Filed under: Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, New England Patriots
OK so my apologies to those of you out there who have been wondering where I have been. I took some time to travel a little bit(actually a lot a bit), see some old friends and family, and take care of some work related stuff(yeah I have another job. For whatever reason the blog gig doesn’t seem to pay for my extravagent addictions like fur coats, asian masseuses, and internet porn).
A lot of action has occured since I last checked in. The Bruins did some restructuring atop their Front Office including acquiring a new General Manager and Head Coach. The Patriots will be gathering together for mandated camps soon after their optional mini-camps last week.
The Celtics made some, shall we say “interesting” moves in this years 2006 draft as well. Led by GM Danny “At Least I’m Not Isiah Thomas” Ainge, the Green swapped their first round pick, Raef LaFrentz, and Dan Dickau to Portland for Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and a 2008 2nd-round pick. They then acquired the number 21 pick from Phoenix for cash and a future 1st round pick and drafted Rajon Rondo from Kentucky. In a third trade, Ainge got Cal star Leon Powe for a future second round pick as well. The Celts’ 1st round pick became Randy Foye, essentially equating the deal to drafting Telfair over Foye in the first round. Many of you may recognize Telfair from an ESPN documentary “Through the Fire” which follows Telfair from his days as a high school superstar in New York City through his experience during the NBA draft. If you didn’t understand any of the last paragraph or simply spaced off here’s a quick summary:
2006 NBA Draft:
Celts get Rajon Rondo(1st round) - good
Celts get Leon Powe(second round) - should be good although he has bad knees
In Trades:
No more Raef LaFrentz - very good
No more Dan Dickau - who?(the white guy that backed up the back up point guard)
Celts get Theo Ratliffe - neutral
Celts get Sebastian Telfair - hopefully good although the jury will be out on this one for a while
Get it?
Obviously a lot going on in Red Sox Nation as well. The Sox hit the all star break 3 games up in the AL East to rival New York. Big Papi represented the BoSox in the Home Run Derby with Manny, Papelbon, and Mark Loretta joining him as the Sox All-Star representatives. Mike Lowell is having all All-Star caliber season as well although its no surprise that A-Rod got the nod over him to represent the AL at third base. In all honesty it really doesn’t matter as long as he continues to play well. Also the AL won with a great comeback in the ninth to secure home field advantage for the American League in the World Series. We all hope this becomes a good thing.
The Sox defense has been the most noteworthy, with only 33 errors committed so far this season which leads the American League. The pitching has been better but still needs improvement. Matt Clement, or as my buddy Hahs has deemed him Matt “Clement-al Case”, is still on the Disabled List as well as Keith Foulke, David Wells, and slugger Wily Mo Pena. Gabe Kapler and Mike Timlin have both returned to the line-up. Ironically, the highest paid and more highly touted off season acquisitions in Rudy Seanez and Julian Tavarez have taken a much needed back seat to prospects turned major leaguers Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen as the go to set up men. This has taken some pressure off Timlin and will keep his appearances and arm in more reasonable shape. Javier Lopez was also acquired as a left handed specialist from the White Sox for David Riske, an off season pick up that worked our horribly. The starting pitching has been inconsistent yet just quite good enough to not cause panic. Schilling has been the best although Beckett has posted the better record so far. One disturbing statistic has been Beckett’s amount of homeruns which have been the most in the American League. As a big game pitcher though, I am pretty sure we are going to like Beckett come crunch time. Wake has been much improved from the beginning of the season and will hopefully be a consistent number three starter or better for the rest of the season. The best surprise has been Jon Lester who is 4-0 since coming up to the Bigs. Lester has showed that he is as good as everyone has made him out to be although he does have some room for improvement, mostly cutting down his walks. Our fifth starter has been a little bit of an issue though with patchwork replacements holding down the fort until either David Wells or Matt Clement return. Kansas City Royal reject Kyle Snyder has been the latest invalid to bear the title of “Red Sox Fifth Starter”. Its not a good sign when one of you starting pitchers was cut from the Kansas City Royals. Its even worse when said person is picked up by a team with a $120 million payroll. Keep an eye on this one folks because if Clement or Boomer don’t show signs of improvement we could see a little trade action in the next few weeks.
Overall the Sox have been solid recently. Dropping three of four from Oakland is a little discouraging though. Even more discouraging is that as good as the Red Sox have been, and as bad as the Yankees have supposedly been, we are only a half game up in the AL. And considering all signs point to a AL Central Wildcard team, the Sox better turn it up for the second half stretch or else October could be a baseball free month in the Hub. Just more incentive to stay tuned I guess. Well its good to be back.
theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com
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