It Is What It Is
NEED TO KNOW
Follow WEEI.com football writer Christopher Price at twitter.com/cpriceNFL. In addition, get the latest WEEI.com updates at twitter.com/WEEI.
A WEEI.com Patriots Blog
WEEI.com Blog Network
RSS

Updates on Josh Cribbs, Danny Amendola and how their situations might affect the Wes Welker sweepstakes

 03.13.13 at 12:44 am ET
By

Three more notes before the end of the night:

Josh Cribbs

Josh Cribbs

• The Josh Cribbs saga continues. After a report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer at the start of the day that linked the return man to New England, a Fox Sports report later dismissed the idea, and said that Cribbs could be ticketed to the Cardinals. But late Tuesday evening, another report from Mary-Kay Cabot of the P-D indicates that Cribbs has narrowed it down to New England and Arizona. (She reports the Niners were in the mix for a bit, but have since dropped out.) Cabot is also reporting that there is interest in both sides in a trade that would send Patriots backup quarterback Ryan Mallett to the Browns. Cleveland’s new personnel chief Mike Lombardi is tight with Bill Belichick, and Lombardi has expressed his admiration for Mallett in the past on more than one occasion.

• Multiple outlets are now reporting that the market has started to narrow for slot receiver Danny Amendola, with the Ravens and Eagles in the market. Amendola, who has had a tough run of injuries as of late, caught 63 passes in 11 games in 2012, with 666 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the NFL in all purpose yards in 2010, with 689 reception yards (on 85 receptions), 452 punt return yards and 1,142 kickoff return yards. Amendola certainly makes sense from a Baltimore perspective, as the Ravens recently dealt slot receiver Anquan Boldin to the Niners for a draft pick.

• Both the Cribbs and Amendola situations would affect Welker, as New England could potentially view the younger slot receiver as a potential replacement for Welker — if Welker signs elsewhere soon (or, at least before Amendola and maybe Cribbs), the Patriots could enter into the bidding.

Read More: Anquan Boldin, Bill Belichick, Danny Amendola, Josh Cribbs Print  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • redsoxfan45

    I think Valentine told that say boring envelope story in an ESPN thing with Francona when he was hired. I think Valentine is losing his marbles.

    • lol

       or you might be a moron. Here is what THINKING people learned today. Farrell admitted that the red sox wanted him last off season and he wanted the red sox. But the b-jays would not give him up. This is why the red sox took forever to hire a manager last off season….they were trying to steal Farrell. When they FINALLY realized they could not get Farrell they went and hired a fall guy (bobby V) who NEVER stood a chance. The corporate front office gave the green light to the corporate players to kill Bobby V all season with the help of the corporate dumb fool boston media knowing morons like you would bite. So a innocent hard working baseball man (bobby v) had a year of his life wasted and stupid dumb morons like you made it possible. See how it works? Problem – reaction – solution. I hope you were not born in 45 cause it would be weird to be SCHOOLED on life by someone who was born in 78 LOL. Welcome to reality though LOL.

      • Dano_in_NY

        can’t believe the management would sabotage even 1 season…

  • Timmy T

    Just couldn’t wait until the season was over to do his interview, could he?  It’s always all about Bobby.  I was in the minority that thought he would be terrible in Boston, but I never thought things would get so bad so fast.  Hopefully Farrell and Cherington have something in mind or it will be awhile before the Red Sox are back.

  • lol

    gotta love the 14-2 yankees over the red sox box score that has nothing to do with anything. WEEI is the Baghdad Bob of sports. All propaganda, NO reality. Pathetic. Anyone who sees through the insanity of WEEI and the red sox will be slandered in one way or another and morons like redsoxfan45 will fall for it. Never forget that Terry Francona is a drug addict and Nomar is selfish. PATHETIC.

    • Lead

      respectfully, i don’t think any intelligent person who has an ounce of self-confidence runs any risk of being educated about life by someone who posts comments like this on ESPN.com.  Bobby Valentine isn’t losing his marbles – he has always been a somewhat unique individual.  The truth of the matter is that the Red Sox had significant injury problems last season, as well as a few bad bets (Matsuzaka, Lackey) who have rarely had injury-free or high-quality seasons for the Sox.  However, this was a team that needed a strong clubhouse presence.  It needed leadership.  By admitting that he was rarely a presence in the clubhouse, Bobby V more or less conceded that he failed to lead.

      i also dislike his penchant for blaming injured players and accusing them of not playing hard.  Kevin Youkilis had a pretty good season for the White Sox once he regained his health, and David Ortiz was on his way to an outstanding season.  He sat out the last month of the season on the advice of the Red Sox medical staff.   As a “hardworking baseball man,” Valentine should be ashamed of himself for his misguided comments about these ballplayers, both of whom have a reputation for working hard at their craft.

      Valentine clearly was not the man for this job.  I wish him well but won’t miss him.  We can do better.  @LOL – by all accounts, Nomar Garciaparra had a notoriously well-honed work ethic as a player.  He is apparently a good husband and a good father.  He has given more time and money to charitable causes than you probably will in your lifetime.  Spare us the empty stereotypes.   

      • lead

        oops, WEEI.com.  no matter.

      • Doug

        I remember Bobby after 9/11, he and his players worked hard to help, I think Bobby has a good heart and he;s a good guy, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he did more harm than good for this club, I wanted him to manage but I fess up for my mistake. it’s history now, wait til next season, GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    bring youk back to play first!!!

    • Doug

      Another big mistake if that happens!  We got rid of the selfish cry babies, no more! Got rid of some cancers’ and he was a big cancer on this club.

    • Fleecemon

      Yeah and get Yaz and Pudge while you’re at it.

  • Sox Fan

    Hiring Bobby V was a mistake from Day 1.  The game has passed him by.  After the Sept collapse last year they should have gotten serious, not hire a bumbling fool.  Management has to earn back my trust… so will pass on tickets again next year (this year was the first season ever I didn’t go to Fenway).  The big 3 threw Terry Francona under the bus and didn’t take ANY responsibility for the collapse of the team… so arrogant and sad. Get it together guys and lets get this team back on track (no, not the race track).  

    BTW, one thing that will help is, although everyone thinks Ellsbury leaving is a given, I disagree.  I think they will surprise us and sign him to a long term deal… because John Henry loves him.  While injuries have hurt his luster… predict this guy will turn out just fine.    

    • Doug

      Good post, I really do hope we keep Ellsbury, I think we’ll have a good team this coming season, Lackey ought to win 15-17, Clay will not start the season with a bad back, Lester supposedly gets along with Farrell real good, lets see Farrell help Jon to a great season., Dubrondt had a dues paying season, he will have benefitted a lot from that, he’s a keeper, we get one or to big innings eaters and we’ll be fine, get a big banger to go along with Ortiz, lets hope Kalish is healthy and see what he’ll do, I hope Iggy is finally ready to hit at the big league level.

  • http://twitter.com/theHooHaagroove HooHaa

    AH so BobbyV doesn’t remember the Middlebrooks incident; then why was he the one who publicized it in the first place? Go away Bobby and enjoy the fact you will never work in baseball again.

    • Doug

      Yeah, he must be a pathalogical liar, after accusing Will of “nice inning” to let him down easy he said when I was a plyer with the Dodgers I made 3 errors in an inning, the fans were throwing seat cushions at me and booing etc, etc.  Bobby is just one lie after another.

  • Vincetamm49

    Look enough the Red Sox insisted on hiring him. Injuries were a factor, and anyone that doesn’t think so is in denial. After the trade they were basically playing with a few mediocre veterans, and Pawtucket, and no pitching. I am surprised they won 63 games. Reminded me of the 50 and 60′s sox were the mantra was wait until next year.

    • Doug

      Another good post, I remember those years and you have a good point, I think the Red Sox have collectively one of the worst FO in baseball, well maybe I’ll have to re consider that remark after the Brinks Heist of the Dodgers, but if Leaping Larry were out of the mix, we’d do better, that is a given.

  • Karl

    I wondered how long that blowhard would wait before spouting off. As far as anything he says, CONSIDER THE SOURCE!

  • Anonymous

    Apostrophe catastrophe.

    “The clubhouse is their’s. ”
    *theirs

    Aren’t we supposed to be able to count on our writers and editors to be able to spell correctly?

    • Doug

      No, and you must have majored in Nitpicking and Hair splitting in school?

      • Anonymous

        Nope. But I did pay attention in fourth grade when they taught apostrophe usage and possessives. Also, although I’ll certainly take the credit for nitpicking (no capitalization), I must point out that there is no hairsplitting (single, compound word; no capitalization) going on, because there is only one correct way to form the possessive here. With only one way, there is no unnecessarily fine distinction to make. It’s a glaring distinction. “Their’s” is incorrect. “Theirs” is correct. No hairsplitting.

        Communications professionals should not be making that kind of error. We are not animals. Our spoken and written language sets us apart. It’s important.

  • Dagodess

    At this point, I could really give a crap what Valentine thinks about anything.  He’s trying to save face and hope that someone else (team or network) hires him.

    • Doug

      No, he”s not that naive, he knows nobody will hire him.

  • Blusignan

    Nobody is interested in hearing any of his ridiculous comments  that usually have 22 diff meanings
    therefore he should just pack his bags and ZIP IT UP

  • Anonymous

    Bobby V was a HOF-type player before he got a gruesome injury, a brilliant coach who is known to wear out the other teams’ benches and bullpens, was a great commentator on TV, and had success as a manager even in Japan, want to talk about spanning cultures with communication?  He is a little conceited, but hey, that would only be an issue if the rest wasn’t true.  He suffered here from a bad team, injuries, veteran’s scandal, not his own pitching coach, inscrutable dropoffs in performance (A-Gon), lack of the anchor DH, loss of closer and setup man performance, short contract without his own coaches and over-scrutiny and expectations.  I mean, c’mon, it wasn’t Manny and Ortiz batting 3 and 4.  He should have had a longer leash but it maybe wasn’t possible with short-tempered fans and legacy expectations.  Accomplishments: he designed and used a great bullpen, see if Tampa, Baltimore, or the Yanks could have used it.  He developed 2 young starters.  And selflessly shut them down when it was better for them.  The Ortiz thing shouldn’t have been said by Bobby but like most things it was probably true because Bobby V is the opposite of stupid.  But playing poltiics by keeping quiet and bowing out maybe would have been better for him.  His interview was mostly really thoughtful, it maybe wasn’t intended.

    • Rhelob

      I like John Farrell and I hope he’s able to get the Boston Red Sox to play .500 baseball in 2013. That’s my expectation of this team next year.

    • Doug

      You are far from reality is you think he was a good announcer & manager, he was at the bottom of the list in both professions, the game has passed him by, sad but true, he has a lot of good qualities, but they seldom showed this last season, he was hampered by injuries, there can be no doubt about that, then the trade put a crusher on even finishing .500, in that respect he was doomed, but his own mistakes and communicating was the chief factor in getting himself fired.

  • Jim Piersall

    Hiring Valentine was one of a long list of screw-ups orchestrated by Lucchino and company.  It started with not extending Tito, which made him a lame duck, which in turn led to him losing the clubhouse.  He and Theo spent a fortune on players who didn’t fit in Boston.  Theo left and he over-ruled the new GM;s choice of managers and hired a screwball who hadn’t managed in the majors in a decade.

    There is no way that Bobby V. should have ever been hired for this or any other MLB managing job, but Lucchino hired him anyway.  Luicchino is the root of all incompetence.

  • Nate

     What a delusional clown.

  • Boslad

    It was a bad marriage from the very beginning. Bobby Valentines ego and abrasive personality were the two factors that assured his failure as manager of the Red Sox. In New York, one his nick names was “Top Step Bobby” because of his habit of making it all about him, which he did on a consistent basis during his short tenure as manager of the Red Sox. 

  • Doug

    I wanted the Red Sox to sign Valentine, I admit I was wrong in the overall sense.  He was completely off base the whole season, making the goofy mistakes constantly, not admitting them, just making an idiotic reply in response to a question regarding those mistakes.  I quickly realized he was not the right man and perhaps should have been let go a lot earlier, I don’t like Farrell either for the way he let things go in Toronto, but I’ve got to accept this because I’m 68 and will stick with the Red Sox until I die, I just hope we can get one more World Series Title, if not, I’m happy as I can die in peace, just like the book title.  I pay no mind to what Capt Queeg says anymore, I realized that he is just like the ficitonal character, he’s adrift & going around in circles with no idea of how to get his bearings, the poor man is lost and that is readily evident.

  • Bunts

    Love the fact that Farrell wears #52 ….. or the exact opposite of BV’s #25….. Hoping thats more than just a coincidence!

  • Nomar

    I wish someone would ask Valentine, to explain what did he really expect to gain out of making the negative comments to the press, on Youk? I doubt he can give a logical reason….He was just bringing attention to himself for no apparent reason. He was a goofy, in over his head, transparent leader of 25 men…I have no idea how Lucchino was impressed with this guy last off-season…At this time in his life, this guy simply does not possess managerial abilities…he would mess up wherever he would manage….McDonalds, convienient stores, Wallmart..etc…., etc.   

  • http://twitter.com/actiontoyxpress ATX

    SIGN WELKER!!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    The fact that Welker signed elsewhere pisses me off less than the report of the Pats not offering him a contract as of yesterday afternoon. Brady can’t be happy.

Latest on Twitter

2013 PATRIOTS DRAFT PICKS

2013 NFL DRAFT

Patriots Headlines
NFL Headlines
Tips & Feedback

Verify