Thursday, March 31, 2016

Who the Celtics should go after in free agency

What can or will the Boston Celtics do this off season via acquisitions that will bring them closer to a championship? That is the ultimate question. Many people have answers. Some are pie in the sky like getting Kevin Durant. That is not happening.

So what is Plan B which is really Plan A for Danny Ainge. I doubt he'll ask me. I'll tell him anyways. Hassan Whiteside.

First let's look at the Top 20 players based on Win Shares for the 2015-16 season. Interesting to note that the 20 players have less combined championships than Tim Duncan does by himself.

The 5 free agents are in yellow.

NAMEAGEWSRDPICKCHAMPIONSHIPTEAMSTRANSACTIONS
Stephen Curry ▪ GSW2816.317110
Kevin Durant ▪ OKC2813.512010
Russell Westbrook ▪ OKC2813.414010
Kawhi Leonard ▪ SAS2512.9115110
LeBron James ▪ CLE3212.11123FA twice
Chris Paul ▪ LAC3111.81402Trade
James Harden ▪ HOU2711.71302Trade
Kyle Lowry ▪ TOR3011.412403Traded twice
DeAndre Jordan ▪ LAC2811.0235010
Draymond Green ▪ GSW2610.1235110
LaMarcus Aldridge ▪ SAS319.71202FA
Isaiah Thomas ▪ BOS279.423003Traded twice
Paul Millsap ▪ ATL319.424702FA
DeMar DeRozan ▪ TOR279.319010
Hassan Whiteside ▪ MIA279.123302FA
Kemba Walker ▪ CHO269.019010
Al Horford ▪ ATL308.913010
Damian Lillard ▪ POR268.716010
Paul George ▪ IND268.3110010
Gordon Hayward ▪ UTA268.119010

Top need for the Celtics is a rim protector. My choice would be Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside had knee problems early in his career but has recovered to become a force in the NBA in the last 2 years. Is he a risk? Yes. But the Celtics aren't getting Lebron or Durant. So they need to shoot for high risk, high reward. He reminds me of Dennis Rodman on the defensive end plus he can score. Whiteside hasn't logged a lot of minutes in his career and he is one of the youngest free agents available. Oh, and thankfully he is not one of those bigs that feels the need to fire up 3's. He has never attempted one.

Here are Whiteside's career numbers.

SeasonTmGFG%2P%FT%TRBBLKPTS
2010-11SAC10.0000.0000.0000.00.00.0
2011-12SAC180.4440.4440.4172.20.81.6
2014-15MIA480.6280.6280.50010.02.611.8
2015-16MIA650.6180.6180.63511.83.814.1

Al Horford does nothing for me. Good player on decent teams for years in Atlanta. However, the Hawks just hover in that middle of the pack and were never able to get over the hump.

How have Cam Neely/Don Sweeney done in year one?

We are almost one year since Cam Neely and the Boston Bruins named Don Sweeney their new general manager replacing Peter Chiarelli. How do the first year of moves look.

The major pieces the Bruins moved on from were Milan Lucic, Doug Hamilton, Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg. Minor pieces were Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille.

Replacing them were Matt Beleskey, Jimmy Hayes, Matt Irwin, Colin Miller and Zac Rinaldo. Along with late additions John Michael-Liles and Lee Stempniak.

For the five games remaining in the season, plus, hopefully the playoffs, which set of players would you rather have right now.

My answer, without question, is the players the Bruins moved on from.

Here are the 2015-16 statistics for all the changes to the roster Neely and Sweeney have made over the last year.

The Newbies

PlayerAgeGPGAPTS+/-TOIATOI
Matt Beleskey277514213591,18515:48
Jimmy Hayes2674131629-121,03213:57
Colin Miller233931215262115:55
Frank Vatrano21347310-140711:57
Landon Ferraro24535510-858110:58
Lee Stempniak3214268321715:30
Tyler Randell2427606-21896:59
Joonas Kemppainen2744235-655212:32
Zac Rinaldo2552123-54318:18
John-Michael Liles3512022-422919:03
Noel Acciari2414011-31389:51
Tommy Cross263011-13913:05
Matt Irwin282000-53014:56
Jonas Gustavsson312200001,16452:55
TOTAL
5372125-33


Here are the 2015-16 NHL statistics for players Neely and Sweeney jettisoned during the off season.

Note: Simon Gagne retired

The Departed

PlayerAgeGPGAPTS+/-TOIATOI
Milan Lucic2775173350221,29117:13
Carl Soderberg3077123648-51,38818:02
Reilly Smith2476242347151,41818:40
Dougie Hamilton2277113041-121,52319:47
Matt Bartkowski277451015-221,37218:33
Gregory Campbell32763811-879810:30
David Warsofsky259011-214716:19
Craig Cunningham2510011-110110:05
Bobby Robins340000000:00
Matt Lindblad250000000:00
Niklas Svedberg260000000:00
Daniel Paille3112000-213711:25
Simon Gagne350000000:00
Brian Ferlin230000000:00
TOTAL
72142214-15
.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

How do the Red Sox starters stack up at Fenway Park

Here are the career stats for the six projected starters for the Boston Red Sox in games they have pitched just at Fenway Park.

Price is phenomenal--Wright, Buchholz and Rodriguez are serviceable--why Porcello and Kelly are disaster.

NAMEGAMESWLWIN %IPHRBBKWHIPERA
Price11610.85774421600.951.95
Wright11420.66749 2/3515411.193.26
Buchholz8233260.559504 1/3371794041.343.93
Rodriguez12620.75070 2/3919541.273.95
Porcello17780.467102 2/31423901.324.65
Kelly17750.58393 2/3837781.494.90
TOTAL15063440.589895772947271.313.91

Bruins - Last 15 games - Even Strength scoring

In the last 15 games, the Bruins have gone (6-7-2, 14 pts) to put their playoff chances in peril.

Also, one side note, if I hear one more time "you never know what can happen if they make the playoffs, hot goalie, blah , blah" I am going to throw up. NEWS FLASH. The games they are playing now are the playoffs. They have to win now.

S who is the blame? How about the entire team for its complete inability to put the puck in the net.

The Bruins have scored 29 goals in the last 15 games. That is a measly (1.9) points a game. Here is the breakdown.

SITUATIONGOALS
Even Strength20
Power Play6
Shorthanded1
3 on 3 - OT2
TOTAL29

However, the biggest problem is that the B's can't score at even strength. So who gets the lion's share of the blame pie for the last 15 games. Let's see who the biggest culprits are at 5 on 5. How about Matt Beleskey, 1 point in the last 15 games with a (-7). Jimmy Hayes, 0 points in his last 14 games with a (-6) and Ryan Spooner with 1 point in his last 14 games with a (-3).

Here are the Bruins forwards stats at even strength for the last 15 games. As you can see, the highest scoring Bruin is averaging only (.4) points per game at even strength. Just awful.

NAMEPOSGAPTSPLUS/MINUSTOI
Matt BeleskeyLW011-7244:43:00
Jimmy HayesRW000-6196:10:00
Ryan SpoonerC101-3211:00:00
Noel AcciariC011-3137:55:00
Landon FerraroC112-3130:52:00
Tyler RandellRW101-218:44
Brett ConnollyRW112-193:54:00
David KrejciC1450301:12:00
Patrice BergeronC4150290:40:00
Brad MarchandLW2460279:15:00
Loui ErikssonLW1450278:11:00
David PastrnakRW4150207:04:00
Joonas KemppainenLW01118:56
Zac RinaldoC00017:47
Frank VatranoLW112249:03:00
Lee StempniakRW1563216:55:00

Here is the defense. Ugh.

NAMEPOSGAPTSPLUS/MINUSTOI
Dennis SeidenbergD011-5270:24:00
John-Michael LilesD011-4228:36:00
Joseph MorrowD000-177:22:00
Kevan MillerD101-1217:38:00
Zdeno CharaD1230350:12:00
Adam McQuaidD0001280:11:00
Zach TrotmanD000110:12
Torey KrugD0334325:37:00



Odds that the Bruins make the playoffs

What was unthinkable two weeks ago has become reality for the Bruins. They could be on the outside looking in when the playoffs role around for the second year in a row. Completely unacceptable even for a team that has major talent issue on defense.

The Bruins are (2-7-1) in their last ten games while averaging a mere 1.6 goals a game. That isn't going to get it done. What is going to get it done?

Here are the odds based on all the scenarios in the last 5 games. Bottom line is this. Boston has to get 5 out of 10 of the remaining points to have a better than 50% chance of making the playoffs. And they are staring at a first round match up with Washington, Tampa Bay or Florida.

Total PointsRecordPct InWashingtonTampa BayFloridaNY Islanders
98(5-0-0)100.0%0.0%48.0%51.0%1.0%
97(4-0-1)100.0%0.0%48.0%51.0%0.0%
96(4-1-0)99.8%0.1%48.0%50.0%0.0%
96(3-0-2)99.6%0.2%47.0%50.0%0.0%
95(3-1-1)97.2%0.7%44.0%46.0%0.0%
95(2-0-3)94.6%10.0%41.0%43.0%0.0%
94(3-2-0)91.4%10.0%40.0%42.0%0.0%
94(2-1-2)87.3%13.0%36.0%38.0%0.0%
94(1-0-4)80.3%15.0%32.0%33.0%0.0%
93(2-2-1)70.5%16.0%27.0%28.0%0.0%
93(1-1-3)59.2%16.0%21.0%22.0%0.0%
93(0-0-5)46.6%15.0%15.0%16.0%0.0%
92(2-3-0)52.8%11.0%20.0%21.0%0.0%
92(1-2-2)42.9%13.0%15.0%15.0%0.0%
92(0-1-4)30.2%10.0%10.0%10.0%0.0%
91(1-3-1)22.5%0.8%0.7%0.8%0.0%
91(0-2-3)12.2%0.6%0.3%0.3%0.0%
90(1-4-0)11.3%0.3%0.4%0.4%0.0%
90(0-3-2)5.8%0.3%0.1%0.2%0.0%
89(0-4-1)1.1%0.1%0.0%0.0%0.0%
88(0-5-0)0.1%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%

source: Sports Club Stats

Here is the remaining home/away and opponent winning percentage for the Bruins and their two biggest competitors, Detroit and Philadelphia.

TEAMHOMEAWAYOPP WIN PCT
Boston320.576
Detroit410.556
Philadelphia340.585

Here are Boston, Detroit and Philadephia's remaining schedule.

DATETEAMSTIME
Wednesday, March 30Washington at Philadelphia8:00 PM
Friday, April 1Minnesota at Detroit7:30 PM
Friday, April 1Boston at St. Louis8:00 PM
Saturday, April 2Ottawa at Philadelphia1:00 PM
Saturday, April 2Detroit at Toronto7:00 PM
Sunday, April 3Boston at Chicago12:30 PM
Sunday, April 3Philadelphia at Pittsburgh5:00 PM
Tuesday, April 5Carolina at Boston7:00 PM
Wednesday, April 6Philadelphia at Detroit8:00 PM
Thursday, April 7Detroit at Boston7:00 PM
Thursday, April 7Toronto at Philadelphia7:00 PM
Saturday, April 9Ottawa at Boston12:30 PM
Saturday, April 9Detroit at NY Rangers12:30 PM
Saturday, April 9Pittsburgh at Philadelphia3:00 PM
Sunday, April 10Philadelphia at NY Islanders7:00 PM


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

What did the Red Sox get for $83.1 million in 2015? Zero!

I know major league athletes make a lot of money. I also know the dollar amounts are so ridiculous that people lose sight that this is real money, Millions of dollars of real money.

With that in mind, how could/can the Red Sox just pour money on terrible talent. It is really beyond comprehension that a team can spend $83.1 million in 2015 on this collection of mediocre talent and get this little a return on their investment.

Here are the individual and combined numbers for Ramirez, Sandoval, Napoli, Victorinio, Castillo and Craig last year. For $83.1 million they mustered a grand total of 49 HR's, 176 RBI's and a feeble .659 OPS. Are you kidding me?

NameSalaryGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
Hanley Ramirez$19,750,00010540159100121195321710.2490.2910.4260.717
Pablo Sandoval$17,600,00012647043115251104725730.2450.2920.3660.658
Mike Napoli$16,000,000983293768181134045990.2070.3070.3860.693
Shane Victorino$13,000,0003394102320149140.2450.3240.2980.622
Rusney Castillo$11,271,00080273356910252913540.2530.2880.3590.647
Allen Craig$5,500,000367961210137260.1520.2390.2030.441
TOTALS$83,121,0004781,646190387685491761203370.2350.2870.3720.659

For comparison looks look at what Toronto got out of Josh Donaldson or Colorado got out of Nolan Arendo for a combined $4.8 million. Ouch! Either player alone almost outperformed the entire collection of smegma from above.

NameSalaryGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
Nolan Arenado$512,5001576169717743442130341100.2870.3230.5750.898
Josh Donaldson$4,300,00015862012218441241123731330.2970.3710.5680.939
TOTALS$4,812,5003151,236219361846832531072430.2920.3470.5720.919

Also, the money the Red Sox spent on the under performing group from above was more than the entire payroll for 6 teams.

TEAMTOTAL PAYROLL
Houston Astros$81,450,835
Oakland Athletics$80,376,830
Cleveland Indians$77,404,413
Arizona Diamondbacks$76,781,801
Tampa Bay Rays$73,582,652
Miami Marlins$63,590,525