Beantown Sports Guys

Alex Gonzalez our answer at Short

It appears that Alex Gonzalez will be our Opening Day starter at shortstop. He may not be a highly productive hitter, but he's excellent defensively, and that will be a bigtime upgrade over Rent-A-Error from last year. We've dealt with guys who are great defensively before who were less than productive at the plate (ie: Bellhorn, Olerud, Mientkiewicz), and that always panned out pretty well for us given we have so many other great hitters. Thinking of our infield lineup late in a game gives me goosebumps:

Lowell at 3rd
Gonzalez at Short
Loretta at 2nd
Snow at 1st

That's pretty ballsy. That's some serious defense. Normally I don't get excited about defense, but sometimes its all you can get excited about when it comes to signing certain players that are there to fill holes. The deal will supposedly be only a 1 year, $3 million contract, which is great for when we want to bring Dustin Pedroia up and move him back to short where he has played most of his life.

Overall, I think it's great for the team to have our team intact right now. We can move Wells now and go after a 1B prospect or something we don't need now and can develop. That would be a decent move I think. Any numbers Alex gives us are a bonus as far as I am concerned, and perhaps Fenway will be a bit friendlier to him than Florida has been. We shall see soon enough.

Martz would be great for Motown

I just finished reading Peter King's MQB article this week, and wholeheartedly agree with him about how Matt Millen would make the greatest move in his 5 years if he made Mike Martz his head coach or Offensive Coordinator. I'm not a huge fan for Martz, but the man knows football. Detroit has a decent defense that definitely needs a lot of work, but their offense could help make up the gap there I think.

Peter said, "I think Mike Martz will be the best hire Matt Millen has made in five years. Assuming it gets done-- and I hear Martz is enthused about the job -- whoever plays quarterback for the Lions in 2006 is going to be the happiest man on the face of the earth after one minicamp with Martz."

Joey Harrington has the skills to succeed in the NFL. As a starter? I think so, but he needs someone like Martz to intervene RIGHT NOW or he will soon be a backup (and a good one at that). If Joey can't be the leader, I honestly think that Dan Orlovsky from UConn should get a shot. He's a big kid and has the skills. I think Jeff Garcia is just old as hell and his body is telling him that as I write this. Joey and Dan fit the bill for what Martz is looking for. With the wide receivers Detroit has, there is no reason why they shouldn't score at least 30 points a game. Look at Arizona with Boldin and Fitzgerald. Both over 100 catches, both over 1000 yards each this season. With Martz, Detroit could do that.

Mark my words: If Detroit grabs Martz, they get a great Defensive Coordinator, they could be the Colts in a couple years. I know it sounds crazy, but they could be. Think about it: Harrison, Stokley, Wayne vs. Roy Williams, Mike Williams, and Charlie Rogers. Roy Williams is about where Harrison was a few years ago, Mike Williams could easily be as good as Reggie Wayne, and Charlie Rogers (if he can stay healthy) will be even better than Stokley. Kevin Jones is a similar back to that of Edgerrin James. The only big question is Harrington vs. Manning. He has the skills to become above average, but I doubt he will be as good as Manning. If Martz can put those pieces together, I think they could be a perrenial playoff team.

But we'll see. Matt Millen is probably the dumbest guy in the NFL bar none, so I'm sure he'll screw this up somehow.

Is Coco a little loco?

I haven't had a chance to update much lately, but now I have some time. First off, I'm ecstatic about the Sox getting Coco Crisp. He's young and has tremendous upside. He switch hits, bats leadoff, and has wonderful speed. People can't help but compare him to Johnny, but I'll do my best not to. I was reading the Globe today and Theo summed up my thoughts quite nicely.

"I think it's fair to say we wouldn't have given up [Andy] Marte for any player with one or two years of control. But to get four years of control [Crisp doesn't become a free agent until after the 2009 season] and a player the caliber of Coco Crisp going into his prime, that softens the blow a little for giving up Andy Marte. What we're trying to do is have controllable players in their primes.

"It's not often you get someone for ages 26, 27, 28, 29 who we think will be above average offensively and defensively who has plus makeup."

A lot of Sox fans were worried about giving up Marte, but you need to give something to get something. I deal with that whenever I play fantasy sports. There is always someone who tries to pawn off their garbage player for your perennial All-Star. Just looking at my tradedesk sometimes enrages me. Don't waste my time, and from the sounds of it, the Sox and Indians worked hard to make this work.

Once we acquired Coco, he sounded off to the Boston media (again, from the Globe):

"I love the game. I play hard. I'm not afraid to run into a wall and get hurt, go all out. That's the type of player they love in Boston. I believe that was the type of player Johnny [Damon] was and why he was so successful. He'll run into walls. If it takes running into walls, that's what I'll do."

Awesome. I love the attitude, confidence, and extreme sense of moxy. He will do just fine in Beantown, and I can't wait to see him in the uniform. Some people liken his arm to that of Johnny's noodle of an arm, but others have said he is getting stronger and gets the ball out of his glove very quickly. Regardless of whether he can get it to the cutoff man faster or not, you can't get everything in a player sometimes and I think Coco fits the bill.

Like McDonald's, I'm lovin' it.

The stage for Superbowl XL is set: Awful day for anyone named Jake

It's a bitter pill I have to swallow, but after watching Denver get dismantled by the Steelers I couldn't help but think the Patriots should have done that to the Broncos and played the AFC Championship game in Foxboro. I'm not saying the Patriots would have beaten the Steelers, but I think they would have at least put up a fight, unlike Denver.

The season for the Broncos is over, and just like the Patriots, they'll need to fill one of their Coordinator positions, more specifically, their offensive coordinator who has been at Mile High for the last 11 years. Gary Kubiak is expected to accept the head coaching job in Houston by the end of the week, and I think it's a great move for him. Kubiak is the reason why Denver has had 1000 yard rushers for God knows how long. He is the reason why Denver's O-line has been so successful, implementing a zone blocking scheme that seems to free up massive holes for their rushers to gain chunks of yardage at will. I think he will definitely grab Reggie Bush, and just teach his O-line how to block again for him and David Carr.

That said, I think the Steelers did an amazing job with their blitz packages and pressuring Plummer all day long. It just seemed overall that the Steelers wanted it more. At the end of the game when Plummer still had time to lead them back he was using the entire playclock and showed no sense of urgency. That is the difference between a winner and a loser. Maybe now Jake will actually shave his beard and cut his hair. He looked awful. Granted, Johnny Damon's beard and hair were pretty crazy, but at least he wasn't unkempt looking, his beard was trimmed and his hair had that Pantene Pro-V shine to it. Jake looked like he was on a 2 week bender and forgot what a shower and razor were.

The Seattle Seahawks were amped from the moment Carolina ran onto the field, which brings me to a side tangent: Carolina introduced themselves as a team. Funny how the Patriots were the first team ever to do that, and now everyone copies them. They can't even be original. From that moment on I knew they were doomed.

Ok, I knew they were doomed way before that, but it sounds funnier when I say it that way.

No, I knew they were doomed when Foster broke his leg last week. I knew Nick Goings was a decent backup, but there was no way he was going to be able to run on the Seahawks. Before I knew it he was knocked out of the game for good with a concussion it looked like and all of a sudden that offense got crazily one dimensional. Steve Smith was being covered by 3 and sometimes 4 different guys at the same time. Delhomme had no time to throw the ball to him because his O-line forgot how to block. Delhomme didn't do what his team needed him to do and that was open the field up. He needed to get Carter more involved or even Proehl. He didn't do that and kept going back to Smith. That is what really doomed them, Delhomme's inability to change his gameplan on the fly, and that is ultimately what cost them a trip to Detroit.

Personally, I hate Jake Delhomme. There's this snooty confidence about him I just don't like. It was funny to see his QB rating at a whopping 1.5, especially when compared to Hasselbeck's 128. As soon as they flashed that on the screen Jake threw another pick.

It just wasn't a good day if your name was Jake. Both QBs had terrible days and just couldn't adjust and move their team on to the next level. It doesn't matter to me, as I picked the Steelers and the Seahawks to matchup in Detroit. I want to pick the Steelers to win it, but I think Seattle has a great offense and a very solid defense that comes up with some big plays. Then again, the Steelers have an amazing defense, and have not let one running back rush for 100 yards in a game since I can remember. But can Shaun Alexander show them how it's done? Can he break that record? Personally, I think he can, and I think he will. But hey, I don't predict for a living, and my last two picks of the Patriots beating Denver and USC beating Texas went out the window, so who knows.

Now begins the crappy two week period of waiting for the Big Game. Thank God I have plans for this weekend already.

Conference Championships Set

The Patriots are home, and planning for next year. I have an empty feeling in my stomach, not really caring who makes it to the Superbowl. I'll still watch it, but it won't be the same, as I've been able to root for one of my teams since 2000 (the Bucs being my NFC team). I think the AFC and NFC Championship games will be watchable, but nothing spectacular. I taped the Steelers/Colts and Panthers/Bears games and watched both live. Good games, unlike the Broncos/Patriots game.

Everyone knows you can't lose the turnover battle and win games. The awful taste in my mouth is there because of the way the Patriots gave it away. A kicker/punter causing a fumble? A 100 yard INT return? A blatantly blown Pass Interference call people are still talking about today? A muffed punt return from a 13 year vet? If this game was played 99 more times I'd bet everything I had that it would never happen this way again. But it did, and that is the end of the 10 game playoff unbeaten streak for Brady and Belichick together. Knowing the Patriots, this will make them stronger. Rodney Harrison will be back next year and lead us back to the Promise Land, with or without Defensive Coordinator Eric Mangini, which brings me to another point:

Why the hell does the NFL allow any team to interview coaches and fill vacancies? They just changed the rule that prohibited playoff team coaches from speaking and interviewing with teams for coaching positions. This is horrible in so many ways. Winning teams make the playoffs, so why hurt those teams by allowing for that to be a distraction during the most important time of the year? Why didn't they take note of what MLB did and have it set so no team can talk to anyone until after the season is over? That way you don't have a 1-15 team filling a coaching vacancy with a coach from a team that was 15-1, but had to take time out and interview. It's terrible and awful for the league.

My Patriots cap goes off to the Steelers for beating down the Colts. I was rooting for them, and being a diehard Pats fan, that wasn't as tough as I'd thought, mainly because I hate the Colts even worse than the Black and Gold. The refs almost bailed the Colts out, God knows they tried to. Again, a Pass Interference call that probably cost the Steelers at least 3 points, but at that point of the game, it was probably 7 points. Nick Harper dragged the guy down and there was nothing called. That would have put the Steelers up 21-0, and I don't care how potent the Colts offense is, that would easily have been the nail in the coffin with that Steelers defense.

The play of the game was Big Ben making the game saving tackle on Nick Harper as he picked up Jerome Bettis' fumble and tried running it back almost 90 yards for the TD  that would have won the game.

The player of the game was Troy Polamalu. He was everywhere, he was constantly giving Manning some crazy blitzes or coverages or laying all out to deflect a pass or make an interception. It was a travesty seeing Troy's INT of Manning (which he promptly fumbled and then recovered) be taken away by the refs. Not only was I shocked the ref overturned the call on the field, but I was appalled at his explaination of why he was overturning the call. If he looked at it at all, he would have seen that Troy had possession of the football, rolled over two or three times (making a "football move") and went to stand up and knocked it out of his arm with his own knee. What the hell. If he had just stayed on the ground, the ref wouldn't have had a shot to try to blow the game for them. Unbelievable.

The best part of the game I think was when Vanderjagt missed the game tying field goal. They showed Tony Dungy and he quietly said "He missed it....".

They show Bill Cowher and he says, "He MISSED it!"

They pan back to Manning and he almost laughs and just says, "He missed it...??"

The best shot of all was when they showed Bettis and he jumped up and down and said, "HE MISSED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So damn funny. So damn funny.

It's amazing the Bears gave up 29 points at home in one game, after going the entire season only giving up 61 total. They hung tough, they just couldn't score enough to win it. Their defense wasn't doing what it did all season. At one point they missed a total of 13 tackles, and they couldn't stop backup RB Nick Goings after Deshaun Foster broke his ankle, and Steve Smith was off the charts with 12 catches for 218 yards and 2 TDs. Simply amazing. With a quick striking offense like the Panthers and the same with the Seahawks, the NFC Championship game is fleshing out to be a big time offensive battle, while the AFC Championship game looks like it is about to be a defensive battle. We'll see, since both the Broncos and the Steelers have an offense that can put it together, great running games, and some great WRs.

We'll see how it goes, I'm thinking the Steelers will shutdown the Broncos, while the Seahawks will win a close one against the Panthers. But don't take my word for it. I've been wrong before (see the Patriots) and I'll be wrong again. It's fun to break it all down and see if you're right though. All I know is it is going to be a fun weekend of football.

Brady's Bunch

Everyone has been hyping the Patriots up lately. The bandwagon is full.

"Brady and Belichick are 10-0 in the playoffs together."

"The Patriots were without 6 key starters when they last played the Broncos."

"The Patriots have the best run defense in the league in the last 8 games, the Bronco running game has no shot."

It seems like the other shoe is about to drop...right?!?

I can't see how they would lose, jumping all over the facts (read: hype) because numbers don't lie. I do know that whoever has the least turnovers will win the game for sure.

Both have QBs with a 90+ QB rating.

Both teams have great defenses.

Both have game breaking WRs and RBs.

The coaching matchup is a dream for lovers of the Offensive Coach vs. the Defensive Coach matchup. Last time that happened in the playoffs (aside from the Superbowl) Belichick dismantled the Colts' mighty offense. Can they do it against the Broncos? I think they can, and I think they will. I don't think it will be easy, but I think they will take care of business tomorrow at Mile High.

On a slight side note, it was funny listening to the Boston talk radio this week as the radio guys out in Denver gave the fans out their the phone number for WEEI to send them to talk smack to us. Although I don't agree with a lot of the Boston based fans on all of their views, they make much better arguments, have facts to back them up, and at least put together a coherant thought. The chump fans from Denver that called in did a great disservice to their fellow fans out in the Rockie Mountain State. It almost made me proud of the ranting and frothing at the mouth fans from Beantown. Ok...it did.

In the end, this is Brady's team to lead on offense and everything he does will dictate how the game goes and whether the Patriots are planning for the Steelers or Colts next week or booking their tee times. If I were a betting man, I'm going with Brady and his playoff experience to take us back to the Promise Land.

Snow in April

The Red Sox inked 6-time Gold Glover winner J.T. Snow to a 1 year deal. Signed primarily as a defensive cornerman, it's an awesome move for the Sox. It's not a huge move, but one that gives them some flexibility throughout the year. Much like how the Sox have done for years past when they signed guys like Tony Clark, Doug Mientkiewicz, and John Olerud, they got an even better defensive man in Snow. He'll split time with Kevin Youkilis and possibly Mike Lowell who may play there.

It's refreshing to have a signing like this after the offseason we've had thusfar. Hopefully we can get a shortstop and a centerfielder now.

Or is that asking too much?

A Change of Heart for Manny?

Manny Ramirez has once again changed his mind. Manny being Manny I guess and something right at first, most of us could have obviously predicted to happen eventually given enough time. 

Manny spoke with a reporter from ESPN Deportes while in the Dominican yesterday and here is what he had to say about all this trade talk: ''There will be no trade, I'm staying in Boston, where I'm familiar with the system and where I have a lot of friends, especially David Ortiz."

So Manny has now split many Sox fans loyalties to him. Some like myself could really care less over all this fuss of him making demands only to change his mind or his quirks like not running out ground balls to the fullest or taking some days off. I can live with all this knowing he’ll put up some of the best individual statistics for any player on any team in the league. That is a big part of why the Sox have been winning lately and that 1-2 killer punch of Ortiz and Manny is fearsome to other teams pitchers. Other fans have become tired of his actions. Tired of constantly hearing his nonsense. Tired of not giving it his all 24-7. So if Manny does stay now, he’ll have to win back many fans who have been ripping him hard recently. Of course, as we all know, his first clutch hit this season to win a game, and those same people will forget all this garbage and get back on the Manny bandwagon cheering him on.

So now let’s get to the real heart of this matter. And that is at least Manny is finally doing the correct thing here. For make no mistake, his comments and demands have really put the Sox management in a tough situation in attempting to deal him for fair value. Either way now, we either keep Manny, which is good or maybe the Oriole’s will realize the Sox do NOT NEED to trade Manny to keep him happy. Enough of Baltimore’s ridiculous demands of more players on top of Manny for Tejada! Nevermind the cash and prospects, but if I were the Sox now, I would also take Clement off the table in their offer now. If a Manny straight up for Tejada were to go through? Hey, I’ll take that also even though I like Manny. But at least now the Sox can play the trade-offer game without having their hands tied behind their backs. So the future is at least looking a bit better this morning knowing we should at least have either Manny or Tejada this coming season and the Sox won’t be victims of Baltimore’s extortion attempts.

Now let’s get real crazy and keep Manny and STILL try to get Tejada from those dummies!!! Offer up Clement, Trot Nixon, and that prospect Marte and see if they bite on that. Or Arroyo? For Tejada, with also keeping Manny and Ortiz? That would be worth it! OK, back to reality, it’ll never happen, but that’s a nice dream.

Are the Oriole's on CRACK???!!!

So here the Sox are, in their third or so week engulfed in trade talks and rumors still about this Manny for Tejada deal.  Nobody wants to really see Manny go, but if he absolutely has to, then getting Tejada sounded pretty sweet and as close as they would expect to get for fair value in return.

Then the O's balked at Manny straight up for Tejada.  They wanted some pitching if they were going to unload Tejada.  So the Sox sweetened the deal by throwing in Matt Clement.  Clement is hardly a slouch and is a proven pitcher in this league having just been an all-star this past year.  He's a solid #2/#3 type pitcher for any teams rotation.  He possesses great stuff. 

When I first heard this offer, I thought that was a bit much to give up for Tejada, whose numbers simply compared to Manny's are a step-down in production.  Manny is the best hitter in the game right now and has been for a number of years.  So to also give up Clement who we just signed to a decent deal last season was going to hurt a bit, but I think most Sox fans would have been OK with it and knew we had to make the deal to accommodate Manny and get him out of here.  So back to when I first heard it announced, I expected this deal to become official by the end of that day!  To me, that was a no-brainer for the Orioles.

Once again, the birds balked at this offer.  They now wanted some cash thrown in to help ease the salary difference, since they would be taking on much more money than the Sox in the deal.  And rumor had it that the Sox did in fact sweeten the deal again to include some cash.

Now the O's are saying that offer is not good enough.  Supposedly now the O's ALSO want one of our stud minor league pitching prospects in either Papelbon or Lester.  I believe the Sox re-affirmed that those two young arms are untradeable.  To which Baltimore then came back and wanted our top prospect Andy Marte thrown in instead.  Seriously are they on crack????  Do they think the Sox are that stupid?  They are really trying to milk the Sox for all this is worth and this is now getting to the point where the Sox should just throw the O's their middle finger and say a big F-U.  Seriously, if that is what we need to give up to accommodate Manny's request, then I say let Manny sit out spring training and if he wants to play in April, great.  If not, well then Manny, you lose $20 mil this year for sitting out being a dummy.  There is no way the Sox should give up any of their prospects on top of already 2 all-star proven players AND cash!!!! 

C'mon, this is getting ridiculous now!!!

Rose Bowl

I don't have a lot of time to post but I wanted to get this down before I leave for the Celtics game:

USC IS GOING TO BEAT DOWN TEXAS

I'm not a huge USC fan, but I can tell they have the talent and the coaching to beat Texas. Defense is the difference. Who will contain Vince Young? If they can shut him down, Texas could lose by more than 3 TDs. Yes, he has a gun for an arm. Yes, he can move and make throws when he is out of the pocket. But USC has a good secondary and their Defensive line will know how to stop him.

I think USC wins 34-20.