Trading deadline deals
Lots going on in the world of Major League Baseball. And that will not slow until the end of BID-ness today, as the MLB trading deadline looms at 4 p.m. today.
Let's start with some winners and losers, shall we.
Winners: Yankees and Red Sox. The AL East powers have added multiple pieces as New York has added a starter (J.A. Happ), a reliever (Zach Britton) and could add an outfielder and Boston has answered with Nathan Evoldi and are looking for a reliever. National League contenders in Los Angeles (Manny Machado), Milwaukee (Mike Moustakas) and Chicago (Cole Hamels) added monster pieces.
Here's another one: Atlanta. As the Braves are wavering in the standings - Atlanta had lost x of x before Monday's win over hapless Miami - the front office has not wavered in the plan. They also have tried to add meaningful pieces (not rentals) for the now and the future. They added Brad Brach and Jonny Venters to the bullpen and did not part with anything more than international signing bonus slots. Atlanta also acquired Reds slugging outfielder Adam Duvall, who has struggled this year heading into an arbitration season.
But Duvall, who is hitting .206, has clear upside. He's a dynamic left fielder who is second in the MLB with 14 defensive runs saves and is a two-time Gold Glove finalist. He had back-to-back 30-plus homer season before this year and has 79 homers since the start of 2016.
Is he Bryce Harper? No, but the Braves parted with two minor-league pitchers who are out of options and who have fallen out of favor compared to a lot of the other young Braves pitching prospects. (This also means Ender Inciarte, who has struggled mightily and had a run-in with Brian Snitker for not hustling, may be looking for a new team next year. Inciarte will platoon with Duvall and Ronald Acuna will play center against lefties.)
Losers: New York Mets and Houston.
The Mets are a dumpster fire with two highly coveted starting pitchers and still could not get a deal done. Forever living in the middle is the biggest malaise in all of sports.
The Astros dealt for Roberto Osuna, who is coming off a 75-game suspension for domestic violence. In the press release, Houston made sure to include the wording, that the club has a "zero-tolerance" policy on domestic violence.
Say what? Zero-tolerance apparently means, they do not allow anything like that unless you have a 97-mph slider and experience closing games and the Yankees and Red Sox are getting better by the hour.
Certainly this is not the first-time this has happened: Aroldis Chapman got a standing O from Chicago fans during their World Series run a couple of years ago after he served a 30-game suspension for domestic assault. And no matter the offense, sadly, the level of forgiveness and the number of second chances offered is directly related to the level of talent of the offender.
In the same statement that wanted to remind everyone that they have (had) a zero-tolerance policy, the Astros also added these quotes: Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow said, "The due diligence of our front office was unprecedented" and that the Astros believe Osuna is "remorseful" and "has complied with all the consequences of his past behavior."
Osuna appears in court tomorrow and is scheduled to come off suspension on Saturday. Maybe Osuna is the missing piece for the Astros to repeat as World Series champs? But is it worth the potential price they could have to pay for it?
(And somehow the baseball world is up in arms about what high school kids Tweeted roughly a decade ago.)
LeBron James is headed out West to join the Los Angeles Lakers after spending the first 15 seasons of his NBA career in the Eastern Conference with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat.LeBron's shining moment
Hate LeBron for his politics. Hate LeBron because you love MJ. Hate LeBron because you think that he should have won more, stayed in whatever city and said no thanks to "The Decision" idea.
But LeBron the man had a defining moment Monday as the I Promise School opened for at-risk kids in Akron.
The details, the back story and the future goals of I Promise are simply amazing. Humanitarian, world-wide, level of cool.
Here's the sit down with James and Rachel Nichols of ESPN.
Part of that interview is James detailing how he missed 80 days of fourth grade because he and his mother did not have a permanent place to live and stayed in multiple places all across town. Without a card or without bus service, James simply could not get to school.
There are 240 third and fourth graders enrolled at I Promise and the plan is for grades 1-through-8 by 2022.
It's both a noble gesture and a tragic realization of where we are. Are we to a place that to believe kids in public schools - yes, I Promise is part of the Akron City School System - are only going to get acceptable to great education if someone with hundreds of millions builds something in their town or their parents can afford private school?
That's a discussion for another time because what LeBron has done - and he's not the first (although hearing Jalen Rose separate his shoulder patting himself on the back and making sure everyone knows he started a Charter school in Detroit on "Get Up" this morning was painful) - is truly amazing.
What exactly is James offering these at-risk youths and their families. Get a load of this what is covered by I Promise:
Tuition. Uniforms. Transportation (within 2 miles). Food - breakfast, lunch and snacks for students; food pantry for families that need it. College tuition for every student who graduates from the school and high school. Job placement services and GED help for parents that want them. Bikes and helmet.
Good thing he didn't shut up and dribble, huh?
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones walks off the field following an NFL football training camp practice in Flowery Branch, Ga., Friday, July 27, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman)More head scratching, less head tackling
Trying to make the game safer is the only play for the NFL. Period.
It's a matter of long-term survival because as more parents say no to the dangers of the top young athletes wanting to play football and young stars walking away from the game in their 20s, the league has to do something.
That said, and before we get to the stories from training camp about the uncertainty of the newest round of rule changes coming to the NFL, let's not confuse these moves with anything related to player safety.
The league simply does not care about player safety. They care about the optics of player safety. They care about legal deniability in terms of lawsuits down the road about CTEs and brain injuries. They care about trying to improve the long-term numbers for its game.
And those goals are understandable for a multi-billion-dollar BID-ness.
But yet again, an issue that demands leadership and forethought is completely bungled by the league and its commissioner.
There are a lot of teams that will not be briefed before mere hours before their first preseason games. Almost every defensive player asked about the seminar and the projected rules changes has very little clarity on what will be league and illegal. We can't speak to NFL refs about matters like this, but by the players have said the officials running the seminar seemed unclear as well about what is a clean hit and what could be a penalty or even an ejection.
So the powers that be have altered a subjective rule that must be judged and potentially called on roughly every other offensive snap. The folks who must call that penalty are reportedly unsure about it and the players who are supposed to abide by the changes have little idea what is illegal.
Perfect.
(Can anyone come up with a truly big issue that Roger Goodell and the NFL leadership has faced that made you think, "Wow, that was well handled" in the last several years? Protests. Domestic violence. Catch rule. This rule. Is there one out there?)
This and that
- Speaking of baseball, how about these 'trade' developments out of Oakland. (Yes, trade as the BID-ness term more than the wheelin' and dealing' term.) Oakland has followed the Falcons' model of lowered concession prices, but with a twist. Fans can buy a beer membership for as little as $240 per season, and that membership has its privileges. That drops the beer prices for a 20 ounce 'Co-Cola' from 8 bucks to 4, among a slew of other perks that range, depending on the membership classification. Also part of the 2019 overhaul is the plan to not have reserve seats and allowing fans to sit wherever they want.
- Speaking of deals, the conversation by the Nationals about dealing Bryce Harper is smart. It has to happen, especially if the Nationals brass has talked extension with Harper's camp and that does not appear likely. Here's betting there could be a fair package made available, especially if a bidding war between, say the Phillies, the Cubs, the Dodgers and the Indians develops.
- Is this Karma or just the magic of what goes around comes around. After his protests during the anthem diatribe last week, Jerry Jones has since been told to hush by the NFL as the league tries to find a universal answer to the issue. Then comes this video of the Cowboys opening practice over the weekend with the anthem and Jones forgetting to remove his hat. Oh the outrage at Jones' clear lack of respect for the flag.
- OK, because, well, just because. Here's a Tweet this morning from POTUS: "Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!" So there's that. Hey, POTUS, let it go man. You won.
- This is so extreme it looks fake. Check out the difference in size between Titans running backs Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis. Oh my.
- Speaking of training camp, the Jets and Sam Darnold agreed to his rookie deal. That leaves Roquan Smith, the former Georgia linebacker, as the lone unsigned first-rounder as he and the Bears tussle on language in the deal that includes Chicago wanting to recoup guaranteed money if Smith is suspended for violating the new illegal hits rules. Yes, the ones no one is clear on.
- Here's a story about Rick Pitino pledging to tell all in a memoir set to be released in September. Here's betting he's willing to tell all of his version of the scandals left at Louisville.
Today's questions
Little true or false anyone?
True or false, the Nationals should trade Bryce Harper.
True or false, the NFL needs more rule changes for player safety.
True or false, open seating at sporting events is a good idea.
You know the deal. Answer a few leave a few. (And true, the lack of comments slows the back-n-forth on Tuesdays.)
As for July 31, well, let's look at the national days (which are overwhelming that this many things get national days).
National Avocado Day. (Foe.)
National Cotton Candy Day. (Foe.)
National Jump for Jelly Beans Day. (Big foe.)
Shredded Wheat Day. (Foe.)
National Raspberry Cake Day. (Unfamiliar.)
Man, July 31 got the short end of the stick.
As for a birthday, J.K. Rowling is 53 today. Man, that's a talented woman who had a billion-dollar idea. Along those lines, Harry Potter - Rowling's lead character in those books - was fictionally born ion this day in 1980.
Mark Cuban is 60. Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band fame is 40 today. A.J. Green is 30. (Does anyone else feel old thinking that A.J. Green is now 30?)
Wesley Snipes is 56 today.
Rushmore of Wesley Snipes movies. Go, and remember the mailbag.