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“Dodgers Blue Bronx Bombers-Win the Day”

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Should we just fast forward now to the World Series, and have the Yankees lineup against the Dodgers?

The aftermath of the trading deadline saw the two teams with the highest payroll, get better. When they got done at the deadline, there were 33-trades in all, triggered by what the Cubs-Washington and Astros did.

But nobody did more, without giving away the store, to stay where they are, in first place than what happened at Dodgers Stadium and Yankees Stadium.

The rich get richer, because they have the biggest budgets, have spent more on international free agents and have done well in the draft.

The Yankees got the A’s ace Sonny Gray, though it cost them their top minor league pitcher James Kaprelian plus hot young outfielder Dustin Fowler, both of whom are recovering from season ending surgeries.

Gray is under Yankees control another two years, and the Yankees will be bidding farewell to CC Sabathia’s hefty contract among others this off season.

It is a win-win for New York.

The Dodgers went out and got 3-arms,. headlined by Texas ace Yu Darvish. He’s headed to free agency at the end of the year, but LA has such a rich tradition with Japanese players, and pays the big buck, why wouldn’t they bid to keep him rather than using him as a short term rentals.

Yes LA gave up bright young minor league 2nd baseman Willie Calhoun, and 2-Class A players as well, but the Blue farm system in loaded.

They also added lefthanded relievers Tony Watson of the Pirates and Tony Cingraini of the Reds, without losing key minor league prospects.

The Dodgers wake up this morning now with 7-starting pitchers, headlined by Clayton Kershaw, once they get him back healthy. Granted some of those other arms are in a continual fight with injury issuses.

But at the end of the day, the talent laden Yankees got a gem of a starter and held onto most of their great young bats in their system.

And the Dodgers got 3-pitchers, and didn’t have to give up Yasiel Puig…pitcher Walker Beuhler..pitcher Julio Urias…outfielder Alex Verdugo of young live arm Yadier Alvarez.

What the Dodgers are doing on the field has been so impressive. What the Dodgers front office just did was magnificent, winning trading deadline day.

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“Baseball’s Shrine Honors the Best”

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The sun splashed down on Cooperstown, New York on Sunday, a record crowd a block from the Hall of Fame, for the induction of 3-more greats to the Hall.

Baseball honored Pudge Rodriguez, the legendary catcher, Tim Raines, the complete ballplayer, and Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell.

It also saluted Braves and Royals GM-John Scherholz.

Honored for how they played the game, and their stats on the field.

Applause and respect.

And then there was Bud Selig, greeted with a chorus of boos. By the time he was done, it was a standing ovation.

He did so many things in his career. He was victimized too in his career. All his work was done off the field.

Remembered for the nasty strike that cancelled the World Series. Blamed for the Steroid era that stained the baseball record book. Mocked for some stupid rules wrapped around the All Star game.

But his speech on Sunday was not about him, it was about him being a consensus maker, and getting all the other owners to agree to deals that were better for the game.

If you are keeping score at home, take a look at what he did. Then tell me, how good was he?

Bud Selig..Emotional Hall of Fame speech..said Hall of Fame is the ‘Soul of Baseball’…’Baseball is Treasure to America-Fabric of our Country’..’Loved my baseball life’….Said his biggest challenge was to heal the divide in baseball…Owners-vs-Union…Owners-vs-Owners…Small Market-vs-Big Market…the 1994-strike….PED that undermined Integrity of game.

Bud Selig’s accomplishments as Commissioner
..Interleague play
..3-Division alignment
..Wildcard playoff games
..World Baseball Classic
..Umpires Association
..Instant Replay Review
..Retire #42-honor Jackie Robinson
..Labor Peace
..Economic growth
..Developing MLB Network
..Developing MLB.com
..Revenue Sharing
..Luxury Tax on Payrolls
..Gold Standard Drug Testing

He was booed in the beginning, given a standing ovation at the end.

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“Chargers-What is LA Getting?”

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They don’t belong to us anymore, and that angers everyone.

They are now Los Angeles’ team, or so they say, so they hope.

But what is LA getting as the Chargers players check into camp and begin workouts on Sunday in their new home, Costa Mesa?

So we grade them going into camp.

Coaching (B)

They get a good coaching staff. Do not judge Anthony Lynn as a head coach till we get to the end of December. He inherits a great quarterback, as did Mike McCoy 5-years ago. But we know how things wound up with McCoy.

Of course there are tin cans tied to the Chargers tail, when it comes to hiring head coaches. That last group of offensive coordinators, hired to be the Bolts head coach, never panned out.

McCoy…Mike Riley….June Jones…Kevin Gilbride…Dan Henning…Al Saunders…all found wanting, then found themselves fired.

But Lynn will have proven coordinators as his wing men…Ken Whisenhunt and ex Seahawks bright light Gus Bradley.

Quarterback (A)

Hall of Fame candidate Philip Rivers has never missed a game in his career with injuries, despite lots of hits, sacks and turnovers. Who knows if Cardale Jones could be the QB of the future..or if Kellen Clemens could win a bunch of games if he had to play?

Running Back (A)

Melvin Gordon took a massive jump in year two, running, catching, blocking. They will miss Danny Woodhead. Not sure Brandon Oliver is a true replacement, but he is productive. Gordon has to be on the field.

Wide Receivers (B)

Keenan Allen comes back, but can he pick up the enormous productivity he showed before his devastating injury of a year ago. If Mike Williams puts this back issue in his rear-view mirror, then that is a tandem to reckon with. Others have produced, but nagging injuries and dropped passes have plagued Donnie Inman and Tyrell Williams. Get them on the field, and they all could be good, thanks to Rivers. Lose any, and it’s not the same group.

Offensive Line (C)

3-starters are gone. A stunning waste of money for King Dunlap and Orlando Franklin, and a disappointment DJ Fluker reached a plateau and never got off it, and now they’ve gotten rid of him. They gave alot of money to Russell Okung, dumped by Seattle and Denver, who seems to have nagging injury issues too. Most everyone believes in rookies Forrest Lamp, Dan Feeney and new center Spencer Pulley, but until you do it game by game, no one knows.

Tight Ends (A)

It might be the final go round for Hall of Famer Antonio Gates and it should be a breakout year for Hunter Henry. Exceptional.

Defensive Line (B)

Yes there is Joey Bosa, and a new position for Melvin Ingram, and there is massive-thick NT-Brandon Mebane. But they are thin behind them, and the top 3-backups are nothing special in terms of playmaking, and each has had a major injury. And they are going to a 4-man front, so lots of roles change.

Linebackers (C)

Yes they are fast, Jatavis Brown and Donzelle Perryman, and yes they hit. But they didn’t stop the run, and are really poor in pass coverage. They let some depth go too, whether or not you like Mantei Te’o, and whether you regard Jerry Attaochcu-Kyle Emanuel and Korey Toomer as just guys. There’s no Ray Lewis-Khalil Mack-Von Miller anywhere in this group.

Secondary (B)

Casey Hayward comes off a great season, and hard to believe Green Bay did not keep him. Jason Verrett is a star in the making if he can stay free of injuries. Dwight Lowery is an old war horse, and makes some plays. Jahleel Addae is the warrior, but the heavyhitter gets hurt. Young backups Craig Mager and Adrian Phillips made plays last year in sub packages and figure to play even more. Collectively might be the best group in all.

Kicking (B)

Josh Lambo is back despite a poor finish last year. Drew Kaser needs a strong year punting, or might lose his job. Still they’ve had more good games than bad ones.

Kick Returns (D)

Until somebody proves to me they can do it regularly, it’s a pitiful position. Kenjon Barner may take the job away from Travis Benjamin, but then again Barner has been dumped by a couple of teams already, so how good is he? Isiah Burse doesn’t scare anyone.

Summary

We’ll see how quickly Anthony Lynn can put his tough guy personality into this team. See how well and how long they go with Gus Bradley’s new ‘4-3’ defense. See how quickly this new look offensive line comes together. And see if it becomes ‘Ground and Pound’ then throw the ball, because that is what Lynn has used before. The Chargers have won just 1-playoff game in the last 8-years despite the greatness of Rivers. They have lost 25-of-35 games for lots of reasons. They look good on paper, but they always have recently, and still have not won.

Team Grade…(2.7)…..a strong (B-Minus)

Bring on the pre-season.

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“Mets Baseball-Big Problems in Big Apple”

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This was supposed to be the breakout year, a push to lst place, with as bright a pitching staff as there is in baseball.

They stockpiled arms, monitored innings, rested guys in the rotation.

And they still broke down.

A year ago this summer, things looked all so promising for Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson’s pitching staff.

Now there is just 1-healthy starter left, Jacob deGrom, and he is a healthy (12-3)..

Matt Harvey, the veteran leader of the staff, came back from thoratic rib surgery from a year ago, only to have a stress fracture of his scapula near his neck. No one knows if he pitches the rest of the season.

Noah Syndegaard, the other magic arm in the rotation, is likely done for the year with a torn lat shoulder muscle amid controversy over his weight training work, and allegations the training staff mishandled him. Hr won[‘t be back this year.

Steven Matz has now had 2-physical setbacks in under a year. He is just back into the rotation, but a shell of what he was before after getting drydocked with elbow problems early in the year.

Plug in starter Robert Gsellman is on the DL with hamstring problems.

Ace closer Jeurys Familia is done with a blood clot in his arm and won’t be back till spring training in Port St. Lucie.

And once promising reliever-starter Zach Wheeler, who missed a year with elbow surgery, is back on the DL again with more arm issues

Bright young prospect Seth Lugo pitched too much in the World Baseball Classic, and missed a third of the season with elbow problems.

Tommy Milone in on the 60-dayDL with knee issues.

Six of their top seven arms, 8-pitchers in all, hurt, on a staff that was supposed to rival anyone in the National League, gone.

Add in the likely career ending shoulder impingement-neck stenosis problems plaguing 3B-David Wright two years in a row.

OF-Curtis Granderson has been on and off the DL with nagging aging injuries.

OF-Juan Lagares down with a torn thumb ligament.

OF-Yoenis Cepedes had significant hamstring problems, just like a torn hamstring that wiped out a chuck of 2B-Neil Walker’s season. 1B-Luca Duda had back issues and C-Travis D’Arnaud injured a wrist.

If you are keeping score at home, that’s 13-significant injuries to the top 25-players on the team.

One of those years you hope you never see. One of those years that wiped out what the Mets felt could be a special year.

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“Questions Worth Asking”

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Padres baseball…it’s the same old thing every year.

It’s as if the two biggest days of the season for the Friars, are opening day at home…and trading deadline day to see who leaves.

You may call it a fire sale..or a retooling…or reinvesting in assets, but it always gives you the end result.

Veteran players leaving…young unproven players coming in…and a guarantee of the bad finish to another Padres season.

Doesn’t matter if it was in the Robbi Alomar-Derrick Lee era….the Fred McGriff time…up to the more recent Matt Kemp transactions, to what we had Monday, regretful goodbyes to young guys.

Brandon Mauer, Trevor Cahill and Ryan Buchter all go to Kansas City. Three arms, all sent to a team in the pennant race. The Padres got a rookie league 2nd baseman at least 4-years away, another journeyman pitcher, and a lively arm with a bad knee injury on the disabled list for the year.

When in major league baseball have you seen any club deal 3-pitchers off their major league roster at one time? Not recently, I will guarantee you that. Only in San Diego.

It does continue the AJ Preller pattern, move players, get young prospects, sadly guys we won’t see for 3-to-5 years, if we see them at all.

Next to go will be relief ace Brad Hand, if Preller gets his price, three for one.

Just one question, when will the Padres ever put a true major league product of 25-quality players on the field again?. Not this year, and probably not the next two years. See you in 2020?

Ownership is all in, no doubt, on the future, with the money they have spent in Latin America and on draft picks.

No doubt the Houston Astros-Chicago Cubs plan worked for those clubs. We’re waiting and hoping here.

Sure it’s fun to see Hunter Renfroe hit bombs and Austin Hedges throw out guys on the bases, and the kid pitcher Dinelson Lamet and Luis Perdomo have good outings.

But there are a ton more strikeouts than hits, errors than big plays, and bad innings than wins.

But what’s really sad is ownership has given us a select group of young players they are force feeding, all hitting (220-to-250)…and surrounded them with a cast of refugees and 4-A-Triple A players.

It’s a pretty poor product on the field, and as shaky a roster as you can have this side of the pathetic Phillies. We are alot closer to the last place lousy Giants than we are the first place Dodgers or Giants.

All the while charging major league prices for what is another summer of poor baseball.

We in the media go and cover the games and stories. The UT is spending more time writing about guys in the lower minors, most of whom won’t ever get here, than they are writing about the major league team. Ever notice where Padres game stories are now placed-buried in your morning paper?.

Attendance has slipped despite the ‘good time’ reputation Petco Park has for family fun.

TV ratings are lousy, Radio ratings are at an all time low. Their broadcast partners have been hurt.

Wonder if the Padres leaders understand the damage being done to their corporate sponsorship partners?

I just wonder when Padres baseball will ever get good again?

Guess we’ll have to wait on that, while waiting for the next trade of another Padres player.

Question worth noting. When will it ever get good again?

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