Hall of Blame

 It’s that time of year for baseball. We are truly in the depth of the offseason. The Winter Meetings in Las Vegas are wrapped up, but the Hot Stove still continuing to sizzle. There is a more compelling case though with baseball that I have come to discuss and that is the Hall Of Fame. I have wrote about this topic in various forms, but there has been new light there has been shed. During the first day of the Winter Meetings, it was revealed that Lee Smith and Harold Baines were voted into the Hall Of Fame by a mixed committee of Executives, former managers and players. Every year they rotate eras. They are a few problems I have with what transpired with the vote that was done.

   Many people’s first and only issue is how Harold Baines got voted into the Hall. Truthfully, that is a little further down on my list of issues. My first issue how the hell George Steinbrenner and Lou Piniella were not voted into the Hall Of Fame. George revolutionized the game in such a positive aspect, granted a few bumps along the way. He always put the team first before anything else. He prioritized winning and saw what it took to win. Money was never an issue and he made sure that he spent whatever it took to win. Besides for trying to sign the best players, he always had baseball people in the right places. He revolutionized the TV Networking with YES and made regional TV networks a thing way back in 2002.

   The bigger crime though was not inducting Lou Piniella as a manager into the Hall. I get the he “missed” by one vote, but that’s the true crime. Lou is 14^th on the all-time wins list for managers, ahead of Hall of Famer managers Tommy Lasorda and Earl Weaver. With all due respect to Tommy and Earl, Lou was just as good, if not better, a manager as they were. If you want to be honest, Piniella and Weaver seemed to have very similar managing styles. Lou took an underdog Cincinnati Reds team all the way to the World Series and won! As well, he managed a Seattle Mariners team to a regular season record of 116 wins, even though they didn’t win the World Series that year, it’s still impressive.  As well, Lou had the task of managing multiple personalities on a same team of Ken Griffey, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez, and Randy Johnson to name a few. That’s something a manager needs to deal with on a daily basis. If he can manage multiple personalities and make it work, then that also helps him out.

   When these results came out (we are still waiting for the BBWOA results), Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had a highly heated debate with Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa. As most of us do, we respect LaRussa’s baseball knowledge and what he’s done throughout his professional career, but he was stumped on why Baines should be in the Hall. The voters who did not vote for George Steinbrenner and Lou Piniella should also be stumped. If you are not going to vote 2 deserving people into the Hall, then maybe you should be voting for who should go into the Hall at all.

NFL Questions

     We are now in the “Dawg Days of August.” The baseball pennant race is narrowing down and heating up in certain parts of the country, but in a lot of other areas of the country people are starting to get ready for football season. The atrocity known as the NFL Preseason has started. The regular season starts in less in than 4 weeks. Many people are starting to gear up for their fantasy football drafts (myself included).  As for any other season, there are many questions we have heading into the season. Let’s ask and see how many can truly be answered.

    The easiest question is will the Cleveland Browns be any better this year than the past 2 years combined? My simple answer is yes! They have had a whole bunch of new additions via the draft, free agency, and trade acquisitions. The added a stable veteran quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, as well as a potential franchise changer in Baker Mayfield. No matter who they go with here, I believe they are set up for years to come at this position. As well, they added Jarvis Landry to their receiving core. They can have a great receiving core if Josh Gordon can stay on the field. How often can a team add a running back still in his prime? That’s what happened with the signing of Carlos Hyde. The defense seems to be growing well together. I say the Browns easily have anywhere from 4-7 wins this season. I will not be shocked if Broadway Baker is starting by the end of the season.

    The next question comes from worst to best. As much as I hate to say it (I am a Giants fan), the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Eagles, do have a slight quarterback situation on their hands. Before he got injured, Carson Wentz was having a MVP-caliber season. When he got hurt, Nick Foles came in to replace and won every single game he was supposed to for them. He won the Super Bowl MVP with some spectacular play. The Eagles started off hot with Wentz, but who’s to say they would have won, let alone made it to, the Super Bowl. The question is when Wentz is ready and if Foles is playing hot, do you start Wentz or Foles?

    I remember 2 months leading up to the draft, the question was “What are the Giants going to do?” Don La Greca got so upset at Bill Pollian that day, he went on a rant and broke the mic! Check it out when you get a chance it’s hilarious! The reason he was so upset was because he did not want the Giants to take Barkley, but to pick a replacement for Eli Manning. There is an argument to both sides of the spectrum.  On the one hand, Eli is getting older and you want someone young to learn behind him because he will not play forever. On the other hand, if you put the right cast around Eli than you maybe able to squeeze another Super Bowl run out of him. The Giants went with the later and picked Sequon Barkley. They also drafted a top notch guard in Wil Hernandez, as well as signing Nate Solder. The question is will this good team on paper translate to a playoff run?

   Here is question number 4. When the Jets traded up in the draft to number 3, everyone praised their efforts, rightfully so. They were determined to pick a franchise quarterback. Which quarterback to be picked as all determined by the Browns and Giants. . and then Sam Darnold fell into their lap and they stole him and ran all the way to the bank. Now the Jets have 3 quarterbacks on their rosters. Truthfully, Teddy Bridgewater is the most expandable, but my question is why should you start Josh McCown? He is worse than Ryan Fitztragic and he had an OK season last year. It’s not like Sam Darnold is learning from Kurt Warner like Eli did, he’s learning from Josh McCown!! Why is McCown still around? If I were the Jets, I’d rather pick up Sam Bradford or Case Keenum. The main question is what week will Sam Darnold take over the starting quarterback position?

   Last year, the Eagles, the Rams, and Jaguars all took that elite jump from non-playoff team to playoff team. Two of them made it to their respective conference championship, one even winning the Super Bowl. My last question of the night is which team(s) are this years Eagles, Rams, and Jaguars? Will it be the Colts? The Raiders? The old saying “Patience is a virtue” will have to wait out until Week 17. Let the fun begin!!

Greatest Athletes

   While listening to the Humpty, Canty, and Rothenberg Show a couple of weeks back, something they talked about clicked in my head. They were talking about how Serena Williams is such a great athlete, possibly one of the greatest of all time. Personally, I do not follow tennis but I could certainly agree with them. On a previous post I’ve written, years ago, I wrote an article about “What makes an Athlete?” Here my question is more, “If you had to choose a top 10 greatest Athletes of All Time, of any sport, who would be on this list?” All day I was thinking of who I would put on the list and not in any particular order.

     As much as I am not into hockey, if Wayne Gretzky was not on my list of top 10 athletes of all time I would be that stupid. The great one just had it all. He was able to score and maintain greatness through different decades and generations of players. He is the all-time goals leader for a reason.

   Michael Jordan helped to transcend the sport of basketball. Every year he played, he only got better. The competition he played against was by far some of the greatest competition of all time, whether it was the Bad Boys Pistons, the 90’s Knicks and Heat team just to name some. When all aspects of your game are elevated, it truly shows how good of a player you can be. Not only was MJ clutch on the end of games, but he also knew how to defend the ball and make the ball handlers sweat.

    Muhammed Ali showed me really how great an athlete can be. He beat a bigger and better Sonny Liston in 1964 held the World Heavyweight Title for quite some time. Then his boxing license was suspended for 3 years due to his unwillingness to be drafted in the army. To come back after 3 years at beat the likes of Joe Frazier 2 times and George Foreman shows someone’s true athleticism. A lay off like that makes you think that the body is used to inactivity, not Ali.

   You may think I am crazy here, but I think that both Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are better athletes than Babe Ruth. “ATHLETES” not “Baseball players.” I would actually put both of them in my top 10 athletes of all time. They both played the position in baseball that probably requires the most athleticism, centerfield, for quite a long time. You have to cover so much ground and put your body in so much pain. Willie Mays was able to defend centerfield like he was out in the wild. Last I heard, Mickey Mantle was the one hitting baseballs outside of the stadium, not Babe Ruth.  Home run bashing is not an easy feat, it takes a lot more strength to hit home runs.

    Serena Williams is up here as well. First and foremost, for anyone that knows me I DO NOT think golfers are athletes. On the other hand, even though I do not follow tennis, I do believe tennis players are athletes. If Serena wins Wimbledon, it will be her 24^th major. She is doing this run less than a year after giving birth. She even won a major WHILE SHE WAS PREGNANT. If that is not athletic and freaky, then I don’t get that. She has to be up there. 

  These are just some of my top 10 athletes of all time. You may disagree with me, but to dispute the validity of even some of these athletes as the greatest of all time is crazy. Over the course of time, things may change, but let’s not forget that these athletes work hard to get where they are just like the working class. There is no reason to not celebrate their greatness.

How Would George React?

   Back in the early 90's, George Steinbrenner was suspended indefinitely as an owner from Major League Baseball. No one knew truly when he would be back. Honestly, looking back on things now, that suspension was a great thing for the organization. The right people were put in place. They drafted well, signed key free agents and had the right management.
   1994 was the first year that this really took to fruition. If there was no strike, the Yankees were playing like champions. We never know what could have happened. In 1995, some more of the core four were brought up and the Yankees made it to the first ever ALDS, losing to the Mariners in thrilling 5 games. In 1996, Derek Jeter was officially a starter and the Yankees went on a roll winning 4 out of the next 5 World Series.
   In the next decade or so after losing the 2001 World Series, George Steinbrenner seemed to kind of revert back to his old ways. How so? He kept on having to go after the big name and spend more money. Yes, most teams now(like the Mets) would kill for owners to want to spend like George wanted too. Once he passed away, things slowly started to change. His sons took over and they started focusing on drafting players, even though they handed out bad contracts from time to time(i.e. Jacoby Ellsbury). 
   My thought is if George were still alive today, would the Yankees focus on bringing their salary down and focus on getting more athletic and younger? We all know George was stubborn as a mule. He hired and fired Billy Martin 5 times! At least he cared about putting a winning team on the field. Truthfully, as excited as I was about the mid 90's dynasty, I am more excited about this potential dynasty. The Yankees have so much potential and they are just so much fun to watch.
    If George was still alive, I think there would be a shot the he listens to Cash and his son, Hal on how to go about running the team. Do I hate the analytics approach? Hell yes I hate it. Do I like the getting younger and more athletic approach? Hell yes I do. I believe George would have come to a compromise, he would have said get younger and more athletic but screw the analytics!

Baseball in New York City

    Baseball season is in full effect. We are about half way through the season and there is so much going on with the season. In New York City alone, both teams are creating their own headlines. Overall, the Yankees are creating positive headlines and the Mets are creating negative headlines. This seems to be a trend over the past decade (with the exception of 2015). If you want to know the truth, the opposite can be true for either team. Let’s put both teams in review.

     The Yankees are one of the top 3 teams of Major League Baseball this season. They can score runs, drop home runs, and has a bullpen that can dominate. They also have a top of the rotation pitcher in Luis Severino. Last week alone, they came from down 5-0 to win 7-5. Yesterday, even though they lost, they came down from 4-0 to lose 7-6 in 12 innings. The Yankees have resilience.  What can they can do to improve? They need 1-2 more starting pitchers. Whether it’s from the minor leagues or a trade, Domingo German and Sonny Gray are just not cutting it.

     The Yankees do not need get a Jacob deGrom type of pitcher, but if they can get a 2-3 level type of pitcher like JA Happ, it can work. They can trade for Happ and bring up someone like Justus Sheffield. CC is a free agent after this season and Jordan Montgomery is out until 2020 due to Tommy John surgery. Honestly, this can be a blessing for the Yankees. Even if they get Happ, he is a free agent this off season as well. Domingo German has the raw stuff, but he can’t seem to be put together.

   About putting it together, let’s look in Flushings. Sandy Alderson, Fred Wilpon and Co seem to just be flushing the Mets down the toilet. The season for them is lost. For those who actually think they should salvage the season . . . ha what you thinking? Jacob deGrom is having the season of his life and the Mets are not having the season of their life. They should be selling him at all costs. They should also trade Asdrubal Cabrerra who’s having the season worth getting something back. These 2 pieces can help with a rebuild.

   The Mets are going nowhere fast. Their management has no idea what they are doing with this team. The health of these players are not getting any better even with the change they made this offseason. If they were smart, they would sell the assets they actually have (minus Nimmo) and start a true rebuild. Sandy should also be canned. He has not done anything worthwhile (going to the World Series does not count, that was lighting in a bottle).

   See while the Mets truly hate the Yankees (why I am sure), they both have what the other wants. They should work something out. I do not care how many trades they have or have not made. The right thing for Cash to do is pick up that phone. The right thing for Sandy to is listen and possibly deal. Don’t do anything stupid, just think about it and maybe it would be the smart thing.

Draft

   Tonight, we have the NFL Draft and it should be a doozy. There is so much speculation, especially with my New York Football Giants. Many questions have been asked leading up to tonight's draft, for example, which quaterback will the Browns take first? Will the Giants take Sequon Barkley with the 2nd overall pick? Did the Jets really move to the 3rd pick to get Baker Mayfield? These are just some of the topics that have been brought up through the draft. Let's analyze just a little bit.
   With the number 1 pick the Cleveland Browns select. . quaterback Sam Darnold. The Browns, with there notorious quaterback carousel would be stupid to NOT take Darnold here. He is the most pro ready quaterback of all the top QB's out there. Whenever they would decide to replace Tyrod Taylor, who will be serviceable for them, Sam Darnold would be a consistent prescience for the Browns. Easy choice for the Browns with this pick.
  With the number 2 pick the New York Giants select. .    Saquon Barkley. This is a pick that honestly I have been very up and down with this pick. The Giants can go many different ways here. They can take Josh Allen or Rosen to take over for Eli Manning. They traded Jason Pierre-Paul to the Buccanners, so they can take Bradley Chubb with this pick. They can even upgrade their offensive line with Quentin Nelson here. The reason I chose Barkley here is because I think he will be a difference maker and he will form some kind of dynmaic duo with Odel Bechkam, Jr. the same way we have Antonio Brown and Levion Bell in Pittsburgh.
    With the number 3 pick the New York Jets select. . . Josh Allen(the smart pick). It's been rumored that they moved up to get "Broadway" Baker Mayfield. I don't think that this will happen for a few reasons. Firstly, he's a Heisman Trophy winner. Recent history shows us that Heisman Trophy winners have not have not had much luck in the NFL(Reggie Bush and Darren McFadden to name a few). Next, he is considered a "short" quaterback at 6 feet. He is not known to have any mobile skills which would work against him
  The draft has so much craziness I can not describe. If I am wrong with these top 3 choices, then this
means that there is so much craziness. I hope all these teams do the right thing for their rosters. Let's go teams, Let's go Drafts!

Queens of Flushing the Mets Down The Drain?

  Baseball season is upon us. Pitchers and catchers have started to report to the spring training complexes. In my previous post, I gave you my predictions. Here I am going a little bit more in depth. If most of you don't know I am a huge Yankees fan, but I am going to pick apart the Mets. Why pick a part the Mets? Is it because I am a Yankee fan that hates the Mets? No. Is it because the Mets have more flaws than the Yankees or a lot of other teams? Yes. The Mets have done some nice things this off season, but they will not compete if any of the following does not happen.
    First and foremost, the Mets need to stay healthy, especially their rotation. If their starting rotation can stay healthy and produce about 150 starts, they can be dominate. Its mostly what carried them to the World Series in 2015.Their starting pitchers can be one of the best staffs in the Majors. The Mets finally did the right thing and fired their medical staff. Apparently, the guy could not get the team healthy if they kept breaking down.
   Next, after getting healthy, they need to address the middle of the team. What do I mean by that? They need a solid catcher, a second baseman, shortstop and center fielder. All 4 positions are up the middle of the field. The have a solid defensive center fielder in Juan Laguares, but don't have a double play combo or a catcher. If you look back at a team like the mid 90's Indians, they had the perfect up the middle comboniation. They had Sandy Alomar, Jr. behind the plate, Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar up the middle and Kenny Lofton in center field. That certainly helped the Indians reach 2 World Series and be contenders for years. The Mets need something very similar to that. Up the middle defense, with some hitting, will relieve the pitching staff a whole lot.
   Finally, the Mets CANNOT be afraid to be aggressive. I do not buy the fact that they have no money to invest in the team. Sandy Alderson needs to get creative. Look at Brian Cashman, he turned a 3rd string catcher(JR Murphy) into Aaron Hicks is their starting centerfielder. He also obtained Didi Gregorious. The only thing Sandy has down is turn years of control of  Michael Fulmer into half a season of Yoenisis Cepedes(the 4 year contract extension is a bust). If the Mets can do all of the above, they can be contenders.

2018 Baseball Predictions

   When the confetti drops at the end of the Super Bowl, the first thought that comes to mind "Pitchers and Catchers report!!" All Major League teams have their pitchers and catchers report next week. There are so many story lines heading into the 2018 season. Who will make the playoffs? Will the Astros repeat? Can the Mets stay healthy? Will the Yankees make true progression on last years success? Baseball can be both predictable and unpredictable at the same time.
  Let's start with the basics and talk division and wild card winners. Over in the AL there will be 2 changes(1 of them just a simple swap). The AL East will belong the New York Yankees. They are improved team only looking to make true gains from last season. They have the health, youth, and talent to win the division. They will also full seasons from Sonny Gray and Gincarlo Stanton.
    The AL Central will belong to the Cleveland Indians, again. No one in the division will challenge them. The Tigers, Royals and White Sox are all in rebuild. The Twins will make a run at the playoffs again but will just miss out on a wild card(more on that soon). The Indians are too good, when healthy, not to count out to go all the way. They have the reigning Cy Young award winner with a potentially dangerous rotation behind him. Their lineup can be scary as well. With Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnasion in that lineup they can anchor that lineup and make everyone in it better.
   The AL West will belong to the Houston Astros once again. They are the reigining World Series champs. They will  have a full season of Dallas Keuchacal and Justin Verlander. Their starting pitching can truly be a dominate force, especially with the addition of Gerrit Cole Their offense was also the best offense in the Major Leagues. With the MVP Jose Altuve anchoring that lineup, they can score as many runs as they did last year.
  The two AL Wild Cards will belong the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Boston seems to be in a slight decline since Big Papi has retired. They need the starting pitching behind Chris Sale to stay afloat in the division. They will be able to score enough runs to make it into the playoffs. On the other hand, the Angels look to be pushing their way into the playoffs. They extended Justin Upton for 5 years. Mike Trout needs to make it to the playoffs. This will be the year for him. The Angels could be this years Yankees and surprise everyone.
  Over in the National League, all 3 division winners will be the same. The Nationals are in the last year of Bryce Harper(potentially) and Daniel Murphy, both potent bats in he middle of that lineup. Yes, the Mets added some nice pieces to their lineup and hope to have a healthy rotation, but it won't be enough. The Dodgers will win the NL West again with almost no problem.Yes the Giants will be improved and you have the Rockies and Dbacks who made the playoffs, but the Dodgers still have a the best team in that division.
   The most competitive division in the NL will belong to the Central Division. The Cubs certainly have the talent to have a 3-peat as division winners(even without Arrieta). They do have competition with the vastly improved Brewers(see Yelch and Cain) and the always in it Cardinals. The Cubs will leg it out because they have the depth and resources to pull it out once again. Their position players are either entering their prime or are in their prime. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are always MVP candidates. They have a rotation led by Jon Lester and have up and coming pitchers to supplement the rotation.
 The 2 NL Wild Cards will the Brewers and Rockies. The Brewers have vastly improved, especially on defense, that they will make the playoffs. The Brewers may be the surprise team in the National League this year to make a deep playoff run(not that its going to happen.) I am choosing the Rockies over the D-Backs to return to the playoffs because they have a better bullpen and a more solid lineup to score runs. Let's see if these predictions stick!!!

New England Unthinkables

   When leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, we have what is called “Super Week”(the week leading up to the Big Game). The its been 3 full days since the Super Bowl was played and it feels like this is Super Week. There is the drama with Malcom Butler still unfolding. Josh McDaniels spurns the Colts and screws the assistants he hired. Why does it seem that the Patriots are in the news for all the wrong reasons?

   Lets start off with the Malcom Butler benching during the Super Bowl. Its been quite a bit a speculation as to why he was benched. A former teammate came out and stated it was because he missed curfew(does not make sense). Tom Brady came out and defended Butler. Bill Belichik has not a said word as to why he benched Butler. If Butler plays on defense, it would be a whole different situation. The Patriots could have possibly won the Super Bowl if played any snaps.

  If you want my opinion, I feel that this was Bill being Bill. A few weeks ago, an ESPN article came out that there was a rift between Robert Kraft(owner), Bill Belichick(coach), and Tom Brady(quarterback). Tom and Bob were on the same page against Bill. Bill was upset at the trading of Jimmy G to the 49ers. He was trying to hold onto assets for the Pats futures. If this article is true, its my own opinion that Bill Belichick that tried sticking it to Kraft and Brady. Do I think he would intentionally screw up a Super Bowl? No I do not. Do I think he is trying to send a message to the team? I do think so.

   This is where the Josh McDaniels coaching issue pops to mind. We all know that leading up the Super Bowl, Micky D was planning to become the head coach of the Colts. It was even announced in the press on Monday, assistants were hired and everyone seemed on board. All of a sudden, out of the blue, there were reports that he was backing out of the job and staying put as the OC of the Patriots. Something had to give here. People think that Robert Kraft is trying to stick to the Colts because of “Deflategate.” I don’t think that is the case. The year of Deflategate the Patriots won it all. I believe that Kraft is sticking it to Bellechik after the loss on Sunday.

   Is it possible that Kraft knew that Bellechick benched Butler on purpose and in return kept McDaniels to show that Bill will only be in New England 1 more year?? He is probably telling Bill that he does not have job security after costing the team a record tying Super Bowl victory. The next 12 months will be a chess match between Kraft and Bill. It will absolutely be fun to watch and see what happens!

Sacksonville the Surprise

  When it comes to football and playoff time, we all know the following saying “Defense Wins championships.” Of the remaining top 8 teams, there are at least 3 teams that have top 5 defenses in Minnesota, Jacksonville, and Philadelphia. Atlanta and New Orleans defense has been on fire. What do Minnesota, Jacksonville and Philadelphia (for the current moment) all in common? They do not have a quarterback. This is a similar situation when Denver won the Super Bowl a few years ago. This is why Jacksonville has the best surprise shot of winning the Super Bowl.

   You may be wondering, how am I comparing Jacksonville to the Denver team that had Peyton Manning on it! What I have to say about this comparison is that Peyton Manning was a shell of himself that season. He was not a good quarterback. He relied heavily on his run game and his top notch defense. Jacksonville is in the same boat. Let me be clear on one thing before I begin, Blake Bortles is NO Peyton Manning. What I am trying to say is that Jacksonville, like Denver, did not get good play from their quarterback the year the won it all.

     Denver had the best defense in the league that year. Not only was it the best ranked defense of the season, but it is an all time great defense. Jacksonville(or dare I say “Saxonsville) also had a historically great defensive year. Their defense carried their team this year. For the first time in ten years, they had a winning record and made the playoffs. They also had a great offensive line and running game to  help carry poor quarterback play.

   When the Broncos won the Super Bowl, they beat 3 top of the line quaterbacks including MVP Cam Newton. Peyton Manning did not outplay any of those quaterbacks. The Broncos defense beat every single one of them. If you remember, Manning was benched late in the regular season for Brook Oswiler. It shows how much confidence Gary Kubiak had in Manning at that point. Jacksonville has all the same qualities that the Broncos had that season. They had 5 interceptions and a victory against Big Ben earlier in the season. Don’t be shocked if you see Jacksonville beat Pittsburgh to play New England.