Gobble Gobble

Happy Turkey Day, and "Innocent Shopper Trampling" Weekend B-Slant land!

Did you see the footage of the obese black woman being over run by crazed shoppers trying to get into a WalMart at 6:00 AM? Luckily the store had emergency personnel on site for just this reason. Are they serious? They knew this was coming? It's freaking WalMart! What are you trampling old women to get to? Cheap electronics, overpriced DVDs, or bargain boxes of CheezIts?

Anyway, I hope you're all fat and still a little groggy from devouring pounds of leftovers over the past few days. Take it easy on the shopping, everything will be there at 6:45 AM I promise.

The top story of the past week in my mind has been the Josh Beckett trade to the Red Sox. Unlike many Red Sox fans I am not willing to throw my support behind this deal yet. Sure we got a potentially great young arm who has proven World Series experience, against the Yankees no less. However, being just one year removed from the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes, which were driven primarily by his post season performance from the previous season (look how that turned out for the Mets) I have my doubts about Beckett being the savior we are waiting for based on one Game 6 in Yankee Stadium.

Don't get me wrong that was a performance for the ages and I will love him forever for crushing the hearts of the evil empire in their house but one great complete game under the brightest lights does not a superstar make. His numbers are solid, last season he was 15-8 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Certainly those stats are better than anything the Red Sox put out this season, but remember he was pitching in the NL East, i.e. against the Braves, Phillies, and company. Take an all star team from the NL East and the lineup does not compare to the lineups he will face in the AL East with the Yankees, Orioles, and to some degree the Blue Jays.
Also, he's never consistently faced the DH. It's been documented that pitchers always improve statisitically when they move to the NL (ex. Colorado) just look at Pedro Martinez. The opposite has to be assumed when moving to the heaviest hitting division in baseball.

Beckett has also never pitched 200 inning in his career and has been on the DL 9 times in 4 years. That does not bode well for a move to a more grueling environment away from pitcher friendly Pro Player Stadium.

The other downside of this deal is Mike Lowell. When Peter Gammons points you out as a player that will likely be affected negatively as a result of the new steroid policy and then you go out and hit .236 the next season that tells me something. His on base percentage was .298, which is absolutely atrocious. For his career he is a .272 hitter with an OBP of .332. Of course you cannot discount his defense, he is a gold glove caliber 3rd baseman but the fact is you already have a light (or non) hitting first baseman, and an offensively underachieving shortstop, no second baseman, and you may be trading the best right handed hitter in the AL. The lineup can't afford this much of a decline at another positiion regardless of how effective Lowell is defensively. Not to mention, what have you been holding onto Kevin Youkilis for if you are never going to play him? If the Red Sox intended to keep stringing him along and never spot him into the lineup they should have traded him when his value was at its highest. Of course I understand that taking Lowell was the only way that the Marlins were going to part with Beckett but if that is the case it calls the whole deal into question.

The final factor is Hanley Ramirez. We've all been hearing about this kid for 3 years now. I have no idea what to think about him, I've barely seen him play. I actually don't have a problem with this part of the deal because if the Red Sox were as high on Ramirez as we all thought that they were they would not have given Edgar Renterria 40 million dollars to play the same position. He could just as easily have turned into Casey Fossum as he could have turned into A-Rod, in baseball potential amounts to less than in any other sport and it is totally unpredictable. It's like stocks, buy low sell high and hope it pays off, in this case the Sox were selling high.

I guess when all is said and done this is a wait and see deal, but if the Red Sox slate Lowell as their starting 3rd baseman, allow Bill Mueller to leave, trade Manny, play (Insert Someone Here) at first base and Beckett has a predictable NL to AL downturn this trade could go down as a desperate attempt to rebuild fan confidence following the Theo Epstein debacle. Of course if Lowell experiences a resugence and Beckett wins 18 games I'll be as happy as a pig in mud.

Hey, if it doesn't work out, who can I blame? Who made this trade?

************************************************************************************

- Predictable Thanksgiving game in Detroit. When is the NFL going to realize that it's not the turkey that puts people to sleep BEFORE dinner, it's the Lions. They should put the Lions on Thanksgiving Day probation until they can win more than 5 games in a season.

- A brilliant idea was put out by Mr. B-Slant during Sheryl Crow's halftime performance, "I think they should have a 15 minute football game in the middle of the Grammys." That would be amazing, bring out Brian Urlacher to crush Jake Delhomme right into the stage in front of all those people in tuxes. Fact is though, the Grammy audience would still care more about the football game than a football audience cares about Sheryl Crow. Why do they insist on doing this during every nationally televised game? Do you ever hear anyone say anything good about the halftime performances?

- T.O. gets a stipend? What the heck does that mean? At least he won't be on the field and the Eagels' struggles will continue to make the Pats look strong in their defense of the AFC.

- I wish I could tell you that Ben Roethlisberger in the lineup this weekend was going to make a difference for Pittsburgh. I really wish I could tell you that. With him the Steelers won't get blown out, but I'm having trouble finding a way in which they can beat the Colts. Maybe if they can run the ball for 450 yards and just dominate the clock completely they will be able to limit the amount of touches for the Colts, i.e. limiting them to that many touchdowns (less maybe one).

- Corey Dillon is out for this week's game in Kansas City. Of course he is. Should this be a surprise anymore? This might not be a must have game for the Pats, but KC is always a tough place to play and with a limited rushing attack and no defense they could be in real trouble. Is there any way they will be able to stop Larry Johnson? I doubt it, and Trent Green is much better than the triumvrate of names that have torched them recently (Holcomb, Frerotte, and Brooks). I see this game in the 40's on both sides. Put it all on Brady again.

- Did anyone see the Celtics new alternate road uniforms last night? Darker green with black numbers and trim, very modern NBA, very anti-"We have 16 World Championship Banners Hanging in our Gym." I have mixed feelings on this, the Red Auerbach part of me hates it. I never want to see Boston sports gear on a rapper. The other part of me realizes that this franchise needs to disassociate itself with it's past in order to get out its own shadow and bring in new younger fans that don't remember and base their idea of success on the era of Parish, Bird, and McHale.

Enjoy the leftovers and the truly leftover college football on today. Maryland v. NC State, division I AA playoffs, who cares? Bring on Florida v. Florida State.