Welcome to another Marathon Monday!
As of this morning, the Red Sox sit at 6-5 and in second place in the AL East. Not a horrible start, but the team still has a lot to prove to a media corps eager to pounce.
Manager John Farrell finds himself in the hot seat after a number questionable decisions early in the season.
I appreciated the thoughtful approach that Evan Drellich took to yesterday’s situation, still placing the blame squarely on Farrell, yet showing there are a lot of behind-the-scenes things that go into making those decisions.
There is also the continued saga of Pablo Sandoval, and what the team’s options with him are at this point.
Nick Cafardo had a very nice tribute to “The Maniacal One” Chuck Waseleski who passed away last Thursday. In typical Nick fashion though, he’s got to take some shots at modern statistical analysis in the process, simply because he can’t understand them.
The Celtics get back to action tomorrow night in their first round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. They are likely without Avery Bradley for the rest of the series.
Steve Bulpett says that it is time for Marcus Smart to make a leap. Adam Himmelsbach suggests that the Celtics might go big in Bradley’s absence.
All first round games are on Comcast SportsNet:
The release of Dominique Easley last week certainly reflected what a poor selection he ended up being. I do appreciate that once the Patriots determine a guy is not a fit, he’s gone. Yes, they made a terrible decision in drafting him in the first place, but they don’t compound the decision by keeping a terrible draft pick on their roster. Many teams would just keep a guy because he was a first round pick.
He was also the 29th pick overall, not the sixth, like this guy. He was kept around three years, despite doing nothing at all.
Chris Warner will have a few draft pieces coming up in the next 10 days leading into the NFL Draft.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Several quick thoughts:
On Easley’s release…I don’t understand this whole bust not bust thing. Ryan Leaf was a bust by any measure of value to performance. Easley played 11 games last year and was a solid player for them in those games. Losing him definitely effected the defense and what it could do. What the release tells me is the Pats don’t think he has FUTURE value because he is not taking his job seriously. When asked on 98.5 on Sunday’s football show with Bob Sochi who the Pats missed by taking Easley Ben Volin stuttered and then said…there was no obvious pick but if the Pats had taken someone else they could have coached him up. The pick was not a bad one. Easley proved he could play in the league. The issue was off the field although other than a report he was not taking rehab seriously we don’t have details on that. I just think it is hard to pin this miss on the Pats and their evaluation. Sometimes you do everything right and the player decides to suck. That seems to me like what happened.
Could someone please explain to me what Patriots day is not a holiday in RI? I much prefer to watch the marathon at home than on my phone…the runners are so tiny on my phone.
I am amazed John Farrell still has a job.6-5 11 games in…completely unacceptable. Now if the Sox were 7-4 at this point there would be no panic. All joking aside I am surprised they have not fired Farrell because I think it is clear the guy is over his head when making in game decisions. Kirk’s tweet aside it is hard to watch this guy manage. Time will tell but I do not think he makes it through May.
LikeLike