BlogBostonSports.com

This is New England. Home of the World Champion Boston Red Sox, the 17-time NBA Champion Boston Celtics, and one other successful sports franchise. Too bad I hate them with every fiber of my being. Of course, I’m referring to the New England Patriots. I am not a Patriots fan by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, I’m a cheesehead. I love the Green Bay Packers, which makes what I’m about to say very weird. I hope Brett Favre stays retired. It’s time to hang them up, Brett.

Don’t get me wrong. Brett favre is probably my favorite football player of all time, and he is probably a top-10 quarterback of all time. But this retire, unretired game has got to stop. He’s held this franchise hostage in the offseason for the better part of four seasons now. It’s been the lead story on ESPN all week and I just don’t understand why. He wasn’t a good enough quarterback to warrant this attention. As good as he was in his prime, he’s probably been the most overrated player in the NFL the last few years.

And what about Aaron Rodgers? The guy gets drafted late in the first round, much later than expected, and now has to endure another whole sequence of the Brett Favre game. The guy deserves a shot to prove what he can do, and this is the year to start. I don’t care if that brings the Packers back to the pack (no pun intended) in the NFC North…it just needs to happen.

So Brett, do me a favor. Stay home in Mississippi, film your Wrangler commercials, and stop texting the Packers GM that you want to come back for another year. You’re done, something you even admitted yourself not two months ago. Let someone else have a shot. You’re in the Hall in 2013, you’ve won a Super Bowl, and you have nothing left to prove. It seems everyone has come to that realization…except for yourself.

So the Sox are coming up on the trade deadline with some apparent issues in bullpen and some concern regarding the health of David Ortiz. Our pen has looked shaky lately. Okajima, Delcarmen and Hansen are our most reliable relievers before Papelbon, and none of the three has upped their game to the point where we can count on them to get crucial high-leverage outs late in games. This could be a problem we may solve via trade.

But in the name of senselessly beating the deadline drums, let me throw out a scenario. The cure to our ‘pen problems is Justin Masterson. Clay Buchholz has been masterful of late in AAA, and I don’t see him staying there for very long. If he were to take the five spot, we could afford to move Masterson into our pen. Masterson could catch lightning in a bottle out of the bullpen and stabilize what is at this point the teams most glaring weakness.

So, that really doesn’t count as a trade scenario, right? Well, there is the issue of David Ortiz and his wrist. I would say that right now, his status is uncertain at best. J.D. Drew has been great in his absence, but I think we need another bat in the line-up. If ATL is going to shop Mark Teixiera this deadline, I think at the very least the Sox will give a phone call. I think if we are approaching the end of July and Ortiz isn’t very close to playing, I think we should part with the necessary talent to bring in an impact bat. Too much talent is a problem we can deal with if Ortiz returns at full strength. We have a rare opportunity to repeat as WS Champs, but if we are relying on Ortiz being there down the stretch and his injury continues to keep him off the diamond I don’t think that is a problem we can easily overcome.

According to Boston.com

The Celtics have made contract offers to two forwards: Their own free agent, James Posey, and Clippers free agent Corey Maggette, sources told the Boston Globe. The most the Celtics could offer is the mid-level exception (about $5.8 million), and it’s doubtful that they could sign both players. The terms of the offers were not disclosed.

Talksox has an ongoing thread about it