OK I screwed up

I combined trade scarios into one big scenario with a resulting lineup, that didn’t include one big addition, which led me to another problem.

 

So, Trade Proposal #3:  Glen Davis for Jared Dudley.  Straight-up.

 

This makes your proposed line-up:

 

Jefferson     Perkins

Garnett         Brand

Pierce           Dudley

Turner          T. Allen

Rondo          Robinson

 

I think this lineup provides offensive balance in the first unit and defensive balance in the second unit.  Davis was an important part of the defense in the second unit, and moving Perkins to the second team, it anchors the interior defense while T.A. can go out and shut down the exterior with the energy of Nate Robinson.  Perkins and Brand will keep opponents off easy second-chance points that kept teams in games last year.  Jefferson, Garnett, and Pierce will compliment each others abilities and allow Evan Turner to slowly develop and take advantage of people leaving him to double the others.  This team may not look as nice to the analysts that pick preseason favorites, but I sure as hell would put them up against anybody.

Bruin's Draft Thoughts

From a reactionary standpoint, I’m glad to see Wideman go.  He seemed lost last year, and for $4 million, he should know where he’s going.  But I am concerned with the Bruin’s overall roster strategy.  Too often recently, it seems like they have traded away players at their lowest trade value (Kessel excluded).  At the same time, they sign players to extensions, while the players are at their highest value.  I feel this is why the Bruins are currently hitting their heads on the salary cap and scoring near the bottom of the league.

Rumors are Bruins will trade Savard.  I don’t think it’ll happen.  A team struggling to score is not going to trade its best playmaker, and make their team better.  Also, he has a pretty cap-friendly contract, and is coming off a pretty big concussion.  He had a bad year, so he won’t return as much as he could.  I do think the Bruins need to make a trade, and Tim Thomas is the best bet. 

The problem with trading Tim Thomas is that people will look at his age and remaining contract and determine that he isn’t worth it.  But he proved that in a strong defensive minded organization he can be a great goal tender.  He had an injury he played through, so he could rebound and have a better year.  Dark horse trade partner would be Atlanta.  They just signed the Bruins Asst. Coach Ramsay.  He knows what Thomas is capable of, and Atlanta is looking to drastically improve their defense.  Though I think Philly is the best matchup of a team needing goaltending, and enough overpaid wingers to swing a deal that works both ways.

The Bruins may be wary of trading Thomas because they may want the insurance behind young goaltender Tuuka Rask.  In that case, they might be looking into trading Bergeron to Atlanta.  They need offensive more than the defense Bergeron provides, and Ramsay would probably love to have such a defensive-minded center on his team.  Boston can replace Bergeron with Seguin and save some money to add more wingers.

My hopes are that Thomas goes to Philly and returns a Danny Briere to play with Savard and Lucic.  This should recreate the Lucic, Savard, Kessel line, and leave Wheeler, Krejci, and Horton on the second line.  Seguin could take the third line with Ryder and Recchi and make that a high scoring option.  The fourth line would then be Thornton and any number of guys from Paille, Sobotka, Marchand, Begin. 

Look at Wheeler to go somewhere if they make a trade to open a door for Caron or Lehtonen to get a shot. Personally I think Wheeler and Horton make a good combo for Krejci.  Either way, I think the Bruins should be a better balanced team next year, and ready to compete for the Eastern Conference Finals.  

 

Crazy Celtics Trade Scenarios

Proposed Trade:  Rasheed Wallace and C’s 2 picks in 2010, for Elton Brand and the #2 pick in the draft.  Philly is desperate to dump Brand’s contract, and Wallace is likely to retire.  The C’s can get a quality big to put on the bench and backup Perkins as he returns from knee surgery without adding too much to the payroll.  Wallace was slated for 6 million next year.  You combine Wallace’s salary with Scalabrine’s salary, and it’s not that big a hit, especially considering you would be able to draft a high impact player like Evan Turner.  ‘Sheed is a Philly guy, so he would get a chance to retire in Philly, and Boston could reduce the number of technicals the team absorbed this year.   Where the Celtics aren’t in the market for a max contract free agent, this is a way to add a big splash. 

Why this won’t work:  The Celtic’s won’t want to add salary for an aging former all-star.  The Sixers won’t want to give up the #2 pick just to dump salary and draft a couple of projects.

Why this could work:  The Celtics must know that they’ll need another big man with Rasheed possibly retiring and Perkins having knee surgery.  They don’t have max player salary space, so they can’t bid for Boozer or Bosh.  Philly could combine the picks to move back up into the draft to get a stronger player and still dump the bad contract.  Analysts are calling this a balanced and deep draft, so they could probably find someone around 10 (Indiana?) to deal with.

Proposed Trade #2:  Reports are surfacing that Minnesota is willing to trade Al Jefferson to balance their team for the triangle offense they will be running under Rambis.  How about a Ray Allen sign and trade for Al Jefferson. 

Why it won’t work:  Ray Allen really isn’t the prototypical wing player needed for the triangle.  Ray Allen probably wouldn’t want to end his career trying to get the Wolves to the playoffs.  The Celtics would probably prefer to try and retain Ray Allen themselves.

Why this could work:  If it is the biggest contract Ray could get, he might take it, as it is the last contract he’ll get.  Combining the shooting ability of Ray Allen with the solid point guard play and low post scoring in Minnesota should make the offense click and provide a veteran presence.  Besides, at least then Minnesota could claim they netted Ray Allen for Kevin Garnett (eventually.)  The Celtics could have theoretically gotten their shooting guard of the future in Evan Turner, so retaining Allen wouldn’t be quite so important.

Resulting Lineup (assuming some re-signing)

Perkins                          Brand

Garnett                         Davis

Pierce                           Finley

Turner                         T. Allen

Rondo                         Robinson

 

Derrik Gibson

Sox Prospect Derrik Gibson

I want to highlight Sox prospects and eventually move to players that I would put on my Top 10. Since most of Boston is familiar with the top half of the Red Sox prospects, I thought I’d start a little lower.

Draft by Boston in 2008.  In 2008 short season ball, was rated 19^th best prospect in the league, and earned distinction of fastest prospect in Boston’s system.  He was a dominating high school player, including 15 wins as a pitcher.  Seems truly athletic.

Right now, Gibson is playing for Greenville with fellow top prospect Reymond Fuentes.  He has stolen 10 bases, getting caught just once, but I can’t help but wonder if his stolen base numbers would be better if he could get on base more.  His On Base Percentage is low at .312, and he lacks power, leaving his slugging percentage low as well. 

Right now he is listed as 6’1” 170 lbs, Right handed hitter.  Dude needs to put on some weight.  That’ll probably help his on base and power numbers. I know it’s hard to put on weight during the season, but they need to find some time to get his weight up a little.  Greenville seems to be in a league with high strikeout rates, or a ridiculously high number of quality pitching prospects.  Lots of hits, lots of strikeouts. Not as many walks.  His strikeout total is a little high, but his walks are right where they should be.  If he was in a league with more contact, I think he would be better off.  But he does need to learn to take advantage of baserunners.  His average drops with runners on base.  Top prospects in my eyes are guys that can take advantage of that and drive in runs, and put pressure on the pitcher.

He is being used as a utility infielder right now, but given his speed, I’m wondering if the Red Sox could have BJ Upton in the back of their mind: a young kid with lots of speed, developing power.  I don’t know what his arm is like, but since he can play both short and third, he has to have some kind of decent arm.  Maybe the Red Sox are just so stacked with outfield prospects that they are leaving him as an infield prospect so he’ll have fewer obstacles in his climb up the ladder.

Maybe if I saw him in person, I would have a more favorable opinion.  Right now, he just has the right frame to add size to and possibly become a dangerous hitter.  I hope he does.  Right now I would project him as a super-utility guy best suited for the National League.  There is an outside shot he turns into a BJ Upton type player, and can be the CF of the future.  Granted he would need to go through a lot of people to get that.

 

Sox

I was definitely raised by my mother to not say anything if I couldn’t say something nice.  Since I can say something nice, I figure that gives me free reign to say a lot of not nice things as well.  So we’ll start with the Nice:  David Ortiz is hitting much better at this point in the season than last year.  I think Red Sox Nation is collectively proud of his perseverance.

Now the not so nice.  Lackey and Beckett.  I thought these two were going to challenge each other for the top of the rotation, not the bottom.  The problem with the rotation is what you do with the sixth starter, but right now, you have to wonder where our fifth starter is, because Lackey and Beckett have pitched their way out of mine right now.  Yes it’s early, and they should rebound.  But my concerns are more historical.  Beckett has not shown enough consistency to have earned a 4-year extension worth 80 million.  He has shown Cy Young talent, just not regularly enough. He’s been injury prone, he gives up homeruns, every other year seems to be pretty bad.  I just don’t trust that in 4 years you’ll still be paying a top tier pitcher.  They signed Lackey, who has horrible career numbers in Fenway.  And apparently now he can’t pitch in day games, so as long as he is pitching at night, on the road, he could be good for the next 5 years.    Theo’s essay about how he spent $160 million needs some work.

Theo has a funny place in my mind.  I think he is either really good in his decision-making or really bad.  He is rarely mediocre.  He can draw a line where he will not negotiate a contract above a certain price-point for certain players, and others he’ll fall over himself to over pay.  Julio Lugo?  Still paying him to warm another team’s bench.  JD Drew? Has been good, but not deserving of the money he got.  Let’s Lowe walk because a 4 year contract was too long, same with Pedro, same with Damon.  Instead we replace them with Beckett (7 years 100 million), Lackey (5 years $83 million), and Drew (4 years $70 million).  Paying Beltre  9 million following the season he had, when you had Lowell, Youkilis, and Bill Hall on your roster that could play 3^rd?  But his drafting is amazingly efficient.  One miss Jason Place.

I won’t even touch my thoughts on Francona in this  post.  It’ll take way too long.  Going forward, I’ll spend a lot of time talking about prospects, particularly this time of year.  If the Sox ever get it going, I may talk more about the big club and its chances, but right now, I just don’t think they really have a chance.

 

Bruins Review

Bruins Year-in-Review

After exiting the playoffs by losing on their home ice in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals for the second straight year, you could argue that the Bruins have reached a plateau with the current mix of coaching and players.  But let’s try and look at this without the latest playoff performance in mind.

To begin the year, I could not, and did not blame the Bruins for the roster they had.  I certainly had questions and concerns, but given the circumstances I thought our GM made the right moves.  Bitz looked like a great addition to the lineup late in the year, and his role in 09-10 was going to be greater.  Wheeler looked every bit the steal when the Bruins signed him away from Phoenix, and we all thought he would improve.  Hunwick had flashed brilliance, and would be something of a revelation on the blue line.  Tim Thomas would continue to be a Vezina caliber goalie.  We understood that we saw some career years, and not everyone would perform at such high a level.

My amazingly unqualified analysis:  Krecji’s hip was still hurting early in the season, he wasn’t moving well, he avoided contact and couldn’t handle the puck the same.  Because of this Ryder and Wheeler carried the puck too much and were unable to get in positions to score themselves.  The first line disappeared.  Kessel was traded, Savard was injured, and Lucic without those two was lost.  Without the first line, Krecji’s line saw the best defensive players from the other teams, and was further shut down.  Bergeron stepped up, and was essentially the second center on the team, but the first one the biggest situations.  In the past he played defense on the powerplay, he killed penalties, he wasn’t expected to be a playmaker and scorer.  They finally figured out he can be a great play-maker.  Tim Thomas just looked angry and distracted.  You can look at the Winter Classic for a perfect example.  He didn’t stop a puck because he was busy trying to hit a Flyer in front of him.  I don’t know if he didn’t like having to fight for his job, or if getting the big contract made him relax too much.  Either way he was basically horrible all year.

There are a lot of pieces to consider for next year, something I’ll visit in more depth as the offseason progresses.  But I think at this point, that we can apply a few lessons learned from 09-10.  Marc Savard is a big-time center…when he has a big-time winger next to him.  He is merely human when paired with the likes of Daniel Paille.  A big time scorer is needed because effort cannot put the puck in the net by itself.  Ask Daniel Paille.  It seems like I am picking on him, but he was truly representative of the season.  He was fast, can get to pucks, and get in front, can get positions to shoot, and just cannot shoot with enough accuracy to beat an NHL level goalie.  It’s too bad because I really like his game, he just can’t finish, and neither did the Bruins.

What did you think of their season?  I’ll be evaluating potential free agents, reviewing signings, reviewing the draft, and looking at potential linemates during the offseason.  Always plenty of hockey to discuss in the Hub.

 

Boston Sports Weekly Review

Boston Sports Weekly Review

Jake Jordan, Staff Writer

This is a pretty exciting time of year for people who are fans of all Boston sports. Right now, with an understanding spouse and two serviceable dvr’s, you are able to watch the Bruins, Celtics, and Red Sox all at the same time.

I’ll cover major events in other sports, but one thing will be different here: Tiger Woods is not a major event.

Boston Celtics
Rajon Rondo is going to be guarded my Lebron? So I guess the big three must be done huh? This offseason will be interesting.

Boston Bruins
I’m not even going to comment on the playoffs. I’m looking to next year. And next year they are going to have no money to spend on anyone. I hope their draft pick is ready to play, because until you can get Sturm, Thomas, and Ryder off the payroll, you’ll have no money for an impact player. The front lines all look lost right now.

Boston Red Sox
I’m going to try and stay positive despite the current 4th place standing. Beltre is finding better balance at the plate and it is showing in his numbers, and his defense can only improve, right? Varitek looks like a platoon is exactly what he needed, and the same goes for Mike Lowell. Martinez is showing that he is not the level of catcher the Red Sox are able to live with, and now its showing in his offense. Hopefully this will allow everyone to realize he should be a 1b/DH with some backup catching ability. Doesn’t change this season however. Down on the Farm, Lars Anderson has figured out the bat and has regained some of the status he lost as he dropped down the list of top prospects. Look for him to play his way onto the team in 2011 (1b/DH), with Youk moving to 3rd. I don’t see a place for Ortiz next year.

Golf
I would be a liar if I did not mention the Player’s Championship, as I mentioned in the open covering major sporting events. The only thing I have to say about this tournament is: “How can someone who has never won a PGA tour event, even get invited to an event called the Player’s Championship?” Seriously? Doesn’t the name of the event suggest that someone demonstrate an ability to win before they get invited? I’d tell you his name, but this entry is a little funnier if we just go ahead and leave the no-name player anonymous. But for his sake, I apologize for calling you a no-name player. If you are reading this, don’t feel bad. Though it might explain why you haven’t won other tournaments.

Conspiring Celtics

 Celtics Conspiring?

The idea of playing for specific seeding in the playoffs is not new or unacceptable, but playing the majority of your season badly enough to finish as a lower seed would be a new kind of low. Besides, how difficult is it to lose enough games in the Eastern Conference to drop that much in the rankings. I am not a basketball expert by any means, but the way I see it, the Celtics played the whole season for the fourth seed instead of the first. I can see Danny supporting this, once they felt that 73 wins were unattainable.

I believe there is only one team that the Celtics were scarred of heading into the post-season: Atlanta. The Hawks have been engineered to defeat the Celtics, but they were very susceptible to other playoff teams. It is my belief that the Celtics wanted Atlanta to finish 3rd so that they would not face each other until the conference finals at the earliest, and let either Orlando or Cleveland eliminate the Hawks.

It is hard to really show much evidence that this is the case. They did start the season amazingly well, but can you really dispute the injuries that kept the big three at bay most of the season? Defensive stoppers Daniels and Allen were injured and couldn’t crack the rotation. But they will say that they were minimizing minutes for the expected post-season run. They played hard against the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference, despite often missing a key player.

The argument exists, circumstantial or not. Either way, we’ll figure out how it works out in the next week or so. It kind of makes me feel bad for the Hawks coach. He may have game planned to defeat the best team in the league, but didn’t have the luck to face them. He could have been the NBA’s Herb Brooks, instead he’ll most likely be the next unemployed coach. Are the C’s to blame?

More bobbleheads

More Bobblehead Nights!


No. I am not a big fan of bobbleheads, I don’t believe I own a single one. However, if Dice-K will pitch like a genius every time a minor league affiliate hands out large-headed Dice-K dolls, then I say we get the factory popping those suckers out every fifth day. 7IP, 1 run, 9 strike-outs for 1,000 dolls. You already paid over $100 million for the guy, how much can those dolls really cost?

Now that the clear over-reaction is done with, it was a great game from Dice-K. His ERA dropped from 9.90 to 6.35. That is now lower than Josh Beckett’s. Perhaps we can get Josh a bobblehead night as well. I mean after his fake batting practice injury is all healed up that is. Now that I just wrote a conspiracy entry about the C’s, how about the Sox too? Yes, I believe that the Red Sox wanted to have Beckett skip a start or two, but they cannot just pull the guy they gave a massive extension to because they’d look stupid. So they blame it on inter-league play that they already hate, and say Josh tweaked his back during batting practice. Just a small conspiracy, but haven’t the fans earned a little honesty?

Vindication: A little off topic, every time Varitek gets a hit this season, I get a little more vindicated. No, not because I thought Tek should be the full time catcher, but because I have had a problem with all of the movement in his legs and arms in the swing. Now that he is listening to my advice screaming through the tv screen, he is experiencing some more success.

What if?

What If?




Hypothetical sports can be fun, and darn it Rick I expect at least a comment for this…



So I thought I’d start with a trade. Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell for Hanley Ramirez and Anibel Sanchez. Yes, there were other pieces to this trade, but frankly they don’t matter so much.



What if this trade never happened?



Let’s look at this from a player by player perspective.



Mike Lowell would almost definitely not be playing baseball this year, let alone for $13 million. Fenway allowed him to hit more homeruns and doubles because of the green monster. He became a fan favorite because of this, as well as a world series MVP.



Josh Beckett will probably never attain a level of lore for his pitching in Boston. He would have benefited from staying in the national league, but his win loss record is better because of Boston. He will have made over $100 million from the Sox, so I’d say that he benefited from this deal.



Hanley Ramirez was the top prospect of the Red Sox from the day he was signed. But he did not get a chance in Boston. Looking just at his offensive numbers, Hanley Ramirez playing for the Sox for the next decade could be a wise choice. I’m not convinced that he is a big market player. He’s probably better off in a small market playing bad NL teams.



Anibel Sanchez. Most likely you are wondering who this is. He pitched a no-hitter for the Marlins, but has suffered through some arm injuries. I think he would have been better off in Boston’s system. They protect younger pitchers, whereas Florida tends to throw them in the fire (Dontrelle Willis anyone?). He may not have had the level of success, but would probably have had a longer career.



Florida made out like a bandit. Two people that would not have been with the team have turned into a franchise player and an immediate contributor (when healthy) in the rotation.



Boston did ok as well. They got a World Series MVP, and a pitcher with Cy Young type stuff. It’s the long term affect that might be the worst for Boston. If Lowell never comes to Boston, he isn’t signed for $13 million a year, Youkilis is playing third base, and they have money and a position available for some guy named Mark Teixera. Theo would not have made that trade, I can’t say if the Sox would be better or not.



Can you?

Just sports

Dear Google staffer,

The robots got it wrong this time.  My blog isn't spam.  I'm just a guy from Maine that wants to talk about the sports teams I'm a fan of.

Thanks,

Jake

LBJ: Where Do We Go From Here?

LBJ: Where Do We Go From Here?




Now that the Lebron James sweepstakes is unofficially open, everyone and their brother seems to want the King to move his court to their town. Obviously, not every team has the budget to offer him a max contract, and he is most motivated by money. Let us keep in mind his desires to be marketable around the world, and become the richest athlete in the world. He has that level of ambition. Basketball may be his way to get there. So lets just start looking at the most likely scenarios.



The Knicks: Everyone has been talking about this for a couple of years now. The Knicks were clearing salary cap to pick him up. Besides it being New York, I don’t know how Lebron could expect to win any easier here. They need to address too many holes in their roster for LBJ to win immediately. The one reason he goes to New York is if he gets opportunities to expand his marketing and general monetary goals. The Yankees have their own network, could the Knicks help him get his own?



The Nets: New Jersey is close enough to NY right? The Nets may own the No.1 pick in the draft in June, and already have a more coherent roster than the Knicks. They do not have a coach yet, so they could get whoever LBJ wanted. A new owner could make a huge splash. Remember what I said about marketing to the world? Yi Jianlian is followed pretty closely by the largest country in the planet, and the new owner of the Nets, yeah he’s one of the richest guys in Russia. International opportunity anyone? You could put together a decent starting 5 without the No. 1 pick. Certainly more likely than the Knicks.



The Bulls: Is there any doubt that Lebron, who idolizes MJ, grew up dreaming of playing for the Bulls? What the Bulls offer is a strong team that has the opportunity get over the top. Derrik Rose is already a leader on this team, and can shoulder some of that weight with LBJ. Noah would assume the role of hard working center, and Luol Deng makes a nice second-scorer role. Again a team that can hire any coach James wants, puts Chicago into serious contention. I just can’t help but wonder if the Bulls would be just as well served to go after maybe Ray Allen and Josh Smith, and fill two holes. I don’t know if a boyhood dream and a decent chance to win with a current roster make it viable enough.



The Clippers: LA lite. They have some quality players, but something always seems to stop them. I don’t know If Barron Davis could co-exist with James, but if they could, it might be the veteran presence James needs. They will already be adding Blake Griffin to the mix, but I think there are too many unknown variables to make this a likely landing spot.



The Heat: Let’s face it, the likelihood of Miami ponying up the dough for D-Wade and LBJ is kind of ridiculous. Would it be interesting to watch? You bet. They shared the stage in the Olympics, but for 82 games? Do you know how many defenders would foul out each game trying to stop them both? But can two people do everything for the team? Sure they have decent point guard play, and when your job is the get the ball over mid-court and pass the ball to D-Wade or LBJ, it’s a pretty easy job. I just worry there would be too much perimeter play. If Miami is going to get two max contracts this year, one of them really should be Bosh.



Less than improbable: From a fantast point of view, what teams would instantly become a contender? Out of left field, I’d say Minnesota. Ricky Rubio will be in the next flight following a James signing, and they have quality interior play from Al Jefferson. That could be a well balanced team that could play inside out with some stars in their prime.



Hornets: Chris Paul would be an amazing match for James. Paul offers a strong defensive presence, and great ball skills, LBJ would be greatly enhanced with that level of point guard. Okafor provides some interior offense, and overall this team could be a machine.



Utah: Pretend for a minute that the Jazz actually get upset by things like getting eliminated by the Lakers every year and want to finally win. Deron Williams would finally benefit from a true scorer on the wing, with Boozer and Milsap scoring inside. Obviously something would have to give, probably Boozer, but it could be the new Stockton – Malone.



Houston: Yao Ming’s marketability could be alluring. A Defensive-minded team with a highly under-rated back court. Maybe he could fulfill the promise Tracy Mcgrady offered Houston.



Philly: Andre Iguaduala and Elton Brand never seemed to mesh, but what if Lebron was between the two of them? If they could ditch Dalembert and pick up someone that could crash the boards, this could be a team to fear.



Outside the Box: What if Lebron signed on with a highly established team such as the Lakers, Magic, Celtics, Spurs, with a one year deal just to try and win a championship, and then go out and find his money after that? Sign with the Celtics on a one-year deal, with the promise of taking over the reigns from Pierce. Now that would be a scary team.



Yeah, the one team I didn’t mention: Cleveland. How could they upgrade enough to win a championship? How could they pay him enough to make up for being such a small market? The number changing thing was just to scare the potential teams into doing more.