tavarez.jpgI like Julian Tavarez. I make sure I watch all the Red Sox games when he plays. But no one can look past the fact that he’s currently in a slump. He hasn’t won a game since June 20th and is, I think, the only pitcher on the rotation with a losing record (5-8). It’s tough. Kason Gabbard’s been doing pretty well, so I think he should become the fifth starting pitcher when Schilling comes back. I wouldn’t mind seeing Tavarez in relief. He’s not a bad pitcher – he just doesn’t seem to last long before the hits start getting to him.

In other sports news, Asante Samuel is playing hard to get. The franchise tag deal isn’t enough for him and neither is the contract the Patriots offered, so he says he plans on holding out. Why, Samuel? The franchise tag guarantees that you’ll get paid among the top five players in your cornerback position, which is like 7 million something. Top five. The Pats don’t need CBs that are holding out – their secondary gets busted up every season and they need all they can get. I hope something can snap Samuel out of it, and if not, get rid of him – we don’t need that negative energy around here.

Daunte Culpepper got his release from the Dolphins. This guy hasn’t been the same without Randy Moss. It makes you wonder if he’s really a great quarterback or if his numbers just rode off the Moss bandwagon back when the two were united in Minnesota. Surely Culpepper has the ability to make a splash somewhere else sometime down the line, before he retires – right? I hope so. It’s sad to see a good quarterback all of a sudden disappear. I guess it’s not as bad as Vick getting in the news for a dogfighting indictment though; the latter news is just stupid.