. But Daniel Bard is not a sure thing by any means. First and foremost, he probably won’t throw more than 150 innings nor should we expect him to. This is his first year as a starter and you have to handle him with kid gloves. They did it with Buchholz and Lester and there is no reason to think that they will treat Bard any differently.

So, that leaves at least 6-10 starts unaccounted for which will probably fall in the lap of Alfredo Aceves which I am in favor of. I am not in favor of making Alfredo Aceves the number 5 starter. He has the uncanny ability of throwing multiple innings for multiple days and I’d rather use an effective reliever that can pitch in all kinds of situations (mop-up, high leverage, and closing if need be) than have an OK starter once sometimes twice per week and then you can’t use them for 5 days.

This is why Roy Oswalt has the Red Sox bending over with him behind them with a Ted Bundy-looking snicker. He knows they need him, but he doesn’t necessarily want to pitch for Boston. And if I were him I wouldn’t want to either. He wants a long-term deal but is willing to take a one-year deal to re-establish value. Why would he go to a notorious hitter’s ballpark, a bear of a division and have inflated peripherals which would then reduce his value on the open-market?

My problem is not with the amount of money they have spent because they have spent more than enough money to compete/win. The problem the fact that they have not spent their money wisely falls squarely on the shoulders of the recently departed Theo Epstein.

Going into the year they have just shy of 27-million dollars on the Disabled List in John Lackey (16.25 million) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (10 million). The advantage of being a large-market team is that you can sign a player for a need at a specific time and then cut bait with them by eating salary. Now, however the front office is crying that they don’t want to spend 5-7 million because of luxury tax implications. Perhaps if they were more judicious in the way they spent their money this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.

How’s this for a talking point, how about instead of Lackey and Crawford in consecutive years, you take Matt Holliday and Cliff Lee? With Adrian Gonzalez clearly in Theo Epstein’s cross hairs, at the time, he needed to have a right-handed bat to compliment Gonzalez, and he signed what at the time seemed like a carbon copy of Jacoby Ellsbury that is has no discernible spot in a lineup other than 2nd and the Red Sox already have the number 1, number two hitter in the game.

Crawford (7-year 142 million)
Lackey (6-year 82.5 million) 224.5-million

*you’ll note that Lackey’s deal is now a 6 year pact because of his needing Tommy John; insurance clause in contract*

Holliday (7-year 120 million)
Lee (6-year 120 million) 240-million

For a minuscule 2.21-million more per year, for six to seven years from the beginning of the contracts, they could have had Holliday and Lee assuming they would have signed, but instead Theo Epstein signed a player that has never hit 20 home runs to play a power position in LF for a higher AAV (average annual value) than Matt Holiday a player that hits 30+ HRs per year and drives in double the amount of runs. To finish off that two year spending spree, he signed a pitcher with a history of elbow problems. But look on the bright side, he knew ahead of time that Lackey’s elbow was so bad that he was going to need surgery and carefully put in an insurance clause in the contract for financial relief *shakes head*.

I’m not willing to say that Crawford is a bust, but anyone that thinks that Carl Crawford is a 20-million dollar per year player is kidding themselves. The real reason that "compensation" is taking as long as it has is because Theo has put the Red Sox in a hole and they need some sort of bounty to call it even. Like it or not, Theo Epstein the evaluator left the Red Sox up a creek without a paddle.

Stay Tuned

Norton

Duke-UNC: The Best There Is

The best rivalry in sports. Period.

Words can hardly contain the excitement anyone gets from watching a Duke-North Carolina basketball game. I am a Syracuse fan (they also got a win in overtime tonight against the Hoyas of Georgetown), but this was the best game that anyone will see during Rivalry Week. I cannot wait 'til the next game between these two at one of the holy cathedrals of college basketball, Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Austin Rivers. Man, I cannot begin to tell you how big he will get as a player after tonight's game. Everyone knows that Rivers is good: Top five recruit out of high school, starting at Duke as a freshmen, son of Doc Rivers. The man is a legend in the making. He almost single-handedly downed the Tar Heels tonight on the legs of a twenty-nine point effort. However this was not the most showing of the qualities of Austin Rivers. Austin Rivers can only be measured in one quality. One quality that is immeasureable by draftniks and stat sheets, but can be identified by easily identified to the naked eye. That word, ladles and gentlespoons, is what one Bill Raftery coined long ago...

ONIONS!!!

The cajones on this kid! How many freshmen would take that shot over the outstretched arms of Tyler Zeller but Austin Rivers?

Prior to tonight's game, the last 75 matchups between Duke and North Carolina ended with a cumulative score of Duke 5,858-UNC 5,857. You cannot make a rivalry like this in a story book. You cannot make a rivalry like this in a fairy tale or a movie. Sometimes, life serves as the best poetry.

Separated by eight-miles of  asphalt along the fabled Tobacco Road, this rivalry is simply the best in college basketball, and possibly sports across the land. I know many will disagree with me (Sox-Yankees, Bruins-Canadiens, Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, USC-UCLA, Tampa Bay Lightning-Florida Panthers, just to name a few), but I happen to keep my invisible fedora in the Duke-UNC ring, and there it will stay for a long, long time.

And with that, I bid the adieu for the day. But before I go, I'll give you one for the road...

UNNNNNNNNN-YINNNNNNNNNNNNS!

-J Lang

Causeway Street Patriots Nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Quick question Red Sox and Patriots Nation what building houses the last two Boston sports champions simultaneously? Ding ding ding! Time’s up! Sorry Gillette but it’s not you with the Revolution and Patriots nor is it you Fenway Park with the Red Sox and the Liverpool whatevers but it’s you TD Garden!

The TD Garden suffered for years through a myriad of names ranging from the Fleet Center and multiple other random names including at one point when you could by the rights to name the stadium whatever you wanted for a day – fun fact. Finally (mercifully a better word?) though it’s two inhabitants, the Bruins and Celts, finally turned the corner from habitual first round exit and perpetual suckfest, respectively, and rewarded the Boston faithful with a Stanley Cup and an NBA championship. In the past 5 years the Bruins and Celtics are the only champions that the great region of New England has to boast about to those arrogant New York pricks. The Red Sox have come close in that 5 year window losing in game 7 of the ALCS to those loveable Tampa Bay Rays, I know I should hate them because they’re in the AL East but boy are they fun to watch and they just seem to do everything the right way, and the Patriots have made it to the biggest game on Earth twice as favorites only to be turned away by the fuckin’ Giants, sorry still a little bitter about Super Bowl XLII and XLVI, yet it’s only the Bruins and Celtics who have delivered the crowns upon which titletown USA was built: the Stanley Cup and NBA title. After watching the Red Sox win the 2010 offseason and subsequently drink there way to infamy during the 2011 baseball season and then turning their eyes and watching the Patriots go from a solid team who should win a playoff game or two to Super Bowl favorites only to be bested by Eli Manning it’s now time that Boston turns its sad eyes back to the Bruins and Celtics in hopes that they’ll quell that championship thirst.

The Red Sox turned out to be the ultimate paper champions when the shit hit the fan and the Patriots gave it a valiant effort but if you honestly thought that Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo and their band of misfits we’re going to stop Eli on that last drive after the Welker-Brady miscue then you’re a better fan than I can ever be. It was becoming more and more clear throughout that game that the defense was playing masterfully but the ball just wasn’t fumbling the Patriots way and midnight was bound to strike soon on the Cinderella defensive scheme, yet I digress. Back to the topic at hand which is the Celtics and mostly the Bruins carry on their shoulders the Boston fan bases hopes and dreams for being the sports elite and lately they’ve done a fine job of it. Time to take a glimpse at each team’s chances of restoring the peace in Beantown.

First up we have the Celtics who about a month ago didn’t appear anywhere near sniffing the second round of the playoffs let alone a shot at the title but recently they’ve started to gain some steam with no coincidence that they’re resurgence coincides with Paul Pierce getting healthy again and KG looking the best he has since the devastating knee injury of three years ago. Before KG blew out his knee against Utah 3 odd years ago the Celtics appeared poised to make it two rings in three years but since then they’ve still managed to make it to game 7 of the NBA finals against the vaunted Lakers before blowing a late lead in L.A. but last year they were bounced unceremoniously by the new Big Three in Miami.

The Celtics started the abbreviated 2011-12 year 0-3 and then 4-8 before ripping off 9 out of 10 with a 5 win streak currently in their midst. The shortened season tends to favor a team like the Celtics as long as they can get into the playoffs in the top 4 seeds. A shortened season favors older teams who are good enough to allow their old dogs a few games off here and there and still track down one of those top seeds. Home court has always been crucial for this latest version of the Celtics. The swap of big baby Glen Davis for Brandon Bass has looked like a stroke of genius on the part of GM Danny Ainge and another mind numbing mistake by Orlando GM Otis Smith. Bass has been a better offensive player and a better defender and rebounder than baby while playing alongside Garnett he’s done a great job of bringing out the firey defender in Garnett once again. When Garnett is defending like he has been lately while also pouring in between 15-20 points and grabbing roughly 10 rebounds the Celtics are on the right track. Ray Allen has been phenomenal all year and he’s the kind of guy who takes pride in staying in shape over the long haul. Pierce took the beginning of the year to get healthy and as long as he can stay in shape he’s a great offensive piece to center it all around. Rajon Rondo makes this offense tick and his health will be one of the keys to the Celtics making a run deep into the playoffs, just if he could shoot but oh well.

The true key in my mind will be whether or not Ainge is able to swing a deal for a body to defend the paint and chip in some offense because as good a player as he was in his hay day Jermaine O’Neal just can’t stay healthy enough to be a solid contributor over the long haul. Mikael Pietrus is a great wing defender and once he settles in he’ll be a huge piece coming off the bench down the stretch and the Celtics are all set backing up the guard spots with veteran Keyon Dooling and youngster Avery Bradley. Bradley has settled in nicely and is playing very good perimeter defense and taking care of the ball not much more you can ask for in a backup PG. The Celtics are a big body and possibly a wing scorer off the bench from giving the Heat, Bulls, Mavs, Lakers and anyone else one last run for their money. There is hope but don’t hang your hat on it rather I’d hitch my wagon to the latest Boston champion: the Boston Bruins.

As an abashed Bruins fan who watched and had my heart broken by the Spoked B my entire life watching them blow top seeds and get bumped out by the dreaded Canadiens habitually last years run to the Stanley Cup was absolutely orgasmic. For once the Bruins were the team who got ridiculously hot at exactly the right team and ran train on the rest of the league. The Bruins were the ones with the top goaltender, Timmy Thomas, who could stop mass quantities of rubber on command and lead his team to numerous 1-0 and 2-0 victories. The Bruins were also the ones with the annoying as shit guy in Brad Marchand and the gifted offensive talent who caught fire at just right the time in David Krejci. It was beautiful to watch the Bruins exile their past demons by coming back from a 2-0 hole against the Canadiens in round 1 and then sweeping the Flyers, who just the year before had sent the Bruins into the history books by rebounding from a 3-0 series deficit to advance, with beat down after beat down. They then leaned on 2-time, in 3 years might I add, Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas to carry them past the very gifted but goaltenderless Tampa Bay Lightning in 7 games. Finally in the Stanley Cup Finals the Bruins squared off their polar opposite in the savvy but weak President Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks and after losing the first two games in Vancouver rebounded to humiliate the Canucks and Roberto Luongo throughout the last 5 games by winning 4 and the Cup.

After a deep run in the playoffs and the retirement of the Bruins heart and soul Mark Recchi the Bruins understandably got off to a super slow start this year before rebounding in a big way. After the season’s first month and first ten games the Bruins were an abysmal 3-7 and looked brutal after losing a home and home to the Canadiens. I don’t know what Claude Julien did but he found a way to light a fire under his teams ass and watched them rip off 10 straight wins and points in 15 straight with their only non win point coming in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Western Conference leader Detroit Red Wings. That’s 29 out of a possible 30 points. Led by young sniper whiz kid Tyler Seguin and the league’s best goaltending tandem the Bruins found their stride and after dropping two in a row then won 7 more in a row. The Bruins have hit a little bit of a snag lately with some poor losses against some below par teams but have still been able to keep up the pace with the top team in the Eastern Conference: the New York Blueshirts.

Peter Chiarelli found a way to wrestle power and money away from the Jacobs family like no one has been able to before and he has rewarded the Hub of Hockey with one championship and a very real possibility of another one. The Bruins are loaded with young talent and depth up to wazoo not to mention the top goaltending tandem in hockey: Tuuka Rask and Tim Thomas. The Bruins already have a 20-goal scorer in Tyler Seguin and 4 other guys over 15 goals: Patrice Bergeron (15) Nathan Horton (17) Milan Lucic (19) Brad Marchand (19). With a reinvented power play (11^th in the league at 18.5%, thanks to Tyler Seguin channeling his inner Marc Savard and being able to control the halfwall), the usual amazing penalty killing (7^th in the NHL), a GAA of 2.2 (4^th), and a GFA of 3.4 (1^st) the Bruins are the envy of the NHL currently. On any given night Julien can move his ‘first line’ center David Krejci who has become more and more of a magician with the puck to the third line and bring defensive minded Chris Kelly up to the first line and still pull off a 4-1 win over the Southeast Conference leading Washington Capitals.

Defensively Julien’s system is better than ever and you can thank Big Z, Zdeno Chara, coupled with the emergence of Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuck, Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid teamed up with his amazing backstops for keeping the Bruins near the top of the league in GAA. The Bruins have depth for days and 3 very solid lines that can score at will and a 4^th line that is amazing at beating and battering the other teams top lines. All of this goes without mentioning the best reason why the Bruins have a very good chance of piecing back together New England’s broken hearts by making a run deep in the playoffs: the play of the Seguin-Bergeron-Marchand line. The Bruins second line has become one of the top 3 or 4 lines in the league and has been producing points at an unreal rate. In 51 games Bergeron has 46 points to lead the Bruins Seguin is a close second with 44 points and Marchand is pulling up the rear with 38 points. This line can shut down another teams top line while also putting a few goals up on the board what more can you ask for? The Bruins have a shot to repeat and win a title that New England feels it deserves after having the Super Bowl pulled from the grasp for the 2^nd time in 5 years.

There you have it folks a few reasons why there is a legitimate shot that either the Bruins or Celtics will be able to deliver a championship in June 2012. If I was a betting man I wouldn’t hesitate to throw a few bones the way of the Bruins and maybe even grab the Celtics if the odds were right because if things break their way you never know what a few old dogs might be able to pull off. Until we cross paths again.

Geoff Jablonski