Several have emailed SU today about the Aaron Hicks, 7-year, $70 million extension.  Good deal?  Bad deal?  Not my money so why do I care?  Here is SU’s take:

• We know Hicks is a Cashman fave.  He has been given a long leash to develop and when healthy (which is not a given), he has produced and improved each year.
• He is a switch hitter, has a great arm, and his swing is made for Yankee Stadium.
• He has one of the best eyes in baseball.  Whatever that stat is, he does not swing at balls.
• He was going to be a free agent after this season.  He is 29 years old.
• SU believes that the Hicks’ deal is the second of several that you will now start to see as the Yankees try and lock in their young crop of future stars.  Severino was first and Judge will be next.  The idea is to sign them to an extension before they hit arbitration and before they become free agents.  The Angels did this with Mike Trout several years ago.  It will be interesting if they give Gary Sanchez this type of treatment as he is also in the pipeline.  SU is not sure on that one and believes this season will be key for him.  Also, what about Betances?

Bottom line: SU likes the deal.  You overpay a bit but as he gets older, you can also trade him more easily as his contract is reasonable.  And….. it’s not my money.

Greg Bird went 2 for 2 on Saturday, and Luke Voit went 2 for 3 with a home run and 4 rbis yesterday.  Advantage: Voit.

So, Bob Kraft visited that “spa” on back-to-back days including the morning of the NFC Championship Game so he had to boogie to Kansas City.  Delta must offer some type of frequent flyer package deal for extra service.  Supposedly there are videotapes.  Eek.  SU says he didn’t beat anyone up, he isn’t married and who cares?  Move on.  This story has one more day of shelf life.

Should college basketball players get paid?  A lot of talk now after Zion Williamson destroyed his sneaker and sprained his knee.  SU understands both sides of the argument here.  But I also say that Zion’s marketability and draft positioning were greatly enhanced by playing at Duke.  He isn’t paid but he is on a scholarship, and Duke needs to make money on its college basketball program to give out the scholarships.  The reality is that a handful of #1 picks have long and productive careers in the NBA.  Many bounce around for a few years and then are gone.  What would be best is that players stay in school through their junior years, get an education that will benefit them the rest of their lives and also develop their basketball skills so that they are that much better positioned to succeed once they enter the NBA.  Take Mo Wagner on Michigan.  He left after his junior year.  He has sat on the Lakers’ bench all year.  Barely played at all.  Literally.  Is he developing his basketball skills better in the NBA in their practices?  Maybe.  Or do you develop your skills by staying in college and actually getting to play?  Sure, he got paid and you risk injury in college.  But this is not football.  The odds of a major injury are slight.  Nik Stauskus left after his sophomore year as did Glenn Robinson III.  It’s likely both will be out of the NBA in another year.

Can’t you have a duel goal of getting an education and also improving your skills in college?  Look, if you are a hardship case, SU gets it – take the money sooner as you desperately need it for your family.  But if you don’t, stay in school.

Much being made of Michigan State’s win over Michigan yesterday down 2 of their best players.  Well done.  Kudos to Tom Izzo.  But… SU says beware of peaking too soon.  We will see if they can sustain it through the Big Ten Tournament and then the NCAAs.  But they played well yesterday.

And how is Gonzaga #1?  No way.  Tennessee loses in OT on the road.  Duke loses without Williamson.  Gonzaga always underachieves in the NCAAs.

OK, enough of my evening rant.  Let’s hear from you and how about some new subscribers weighing in??

SU says thank goodness!  Even though the Yankees were supposedly not interested, SU was worried that if the price got low enough, Hal Steinbrenner might have jumped in.  The good news is that there is no way Bryce Harper signs for anything lower than 10 years, $300 million now, and that will be too rich for the Yankees.  You have to figure he will end up in Philadelphia or Washington now.  This deal with San Diego feels like the Cano signing with Seattle a few years ago.  Big contract for a middle market team that will hamstring them from signing anyone else.  They supposedly have a great farm system.  SU hopes it works out for them.

So, Giancarlo Stanton threw out a few nuggets today:

• He was hampered by that hamstring injury for a good portion of the season
• The Yankees think he will be oh so much better this year as he now knows the AL pitchers better.
• Their confidence in Stanton is one of the major reasons that they stayed out of the Machado/Harper sweepstakes.

SU asks this: how do you explain Andujar having such a strong season when he didn’t know any of the pitchers?  I get the reasoning that when you switch leagues, it takes time to learn the new pitchers but when you are making $30 million a year, you need to be better than that.  SU will be surprised if Stanton hits better than .266 this year and 100 rbis.

Andujar is changing his throwing motion in spring training and the coaches have him using a new ready position.  The question is how much patience will they have with him?  SU says don’t be stupid – show some patience for a guy that is a legit hitter with power.

SU is all in with the Yankees’ roster.  This team is good enough to win the division.  The pitchers will need to stay healthy, of course, and you know they will make moves along the way.

Finally, there is activity down south and we can look forward to the start of baseball season.  SU knows that baseball is not in vogue with the younger generation but for oldsters like me, it’s the best season.  Checked out the Yankees a bit.  Here are my spring training thoughts:

• Joel Sherman has clearly been reading SU.  He totally agrees that the Yankees don’t need either Machado or Harper.

https://nypost.com/2019/02/12/destroying-the-myth-yankees-needed-machado-or-harper/

As always, SU represents the cutting edge thinking out there.  I still think the Yankees would jump on Harper if the years and price came down low enough.

• Jacoby Ellsbury, who has been out for 13 years, will not report until March as he already has issues with his feet.  Unreal.
• Greg Bird is healthy and motivated.  Clint Frazier is on record that he wants to win the starting left-field position over Gardner.  SU loves the competition.  The team is better when you don’t just assume you own the position.  Of course, it would be nice if Stanton also had to earn it but hey, I will take the small things for now.
• Severino has a new 4-year, $48 million deal.  He is worth it.  More importantly, he has a new diet and hopes to retain his strength over the full year.
• Jordan Montgomery is aiming to return after the All-Star break.  He could be a huge factor in the second half.  You have to assume Cashman is counting on him as well as Didi to be ready after 2-3 months.  Still no love out there for Andujar but it feels like they will at least let him show his defensive prowess in Tampa.
• SU liked the off-season moves by the Mets.  The NL East is winnable.  They may not be done dealing just yet.

A few other random thoughts:

• Big Ten officiating continues to be pretty awful.  How does John Beilein, who does not curse, get ejected?  SU watches a lot of Big Ten hoops and the officiating is really bad for a major conference.  Needs to be addressed.
• If Duke wins the NCAAs this year, what do we think about that?  SU says for Coach K, anything short of a championship is a failure with this roster.  It’s not good for college basketball – whether it’s Kentucky or Duke.
• Since Djokovic won the Australian Open, he has been off.  His next tournament is not until mid-March at Indian Wells.  The reality of professional tennis is that the top men don’t play that many tournaments.  The players complain that there is no off-season (first part of December) but these guys are not on the road all the time.
• The Knicks are unwatchable but SU says if this pans out as they hope, i.e., they draft Zion Williamson and sign Durant and Kyrie, it was a move for the ages.  If no one wants to sign and play here, well you just go with rebuild 19.0.

Is it bad for baseball to have Harper and Machado unsigned as of mid-February?  Or is this what it takes to change the model from the awful Robinson Cano 10-year, $240 million contracts, to something that makes more sense?  Hey, the NBA has its share right now – $40 million for Chris Paul for one season?  Dude cannot even stay healthy.  It’s not pretty right now and looks like collusion but if we can get to richer, shorter contracts, it’s better for everyone.

First things first.  Several SU subscribers came very close to the point spread from last night’s Super Bowl.  Note everyone who picked the Pats was way off on total points but several were right there on the differential:

• Jeff: Pats 31 – 20
• Seth: Pats 33 – 20
• Pete: Pats 38 – 29
• Mark: Pats 34 – 26
• Steve: Pats 37 – 28

But… one person nailed the 10-point differential: long-time subscriber Jeff B. who had the score Pats 34 – 24.  He is this year’s winner and, of course, has earned a year’s free subscription to SU along with the SU-logoed windbreaker, gym bag and coffee cup holder.  Congrats to Jeff!

Please remind me to never, ever again complain that the NFL games have become too high scoring and are like video games.  Watching the Kansas City Chiefs is the most fun and I would much prefer a 52 – 45 game vs. a 13 – 3 puntfest.  There is no comparison.  Especially when you are playing indoors with no wind, no cold, no rain and on turf.  It is just not compelling.  As Tony Romo correctly pointed out, the Rams are a run first team and if you take away the run and force them to throw, they are not nearly as effective.  You have to figure that Todd Gurley has been playing about 70% for several weeks now and just can’t go full speed for a full game.  Belichick is Belichick but the reality is that his defense did not exactly soar against the Chiefs in the last round.  But he came up with a great scheme to throttle the run and then put tremendous pressure on Goff who took a lot of hits.

The good news is that the refs did not influence the outcome – thank goodness.  SU is not a fan of the Patriots but you have to tip your hat this year to Brady who did not have a truly All-Pro wide receiver to throw to all year.  Boston is now Championship City and the Celtics have a legit shot to make it the hat trick if they can get their act together going into this year’s playoffs.  As a NY fan, it brings me no joy to say that.

SU has noted that I am the only one picking the Rams to win tonight.    Either you are all oh so smart or you haven’t been watching all the games this year.  No doubt there is some of the “the Rams shouldn’t even be playing in the Super Bowl” out there.  On the other hand, the Rams may feel like they are playing with house money and have nothing to lose.  SU will go with that theory.

I am sticking with my 35-31 Rams score.  If you haven’t weighed in, there is still time.  Remember, this your chance for fame and fortune given the reach of the intergalactic SU subscriber base.

Accolades will be doled out Monday morning to the winner.