El Guapo's Ghost Rambles on about the Red Sox

FRANCOEUR TO BOSTON - NOT

Even though the Sox trio of right fielders with major league contracts is a relatively unhealthy bunch, they do not need to trade for the out machine known as Jeff Francoeur.  He just doesn’t fit the Olde Towne Team.  The rumor is crazy. Maybe Francoeur or his family started the trade rumors to Boston.

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Hanging with Mr. Hunter: Big Papi is entertaining.

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HE NOT ONLY BREAKS BASEBALL NEWS

A great article by Ken Rosenthal on the media's handling of PEDs issue then and now. IT IS A MUST READ!

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GOING, GOING, GONE

The big inning is not really the problem for Jon Lester. It is giving up the long ball. Lester has given up 11 homers in only 60 innings. Last season, he allowed 14 over 210. Lester's K, BB, and Line Drive rates are consistent to last year. His stuff, for the most part, has been just as good as 2008. It would seem that hitters are getting a better read and not missing Lester. Could the southpaw be tipping his pitches?

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Below is a mini Random Rumblings and for more follow El Guapo's Ghost on Twitter. As always, random rumblings are written in a joking and not so serious tone.

* Stringer Bell does not belong on The Office as Michael Scott‘s new nemesis. Michael can’t be shot in the back of the head by Dwight.

* Tek needs a new theme song when he comes up to bat at Fenway.

* Laser eye surgery is a PEP - Performance Enhancing Procedure - maybe it should be banned from baseball.

* McDonalds’ harsh browns should come in edible paper wraps.

* What’s up with Seattle? How does a strip club get a permit to operate across the street from one of their biggest tourists attractions - Pike Place Market?

SWEEP ‘EM CANADIAN STYLE – BRING ON BOYS FROM QUEENS

Even though the Olde Towne Team didn’t face the best pitcher on the planet, Roy Halladay (who needs a nickname), it was encouraging to take all three games from the Jays. It seems that the Jays benefited from an easy early schedule and many of their hitters being hot at the same time.

The only non-US team’s plan was solid – invest in two top of the rotation starters (Halladay, Burnett), two five tool players (Rios and Wells), a closer (Ryan) and fill in the rest with complementary/league average players from the farm system. Unfortunately for the Jays, Rios and Wells have not developed into superstars and the window has closed on the pitching side. The Jays should be sellers ASAP or they are going to be looking up in the A.L. East for many years to come.

Now the Mets come to town for an absolutely asinine May interleague series. They remind me of a better late 90’s Red Sox team; relying too much on their superstars to win, most notably. If a critical cog goes down, they are screwed due to few good players surrounding the superstars and the lack of minor league assets to pull off a big trade. The Mets are a good team but risky.

THE MONKEY IS OFF DAVID ORTIZ'S BACK

...and he is now playing beer pong.


Maybe now I don't need to write about how Adam LaRoche and Jack Wilson would be a nice trade to sure up the two possible organizational weak spots.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT AT THE GARDEN

Last night was the worse time for Paul Pierce to play like $hit. The numbers tell the story. Pierce was 4 of 13 from the field and the main player he "defended" put up a line like 24 of 36 for 60. Kendrick Perkins also sucked. Unlike last season, this team had little margin for error. Ray Allen and Pierce had to score without KG, unless Rondo or someone else had a monster scoring game by their standards. When three of the five someone elses barely played this time last year (and for crying out loud their nicknames are Jackie Moon, Starbury, and Big Baby not The Chief, Larry Legend, The Big Ticket or The Truth), it is surprising the Celtics even got this far.

The home loss also means that we'll need to find a new place to watch C's home playoff games. We were undefeated at Ken’s Pizza on Church Street, besides the game C.F. attended - negative vibes guy. I'll be scouting out locations this summer so take notice bar owners.


The one positive from both the end of the Celtics and Bruins seasons’ is that I can get into the rhythm of summer or the Sox at seven. And that beat will not be interrupted often since the Olde Towne Team will be staying back to the east. BTW, the Sox survived going 7-6 over a tough last two weeks. A healthy squad has the opportunity to do some real damage before the Break.

TIME WARNER SUCKS!

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Last year, TNT sucked me into watching My Boys, which was/is terrible like the way Ray Allen looks of late. Jesus Shuttleworth needs to put a hurtin' on the Mickey Mouse Magic tonight.

NEW ENGLAND MONOPOLY
 
Comcast has the most to gain by purchasing the NYTC stake in NESV, LLC because of NESN.  (Jeremy Jacobs / Delaware North would likely be interested, as well, to increase his share in NESN and secure the Fenway concessions contract, but Comcast has more to gain.)  Owning a little over 14% of NESN would provide Comcast with the benefits of both vertical and horizontal integration.
 
Regional Sports Networks are costly for cable providers.  RSNs need to be a part of the basic tier, which causes a high percentage of cable customers to subscribe and high monthly service fees paid back to the Network.  A strategy to reduce this cost is to team up with the RSN to enjoy the margins on both the wholesale and retail sides. This type of partnership usually happens in the RSN development stage to avoid any kind of distribution issue, and with the cable company likely paying a below market price.  Obviously, this will not be the case with NESV, LLC, as the NYTC is floating $200M and needs to get ever last cent.  But the acquisition should be on the Comcast conference table considering the power they and NESN could have in the Boston media market. 
 
Comcast, Henry, and Jacobs could combine and spinoff NESN and Comcast SportsNet to gain leverage over television advertisers.  In an area that’s entertainment is dominated by professional sports, which also happens to be one of the few DVR proof programs, the newly created RSN would be the biggest player in the industry.  If your company’s target is Boston-Manchester males aged 18-39, your media buyer is on the phone with a sales rep at NESN/CSN.  With any merger between former competitors, redundancies are throughout the new organization and could be eliminated thereby increasing profitability.  A merger between NESN and Comcast SportsNet would be an even larger cash cow for the threesome then if they are as rivals. 

AT THE TOP OF THE ORG CHART
 
The financial free-fall of the “Paper of Record” - The New York Times Co. (NYTC) - could significantly impact the Boston sports media and it has nothing to do with the Globe.  NYTC is not going to diminish its main attraction, the Sports Section, or one of their most prized assets – boston.com (if you are reading this, you probably don’t buy the newspaper like most).  But NYTC is selling their stake in New England Sports Ventures, LLC which owns the Boston Red Sox, NESN, etc. 
 
The most likely person to purchase the NYTC’s 17.7% is the love sick Principal Owner, John Henry.  He has already expressed interest, even going as far as to taking on the corpse known as the Boston Globe but then back tracking on the Globe.  (If Henry wanted to really control Sox spin, he could buy Entercom – the parent of WEEI.  The publicly traded company’s market capitalization was recently a bit more than Dice-K’s posting fee that was used to buy some ass warming stadium toilets.)  Plus, Henry probably has the right to match any offer as part of the NESV, LLC agreement.  As long as the bidding is not outrageous or a strategic partner does not emerge, we will get the status quo.  Given the economy, it seems unlikely a billionaire goes wild but one company may have the synergies and pockets that could get Henry to back down.

SUNDAY SWEEP

Sox win, C's win, B's win - enough said! It was a good day...so good...so good.

CLEVELAND DOES NOT ROCK

We have hit into a double play of sad news. Thankfully, we have Bay Being Canadian and Cleveland.

JUST BBC

Say it with me folks, Bay Being Canadian!

WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE WATCHING HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER?

Since relatively few people saw this a week ago, I feel a need to share great comedy.

A MONTH OLD

It is too early for quantitative analysis of player performance and determining possible team needs for the playoff push. We just don't have enough data. It is time for patience, which I have none for Brad Penny. I think it stems from the fact that he has been naked with Sam from "Who's The Boss?". The twelve year-old in me is jealous.

Anyway, we can take a look at the schedule.

If the Sox take one out of two in, which is probably the nicest thing to be built in the Bronx in the last fifty years, they will be on par in my head-to-head-to-head A.L. bEast games. Taking two games out of six on the road is meeting my expectation. But things do not get much easier, as the Sox have two with Cleveland and a weekend series versus the Rays at home, before heading to the left Coast for the last time. After this stretch, the Olde Towne Team will play more games at friendly Fenway and has only three against another A.L. bEast before the All-Star Break. If the Sox get through the next two weeks, it would not be a surprise to see a healthy club holding on to a playoff spot at the halfway point (knock on wood).