DHL Dan CLXXV - Exit Stage Left

Shank wonders aloud who will be the next Boston athlete to be shown the door:

Wondering which Boston athlete will be the next to leave, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering which of our local athletes will be next to go . . .

▪ Marcus Smart. Tyler Bertuzzi. Nathan Eovaldi. Devin McCourty. Grant Williams. Taylor Hall. Xander Bogaerts. J.D. Martinez. Jakobi Meyers.

All gone.

Who’s next? Patrice Bergeron? David Krejci? Malcolm Brogdon? Trent Brown? Kendrick Bourne? James Paxton? Lawrence Guy? Kenley Jansen?

RELATED: Chad Finn: I understand trading Marcus Smart and letting Grant Williams get his payday elsewhere. But I cannot bring myself to like it. It’s the circle of life in professional sports. Fans invest their passions and dollars in favorite players, then get stuck with a Celtics No. 36 jersey hanging in their closet.

It’s been an emotional stretch here in the Hub of sports, with several popular players saying goodbye since the beginning of 2023. Bruins fans are upset to see Bertuzzi sign a one-year deal with Toronto, and some Green Teamers love Smart more than they love their own families. The retirement of McCourty hit hard, and hearing All-Star Eovaldi say how much he wanted to stay at Fenway was a gut punch to Red Sox Nation.

He's on the sidelines now, but Shank used to take a much more active interest in the departure of Boston athletes.