As soon as the Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays or some surprise dark horse team signs Juan Soto, the Red Sox better be ready.
In years’ past, simply being in the mix for a talent like Soto was good enough (in their eyes, certainly not ours…). The Sox of yesteryear likely would pack up shop and get to work on their misleading concession speech once they ultimately fell short. Their offseason, for all intents and purposes, would be over.
That simply won’t cut it this time around — not if they want us all to believe that their pursuit of Soto wasn’t entirely full of it.
With reports that a Soto decision could be imminent, the real work is about to begin for Craig Breslow and Co. OK, you missed out on Soto. Ultimately, 29 teams were going to. Then what?
Strike while the iron is hot, that’s what.
We don’t want to hear in the coming weeks about how close you came to signing Soto. Instead, we want to hear that you immediately pivoted and signed Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Teoscar Hernandez, etc. We want to hear that, despite missing out on setting the market with a Soto signing, you set the pitching market signing Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, and so on.
They won’t sign them all, of course (but hey, I’m open to John Henry providing us with the shock of the century). That isn’t the point. The point is that you have the money to spend, you’re apparently finally willing spend it… so, Soto or not, spend it.
Missing out on him, as truly great a talent as he is, doesn’t have to be the be-all and end-all. The team that had Soto on their roster last year didn’t win the World Series, after all.
It’s one thing to wait for the very top domino of the offseason to fall — especially when you’re apparently so heavily in the mix to make it fall. But once it does, there’s nothing to sit around and wait for. Adjust quickly and be aggressive.
The Angels didn’t wait around to sign an All-Star starter in Yusei Kikuchi. Why should you, a team that could actually have a shot to contend with the right handful of moves, do anything to the contrary?
Not signing Soto when you earnestly tried to would be one thing. It would be another thing entirely if the Sox proceed to sit on their hands and drift back into their half-decade slumber…
Porzingis problem
Kristaps Porzingis has been missed. That much was made clear by the rousing ovation Celtics fans gave him as he walked through the tunnel less than five minutes before tip-off in Monday night’s game against the Clippers.
Perhaps he was even missed more by Celtics fans than this actual Celtics team, who were doing just fine in his absence through no fault of his own. That just goes to show how deep and talented the defending champions are.
Nevertheless, Porzingis is back and that’s a good thing for all involved — well, except for the Celtics’ opponents.
Yet with Porzingis’ return comes a logistical challenge for Joe Mazulla and company. The game-changing Latvian big man is a key asset and one who could very well make the difference between being a one-off champion and being a dynasty.
🦄 #DifferentHere pic.twitter.com/MKG9J33iUX
— Gethin Coolbaugh (@GethinCoolbaugh) November 26, 2024
His ahead-of-schedule return may prove to start a rather unfortunate clock: the Porzingis injury clock.
It’s no secret that Porzingis and his towering frame have not held up particularly well to the rigors of an 82-game season. We’re talking about a player who has topped the 60-game plateau just once since playing 72 and 66 games in his first two NBA seasons.
This is not a knock on Porzingis or his work ethic. He’s been the quintessential Celtic since his arrival and clearly loves being one. It’s more a matter of reality, knowing that having Employee No. 8 fully available when it matters most will put this team in the best possible position to repeat.
What will that require? Not letting Porzingis empty the tank on most nights, not playing him most back-to-backs, sitting him when games are in or out of hand. All things that are the responsibility of Mazzulla, not Porzingis. Players want to play, as they should. I don't doubt Porzingis wants to be out there as much as possible, but it’s on the coaches to take that decision out of their players’ hands when that is what’s best for the team and the player.
Porzingis looks plenty healthy, too. He was immediately placed in the starting lineup and didn’t hesitate to hoist up four first-quarter threes, making the second attempt for his first points since Game 5 of the NBA Finals last June.
It’s up to Mazzulla in large part to keep him that way …
Cultural currency
The Patriots as currently constituted aren’t playing for wins. They’re playing for culture.
Which makes their effort on Sunday in Miami so wholly troubling…
By all accounts (during and after the game), the Pats’ stay in Southern Florida was a thoroughly uninspired one. One of those accounts was the scoreboard, which with a 34-15 final makes it seem closer than it actually was.
Wins are nice, of course. But what matters most for this Patriots team right now is building a winning culture. A winning culture, contrary to what the word “win” suggests, means that everything you do is geared toward improvement and consistency.
Even winning teams lose multiple games — like those 2001 Patriots who lost five times in the regular season (tied for a league record for losses by an eventual champion) but still got to hold the Lombardi Trophy at season’s end.
Obviously, this year’s Patriots aren’t going to sniff a Lombardi, but the point remains that it’s not that you lose, but how you lose. Losing tight games to teams on your level or the occasional clunker aren't big problems, but it becomes a problem when you start to string lifeless performances together.
This was certainly one of them, perhaps their most lifeless of the season — and it comes after you’ve been building some real momentum since turning the reins over to Drake Maye.
Jerod Mayo recently said “you win or you learn.” Well, what did he and his players learn from this one? The Dolphins game could just be a clunker. We’ll see more if that’s the case this coming Sunday against Indianapolis.
We’re long past the point of “must win” games (unless you’re Mayo and are coaching for your job — maybe in two years, or maybe as soon as this offseason), but the way the Pats perform versus the Colts will tell us a lot about whether or not the culture they’re building is a positive one.
If they come out flat, undisciplined and lifeless yet again, it might be time for Robert Kraft and the powers that be to seriously consider changing the creators of that culture…
Monty sings the Blues
Jim Montgomery is a good hockey coach and deserving of being behind an NHL bench.
Jim Montgomery’s voice and coaching style also ran its course in the Bruins’ locker room, and it was time for a change.
Both can be — and are — true.
The Bruins have fired 3 consecutive Jack Adams winners, who have all been scooped up within 8 days of being fired 😳 pic.twitter.com/AANenOmbR9
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 24, 2024
Those two facts are being juxtaposed as if they’re incongruent now that Montgomery has quickly found his next gig as the coach of the St. Louis Blues. I don’t believe that has to be the case.
Was Terry Francona suddenly a bad manager after the infamous chicken and beer season with the Red Sox? The results would suggest otherwise, since he took the Cleveland freaking Indians (at the time) to Game 7 of the World Series not five years later.
Sometimes, in Francona’s own words, a team just needs a new voice.That was inevitably the case for these Bruins, who have won both of their games since Montgomery was let go and replaced by interim Joe Sacco.
Now, whether or not it was Montgomery’s fault that the Bruins needed a new voice is a different question…
To me, it’s usually a combination of factors. As I’ve written, there had been a clear disconnect between what Monty was preaching and the way the game was being played on the ice. He plays a role in that, undoubtedly, but it’s also true that the players weren’t getting the job done on their end.
You’re telling me that a coach who came in and immediately got a somewhat dysfunctional Bruins team to play as close to flawless hockey as I’ve ever seen during their record 65-win, 135-point campaign in 2022-23 just suddenly forgot how to coach winning hockey? Not likely.
It was simply time, and with Montgomery a lame duck without a contract, the opportunity was there to try to shake things up and jumpstart the Bruins’ season.
So far, so good…
