CLOSED!! ? The Official 2006 Sports Thread ? CLOSED!!

The Pats have so many different holes to fill that any choice they make can only help the team right now. The free agent game has not been too kind to NE this offseason. They still have good offensive weapons but could use some help on the O-line, although they have had a decent showing from backups there in the past. The defensive line looks good now that they finally locked up Seymour but could definately use more help in the LB and secondary groups, especially if Harrison can't come back from his injury.

 

The Boston Red Sox and Doug Mientkiewicz have come to the most obvious compromise: they've agreed to give the 2004 World Series final out ball to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

With a combination of 4 pass balls (2 of which were catchable) and absolutely NO run support Tim Wakefield and the Sox were hit for another loss last night. I give much credit to Wakefield though, he's shown a lot of patience with Bard and no matter how frustrated he gets he will not throw the guy under the bus. Hopefully Beckett can get things looking up again and the Sox can take the finale tonight.

 

Looking ahead to tomorrow's first round of the NFL draft, I decided to check out Ourlad's mock draft, and they have the Patriots taking D'Qwell Jackson, a LB out of Maryland, with the 21st pick. Also, Tom Casale's (Patriots Football Weekly) Patriots seven-round mock draft can be found here.

 

Unlike last year, I will just make one post (this one) for the Patriots' draft activity and edit it as the draft progresses.

Day 1:

#21 first round, #21 overall: Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota
#4 second round, #36 overall: Chad Jackson, WR, Florida (pick acquired by trade w/ Green Bay for #52 & #75 overall)
#22 third round, #86 overall: Dave Thomas, TE, Texas

Day 2:

#9 fourth round, #106 overall: Garrett Mills, TE, Tulsa
#21 fourth round, #118 overall: Stephen Gostkowski, K, Memphis
#3 fifth round, #136 overall: Ryan O'Callaghan, G, California
#22 sixth round, #191 overall: Jeremy Mincey, DE, Florida
#36 sixth round, #205 overall: Dan Stevenson, G, Notre Dame (compensatory selection)
#37 sixth round, #206 overall: Le Kevin Smith, DT, Nebraska (compensatory selection)
#21 seventh round, #229 overall: Willie Andrews, S, Baylor

Notes: The Patriots clearly were drafting for offense this year. Laurence Maroney, picked as the heir apparent to Corey Dillon in the first round, is fast, has a great initial burst, is being compared to Curtis Martin in terms of cut-back ability, and does not fumble. The pick with the greatest up-side appears to be Chad Jackson, the receiver taken in the second round. He was listed as one of the top 3 wide-outs available in the draft, but fell to the second round because of a perceived attitude problem. However, I was told by a chat friend that Belichick worked Jackson out personally and liked him, enough so to trade up with the Packers to take him. Jackson has the speed and hands to be a real deep threat for Brady. Garrett Mills, although listed as a tight end, projects to be a pass-catching fullback. Jeremy Mincey is listed as a defensive end, but projects to be an outside linebacker in the Patriots' system, and Willie Andrews projects to be a cornerback, despite playing safety in college. Stephen Gostkowski was listed as the strongest-footed kicker available in the draft and will compete with Martin Gramatica for the place kicker job in camp.

For the New England college players, three Boston College Eagles were taken: DE Mathias Kiwanuka by the Giants with the last pick in the first round, OT Jeremy Trueblood by the Buccaneers in the second round (#59 overall), and WR Will Blackmon by the Packers in the fourth round (#115 overall). The only New England college player taken from a school other than BC was WR Kevin McMahan of Maine, who was taken by the Raiders as "Mr. Irrelevant".

 

A lot of interesting picks by the Pats this weekend. I find it interesting that Belichick picked a TE when they already have 2 quality TE's on the roster, even though the position figures into the offense more often than with most other teams. Good idea with picking a RB to replace Dillon when his career is over. A season or two under Dillon's wing will really help him grow above and beyond his current abilities.

Now on to the Sox, who are welcoming the Yankees to Fenway for 2 games. I'll ask the same question that every news outlet seems to be asking. How will the Fenway Faithfull greet Johnny Damon when he steps into the box for the 1st time as a Yankee? On Boston.com they had a poll and of the 3 choices:
1)Standing Ovation (least amount of votes)
2)Mix of cheers and boo's (2nd most votes)
3)Booed heavily (most popular choice)
I think (at least I'd like to think) that he'd get more cheers than boo's as he steps out on the field but once he digs in for the first pitch the taunting will begin. I can just hear it now... JOHNNY..... JOHNNY..... JOHNNY!!!

 

WEEI's Mike Adams wants a public mooning of Damon tonight, so we shall see.

J_O, if you were wondering about the tight end picks, it was a combination of the Pats not having a third tight end with Christian Fauria leaving and one of the picks actually projecting to be a fullback.

 

Ohhh yeah! I forgot about Fauria not being with the team anymore . That makes much more sense now, not that I know more than Belichick or anything like that .

I really hope that the greeting Damon gets is more pleasant than not. Sure his departure had a little backpedal to it but the bottom line is the Sox didn't go after him so he went to the team that did. I was at Wade Boggs' first game back to Fenway after he signed with the Yankees and he got a standing ovation as he walked over to the batters box, then after his first pitch the chanting started, "MARGO... MARGO". You could see him shake his head and kinda grin as he finished his at bat .

 

Heeeeeeee's Baaaaack!

ESPN is reporting that the Sox have re-acquired C Doug Mirabelli from San Diego in exchange for C Josh Bard and minor league P Cla Meredith. He's scheduled to be in uniform and to start tonight, catching Tim Wakefield against the Yankees.

 

ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting that the Red Sox have reacquired backup catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor league pitcher Cla Meredith, and cash. Mirabelli is expected to be in Boston tonight and will catch Tim Wakefield in the game against the Yankees.

 

Boston.com is reporting that Doug Mirabelli is coming back to the Sox!!! He will be returning to the team in exchange for C Josh Bard.

**sorry guys, I couldn't resist**

Just in time if you ask me! With Wakefield pitching tonight against the Yankees I'd hate to see what NY would do with Bard letting 3, 4, or 5 pass balls behind him.

 

Bard was only part of the problem for Wakeefield. I think a bigger problem was whenever he pitched, Francona felt the need to field a AAA line-up. With the exception of Papi/Manny, he was putting a bunch of .200 hitters out there. In his last 4 starts he's only given up 7 earned runs in 23 innings and has one win to show for it. Why? Because the Sox 'B' team has only put 6 total runs on the board.

 

Very true. The serious lack of run support was damaging and some of the big hits that Wakefield gave up were on balls that he left up just a bit too high. However the damage of those big hits was only compounded by the fact that runners were able to move up into scoring position. Another reason that I'm glad to see Mirabelli back is his ability to hold "certain" runners (cough Troy Glaus cough) even with a knuckleball pitcher. Sure guys will still run on Wakefield but at least Mirabelli has been able to throw a few guys out over the years.

 

It kind of seems like a panic move. What I don't get is why are they so afraid to have Varitek catch Wakefield? He does it every postseason and he use to do it alot before they acquired Mirabelli the first time. They could have moved Bard over to catch for someone like Clement and had Variteck catch Wake a couple of outings. If Tek ran into similar problems (doubtful) then they could have made the change. Huckabee in Pawtucket was another possible option for Wakefield I'm surprised they didn't atleast try before bringing back Mirabelli.

 

I remember reading an article once that Varitek doesn't like having to jump from guys like Schilling and Beckett to a knuckler like Wakefield. He has said that he would do it if he had to but would rather not. Plus it's good as far as an injury standpoint. If Tek were to catch for all 5 starters all the time and was injured, then you would not only have to break in your backup with the 4 "normal" starters but to Wakefield too . This way if Tek goes down Mirabelli is already able to catch for Wakefield and the other guys are easy enough to adjust to quickly.

I think it looks like a desparation move because it was a desparation move. On the other hand the Sox felt that they could get Bard to adjust and he couldn't. So why try again with another different catcher when you can just go after the best solution, a guy that can slide right in because he's been there already.

 

True, but trying out someone like Huckabee before dealing for Mirabelli would have kept the prospect Meredith in you minor leagues as possible trade bait come the end of July. Plus, you may get lucky and discover that Huckabee can get the job done.

That's my biggest problem with this deal. Having to send a prospect like Meredith away for a back-up catcher. I don't by any means think Meredith will ever be a 1 or 2 starter in the bigs, but I think he would have had more 'value' come July 31st.

 

But if he's not going to be anything more than a #3 starter or an "OK" reliever than his trade value won't be as high unless the Sox throw some cash or yet another prospect in with him if they want to get a #2 starter or quality reliever by the deadline. Besides, the Sox are going to need all the extra $$$ they can spare to sign Clemens on July 30th .

 

Once again the Red Sox owners and management team have made another one of those moves that just make you shake your head.

They really started the season off wrong with me when Bronson Arroyo took the hometown discount to stay in Boston ,and the Sox organization screwed him over by trading him to the Reds.

Bronson is now 5-0 on the season!! with a 2.34 ERA
And he has 2 HR as a batter.
(Why can't the Sox get a guy like that??)


And how is our old friend Pedro Martinez doing??

5-0 with a 2.94 ERA and 33 Strike Outs in 33.2 innings
Once again why can't the Sox get a guy like that...oh yeah they waited until the last minute to low ball him.

How did that trade for Edgar Renteria work out


It is no wonder why Johhny Damon decided to go with an organization with management and ownership stability.

Just my opinon

 

For the most part I'd have to agree with you there Lucanas. The Sox thought they could do better by letting Pedro walk and by trading Aroyyo. Although they have managed to get along without them it would be nice to see them still with the team. Pedro was being a little unrealistic about getting the long term deal he was chasing but he got it with another team and he's doing well with them, good luck to him. Aroyyo wanted to stay and felt like he would be staying but the Sox jumped on the chance to get a "power hitter" in exchange for some pitching since they felt there was an extra arm to spare. That idea obviously took a turn for the worse when Wells said that he might not be coming back from the DL, ever! On the flip side there's a few good options on the farm to help out if the time comes and the loss of Aroyyo probably won't matter in a few months anyway. Like Pedro, Aroyyo is doing well with another team so good luck to him too. In the case of Damon the Sox felt they could do just as good if not better with a less expensive player like Crisp so they let Damon walk after he turned down their offer. Crisp, despite his limited playing time due to his injury, has done very well since joining the team and should continue to improve over the course of the season. I didn't like this one but so far it's also worked out just fine. Again, Damon is with another team and regardless of who it is good luck to him.

Speaking of Damon. I missed the beginning of the game but from what I heard I have to say that it's a little embarassing being a Sox fan sometimes, after hearing about what happened at the game last night. I'd expect the taunting during the course of the game but it's a shame that Damon didn't get a little more of a greeting than he did when stepping out for his 1st at bat. Then the whole dollar-throwing thing is just rediculous! I'm just as passionate as any other Sox fan but the guy played his (you know what) off the entire time he was here. I can't count using both hands how many times Damon risked injury slamming into walls, fences, not to mention teammates to catch a fly ball. Plus his hustle on the bases and his clutch hitting during the playoffs, how can you not give him some thanks even if it's just for the 10 second walk from the visitors dugout to the batters box .

I'll finish my rant now and end with a quick mention of the "Presidential delivery" that the Sox put together to get Mirabelli to Boston in time for the game ! First they charter a private flight to get him from San Diego to Boston, which was delayed , then he gets to town and has to change in the car on the way to the ballpark , his trip to the park was by State Police and he was swept in from the back of an SUV through the gate and into the park under Secret Service like security (try saying that 5 times fast) to make it in time for the first pitch, which he did .

 

Not going to get into the 'politics' of my the Sox did what to who. All that matter is last night the Sox won. Wakefield has his 'security blanket' back, Papi is the man and Papelbon is a freaking stud. Final score: Sox 7 Yankees 5

 

Can we just nominate Ortiz for "King Yankee Killer" now? Seems every time Papi is up in a key spot against the guys from the Bronx, he delivers. And this time, it was against "old friend" Mike Myers, who was bragging that he could get Papi out when he was signed by the Yanks.

 

I'm not going to try and say that Toronto is one of those teams that the Sox should steamroll over every time they meet, they are a very good team and have been for a few years now. On the other hand I wouldn't say that they are any better than the Sox yet they still manage to do very well against Boston all the time . Hopefully they can turn it around tonight and get back on track.

 

It was a close one last night but the Sox were able to pull it off with the 7-4 win over Toronto in the series finale. After a whirlwind of a week between the Yankees game on Monday and the tough series with the Jays the Sox will play Baltimore this weekend and we will see another member of the 2004 team return with his new team, Kevin Millar.

 

http://www.patriots.com/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=19031&pcid=47

The Patriots today announced the signing of 15 undrafted rookie free agents, the most notable name of which is Wyoming QB Corey Bramlet. The Pats went primarily for defense, giving the call to 3 safeties, 3 linebackers, 2 cornerbacks, a defensive end, and a nose tackle. The 15 signees will join the 2006 draft class at a rookie mini-camp this weekend.

 

http://www.patriots.com/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=19051&pcid=47

The Patriots also signed a pair of veteran linebackers today: Barry Gardner, who spent last season with the Jets, and Jeremy Loyd, who spent parts of 3 seasons with the St. Louis Rams, primarily as a special teams player.