I see that future HOFer Jackie Bradley, Jr. was demoted to Triple-A. This is hilarious in hindsight:

Q: As a lifetime, long suffering University of South Carolina Gamecock fan, watching JBJ play college ball was amazing. His speed in center, his patience at the plate, and his speed on the base paths turned our baseball team into back-to-back College World Series champs. In an elimination game in 2010 against Oklahoma, he hit a 2 out game-winning single in the bottom of the tenth and won the CWS MVP. In 2011 he came back from an injury just in time for the CWS and helped lead us to a championship. Look up his college highlights and you'll feel your Red Sox undies stiffening as you watch flying catches, game winning hits, and, if you notice how he interacts with his teammates and the overall buffonery. Enjoy.
—Pete Shahid, Charleston, SC

Could JBJ become baseball's Russell Wilson — one of those absurdly likable athletes who transcends stats, says things like "I don't get nervous to tell you the truth" (an actual JBJ quote), gets better when it matters, and almost seems too good to be true? More parallels: Even though they both succeeded in college on the biggest possible stages, Wilson fell to the third round in 2012 because of his height, and Bradley fell to the 40th pick in 2011 after battling a wrist injury that season … both weren't expected to start before winning over the coaches, making their fan bases swoon and barrelling their way into the starting lineup … both have fantastic sports names … and both caused me to write gushy paragraphs like this one (although at least I didn't commission an illustration of Bradley levitating above cult followers like I did with Wilson).

Here's the point: The Red Sox took heat for starting Bradley on Opening Day over sending him down for two weeks, then bringing up him in mid-April so they could delay his free agency for a year. And if they were Tampa Bay or Pittsburgh, I get it — small-market teams should always protect themselves against potential stars fleeing for big bucks as long as they can. But the Red Sox have gobs of money to spend every season, as well as a much bigger immediate dilemma: Their fan base had turned on the owners and couldn't have been less excited about this year's team. That left the Red Sox with two choices.

Choice A: Send Bradley down for two weeks, look like cheapskates, weaken this year's team for the first two weeks, derail his momentum after a sparkling spring training.

Choice B: Reward Bradley by bringing him up right away, get the fans excited, hope he helps the team get off to a monster start, then ride the ensuing momentum to a "NOBODY BELIEVED IN US!" season that hinges on pitching, defense, chemistry and that 10-3 start (I'm being super-duper-duper optimistic) that never would have happened if they acted like big cheapskate wusses who didn't bring up Bradley right away.

For me, that's a no-brainer: The upside (Bradley killing it and the team taking off) far exceeded the downside (losing a year of free-agency control). Let's say that decision cost them $10 million in premature Bradley free-agent money down the road … for God's sake, this is the same team that gave Shane Victorino THIRTY-NINE MILLION over three years. Do you think they care? The Red Sox just wanted to be relevant locally again for anything other than beer and chicken, salary dump trades and newspaper smear campaigns. The mere chance that the 2013 Bradley Experience could rival 1975 Lynn or 1997 Nomar made that risk worth it. So they have to sign him for $130 million in 2019 instead of 2020 … why should Red Sox fans give a flying hot damn? Last time I checked, I wasn't rooting for Tampa Bay. And by the way, I love any baseball player who even casually reminds me of this sketch.

I could listen to Orel Hershiser talk about pitching all night. I have no idea why ESPN thought putting the class clown in the booth with him was a good idea.

Adams is out of his mind right now.

Please tell me Matheny knew there were two outs and not one.

Utley has his head up his ass tonight.

tkihshbt wrote:

Where's Kelly?

 

There has to be a better option than Fernando Salas. There just has to.

Geez-us. Boggs is a mess.

"Strauss also thinks a trade could be developing in the upcoming weeks. If that's not a sign that there's no confidence..."

Porcello's probably available.

tkihshbt wrote:

Rec.

Four of the five NL Central teams are over .500 entering today. Pittsburgh has been scorching hot, taking two of three from Arizona, sweeping Cincinnati, splitting with the Cardinals and taking three of four from Atlanta.  

Milwaukee has also won seven in a row, but three of those are against the Cubs, so that really doesn't count.
If you're looking for some optimism as far as the schedule is concerned, the Pirates, Brewers and TTTIB have all played at least twice as many games at home than the Cardinals so far, and after Wednesday the Cardinals don't have to play in San Francisco, Phoenix, Philadelphia or the District of Columbia for the rest of the season.