Wondering who will be next to leave town . . .
Picked-up pieces while wondering which of our local athletes will be next to go
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▪ Marcus Smart. Tyler Bertuzzi. Nathan Eovaldi. Devin McCourty. Grant Williams. Taylor Hall. Xander Bogaerts. J.D. Martinez. Jakobi Meyers.
All gone.
Who’s next? Patrice Bergeron? David Krejci?
Malcolm Brogdon? Trent Brown? Kendrick Bourne? James Paxton? Lawrence Guy? Kenley Jansen?
It’s the circle of life in professional sports. Fans invest their passions and dollars in favorite players, then get stuck with a Celtics No. 36 jersey hanging in their closet.
It’s been an emotional stretch here in the Hub of sports, with several popular players saying goodbye since the beginning of 2023. Bruins fans are upset to see Bertuzzi sign a one-year deal with Toronto, and some Green Teamers love Smart more than they love their own families. The retirement of McCourty hit hard, and hearing All-Star Eovaldi say how much he wanted to stay at Fenway was a gut punch to Red Sox Nation.
How long before we see Williams drilling threes in Dallas while we go
Full Lobel, asking, “Why can’t we get players like that?”
More players will be gone soon. No one knows for sure, but it looks like Bergeron will retire, and likely Krejci, too. Matthew Slater will soon retire, Brad Stevens is far from finished, and between now and Aug. 1, Chaim Bloom should trade any mid-30s Red Sox veteran with value.
Everything is fluid. With all four teams. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney did not have a great start to the NHL free agency period. While the Bruins signed a bunch of older, lesser players, Bertuzzi took a one-year deal for $5.5 million with the Maple Leafs. Boston could not have matched that? Why not work harder to get Bertuzzi? The Bruins seem too cushy with their good regular seasons and playoff folds. The good news for B’s fans is that they can take their No. 17 Milan Lucic jerseys out of mothballs.
In Foxborough, the clock is ticking for Bill
Belichick and Mac Jones as we wait to see if New England acquires wideout DeAndre Hopkins or running back Dalvin Cook. As ever, no one knows anything regarding what the Patriots might do, but it’s pretty clear that there’s pressure on Bill to get this group back in the playoffs, and he starts out with a roster that is fourth best in the suddenly formidable AFC East. Bill’s probably lucky that Bob Kraft is summering in the Hamptons, partying like it’s 1969.
The Celtics are closer to a championship than our other three teams, but we’ve seen two of their top eight players leave, with only Kristaps Porzingis coming in return. Losing Smart and Williams takes away defense and toughness. It feels like something big still needs to happen.
As for the Red Sox . . . sell. Don’t fall for the phony third wild card. Admit that 2023 is a bridge to nowhere and blow the thing up. If he doesn’t get hurt again in the next month, Paxton has great value. Jensen has value. Dump Adam Duvall and let
Jarren Duran play center every day. Trade good guy Justin Turner. Say goodbye to face-of-thefailed-franchise Kiké Hernández, who has been revealed to be what he always was — a fine fourth outfielder/fifth infielder for a good team like the Dodgers.
▪ Imagine my surprise last Sunday when the American League All-Star team was announced and Jansen was the only Red Sox representative (reminds me of the dismal days of 1993-94, when Scott Cooper was the lone Sox All-Star). After watching the Sox all weekend on happy-talk NESN, I was fully expecting at least six Red Sox to make the All-Star team.
▪ Quiz: Back in 1978, when the Red Sox had true star power — worth the price of admission — they had seven players named to the AL All-Star team. Name them. If you get that, try naming the eight Sox All-Stars in 1946 (answers below).
▪ It’s embarrassing that the once-mighty, big-dollar Sox — who charge the top prices in baseball — would use six Triple A pitchers for a July 4 game against the Texas Rangers. Three of the sad six were Bloom dumpster-dive acquisitions cut loose by other teams since the start of this season.
▪ Alex Verdugo maligned Julio Rodriguez and Kyle Tucker when both were named All-Star outfield replacements. Hitting .284 with six homers and 35 RBIs, Verdugo said he felt overlooked, telling the Globe’s Julian McWilliams, “. . . the person who went in shouldn’t be there.” Tucker is hitting .293 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs, while Rodriguez is at .251 with 13 homers and 47 RBIs.
▪ In the wake of last weekend’s analysis of Miami hit machine Luis Arraez and his quest to bat .400, several readers mentioned that Wade Boggs actually hit .400 over a 162-game stretch from early June 1985 to early June 1986 (257 for 641, .401).
▪ Look for Eduardo Rodriguez to be traded by the Tigers before the deadline.
▪ It was amusing to hear Porzingis’s response when asked if he thought he’d be ready for playing on the big stage in Boston next season. The new Celtic hasn’t had much playoff success and answered, “I don’t know if I’ll be ready, you know? Who knows? But I’m going to do everything I can to help this team. Yeah, I just have a taste of it, right? I have a taste of it and I know what it’s like.” Yeesh. He sounded a little like Carl Crawford, circa 2011.
▪ Folks at Boston College were stunned this past week when baseball coach Mike Gambino bolted for a deal at Penn State just a couple of weeks after agreeing to a five-year extension at The Heights. Gambino was BC’s coach for 13 seasons and took the Eagles to the NCAA regionals in a 37-win season in 2023. He’s come a long way since his bartending days at The Stockyard. His abrupt departure no doubt stings players he just recruited to BC, but the transfer portal solves some of that.
▪ Triston Casas bears a strong resemblance to Calvin Schiraldi.
▪ What’s more mindless and annoying than those David Ortiz, gold bottle, betting ads?
▪ New York football Giants owner John Mara sent Yankees broadcasting legend John Sterling an official Giants helmet after the 85-year-old Sterling took a foul ball off the noggin during a recent game.
▪ Emerson College professor/ Boston Public Library trustee
Jabari Asim will host a conversation with Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd at 118 Boylston St. Tuesday night. It’s part of the “Barrier Breakers: From Jackie to Pumpsie” exhibit curated by the Negro League Museum in Kansas City. Hosted by Emerson, the exhibit will be at that address until Aug. 4.
▪ Inspiring to see Amy Olson compete at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach while seven months pregnant. Olson, 30, was six months pregnant when she qualified in late May at Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minn.
▪ Get your hands on a copy of “Story Days,” highlights from four decades of covering sports by the Providence Journal’s Bill Reynolds. “Shooter” was a hoops star at Brown who became an even better scribe and his collection is sportswriting gold.
▪ Remember when Dick Clark was known as “the world’s oldest teenager?” Kraft has picked up the crown. According to the New York Post, New England’s Freedom Fighter celebrated the Fourth of July with a small gathering in the Hamptons last Sunday. Dave Matthews entertained and guests included
Tom Brady, Kevin Hart, Lil Baby, and Kenny Chesney. Grandmaster Flash was Kraft’s party DJ. A day later, Kraft was on the scene for Michael Rubin’s White Party with pals Justin Bieber, Usher, Jay-Z, and everybody who’s anybody — including Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, two more guys who can relate to hipster RKK.
R Colts owner Jim Irsay will display his impressive collection of rock ‘n’ roll history and pop culture at an exhibit and concert at the New Garden July 15. The Jim Irsay Band will perform, along with special guests Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Vince Gill, and Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band. The event is free, but registration is required.
▪ Quiz answers: 1978 — Rick Burleson, Dwight Evans, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Jerry Remy, Carl Yastrzemski; 1946 — Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Boo Ferriss, Mickey Harris, Hal Wagner, Rudy York.