Much to touch upon today so let’s get started……..
Red Sox with a couple of solid moves today. First, trading Jed Lowrie and Kyle Weiland to the Astros for closer Mark Melancon. They then acquired Nick Punto to fill the utility role vacated by shipping out Lowrie. Melancon is a great pickup. He had 20 saves with the Astros and an era under 3.00. He also has a bit of an nasty streak that closers must have. When facing Dustin Pedroia for the first time, it seems that Melancon, a University of Arizona alum, plunked the Sox second baseman simply because he was an Arizona State guy. I’m probably stretching the truth a little but let’s go with that. Call it editorial license?? Although I really like Lowrie as a hitter and always wondered why the Sox never put him in right field, he has proven to be injury prone so I can deal with the loss. In my mind Weiland is at least two years away from being a big league pitcher so I consider it no loss. I have always liked Punto. He is a scrapper and that is the type of player that Red Sox Nation is attracted to. Today’s moves will help turn the page on 2011 and begin focusing on 2012. Good job, Ben!
Tuukka Rask! Last night he played like an All-Star, never mind just a starter. There is no doubt that the Bruins have the best goaltender tandem in the NHL. So here is the question….Can the Bruins hold on to this guy until Tim Thomas’ contract expires at the end of the 2013 season. Rask is 24 and has a long career ahead of him. He is going to play 30 games this year and probably 30-40 next year. Make no mistake about it, Tim Thomas is the goalie here as long as he continues his outstanding play. The Bruins are playing like they can win another Cup this year, and who knows, maybe next year as well. I hope Tuukka will stay on for these runs and then take over for Thomas in a couple of years. The Bruins will have to spend some money to keep him here through that period, maybe close to starting goaltender money??? What would you do if you were Rask? What would you do if you were the Bruins?
Tebow, Shmeebow. Pats win 42-10. By the way, Rob Gronkowski reminds me a bit of Ben Coates with one exception. Gronkowski doesn’t need to push off to get open. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even have to get open to be open!!
Quietly, Danny Ainge is putting together a respectable basketball team to support the “Big 4″. Brandon Bass, Keyon Dooling and Chris Wilcox are going to make the Celts a very tough team to play against. They are all very physical players. They play defense, they rebound and they are “Doc Rivers” type of team guys. I told myself that I didn’t care about the NBA but Danny has given me a reason to at least check the C’s out when they get back to playing. About the Garnett/Allen complaining about David Stern rushing the season……the players agreed to the deal. Everyone has to deal with the same time frame. Let’s keep this whole thing positive and be above the fray, shall we??
Bruins-Senators tonight? Can’t wait!!
