What to Do?

The 2009 Red Sox have a serious problem on their hands after 35 games:   What to do with David Ortiz?  It has become apparent that the notorious Big Papi can’t hit anymore.  This is a blow to the construction of the entire team considering General Manager Theo Epstein built this team with Ortiz in mind as one of the cornerstones.   It was one of the reasons Boston felt compelled to pass on Mark Teixeira and now this lineup is looking shaky at best.  The team still has Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay (provided he’s given a contract extension) to build around.  But for this season what happens to the lineup?  Terry Francona is loyal to his players, particularly his stars.  That’s why he’s so good as a manager.  But at some point he has to cut his losses and realize he can’t keep running Ortiz out there day after day in this state.  It’s nice for everyone (including Ortiz) to say that this is just an extended slump and he’ll eventually come out of it.  But where is the evidence of that happening?  He has no home runs and is hitting .208.  He hit absolute bottom yesterday in a 5-4, 12 inning loss to the Angles in which Ortiz went 0-7 and left 12 runners on base by himself.  As Bill Parcells says, “you are what the record says you are.”  His current performance raises questions that Ortiz may  have been involved with steroids at some point in his career.  Can it be proven for certain?  No.  But do the math-  players don’t just naturally lose their ability this quickly.  There were signs of a downturn last year but that was written off due to Ortiz’ wrist injury.  But that time has now long passed.  Yes, the injury could still be affecting him but what is the real reason for his current play?  This is an impossible situation for the Red Sox.  How do they handle this gracefully?  Ortiz is postseason hero who will never be forgotten for what he did in the championship years of 2004 and 2007.  But Red Sox management is notoriously unsentimental about making changes when they decide a player is no longer effective.  (See: Garciaparra, Nomar;  Damon, Johnny and Martinez, Pedro).  I suppose Francona could drop Ortiz in the lineup but that isn’t a solution.  A guy who can’t hit won’t hit whether he’s batting third, seventh or ninth.  I’m not suggesting Ortiz will be released (he won’t be) but I have to wonder where Theo is going to go to try and replace Ortiz if that is his intent.  The other problem is the idea of Ortiz sitting on the bench.  He can’t really help there.  Pinch hitting isn’t exactly an easy art.  Theo has the minor league chips to go out and get a power hitter and I think he has to seriously think about that.  People say it’s a soap opera over in the Bronx with A-Rod and company.  But if this Ortiz dilemma goes on like this through the summer Boston will make the Bronx look like paradise.

Broncos Busted

Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen puzzles me.  He’s owned the Broncos for 25 years and knows that franchise quarterbacks are the key to long term NFL success.  He had one in John Elway and when it came down to a dispute with former coach Dan Reeves, Elway won that battle because Bowlen was smart enough to know that players, not coaches, win in the league.  Which makes the saga of Jay Cutler very difficult to understand.  Bowlen announced yesterday that he is fed up and is putting Cutler on the trading block.  In essence, Bowlen is throwing his support behind his new boy wonder, head coach Josh McDaniels, rather than his stud QB.  Yes, there are those who will say that Cutler is a baby and that he should get over the fact that McDaniels tried to trade him at the start of free agency and shut up and play.  But the fact is that the modern day NFL is a star-oriented league and pissing of your franchise QB is not the way to succeed.  The arrogance both Bowlen and McDaniels are showing is amazing. Who the hell is Josh McDaniels anyway?  This guy thinks he’s the second coming because he won 11 games with Matt Cassell.  If I were Bowlen I’d need to see a lot more before I let some rookie head coach chase my franchise QB out of town.  It’s true that Bowlen has to stand behind his new hire to unify the organization but my question is why not just get rid of McDaniels and admit you made a mistake hiring a guy who is too big for his britches?  That way you get to keep a QB that is about ready to blossom as a star, his attitude be damned, and have a fighting chance to compete every year.  Cutler is the only reason a bad Broncos team had any shot of winning the AFC West last year.  Yes they collapsed but that was a function of a porous defense, not Cutler.  You just don’t trade franchise-type NFL QBs.  That’s the message the league always sends.  Just ask the Colts, who traded Elway and never recovered from that mistake until getting Peyton Manning.  The Broncos were on the receiving end of that mistake so they, better than anyone should know the importance of stars in a players league.  I guess that idea is now lost on Bowlen and the team that wins the Cutler sweepstakes should be eternally grateful to him  for this decision.

64 Is Enough

Every year at this time, as bubble teams are left out of the NCAA basketball tournament’s 64 team field, there are calls from angry fans to expand the size of the tournament.  I am not in favor of this idea because I don’t think the question “when is enough enough?” can ever be adequately answered.  At what number does the selection committee stop at in terms of adding teams?  72? 80? 128?  No matter what number the field is potentially raised to, someone will still feel like they got jobbed.  Look, this tournament is a privilege, not a birthright for Division I schools.   Part of what makes the tournament so alluring is that not everyone can go.  You have to earn your way in.  Now, I’m not saying the process is always perfect.  Yes, some good teams do get left out. (Such as Penn State this year)  But that is part of the collateral damage associated with putting together a competitive, exciting field of teams.  I think the selection committee has a tough job, but year after year they seem to get it right.  When was the last time March Madness was a disappointment?  I can’t remember there ever being one.  64 teams (I’m ignoring that ridiculous play-in game where the winner is then sacrificed to the overall #1 seed in the tournament) is a perfect, balanced amount of teams and it makes for smooth scheduling for TV and a known routine for participating teams.  Expanding the tournament to include more teams would just water down the product.  There’s a reason why the NFL and Major League Baseball playoffs are so exciting to watch-  because a minority of teams make it in.  That is not true in both the NBA and NHL where 16 teams make it in each league, which is roughly half.   That’s too many teams and it produces some lackluster playoff series.  The NCAA should remember that as the catcalls of jilted teams and fans increase.  Keep the tournament the way it is and realize that the status quo is perfect.  Expansion won’t make the whiners go away.  It will just push the sour grapes further down the list.  Want to make the tournament?  Play the type of schedule the NCAA deems competitive and simply play better!

Cancer Cured

What can I say?  Today is a great sports day.  A-Roid is out 10 weeks and T.O. the cancer is no longer a Dallas Cowboy.  As a Red Sox and Cowboys fan it doesn’t get much better than this!  The A-Rod injury is what it is and the Yankees will still be expected to win the AL East without him because of their pitching.  But the real story here is the release of T.O.  As a Cowboys fan, you can never be sure what owner Jerry Jones is going to do and after the collapse in Philly last January my fear was he’d keep everything status quo because he simply saw 2008 as a fluke.  My biggest fear was that we’d have another year of the cancer that is T.O. in the locker room.  Now, the problems last year were not all the fault of T.O. but subtracting him from the mess that was the end of last season cannot hurt.  I’m surprised Jerry sucked it up and admitted he lost his devil’s bet in acquiring Owens and cut his losses.  I believe Dallas will be a better team without Owens next year.  I have confidence Roy Williams will step in as the #1 receiver and Tony Romo will improve because he can finally play in peace.  Owens is a proven distraction.  Again, he wasn’t solely responsible for this team’s underachievement last year, but being a cancer is what he does.  It’s his M.O. and he can’t help himself when he feels disrespected.  He did it in Philly and San Francisco and he’ll do it at his next landing spot.  Good riddance!  I never wanted the guy in Dallas in the first place.  Super Bowls were won in Dallas before he came and they’ll be won again now that he’s gone.  Hopefully Jerry will learn from this high profile mistake and procure team oriented guys first in the future.  This release gives me hope that Jerry MAY have turned the corner as a GM.

Digging a Deeper Hole

Here’s the bottom line on the Alex Rodriguez steroid fiasco: two meetings with the press, zero clarification. Yes, we all know he took steroids (though he himself has never uttered the actual word) but the details remain murky. Why? Because A-Rod thinks he can dance around the details and be forgiven for merely being “young and stupid.” Now he has brought another character into this drama- a “cousin” who allegedly provided the drugs and injected him with them as well. Is this cousin an actual person or a fabrication? That’s a question no one has asked yet but is certainly a possibility. A-Rod and his handlers just don’t get the fact that the media is not going to let him skate on this without details that make sense. Does the A-Rod team really believe that if this cousin really exists that the media will not hunt him down and that the cousin himself will not sell out to a media entity with his version of the story once the price becomes an offer he can’t refuse? That’s the disaster waiting for A-Rod around the next corner. That day is coming- bank on it. As you can see from this blog, even I have more questions as a result of the answers A-Rod provided yesterday. The fact of the matter is I am not gullible enough to believe that any human being, never mind a world class athlete, would repeatedly inject any substance that had a potential to harm them 36 times over a three year period no questions asked. It just makes no sense and anyone with a brain can see that. Then again, there are plenty of people that will ignore that reasoning because this is, after all a country of fools who can’t wait to find out who the next American Idol will be and nothing else. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why A-Rod chose the road he did. He knows that the majority of America is either too dumb or ignorant to understand or care about what he did so why not roll the dice? I don’t happen to agree with that strategy (because I have a clue) but I can understand why he went the way he did. He thinks his audience is clueless. And in some ways he is right to think that because Americans will forgive anything with time. That is both a blessing and a curse.

NFL Week 2 Impressions

Don’t think the Chargers have to worry about a quality backup for LT.  A 103 yd. kickoff return and 66 yd. swing pass TD for the lightning fast Darren Sproles assures that much… Welcome to the NFL Matt Ryan.  Unlike vs. the JV Lions, that was a real defense you faced in Tampa this week… Where was this Julius Jones the last 2 years?… Adrian Peterson is a beast but the Vikings aren’t winning anything with Tavaris Jackson at QB.  You can’t hide your QB in this league… Somebody named Thigpen quarterbacked the Chiefs.  No wonder the on-his way-out Lane Kiffin-led Raiders rolled to the easy win behind Darren McFadden… It could be a long year in Cincinnati and Seattle… Until they prove otherwise, they’re the same old Jets… Buffalo’s Trent Edwards can really play… Big brass ones for Mike Shanahan going for two and the win vs. San Diego… Brutal day for ref Ed Hochuli in Denver with two missed replay calls that cost the Chargers a win…  Crucial win for the Colts this week.  They didn’t want to be 0-2 with Jacksonville up next. Instead all the pressure is on the 0-2 Jags… Five worst teams: Miami, Kansas City, Detroit, St. Louis. Oakland.  Most overrated: Minnesota, NY Jets.

Not the Time for Patience

Jerry Jones is an impatient guy. He wants his Dallas Cowboys to win and win big. He’s shown that he’s not afraid to go get a player if he thinks it will help the team. That’s why I find it puzzling that Jerry is not going after disgruntled Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin. Especially considering that his current receiver corps is a M.A.S.H. unit going into Cleveland this week, down to just two healthy bodies: Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton. Boldin has made it clear to Cardinals management that he does not want to be there. They want a first round pick for him. Jerry is thinking Super Bowl. It’s a perfect match, yet Jerry won’t pull the trigger because he doesn’t want to do anything foolish. I say go get Boldin, he is a top 15 receiver. This Dallas team is on the precipice of possibly doing something special. Boldin will help them make that pick be very low first round so I say it is worth the risk. The team needs third and fourth receivers Sam Hurd and Miles Austin to make the offense go but they are unavailable for the first few weeks. Boldin is a good fit. Forget that he doesn’t know the offense. He’s a receiver. All he has to do is run and catch, it’s not that big a deal. Tony Romo will find a way to get it to him. I’m shocked at Jerry’s patience with his team favored to reach the Super Bowl from the NFC. Usually it would be a good thing but with the team so beat up at receiver he needs to make it happen. The Cowboys are one injury away from a total disaster at wide receiver. Not the way to start a season Jerry. Just do it!

Go Ahead, I Dare You

I am issuing a personal challenge to Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. According to ESPN News, these three imbeciles have decided that they will seriously consider offers from European basketball teams when negotiating after their current contracts expire with their respective NBA teams. My challenge to them would be to go ahead and do it, put your money where your mouths are and leave the NBA for the “greener pastures” of Europe. Let’s see how that turns out. We’ll get to see how much your “brands” grow when you are all playing outside the United States and in the obscurity of Europe. It drives me nuts when millionaire athletes make comments like these three just did. It is an obvious negotiating ploy and another reason why half of America couldn’t care less about the NBA. The trio represent the cycle of pampered NBA “ballers” looking for more money and making idiotic comments before they get it. I’m sure leaving the NBA is the answer to their financial “dilemmas.” Give me a break. Half of America may not care about the NBA but the other half seems to make the sport quite popular. I’m sure this trio will be much better off in Europe. After all, what has the NBA ever done for them? I hope they all head over there and are never heard from again so that these “heroes” end up looking like the fools they really are. And David Stern wonders why his league has image problems.

Thanks for the Manneries

As a Red Sox fan I suppose I should weigh in with my thoughts on the Manny Ramirez saga. I would not have traded Manny but I understand why management did it. They simply felt they had no choice. Once a guy starts calling out management in the media, the point of no return is reached and that’s what happened here. I think Theo Epstein did the best he could in getting Jason Bay considering the corner Manny backed him into. Ramirez and David Ortiz were the best hitting combo in baseball and now that is over. That makes the Red Sox significantly less effective on the field. Yes, Bay will be more of a team guy and he’s a good player but I don’t know that he’s a difference maker. And that’s why Manny will be missed. He was always a threat and a clutch big game player. His aloofness allowed him to never be fazed by anything between the white lines. He was part of the aura of the Red Sox and they will miss that dearly. As for me, I say thanks for everything Manny. You gave Red Sox fans a great thrill for 8 years and two World Series titles that no one thought they’d ever see. For that, you will always be loved. It’s too bad that you allowed guys like Scott Boras to talk you into creating this mess over money. Yeah, it’s a business so no hard feelings but now the page turns and the Jason Bay era begins. It won’t be the same without you but, after all, it’s all about rooting for the laundry anyway and Bay is now wearing it and you aren’t. Good night and good luck in L.A.

Very Refreshing

Tonight is a great night for Major League Baseball and ESPN. For once, the “look at me” network is returning to its roots and showing an important pennant race matchup between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs. It is so great to see these two teams showcased on Wednesday Night Baseball instead of the usual Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Dodgers fare. I chose to watch this tonight because it’s a nice change to see two teams I don’t see much of during the season battle for a division lead head-to-head. It’s also nice to watch and get to know these players because I think both teams will make the playoffs this year. It would be great for the sport if they did. It would mean having new blood in the playoffs. A lot has been said about each team in recent weeks as the small market Brewers have opened the wallet and are spending money to try to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In getting guys like C.C. Sabathia and Ray Durham, the Brewers are stating that they are serious contenders. Of course, the Cubs in first place with Lou Piniella as manager is always a story as it’s now been 62 years since their last World Series appearance. It’s a four game series and the Cubs have dominated it so far. But more importantly, this series represents a contrast in styles. The Cubs have built their team with payroll while the Brewers have developed some of the finest young players in the game, proving that there is more than one way to win. I hope true fans of the game have watched and are watching this series because it showcases the turnaround of two perennial losing franchises and whenever that happens it can only make the sport more exciting. It’s interesting to watch some new contenders enter the pennant race mix. I, for one, am pulling for the Brewers to make the playoffs and do some damage because of all the young, exciting talent they have. It is a true team built from within and if they are able to win a World Series with this young team I bet they will be the new darlings of professional sports. We’ll see.