Jay GreesonMerry Christmas
Merry Christmas, gang. I hope you had a blessed one, and let us all remember that the greatest gift all of us ever received was born on this day.
Happy birthday, Baby Jesus.
With that, in between presents and breakfast and all the festivities, just know how much I appreciate all of you swinging by, even if BYU folded down the stretch. (Cash the over. Miss the pick. Alas. Bowl picks off to a sketchy 3-5 start. You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch.)
We had a great one, and even welcomed CoCo, a black French Bullpup, into the family. The Princess 5-at-10 had her heart set on a pup, and Santa delivered. As he almost always does. Bo Jackson the Bulldog has been quite accepting to his new running buddy. War Christmas.
We got a lot of cooking gear, which is fine by me. (And I’m still looking at adding a new driver to the bag. Hey, I’ve got way back on my golf rounds, but they will pry my Titleist clubs from my cold dead fingers before I give the game up entirely.)
The Lil’ 5-at-10 got the single most dominating Nerf gun I’ve ever seen and a Ping Pong table.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Hoops for Christmas
Who knows what is in store for the coming year, but as for today, the NBA takes center stage. Yes we’ll offer a pick in a moment.
Couple, three things to look for on the first extended look around the NBA for a lot of us:
> Battle of L.A. tonight at 8 could be a ton of fun. The two best duos in the league – LeBron and AD for the Lakers and Paul George and Kawhi for the Clippers – in a game that both really wants. (And that’s a rare and joyous thing, even for Christmas, in this day and age of the NBA.)
> Giannis and the Bucks go against the 76ers today at 2:30. How good has the reigning MVP been? Glad you asked. He’s been better than last season by far, and is just the third player in NBA history to hit Christmas Day averaging 30-10-5, joining Russell Westbrook in 2016-17 and The Big O in 1961-62.
> The total ineptness of the Golden State Warriors will be on full display against the avalanche of 3s that is the Houston Rockets.
As for the picks, we’ll take Boston and lay the 2.5 on the road at Toronto and we’ll lay the 11 with the Rockets too. In fact, with the exception of the Bucks-76ers and the Battle of L.A., we’d be comfortable with all the favorites. (Everyone will be up for these games considering the stage and the national platform, which means wide talent gaps – like Denver > New Orleans – will not experience slumps to disinterest or DNPs for load management.)
Last gift
OK, the top item on the list for the Braves still hinges on third base.
Sign Josh Donaldson – and we believe it would be a done deal if the Braves and Alex Anthopoulus add that fourth year to their offer for the NL Comeback Player of the Year – or trade for Kris Bryant seem like the two most likely options.
Now if the Cubs are still asking for Soroka AND Fried, well, they can kick rocks. You can’t part with that much of the future rotation, no matter how desperate the Braves are for a middle of the order bat who plays third base.
(Side note: While they missed on all the big-named-and-bigger-dollared free agents, it appears the Dodgers are trying to swing deals for either Mookie Betts or Francisco Lindor, and potentially both. The Dodgers desperation to win it all is palatable.)
As for the Braves, certainly the third-base quest takes first priority, but according to this CBSsports.com story, there are pitchers out there available through trade.
The Braves likely never intended to get into the monster bidding for Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg. Debate the merits of that strategery all you want, but Atlanta went bullpen early and often and got Cole Hamels on the typical one-year deal Anthopoulus prefers with free agents.
And kudos too the Braves for not overspending for Hyun-Jin Ryu (four years, $80 million from Toronto) or Dallas Keuchel (three years, $55.5 million from the White Sox) or any of the rest of the fringe free agents. (We would have liked Madison Bumgarner because of the fit and the fact that at age 30, he’s way younger than most of us realize, especially since a trade for Bryant almost assuredly means a current starter would be on the move.)
So if another starter is to be had, the trade market seems to be the way. (That said, if the Bryant thing happens, an Alex Wood or an Ivan Nova free agent signing makes sense too. Or maybe they would roll the dice on a Felix Hernandez and see if he has anything left in a Hall fo Fame tank.)
As for some trade candidates – especially if the Braves can convince Donaldson to re-sign – the names of Chris Archer, Jon Gray or even a David Price certainly should generate some interest.