Who is the Red Sox catcher of the future?

During the 2010 Red Sox spring training, there were open discussions regarding a contract extension for Victor Martinez. Many speculated that the catcher slash first baseman might sign an extension. When asked in February, Victor told the Boston Herald that he wants to remain in Boston. And his agent, Alan Nero of Octagon, told Gordon Edes of ESPN that even though he wants to stay, the Red Sox must pay him to stay. Martinez wants to be paid as a catcher. But do the Sox want him as a catcher?

As a catcher, Martinez has thrown out approximately 23% of base runners, below the average of 30%. In 2008, he did catch 37% of potential base stealers, but only 22 stolen bases were attempted against him, by far the lowest. In 2010, he is beginning the year in a 1 for 12 slump.

Defensively speaking, Martinez is not a very good catcher. The Sox feeling is that he might have one or two years left as a starting catcher and they are looking for him to become their 1B/DH. Very few teams will give a 32 year old catcher a large, multi-year contract. But Martinez wants to be paid as a catcher. Negotiations will become tense, for sure.

The Red Sox have no potential starting catchers in their minor league system. Dusty Brown is not the answer. They gave up the rights to George Kottaras and Milwaukee quickly (in minutes) plucked him off the waiver wire. Former farmhand Kelly Shoppach was recently traded to the Tampa Bay Rays and the Sox certainly could have used his services. Shoppach for Crisp – what a trade!

Moving forward, Martinez wants to catch and the Sox want him at first base. While negotiations will be honest, they will not be fruitful. Victor Martinez should sign with another team once his $7.7M contract expires at years’ end. Then who will the Sox sign to catch?

Gary Tanguy Fired from Sports Hub!

There is a God!

A lot of times it seems like the inevitable is, well, inevitable. Sometimes the inevitable takes a lot longer than anticipated. On Friday, April 2nd, 2010, the inevitable arrived for Gary “Muffay” Tanguay. The beleaguered mid-day radio host of Tanguay and Zolak was fired from his cushy gig at the Sports Hub, Boston’s number one sports radio station (opinion, not fact). Tang Gay is now free to beat the meat with Pete “the meat” Shephard, who is also unemployed after being tanked by WEEI recently.

Tanguay will be replaced by Andy Gresh, which is the equivalent of going from a 1972 Ford Pinto to a 2002 pickup. Sports Hub program director Mike Thomas was irked that the story was leaked by brain dead intern Courtney Fallon, whose career in the Boston sports scene is over before it started. What a tool! She was ordered to remove the Tweets within the hour. She was also told to head directly to Mass General for a complete brain scan.

Although this can’t be verified, it is being reported that Scott Zolak, his former partner, is ecstatic that Tanguy has been replaced by his old friend Gresh. It isn’t that Zolak has refused comment; he just can’t stop laughing long enough to speak coherently. A going away party is being planned by the staff of the Sports Hub but it isn’t known if Tanguay has been invited.

Chad Finn, a paid blogger for the Boston Globe, (who closely resembles a middle-aged lesbian I once knew), wrote that Tanguay was devastated by the fact he was fired. Really? He received this information from a second brilliant Tweet from Fallon. (http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2010/04/03/tanguay_out_at_985_fm/ )

Apparently, Tanguay didn’t see this coming, but no one is surprised. Listeners tuned out months ago. His constant yells of “Jesus” and “Christ” on the air ruffled the feathers of many, including his superiors. His ignorance was clear. His character was weak.

His lack of vision became evident during his infamous broadcasts of college football games for Comcast SportsNet. During one college football game in 2009, Tanguay reported to viewers that it was third and short. Andy Gresh, who was his analyst, corrected him and told him it was third and eight. Unbelievable! During the same game, he reported the first two point interception in football history! Historic! After a UMaine football game, he reported that the head coach of the Black Bears bled green, even though the school colors are blue and white. Moronic! And when he reported that a team was going for it on fourth down, Gresh once again corrected him and told Tanguay that the team was actually punting the football. Brilliant! My question is what took so long in getting rid of this clown? Even though he is close to fifty years old and grew up in New England, he knows absolutely nothing about New England sports.

Best of luck, Gary, as you will need it.

What has happened to the New England Patriots?

What has happened to this team? What has happened to Bill Belichick? And Tom Brady? Brady is 5-4 over his last nine playoff games. During a playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Raven players caught three passes – from Brady. QB Joe Flacco only completed an additional 4 to Raven receivers! Seven completions, with 4 coming from the right quarterback. To put that in perspective, hours later, Arizona Cardinal QB Kurt Warner completed 29 of 33 pass attempts. He had more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4). Warner almost had the same amount of incompletions to his receivers as Brady had completions to Raven players! This is not your fathers Patriots team. Yesterday, they were beat bad, like boys against men.

During the week leading up to the game, Belichick praised the season of Derrick Burgess. This resulted in snide comments and head shaking from the rest of the defensive corps as Burgess was the last guy BB should praise. Burgess was a no-show during the Ravens game, even though BB told us he thrived against the run. The Ravens ran for close to 250 yards of 50 plus carries. Do the math.

Bridge year has become a dreaded term in New England. Was the 2009 Patriot season a bridge year? I think not, as BB signed a bunch of mid-thirty has-beens, like Fred Taylor and Shawn Springs. This is a team with no clear direction, no firm leadership, and a lack of commitment (and talent) from the coaching staff. The Patriots resemble the St. Louis Rams, not a former champion. Pathetic.

What has happened to the New England Patriots?

What has happened to this team? What has happened to Bill Belichick? And Tom Brady? Brady is 5-4 over his last nine playoff games. During a playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Raven players caught three passes – from Brady. QB Joe Flacco only completed an additional 4 to Raven receivers! Seven completions, with 4 coming from the right quarterback. To put that in perspective, hours later, Arizona Cardinal QB Kurt Warner completed 29 of 33 pass attempts. He had more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4). Warner almost had the same amount of incompletions to his receivers as Brady had completions to Raven players! This is not your fathers Patriots team. Yesterday, they were beat bad, like boys against men.

During the week leading up to the game, Belichick praised the season of Derrick Burgess. This resulted in snide comments and head shaking from the rest of the defensive corps as Burgess was the last guy BB should praise. Burgess was a no-show during the Ravens game, even though BB told us he thrived against the run. The Ravens ran for close to 250 yards of 50 plus carries. Do the math.

Bridge year has become a dreaded term in New England. Was the 2009 Patriot season a bridge year? I think not, as BB signed a bunch of mid-thirty has-beens, like Fred Taylor and Shawn Springs. This is a team with no clear direction, no firm leadership, and a lack of commitment (and talent) from the coaching staff. The Patriots resemble the St. Louis Rams, not a former champion. Pathetic.

The beginning of the end of the New England Patriots

What happened to the legendary New England Patriots? They are a just a shell of their former selves. During their Super Bowl win of 2001, they chose to be introduced as a team. Their roster consisted of relative unknowns, players with some athletic ability but mostly intelligence. Their defense was tough and they won the close games. What has happened?

During their dream run, they never lost two games in a row. That has changed. BB never made mistakes. Wow, has that really changed or what? Their defensive schemes were smart and difficult for the opposition to figure out. Not any more. They can’t get to the quarterback and their secondary gives up a ton of points to the worst offensive teams in the NFL. The offense had some surprises and made big plays. There is no guessing about the pats offense these days. They have become very one dimensional and there is no question who will receive the ball on offense. They were a team which got better as each month passed. Now they are the opposite, losing more games in November and December than they have for some time. They can’t win on the road, except London. They are as predictable as the tides. During the prime years, they didn’t beat themselves. They played sixty minutes of football and each player knew their job. Their secondary was outstanding.

This is now Patriots Lite. Gone is the mystique, the swagger and the results. BB is being second guessed by everyone, as well he should be. Guys with the name Banta-Cain and Guyton are the best players on defense. That alone is scary. These guys were barely bench players recently. This is the beginning of the end.

NESN ratings continue to slide

Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe and The Sports Hub recently wrote an article stating that New Englander's, as well as Red Sox management, have become complacent. He also asked New England to root for the Yankees in the World Series. LOL. Why would any true New Englander root for the Yankees? In any situation? When you are done reading this, check out the comments section to his article. Anyway, I wanted to express my views as to why NESN ratings are down and if there is real complacency as far as the Red Sox go.

NESN ratings are down for a few reasons. One, their format is very stale. Their pre-scripted pregame/postgame shows can be recited, word by word, by any Red Sox fan. They also have no real, live shows, like CNNSE. Every single word is scripted and stale. There is no off-the-cuff commentary and I find that boring. Every fan knows what will be discussed at 6:38 of any pre-game show. If Tom Caron has any skill and real historic baseball knowledge, I am not aware of it. I do know he is an excellent reader, though.

Two, we have become complacent as a Nation. The Sox are on the wrong side of the bell curve at this point. Real fans are shut out from games due to prices, wine and cheese, pink and corporate. Just try nailing down a Sox Pax when tickets go on sale. I used to have a fair chance of getting opening day tickets 7 or 8 years ago. I had a solid chance ten years ago and longer. Now, there are fewer tickets for me due to corporate big wigs and I can never, ever get them the first day they go on sale. Our ticket chances become reduced to lotteries and eBay. A real turn-off.

The initial attraction for the newer fans (corporate, pink, cheese, wine, and most girls) was the personality of the team. The Sox have lacked any type of specific personality over the past 2-3 years, which has reduced the initial attraction for the newbie’s, thereby reducing interest and the NESN audience. The Sox have become a team of well-behaved professionals with no visible character. NESN, a reflection and part of the Red Sox, has grown very stale. Add to the fact that the Celtics and Bruins are back playing winning sports dictates that the consumer dollar is spread out over 4 sports instead of 2. No longer is this just a Red Sox and Patriots town. If ratings are down for the Sox, then they are up for someone else.

Bingo night football fan kicked out of stadium

This country is based on a solid foundation of principles. One of these principles is known as freedom of speech, where every American is allowed to express their opinion. This includes holding up signs at sporting events around the country.

During the recent Redskins against the Eagles, a man held up a sign which simply read “Bingo Night Football”. This was in reference to new offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis, who came out of retirement to lead the Skins offense. In retirement, he was performing volunteer work, which included calling bingo numbers to senior citizens and working with Meals on Wheels. During the ESPN telecast, announcer Mike Tirico mentioned this fact. The fan remains anonymous, but he was escorted from the stadium, asked to leave for such a harmless act.

What is wrong with this country? In no way did this fan violate any laws or violate any rules of the stadium. His sign was not offensive to anyone, except those who might have lost at bingo when Lewis was yelling out numbers. I think Skin fans should rally around this fan and support him. If every columnist and announcer in the country can make light fun of this, why can’t a fan voice his opinion if it isn’t offensive to anyone? I hope this fan comes forward and provides details of exactly what happened. The Washington Redskins also have a lot of ‘splaining to do. I smell a lawsuit in the making. Don’t you?

Tom Brady is on the wrong side of thirty ...

What is the big deal about turning thirty years old? I am asking because I don’t know. I have heard lots of stuff, but haven’t lived it yet. Tom Brady is over 30. Is it a big deal to him? I think so, and here is why.

“Tom Brady sucks!”. I have actually heard that from some panicked fans. It must be true. Five games into the 2009 NFL season, he’s got 6 TD passes to go along with 2 INT’s. During 2007, he had 50 TD passes to go along with only 8 pics. His completion percentage is just below 62%, well below the 69% from 2007 but right along with his career average. He was below 60% two of the past three weeks. His QB rating is about an 86, right around his career average. So what is the big deal?

Tom Brady is 32, in his 10th season, a very long time for any football player. He is uncharacteristically missing wide open receivers, unlike the past. He has exploded at teammates on the sidelines, unlike the past. And he is married with children, unlike the past. Tom Brady is becoming normal.

But he is on the wrong side of thirty. This might be the best Tom Brady will ever be. Think about that. This could be the best he has to offer. And nothing more. Tom Brady is on the wrong side of thirty.