RandyMarsh

As expected the game drew monster tv ratings. 16 million viewers making it the most watched cfb of the season by a landslide. Number 2 was the Iron Bowl at 11 million and number 3 was MSU/ UM at just under 10.

With these incentives the Buxton deal makes a little more sense for him. Still think it's a big win for the Twins though.

I think Hutch is the safer pick and could potentially be better but I feel confident that barring injury he is going to at the very least be a real good player. As mentioned that motor is something that will translate to any level against any competition,on top of that he seems to have a high football iq and is a great tackler. Thibs on the other hand has the freak raw tools that can make him a Myles Garrett but those tools can only take you so far. I'm not saying he doesn't have a motor or high iq, I havent seen enough of him to say one way or another but without those you could end up struggling at the next level even with the raw tools.

Speaking of Greene, he has now passed Tork as our top prospect on Baseball America's updated list. Not a subscriber so I don't know where they rank league wide or the rest of the list but BA tweeted out that tidbit earlier.

I don't know if the balls were meant to fly different or perhaps one had a different texture or seams for better grip but there were a number of times watching games last year where off the bat I thought the ball was gone only for it to come up quite a bit short. Perhaps that was indeed the ball?

I know the anti opt out people have the philosophy that if the player is good then you lose him in 2-3 years and if he is bad then you're stuck with the player. While that is true they never consider the fact that perhaps the team doesn't want them for more than 2 or 3 years regardless of if they are good or not. Those same talking heads always put down long term deals and talk about how they never work out or that teams are going to regret them when the player gets older, well guess what? Those same players don't sign short term deals outright so if you want to get one of those premier FAs and potentially not have to pay for the downside years the only way you're going to do it is with the opt out.

Id prefer a 3 and out opt out instead but I agree the opt out is a good thing. It keeps him motivated and buys us a couple years to hopefully develop an in house replacement. The opt out helps us potentially not have to pay for his declining years.

With Michigan being in the 2 spot I think it's safe to assume that if they make the CFP they will end up in the 2 or 3 spot and avoiding Georgia in the first game.

Contact rates are getting worse across the league so it's not so much on him getting worse as it is a league wide approach and overall strength of the stuff from pitchers getting better. The fact is that despite those issues he's still a perennial 4+ WAR player who just turns 29 tomorrow. Those skills that made him that valuable aren't going to disappear during his age 29,30 and 31 seasons. Perhaps 4 or 5 years down the road if he is still here we may have to worry about the lost skills but we'll cross that bridge when it comes. For the near future his OBP shouldn't be of concern cause he has proven to still be valuable despite it.

Im not too concerned with his OBP, as long as he hits for power and plays plus defense then Ill be happy. In a perfect world you would love to have 9 guys that can get on base while hitting for power but that is just unrealistic so if you can't do that then get you somebody who is really good at one of them and Baez is one of the best at hitting for power at his position. You look at a team like the Rays who are at the forefront of analytics and this is the approach they have taken, guys like Lowe, Zunino and others have bad OBPs but big time power hitters for their position so the Rays keep them in their everyday lineup. We should have enough good OBP guys in the lineup with Candy, Miggy, Grossman and potentially Tork and Greene to offset his bad OBP, what we didn't have was enough legit 30HRs guy so that is going to be a real blessing for this lineup.

As if you needed another reason to hate Brian Kelly.

If Michigan does indeed lose this game I feel confident in saying it wont be because of the lazy narrative that will surely get thrown out there that they looked past them or were having a post OSU hangover. I think Michigan will be up for this game and prepared to win but sometimes you just have bad days and to me that will be what happens if they do lose. Also even though Iowa is a great matchup for Michigan its not like they are some doormat, they are capable of playing really good football.

Unless you were dead set on Correa its hard to not like this deal. I wanted Correa cause he is the superior player and its not my money but IF the Tigers reallocate the savings between the two elsewhere(not necessarily this offseason but at some point) this will probably end up being the better option for the franchise.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/detroit-pulls-a-shortstop-out-of-its-hat/

Law likes the signing. To sum it up he said as is its a great signing but it has the upside to be even better if Baez discovers any type of plate discipline like he showed with the Mets. Did say that considering where they are at in the win curve that they may have been better suited to sign the superior player in Correa. Also Said they are good enough as is to catch the White Sox but need a couple breaks to go their way and need Tork on the opening day roster cause every win will count.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32749232/jim-harbaugh-give-all-bonus-money-michigan-wolverines-athletic-department-staffers-had-pay-cut-due-covid-19

I also heard that USC had to buy his 2 existing homes in Norman(have no idea why one needs 2 homes in Norman) and allow him 24/7 access to the school's private jet. Oh to be a fly on the wall during those negotiations.

Its weird to me how in states loaded with talent like Florida and California that all their biggest schools could all be down at the same time.

A few months The Athletic ran an article where they polled a 100 college assistants and asked them the best jobs in the country. Out of that top 10, USC,ND,Oklahoma, Florida and LSU will have all become available since then. If Day were to leave for the NFL then OSU would make 6. Just a crazy time in the college football. BTW the Michigan job ranked 11th on that list.

There's still Stroman and Rodon but yeah the pitching well is starting to run dry.

Whoa Brian Kelly leaving the Irish for LSU job, crazy!

I forgot about Chris Taylor. I suppose he wouldn't be the worst consolation prize in the world. Decent enough bat, versatile enough to play all over the field if we do indeed want to try Kriedler at SS plus with the money saved we could potentially allocate that money elsewhere.

Aside from Max, I think the pitchers have come at a reasonable rate. Ray basically went for what we paid Zimmermann 7 years ago.

I didn't see that. Passan mentioned Baez and the Ms, saying something like "After signing Ray the Mariners don't appear to be done, they are hot on the trail of Bryant and Baez."

Theres still 4 out of the 5 SS left but we haven't been linked to Seager or Story at all, the rumors are Correa is out of our range so that just leaves Baez. Im really starting to get concerned were going to get shutout as it appears the Mets, Mariners and others are in on Baez and they have shown that they will throw big money around.