The McClure Backlash and Future of Bobby Valentine

Let's recap, shall we? On the same day that the Red Sox decided they were shutting down Carl Crawford for the remainder of the season with Tommy John surgery, they fired their pitching coach, Bob McClure. Wait, what? The strange timing of this has me questioning why now, and is there more to this story?

For starters, I'll say that this was absolutely the right move given the under-performance of just about everyone in the starting rotation. Ben Cherington is right when he says that "it is a performance based job," and if you don't perform you don't keep your job, it's that simple. However, this move should have been done in June, not August. (This is why I don't think this was strictly performance-related, but given the slop that the pitchers have been tossing up to the dish all year, his methods clearly were ineffective and a firing was warranted.)

It is said that the baseball season can be broken up into 3 parts April and May to evaluate, June and July to add or subtract to the roster, and August and September to see if the moves you've made were good enough to play in October. Throughout the first two months of the season, the Red Sox had the worst starting staff in baseball and clearly whatever McClure was (or wasn't) doing was not conducive to winning or productive pitching. He should have gotten the axe then, which leads me to speculate further about the timing of this firing.

This is particularly appalling to me only because they have now committed to Assistant Pitching Coach Randy Niemann. (Quick Sidenote: Do you know how many other teams at the beginning of 2012 had an assistant pitching coach? That would be none, but I digress.) Usually committing to someone new after a just firing would not bother me, but the fact that they are promoting Niemann, whom is Bobby Valentine's "right-hand man", is striking me as an evaluation that could lead to letting Bobby Valentine stick around for another year.

Bobby Valentine was put into a no-win situation when he took this job. He had to take over for the most successful manager in Red Sox history, he wass thrust into a strange dictatorship (Larry Lucchino, emphasis on the dic), and a GM that did not want him to be hired. With that being said he has had too many missteps this year in my eyes to be the manager.

These missteps include but are not limited to:

• Not knowing whether opposing starting pitchers are left-right handed
• Not being transparent with injuries
• Calling out players before having enough time to cognitively evaluate (Think Kevin Youkilis)
• Blatantly lying when asked about the Middlebrooks "Nice Inning, Will" situation. (He told a story about himself making three errors in one inning on a seat cushion giveaway night at Dodger Stadium and tried to relate to his player. It turns out that he never made 3 errors in one game in his Major League career, nor did the Dodgers have a "seat cushion giveaway" night during his tenure in LA.)
• Letting Mark Melancon pitch in any game with a lead is almost a fire-able offense as said lead undoubtedly turns into a deficit.
• The kowtowing to players such as Josh Beckett after being critical (and rightly so) while being an analyst on ESPN in reference to the rate of play that he pitches at.

Let's be clear, he has done some positive while he's been here despite his divisive personality. By driving a wedge in his relationship with Youkilis ultimately leading to his departure, we have seen the rise of Will Middlebrooks as a legitimate Major League 3rd baseman and cornerstone of the franchise. His keen sense of evaluating talent did put Franklin Morales in the rotation where he has been electric at times and has excelled when most of the starting staff has floundered. Pedro Ciriaco may have also been given the chance he needed in order to be a starting SS for a big league club whom Valentine liked from the beginning of Spring Training.

I sincerely hope that the Niemann promotion is not a signal that they are committing to Bobby for 2013 and beyond, because I think that would be another mistake to throw on top of the roster full of underperforming players and anarchy in the front office.

Stay Tuned

Norton

Pre-Emptive Pussification of America

There are two schools of thought that have to be taken into account when assessing the Carl Crawford and Stephen Strasburg preemptive measures to capitalize on the value(s) of the certain players.

The forward thinking aspect:
Mike Rizzo (Nationals) and Ben Cherington (Red Sox) have the (un)fortunate job of trying to prognosticate for a baseball team. Not only do they have to try and forecast how good a player will be over the duration of a contract they have to try and maximize the values of the exorbitant contracts that are already in place.

With this predicament the Nationals have chosen to shut down Stephen Strasburg at 160 innings (albeit to preserve his long-term health/value to the franchise) despite leading the NL East and are destined for a playoff appearance, their first since becoming the Nationals re-branded the Expos franchise. In a slice from the same bread, the Red Sox have decided to shut down Carl Crawford so as to get ready for the beginning to 2013 because clearly 2012 is over for the Boys from Beantown.

If I'm the GM of these teams, this only seems to be the correct decision in one of these cases. You are taking player safety/health into account first and foremost and probably bolstering the long-term health of your club into consideration, which is admirable. However, given the circumstances I'm not positive how you can sell the Strasburg decision as a baseball mind to the rest of the team not to mention a fan base. This decision should have been based on overall health of the player involved and the standings at the time of the eclipsing of the innings limit.

With regards to Crawford, from a GM standpoint, it's the correct way to go. The Red Sox are facing an uphill battle that they will not win, and will not see October baseball this year. Therefore the correct decision is to have Crawford get the surgery. The one misstep is that they knew about this elbow issue as far back as April and tried to rehab him until now. Now there is a chance that he isn't ready for Opening Day 2013 where this is a 6-9 month recovery process for position players. Why was this not taken care of when it first came out instead of having the cat & mouse media game between Crawford, Valentine and Cherington?

The Ballplayer aspect:
If I'm a player on the Nationals I'm going absolutely bat-shit insane if they shut down Strasburg for the year at 160 innings. Most of the players on that team have never experienced the playoffs, and given the parity of the Major Leagues you never know if they will have that chance again. The Nationals have very capable number two and three starters in Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman but Strasburg is the epitome of what wins in the post season, Power Pitching.

If Stephen Strasburg is indeed fully healthy he would gain more respect in my book if he went to ownership/Rizzo and said, "Do not limit my innings, I'm healthy, I want to win a World Series."

I wonder how Scott Boras feels about this. On the one hand, he is the second most electric pitcher in baseball, and you should want to limit him one year out of surgery. But in the heat of a pennant race is where you can make buco bucks as far as cementing a legacy. And if what Rizzo says is true he won't be tested on the biggest of stages, at least not this year. My guess would be that Boras could care less about overall record rather than individual performance because he doesn't get more money when his players make the postseason.

In the case of Carl Crawford I think that this is the biggest example of the Pussification of America. As a player, your job is to play, unless you physically can not. This has had little or limited impact on his hitting ability so yes his arm will hurt after every game but he needs to keep his bat, legs and ass in the lineup. I am under no circumstances saying that his elbow does not hurt, I am however saying that if you are able to play, you play. If it means that instead of constantly overthrowing the SS you hit your cut-off man for the first time in 2 seasons than so be it.

I understand that his elbow has discomfort, but the whole notion of preemptive surgery is the biggest crock of garbage I've ever seen. That is like saying that you rolled your ankle once and now you need to put a brand new ankle there just because it hurts from time to time. If this were twitter I would say "#pussbag".

I understand that baseball is a business, but let's be honest here. He has a guaranteed 142 million dollar contract, does there really need to be that much more negotiating throughout his career? He has his money already bankrolled right in front of him, and if I were in the same situation I'd owe it to my teammates first and my fans second to go out there until I physically can not. Call me a hardass if you want, but one of the reasons that people enjoy all-time players like Dustin Pedroia and Derek Jeter is because they play through it. It's mind over matter and the numbers don't mean a thing. And when the numbers don't matter, at the end of the day, that's usually when there tends to be consistency in your stats at the end of your year/career.

Stay Tuned

Norton

Throw in the Towel and the Answer to Boston's Struggles

It's alright, I deserve it. There is no discernible reason for my sabbatical from Views from the Couch so if you need to give me whiplash from a verbal assault, kick me in the shin or anything in between I'm clearly fair game. I may have been on hiatus from the blog, but I was repping the VFC on NESN, and having Jenny Dell blow up my spot on Twitter.

There is good reason however for my re-entrance into the big leagues of blogging. When Will Middlebrooks had his wrist broken that was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back. The Red Sox are done. It's time to focus on 2013. That means there needs to be some changes on the team and questions that need to be answered:

Kelly Shoppach needs to be moved so that Lavarnway can have a spot on the team when if/when Ortiz comes back. (Quick Aside: When Ortiz got injured the first thing that came out of the Red Sox medical staff was 'maybe a week' we're now approaching two months. Couple that with the handling of Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Bailey's ridiculous rehab time and the conundrum of Carl Crawford, what kind of inept medical staff is in Boston?)

Why is Mike Aviles still on this team? The Red Sox are going no where fast and someone like the San Francisco Giants could use Aviles for their playoff push. Also, by either making Ciriaco your starting SS or calling up Iglesias for the rest of the season you give the fans a reason to come watch. (Another Aside: I realize that Ciriaco has been very solid but I would implore all of you to take him with a grain of salt. there's a reason that he's 26 and played for three organizations in the MLB. He's still a flash in the pan but I'd rather have him or Iglesias starting and deal Aviles).

Josh Beckett has to go. I've been pining for him to be traded since the end of last season and they dropped the ball. I can't remember the last time a player got booed off the mound in back to back starts at Fenway. Beckett right now is a shell of himself. At the beginning of last season he went on record saying, "Baseball isn't as important to me as it once was." I understand that priorities change when you become a parent, but that doesn't mean that I want that kind of player anchoring my pitching staff. It doesn't matter how much money you eat get this slug off the team.

While many things have contributed to the fall from grace of the Boston Red Sox I'd like to bring attention one thing. The atrocious display of defensive in-ability of Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He is one of the main reasons that this staff is not as good as it could/should be. I'm not trying to make excuses for the likes of Josh Beckett because his lack of physical preparation and dearth of perception in the Boston market is his own doing. But let's look at how "Salty" stacks up against his competition in the AL:

The first column is on average, over 135 games (the average number of games catchers play per year) how many runs he saves while he's on the field. He statistically gives up 8 runs over the course of a season, the worst in all of baseball. The next closest is Carlos Santana whom is coming back from a leg injury last season and is probably going to be a full-time first baseman soon. A player like Derek Norris is saving the upstart A's 12 runs per year with his play. While it may be too much to ask for an Elite catcher, would it be too much to one that at least doesn't give up any runs over the course of a season?

The second column is pretty self-explanatory but I'd like it to be known that the 18% of runners thrown out is the worst in the American League. Not only is it the worst in the American League it is also the worst in baseball among starting catchers. Furthermore, he is ranked 66 out of 80 with most of the rest of the 14 behind him being back up catchers or guys that split time.

Catcher ERA is a relatively new stat that combines all the pitchers they work with and gives them an ERA as well. His was the third highest, and is behind a 2nd year catcher (Perez) and Ryan Doumit whom has one of the worst staffs in baseball. This stat obviously is a little bloated because of the tremendously down years of Beckett and Lester however the Red Sox bullpen has by and large exceeded expectations. The inflated ERA would lead me to believe that pitch selection/"game-calling" is not one of his strengths. And before you say it, Yes, it's ultimately up to the pitcher but if the hurler has no confidence in the backstop it's not going to work.

Much like the Catcher ERA stat he has also given up the 3rd most runs while on the field. Once again this is aided by the horrific seasons by Beckett, Lester and Bard, but still giving up 5 runs a game when you're on the field is not a good recipe for success at the big league level.

Offensively the career high in home runs are great but the strike outs will also be a career high and if you look at his "clutch" stats they are pretty abysmal.

By all accounts he's a good teammate and solid person, but the Red Sox not only need a revamp in the rotation but they need to hand the reigns over to Lavarnway, because Saltalamacchia is not cutting the mustard.

Stay Tuned

Norton

The 'Dwightmare' Fallout

Hello all! I've missed you dearly. It took the conclusion of 'The Dwightmare' to bring me out of my blogging coma, and I solemnly swear to you that I am back and fully rejuvenated. Oh and yes, you read that correctly it is ALL OVER (pending league approval). This may come as a shot below the belt to most of Celtics Nation, but Dwight Howard is headed to Hollywood. Four teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers have agreed in principle to a trade that will look as follows:

Lakers receive: Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark

76ers receive: C Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson
Nuggets receive: G/F Andre Iguodala
Magic receive: PF Al Harrington, SG Aaron Afflalo, SG Mo Harkless, PF/C Nikola Vucevic and three protected first round draft picks

Winners: Lakers, Nuggets and Sixers

Lakers - The Lakers get the NBA's best center in Dwight Howard who hasn't even entered the prime of his career yet to add another link to the chain of franchise changing big men the organization has garnered over the years. Starting in the early years with George Mikan, moving on to Wilt Chamberlain, then Kareem Abdul Jabbar followed later by Shaquille O'Neal and now Mr. Howard. 

Dwight will bring his expert defensive prowess (three time defensive player of the year), along with a bevy of jaw dropping dunks and still improving post moves to the Lakers front court. He'll be paired with finesse Spaniard and fellow seven footer Pau Gasol down low which will form one of the best big man duos in the league for years to come. 

Not to mention that two-time MVP and multiple time all-star point guard Steve Nash has been added to this team as well. The Lakers have put together one of the most impressive off seasons in recent memory and granted he re-signs with them after this season, will surely be one of the top three teams in the NBA for the next few years. They also still have that Kobe Bryant guy.

Lakers Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Steve Nash
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Metta World Peace
PF: Pau Gasol
C: Dwight Howard

Nuggets - The Nuggets acquire well rounded all-star swingman Andre Iguodala in the deal. He replaces Aaron Afflalo and will bring elite defensive and athletic ability, unique slashing and scoring and unselfish leadership that the youthful but promising Nuggets need. Adding Iggy will give them a very well balanced and extremely athletic team that can score and defend anywhere on the floor. It's a tough crowd out west but this trade improves them greatly and in my opinion makes them one of the top five teams in the Western Conference.

Nuggets Projected  Starting Lineup:

PG: Ty Lawson
SG: Andre Iguodala
SF: Wilson Chandler
PF: Kenneth Faried
C: JaVale McGee

Sixers - They add talented center Andrew Bynum to their front court who is a huge replacement over Spencer Hawes at the position. They also receive veteran sharp shooter Jason Richardson in the deal who will provide veteran leadership and scoring depth at the guard position. Bynum is regarded by most as the second best center in the NBA, so this is no small acquisition for the franchise, as he will be something they can build around for years to come. He'll provide a desperately needed scoring threat in the post, along with superb defense and rebounding. The Sixers already were one of the best up and coming young teams in the league and this trade further cements that fact.

Sixers Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Evan Turner/Nick Young/Jason Richardson
SF: Thaddeus Young
PF: Elton Brand
C: Andrew Bynum

Losers: Orlando Magic

In July, the Orlando Magic rejected the Brooklyn Nets more than generous offer of top five center Brook Lopez, power forward and reality television maven Kris Humphries (who has an attractive expiring $9.6 mil contract), second year scoring threat Marshon Brooks and four unprotected first round picks for Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark. More than enough compensation to build a solid future around, no? This would have given the Magic a very promising foundation to build upon for the next five-ten years. Needless to say, they rejected the offer.

Fast forward to last night, in which the hapless Magic agreed, for reasons unknown (maybe they hate their franchise and fans), to a deal that nets them aging and declining, shoot-first, undersized veteran power forward Al Harrington, sixth man Aaron Afflalo, rookie Mo Harkless, second year big man Nikola Vucevic and THREE PROTECTED first round picks. For those of you who don't know much about the NBA, the first package offered by the Nets was 244x better than the package they agreed to last night. The agreed upon deal leaves Orlando with a mash-up of cast off players, a couple young players with potential and three first rounders that have security clauses attached to them.

Magic Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Jameer Nelson
SG: JJ Redick
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
PF: Andrew Nicholson
C: Glen Davis

The professional basketball future in Disney World looks grim. If I'm a Magic fan I would be looking to take my allegiance elsewhere because they are just a horribly run franchise. The Dwight Howard situation has been one of the most poorly handled disputes in NBA history by both parties involved and I for one, and I think I speak for many when I say this, am genuinely glad its over.

I'm back in the saddle again folks.

Stay classy.

-ZHawk

Celtics Take A Flyer on Jared Sullinger, Bulging Dicks And All

In last Thursday's NBA Draft the Celtics went big grabbing Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and Syracuse's Fab(ulously bad student)Melo. Im a fan of both these picks by the Green and really love the fact that they got top 10 talent in the form of Sullinger with the 21st overall pick. How did Sullinger go from a sure fire top 7 pick to number 21 you ask? Being diagnosed with herniated discs (or bulging dicks right Andy Katz?) a few weeks before the draft will do that to you as will an inability to elevate more than 3 inches off the ground. Why am I excited about an undersized big with bulging discs in his back? Because the guy has a legit low post game that he honed at OSU and in the words of Jay Bilas, 'he flat out knows how to play and win.'

Though I'm all aboard the Sullinger bandwagon I'm not too blinded by elation to admit that yes Sullinger has some flaws in his game. For one thing his style of play is better suited for domination in the collegiate game than the NBA game. Due to his lack of vertical ups Sullinger had to, out of necessity, develop a strong inside game with a nice repertoire of moves that would make Kevin 'The Slippery Eel' McHale proud. Sullinger was able to use brute strength to power through college defenders in the NBA that's not an option because there are 2 or 3 guys stronger than him on every team. Sullinger's a tad undersized (6'9"), a little soft in the belly (something I noticed watching his pre draft workout videos. You can see his shirt jiggle a little when he runs around), and he has health concerns. What Sullinger does have going for him is that in 2 years at Ohio State he was a two-time first time All American so he knows how to play the game of basketball a little bit. He knows how to put the ball in the hoop and for 2 years in college he learned how to do it against taller opponents, albeit not stronger, but taller guys with more ups and longer wingspan than he brings to the party. Those are the attributes along with his ability to bring toughness to the interior are why the Celtics did the right thing in taking a flyer on him at the 21st overall pick.

With the NBA being a star driven league most picks outside of the lottery don't end up making too much of a difference so if the Celtics are lucky enough to have Sullinger's back stay healthy and get a good 20 minutes out of him a game where he scoops up some boards and plays tough defense then I consider that a win in my book. If Sullinger can come along nicely during 'accelerated rookie camp' and show that he can contribute right away it allows the Celtics to look into moving another undersized forward who can rebound like an animal in Brandon Bass for a draft pick or possibly another piece to the puzzle.

One last thing on Sullinger, I don't think the comparisons to Kevin Love are inaccurate in any way shape or form. The basis being that coming out of college people though that Kevin Love looked better than he was against inferior college opponents and that he was too unathletic to make it in the league. Kevin Love is a stud and he's always been a stud just watch him play the game of basketball and you can see he's thinking two or three plays ahead of everyone else. Sullinger is no where near that level of player and though I like the kid I'm not putting him in the same ballpark as Love.

After selecting Sullinger out of Ohio State with the 21st pick in the draft the Celtics were fortunate enough to also possess the 22nd pick and grabbed Syracuse big man and academic failure Fab Melo. You know the guy who rose to prominence by flunking off the Orange right before the NCAA tournament sending them from tourney favorite to Elite Eight participant? Yeah, that guy. Fortunately for the Celtics they could care less about his grades and much more about the fact that he's a legit 7 footer who can protect the rim night in and night out. Personally, I'm always a fan of taking a big guy with the potential to be a legitimate shot blocker for years to come.

Last year at Syracuse, Fabricio Paulino de Melo of Brazil averaged 7.8 pts, 5.8 rebounds, and the number that concerns the Celtics 2.9 blocks. Offensively, Melo is far from polished but remember this is a guy who's only been playing basketball since he moved to the States 4 years ago. Plus the Celtics don't need him to score points all they need from him is the ability to guard the 5 and allow Garnett to go back to his comfort zone at the 4. The C's have been looking for someone to take pressure off of Garnett and let him slide back to the 4 for a couple years now with the failed experiments being namely Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal. As long as Melo can adjust to playing man to man defense instead of camping out in the paint Syracuse style I think the Celtics have found themselves a big competent of playing 15-20 minutes a game while collecting a few rebounds and turning away a few shots on the weak side.

Having numbers 21 and 22 in the NBA Draft reeks of guys who never pan out in the league but Mr. Danny Ainge has a pretty good track record of hitting on more than he misses when it comes to late first and early secound round picks. I liked that the Celtics took a good look at themselves in the mirror and realized that their best chance to win and win now was to draft big guys with the potential to play some minutes off the bench right from the get go. I don't know if Sullinger and Melo have enough power to hoist the Celtics to the top of the NBA heap but I do know that I like their odds better than the likes of Jermaine Cunningham and others drafted in the 20's.

For your viewing pleasure Andy Katz affectionately referring to Jared Sullinger's 'herniated discs' diagnosis as a diagnosis of 'bulging dicks' for the big fella.

Geoff Jablonski