Palodios

The good news-- Buchholz is pitching like 2010 Buchholz. Wouldn't it be great if he ended up being the team's ace?

Youkilis is hitting .138 in the month of June, and plays everyday Middlebrooks is hitting .230, but I would bet that sitting on the bench every other day can't help his swing. He had four days between starts at the beginning of the month.

Yeah, this is the time of year where a lot of us just get depressed by the Celtics and Bruins losing, and don't really want to get deep into a Red Sox slump. I think its time for them to rattle off ten wins in a row.

So you handpicked a couple of guys that came out of those picks, so what. Look at all these drafts, how many all-start players came between 6-10? Not many. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_NBA_Draft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NBA_Draft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_Draft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_NBA_Draft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NBA_Draft A couple top three picks. How do you think that will happen? You said yourself that Rondo won't get a top 3 pick, so there is only one way for the Celtics to get top three picks. What you want is to be consistently bad for 2-4 years? What about the scenario I mentioned earlier, where the first pick you get is good enough to push you into the 5-10th pick range? Or what if one or two of the first top picks turn into complete busts, and we see nothing but garbage for a decade? I have no problem letting the team see what trades are available for them, and doing what they have to do. There are other ways to improve a team than completely gutting it of all talent in order to suck so badly they get a top draft pick. It is more than just about attendance. TV rights, merchandise, and to a lesser extent radio will suffer. Look what happened to the Red Sox-- they had to compete with three other elite franchises that made significant progress in the playoffs, and their revenue streams have been plummeting. The sports landscape in Boston is more competitive than it has ever been, while in the middle of a recession. In all fairness, Boston is f***ing miserable for most of the NBA season. Every time I've ever gone to bank north garden it has been frigid, snowing, and completely and utterly dark. Players don't want to go to Minnesota. For the earlier years of the big three era, the Celtics didnt have the cap space to add more players, and for the later years, everyone saw that they were getting older.

They have cap space. What you're suggesting is that you want the Celtics to be a bottom 5 team for two plus years. What you don't seem to realize is that unless they come away with TWO top 3 picks on good draft years, they're going to be locked into mediocrity anyway. What do you think will happen if they get one good player from the draft? It will make them a better team, and they won't pick that low again. And who knows, maybe the NBA will just hand the best draft picks to other teams anyway like they did with the Hornets. A good drafter can get value out of a late first round pick. Anyone can succeed with a top 3 pick-- just look at the list of the top overall players. My point is, it is a lose-lose situation. The Celtics organization is not going to throw away millions of dollars to build a mediocre team that might someday get lucky. They're better off keeping the pieces they have now, and hope they might someday get lucky with a trade or draft pick. They did in 2007.

I think there is a rabbit nest outside my house. I spot them every day when the sun is coming down, but I couldn't imagine eating one.

Sure. But players get injured every season. It could have been Boozer or Noah, or some combination of lesser players, and things happen, holes open. I may have been unclear--I agree, he would be coming off the bench. But Green is still going to be a significant improvement over guys like Dooling and Pietrus. There is a difference between spare parts and average players. Not everyone needs to be superstars to help a team win. If the Celtics grab a second-tier center in a league that is seriously lacking first tier centers, it would be a huge boost. I don't think that dumping your best young player for a draft pick is the right way to go. Unless they can steal a top 3 pick, odds are, whoever they trade him for will not contribute in a big way for atleast two years. Maybe Rondo isn't the guy this team should build around... but building around nothing and hoping to hit the lottery isn't a great plan either. Remember what happened for the 2007, when the Celtics were in last place? They ended up with a #5 pick and Jeff Green. Jeff Green.

OKC in 5.

Absolutely. There is a box, and a ball that goes through it. If it is outside the box, it is a ball. If it is inside the box, it is strike.Balls and strikes are 100%, completely and utterly objective. One hundred percent. Balls and strikes are black and white. Absolute. Facts. There are no opinions when it comes to whether or not the ball is inside/outside of the box. There are no "judgement calls" or anything like that. There is simply no reason why we can't have automated pitch calling. Fire the umpire's union if you have to, it simply makes no sense to have subject pitch zones.

I don't see the Celtics in as such terrible shape as you do, JE. They were minutes away from a NBA finals. Sure, the team is just getting too old, but adding Avery Bradley and Jeff Green to that team will definitely help, and there is going to be nearly 20 million in space to add two bigs and a shooter. Maybe one of Allen/Garnet comes back, but if they do, it will probably only cost 5-10 million. The team doesn't need to be blown up. What it needs to do is emphasize that they cannot overrely on the old guys. They can continue be solid contributes for a few more seasons.... off the bench. We'll spent the next two seasons wondering why Pierce got the huge extension he did, but besides him, this team has a considerable amount of payroll flexibility and options in what they can do.

Aceves had two pitches that were a full inch closer to the plate than that.

Gonzel has been way behind on the counts for all of these at bats. They need to do more damage.

Gonzalez in right at fenway. With Dice-k on the mound. Could be a very interesting game

I don't know... I get the feeling that he tried to make his company too big, too quickly, and just went way overbudget. He hired some very big names to get the company off the ground. McFarlane, Salvatore, and a lead designer from Everquest. And he bought out a studio called Big Huge Games. Plus 160 employees? The average employee probably cost 100K+ easily, because good developers are very expensive, especially if you're asking them to relocate. Health insurance 401ks, etc end up costing 40% of the average employee's salaries at most companies. We're talking 25-30 million a year just for employees. Plus licensing technology is very very expensive-- I have no idea what they used, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. Then renting a space for all those employees, and giving them all dev kits and tools. Publishing costs... He created a very good game. It isn't like all this money went into nothing. He just ended up being a child playing with adult money. I think it is as simple as that.

The game isn't over by any means.

At this rate, Strasburg won't make it out of the fifth. Even if he's untouchable, this game is still very winnable.

One run game, this is still salvageable. Just keep it to three Felix!

Clutch strikeout. One more out, and you can escape the jam.

I know, it was just a reactionary post after the Aviles mash.

Strasburg is overrated.

Oh come on, Dice-k starts are always fun games. Its certainly going to be worth watching the first inning.

And that's why Salty is not an All-star catcher.

If Perkins were still here, the Celtics would be the favorite the win the final

Nope.