December 11, 2024
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers for finally getting their man, Shohei Ohtani! To the Dodgers credit, they identified a player they were willing to go all in on, cleared the payroll, and signed him. This was years in the making. I had a hard time seeing Andrew Friedman giving those kinds of dollars and years to a player, even as good as Ohtani, but when he knows what he wants, he can spend. Also, enough of the “Dave Roberts blew it with his comments” nonsense. He said nothing. I love the Dodgers big market mentality and going for it, but with that being said, $700 million? $550 or $600 million wasn’t going to get the deal done? The only way to rationalize this deal from a monetary standpoint is that Ohtani brings more than $700 million of business and promotional value to the Dodgers. I realize much of the money is deferred, much it’s still a hefty price tag and term. For those of you that are complaining that he should have publicized his free agency more, if he did what Lebron did in 2011 and made a spectacle of it, he would be criticized as well. Professional athletes can handle their free agency however they want to, and they’ve earned that right. For the Dodgers though, I sure hope this doesn’t adversely impact the teams ability to add more talent, and pitching in particular. The Dodgers still need 2-3 good starting pitchers. Sure having a lineup of Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Max Muncy is amazing, but they still need to pitch and hit come playoff time. Whether or not they add more of that talent remains to be seen. However, the city of Los Angeles is all about star power, so credit to the Dodgers for recognizing it and doing everything in their power to acquire the biggest star in baseball. I’d also like to congratulate the State of California on their new found wealth after Ohtani’s $700 mllion deal. Can’t wait to see how they let those tax dollars go to waste!
As for the Angels, nobody can be surprised that Shohei Ohtani left, except maybe Arte Moreno. Multiple things can be true at the same time though. The Angels are better off not committing $700 million for a player when they have limited resources given how they are constructed. At the same time, they completely wasted the time they had with both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout as part of their franchise. Poor Trout! After Ohtani’s departure, the only chance he’ll have to be a part of the MLB postseason is by renewing his subscription to Cox Cable. Unfortunately, Arte’s perception of his franchise is much different than the perception around the league, which is going to hurt his ability to attract big name free agents. Since that seems to be the only way he wants to build his franchise, that’s a problem. However, imagine if they took just $100 million and invested it into scouting and player development? This team might actually go somewhere, but that of course is completely lost on Moreno. At some point Moreno has to look himself in the mirror and be honest with himself about what he’s doing to his franchise.
To the NBA, where I’m sure people will make their jokes about the Lakers knowing how to win “fake championships”, but I don’t care. Winning the In Season Tournament is really good for this team because it reminds them of their potential. It’s also great ammunition for Lebron stans to claim that LBJ just did something Michael Jordan never did. The Lakers are getting healthier, and they are winning games against good teams. That includes the health of Lebron and Anthony Davis, who both look healthier than last year, which explains their elite play the last few weeks. The Lakers have also started to play better without getting contributions from Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent, who should only help their cause as the season goes on once they get healthy. Of course some of you might say that’s a reason to make a trade involving Rui for more help, but I disagree. Sometimes you just have to let the chemistry develop, which the Lakers have been doing. The ceiling for this team is even higher than we’ve seen, and that’s good news for Laker fans.
As for the Clippers, they are quietly playing much better. The only thing I don’t understand is why they are saying stupid things to the media. PJ Tucker says there aren’t enough basketballs for all of the stars on the team. That’s a sure way to get cut from the team when you’re already on the bubble. Then James Harden revealed that Russell Westbrook is getting frustrated with his playing time getting cut. Why would you share that? Just keep your business in house so we don’t actually think you are more of a shit show than than we already think. I bet these dudes publicly air their grievances on Twitter about their marriages too.
In the NFL, although that was a game I didn’t really expect the Rams to win, the loss against the Ravens still hurt. It’s really a reminder that the Rams are tough, but against the elite they just seem be a play or two away from coming away with the wins they need. Matt Stafford and the offense played excellent against one of the league’s best defenses on the road. However, burning that timeout with under 20 seconds left was very costly, and would have given the team another shot at the end zone to win the game. I am getting a little tired of the “win or lose, the Rams played a great game” narrative. It’s a frustrating loss because they did outplay a Super Bowl contender. However, if they can keep Kupp and Stafford healthy, this is looking more and more like a playoff team, that might even be able to win on wild card weekend.
Meanwhile, the Chargers reminded us that they just aren’t a very good football team, after getting handled by the Broncos. The Bolts don’t have the ownership and they don’t have the coaching. They do not have a healthy quarterback either, with Justin Herbert suffering a fractured index finger in yesterday’s game. Brandon Staley cannot convert a 4th down to save his life these days. He must have some junior high intern doing his analytics here, because he converts about 1% of the time in those situations. At this point, they can definitely kiss their playoff chances goodbye this year. Not only are the Bolts much closer to a Top 5 pick than the playoffs, but with Herbert missing time, they are actually poised for a very high first round pick. If only they could trade that pick for both new ownership and coaching!
I can’t blame Caleb Williams for skipping out on the Holiday Bowl, and neither should you. Williams could be the #1 pick in this spring’s NFL Draft, and even if he isn’t, he’ll be high enough to warrant not playing. With that being said, this is just a reminder that outside of the playoff teams, these are simply glorified consolation games, no matter who cool we try to make them sound. Frankly, I’m astonished the Holiday Bowl even took the Trojans with 5 losses. In any case, it will be a great opportunity for the Trojans to audition Miller Moss for QB next season, although in reality, they will probably land a big name in the transfer portal.
At some point these near upsets UCLA is pulling off against teams won’t matter. It’s not helping their NCAA Tournament resume. This time it was a loss against Villanova. They are also in the “other receiving votes” category, but good enough to help the Bruins resume had they won. They failed to defend the 3-point line, failed to play with toughness, and made a number of mental mistakes like not boxing out, which cost them. We can talk about potential all we want, but we’ve really reached the point where if the Bruins don’t win these games quickly, they are going to find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble come Selection Sunday.
It was great to see Bronny James on the court yesterday make his debut for USC. It was also incredible to see the line of fans waiting outside of the Galen Center to watch his debut. I’m pretty sure most USC fans didn’t realize that they had a basketball team until Bronny showed up. Obviously he’s on a minutes restriction, but he made some exciting plays, and hopefully he continues to get better and overcome his cardiac issue. With that being said, the Trojans have 4 losses, including UC Irvine and Long Beach State. I don’t think this team is all that good, despite the pre-season hype.
