With Eduardo Rodriguez on the Injured List to start the season, it will be interesting to get a glimpse of the Red Sox top pitching prospect Tanner Houck.
Houck, a 24-year-old who was the Sox first round pick in 2017, shined in his three September starts at the end of the 2020 season. He went 3-0, pitched 17 innings, and struck out 21 while posting a 0.53 ERA.
Seeing that the Red Sox have not developed a starting pitcher who took the ball in a playoff game since Clay Buchholz, Houck provides great promise. He does have a lot of work to do to become a top of the rotation starter - mainly, adding at least a third pitch to complement his fastball and slider - but there is reason to believe that he can contribute to this team in 2021 and will become an important part of their foundation for the rest of this decade.
While not as promising as Houck, I am also curious to see if the Red Sox will be able to tap into Nick Pivetta's potential. Pivetta was acquired (along with Connor Seabold) from the Phillies in exchange for Brandon Workman last summer. At age 28, Pivetta is not really considered a prospect, but if he can become a contributor in the rotation or out of the bullpen than the Red Sox will have some promising pitching pieces to build on moving forward.
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Roy Williams retirement yesterday opens up one of the best basketball coaching jobs in America.
So, who is the next coach at North Carolina?
The early favorites are Hubert Davis (Williams' top assistant), Wes Miller (a member of the Tarheels 2005 national championship team and the current coach at UNC Greensboro), and Jerry Stackhouse (an All-American at UNC in 1995 who is the current coach at Vanderbilt). Since the retirement of Dean Smith in 1997, all three head coaches (Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, and Williams) have been part of the "Carolina Family", so Davis, Miller, and Stackhouse fit that important criteria.
If North Carolina looks beyond the "Family" expect there to be rumors of Brad Stevens (Celtics), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Scott Drew (Baylor), Porter Moser (Loyola Chicago), and Mike Boynton (Oklahoma State).
The powers that be at Chapel Hill would also be wise to speak with South Carolina women's coach Dawn Staley and Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon. I do not mean this for public relations reasons, Staley and Hammon are widely respected coaches and Carolina would be wise to seriously consider both for their vacancy.
The logical pick is Davis, who has done his time as an assistant coach and also has an impressive resume as a UNC and NBA player. It's safe to assume Williams would support the hiring of Davis. Davis would also be likely to retain the current staff of assistant coaches, who all have North Carolina ties.
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I am waiting to see if the NBA will punish Kevin Durant for the private messages he sent to Michael Rapaport that the actor made public The messages included threats to Rapaport as well as anti-gay and misogynistic slurs.
The NBA has made great efforts to use their global platform to bring attention to social justice issues, especially over the last year. It would be greatly disappointing if the NBA allowed Durant to get off with a slap on the wrist.
The NBA and the Players Association need to hold Durant accountable for his actions, which should include a suspension for the remainder of the season and a hefty fine that can be donated to social justice causes.
This is an opportunity for the league and the players to demonstrate how serious that they take the cause of social justice.
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The Patriots made a major splash in free agency, beginning the process of rebuilding a roster that had slipped considerably since winning Super Bowl LIII and saw the team fail to make the playoffs in 2020 for the first time since 2008.
On offense they brought back running back James White and center David Andrews while adding tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, receivers Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, and offensive linemen Trent Brown (in a trade with the Raiders) and Ted Karras.
On defense they retained defensive lineman Lawrence Guy and then signed Davon Godchaux, Montravius Adams, and Henry Anderson to bolster the defensive line while also adding linebackers Matt Judon, Kyle Van Noy, and Raekwon McMillan, and defensive back Jalen Mills.
The Patriots also have the Draft to look forward to at the end of this month, and should hope to use that as another opportunity to restock the talent in Foxboro.
The one glaring hole on Bill Belichick's team remains at quarterback. Cam Newton and Jarrett Stidham do not offer much hope at the position. In fairness to Newton, the roster of skill players at his disposal in 2020 was not very good and the roster upgrades may provide him with the opportunity to have a much improved 2021.
The Patriots could trade for 49ers quarterback, and former Tom Brady backup, Jimmy Garoppolo. San Francisco has publicly stated that Garoppolo is their quarterback for 2021, but seeing that they just traded up for the third pick and also publicly stated that they intend to draft a quarterback with that draft pick.
The other option is to draft a quarterback. Picking at #15, Belichick may need to trade up if he wants a shot at the likes of Mac Jones, Justin Fields, or Trey Lance. If a trade does not work out, options for the second or third round could include Kellen Mond and Kyle Trask.
My guess is that Belichick will work out a deal for Garoppolo, draft a prospect such as Mond, and use Newton as a veteran presence in the quarterback room who can also fill in if (when) Garoppolo gets hurt, as has been known to happen in his career.
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The Bruins need to make two deals before the April 12 NHL trade deadline.
The first would be to add a veteran on the blue line. Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, and Brandon Carlo are a very good trio, but the B's lack experienced veteran depth behind those them and that is a recipe for disaster in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The next step would be to add a veteran forward who can score goals. Outside of David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, the Bruins have no consistent scoring presence in their lineup.
Obviously a big issue will be the salary cap. The Bruins have approximately $6-million in space to use at the deadline. That would not be enough to add a defenseman and a forward who would make a significant enough impact for the Bruins to challenge the Lightning, Capitals, Penguins, and Islanders to get to the Cup Finals.
To pull this off, general manager Don Sweeney will have to hope a draft pick or two would convince the Predators to part with Mattias Ekholm ($3.75M, signed through 2022) or the Devils to part with Ryan Murray ($4.6M, free agent after 2021).
The next step would be to use Jake DeBrusk's contract, a young defender, and a future pick to add a goal scorer. Filip Forsberg of Nashville is enticing, even with his $6M price tag for this season and next. An expanded deal with Nashville involving DeBrusk, a young defender such as Jeremy Lauzon, and two draft picks could be enough to entice the Predators to hit the reset button.
If Sweeney could pull that off, Boston would have a nine-man rotation of Pastrnak, Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Forsberg, Charlie Coyle, Craig Smith, Nick Ritchie, and Anders Bjork for their top three lines with a quartet of McAvoy, Grzelcyk, Carlo, and Ekholm for their top two defensive pairings.
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Enjoy Opening Day!
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