This You Tony?

When the Chicago White Sox hired Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa I didn't see the appeal. The White Sox are a young talented team with the potential to go as far as the World Series and with the right leadership the future would be bright in the Southside, but LaRussa isn't it. After his hiring a lot of analysts pointed to the revolutionary things LaRussa did as a manager in the 80's and 90's (some say the modern bullpen is based on his handling of the Oakland A's bullpens of the 80's and LaRussa was an early adapter of the defensive shift in the 90's), but this is 2021. Players are aloud to show more of their personalities than they were when LaRussa was in his heyday. Bat flips and trash talk is not only accepted, but encouraged all in the effort to allure more youthful fans so that baseball seems more fun than golf. Managers like Tony LaRussa aren't helping the cause. As much as he or his bosses want to say that LaRussa is able to adapt to the modern game and letting the "kids play" I don't believe it. The first example came to light these last couple of games where LaRussa not only scolded his rookie player in public, but then went ahead and justified the same player getting retaliated against by the opposing team. 

Instead of publicly supporting the player he's going to see everyday or at least trying to minimize the damage that happened Tony LaRussa stoked the flames and when his player got hit by a pitch LaRussa came out and gave a whole bunch of excuses as to why it wasn't too surprising or he wasn't sure whether it was retaliation or not. Tony LaRussa  has been managing before I was even born so for him to say he wasn't sure whether that was retaliation or not then LaRussa really shouldn't be managing. Yermin Mercedes deserves better from his manager. The White Sox players deserve better from their manager. A manager should defend and his players from scrutiny while teaching from behind closed doors. This is a fireable offense and shame on LaRussa for defending the unwritten rules when he barely knows the written rules.

The Most Disrespected Team in the NBA

The Utah Jazz are, at least record wise, the best team in the NBA. With one legit star in Donovan Mitchell and another above average player in Rudy Gobert. Both players are having terrific seasons with Mitchell averaging 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assits per game and Gobert is averaging 14 points and 13 rebounds and a lot of Gobert's contributions coming on the defensive side of the ball. Rudy Gobert won Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019 and in the early portion of this season he ranked first in defensive rebounds, second in blocks, and his defensive rating was tops in the league. Both Mitchell and Gobert made the All Star game this year and the argument can be made that they deserve it being that they are the best players on the best team. Recently the NBA changed the way the All Star team starters were decided with the previous year's MVPs decided who would be on their team in a draft like format. This year it was Brooklyn Net star Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Laker star LeBron James deciding who would be on each team. 

Both Durant and James starting choosing players with Durant choosing both his Brooklyn Nets teammates James Harden and Kyrie Irving and LeBron choosing Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Luka Doncic amongst other players voted in by fans, players, and the rest were picked by coaches and media members. As player after player kept coming off the board only two lingered. The two stars from Utah. Both Mitchell and Gobert were left hanging. After the draft LeBron joked that the Jazz weren't a team that he played with in videogames as a child and that's what lead to him and Durant leaving them for last. The two best players on the best team in the Association need to use this as the disrespect that it is and make a run at the Larry O'Brien trophy and earn the respect that Karl Malone and John Stockton never could.

Meet the Mets?

If these are the "new" Mets then the more things change the more they stay the same. Except for the trade for Francisco Lindor (even though the Mets caught the Indians with their pants down) the Mets have missed on all of the "big names" in free agency and have been quite the mess off the field. Hiring a GM after missing out on the big executive names and then firing him soon after it turns out he sexually harassed a female reporter while sending 60+ text messages which included lewd messages and photos and more recently having to fire their hitting instructor over allegedly sexually harassing female employees in 2018 and ex-Met manager Mickey Callaway, who is now the suspended and under investigation pitching coach for the Anaheim Angels, had issues arise against him with allegeded sexual harassment accusations made against him while he was employed by the Indians, Mets, and Angels. 

It didn't get any better in the free agent market for the Mets where besides signing a bullpen arm the Mets' have swung and missed on all the big free agents that new owner Steve Cohen came in saying he was going to sign and spend big money on. The Mets had holes in centerfield, catcher, short stop, starting pitching, and relievers and the Mets were rumored to be in on the top of the market for all those positions and if it weren't for the trade for Lindor the Mets didn't get the big names. Are the players the Mets did sign any good? Sure, but would Met fans want James McCann or JT Realmuto at catcher, or Kevin Pillar or George Springer in canterfield? Getting Lindor was the move of the offseason and he is going to be a game changer for the Mets, but I'm pretty sure the fans expected more. Hopefully for the fans in Flushing their under-performance in the front office somehow leads to over-performance on the field.

Fly Blue Jays Fly

The Toronto Blue Jays are setting themselves up for a major season. Signing the top outfielder available in George Springer, one of the top offensive middle infielders in Marcus Semien (reportedly), one of the top relievers Kirby Yates, and trading for a starter that, with a change of scenery, can possibly fulfill the potential seen by many when he was ranked the 15th prospect in all of baseball in Steven Matz. Add all of those new faces to this new place (whether it be in Buffalo or Dunedin) to the young core of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichete, Cavan Biggio, and Teoscar Hernandez makes a team that is ready to make a serious run at the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays for the title of the American League East. The lineup is deep but the rotation needed so help and they got it with a reclamation project in Matz. 

With the Yankees not wanting to go over the luxury tax threshold, which as of right now stands at around 210 million dollars for the season, and the Tampa Bay Rays shedding salary by unexpectedly trading away their ace Blake Snell and letting Charlie Morton to walk away to Atlanta I see the Blue Jays as one of the most promising teams this upcoming season. The gap between the Blue Jays and the top of the American League East has slimmed down to about an eyelash with only experience really being the difference between the three teams and with the moves Toronto has made this offseason that eyelash is getting thinner and thinner. 

Rest in Peace No. 44

Today is a sad day in Major League Baseball. Today the sport, no, the world has lost one of its best. Henry Aaron, the all time home run leader until Barry Bonds passed him, has passed away. A lot of people smarter, older, and better with words are going to put those talents to work to eulogize Mr. Aaron, but I can only write up about him what I know. As a 7 year old just learning about baseball I remeber asking my oldest brother who was the all time leader in all categories: wins as a pitcher, strikeouts, hits, stolen bases and so on. My brother starting listing names of all time greats. The Nolan Ryan's, the Ricky Henderson's, and then as he stuttered to remember who led in home runs he finally snapped his fingers and said Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves. I looked around trying to get information about Mr. Aaron and found a bunch of interviews from him and he spoke about all he went through getting to the most popular record in baseball. As I've grown older and started reading into the history of the sport I continued to learn about how important Mr. Aaron was. 

Not only did he hit the most home runs in baseball, but he did it looking like a regular man not this huge out of this world athlete who regular people couldn't even strive to be like. I never had the honor to meet Hank Aaron in person, but from all accounts he was a level of humble that most athletes should strive have. Hank Aaron's presence was felt all over the game of baseball and with his actions during the racial strifes of the time he played he was one of the faces that people could look to when looking for peace. It's no lie that I am an Atlanta Braves' fan and I'm pretty sure I can say that Henry Louis Aaron was a big reason why.

Holy Blockbuster Batman

Here I am minding my business waking up from a nap when a Bleacher Report notification catches my attention. A few hours after I posted my post about Kyrie Irving and midway through a now deleted post about James Harden came the blockbuster 3 team trade (and another deal was made after that) between the Rockets, Nets, and Cavaliers. The Brooklyn Nets pretty much mortgaged their future to reunite James Harden with Kevin Durant sending 3 players, 4 draft picks, and 4 pick swaps to Houston and Cleveland for Harden. Now Brooklyn has Durant, James, and Irving on the same team. Steve Nash, the Nets head coach, either won the lotto or just had another stick of dynamite tossed into his locker room and with everything they gave up to get Harden it'll be incredibly difficult for the Nets to rebuild if the sticks of dynamite explode and take the Barclay's Center with them.

Forget about the circus tent analogy I made yesterday this is now a powder keg waiting to be lit. The 3 stars are eventually going to be on the same floor at the same time and that's going to be a test for all 3 players. All 3 are used to having the ball in their hands, all 3 are used to being "the guy". Whos' going to be the Chris Bosh of this power trio that is willing to take the back seat? Who's going to take the final shot when it comes down to it? Who the hell is going to be the point guard? All eyes will be on Steve Nash and his staff to try to make this work and it'll be interesting to see it play out live on ESPN, TNT, or NBATV because you know they're going to be flexed into as many nationally televised games as possible. Quiet question considering that they played last night (and the Knicks lost by the way to a depleted Nets team) but how do Knick fans or the organization that has been THE basketball team of New York feel about the potential juggernaut that's a bridge away? It's like if the Mets traded for Lindor and traded for Nolan Arenado while the Yankees are just sitting their twiddling their thumbs. It just doesn't feel right does it?

Is Kyrie Worth it?

The experiment in Brooklyn is underway. The newest super power duo of the NBA, led by first time head coach Steve Nash, are 6-6 after last night's win against the Denver Nuggets thanks in part to the near triple double from Kevin Durant. The other half of the duo though, Kyrie Irving, has been MIA. Irving's last game was on January 5th in a win against Utah where in 30 minutes he scored 29 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists an impressive stat line considering that Kevin Durant didn't play that night. Irving has had bouts of genius on the hardwood when he hasn't been the "main guy" but for the most part Irving has been more of a distraction than he has been a positive for the majority of the teams he's been on. Sure Irving has won a championship, but would he have been put in the position to hit the game winning 3 against the Golden State Warriors while on the Cleveland Cavaliers had it not been for LeBron James? When Irving departed for Boston and promised to lead that very young team to victory some would say that the Celtics were better while Irving was off the floor rather than while he was on the floor.

And now with Irving having been MIA for that last few games citing "personal reasons" and with videos coming out of him partying it up mask-less and with a sure fire quaratine in his future after a few rounds of Covid tests a few questions just come to mind: when is Irving going to play again? Did Durant sign up to be playing by himself? How is Steve Nash really dealing with Irving's behavior? Are the Nets going to hold Irving responsible and if they do how is Irving going to respond to that? You would think Kevin Durant being the best player on the team and the most decorated player on the team would step up and get into Irving's face and try to put him in line, but I'm not sure that's Durant-type behavior. Kevin Durant isn't known as an "in your face kind of leader" he was just ready to jump ship once things got testy in Golden State. The experiment is underway, but who knew it brought a circus tent with it.