The past couple weeks all the buzz about the Cardinals has centered around their effort to procure GianCarlo Stanton from the Marlins…as you all know..it went south….some thoughts…
…I actually think the Marlins actually tried “pushing” $tanton a bit to accept the trade by trading their outstanding 2B Dee Gordon to Seattle ….indicating to $tanton the road that they are traveling…any player with a substantial salary will be removed….so….Miami was saying to $tanton …you better agree soon because there won’t be any other players around you…how much fun will that be….clearly he got the “hint” and out of nowhere…it seemed…$tanton was going to be a Yankee.
…$urprising? …not really..so $taton made it clear that he wants to play on a winner…a big winner… he’s NEVER played on a .500+ team, much less go to the playoffs….and he wants to live on the coast….originally, we thought it was the west coast…it sounded like the LA Dodgers were his goal? After all.. Who else wins “big” on the west coast … none of the AL west coast teams are big winners… or even .500 these days…Why didn’t the Dodgers want to play in the $sweepstakes ?…well… LA has spent $237m in each of the past several seasons…if it happens again next year, LA will have to pay an extra 45% surcharge tax and their top draft pick of 2018 (#30 overall) will drop 10 spots….LA’s stated goal is to sink to the measly low level of $208m…and that’s without ANY potential additions and clearly not playing in the $tanton $weepstakes…soooo..Stanton swaps coast lines and uses the same criteria to sign with another financially healthy team….the Yankees. The Yanks have bought $uperstar for decades.they began their purchases of $uperstars way back in 1920 when they procured a guy named Babe Ruth.
….I was a bit puzzled why the Cards REALLY felt like they needed $tanton in the middle of the lineup…I think it may have been the Aaron Judge phenomena….look at the buzz that he brought to NY this year with his prodigious blasts…the Cards were/are looking for that buzz. Now NYY will have a Ruth/Gehrig look with Judge & Stanton back-back in the lineup…impressive.
…on the other side of the deal……the early joy of Derek Jeter being an owner in Miami has also gone further south….one Miami newspaper said, “Jeter’s two months at the helm have been tone-deaf, incompetent, and callous, and Rob Manfred may need to save him from himself” Jeter had a low bar to jump over the previous owner…besting the weak efforts of Jeffrey Loria who ruined Montreal & Miami as baseball cities…now Jeter has fired everyone associated with the old front office and refusing to replace them with new people to save on payroll, is constantly shopping around for new investors to help him stay solvent, shops around is best players ($tanton & Gordon) for financial reasons, and now according to Jeff Passan, fired a scout who requires a kidney transplant while the guys is still in the hospital recovering from colon cancer surgery…. everyone knows that baseball is a big business…but Jeter’s indifference to fans and people in general has been extremely sad… in fact, MLB baseball may be forced to act on him as Bowie Kuhn did to Charlie Finley as he wanted to ship off ALL of his stars in Oakland years ago.. Kuhn did not allow Finley to unload Rollie Fingers, Joe Rudi and Vida Blue for not much more than handshake and some cash….maybe MLB will need to step into Miami with the same “big stick” clause ?
Where does this signing…or lack of signing… leave the Cards?
…So the Cards open the $igning $eason by signing relief hurler Luke Gregerson to a 2 year contract. This one-time Cardinal prospect has been in the MLB 9 years as a relief hurler. Last year as a 33 year old he was 2-3, 4.57 ERA, 65 appearances with a WHIP of 1.344…the ERA & WHIP numbers were the highest of his career. Clearly the Cardinals are expecting him to work the 7th or 8th inning. I’m luke-warm on Luke…his numbers from last year concern me….but….it’s a start.
…I’ve even heard rumors of Evan Longoria….his numbers are just a bit above Jeff Gyorko…yes …he can field better..but …is his larger contract worth the small difference of play? …not to me…
…I also have heard interest in Alex Colome (closer Tampa Bay…I would suspect we’d have to send them some type of relief hurler, a top OF prospect (Tampa had NO starting batter over .275 in their lineup last year) and another player (probably an OF or pitcher)
…I DO think that the Cards ownership wants the buzz mentioned above…I think Many Machado of Baltimore is the most likely candidate….it’d take 4 players….at least 2 very high quality & pitchers.
…outside the $weepstakes $aga…
….Mizzou football loses 2 key assistant coaches(Heupel & Elarbee)….I would assume that most assistant coaches want to become Head Coaches….when the opportunity presents itself to become a Head Coach or a better Asst job…”better” has many possible considerations.. generally after you’ve coached a winning team…move on….that’s the business….Barry Odum seemed a bit upset with Elarbee (offensive line coach) decided to join Heupel’s staff @ U Central Florida…..I should remind him….this is the time that coaches often move….Odum fired his defensive coordinator after 2 games of the season and seemed comfortable doing it at that very awkward time for a coach to land another job…that door swings both ways big boy..
…The Heisman Trophy winner was Baker Mayfield. Generally, it is won by a very successful, nationally recognized team. In recent years, it generally goes to the best player on the one of the best team of the country….Mayfield had some very impressive statistics in leading OU to a banner season…in his acceptance speech, he recognized former winners…especially from OU…his competitors, his coaches, his teammates…it touched all the bases….nice approach however….I guess that they don’t teach public speaking in schools any longer….he gave his speech with the hands in his pockets…ugh…. and…now I’m nit-picking …he used the same couple phrases over and over again…come on…pay someone else to write the speech if you have a limited vocabulary…no one will remember the speech unless it’s not good 
…speaking of the Heisman’s….since 2000, there have been 18 Heisman winners….15 have been QB! As recently as the 90’s (10 winners) there were 5 QB and 5 non-QB….The game HAS changed…passing is the primary staple of the offense for most teams…as indicated by the choice of so many QB. For many, it was the end of their notoriety as star football players… Chris Weinke (2000,Florida St), Eric Crouch (2001-Neb), Jason White (2003-OU), Matt Leinart (2004-USC), Troy Smith (2006 the Ohio State), Tim Tebow (2007, Florida), Johnny Manziel (2012-Tx A&M)..the 3 running backs since 2000 ….what a great trivia question…2005 Reggie Bush-USC -later removed for the scandal under Pete Carroll; 2009 Mark Ingram –Bama; 2015 Derrick Henry-Bama. Lamar Jackson (Louisville) won it last year….had another terrific season (3000ish passing yards & 1000ish rushing yards) but was 3rd in the voting this year ???? Btw…Mayfield is the 1st Senior to win the Heisman Award since 2006 (Troy smith-Ohio State)
…a special treat on Saturday for me….watching the Army-Navy game….it was snowy…cold…windy…a great game to watch on TV….the two teams…based on discipline both utilizing run offenses since these teams aren’t built around players hoping to go to the NFL…these offenses are designed to chew up the clock with short, consistent gains…e.g. each team had the ball ONCE in the first quarter!..these men still view it as a game…. their real training is in learning to defend all of the rest of us. You may not like the styles of football offense…I actually do….but you have to admire their supreme efforts, skill, timing and discipline…that word again, I must be following the Baker Mayfield school of writing  ….the camaraderie at the end of the game with both teams moving from one end of the stadium to the other to stand and listen to the school songs of each academy…what entertainment…oh…btw…it was a super game…Navy led going into the 4th quarter, Army marched down the field in a typical long play drive(10-12 plays) .. to take a 14-13 lead….with 3 minutes left..Navy moved back down into FG range…but inexplicably had not 1 but 2 motion penalties so the their kicker had a 48 yard FG attempt…his kick was long enough and high enough…but the wind blew it just wide…. Army wins 14-13…but I felt like the winner as it was a real pleasure watching our academies represent themselves so admirably.
…Baseball HOF idea…
…sure…the voting isn’t until January but….I’d like to again…as I did it about year and a half ago .. raise the awareness of Ted Simmons for the MLB HOF. This isn’t based on being my favorite player…as he was for my brother…but simply comparing him to the current catchers in the HOF. In the past 2 years, the HOF added Mike Piazza & Ivan Rodriguez…two tremendous and certainly HOF worthy catchers… the HOF now has 15 catchers… If Simmons was to be voted into the HOF in January, Simmons would become in the comparison of him to the other current catchers in HOF—2nd in HITS (2472), 2nd in RBI (1389), 7th in HR (248), 5th in RUN (1074)tied for 8th in Batting Average (.285), 9th in OBP .348, 14th in Slugging% .437….he hit over .300 in 7 seasons; his best year was 1975–.332, 18 HR, 100 rbi’s OBP 396 slug .491 ops .887…but incredibly….he didn’t make the all-star team that year. He was in 8 All-Star games but a guy named Johnny Bench dominated the voting for NL catchers throughout Simmons prime years. It seems to me that the HOF would be overlooking a player that belongs in their midst.. downsides….some say he was weak defensively….well…he was clearly better than Piazza..to name just one … and one voted in recently. Others say that he wasn’t on winning teams…well he was on 2 Milwaukee playoff teams but not a World Series teams…many players fit into that situation of no post season heroics …poor Ernie Banks pops straight into mind and I’m sure that there are many, many more HOF who didn’t play in any post-season.
…Travis Ford is already showing signs of extreme frustration with his early, strong reactions to officials during games and his comments during media interviews…poor guy….it’s been a long season for him as we hit mid-December..ugh
….btw…why is Lovie Smith getting a “pass” at Illinois? He’s 5-19 in 2 seasons at Champaign. His last winning season of any kind was 2012. He DID have strong successful seasons in 2005, 2006 and 2010 in the NFL as a HEAD Coach. Coaching College is a different animal…the Head Coach not only has to be a good on the field coach but…more importantly.. he needs to recruit….and recruit the top athletes. Apparently his NFL days are buying him “stay out of jail…oops…or stay employed” cards.
…in the Nearly Forgotton League..
….I know many of you don’t follow the NFL any longer….bear with me…I watched the Rams-Eagles game yesterday. Both teams had young, talented QB that could really throw the ball. Both defenses had strong pass rushes and both offenses could…and did…move the ball… it was a high scoring, fun game to watch. There were 5 lead changes and the finalscore of 43-35 was a bit misleading. The Eagles kicked a FG with 0:01 second left to take a 37-35 lead. On the Eagles kickoff, the Rams were trying to lateral the ball to keep the game alive…one of their laterals were intercepted and ran in for a TD by Philly..no PAT attempt was taken…hence 43-37. The only real downer …. To me… was the injury to the tremendous Eagle QB Carson Wentz..bummer…he’s a real talent…
…on the other hand…..I watched part of the Steelers-Bengals game last Monday….it was vicious. It appeared to me that the players were deliberately attempting to injure their opponents….winning the game seemed secondary….now I’m all for hard hitting ….and these athletes are incredibly strong, fast, aggressive and agile men but hard hitting can be done fairly without taking shots at the opponents body that will severely hurt him. Of course the $20b man-Roger Dumbnall probably didn’t see it…he was counting some of his money from his newly signed contract. I didn’t watch it long.
…Well the $tanton $weepstakes is over but the Cardinals hunt for a Red October continues. Have a fun week.