This large patch of dirt, which just a few weeks ago was home to beautiful green grass, is in my yard. It’s the right-handed batter’s box in what has become the field where the neighborhood crew plays Wiffle ball.
I spend a considerable amount of time and money on lawn maintenance and landscaping. I care a lot about my grass. But I don’t care about this massive bare spot.
Because if my two boys are outside playing Wiffle ball, they’re not inside playing Xbox. Or bingeing video after video on YouTube shorts, probably of the "Yurr shittin me?” fake baseball coach variety. We’re barely two days into the summer vacation, and the battle against screen addiction is already raging full bore in the Mutnansky Household.
My dad hated that we tore up his backyard with these same Wiffle ball bare spots, and I get it. They’re annoying to walk by every day. But if they get my kids out of the house and off the screens, I’ll make that trade.
Our family is not unique - I talk to a lot of parents who are fighting the same screen battle. It’s a battle, admittedly, I’m losing daily. Attempts are made to fill every free second with a screen.
But today (June 20) is the official first day of summer. We should be celebrating the best parts of being a kid during the summer. There was a clear Top 3 for me.
⚾ Wiffle Ball. The best summer game/activity. Our bats had nicknames. Different yards had different rules. As we got older, stats were kept. As a member of a two-time UConn Intramural Wiffle ball championship team, I say confidently that I could have gone pro in Wiffle ball - if such a league existed in the early 2000s. I was just born too early. Sad. Elite, elite activity for the summer. If the boys get addicted to Wiffle ball, I’m all for it.
🏊🏻♂️ Swimming (at someone else’s house). If you had a pool, you probably took this for granted. But if you didn’t have a pool, that call you’d get to be invited over to a friend’s house, and they had a pool? Oh, baby. Nothing better.
🍦The Ice Cream Truck. An excuse to get ice cream at the most random times of day. Watermelon Italian Ice. Those old WWF ice cream bars. Push up pops. Choco Taco. Usually, a strong candy selection. Ice Cream trucks rocked.
Honorable mentions: Summer sports camps, summer beach vacation, fireworks, no school (obviously).
Years from now, the boys will be out of the house, and I’ll probably miss those bare spots in the yard. In the short term, they’re an unsightly annoyance that I’ll gladly deal with if it means not having to hear “I’ll turn off Fortnite after this game,” only to find out a game can take like an hour, at least according to them.
Happy summer with the kids at home to those who celebrate!
Meanwhile, I want to make you aware of an available Drake Maye wager. David Ortiz does dirty work for his old team. And a mysterious Red Sox Insider says goodbye…I think.
All ahead in this week’s Four-Pack.
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On some Rafael Devers Trade leftovers…
Took to Streamyard to talk about the Rafael Devers trade earlier this week on the MutStack Podcast. It’s less than 25 minutes, and if you missed it, you can listen above or at MutStack.com. Or on Spotify, if you prefer.
Two quick follow-ups as the Red Sox get set to face Devers and the San Francisco Giants this weekend.
Sad to see David Ortiz being used by the organization to rip Devers on his way out the door.
"You can't imagine how many times I wrote to Devers trying to give him advice, but unfortunately, he has communication problems," Ortiz said, per Hector Gomez. "He almost never returned my messages, but I don't blame him. He's a good guy, but he definitely needs to improve his communication. He should find an advisor to help him with that. I went through some tough times also. But I was mature enough to understand and keep things internal,” Ortiz added.
"David is (too) proud and respectful to say how he feels in public, but the guy feels hurt, upset by the way that he is being ignored by the Red Sox," said the source.
"After all he's done here and having a good season, he was at least hoping to be approached by the team to talk about his future," added the source.
This you, Big Papi? Can’t imagine who the ‘source’ for this was. 🙄🙄🙄Didn’t Ortiz also complain when the team gave him a new truck rather than a new contract?My friend and host of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast, Rob Bradford, insinuated on WEEI that the Red Sox players were not upset that Devers was traded, and they were pissed he agreed to play first base for his new team.
Boo-hoo. They should be angry he’s gone, given how much he meant to their lineup. And the fact that the team used his attitude as an excuse to dump his salary. Let’s say they’re upset about his unwillingness to change positions in Boston. If that’s the case, they can blame the team and the manager, especially considering that Devers was reportedly willing to move if the team committed to him as the first baseman.
There are reports the Sox are committed to spending at the deadline and using some of Devers' money to help the team this year. I’m not going to give them credit for that until they actually do it. As I wrote for three straight weeks here before the Devers trade, Craig Breslow appears bad at his job. I had no faith that he was the guy to build the next Red Sox World Series team. That certainly didn’t change with the events of this week.
On the next star to be traded out of Boston…
With the NBA season set to end Sunday after Game 7 between the Thunder and the Pacers, the sobering reality of what lies ahead for the Boston Celtics will start to become a focus for the fan base.
🏀 Jayson Tatum is going to miss most, and maybe all, of the upcoming season. His ruptured Achilles tendon is an injury that could impact his game even after a long recovery, and there is a chance he’ll never be the same player again.
🏀 The team is going to move salaries. Various reports project a payroll of over $500 million for 2025-2026. If they don’t make any moves (they will), they’ll pay over $230 million JUST in luxury tax payments. I think one of the reasons Wyc Grousbeck is still here in this transition to new owner Bill Chisholm is so the new guy doesn't take all the blame when the team sheds salary this offseason.
🏀 Even with the Tatum injury, that loss to the Knicks was about as bad as it gets, and that was the last series we’ll see this championship team play together.
ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania was on Pat McAfee’s show Thursday. His pretty bland statement sent the Internet aggregation sites into a frenzy.
“I’m sure teams are throwing crazy offers for guys like Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, but it’ll take a pretty insurmountable package to get those guys out of Boston,” Charania said.
With Tatum’s injury, I can’t imagine a world where Brown is traded. He’s too important to the team on the court. With Tatum out for who knows how long, he’ll take an even bigger role off the court as a team leader and spokesman. The team can probably convince themselves that keeping Brown and trading Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, or Payton Pritchard this offseason is a way to stay competitive this year as they wait to see how Tatum returns. And they might be right.
Me? I’d still consider a Brown trade.
"I think if you're Boston, you're not going to ask for a Stephon Castle. You're not going to get a Stephon Castle in a potential Jaylen Brown deal," NBA Insider Mannix said this month on NBC Sports Boston’s The Off C'season special. "You would get the No. 2 pick back in return. You would get the Devin Vassells, the Keldon Johnsons, future first-round capital. That's something I'd watch if and when the Giannis Antetokounmpo stuff shakes itself out over the next few weeks."
Desmond Bane just got moved to Orlando for FOUR 1st round picks, a pick swap, and two players; that’s a haul. What if the Spurs see Brown as the guy to pair with Wemby for the next half-decade and did offer Castle? Or if some other team offered their young, budding star and draft assets for Brown? Brad Stevens would have to consider it, and I hope he is, if the offers are north of what Memphis got for Bane.
It might mean a down year this season, but it could set you up for the next championship window starting with the 2026-2027 season.
But that would be the aggressive play. The safe play - the iron off the tee to the middle of the fairway - is holding on to Brown. Even if Stevens wanted to move Brown in a bold move, I could see the new owner refusing to sign off on it—just too significant a PR risk.
Rafael Devers is gone. If you consider Holiday, Porzingis, or Pritchard to be stars, one of them is the most likely to be moved out of Boston next. Before Tatum’s injury and a new Celtics owner, there was a world where that name could have been Jaylen Brown.
On a Drake Maye bet to make right now…
If I were a TRUE sports betting influencer and content creator, this headline would probably read something like, ‘A CAN’T LOSE BET ON DRAKE MAYE YOU HAVE TO MAKE RIGHT NOW!!!!’ complete with a wacky image of me making a funny face.
At least that’s how all the cool kids on social media do it.
I had not planned to tie up my money in Drake Maye futures, but I may have to make this bet.
Earlier this week, I was a guest on Andrew Callahan’s Pats Interference podcast. As part of a ‘Grab Bag’ episode, we talked about our favorite bets on the Patriots for the upcoming season.
The season win total has moved from a consensus 7.5 wins to 8.5 wins. Caesars is the only book at plus money on the over 8.5 wins, sitting at +100. I liked it much better at 7.5, -120 or so, but that’s long gone. I guess I’d still be interested at over 8.5/+100, but it’s not a bet I’d be sprinting to my mobile app to make. But there is a Drake Maye bet I want to push here.
Based on a search over on Gambly and then a quick human check by me, the only legal sportsbook in Massachusetts offering odds on Maye’s rushing yards total for next season is Caesars. They’ve posted the total at 425.5 yards, with both the over and under priced at -115.
I really like the over.
Last season, in 12 games (I’m not counting the finale against the Bills), Maye rushed for 421 yards, with a few caveats.
He was a rookie just trying to get his footing in the NFL.
He only played 12 or so games.
His offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt, was on the record saying that the team did not call many designed running plays for the rookie most of the season, to keep him healthy.
There is a track record of mobile quarterbacks increasing their rushing totals in year two. The four veterans who finished in the Top 5 in rushing at the quarterback position in 2024 - Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Kyler Murray - all improved their rushing totals in year two by hundreds of yards.
Admittedly, I was taken aback by just how athletic Maye looked as a runner in 2024. I’d like this bet just on the idea he’s the starter from Week 1 and will be more confident in his own abilities.
I like it even more after Callahan said on the podcast that he’s confident the coaching staff is open to running more designed runs for Maye this season.
If he stays healthy, we cash this bet. Easily.
He could get hurt, and we’re cooked - that’s part of the risk in betting on any kind of over. And it’s one of the reasons I prefer betting unders.
But in this case, there’s enough working in our favor, especially the rushing total itself, to bet an over. Once other books open more of their player prop futures markets, I can see this number increasing, and likely opening higher on those sportsbooks. So while it’s annoying to bet this in June, it’s a good number, and I'm happy to grab it now.
On your MutStack Notes…
Anyway. This seems like a good off-ramp to wrap this whole thing up. I’ll be actively rooting for the next regime change, and for when FSG finishes up all their real estate development around Fenway and they put the team up for sale.
Sincerely, thank you
⚾ Those were the concluding lines this week from the author behind the popular Substack newsletter and X.com/BlueSky accounts, Red Sox Stats.
Stats was one of thousands of Red Sox fans upset with the Devers trade, as noted by the salty language in the post above. Stats has always been a bit of a mystery.
He’s not a reporter, and he never wanted any fanfare for his opinions or online personality. But Stats was ahead of the curve on numerous Red Sox moves (JD Martinez comes to mind) over the years. He was clearly connected - to the point where Red Sox owner John Henry followed him on X.com in the hours before the Devers trade; Henry follows just 72 people.
The end of his newsletter this week sounds like a goodbye. Stats has not posted on social media since calling Breslow “an absolute humanoid piece of shit,” so I reached out to see if he was planning a return at some point.
Not surprisingly, I did not get a reply. Like I said, Stats has never used his account for clout or made it about him. His quiet exit from the Internet would be on-brand.
Maybe if and when FSG sells the team, he’ll be back. But until then, his commentary, analysis, and insider nuggets will be sorely missed by Sox fans everywhere.
⚾ Mazz begging for kudos while also still having his replies turned off is a special kind of Mazz.
📻 Credit to both WEEI and The Sports Hub for going live and local Sunday night after the Devers news broke.
⚾ I will begrudgingly give the Red Sox credit for demoting the slumping Kristian Campbell to AAA on Thursday. After a hot month, he’s struggled at the plate and doesn’t seem to have a position defensively after a reported move to first base was scrapped. With Alex Bregman and Wilyer Abreu set to return soon, his demotion is a sign that the team is trying to win now, and that’s a good thing.
🏇🏻 The New York Racing Association announced this week that we’ll get one more Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga in 2026, as the new Belmont Park will open for next year’s fall meet. I love Saratoga, but I’ll be happy to get the Met Mile out of the Wilson Chute and the Spa Meet shortened. This picture of an absolutely empty track apron from the Wednesday of this year’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga tells a story that maybe I’m not the only fan okay with less Saratoga. I enjoy being on-site for an empty track day as it’s less hectic, but this is a tough look for horse racing’s best venue.
🏇🏻 I enjoyed Steve Ruddock’s take on horse racing in his newsletter this week. He’s on to something when he writes about “transforming tracks into modern entertainment hubs.” We’ll see if the new Belmont Park has elements of that.
⚾ Big congratulations to the Chelmsford High School Baseball Team, winners of the Massachusetts Division I State Baseball Tournament. The 14-seed Lions capped off their improbable tourney run by knocking off No. 8 Braintree 8-2 last Friday night at Polar Park in Worcester. It was the school’s first baseball title since 1966, when they were Division 4.
I was lucky to see some big upsets and state championships at little ole’ North Middlesex Regional High School, and I still have vivid memories of those games. For the kids, parents, and fans involved in the Chelmsford run, I’m sure it will be the same. Polar Park was a fantastic venue for a thrilling title game that went into extra innings. I’ll be proudly wearing my Chelmsford Baseball gear this weekend…As I attempt to keep the boys off their iPads.
And with that, I believe we have said it all.
Have a great first summer weekend. Stay hydrated. And thanks for reading.
Great Read as always Mike.....I too have a Grass issue...but with my Grandkids LOL...my solution is a Piece of thin outdoor Astroturf for the batting box. To make it realistic and enticing ...I actually Spray painted the Batter's Box on the Turf ! It will mat down the grass, however you can pick it up when they are done and rake/fluff up the grass like new ! Just a thought from my years as a PE teacher ! Have a great summer
Fucking Devers man. I said from the start giving $300,000,000 to a 3rd baseman who was quite literally the worst defensive 3rd baseman in the league, was a bad idea. Nolan Arenado makes about the same and he won 10 straight gold gloves, Chapman. Raffy has had a bad attitude, but a lot falls on Breslow for failing to effectively communicate and then trading him for a worse haul than the Mookie trade. Embarrassing but hey, Sox keep winning.
stay cool