Thank goodness. Cooler heads have prevailed and we will have a baseball season. And some changes on tap: no more ghost runners on 2nd base for extra innings; no more 7-inning doubleheaders (I believe); no more National League DH (for me, about time but I know some purists on this distribution will disagree); pitch clock; and I am sure a few more changes I can’t recall. Looks like the shift will be a 2023 issue. SU is torn on that one. On the one hand, I hate watching hitters mindlessly hitting into the shift but on the other hand, just go the opposite way.
SU will ensure some extra cushion is in place on my Relax the Back chair for the 3.5 hour games and balls put in play every 4 minutes. But I want the option to watch.
Long-time subscriber, T. Potter, reports that Greg Bird has signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. SU will be watching to see if he goes 2 for 29 in spring training to ensure he starts the season in the minors. An injury waiting to happen but apparently he hit 25+ home runs last season in Colorado in the minors. But still an SU fave and we have to be supportive.
Hopefully, Brian Cashman has been keeping a list of things to do in the next 2 weeks. One of them should be “get some left-handed hitters” and “call every team about Joey Gallo.” It’s never too early to start hating on Gallo. SU would be in favor of a major overhaul and becoming more athletic. It’s time. Watch to see if Gleyber Torres comes in over-muscled – not good, and if LeMahieu can rebound after his sports hernia surgery. SU says he does have a solid year and will look a lot quicker.
The Mets need to be very careful with deGrom and Scherzer coming out of a shortened spring. Every team needs to be careful. SU says right now, the Mets are the more interesting team in New York.
Michigan choked away a 17-point lead with 10 minutes left vs. Indiana yesterday. I think Juwan Howard is a great recruiter and an excellent motivator but not a good in-game coach. Strange substitution patterns yesterday. They are a true bubble team. SU sees them in a play-in game for the NCAAs and they deserve that.
Watch out for the UConn women. They are finally healthy and will be a real threat to win it all.
Djokovic out of Indian Wells and Miami, and now has to hope that COVID does not creep up to play the French and Wimbledon. I have rooted for him since 2010 but he is going to fall on the sword to not get vaccinated. The sponsors will walk away very soon followed by the fans. He can do infomercials once he retires. Just a strange conclusion to a great career. He will regret doing this once he turns 37 and is too old to win at the highest level anymore, but decides to make a comeback. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Finally, I must say that watching the final rounds of the PGA TOUR events on a late Sunday afternoon on a high definition TV is good viewing. Definitely growing on me.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Amen!
Let’s Go Mets!
Interesting to see the mlbpa executive committee vote 8-0 against the deal while team vote was 26 – 4 for the deal. Only one of the 8 on the board makes less than $12 million a year. This seems like a fair deal. Why couldn’t they have made it back on January 10th vs March 10th?
8 – 0 tells us why! The arrogance of wealth.
We have seen more of a barbell approach to pay over the last several years. Plenty of $15 million plus contracts but a lot less in the $5-10 range. The middle guys have gotten squeezed and it has hurt the game. This gives a nice raise to the majority of players in the league. The $50 million bonus pool will reward the best young pre arbitration guys substantially. If the wealthy players really cared about the youngsters they could have also chipped in to make this pool greater. I would have liked to see a 10% tax on the salary amount in excess of $20 million. This would have affected only the top 50ish players and raised about $40 million for the bonus pool to grow it to $90 Mil.
The higher minimum and potential bonus may make some of the young players more hesitant to sign the early long term deals that pay greater up front money at the expense of sacrificing a few valuable free agency years. Look at all the money a young star like Ozzie Albies gave up just to lock in some decent money for years 2 and 3. Now the kids from poor families will have more options early on in their careers.
I hate to say it but Michael Conforto seems like a perfect fit for the Yanks. Even when in a slump his .240 average will shine vs Gallo.
And the Mets JD Davis for the A’s Sean Manaea just makes a ton of sense, especially if/when the A’s trade Chapman or Olson. Do this trade and sign a decent FA relief pitcher and I’m happy.
LFGM! PLAY BALL!
PS. J. Howard is a bum. If he were not a former player and fan favorite he’d have been fired on the spot.
I’ve always hated the designated hitter. I feel like it removes one of the fundamental aspects of the game: everyone has to play offense and defense. Baseball is unique in that way and I’m sad to see that go. Either way, I’m sure the Mets will suck again this year. It just seems to be I in their dna.
Gambling on whether our injured pitchers last year will come back to their real form is our biggest question mark. Second is whether Chapman’s psychological profile will have him overthink his throwing strikes. Very scary. Would u have him come into a game with bases loaded anymore? And lastly what to do with Gallo and the need for a couple of lefty contact hitters. The Yankees are no shoe in to make the playoffs unless these issues are addressed.