Good morning!

No wonder the Red Sox won’t sign players to long term deals. According to the Bastards of Boston Baseball, five of the team’s six most expensive signings — David Price, Manny Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Trevor Story and Pablo Sandoval — were all busts.

Of that group, Manny was the only player who delivered. Dan Duquette signed him on Dec. 19, 2000, for eight years and $160 million, and in those eight years he batted .312, hit 274 home runs and drove in 868 runs. Also while he was in Boston, the Red Sox made the playoffs five times and won two World Series.

As for the rest of the group, David Price signed for seven years and $217 million. He pitched well but his 46-24 record in Boston was overshadowed by his ongoing feud with NESN’s Dennis Eckersley. Price was traded to the Dodgers with Mookie Betts in 2020, and the Red Sox paid $48 million of his salary to get him out of town.

Adrian Gonzalez is a good example of the saying there’s lies, damned lies and statistics. A-Gon signed for seven years and $154 million in 2011 and his 213 hits led the majors, but he didn’t fit the prototypical Red Sox image. 

The following year he was included in an August purge that sent Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to the Dodgers for five unknowns including the immortal Jerry Sands. 

“They didn’t like that I was a calm person. I won’t throw my helmet, I won’t scream, I won’t use bad words if I strike out. That’s what they want over there,” Gonzalez told Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.

Carl Crawford stood 6-2, weighed 230 pounds, and was a Rickey Henderson clone in Tampa where he hit 50 triples in three seasons, led the league in stolen bases four times, and batted .296.

He signed for seven years and $142 million and was an all star from the neck down. Often injured, he batted .260 and had 17 stolen bases in 161 games and was shipped to the Dodgers in the aforementioned trade.

Pablo Sandoval was the Giants’ World Series MVP in 2012. Beware of players like him and Anthony Rendon who make their names over the course of a few postseason games. Three years later he signed a five year, $95 million contract with Boston and, said Terry Cushman, “went straight to the buffet table.” 

The Red Sox released him at the 2017 All-Star break when he was batting .212 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. The Braves picked him up but released him after two lackluster seasons and he returned to the Golden Corral.

Trevor Story, who’s entering the fourth year of a six-year $140 million deal, has been an injury-plagued bust who’s missed 324 games and has batted .232 with 210 strikeouts. 

The BOBB crew argued that this is why the Red Sox refused to sign Alex Bregman beyond four years. “But August will get here,” snickered Cushman, “and we’ll sign Rich Hill.”

(Note — Statistics provided by baseball-reference.com).

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Despite losing Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox, the over/under win total for the White Sox this season has jumped from 41 last season to 52.5 this season. Other totals: Dodgers (104.5); Yankees (93.5); Mets (91.5); Phillies (91.5); Orioles (88.5);  Cubs (87.5); Red Sox (85.5); Tigers (83.5); Guardians (82.5) and Terry Francona’s Cincinnati Reds (78.5).

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On radio row in New Orleans, the SportsHub’s Michael Felger asked former Patriot and Titan cornerback Malcolm Butler if he thought Mike Vrabel would use the same defensive schemes that Bill Belichick did in New England. The hero of  Super Bowl XLIX said, “I’m going to tell you one thing that Mike Vrabel and Bill Belichick said, ‘We don’t talk about injuries, and we don’t talk about plays.’”

“But you can now,” said Felger.

“Yeah but I’m still sticking to the law,” said Butler, who still refuses to discuss why he was benched against the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.  “Coach’s decision” was all Butler would say.

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Quote of the Week: “Spring games are big deals at football schools. The spring game at Nebraska will draw 70,000 people. Yeah. They canceled the spring game. Why? They don’t want other schools to videotape it and try to steal their players before the season starts. That’s why the system cannot continue.”— Mike Francesa

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Scouting SB LIX: The Chiefs are 1 1/2-point favorites to beat the Eagles. You can root against them, but don’t bet against them.

In their first meeting, KC scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and won, 38-35. “Jalen Hurts played awesome and they still lost,” said Ross Tucker. “That would be concerning to me if I was an Eagles fan.”

Indeed, Hurts accounted for 374 yards offense and four touchdowns.

Here’s more bad news for Eagles fans. The New York Post’s Evan Abrams reports that Patrick Mahomes is 16-2 straight-up in January and February. The two losses were to Tom Brady in OT, 37-31, and Joe Burrow in the ’22 NFC championship, 27-24. 

Even worse for Philly fans is that the Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is 0-8 straight up against the Chiefs and 2-6 ATS.

The lone glint of good news is that since 2007, underdogs are 10-7 straight-up and 12-5 versus the spread.

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SQUIBBERS: Provisions on the 53-foot Red Sox truck to Fort Myers included 60 cases of sunflower seeds, 20 cases of bubble gum, 1,100 bats and 20,400 baseballs. … Yes, that was PVRS superintendent Patricia Kinsella helping athletic director Nick Adams shovel the sidewalk before last week’s Pioneer hoops game. Inside, the Panthers stayed undefeated, the DJ played good music and the house was packed. …  BC offensive lineman Ozzy Trapilo was the only player from a New England school to suit up for last week’s Senior Bowl. … Taylor Elgersma was 4-of-7 for 57 yards with two dropped balls in Mobile. A native Ontarian, Elgersma would be the first Canadian quarterback to play in the NFL since Jessie Palmer did it with the Giants in 2003. …  UMass hoops transfer Matt Cross is averaging 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds for the 17-5 SMU Mustangs, and Josh Cohen helped the USC Trojans upset No. 7 Michigan State last week with seven points and three rebounds. … The St. Louis Blues shipped former UMass defenseman Matt Kessel back to Springfield this week. … The UMass softball season began on Friday at 10:30 a.m. in 70 degree weather in Bules, N.C., against East Tennessee State. The first home game is March 22 at noon versus George Washington. … Meanwhile UMass lacrosse hosts Army today at noon at Garber Field, the first of four February home games against Quinnipiac, Dartmouth and NJIT. … Steve Kramer got off the phone with 94-year-old Jim Smith last week. “Still learning from him,” Kramer said of the former Deerfield, Tech and Mohawk gridiron coach. … Face value for Super Bowl tickets range from $1,500 for nosebleeds to $5,000 at the 50-yard line. … The Powertown’s George Bush paid $75 for his ticket to Super Bowl XX in New Orleans. George has been around for so long that they let him use Confederate money. “Ninety-nine in October!” he laughed. … A Ken Burns baseball nugget: In 1934, St. Louis pitcher Dizzy Dean was beaned in the head and rushed to the hospital. The following morning’s headline reported: “X-Rays of Dean’s Head Showed Nothing.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com