The Red Sox… the Boston Red Sox… John Henry’s Boston Red Sox… are in on Juan Soto?
Please. Give me a break.
It’s just plain laughable.
https://t.co/MuXOF0gx6s pic.twitter.com/enUKXvpbll
— Gethin Coolbaugh (@GethinCoolbaugh) November 7, 2024
For some reason, someone associated with the Red Sox has given Jon Heyman the impression that Boston’s baseball team is going to seriously pursue a man who might have a chance to exceed Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract.
Again, laughable.
Actually, it’s beyond laughable. It’s a slap and hand mark to the face of Red Sox Nation.
I’m not here to play source police. I fully believe someone in the know was behind that report and that the team wants to position itself publicly as being in the mix for the top free agent on the market.
But to what end? I simply cannot fathom Henry’s Fenway Sports Group dropping that kind of cash on one player anymore, even one as deserving as Soto. Not anymore. There was a time when that was more the case, but we are long, long past it…
Hey, I’d love to be wrong. All it takes is one, one massive signing — like a Soto — for Henry and Co. to signal to the fan base and the league that the Sox are back in business. So is it possible? Yeah.
What’s also possible — nay, probable — is that the Sox will be satisfied enough with their name being tied to Soto, however briefly, or maybe they’ll just make a low-end offer that they know he would never accept, all to be able to shrug their shoulders and say “hey, we tried.”
Juan Soto? Not gonna happen. Now…Teoscar Hernandez? More realistic, but still a stretch. There was a deal to be made with Teoscar last year, and the Sox opted not to over exert themselves. Now, coming off a World Series championship season, I can’t imagine Hernandez will cost them less money…
For that reason, to sign Hernandez now would be bad business — and we know John Henry hates that.
But you know what else would be bad business? Signing a player like Juan Soto for $700 million when you could have had a superior and more valuable two-way player in Ohtani for a similar price last offseason.
Why not just sign Ohtani then? Why not just sign Mookie Betts in the first place to that $365 million deal that’s looking better and better — not just because the player is on track to be an all-time great, but also because of the way the market is exploding.
But hey, “expensive” baseball players and all…
The sad (in John Henry’s eyes) truth is that good baseball players were expensive then, and they’re even more expensive now.
Makes you think about getting out of the expensive baseball player business game, doesn’t it John? Well, it should, but we know it won’t…
Tatum v. Kerr
“Tatum 50”
That’s what one of my best friends texted me moments before tip-off in the Celtics’ highly-anticipated game against the Warriors on Wednesday night.
“Nah. He’s going to defer because people will be expecting that,” I responded.
Lo and behold…
Indeed, everyone had circled this game on the calendar ever since Steve Kerr’s Olympic benching of Jayson Tatum. Forget the Warriors, forget the Celtics… it was going to be Tatum versus Kerr.
.@CelticsPA knew *exactly* what he was doing with those pregnant pauses introducing Steve Kerr tonight in Boston… 😂 #DifferentHere #DubNation pic.twitter.com/7uVE7hcr9r
— Gethin Coolbaugh (@GethinCoolbaugh) November 7, 2024
It turned out to be anything but — and in my eyes, that’s to Tatum’s credit.
Tatum didn’t come out looking like a man on a mission. Instead, he did what this championship version of Tatum has learned to do for the betterment of the team.
He deferred.
Instead of taking the ball and forcing the issue to make a statement, Tatum surveyed the scene and made the right play. Early on, that play was to put the ball in Derrick White’s hands during his red-hot first quarter.
Later on, after scoring only eight points before halftime and with his team facing a 14-point deficit in the third quarter, Tatum called his own number and went to work, scoring 17 of his eventual game-high 32 points in that period.
All in all, as Tatum said, it was “just another Wednesday.”
“It wasn’t on my mind,” Tatum insisted afterward about Kerr and his Olympic experience. “Another game, another opportunity to come in and try to be the best player I can be.”
He did just that.
True, the outcome wasn’t what Tatum or Boston fans wanted. The Celtics came up short. There are reasons beyond their play on the court — namely that NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown was out nursing a hip injury — that contributed to the loss. It’s just one loss, one night during the regular season. It’s no big deal.
What would have made it a big deal is if Tatum had taken the bait in the media, played up the “revenge game” aspect and forced up an 11-for-30 night and still lost the game.
But he didn’t. He played it right on and off the court, his growth and leadership by example both on full display.
Tom Maye-dy
Drake Maye had his first Tom Brady moment last Sunday in Tennessee.
It had more to do with his response after the fact than it did his dramatic, last-second and Brady-esque play on the field.
DRAKE MAYE MAGICCCCCCCCC!!!!!!!!!
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 3, 2024
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/UvIB3dRi8k
Maye had plenty of reason to peacock a little this week after what was some truly elite-level playmaking. Instead, he chose to do what Brady did best: demand the best of himself to raise the level of those around him.
Because even on that miraculous throw to Rhamondre Stevenson, Maye saw an opportunity to be better.
“Yeah, they popped cover two, and I had Hunter (Henry) within the first couple seconds of the play. That could have made it a lot easier in the back end zone,” Maye told reporters on Wednesday. “Really probably just more mad at myself for not making the play, having the play be a lot less stressful.”
Even coming off his highest moment as a pro yet, Maye is seeking all the answers to the test. That is some incredible maturity for a 22-year-old with five NFL games and three full games under his belt.
The talent is clearly all there with Maye — and no, I'm not saying he is or is ever going to be Brady. But since Brady literally rewrote the book on ideal quarterbacking — perfectly melding talent, mental understanding of the game and sheer willpower — it would be foolish for Maye not to look to take a thing or two from him.
So far, Maye has proven himself to be a quick study…
Urgent B’s
Brad Marchand, meanwhile, did look and play like a man on a mission Thursday night against Calgary.
That mission? To get the Bruins’ spark back, to get his team back on track after a woefully pitiful loss at rival Toronto, and who knows, maybe even to help save his coach’s job…
It was evident right from the opening puck drop, when Marchand got the puck and deftly deked his way into the slot in a flashback to the surprisingly skilled player Marchand had become — the one we haven’t seen much of lately, frankly.
But Brad, man… he played desperately. In the best way.
He wouldn’t admit as much when I asked him about it in the locker room after the game, but his aforementioned coach was happy to oblige...
“I thought he was desperate the entire game,” Jim Montgomery said after his captain finished off his own rebound for the winning goal with 20 seconds left in overtime. “He hit a couple posts. I thought that he was on top of his game, I thought he was skating well. His ability to recover and just keep going, the second and third effort, you know, it needs to become contagious on our team, because he’s a great leader.”
Perhaps it was in that capacity as a “great leader” that Marchand avoided admitting that his team needs to be playing desperate hockey when I asked him how he would describe the level of desperation the Bruins were playing with right now…
“I think that we’re building a little bit of confidence every single game, in our system and the way that we need to play,” Marchand told me. “We’re starting to build some chemistry throughout the lines and get comfortable in the way that they’re pushing us to play, which really is the biggest thing.
“You know, when you’re thinking in this league, it just slows you down. You have to play instinctively and be able to play fast. It’s just something we haven’t been doing a great job of, but lately we’ve been better at it 5-on-5. We’ve got to still clean up our special teams and be better there, but our 5-on-5’s coming.”
No mention of the words or concepts of “desperation” and “urgency” whatsoever.
It was a calculated response by Marchand, who instead of doing what Montgomery has done in publicly calling out his team and players in the media opted to take a more measured approach, one that didn’t suggest the sky was falling.
That’s been the M.O. for the last few Bruins captains going back to Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara. Keep it in house, and we’ll figure it out there. It’s a strategy that has worked at times in the past.
But it seems pretty clear that it isn’t working as well right now.
As for Marchand, he’s always going to leave everything on the line. As Montgomery rightly said, the rest of the Bruins would be wise to take a page out of Marchy’s book and match that level of play night in, night out.
His job — maybe not theirs, but his — depends on it…
