The baseball general managers meetings start today in Baltimore, and the Red Sox have plenty of work to do to put 2014 behind them and look to rebound in 2015.

Red Sox have pieces to retool roster – Peter Abraham looks at the roster and the possibilities.

Red Sox setting up for busy offseason -Gordon Edes has Ben Cherington looking to repeat his magic of 2013.

Big business for Red Sox at meetings – Scott Lauber looks at the massive to-do list facing the Sox GM.

It seems almost a given to many that the Red Sox will turn things around in 2015, and that Ben Cherington will add the needed pieces to restore the team to respectability. While some howl over the need for cynicism when looking at sports, where’s the critical thinking aimed at the Red Sox? I don’t see it, especially compared to other teams in this town. I’m it has nothing to do with the fact that the team owner also owns the most dominant newspaper in town and the TV outlet which the team’s games appear on.

The Celtics sit at .500 after a pair of wins over the weekend, including in Chicago Saturday night without Rajon Rondo or Marcus Smart. Smart will be out for a few weeks with a sprained ankle, an injury suffered Friday night against the Packers, and which looked much worse than it turned out to be.

For depleted Celtics, Bulls provided a benchmark win – Gary Washburn says that the win in Chicago was an important one in the development of the team.

Get all the current Celtics news at CelticsLinks.com.

The Patriots will get back to the field this week as they prep for the Colts in Indianapolis on Sunday night.

A nice bit from Patriots All Access last week was a glimpse at the party held at Robert Kraft’s home the night before the Denver game for the players who were on all three Super Bowl winning teams. It was great to see some of the players whose time here didn’t end in the greatest manner (namely Ted Johnson and Richard Seymour) back and speaking about their time here. Johnson had his son with him, and the piece had him introducing him to his former teammates and telling him about ones who weren’t there (Adam Vinatieri).

They also had plenty of stories from that time, pranks played on each other, etc. It would be nice to see more from that event, and given that the cameras were there, it seems possible more footage may be shown in the future.

The Bruins are toughing their way through an injury-riddled portion of the season, and currently sit five points out of the lead in the Atlantic Division. Defenseman David Warsofsky was the latest to go down, suffering a strained groin which will keep him out 2-4 weeks.

Catch up with the Bruins at BruinsLinks.com.

Listening to Mike Ditka can be tough to take – Chad Finn’s Monday media column has the Bears legend archaic views painful to endure.

Al Michaels on everything from calling O.J. after the murders to Bill Simmons – Richard Deitsch talks to the broadcasting legend.

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Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

47 thoughts on “Red Sox Set To Light The Hot Stove”

  1. YARM and Felgy all but guaranteed to their listeners that cold-hearted BB and his penny pinching boss, Krafty Bob, would screw Vollmer on his incentive laden contract.

    Whoops…Don’t expect a mea culpa on this one.

    http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/print?id=4771910

    The New England Patriots have tweaked the contract of starting right tackle Sebastian Vollmer, DECREASING the percentage of plays he must play in order to earn up to $2 million in incentives…

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    1. You beat me to it.

      Expect to have this be spun into how the Pats are screwing Vollmer IN THE LONG RUN with this move, though.

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    2. It was also recently noted somewhere (I think Miguel’s cap site) that based on the projected buffer they have for players hitting their incentives (and also counting IR’d players and practice squad players), the Pats are actually hardly below the salary cap for this season. Funny, all the media keeps telling me is that they are $14 million under, Kraft is cheap and how the Broncos are far better for “going for it now”.

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  2. I am loving Scalabrine as the ‘color man’ on the Celtics broadcasts. He brings a lot of knowledge to the table. Love Tommy too, but more and more, he just sounds worn out.

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    1. I do like his knowledge of the game, but so far I am not digging his voice. I don’t remember it being this “stuffy”. He sounds like he always has a cold.

      Quick side note on Scal, I have never seen anyone in this town go through a swing like Brian has. When he first got here the Garden would boo the crap out of him. Remember how mad people were when Danny gave him a three (maybe 4 not sure) year deal? Then, the next year, the Celts get KG and Ray and next thing you know all the hate is gone and he’s the loveable white guy who comes in late in games and the Garden desperately wants him to shoot (and make) 3’s. He then parlays that into weekly radio gigs and is now the Celtics road color guy. That’s incredible. I’m not sure if people have forgotten just how hated this guy was. And now he’s like a poor man’s Bill Walton with Boston as his adopted home and default team that he’s associated with. It really is crazy to me.

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      1. It is pretty funny, and I had almost forgotten how much Ainge got roasted (deservedly so) for making Scal a “big” free agent signing the year before KG and Allen came here. One thing is for sure, he was destined to be a media guy. Anyone who saw him “hold court” at the podium with the national media after Game 6 of the 2008 Finals at the Garden could tell that he had what it took to jabber in front of a microphone. That’s still a great clip–he was literally speaking as if he’d actively participated in winning that title, and he made it sound convincing!

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      2. I watched the Bulls game with my father and we talked about that. Ainge gave Scal, what was it, a six year contract, and we all thought that Danny had lost his mind.

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  3. I had the moron and metro~sexual , show on for about five minutes today. Yup the trade for Brady for luck talk. Are you kidding me did callers bite into that crap?

    Mr Brady will never be cut or traded. He is a warrior who will fall on his sword one day but till then I will enjoy the games.

    Wasn’t it bb who kept Troy Brown’s locker intact even though he was a free agent for months. Wasn’t it bb who brought Kevin Faulk back for last season after a bad injury. My one brain cell might be wrong about the recent past . If I’m wrong accept my apology .

    My point is I’m tried of this crap make believe sports talk. Neither Kraft or bb would sign off to this bs.

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    1. not to mention the other, “make believe sports talk” category. Injuries that MIGHT happen. i.e.”but what happens IF Gronk gets injured?!?” You know it’s bye week when they start with that crap…..

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      1. It’s not easy to detox clean from it. I work alone and I can listen to so much music during the day lol. I do agree less is better.

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      2. totally agree, obviously people can do what they want but only time I listen is when trying to catch interviews…but hosts and CALLAHS?…..no frickin’ way. Rather listen to nails on a chalkboard

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        1. Lol. I just jumped into the car to get a coffee. Omg. Dale and holly talking Brady luck trade.back to 104’9 north shore for music

          Green bay week. Talking point # 1
          Brady for their qb.

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  4. Did anyone catch Felgie and YARM picking on “Green Teamers” and the team itself, for the handling of Marcus Smart’s injury on Friday?

    They were basically making fun of the player for getting hurt and the franchise for being concerned. Of course the injury isn’t as severe as originally thought but how must the team feel that its flagship station’s highest rated (?) show is ripping on the franchise, its medical staff, and players?

    **They basically called NBA players soft.

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      1. And if you are the owners of the team, do you want the flagship station making fun of one of your players getting hurt?

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    2. You can’t hit F+M on this because this has always been their (maybe more Felger) approach. Long before they got the Celtics rights, and even now, they’ve never changed. I don’t want them to change here but, sometimes, you do have to ‘change’ a view because of the rights issue. Around here, they’d be called out, and I have to think F+M + their program director is smart enough to tell anyone with Celtics management this. This is one area where I respected Felger on the approach. Last thing we need is more “NESNizing” of the media around here.

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      1. Not saying it should approach Red Sox/NESN levels of Baghdad Bob-ery but if there is a team in this town that needs positive PR after returning largely the same uninspiring roster from a year ago, after many thought they would make a splash one way or another this past summer, it is this team. They appear to me, to be in a sort of limbo and could go the way of the Bruins of six or seven years ago on talk radio. That is to say, non-existent.

        To harp on the league or the game or whatever, fine. But to openly laugh on the air about a player getting injured (and I’m not talking Paul Pierce in a press conference with bandages and such all over himself) is pretty harsh.

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  5. LeBron with cramps in the Finals and he’s acting like he just stormed the beaches of Normandy. Paul Pierce going off in a wheelchair. Smart getting strapped down on a stretcher for a sprained ankle. Looked like they just pulled him out of a plane crash. FFS. NBA players are soft and dramatic. Make soccer players look like Roman gladiators.

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    3. Now that’s a Hot Take, Caller!

      Smart getting strapped down on a stretcher for a sprained ankle that Ed Lacerte feared was a fracture or a break makes him soft? I guess I missed the boat on this one. This isn’t a YMCA rec. league, it’s a league in which the players generate millions upon millions of dollars.

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  6. The “Twitter Reaction” is a common topic with things. I recall a good discussion on it from G+Z, since they were discussing the good and bad of Twitter. I have to figure every other show has touched this at some point.

    No shocker here, but it tends to be at odds with what most people think.

    http://www.pewresearch.org/2013/03/04/twitter-reaction-to-events-often-at-odds-with-overall-public-opinion/

    (See the idiots that went after Marc Trestman’s daughters after the SNF loss? Sad.)

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    1. The whole “People are saying” thing is utter laziness. If one nitwit on Twitter says it, guys like Benz talk about it as if people are banging down the doors of the WEEI studio to say the same thing.

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      1. The G+Z convo brought that up (reflects responsible approaches to this):

        You can pickup on topics that “trend”, worthy of a fruitful discussion. Or, you can be lazy and pick the things clearly fodder for the LCD-level users out there.

        A simple but good litmus test is if only a few people are saying it, and their timeline reads like something they’d never want an employer reading, it’s a pretty safe bet to not use it.

        Sad you have to discuss this but, yeah, I’ve heard Salk use this a bit.

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  7. I listened to Felger and YARM yesterday and not ONE mention of the Vollmer deal from Felger or YARM even though Beetle mentioned it in his sports flash. Instead we were treated to 4 hours of fantasy trade talk. No mention of how the Patriots stepped up to give a player more money even though they didn’t have to. No props for them doing “the right thing”. Felger says that the Patriots make everyone play for every penny before getting new deals. Ooops! This news doesn’t fall into his narrative about the Patriots so we’ll just pretend we didn’t hear it and talk about a player swap that would never happen in this or any other alternate universe. Thank god for my podcast app so I got to hear Dale and Holley discuss it like true journalist broadcast professionals.

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  8. Gary Washburn says that the win in Chicago was an important one in the development of the team.

    I get that Gary and the other Celtics beat guys need to write _something_ but isn’t this one of the laziest copouts for an article? Young/team with no shot wins a game they were not favored in. Writer talks about how it was important for the development for the team…

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  9. Richie Incognito was brought in to Denver for a tryout today. “It makes sense Mike! Denver knows what they’re doing and giving Manning another body to keep him up right!”.

    If The Hub needs another program director I’m available.

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    2. Remember, this is what the Patriots should have done weeks ago! They could be 8-1 instead of 7-2! It would have made all the difference in the KC game.

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  13. Oh no….no a/c?? The poor fellow. Hey….didn’t EVERY other player on the floor also have no a/c or was it just a LeBron thing? None of the SPurs players cramped up. None of the other Heat players did. But that’s some great LeBron rim jobbing. ESPN should hire you.

    There was no heat or AC in the old Garden yet Larry and McHale and the guys powered through it. LeBron is a drama queen with an ego the size of Ohio. Fake tough guy? That’s the opening line in LeBron’s player bio.

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  15. Can’t you do better than a cliched Internet response? Always assume the worst of the person on the other side. We’re all fat and patsy, but you are obviously a bronzed Adonis.

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  16. YARM was in top A-Hole form today:

    Parillo: It’ll probably take 30+ points to win vs Indy
    Mazz: Oh the defense shouldn’t even make the trip then! Why even bother!
    PP: NO….that’s not what i said
    Mazz: Why is it all offense?! Can’t the defense just shut them down?!

    It was like that all hour. Pick one word in a statement and make a grandiose, ridiculous, over the top argument over it. yet, don’t the callers dare do that with THEM.

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  18. I’m curious to see the next rating book on all the shows. Who has gone up but I’m more curious to see if overall listener #s are down thru out the day.

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  19. Benz was at it again today. I checked in for the first few minutes. His outlandish claim/Strawman for a Hot Stove Thursday: Everyone (except for Benz, of course) thought (during Spring Training and the MLB season) that Jon Lester was not worth the money that he supposedly was asking for.

    Funny, as I recall it, 99% of the fanbase bought into and repeated the media line that the Red Sox initial offer to Lester was a “slap in the face” and that they had royally screwed up in not offering something much closer to his true market value.

    I wonder where he comes up with this crap…

    Go back to Shitsburgh, ThanksDad, and please take Nomar’s caddy with you.

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  20. Today Mazz spent 37 minutes freaking out about the Pats game based on….the point spread. The Colts are favored by 3 and Mazz is acting like Brady is injured and not playing in the game or something. Isn’t it pretty standard practice that the home team in the NFL gets 3 points? The line went from 2 1/2 to 3 and Mazz is freaking out – “What’s going on!? Vegas knows something we don’t!! This scares me! What’s happening!?” To which Beatle asks the question everybody else is asking the radio – “Why does this bother you? What does it matter?”

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    1. Felger got to address his favorite topic of all time – Patriots vs (insert player they let go here). Today? Adam Vinatieri. Nevermind that Gostkowski is arguably THE best kicker in the NFL and was AV’s replacement. Nevermind that it’s 7 years later. God forbid they breakdown the f**king GAME and not this absolute abortion of a radio segment(s).

      I can’t wait for Monday. After getting legit Pats breakdown from 10-2 with Gresh and Zo I can turn to WEEI and listen to Jerry Thornton w/ Dale & Holley. Jerry may be a Patriots Pom-Pom waver but at leasts he talks about the GAME and the TEAM and not this utter garbage from F&M.

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  21. Finn with lots of stuff I’m sure will generate many topics in today’s notes column:

    And the buzz for months is that another shakeup in WEEI’s 2-6 p.m. window could happen once Holley’s contract expires in February.

    (Dale Arnold, who was reunited with his former midday partner in March when the disastrous Mike Salk returned to Seattle, has been working without a contract.)
    …
    If WEEI wants a bold personality to go head to head with the
    Felger/Mazz/Bertrand ratings juggernaut, it almost has no choice but to move Minihane to afternoon drive.

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    1. Jerry is going to be outstanding on EEI from 2 to 6. Maybe they can phase out holly. One can dream . . . Also levin reed (sp?) Would be great. He is funny and on point and keeps the conversation moving.

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      1. I have no clue if it’d work but I don’t think the problem wasn’t having Thorton on the show. So, would adding him change it? I don’t have high hopes.

        Read the responses via Twitter (nope not some accurate barometer, but it gives you somewhere to start)

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