Patriots Setting Up For MAJOR Trade Deadline Move!?

Patriots Setting Up For MAJOR Trade Deadline Move!?

Top of the morning to you and especially those Patriots. Did you peep how busy they were yesterday? By the way, a week before the trade deadline. Look at this laundry list of moves they made. Somebody look at this. We’re going to break it all down coming up next. Yeah, fine. That was sellers day for the Patriots. Buyers day is coming. Like Trav said, trade deadines on the way. The Bruins, do you remember that loss in Ottawa? I don’t either. How about going down 200 and then rallying for five unanswered against the Islanders? That’s right. Bruins win. No, I I was just looking forward to to the day because I knew these guys going to respond. I I knew it. Uh I think we were all disappointed last night. Um not just me, my players too. And I knew I could tell already before the game. We had a bunch of uh meetings and I could tell these guys were ready to go. Hey guys, I don’t know about you, but I got FOMO watching the World Series regarding the Red Sox. We’ll talk with Lou Maloney today about the additions the Red Sox could make. You’re watching Boston has entered the chat. Now, Boston, welcome. This is the Salem 5 studios. Boston has entered the chat. Ness nation, we got you for the next hour. It’s the Bro Show. Joe Murray, Travis Thomas, Adam Koffman. We got you so much on the way. The Bruins coming off an impressive bounceback win against the Islanders. 5-2 at the Garden, five unanswered goals as you heard there in the open. Lou Maloney with an impassioned performance with us today. Looking ahead to the World Series, best of three as we sit now between the Dodgers and Blue Jays. But more importantly, what are the Red Sox going to do this off season? the Celtics. To tank or not to tank, that is the question. And Jason Tatum, when you going to be back, guy? But we got to begin with the New England Patriots. And let’s let’s show you the recap again of what was a very busy Tuesday. All the details courtesy of ESPN’s Adam Shfter. There they are. So, the Pats first off, extend all pro punt returner slot corner and captain Marcus Jones, three-year, $36 million deal. He’s right now on the final year of his rookie contract. And then a couple of trades, not acquisitions, trades away, dump offs, if you will, with the deadline only 6 days away, I think, as we sit here now, Tuesday next week. Defensive end. Keon White goes to the ners with a seventh round pick in exchange for a sixth round pick. Kyle Duggar, same story, but to the Steelers. The safety is on the move. Two guys that obviously have been starters with this team in the past under different regimes. Joe, it was Bill Bich. it was Gerrod Mayo. How quickly we forget. And now obviously with Mike Vrabel, it’s not so much these guys are in the doghouse as they’re just not the preferred players whether for scheme, responsibility, fit, call it what you want, but they’re on the move. Do you like the deals though considering you are giving up some depth and you’re not getting a whole lot in return? I don’t love the deals cuz they didn’t really get much in return, but they were never part of the scheme. Kyle Duggar was a backup in the preseason and Keon White just didn’t fit the scheme whatsoever. So, do I like the Deals? No. Are they a better team today because they moved on from the guys? Probably not. But in the end, they did get Marcus Jones. He’s an allp pro. He can do it all. He’s got nine pass breakups this year, two interceptions. He’s a sack guy. Special teams. That’s right. And again, all pro in that area. And since Christian Gonzalez has come back, he’s played more of a role. But what does the contract mean for the future of Christian Gonzalez? Do tell. What do you mean by that? Well, well, he gets the contract, right? He’s also the captain. That doesn’t Well, listen. 36 million over three years. Corners get 30 million a year. Gonzalez should be getting 30. But that’s exactly the point. They’re two. I mean, I know they’re both like corners, but they’re two totally different positions. When it comes down to it, is getting paid with the Patriots. You got to think about the money. Do they make this move, which they have plenty of. They have it, but not maybe not next year. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Milton Williams is big at his position, right? You think about these guys, they’re paying top dollar for a top corner now, right? They’re paying top dollar for a defensive tackle. So, the more you look at it, like, are they going to allocate it? They should, right? But Jones didn’t get top dollar. He got top dollar for his for He got top dollar for his position. That’s my point, right? But he got top dollar as a Patriots going to pay top dollar for Christian Gonzalez. Sure. I just don’t think Jones has anything to do with that. Either they are or they aren’t. But I don’t think Jones’s money is is relevant. That’s why I’m sniffing around on this one. Well, I I look, I like the move for Jones. I think we all do because one thing the Patriots have lacked in recent years is playmaking on either side of the ball. This guy gives it to you defensively and on special teams. Check. And look, he’s a regular Travis Hunter. I And I know we’re pocket watching here. I mean, he’s done more than Travis at this point, but you know, we’re pocket watching here. But to be fair, this was a fair contract for Jones and a great contract for the Patriots who have a gazillion dollars to spend. Okay, so that let’s table that. Duggar and White, I liked them both. I didn’t love either. Both showed flashes at times, but could never fit. Everyone talks about schematics with Brabel and well, these guys didn’t fit his scheme. I’m sorry. I watched them last year, whatever scheme Gerrod Mayo and them were running, and they weren’t that great either. I’m not saying they’re bad players. I’m saying they’re expendable. Thanks for your service. Good riddens. Okay, now you gain some draft capital to move some things around for now. This trade deadline, that’s what I’m about. Go get a big fish. Go get me Trey Hendrickson. All the reports say that they’re looking for a pass rusher. That’s the guy to get. He’s unhappy. The Bengals can’t pay him. They’ve been a mess. There’s been drama. That’s a toxic relationship. The Bengals are a stupid franchise. Go get that guy. in the mix for a playoff spot though. Well, maybe they don’t. You have to consider these things like which team is going to be a seller. We’re going to talk if we’re going to talk about the Saints, you know, because people keep bringing them at like could Chris Salave, could Rasheed Shahed, could Alvin Chimera, could any of these guys move. Well, the Saints aren’t going anywhere. They’re a losing team. The Bengals are still in theory, unless I’m wrong, thinking that Joe Burrow could be back at some point. So, they’re in the mix. Then stay with me. Take Trey. If you’re right, and the Bengals, you pick up the Hey, what’s up with Trey? We’re not trading him. See you next pass rusher. Hello, it’s a pass. Can we interest you in get a pass rusher? When you look at this AFC that now Drake May has entered the chat. Okay, guess what? We’ve seen Patrick Mahomes bleed now. How pass rush. You got to get home. We’ve seen Josh Allen lose playoff games. We’ve seen Lamar throw up all over himself in playoff games. You know the theme to all these guys losing these big games when all the chips are on the table. Someone making them uncomfortable. This is Mike Greyel we’re talking about and a good defense already. Go get one of them dogs that can help you get over that mountaintop right now. They’re playing for right now. Drake May’s on a rookie contract. Gonzalez, you’ll figure out he’s still cheap for now. This is the time. Spend the money. Make the splash moves. go get someone that can help you beat these other guys, these gatekeepers in your conference and maybe you could steal a Super Bowl right now. Yeah, and I was just going to say I think it is about Drake May. Now, supporting him does it have to be an offensive player? No. But I do think when you make moves, you have to make some additions. But it one thing’s clear though, Mike Vrabel, I call him Michael Corleone. He’s the godfather right now. He’s in charge. Yes, sir. So Elliot Wolf might get the credit right in the end. By the way, the two two second round picks, the credit, who those guys that just got traded, who whose guys were those, by the way, I know I was going to say Bach, but Elliot Wolf was there, right? In the process. So, he was there. So, I just want to make sure that we’re clear. Mike Vrabel’s making these moves. That’s fine. I The only thing I’ll I’ll say about Wolf with respect to Bellich is like who believes that Wol was making picks over Bichc. I don’t know what happened during May though, you know. Well, that I mean that happened after Bellich. You know, when Bellich was here, Bellich was making the picks. It wasn’t Elliot Wolf. I mean, maybe there was more of a collaboration back when uh uh with the Texans, Nick Cacerio. When Nick Cacerio was here, you know, I think maybe there was more, I don’t know, conversation in the room growing his fast, you know. I think as the years went on, it was it was Bill’s way or the highway. I mean, look no further than some of the moves that were made late in the tenure with the coaching staff. But going back to what Travis was talking about, and I agree with what you said, support is support for the team. You know, if you’re supporting the defense, you’re still in a way obviously supporting Drake May because you’re keeping the other team off the field and you’re giving May more opportunity. While I believe the Patriots ultimately are going to make multiple moves. Now, that doesn’t mean multiple imp like Yeah, that doesn’t mean like Alvin Chimera and Trey Hendrickson or, you know, AJ Brown like all these fantasy type of guys. It could just be a a third running back because you lost Antonio Gibson. I think there are going to be moves and there have been reports indicating as much that as much as they were sellers, the Patriots are expected to be buyers. But when that rolls around come next Tuesday, do you agree with Travis? Is your priority defense over offense? Or are you looking at specific positions in general? Yeah, the defense needs to improve. They’ve given up points in six of eight games and four of the eight they’ve been touchdowns. But six of eight on the first drive. Yes. On the first drive, opening game. So the way I look at it is pass rush would really help out, but in second halfs, man, they’ve been dominant. And if they can get that pass rush late in those games, they’ll even be more dominant in the second half. I want to go back to something you said. If we’re sitting here at the end of the about this, if we’re sitting here at the end of the deadline and they got Jerome Ford, uh, some defensive lineman we don’t know much about, but he’s got potential to rust a passion, but not a big name. I I don’t think it’s enough. I think it’s a failure. I’m looking at you two sitting here talk about Elliot Wolf. It feels glowingly. I don’t know if I’m misreading the room, but it feels glowingly. Meanwhile, I’m over here saying, “How does this guy have a job?” When you look at all these draft picks, you can blame Bill. I don’t give a damn who you blame. But when you look at all these draft picks that this team has taken in recent years, who are no longer on the team, they ain’t even with the program. How is Elliot W job? I want to go back to to what you were just saying because I’m going to go I’m going to go cross sports and I’m going to go in the wayback machine here for a second. Just follow me on this because when when when the Red Sox could go wrong when the Red Sox back in ‘ 04 Yes. traded Nomar and got in part, you know, Doug Manavic, you know, but but was impactful, right? you know, like and yeah, Orlando Cabrera and these guys that for whatever reason, whether it was getting Nomar out of the clubhouse or it was bringing these guys in and improving your defense, whatever it was, like it worked. It happened like Raphael Divers did this year, maybe. Okay, all the stars aligned. Okay, so I I say all of that just to say I know what I don’t know, which is if the Patriots go out and acquire some dude that I’m not all that familiar with because he’s not a household name, that doesn’t mean they’re not doing enough. Sure. Could work. That’s fair. I I’ll believe in Mike Vrabel at this point. Yeah, he and listen and Vrabel we trust. He is the godfather. But just one more time, this year they brought in coaches that were tied to Vrabel. They brought in a lot of players that were also tied to Varel. So I would probably look at other guys that have maybe played for a Vrabel, a McDaniels, a Todd Downing, someone to that degree. Maybe one of those guys would come in and help in the mix. Okay, now I’ve I’ve figured it out. We we’ve done this enough now. I’ I’m picking up what you guys are putting down. You’re both saying if there’s no splash moves at the deadline, it’s really buying into the big picture vision of where they’re building, where they’re headed, and I get that. I don’t have a problem with that. Here’s where I’ll push back slightly. You will never be in this position where Drake May is not paid, Gonzalez isn’t paid. All these guys are going to get paid. That’s coming. Eventually, May 60 million. So, you’re right. I’m with you on this one. So, if we’re talking big picture, I’m okay with that. But you’ll never be here again. Sure. So my thing is make a splash, baby. Go get the killers. Go get that off the splash. You haven’t given them an out. You have the most cap space in the league. You have all this potential right now and you’re winning right now. Momentum. Add to it. Go try to win a Super Bowl. Forget the big picture for now. Interrupt him. Don’t be so polite. I’m going to back him. I’m going to back him. There there’s a game on Thursday night this week, right? Dolphins, Ravens, somebody loses, someone’s going to be available. Can I just throw out Derrick Henry? Is that okay? Could I ever throw that one up? Daniel’s going to be available. That’s That’s Somebody’s going to be available. Mike McDaniel. Hey, listen. Jaylen Phillips pass rusher. Derek Henry is not getting just throwing out names right now. No, I would like we have a side bed on the Mike McDaniels being available has me crying real tears. There’s no way he’d be vaping on the side. No way. There is He’s going to be up in the press box with the other nerds. The stat the stat guys just like the rest of us. There’s no way Derek You want a splash? I gave you the splash. All right. Can we Can we be mildly realistic? Want me to go back to some P run in that level? You want me to go there? You said it was getting worse. I tried to top you, bro. Great. Give me Derek Henry. Give me, you know, Alvin Camaro wasn’t enough for you. But here’s the Alvin Camaro might actually be available. I need to be on the move because the Saints suck. The Ravens are still going to make a I bet you right now the Ravens win that division. I miss you. I think I think the Ravens are going to win that division. Listen, bro. No matter what else we say in the show, they got a win with Snoop Huntley. No matter what we say in the show, you won it with Mike McDaniel’s going to be available at the trade deadline. Go get them. This is like it doesn’t need to be a household name, but yes, I would like them to acquire some money. Absolutely. They got plenty of it. I give you the cannonball. Give me Derek Henry. Bring it. The Super Bowl is I want to Can we go is Ness sending us to San Francisco in February? with to chase the MVP. Mike McDaniel might be with us on set. Sure to bring your khakis. More on the way. Hey, you know the Bruins won last night. We’re going to talk about it. Boston is Oh my god. I can’t recover. I’m sorry. I can’t. All right. Well, unfortunately, the Bruins lost 72 in Ottawa back on Monday. I know. Not great. Not great. But I bring that up because you got to appreciate the bounce back. The Bees, they fall behind at home at the at the Garden against the Islanders. The second leg of the backto back 20 allow a shot on the first a goal on the first shot they face. This is a surging Isles team that comes in points in five straight. 40 and one again. You’re down 205 minutes in. It’s like, well, great. It’s it’s it’s over. Nope. Here we go again. Nope. They find a way. You know what? The the real credit here probably goes to Nessen’s unobstructed views broadcast because I don’t know what you think of the Bruins season so far, boys, but I can tell you this. They’re 1 and0 when unobstructed views is on. That’s a fact. 52 comeback win against the Isisles, Travis. It was an impressive showing by the Bees over the final two periods. Once again, grit fight. That’s exactly right. This team reminds me of the Red Sox. Here’s how we remember early in the season with the Red Sox, one-run losses, heartbreak city, fundamentals, things going wrong. What’s wrong with this team? This is going to be a long season. This team stinks. What happened? They figured it out. It’s a long season. It being a long season played to their advantage cuz they figured it out. They got right. Some kid named Roman Anthony came up and the rest is history. Right. Okay. Look at the Bruins out of the gate. Kind of similar things here. Some lapses on defense. What’s up with Swayman? What’s going on here? What’s going on there? Sturm trying to figure it all out, tinkering with lines and different things of this nature. You have the worst loss of the season the other night. To your point, you’re down on the mat in this fight and then you get up and you battle back and you win it. Just like the Red Sox team showed you they had fight, this Bruins team is showing us all we have the same kind of fight. It is a long season. Let’s just give them a chance. What do you say in this playoffs? Here we come. I will say this, the the five and seven record looks a lot better than the way that they’ve played. Um, and to be honest with you, it’s been bad. I they’re trying a new defensive philosophy. It’s somewhat of a hybrid defensive philosophy. They used to play his own. It was bad the other night. And there are three people I look at. Number one is Charlie Makavoy. He bounced back last night. He did. He had two assists. He was everywhere. Y but he’s going to he’s the most important piece to that defense. He also makes the most money and he’s going to be the most criticized when it doesn’t work out. Now, a couple other guys in there. David Postnak, I don’t think bought in against Ottawa the other night. Last night, two points. A big part of the reason why they won the game. So, the other one’s Jeremy Swayman. We’ll push him aside for a second. He wasn’t in net last night. How about Corposal last night? Corposalo was good. He was good last night. He hasn’t been often. I almost wonder if they play better in front of him. I’m not going to make this a Swayman versus Corposal thing, but you got to buy in and it has to be those Swayman and those guys, they have to buy in right now. And this is what Marco Sturm has done this three times this year. Hey, guys aren’t buying in. So, I don’t know. At some point, do they scrap it? Sure. Cuz it didn’t even though they scored five goals, the defense wasn’t great. I’m just going to call it what it is. But just remember, teams around the league are doing this new hybrid system. The Florida Panthers are one of them. Montreal tried this last year. They scrapped it after three weeks. They went on to the playoffs. So, I’m just saying is a lot of transition going on. A lot of new players, new coach, new scheme. Give it time. But I’m telling you that loss the other night, that was scary. It’s reminiscent of last year. Okay, Joe, you’re talking schematics and I respect that. I’m talking grit fight. We’re not going to lay down. We’re not going to That’s what I see from this all year. And that’s my point. I think schematically things at times in sports can work out. It’s harder in the NFL because it’s a shorter sample size, but in these sports, NBA, NHL, MLB, you have time. So, they could scrap it. I don’t think they will. But I’m just saying schematically to your point there. You can tinker. You can figure that out. What you can’t coach, what you can’t teach, it’s got to be in your DNA or not is that dog. Do you fight or not? Adam, this team fights. Let’s hear from the coach. Let’s find out what Marco Sturm thinks of all this fight, this grit, this tenacity, this defense, defensive absence at points from this club here after a win. No, I I was just looking forward to to the day because I knew these guys going to respond. I I knew it. Uh I think we were all disappointed last night. Um not just me, my players too. And I knew I could tell already before the game we had a bunch of uh meetings and I could tell these guys were ready to go. Yeah. No, and we’re still learning. We’re still learning in that. I think everyone in the league is still learning with that. You know, I I like you said, I I see some other teams who get beat really bad. So, I’m like, okay, thank God we’re not the only ones. It It’s just uh you know, the with the schedule right now, like look at us. we played here, came here and then day off tomorrow and then play again. So those kind of games will happen and uh yeah you’re absolutely right the you know the I think that the teams who stay healthy first of all the teams who can man manage those kind of up and downs uh the best will have um I’m not saying better um will not a better result but they will have definitely advantage and we’re still we’re still learning too All right. Well, Marco Sturm obviously his team is heading in the right direction. Continues the home stand. We got a game coming up tomorrow against the Sabres. Three game homie. Uh homie, right? The home stand. Another get right. If it’s a roadie, it’s a homie. That’s another another get right game. The thing that we didn’t we don’t really have time to get into it because we’re going to get to Lum Maloney in a minute. But the thing that did at least is worth bringing up special teams exceptional in this one. Two for four on the power play, five for five on the penalty kill. That’s exactly part of the recipe anyway for this team to have success. Adam Sabres up next. Another win. Knock on wood. Got a little momentum. Listen, at that point you’re flirting with 500 men. Uh the Red Sox, not a 500 team. They’re a playoff team and they’re a team that has their expectations, their sights, at least based on the fans, right? Set a whole lot higher than just making the playoffs. We want to talk about the World Series like we’re going to just doesn’t involve Boston quite yet. The Dodgers. The Dodgers suddenly a best of three with the Blue Jays. Lou Merloney is going to join us on the other side. Back with you here on Boston has entered the chat. We have got our pal Lou Merloney joins us every Wednesday on the program here on Nessen. Lou, I I really I just want to know how happy you are to be talking to us today as opposed to yesterday cuz I’m just assuming that you were up for all 18 of those innings that the Dodgers and Blue Jays played. You wouldn’t have wanted to get up this early after staying up till 3:00 am. You know, the only 18 inning game I made was the one I called back in 18 when I was actually on the call and I was forced to to do the entire 18 innings. No, I I I can’t tell you how that game ended, but I did see it the next morning. It’s just I tried. I just couldn’t do it. It was a wild time for sure. Let’s, you know, we’re going to talk plenty about the Red Sox and offseason chatter and rumblings and rumor mill and all that stuff, but let’s just keep going with the World Series for a second because when we talked to you last week, you know, we just, we were all in alignment. It’s like it’s a foregone conclusion. The Dodgers are going to roll. There’s no chance this series gets to seven games, may not get to six games, and yet here we are sitting at a best of three. How surprised are you? Yeah, I am. I’m surprised. I give the Blue Jays a ton of credit. You know, it’s like they walked in with, you know, Bob Bashette not playing for a month and now it looks like they’ve lost Springer and they still kind of go out and and to me it’s like watching them and I’m sure a lot of organizations are watching them and it’s sort of like, hey, we got Boppers at the top of the order, but how do we get more contact on the bottom of the order? And that’s what you’re seeing. You’re seeing Gimenez, you know, just with two strikes battling getting a hit and driving in two, making contact. Something the Red Sox need to do a ton more of, especially in the bottom half. You know, your good hitters are on top, but you need to have at bats at the bottom of the order. Guys like Sherzer throwing the ball well. Bieber, you know, throwing the ball well. It’s it’s it’s been impressive with how the Blue Jays have been going about it. All right, Lou, let’s talk turkey cuz every time you and I talk, I tell you the same thing. I need a big burly man with a bat in this Red Sox lineup stack at first base. Pete Alonzo, Kyle Schwarber. Talk to me. How do I get Schwarber? I’m seeing a lot of reports that, hey, there’s interest there. He loved his time in Boston. Boston’s interested. I’m not seeing a lot of Pete Alonzo chatter, which is okay. So, let’s lock in on Schwarbs. How do we make this happen, Lou? How does this happen? I listen, I’d love to have Kyle Schwab here. First off, not at first base. I don’t need him tipping his cap again when he makes a simple play at first, but you know, the designated hit to the power that he has, I just don’t think Dave Dumbrossski is gonna let him go. Like, that’s not his MO. like just he likes stars. Like it’s a perfect fit with Schwabber in Philadelphia. It’s not a long-term deal. It’s probably a three, four-year deal, whatever it may be. We’ll see. Maybe gets to five. I don’t know. But I just I don’t see him leaving Philly. If he does, then I could see him landing here, right? Because I do think this would be option two for Kyle Schwarber. But I just don’t see that happening. You know, when it comes to Schwabber, Alonzo is a different story. I don’t I don’t pay attention to chatter. like I I I just don’t like there’s reports out there. There’s agents manipulating and influencing the media talking about this team, that team. Um and sometimes the last couple years I’ve heard too much about the Red Sox aren’t interested at all and this guy, you know, from people that actually are making decisions only to read the following day that it’s number one priority in their list. And I’m like, it’s just not true. So, it’s um I try to stay away from reports, but you got the two I mean, Schwabber obviously and Alonzo, he’s the other guy. He’s number one in my book. Okay, Lou, let’s stay with the Phillies for a second. I mean, there’s a lot of drama brewing with this Bryce Harper thing. A lot of comments being made back and forth. If I’m Bryce, I’m like, “Okay, maybe I should be out of here.” Do you think Bryce Harper could be in the mix? Is can Bryce Harper enter the chat for the Red Sox? Lou, you know, it’s funny because when you look at Harper and and it’s hard to sit there and predict the future. Um, I know everybody’s like, I would do that in a heartbeat, right? whatever it takes to get him. But just overall the thought process of signing a guy for say 13 years and then in year six I could potentially move him for what will eventually be the worst part of this contract, right? That should get you to the Hall of Fame. And do you want to be the team that gets that guy, that star, cuz it’s only six years in and take the the second half of a long-term contract that you know is not going to work out well. M so as much as I’d look at Bryce Harper and say I’d love to have him this year, I’d love to have him next year. I’d love to have him two years, three years, but I think it’s still seven or eight left and I don’t think I want any part of that. As much as I like Bryce Harper, like think about it. Do you want Mookie now? Like, do you want Mookie bets now for the rest of that contract? I don’t. Yes, I do. I watch him now. I think he’s a slap hitter, you know, a good defender. You know what I mean? Like I don’t like I don’t want a bad contract the second half of it. As much as I would love Bryce for the next two or three years. Okay. Hey Lou, you know a little something about playing defense. Uh that seems to be the focus this off season. Well, listen, it hasn’t been for the Red Sox, so they’re they’re adding to it this year. What does it mean for Jiren Durant, right? The other outfielders are gold glove candidates, but does this philosophy impact Durant’s future? And I guess what could they get back in return? And who could be the future left fielder for the Red Sox? Yeah, I think Duran is an interesting one. Um, you know, he’s just almost like polarizing, right? As far as people in Boston because when you watch him play, it’s like when he’s going offensively, he gets everything going. Like he’s the spark plug of this team. Defensively, it wasn’t pretty out in left field. There’s no question about it. Last year, he was a Gold Glove finalist. He was better in center field. Um, to me, it’s about who you’re trading for, right? Like everybody keeps talking about the Twins. The Twins. The Twins want absolutely nothing to do with Jiren Durant. Why would the Twins want two or three more years of Jiren Durant while they’re in a complete rebuild? Now, the Cincinnati Reds would want him. You know, the San Diego Padres’s would want him. I don’t think the Marlins would want him. So, it’s like if they’re going to move Jiren Durant, he needs to go to a team that’s looking for that bat that has so much pitching that they’re willing to give it up because they’re trying to still win, not rebuild. So then it turns into maybe you’re dealing with the Twins and maybe you’re dealing with the Marlins and they want a an an outfielder, a big league young outfielder and maybe they’re more interested in a Breu even though you got to give up some defense. So it’s that that whole outfield dynamic is going to be interesting. It depends who the trade partner is. Durant is is is a talent like this year was a down year. The year before do you have other than Roman Anthony, can anyone either one of those other two guys do what Jiren Durant did in 2024? And I’m not sure they can. So the whole thing is just interesting to see how this thing plays out. I think it’s going to depend who the trade partner is. But obviously the other two guys, Breu and Raphaela, I mean, they’re the superior defenders. They may not have the offensive ceiling necessarily that Durant has to your point, top 10 MVP vote the year before, an all-star, all of that. But doesn’t he kind of feel like for one reason or another, the odd man out, like if somebody is going to move among those four guys, and I’ll include Anthony, obviously Duran’s the one that’s exiting. Is that I don’t know because of fit? Is it because of inconsistency? Is it because of um you know maximize your return? You know, Anthony aside, I mean, what’s it come down to? Yeah, I I think you’re right. I think you hit on all of it. You know, I think he and Abrau are still in the mix as far as guys that could be moved. Um but yeah, I mean the defense of Abrau, the defense of Raphael, you can withstand some hot and cold stretches because of what they do defensively. It’s just that um Jerry, you the one interesting thing actually about a month ago, whenever it was when the Red Sox announced their coaching staffs um who’s coming back, who’s not coming back. The only person that didn’t come back is Ben Rosenthal and and Ben is Jiren Duran’s not personal hitting coach, but they they live out in California together. They hit all winter together. And of the three big league hitting coaches, Rosie is like the one guy that kind of watches Duran, works with Durant. Like it’s Duran’s trust guy, right? and and he’s the only guy that was let go. So to me that that that was kind of telling Lou l this is sort of a big picture question but I I’m just thinking of this off season every team goes into the offseason saying we got to have a good offseason here we got to I look at this Red Sox team this off season this has to be the most important offseason we’ve seen in many moons around here. Can you talk to me about the pressure that you think the front office could feel this off seasonason to make splashes? Now granted, last offseason they hit home runs quite literally. I mean, Crochet, you you got three Allstars last offseason, so I’m I’m not saying they didn’t they weren’t great, but it was almost like, oh wow, it look at this. This worked out. Well, they felt like the Red Sox again. Yes. Now it’s that pressure. And that’s a great point. Now we’re back to Okay, it’s an arms race, right, Lou? Can you talk about the pressure of this off seasonason specifically for this franchise now? Yeah, and to be honest with you, you know, hopefully next off season would be even more important, right? And then next off season, like this is where you want to go. You know, remember, okay, the biggest disappointment to me was 2021, you know, like you kind of you moved everybody in 2020 and all of a sudden you had this little surprise year that got you to the final four, right? Got you to an ALCS and you said, “Okay, build on that momentum.” in the last two or three two years after following 22 23 they did nothing and it was like what happened well the organization is not ready depthwise oh okay well it is now so yes you are right you got to get you know okay you lost Bregman you lost GO as of probably right now okay so if you you got to bring back Bregman and you got to bring back a guy with a 34 RA to get even then you got to go you know then you got to go and then the trade deadline will be the most important trade deadline in the next five years like it’s time your organization is healthy You have a ton of pitching. You have young players in the big leagues. Like it’s time to go and find your Chris Sale to go with David Price. Like it’s like they did back in 1617. Like this is where we’re at right now. So go get a number two for Crochet. It’s time to bring back a Bregman who’s been in the postseason and go get an Alonzo. You know, it’s time to start taking steps to kind of sit there and seriously be World Series contenders. Yo, Joe, man. Every time Lou talks, I catch the baseball holy ghost. I swear to God, every single time he’s on this show or in person, me and Lou talk all the time or I see him at the radio station. Every time he talks, I catch the baseball holy ghost. Just Lou, I’ll say this. Watching the World Series though, you I know you just mentioned they have to get that second pitcher. Doesn’t it hitting though? Like in the end, right, is hitting going to help the Blue Jays win the World Series? And if the Dodgers come back, right, isn’t it going to be their hitting? Good point. Yeah. Yeah. No, you’re you’re right. And it’s like you can go get like for me it’s like the pitching staff like I go, you know, you go get a guy like Joe Ryan and let’s say you make you bring back Gito or you go get a guy like Bieber. It’s like a rotation is awesome. That’s great. But as you you pointed out like you just sit around, next thing you know, here comes a three-run homer. Or your bottom of the order is making contact. That’s how you’re winning ball games. So this is why you say you bring back a guy like Bregman. Hopefully he can stay healthy and build off last year. Roman Anthony, I think is an absolute star, you know, but you need another dude. You can’t just bring those two back and say, “Okay, everyone else is going to improve.” You know, and I’m glad that Brelo said he can’t just sit back and hope everybody improves. I think Theo Epstein was the first one to say it back in like the mid 2000s. One of the mistakes I made as a young GM was just expecting everyone to come back and be better. That you can’t do that. You can’t expect, you know, uh, Raphael to be a 280 hitter or Breuer to strike out less and pop 35. Like, you can’t you can’t expect Kasus to come back and be healthy. Like, you no, you got to go out and build a baseball team. to this line and try to get them to be better hitters. So, yeah, offensively, I’m like there’s a lot here if you’re the Boston Red Sox as good as you feel about where this thing is headed. So, I I look fans, us, you, we’ve all got opinions. You gave us an impassion speech on what the Red Sox need to do. But like you, and you said this before, I don’t really care about chatter either. I don’t care about the rumor mill and the hot stove and all that stuff. I do care about people who know things and you are certainly a hell of a lot more connected than we are to people in baseball ops and that front office and scouts and all just people within the organization from your time with them around them on the call all of it. Give us something, you know, take us behind the scenes. What are you hearing in terms of priority internally? Well, I do think it’s that number two starter. I know they love Joe Ryan and they absolutely love the metrics, everything behind him. There’s numbers under the hood. There’s certain numbers and all these guys fit it last year. Crochet Chapman, Justin Wilson. It’s called swinging strike percentage, you know, it’s kind of nerdy, but basically it’s just how many swings and misses do I get in the strike zone? You know, not out of the zone. I’m throwing strikes. How many swings and misses? Those three guys they picked up have been elite. You know, a guy like Joe Ryan is in that category. Dylan CE is in that category. Um, so I I think it’s a number two. They feel like they got enough depth behind it, but they know they need to hit homers. They absolutely know they have to hit home runs. So, what they do as far as that, you know, I don’t know if it if Allonzo is real. It 100% should be. Um, I know they want to move this thing forward and and actually start contending and get to a postseason and actually have a home game at Fenway in the playoffs because as much as you made the playoffs this year, it didn’t feel like it because you never came back to Fenway Park, you got to get a home game. So, this was just a first step in hopefully what is improvement for the next four or five years. Lou, you preaching again, man. Look, I’ve been here three years. I’ve been here three years. This was the first time since I’ve been in town, Lou, that the Socks made the playoffs, and I couldn’t even experience it at Fenway. So, yet again, you were there the night they clinched, though. I was there the night they clinched, which felt great. It felt great, but it wasn’t a fault game. Wasn’t a playoff. It’s your fault. It’s on you. You better hurry up and turn it around. Do something different. I’m trying, Lou. All right. Look, I hate to do this, man, but damn it. We were both wrong. We both said Dodgers in three. We look up and here are the Blue Jays. Vlad Junior got three chances to be right. I mean, listen, Vlad Jr., this dude is a dog to the next level. He’s got rabies. He’s got so much dog in him. So now I’m not going to panic here, Lou. I’m going to go Dodgers in six. I’m still I’m sticking to it. We were wrong about the sweep, but here we are. I’m still rolling with the Dodgers and six. Where are you now? Updated prediction. I’m actually going to go seven with it though. Like I just I’m watching this Toronto team and and it’s like there’s just something there. I respect them. I respect that coaching staff. These guys grind it out and it’s like I said Ernie Clement, you know, I mean Lucas, like these guys that are just getting it done. Izzy making contact. I give them one more game. I still think it’s the Dodgers. I just I still think it’s the Dodgers. It’s just uh they’re just they’re just that good. Yep. But I love the fact that Toronto’s taken him to the tilt. Lou, we got to let you go, but 30 seconds real quick. Araldis Chapman made headlines. You guys talked about it yesterday saying, you know, he was asked about would he ever return to the Yankees. He basically said, “Over my dead body. Literally, retire on the spot.” My question for you is, is there ever a team that you felt that way about? Well, I you know, it’s funny. In 03, I was with San Diego and I got traded back to Boston and Kevin Towers told me, called me and he said, “I’m trading you trading you back. You’re going to Fenway Park this weekend.” And I’m like, “Wow, back to Boston.” He’s like, “Not sure.” I’m like, “What do you mean?” And he said, “Well, they’re playing the Yankees and Cashman’s trying to get you, too. They need a utility player.” And I was like, “KT, you cannot send me back to Fenway Park as a member of the New York Yankees.” Like, you cannot do that to me. I I can’t do that. And he just started laughing and he’s just like, “No, I’m going to end up sending you to Boston.” But I’m just trying to get a better prospect. I don’t think the prospect ever got out of Aball, but that’s okay. But yeah, it would have been weird playing for the Yank. But here’s the thing. When I was playing, I would have taken a job. When you’re like 38, when you’re 38 years old and you’ve already played in the league for 46 years in your Chapman, you can decide where you want to retire or not. Right. That’s right. That’s right. Lou Maloney, good friend of the program here. Of course, you can catch him all the time on Nessen and uh every Wednesday here on Boston has entered the chat. Lou, thank you so much. All right. Good seeing you guys. Enjoy. All right. You as well. We’re going to come on back. We have much more on the way. How about a little Celtics talk. the 1 and3 C’s taking on the 3 in1 Cavs and Jason Tatum. Happy 6-month anniversary to you. We’ll explore on the other side. Well, happy anniversary, Jason Tatum. Six months removed from rupturing that Achilles. I’m surprised this one did not come along with a video of a tomahawk dunk or something like that. When he hit the five months, we got a video of him dunking off two feet. Riley Celtics Riley on Twitter. People are finally understanding how valuable Jason Tatum is, but at what cost? Welcome back in. Boston has entered the chat. The Celtics, yeah, they’re off to a 1 and3 start. Hasn’t been pretty. A lot of that you can point to Jason Tatum. Whether it’s the absence offensively, you know, he he really the offense, it runs through him. There have been some growing pains without him for a range of reasons I’m sure we’ll explore, but also defensively and rebounding. I mean, he is one of your top rebounders that you have lost in addition to obviously moving on from Al Horford and Chris Porzingis and Luke Cornet and on and on, but this team has sorely missed Jason Tatum, you know, where I’ll push back, I guess, just a little bit on that tweet. And maybe this is me, Joe, as a basketball snob, because, you know, like I’ve been dialed in on Celtics content for, you know, since long before Tatum was ever in Boston. Was a pipe dream for Boston. You know what? I I just it’s like I mean I knew like I was paying attent it’s like people should not be this should not be a revelation that Jason Tatum’s absence has sorely impacted this team. Yeah. I thought I thought the the tweet was 6 months since you know they’ve won a game without him. I thought that’s what it was all about. It’s also true which Yeah. And they did win the playoff game after he got hurt. But whatever. Um listen Jason Tatum is the Celtics best front court player. He’s their best player overall. He’s their best rebounder. He’s their best scorer. He’s their best passer. He’s their best defender. Like, I can go on and on and on of how important Jason Tatum is, but they didn’t address the front court. They didn’t. They tried to. We’ll see what Neim Skada can do, right? Luca Garza, he six six rebounds the other night. We all I’m saying is Oh, yeah. Oh, he’s he’s great. Let me tell you, the fact is this. I think that when they tore down the team Yep. They knew they weren’t competitors because Jason Tatum wasn’t there. And so, yeah, I’ll watch the games and I’ll think they’ll be in it every night, but I’ll know that every night they can’t rebound, pass the ball, assist, you name it, because Jason Tatum’s not there. And it’s unfortunate like you would think they still have talent. They should. Jaylen Brown 41, you lose, right? So, I just it was a nice win against New Orleans the other night because they led in rebounds. They led in assists, but I just Zion didn’t play. Yeah. But I just think Skinny Zion. Skinny Zion. That’s right. I I just I’m It’s always goes back to Missoula, right? It always goes back to his philosophy. It might work with Jason Tatum. Probably doesn’t work with the group they have now. Amen. Which is exactly why I say sit them. Let’s stop playing this game. Oh, you know, he’s running in a pool. Oh, we just saw video of him dunking. I don’t give a damn. Shut him down for the rest of this year because look at the Eastern Conference right now. Now, I get it before you say, “Trav, it’s too early. There’s so much season left.” Stay with me. All the teams right now ahead of the Celtics. Celtics are the bottom of the barrel right now in the Eastern Conference with terrible teams. We know they’re not that bad. Okay, they’re one and three along with your Orlando Magic. Well, I’m just saying I’m going to put some respect on their name that we we know they’re not going to be that bad and we know the Magic aren’t going to be at the bottom, but I have the Magic included in this ahead of them for now. Sixers, Cavs, Bucks, none of these teams are going anywhere. Knicks, Pistons, they’re all going to be there. Magic are going to get right. Hawks are going to get right. Sure. How many teams, but some of those teams that you mentioned are going to fall off. No, they’re not. All those teams I just said are the best teams in the East regardless. I’m not talking seeds. I’m not talking Saints. think the Bulls are going to fall off? Yes, I do. You don’t think the Heat are going to fall off? Yes, I do. I didn’t name them, Adam. Listen. Listen to what I’m saying. I’m going to go through this again. I’m going to go through this again. Yeah, but there are eight playoffs. Just listen. Hear me out. 76ers, Cavs, Bucks, Knicks, Pistons, Hawks are going to get right. How many teams is that? Eight. What did I name? I didn’t say any of those other teams. My point is, regardless of seating, we know those teams will be in the East because they were last year. they’re going to be again this year. My point, if you’re playing for a playin or you’re fighting for an eight seed, what’s the point? Sit him. Let him rest. When he comes back, he’s fully healthy. You have a draft pick. You have Jaylen Brown. You have Derek White. You can figure out the front court. Tatum should help with that. And then you’re cooking with gas. So, you’re going to force his hand? Force whose hand? Tatums. What if he wants to play? You’re you sign his checks, right? Sure. It works for you, right? Hey, Chase, we love you. We want you to play, too. We’re in the lottery. Relax. See you next year. You got tankathon.com. I like that. Chill out. We’ll see you next year. Then why didn’t they shut him down in the same way the Pacers shut down Hallebertton or the Blazers shut down? Because I don’t think he just wants to he just wants to chase the Because they don’t agree with me. They think we’re going to be a four, five, we’re going to be in the thick of this. We’re going to get our guy back and go on a title run. We’re watching the games. No, they’re not. That’s exactly why they want to give you hope that it can stay in it and maybe Tatum can come back. That’s right. They should not bring Jason Tatum back. I I’m sorry. The most important thing for the Celtics this year is Jason Tatum getting healthy to be ready for next year. So again, all those moves I’ll say it one more time. All the moves they made were to get worse potentially back into the lottery. Look at the Do I have to bring up the names? Do I have to bring up the do look at the college names? AJ Debata, madam Frank, he’s there. It’s a stat class, but they didn’t make those moves to get worse, quote unquote. They made those moves to get under the second, right? But yeah, but they got Yeah, but they they weren’t motivated to get worse to get it was about the money. Payton Pritchard weak. And also, I would argue getting rid of Drew Holiday in exchange for Anthony Simons was a plus move. But they’re going to lose a good move. They’re going to d his money. And Peyton Pritchard is not a starter. All right. He’s not a starter. He’s not. He’s not. He’s a sixman of the year. And Derek White somewhat’s getting exposed because of he has to do more, right? And Jaylen Brown again, we’ll put up 40 lose. He’s not consistent. And their philosophy is to shoot when they don’t have necessarily a shooting team. Now, Hower has been pretty good of late. Did you know that? So, keep going. Real quick, Derek White has the same amount of threes point attempts as Steph Curry. That is deplorable. I am sorry. Keep going. Keep going. Rim protection, rebounding. You got to keep going. No, but listen. And he’s averaging 11 attempts per game. I don’t want to see that. I understand. That’s tank right there. No, it’s not tank. It’s a It’s a good shooter in a page NBA. Here’s the issue. They should tank. Here’s the issue is that Derrick White is shooting 25% per game on those three-point tries. Or that Simons is still at about 36 and a half, 37. He’s got to be better. and he’s going to get Richard is at 21 and obviously is going to be better. I think the the the bigger thing here is because I had I had this exact conversation a couple of days ago with Cedric Maxwell who I’m pretty sure knows a thing or two about playing in the NBA. And I said this like cuz I’ve been pre preaching for for months dating back to these moves like you got to do something different if you’re Joe Missoula. Stylistically it can’t still be that killer wheel whale offense. It can’t still be the three-point vault. can’t be jacking up 53 point tries in a game when this is your personnel and you have lost all those guys. Horford Holiday to a degree, Porzingis, obviously Tatum, all these guys who are capable of making three-pointers at a very high rate. You got to do something different. And Max says, “Well, fine, except what are you going to do different when you don’t have a front court? You can’t you can’t like if if you’re if you’re stuck on the perimeter shooting threes, it’s not like you if they can be better somehow in transition and running and gun and pick up the pace and all this stuff that they’ve talked about, then fine, great. But if that doesn’t work, what are you going to do? Feed it down low to Nimi to to to like you you don’t have an option. You have to jack it from three. So speaking of that, they play the Cavs tonight and Evan Moy Moley eight8 rebounds 11 in his last game. Jared Ellen. All right, that’s another guy. So, tonight they give up so many offensive rebounds. It’s a bad matchup. Yeah, Kyle, do me a favor. Write this down in my list of things to do. Bet every over for every big man for the Cavs. Over for everything because no one’s stopping anything. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad matchups coming up. I mean, again, it’s Allen and Moy for Cleveland. It’s Joel Embiid assuming he plays and Drummond let’s say you know with Philadelphia in this this game if you got Houston who’s maybe the biggest lineup in NBA history and you have Utah Walker Kesler and and these guys out there make sure you pull up tankathon.com while you’re looking at scroll along they have the third best odds AJ Devonsis is from Brockton he would look great in the Celtics. Hey if Dallas can get the number one pick and Tatum gets hurt why not the Celtics next year. Let me tell you this. With your third best odds, I just did one sim of the lottery. You know, you know which pick the Celtics wind up with sitting at 1 and three. Your third best odds. I’ll take whoever. Number 11. Number 11. And this is the whole thing, guys. There’s not the NFL where like the Patriots screwed up getting the number one overall pick in the NBA. It’s a lottery system. Do another flag wound up with Dallas. It doesn’t always work out. Tim didn’t walk through that door. We’re going to go over to destination. Keep on going. Another hour on the way. 9 to 10. [Music]

The Patriots traded away Keion White and Kyle Dugger yesterday and Patriots fans are now wondering, could the Patriots be gearing up for a big trade at the trade deadline? Travis Thomas, Adam Kaufman, and Joe Murray breakdown down all the latest Patriots news, they talk to Lou Merloni about the the Red Sox offseason prioirities, and talk if the Celtics should even bother bringing Jayson Tatum back this season?

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0:00 Intro
1:10 PatriotsTrade Deadline Talk
15:01 What’s Trending
21:43 Red Sox Offseason Priorities with Lou Merloni
38:11 Should The Celtics Let Jayson Tatum Play This Season?
47:55 Outro

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