SU has noticed that the Yankees fans are already booing Miguel Andujar for not coming through with men on base.  It’s not even April 1st yet.  SU says adopt the John Sterling approach where he won’t even give you a hitter’s batting average until May.  You don’t want the young guys to get down on themselves early.  No need to boo – just don’t react then if you are sitting in the stands after paying $125 for your ticket.  Move Andujar down in the order to get his confidence.  You wonder if Aaron Boone is smart enough to figure that out.  But he is the great communicator and no doubt a line up demotion combined with a big hug should work.  Actually, the only challenge for Boone is to figure out where to put his 1 or 2 left-handed hitters each game in the line up.

It’s only been 3 games but SU has some insightful observations as always:

• Giancarlo Stanton is just not clutch.  He’s just not.  It’s not his fault that some team wanted to pay him $30 million a year for 10 years, and that the Yankees eagerly picked up that contract.  He lives comfortably and after another day at the ballpark where he left runners all over the bases (as in today), he will have a nice dinner and enjoy his luxury apartment.  Note SU is not bashing him and I will not boo him.  He is what he is and I accept that.  My only request is that you bat him 7th so that the Yankees can avoid him in rally situations.  I will take the 42 homeruns and 85 rbis along with the .255 average.  Yay, Giancarlo!
• You cannot bat Judge and Stanton back-to-back.  Too many strikeouts.
• And by the way, the all right-handed line up is just stupid.  The Yankees were overpowered by the lowly Orioles the last 2 games by hard throwing right handed pitchers and soft throwing change up lefties.  They all go up trying to hit homeruns.  They may break the season record that was set last year but it’s a problem for winning championships.
• The new guy LeMahieu was a great pick up.  He takes a ton of pitches, hits to the opposite field (WHAT!!!!!!!!!?????) and plays everywhere.  He needs to play every day.  New SU favorite.  They could use 4 more guys like him.
• No need to panic after 3 games.  But you can see the weaknesses already.  Baseball is a marathon but having all right-handed hitters all just trying to hit home runs is not ideal (note: this did not work last year).

SU likes the Met newcomers already coming through.  Good first series on the road.

Coach K is a hall of fame coach, obviously, but does he run any offense for Duke?  Michigan State is a team.  SU has no love for them but they are a consummate team.  So is Texas Tech and that will be a very good game come next Saturday.

Finally.  OK, technically, it’s the 2nd Opening Day for this year as there were two games in Japan.  The NCAAs have kept us occupied for a couple of weeks and the NBA slogs along to the start of the playoffs which actually should be very entertaining this year.  SU is transitioning into baseball mode but knows the faithful demand some predictions for 2019.  SU is happy to oblige in its fearless fashion.  Of course, we welcome all of your comments from all comers – unlike the White House these days who seems to be more particular.

American League

Beware of the following:

• Boston pitched several of their starters in relief last year in the playoffs on their off days.  This is going to lead to arm and shoulder injuries for Price and Sale in 2019.  Their bullpen is depleted.  The offense is still a powerhouse.  They will not repeat.
• Houston lost a couple of starters to free agency.  They will win the division but are not as fearsome as last year.
• No way Tampa Bay wins 90 games again – they were over-achievers last season.
• The Yankees already have starting pitching issues but you know they will pick up some guys along the way.  The offense will be strong although way too right-handed.  As in way too right-handed.  Have I told you that they are too right-handed?  Once Hicks returns, Bird will be sent down.  But they will score a lot of runs this season.  And they will need to as Tanaka and CC always get hurt for some period of weeks and Paxton has a history of that as well.  Look for some youngsters to step up though.  The Yankees will be strong if not flawed.

Division winners are the Yankees, Cleveland and Houston.  A’s and Red Sox take the wild cards.  Yankees win the pennant as they are due for one in this decade and this is their last chance.  SU is not into predicting the number of wins but no team in the AL will win 100 games this year.

National League

The NL feels more balanced:

• The East will be a dog fight.  The Mets and Phillies are better, and the Nationals and Braves are worse.  SU says this may be the most interesting division in baseball this year.
• Milwaukee was close last year and may be ready to make that move this season.
• SU says enough of the Dodgers.  Over hyped every year and they over spend.  Down year for the SF Giants.
• St. Louis is ready to return to the playoffs and the Cubs are feeling some pressure as the GM is threatening to tear the whole thing down if they don’t do better in 2019.

Division winners are the Braves, Brewers and the Dodgers, with both wild cards coming out of the Central (Cardinals and Cubs).  Milwaukee takes the pennant and loses to the Yankees in the World Series.

SU has a feeling about the Yankees this year.  They have cleared the Chase Headleys from the roster- that is huge.  They avoided the bad signings this off-season.  They are still short on starters but Cashman will fill in the holes and will give some youngsters a shot.  Once Boone finds the appropriate spot in the line up for Stanton (6th feels about right – the Andruw Jones spot), and Didi returns, this team will take off.

OK, sports fans, what say you?

It’s time to be bold with your NCAA picks.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, is all in on Duke, and truth be told, assuming Zion Williamson stays healthy, you would assume that Duke rolls to the championship.  They have the best freshmen and several will be on NBA rosters next year.  But come on, what fun is that?

SU has studied the brackets and as always, uses the most sophisticated and high speed super computers to run hundreds of thousands of scenarios.  My take:

• SU does not like the ACC getting 3 of the 4 #1 seeds.  Not right and not accurate.  Michigan State deserved to be a #1 seed having won the Big Ten and the Big Ten Tournament.  SU has no love for them certainly but they belong there.  And then putting them in Duke’s region?  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
• Virginia always underachieves.  Could be the way they play, the coach in post-season games, who knows?
• North Carolina can play a great game but they don’t play great all the time.  Plus they lack the true star players.
• Gonzaga is always overrated.
• The Big Ten has a lot of teams in the tournament, and most of them will lose in the first round.

Was that helpful?  SU sees the Final Four this way: Duke; Michigan (hey, I am not going to root against them); Tennessee; and Kentucky.  Kentucky over Duke in the finals.  SU actually had mistakenly clicked on Kentucky to beat Tennessee in the semis but then I figured this must be a sign to do it, so I am sticking with them.  Kentucky in the end for no particular reason other than I made a mistake.

As always, SU invites the intergalactic subscriber base to weigh in with their picks so that others can admire them and praise their wisdom 3 weeks from now.

The Yankees are piling up the injuries now.  Seriously: Severino; Betances; Hicks; and CC.  But as always, no panic in Yankee Land.  They roll with the punches (although they did sign Gio Gonzalez to a minor league deal which was a slight sign of panic).  SU says roll out the young arms and give them a shot in April to prove themselves.  Clint Frazier has had a brutal spring – likely cost himself a roster slot at least for now.  Too bad.

Mike Trout contract?  Many say that $450 million is a bargain.  Is he the true “generational” player?  Could be.  Not my money.  Can the Angels build around him?  Time will tell.  Plus the Yankees will always take that contract if they decide to move him.

Finally, for true laugh-out-loud entertainment, you have to look up Bryan Hoch’s Twitter feed from yesterday where he posted a picture of Jacoby Ellsbury in the outfield at the Yankees’ spring training camp doing some side step exercises.  The stream of comments and associated pictures are hilarious.  SU is not technologically skilled enough to link you correctly here but it is so worth it.  This may work.

Full disclosure: SU is no great fan of Odell Beckham Jr. on the Giants.  He is too much of a showboat to me.  Reminds me of Terrell Owens, Michael Irvin, etc.  All about me, me, me.  Of course, he is what some in the intergalactic SU subscriber base would call a “generational talent.”  He is terrific and most teams would put up with all of the histrionics given his production.  The Giants’ ownership do not fall into that group – that’s for sure.

First reaction: the Giants got little in return – similar to what the Steelers received for Antonio Brown.  Is that the market in the NFL these days?  If you trade a big salaried player, you are not going to get equal value back.  Could be.  Second reaction: did something happen over the past couple of weeks that hasn’t been made public yet regarding OBJ?  You wonder if there was another off-the-field incident.  Third reaction: the Giants are embarking on a total rebuild.  Starting at the ground up – tear it all down and take a few years to retool.  If that’s the case, do you still need Eli Manning?  Nope.  Should you go out and get a young QB?  Yup.

SU is interested in your take: what is the strategy here?  Did they get value in return?

SU made its first ever spring training game appearance last night in Tampa to check out the Yankees.

To sit this close for $28 – well can’t beat the value.  Of course, the games are meaningless but a nice way to ease into the season.  Boone is now playing both Bird and Voit in the same games which makes sense: give them the maximum number of at bats to try and make the team.  Stanton got a single – SU helped a few fans off the ground back into their seats.  Sorry – SU is working to get into regular season mode for my man.

Finally, keep an eye on the men’s tennis ATP tour.  Lots of controversy off the court.  Novak Djokovic is now the President of the Players’ Council and he is pushing for greater prize money for the rank and file players.  The stars such as Federer, Nadal, Wawrinka are apparently not happy as they believe they are the draw and who the fans come out to see.  SU says the stars seem to make plenty at this point but you do need those next tier players who can’t afford to travel the world with coaches, trainers, etc.

SU admires the continued discipline of Brian Cashman as he refuses to enter into panic mode and over-react to the Yankees’ pitching situation.  The news about Severino is not good.  He throws 99 mph into the 7th inning and has not had any real arm or shoulder issues to date.  Shoulder soreness is common in March but as we know, can lead to much more worse things.  He eats up a lot of innings.  Time will tell.  SU was not aware that CC would not be ready for Opening Day.  He is on his last legs but if you get 12 wins out of him, that is a good investment plus he is a leader in the clubhouse.  You just don’t want him pitching an elimination game this year in the playoffs – for a 3rd straight season.

Should the Yankees go out and overpay for an over-the-hill Keuchel?  SU says absolutely not.  Unnecessary.  They actually have some good young arms who can fill in and they showed some flashes last season.  Roll them out there and see if you can get 5 innings from them with 3 runs.  The line-up has more than enough pop – especially if Stanton can get some meaningful hits this year which you expect will be the case.  He needs to cross off “not familiar with the AL pitchers” from his excuse list for 2019.  This is the season where you will learn:

1. Can Stanton handle the NY spotlight?
2. Is he truly generational outside of Miami?
3. Is he, as SU has said from the beginning, overrated?

Aaron Boone is already talking about having some games where the Yankees will pitch only relievers.  Interesting.  You would think a $200 payroll avoids that situation.  The projected roster indicates only one of Bird/Voit makes the team (early money has Voit as something will surely happen to Bird related to his feet) and Clint Frazier likely does not make it either.  Packaging Bird and Frazier will return a good pitcher as necessary.

SU likes the Mets’ recent move of signing Jessica Mendoza as an advisor to the GM.  It shows imagination and forward thinking.  Good for them.  Also, Al Leiter will also be a special advisor but the hope here is that will take him off of all Yankee broadcasts in 2019 so we don’t have to see the circle change grip for the 500th time.

Michigan vs. Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship Saturday night (or at least a potential share of the title with Purdue).  Good stuff.  John Beilein retools after losing 3 key guys last year and has amassed a great record with a less than stellar roster.  For SU, this is my favorite sports viewing these days.  Following college basketball, like high school hoops, is a journey with many twists and turns over the course of the season.  Highly enjoyable.  In contrast, the NBA season feels like a long grind over many months.

Looks like LeBron will miss the playoffs.  It serves the Lakers right by bringing in malcontents like Rondo and Lance Stephenson this season.  Luke Walton will lose his job over this.  SU is looking forward to the playoffs.  Golden State is either bored or not quite as good this year and the East is wide open.

SU caught an ESPN interview with Antonio Brown.  Whoa.  He is playing the “respect” card with the Steelers a bit too much.  He has been handsomely rewarded in Pittsburgh and has been the focal point of the offense for years.  SU says take the high road and move on.

Finally, SU says there is no truth to the rumor that Robert Kraft is seeking to have his solicitation case moved to T.S. Ellis III’s court in Alexandria, VA for more favorable treatment.  No doubt Ellis would throw out the charges and compliment Kraft on his prowess at 77.

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.