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“Baseball–At the Deadline–Things Changed”

 

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The Dodgers have Mookie Betts and David Price, and they still have virtually all their top young prospects in Los Angeles.

 

The Padres retained all their bright light young pitching, but they are stuck with underachiever Wil Myers, and lots of question marks in a lineup that was supposed to be ready to challenge for a playoff spot.

 

The Dodgers have positioned themselves to go back to the World Series.  The Padres forever remain a 2nd class citizen in the National League West.

 

Added to all this, is what happened on the final day of the bidding, as Boston told the Dodgers and Padres, make your best and last bid.

 

Dodgers ownership rammed thru a pretty good deal.  I am told the Padres ownership said they were not eating 30M of the bad contract that AJ Preller gave Wil Myers years ago.

 

Everybody was playing ‘chicken’ at the end.

Boston defrocked their roster, letting go of Mookie Betts and his MVP talent and agreeing to eat 45M of the Price contract to get him off the books.  Goodbye pennant hopes this year, at least if you look at the Red Sox starting rotation.

 

Yes Alex Verdugo will hit homers at Fenway Park, and maybe they have a closer for the future in Brudsar Gratesol, who came at the end of the deal.

 

The Dodgers swapped out Kenta Maeda, who went to the Twins for Gratesol, who was shipped to Boston.  They replace Maeda with Price, at half of the 96M-that was left on the deal.

 

To make sure they stay below the luxury tax, the Dodgers shipped Joc Pederson, his home runs, his strikeouts, his 9M contract to the Angels for a 2nd baseman for the future in Luis Rengifo.

 

The Dodges add a full-time star in Betts, a frontline starter in Price, and wake up in the morning with all their bluechip players still in LA, most notably Gavin Lux and Dustin May, and they are below the luxury tax still.  Now the challenge,  re-sign Betts, but this is LA, where there is big tradition and lots of money.  Betts joins names like Bellinger-Turner-Seager-Pollock in the middle of a pretty good batting order.  And that rotation looks special again, Price-Kershaw-Beuhler-Urias and more.

 

As the sun comes up on San Diego, it is apparent ownership has tightened the screws on GM-AJ Preller.  Ownership is no longer willing to let him burn thru dollars and dollars, to make up for the bad mistakes he has made in the past.  No, we’re not paying 30M to get rid of Wil Myers.  The bad flashbacks of Justin Upton, Melvin Upton, James Shields, Phil Hughes, Ian Kinsler, Matt Kemp and others are now stapled to Preller’s resume.

 

it is evident to me, Padres ownership has told Preller, you promised to win if we gave you tons of money to sign these young prospects, so it’s time for those kids you threw money at, to win.  And if they don’t you will be held accountable.

 

So the Dodgers win at the trade table.  The Padres lose out again, after trying to make all these off season deals, Boston, Cleveland etc.

 

LA looks like it will win.  The Padres have to prove they can win.  Preller better home they win, or he might lose his job.

 

 

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“NFL Notebook–Stories Everywhere”

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SUPER BOWL…The teams flew home on Monday, the Chiefs to a city-wide parade with the Lombardi Trophy-Lamar Hunt Trophy on Wednesday, a time to reflect back on the Hunt family, the owners of the Chiefs dating back to the AFL-Days.  The amazing comebacks, three of them in a row in the postseason, wiping out 10-point deficits and a 24-point deficit in the playoff wins.

MAHOMES THE MAN…The Chiefs young star did nothing for 39-minutes, in fact, was sacked four times, and threw two interceptions.  And then just like that, a 44-yard pass play to Tyreek Hill, a 38-yarder to Sammy Watkins, and just like that, 3-TD drives, and an emotional come-from-behind win in the process.  Mahomes finished (286Y-2TD-2Int) day.  He was sacked 4-times, hit 8-times, and pressured 14-other times out of the pocket, and yet there he was with 5-minutes left triggering a comeback for the ages.

HAUNTED…Kyle Shanahan won’t have an easy off season, with this second Super Bowl collapse, coming on the heels of his first Super Bowl calamity while in New England.  On Sunday, the Chiefs scored 3-TDs on offense in a 5-minute span…running up (190Y) offense on just 19-snaps on the final 3-scoring drives.  The Niners, in their final 3-possessions, ran 15-plays for just 64-yards in the loss.

SHANAHAN NIGHTMARE…  Add in what happened to Shanahan in the 4th quarter of the Atlanta loss to New England in the Super Bowl, and it is not a pretty thought to carry into the off season.  In the final 7-posessions of those two Super Bowls,  Shanahan’s teams ran 20-plays in 7-series, threw an interception, fumbled, stopped on 4th downs and had 4-punts.  His teams were outscored (46-0) in the final quarter of those two Super Bowl losses as they had leads, lost leads, lost the games.

QB QUANDRY….Just like that, things will fall into place with free agency about to begin.  Sources say the Chargers want to franchise tag QB-Philip Rivers (27M).  New England is offering Tom Brady (2Y-60M) to return.  The Saints have asked Drew Brees to play another year and be the bridge to QB of the future Taysom Hill.  Eli Manning has retired and may be headed to a front office job.  The top 4-QBs about to come off the free agent board.

TIER TWO QBS…..But watch for movement quickly.  Tampa Bay may not want to keep big yardage-big turnover QB-Jameis Winston.  The Saints have told Teddy Bridgewater they cannot afford to keep him.  Marcus Mariota is likely out of Tennessee with the Titans spending money to keep Ryan Tannehill.

KID QBS…Here comes the NFL combines and now the great debate, where does LSU’s-Joe Burrow go?  Is Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama the second best QB coming off hip surgery?  Is Justin Herbert-Oregon a quality QB or a Joey Harrington-product of the system guy coming out of the Ducks program?  Later in that opening round, Jake Fromm-Georgia and Jacob Eason-Washington and Jordan Love-Utah State, will likely be taken, but none of them seem equal to the gang at the top of the board.

PECKING ORDER….The NFL draft board shows 3-teams desperately needing QBs for the future.  Cincinnati (1)….Miami (5)…Chargers (6) could sweep the top QB-talent off the board within the first hour of the NFL draft.

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“Super Bowl–Super Finish”

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I told you what would happen, and it did.

I projected the Chiefs would beat the 49ers (30-20) on KUSI-TV on Sunday morning.  The Chiefs won (31-20) on Sunday night.

I said you could get excited if the Niners shutdown Chiefs QB-Patrick Mahomes for 3-possessions in a row, but what would happen the other 4-times he had the ball?  San Francisco shut him down for 39-minutes-kept him out of the end zone 3-times, then watched Mahomes lead Kansas City on 3-scoring drives in the final 5-minuts of the game.

I know what I know about the NFL.

San Francisco did everything they had to do, for 39-minutes in the game, then died in the fourth quarter.

Mahomes hit big plays when he had to, a 44-yard pass to Tyreek Hill leading to a TD, then a 38-yard pass to Sammy Watkins, leading to another TD pass in the final quarter to get the lead.  Then his running back Damien Williams bolted 38-yards for the game clinching score with 1-minute left to end it.

You may slow Mahomes down during the game, but history shows as long as he has possessions, he can lead his team to scores.  It’s the third straight come from behind win for the Chiefs quarterback in this years playoffs.

This Super Bowl Sunday night win was even more impressive than the KC rally, coming from a (24-0) deficit, in beating the Houston Texans in a home playoff game.  This was just as gritty a win as the AFC-title win, roaring back to eliminate the Tennessee Titans.  They did this against the NFL bully-boys on defense wearing the helmet with ‘SF’ on the side decal.

San Francisco battered the KC-QB.  2-sacks, 8-hits, an astounding 14-pressures chasing him out of the pocket, and yet Mahomes persevered.  The Chiefs wound up with 19-plays of 9-yards or more in the win, an impressive number considering this was the most impressive defense in the NFL.

The San Francisco pass rush was enormous, led by Nick Boss and DeForest Buckner.  The defense knocked the Chiefs out of their offensive rhythm in the game.  San Fran had carved out a (20-10) lead with just 5-minutes left.

Credit the Chiefs blitz happy defense for making critical plays when they needed it.  On the final 3-San Francisco possessions with the game on the line, Chris Jones-Frank Clark and the KC front, had a huge 4th down quarterback sack to take over on downs….picked off a pass…and forced San Francisco into a 3-and-out.  They got tougher and tougher as the game went on.

In what was supposed to be a game of spectacular fireworks on offense, it turned out to be a street fight-slugfest on defense.

The first Super Bowl win in 50-years for Kansas City, dating back to the old days of Hank Stram and the old AFL.

For San Francisco, a bitter loss, just five minutes away from victory when the Kansas City earthquake fell in on them.

Great game, great finish.  Great win-KC.  Great loss for San Francisco.

For me, as I projected it to be, a Chiefs win.

Super game-super finish–super prediction too.

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“Super Bowl Weekend–Super Bowl Disappointment”

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I knew it would be hard, very hard.

25-years ago this weekend, coming off the Chargers greatest weekend, we had to swallow the bitterest pill.

I knew the San Diego Chargers deserved to be in the Super Bowl in Miami, coming off a 1st place season, a win in the playoffs in the rain over Miami, and the enormous win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

But I also knew who the San Francisco 49ers were, where they had been, what they had done, and what they could do.

It was so hard to sit there and call that (49-26) blowout loss.  Steve Young threw 6-TD passes.  The Niners went up and down the field, could not be stopped, could not be slowed down.

Games come down to just a couple of plays, but in this case, it was two plays early that spelled doom and gloom for the rest of the night in the Orange Bowl.

I said all week long on Radio Row, the Chargers would have to make it a shootout to be able to stay in the game.

San Francisco rode in with Young throwing, and Young running.  There was Jerry Rice, Brent Jones, Johnny Taylor, Ricky Watters, William Floyd.  Too many weapons for anyone to stop.

The Chargers, a severe case of stage fright that night.  It started badly and then it got worse, no matter how hard Stan Humphries, Tony Martin, Natrone Means, Ronnie Harmon tried.

I remember Bobby Ross telling me he had looked at 19-different game tapes over two seasons, trying to configure how to defend the 49ers formation packages.

Then San Francisco ran 6-formations the Bolts had never seen on the first six plays.  It was (14-0) just like that, in just six plays.  They lined up Jerry Rice at running back.  Brent Jones at fullback.  Ricky Waters as a wide receiver.

Utter confusion in the Bolts secondary.  I remember Junior Sean trying to align the secondary, his head turned towards his safeties as the ball was snapped.  Receivers running open everywhere.  Rice caught a slant on the 3rd play for a TD.  Watters ran a crossing pattern, wide open from here to Biscayne Bay for another TD on the 6th play.  Plays of 44-51-yards just like that.

It was like the defense got hit by a bolt of lightning and never recovered.  When it was over, the Niners had 449-yards in offense, Young had a Super Bowl TD record.

It might have been a shootout, but the Bolts missed opportunities.  Natrone Means could not score on 3-rushing attempts from the one.  Mark Seay dropped a wide open TD pass on a crossing pattern.  Those two TDs would have put the Bolts within a TD of San Francisco.  But they could not hang in there with the best modern day offense the NFL ever had, the one designed by Bill Walsh and carried forward by George Siefert and Mike Shanahan.

The event overwhelmed the Chargers.  Players seemed distracted by being at the Super Bowl.  A good week of practice back in San Diego was negated by a shaky week of practice once they got to the Dolphins practice facility.  Players spent too much time with friends or at events.

For some reason the Chargers did not fly in early to get acclimated to what the week would be.  They were rattled my the media commitments.  They were over amped in pregame warmups, as a scuffle broke out between Eric Bienemy and Shawn Lee on the field.

The Spanos family nixed a plan to have them wear their ‘Powder Blue’ Jerseys to celebrate the NFL’s 7th season.  The Niners wore their old-school Reds and proceeded to hand out an old school beating on the Bolts.

It was a hard night to see a team, that had ignited its town with a great season, see all this crash and burn on one night in Miami.

The journey to get to Miami was exciting.  The Sunday night shellacking was hard.  They all said the right things, we will learn, we will be back.

That never happened.  The next season, all five starting offensive lineman had knee scope surgeries between training camp and the start of the season.  It was never the same team.

Sadly, 8-players off that team, died within a couple of years.  David Griggs, the first to go in a car accident.  Doug Miller, hit by lightning on a camping trip.  Rodney Culver in a plane crash.  Chris Mims of a diabetic attack.  Curtis Whitley of a drug overdose.

Humphries career ended a year later with a severe concussion in Cincinnati, the mad bomber done in by 1-hit.  As they say you are one play away from the end of your career.

No one could have forecast the falling out between Bobby Beathard and Bobby Ross, the end of a GM-Coaching marriage, so sudden, with an owner doing nothing to intercede to keep a good group together.

25-years ago this Sunday night, a special season finished up with a not-so special loss in Miami.

The journey was fabulous.  The ending awful.  That is the NFL.  The Super Bowl-there’s a winner, and then there is Super Bowl disappointment for the loser.

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“NFL State of the League Address”

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Commissioner Roger Goodell had lots to say, most of it generic, in his Super Bowl Week ‘State of the League address.

What he said….What I think.

17-GAME SCHEDULE…HAD 7-MONTHS FRUITFUL TALKS.
..It’s always about the money with the owners, so adding a 17th regular season game, slotting in two bye weeks and adding two wildcard teams in the playoffs is about increasing the pie.  But the Union will have final say in this.  They want more than 47% of the revenue.  They want increased roster sizes, less contact in training camp, medical marijuana, a change in NFL discipline policies and more.  We may have 17-games by 2021 but there will be other changes.

ROONEY RULE…WILL BE CHANGED-NOT WHERE IT SHOULD BE
..Big issue in that you cannot-should not tell owners whom to hire, and huge disappointment the NFL has gone from 8-minority head coaches to just 3-for the coming season.  But 5-blacks were fired because they had losing seasons, not because of race.  What needs to be addressed is expanding the Rooney Rule that clubs must also interview blacks for the all important coordinator positions.  Or maybe the league mandates each team hire an ‘assistant coordinator’ who is a minority, for on job training in offense-defense-special teams.

CONCUSSIONS…DOWN 30% LAST 3-YEARS.
..Yes concussion evaluation has gotten better, but the number of fines  for helmet hits and violent acts continues to run much higher than you would hope.  Players don’t get it, and taking 20-30,000 in fines hasn’t stopped the violent aspect of some players.  Ejections and suspensions will.

ANTONIO BROWN…CONCERNED ABOUT HIS WELL BEING.
..The NFL needs to empower itself to do an intervention and get him mental health evaluation.  Too many episodes of erratic-bizarre behavior, the latest being the confrontation with police infront of his home in Hollywood, Florida.  Using 59-curse words in a (2:28) video shouts he is in trouble mentally.  The league should have the right to intervene with troubled players who go off the track.

VIDEOGATE-STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.
..The commissioner wants a thorough investigation of who knew what and what their intentions were with the information.  New England has a history of doing cutting edge things, sometimes illegal.  How many tampering cases have they been involved in? Oh by the way, the prostitution case against Patriots owner Robert Kraft-where is that year old probe nowadays?

LONDON-EXPANSION FRANCHISE…IS CITY FRANCHISE-READY?
..Big issue here is not just the finances of putting an expansion team in England, but how to make it work structurally with a potential 17-game schedule, bye weeks, divisional realignment and more.  Not an easy proposal to work through.

MEXICO CITY…WILL PLAY REGULAR SEASON GAMES IN 20-21.
..While the league praises all things about playing in the city, anyone pay any attention to the drug cartel wars daily, the murders weekly, the corruption for years and years? Not protecting the shield are they?

TORONTO…NEEDS NFL STADIUM
..Maybe the league should address playing some regular season games at Skydome, even if the seating is reduced (see Chargers- Carson Stadium) history.  The preseason games the Bills played failed because they were exhibition games.  Don’t outprice and gouge the market, but bet Canada would respond to regular season games as part of a 17-game schedule the NFL adopts.

LA STADIUM…UNVEILING WITH SPECIAL PLANS FOR 2020.
..It would be cool if they had the Chargers-face-Rams in the Thursday night opener next year, but they are not on the schedule rotation.  It would likely be a sellout (Rams fans) and a good way to see the shiny new Stan Kroenke facility.  The league will do something special.

LAS VEGAS…NOT READY FOR A SUPER BOWL
..NFL wants to see how Raiders and Las Vegas handle the NFL draft party they have planned first before going forward with a Super Bowl. You have to be impressed with fact Raiders have now sold 483M in PSL seat licenses for the new stadium.  Wonder if the fans, shelling out all that money, know they are getting a team that is (90-182) with 1-winning season in 17-years?

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