Which Boston athlete were you completely wrong about?
Welcome to Boston.com’s Sports Q, our daily conversation, initiated by you and moderated by Chad Finn, about a compelling topic in Boston sports. Here’s how it works: You submit questions to Chad through Twitter, Facebook, email, his Friday chat, and any other outlet you prefer. He’ll pick one each day (except for Saturday) to answer, then we’ll take the discussion to the comments. Chad will stop by several times per day to navigate. But you drive the conversation.I know, kind of an open-ended question there, right? So let’s clarify: I’m not talking about whether you thought, “Oh, Aaron Hernandez must be a swell guy because he signed an autograph for my nephew at training camp once.” There is no character clause here.It’s simply related to performance on the playing field. Who did you think was a bum who turned out to be a boon, or vice versa? All Boston teams and athletes are eligible.
I ask this as an offshoot of a Twitter comment I received last night about Joe Kelly. You know, that Joe Kelly. The one who through his first few seasons in Boston was basically what Nuke LaLoosh would have been had he never been counseled by Crash Davis. Great stuff that always seemed to abandon him in the big moments. The most frustrating type of pitcher, really.
Couldn’t stand him. Wished Dave Dombrowski would have traded him for three of his favorite washed-up former Tigers.
Well, here’s what reader Eric A. said:
@GlobeChadFinn obviously sale & kimbrel will be at the asg, but if the sox get a 3rd pitcher, i’m voting for kelly. (no, seriously.)
— Eric Abromson (@abromson) June 30, 2017
And he’s right. Kelly has been superb out of the bullpen for the Red Sox this season, with a 1.07 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in 32 appearances. He has been critical to the bullpen’s surprising steadiness this year. I’d call his performance one of the pleasant surprises of the season … except that he provided an encouraging harbinger last year, posting a 1.02 ERA in 17 relief appearances in August and September. He’s been very good for a while now. You may have seen it coming. I sure didn’t.
So I’ve been wrong about Joe Kelly, and 1,217 other players through the years. (What do you mean Donnie Sadler isn’t the next Joe Morgan? There’s still time!) But I want to know who you’ve been wrong about.
Besides the Drew brothers, I mean. They were awesome and you know it.
I’ll hear your mea culpas in the comments.
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