30 Questions for 30 Teams, Part 2—The AL Central

This is the division last year that produced the AL representative in the World Series… and not much else. This year, the Indians and White Sox hope to have a say in how the division shakes out, and the Twins and Royals could both turn the corner and make a play for a spot. What’s interesting about the Central is that every team except the Royals has multiple division wins since the division was created in 1994. In fact, the non-Royals members have each one at least one division title since 2007, when the Cleveland Indians last took the crown.

Chicago White Sox – Are They Too Old?
The White Sox last season made a run at the division, but faded down the stretch. They were 72-59 at the end of August and had a three-game lead on the eventual AL champion Tigers. However, September and October were disastrous for them, as they went 13-18 after August 31st. The only way a White Sox player got into a playoff game last year was with a ticket. They ended up not even close to making it in with the newly-created second Wild Card slot; finishing fourth, solidly behind those ahead of them.

The White Sox are built to win now, with many of their players reaching the twilight of their careers (or in the case of Paul Konerko, the dead cat bounce, he’s seemingly been baseball old for forever). The White Sox are leaning on many players who are 32 years old or older, including the aforementioned Konerko, but also Dunn, Peavy, Thornton, Alex Rios and Jeff Keppinger. These are all key players at key positions. The White Sox seemingly recognized their aging issue and dumped AJ Pierzynski, letting him sign with the Texas Rangers. They have loads of young talent—masher Dayan Viciedo, Gordon Beckham, and other solid, young contributors. The problem is that they are only contributors. The backbone of this team is aging, and rapidly so.

The aging Sox players have one more good season in them, but this will be their last hurrah. Dunn, Konerko and Peavy make up the retirement community backbone of the club. Konerko is the oldest, but has “old man skills.” He takes a bunch of walks, gets good, solid contact, and mashes the occasional tater or two. The same can be said of Dunn, who has the “three true outcomes” down pat. He seemingly only strikes out, walks or hits a homerun. The plate vision of these two allows them to age gracefully, and prevents a suddenly, precipitous decline of the Sox.

Bold Prediction: The White Sox don’t come apart at the seams in the home stretch this year and take the AL Central. They, unfortunately, don’t have the rotation required to really do damage in the playoffs. Their ceiling is an ALCS loss. After last season, however, they will be happy they didn’t fall apart down the stretch, at least.

 

Cleveland Indians – Does the Cash Flashing Pay Off?
Last year, the Indians finished 68-94 last season, almost crossing that dreaded 100 loss threshold. It cost Manny Acta his job, and many of their everyday players theirs, as well. They were major players this offseason. They turned the corpse of Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Travis Hafner (nicknamed Pronk for half project, half donkey, who should just be nicknamed Donk now as his time as a prospect has passed) and Derek Lowe into Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Drew Stubbs, Mark Reynolds and wonder-prospect Trevor Bauer. They also picked up former Red Sox manager Terry Francona to run this new-look franchise.

In one offseason they shed the weight of failed expectations after their 2007 playoff run. They removed the centerpieces of Hafner, Sizemore and Choo and turned them into pieces valuable in other ways. The clear focus of the team is now to build around home-grown players Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana at Second Base, Shortstop and Catcher, respectively. They brought in a speedster in Bourn, veteran contributors in Swisher and Stubbs and a masher in Mark Reynolds. By bringing in Bauer for pennies on the dollar because Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson is a doofus. This gives them a core of Cabrera, Santana, Kipnis and Bauer that should make them seriously dangerous in a few years while contending for the now.

Their defensive outfield is now one of, if not the best, in baseball. It should even make Ubaldo Jimenez look halfway respectable. The Indians are among the teams thanking their lucky stars for the new, second Wild Card spot. They’re up there with the A’s and Blue Jays in contention for that spot.

Bold Prediction: The new-look Indians, behind breakouts from Kipnis and Cabrera, are propelled to the second Wild Card spot, where they lose. However, after last season, that should be enough for the Cleveland fans.  Double bold: they finally lose the hyper-racist Chief Wahoo. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

 

Detroit Tigers – Can They Repeat 2012?
The AL Champions were overwhelming favorites to defeat the Giants in the World Series last year. At the opening of the series, the Fox broadcasters had them outmatching the Giants in nearly every aspect. They famously gave the Tigers two check marks for being so good at starting pitching. This was, of course, before Pablo Sandoval hit three homeruns off of Justin Verlander in game one. The Giants never looked back, sweeping the Tigers en route to their second title in three years. This isn’t the first time the Tigers lost while they were overwhelming favorites to win the series. In 2006, USA Today said, “The Detroit Tigers' biggest obstacle to a championship will be keeping a straight face. The Tigers in three.” They then proceeded to lose to the Cardinals. Tigers writers were very careful to sidestep any sort of “Tigers in three,” nonsense this time around, but expectations were high headed into the series.

Coming back for 2013, the Tigers signed super ace Justin Verlander long-term, giving him the richest contract for a pitcher ever, and deservedly so. Returning this year is MVP and Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, masher Prince Fielder and most of the other parts of their run. They made two major moves in the offseason. First, they declined to resign Delmon Young, turning him into Torii Hunter. Second, they let the tire fire that Jose Valverde became last year walk, turning to a committee of Al Albuquerque, Phil Coke and Jose Villarreal to handle the ninth after young Bruce Rondon proved too wild and not ready for the majors.

Why mess with success? The Tigers did exactly what they needed to this offseason—keep the gang together. They jettisoned unnecessary parts in Valverde and Young. Some people said Hunter’s last year was smoke and mirrors, benefitting from the great bats around him to get pitches (Trout and Pujols). Hitting around Fielder and Cabrera isn’t exactly a step down, and the aging Hunter doesn’t really show signs of slowing down.

The AL Central, while stronger, doesn’t really offer a contender to their crown. The White Sox come closest, but they are aging rapidly and their minor parts don’t add up to those of the Tigers. The Tigers are a shoo-in to repeat for the AL Central title and have a date with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALCS this year.

Bold Prediction: Tigers in three. But seriously, a year removed from getting swept, the Tigers finally put it all together at the right time and hoist the World Series trophy. Miguel Cabrera repeats as MVP because the fact that he’s slow and doesn’t really do much on defense doesn’t really matter to sports writers because of ribbies and dingers.

 

Kansas City Royals – Can anyone name 5 players on their roster?
For the record: Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, James Shields & Billy Butler.

Tied for the youngest roster in the majors, the vaunted Royals farm system of a few years ago is (hopefully) starting to pay dividends. This is a hope, especially since they traded their last few minor league parts worth anything to get James Shields this offseason. They have a lot of young guns in the infield, and their age is buoyed by 75 year-old Miguel Tejada making the opening day roster. Yes, that Miguel Tejada. The problem is that the Royals remain buried at the bottom of the AL Central annually, being the only team to have never won it.  They have definite talent, but appear, like the Indians, to be gearing up for the future.

I think the Royals of 2015 will be one of the better teams in baseball, but right now is not 2015. Their rotation, outside of the aforementioned Shields, is a mess. They have Jeff Francoeur manning right, who has never seen a terrible pitch he didn’t want to love. There isn’t a lot to say about the Royals for 2012. They aren’t built to contend now. I am hopeful and eager to see the seasons that Hosmer, Moustakas and Cain turn out for them, mostly in determining what the future will hold for Missouri’s other team.

Bold Prediction: The Royals win it all! Now, that would be really bold. The best case scenario for the Royals is third in the AL Central, and sniffing the conversation for a Wild Card spot. Bold prediction is Mike Moustakas becomes the premier young third baseman in the AL, after posting a .950+ OPS and making the middle of their lineup acceptable.

Minnesota Twins – Joe Mauer and… What?
The Twins are entirely forgettable. In fact, I forgot they existed while I was writing this piece. I only remembered when I went to do the world count and it felt a bit light. This is the plight of the 2013 Minnesota Twins. They aren’t going to contend and they aren’t going to be the worst. They’re going to be comfortably in the middle of baseball this year. If I were to do a ranking from scratch, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the Twins smack dab in the middle at 15/16. They aren’t going to be the best team and they aren’t going to be the worst. Unfortunately, they’re going to be stuck in pointlessness.

They have a roster full of guys who could stick elsewhere, they aren’t really hopeless. The only problem is behind Willingham, Mauer, and if he’s finally back, Morneau, there’s a ton of second and third tier players. Fourth outfielders and utility infielders and third/fourth starters thrust into the limelight. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the Twins. They are baseball’s equivalent of vanilla pudding. They aren’t blowing anybody away and they aren’t going to make any “all-suck” teams.

The question becomes at the All-Star break are the Twins going to be in the hunt for a playoff spot or are they going to be selling off pieces for another team. If Morneau picks up where he was pre-concussion, they could pick up a piece or two that will propel them into the playoffs. At the same time they could be sellers at the deadline, moving expensive pieces like Josh Willingham or Kevin Correia. The Twins are the most throw your hands up and shrug your shoulders team in baseball.

 

The AL Central this year is the Tigers, then the Indians and White Sox, then a big step down to the Twins, then a huge step down to the Royals. They epitomize the different tiers of MLB. You have the true contenders, represented by the Tigers, then a step down to the Playoff Hunters, which is the Indians and the White Sox. Then you have the Middling Teams, of which the Twins are the most middling. Then you have the worst, which the Royals represent. The top of the division isn’t going to be all that interesting, as the Tigers appear to have a stranglehold on that top spot. The second-tier Indians and White Sox are the true stories, as they will be in the hunt for one of the two Wild Card spots.

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30 Questions for 30 Teams, Part 1–The AL West

Spring training ends today and the Rangers and Astros kick off the season with the brand new AL West rivalry tomorrow. Every team has major questions going into the season, even the AL Champion Tigers and World Series Champion Giants. Here I’m going to outline my questions for each team, alongside a bold prediction for the best case scenario for each team. The best case scenario for several teams is winning the World Series, so I will likely have several teams winning it in my reviews.

Houston Astros – How Will Their Tiny Payroll Compete?
In an effort to realign baseball, the Houston Astros moved to the American League West; now they have a new set of people to kick around their anemic franchise. They got new jerseys and colors which are neat, but the most exciting part of the team is the new gear.

There has been much to do about the Houston Astros and their miniscule payroll. It’s been famously compared to Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez’s $29,000,000 pay this year; it falls significantly short of even that mark. Their highest paid player this year will be Bud Norris, of the career 4.42 ERA. He’s making $3,000,000. A-Rod is out for half the season so he will make more than that before he even picks up a bat.

There are some halfway decent players on the roster, but they are all young or cheap as it is clear their plan is to rebuild and compete in a few years. This is a smart maneuver, considering how poorly throwing cash at guys like Carlos Lee and Roy Oswalt worked out for them in recent years.

The Astros may be competitive in a few years, but it isn’t in a few years right now. Jose Altuve has legitimate potential and is quickly vaulting himself into the upper echelon at the position. Outside of that, however… there isn’t much worth talking about right now. JD Martinez could be a decent fourth outfielder, but instead he’s a starter, because the Astros are still in the process of putting something decent together in a few years.

The unfortunate situation of the 2013 Astros is that they stand no chance of being anything but cannon fodder for the rest of the league. This isn’t through stupidity or cheapness on the part of ownership, but rather a calculated effort. They’re saving cash now on short, cheap deals while their homegrown talent buds, ensuring the financial flexibility to put pieces around them when they flourish.

The Astros looked at the Rangers and Angels gearing up for war, and the suddenly resurgent A’s becoming a viable team now, and they decided that a few years from now is a better bet. As the fan of a terrible team (the Kings), you just have to realize that the product put out there isn’t out there to win, but rather to act as a placeholder to future years. The Astros have no chance of ending up anywhere but firmly in the basement of the American League West, and actually, likely the entire American League, if not all of baseball.

Bold Prediction: The Astros get their acts together and their hodgepodge of a pitching staff turns out halfway decent performances. Pulling in the fences at Safeco backfires on the Mariners and they, not the Astros, end up in the basement.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – Are Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton Broken?
The The Angeles Angels of Anaheim spent megabucks on the free agent prize of last offseason, and he rewarded them by giving them the worst year of his career. Granted, the worst year of his career included 30 homeruns and an .859 OPS. What’s interesting about this is that this is actually not that far off from his final year in St. Louis. A quick glance at Pujols’s career stats indicate that he has been on a steady decline of power, average and ability to take walks since 2009. His strikeout rate hasn’t steadily spiked, but his other categories have declined since then.

This preseason, Pujols has been fighting a plantar fasciitis issue, which, according to Pujols, has been bothering him off and on over the last seven seasons. The years have not been kind to Pujols, who broke into the league white hot and didn’t slow down over his first eight seasons.

The opposite story is Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is the darling story for MLB reclamation projects; he was drafted in 1999 but drug problems threw his career off the rails until he busted onto the scene in 2008 with the Rangers. He was one of baseball’s most valuable players over the last five years, proving it by winning MVP in 2010. He joined Pujols this offseason as the Angels eye the World Series, apparently, by trying to purchase it. Hamilton has been incredible when he has been playing for the Rangers. The only problem is getting Josh Hamilton onto a field (and not killing fans in the process). Hamilton has only played more than 135 games twice in his six seasons and is the poster child for persistent injury risks with massive rewards while on the field.

If, and that’s a big if, the Angels can get Pujols to produce at the level they thought he would produce when they gave him his contract and if they can keep Josh Hamilton on the field, they are going to have the most potent offense in baseball.

Bold Prediction: Pujols, Hamilton, and wunderkid Mike Trout all reproduce their best years (in the case of Trout, his only year) and they coast to the World Series, scoring 1,000 runs in the regular season and steamrolling the AL in the playoffs. Pujols becomes the new Mr. October, leading a second team to a World Series victory in three years, winning the World Series MVP in the process.

Oakland A’s – Weekend At Bernie’s II?
Okay that one isn’t really a question, but the name of a movie with a question mark after it. You caught me. The A’s last season were the darlings of baseball, a rag tag group of offensive misfits with a solid, but unexciting pitching staff that fell bass ackwards into a playoff spot last year. They’re a team of misfits and castoffs (appropriate to partially duplicate Moneyball after the movie adaptation comes out) that had a pitching staff lead them to the playoffs and the AL West crown.

There is a dance sensation, before Gangam Style and before the Harlem Shake meme, called the Bernie Lean. Let me tell you about the A’s and the Bernie Lean. They love it. There are bobble head nights of players doing the Bernie Lean. The Bernie Lean is based off the movements of Terry Kiser’s Bernie character, who was dead, in the Weekend at Bernie’s movies.

If you aren’t familiar with Weekend at Bernie’s, the pertinent information you need to know is that a couple of guys make it seem like a dead guy is alive through carcass puppetry to their own reward. This feels like an apt description of the A’s hitting and pitching, except the hitting is the carcass. They have a wholly unexciting, although likeable roster of hitters that was buoyed by their significantly above-par pitching. This plus some end-of-game comeback victories and antics propelled the A’s to play significantly over their heads last year.

After the success of Weekend at Bernie’s, somebody decided that a sequel would be a good idea. The question in Oakland is can they repeat their Bernie season? Conventional wisdom says that they should be able to repeat it, as pitching is, in theory, relatively consistent. The only issue is that the division is improved, what with Josh Hamilton’s addition to the Angels and everybody suddenly having the Astros to kick around. The A’s could field a team with the same talent level but face better competition in the Angels, who, in turn, face easier competition in the Astros. The Angels are less likely to lose to the Astros than the A’s are, which does not bode well for he Athletics.

Bold Prediction: The A’s return to form and their offense takes a massive step forward. Their ace Brett Anderson, who pitched few games last year after returning from injury turns on beast mode. He leads the A’s to an ALCS loss after a Cy Young worthy campaign. Weekend at Bernie’s II is an improvement on the original.

Seattle Mariners – Does Anybody care About the Seattle Mariners?
This was a hard one to figure out what to write about. After trading away Ichiro last year, the Mariners are a pile of nothing with a King Felix cherry on top. Writing about Seattle sports in an objective manor is difficult for me, mostly because of the Kings-to-Seattle situation and, well, Richard Sherman (and most Seahawks fans).

The Mariners have a lot of so-so talent on their roster, with some guys that are supposed to be good at some point in the future (much like the Astros). Oh, and they have Felix Hernandez. King Felix is easily one of the top-ten pitchers in baseball and the bright spot on the roster. There are a lot of “ifs” on the roster, if Jesus Montero gets his defense together, if Hisashi Iwakuma can repeat his performance from last year, if Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Justin Smoak finally live up to their expectations. The Mariners need a lot of things to go right to be relevant this year. A lot. And I don’t see a lot of them happening.

The AL West is suddenly competitive. The team that won the division last year, the A’s, are not the team that is most improved (the Angels) and it isn’t the team that has made two visits two the World Series out of the last three fall classics. The Astros, the other team in their division, is laughably bad and making their first foray into the American League. This leaves the Mariners, who are bad, not terrible, and not good. They are analogous to the Phoenix Suns in the NBA and the Tennessee Titans in the NFL.

Bold Prediction: All the ifs on the roster turn out to be great and they fall just short of the second Wild Card position. The team, much like the Astros, isn’t built to compete now. Competing now isn’t in the cards, just don’t tell Seattle sports fans, suddenly buoyed by the first-round defeat of the Seattle Seahawks and the failed attempt to revive the Seattle Supersonics.

Texas Rangers – Do They Win a World Series?
Always the brides maid, never the bride. The Rangers watched the Giants celebrate a World Series victory in 2010, then saw the sequel in 2011 starring the St. Louis Cardinals. Ron Washington’s squad eventually has to ask themselves if they’ll ever be the bride. It will be a rougher going this year than it has been yet for the Rangers, what with the aforementioned loss of Josh Hamilton to the in-division rival Angels. However, the Rangers still have a squad that can definitely compete for a title.

The loss of Josh Hamilton is huge, and I am going to make no effort to downplay the hole it makes in their lineup. However, the team still has many potent pieces on their offense; Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre are all tops offensively at their positions. Mitch Moreland may be poised to join them soon. 

Their pitching is great, and many people are predicting great things for the second-year Japanese import Yu Darvish. They have the pieces to make a great run at the playoffs, and even stand a chance at making it to their third World Series in four years. The only problem is that they need someone to fill the spot that Josh Hamilton vacated. Granted, Hamilton was usually hurt when he was with them, he was generally healthy for the playoffs when it mattered. Some think that Leonys Martin may begin to fill Hamilton’s role, but I am skeptical that he has the requisite skill to do so.

The Rangers are one of the best teams in baseball, and they were without regular access to the services of Josh Hamilton. They shouldn’t have an issue with doing great this year as they are setup to be one of the premiere franchises in baseball for the next few years

Bold Prediction: The bridesmaid finally makes it down the aisle. Ron Washington’s team successfully competes without the specter of Josh Hamilton towering over them. They get hot at the right time and take home the requisite hardware that validates not resigning Josh Hamilton.

 

When I set out to write the Five Questions about the AL West, I didn’t realize the storylines available to me. This shows how interesting and different baseball can be. One division holds two potential World Series winners, a playoff contender and two absolute junkers.  I’m hopefully going to get my five questions completed for the whole league soon. If not, we’re finally entering a time with something to talk about, so play ball!

 

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Pretty Neat Trick

Blogspot ate my Giants post when I posted the Dodgers one. Trying to fix that...

Five Questions–MLB–Los Angeles Dodgers

Well--looks like my Giants post was saved over. Here's the Dodgers one, with the updated count. I'm trying to recover the Giants one but we'll see...

Taking a break from writing a about a team I love, this one is about a team I must, by contract, hate. The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers were sold by the reality-tv-worthy and cash-strapped McCourts last year to a group led by NBA legend Magic Johnson. What transpired afterwards appeared to be Magic Johnson playing out a real-life fantasy baseball team (from 2010). They traded for SS Hanley Ramirez, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, OF Carl Crawford & SP Josh Beckett. Then in the off-season they signed SP Zach Greinke to a massive free agent contract.  Johnson certainly loosened the purse strings, adding to OF superstar Matt Kemp and ace Clayton Kershaw.
The Dodgers tooled up because they looked up in the division and saw their rivals leading the way and taking home the title two out of the last three years. The new ownership immediately committed themselves to winning. The only problem is every single one of the players I named, except for Clayton Kershaw, is surrounded by question marks. Their ceiling, with that talent, is going all the way. The only problem is their floor; the question marks surrounding those players could lead them all the way to fourth place in the division (nobody is finishing behind the Rockies in most scenarios).

1. Do Carl Crawford, Zach Greinke and Hanley Ramirez All Bounce Back From Injury?
Holy moly! That’s a lot of money tied up in a lot of injured players. Except for the Yankees, that is probably the most amount of money spent to be hurt or questionably effective due to injury at the beginning of the season.

Crawford is poised to start the season in Left Field, as he is already DHing and made his in-field debut on Saturday in the Cactus League. His season ended last year after getting Tommy John Surgery on his elbow. Prior to that, he posted a ho-hum slash line of .282/.306/.479 in his short stint with the Red Sox. He is known as a lethal speed/power combo but only had 5 stolen bases and 3 homeruns in 31 games. That paces out as roughly 25 stolen bases and 15 homeruns—after posting only 18 and 11 the year before. Crawford was not the same player he was for the Rays after he signed his massive contract. Hopefully for the Dodgers, the time away from the game has cleared Crawford’s head and he can return to form.  The downside to Crawford is he could, potentially, be set now that he’s had his payday. He was struggling mightily in Boston before the injury, but time will tell if he’s over it.

Greinke and Hanley’s injuries are far more recent, and moderately more concerning going into the season for the boys in Chavez Ravine. Greinke felt some pain in his arm but he’s worked through it and by all reports he is doing okay now. We’ve heard that before, the only question is if this becomes a long-term issue that he tries to pitch through before requiring Tommy John, a la 2012 Brian Wilson.  Hanley broke his thumb in the World Baseball Classic but does not have any muscle damage to his hand. The Dodgers hope he can return to form without any issues.

The 2012 Dodgers have a lot of payroll tied up in players who have recently been hurt or are coming off injury. The rest of their team has a few questions, as well.

2. Which Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez Show Up in 2013?
No matter how you slice it, even with Hanley Ramirez, these two are supposed to be the cornerstones of the offense. The only problem is that both these players had big 2011 campaigns that they followed up with disappointing ones in 2012. Gonzalez’s was especially putrid as he fell flat on his face in Boston. Kemp was disappointing after a near 40/40 season but he can hand wave that away with injuries. Gonzalez came alive a bit returning to the NL West after doing poorly for the Red Sox and the buzz saw that is the AL East. He should be more like Gonzalez in San Diego than the one who stunk it up in Boston.

The Dodgers can soar or absolutely plummet in 2012, and so much of their success or failure rides on these two players.

3. What About the Old Arms?
Chris Capuano, Aaron Harang & Ted Lilly make up the theoretical 6th, 7th and 8th starters for the Dodgers—bringing in Josh Beckett and Zach Greinke while having these guys on contract will cause this issue. That’s a lot of old talent to be sitting around twiddling their thumbs, maybe coming in for spot starts or middle relief. This is an interesting problem for the Dodgers to have, because if they’re buyers or sellers at the deadline, one or two of these guys can be traded. They’re all serviceable 4th or 5th starters around the league, and their usage is an interesting problem for the Dodgers to have. How they manage this surplus may determine the fate of their season.

4. League vs. Jansen?
Now, I think the closer role is garbage; you should save your best relief pitchers for high-leverage situations, whether or not it happens in the ninth inning. This is becoming the prevalent thought, thank God.

Brandon League was given a rather large contract in the offseason to be The Guy, which is my preferred nomenclature to The Closer. He was given the big bucks to go into high leverage situations and do the dirty work. The only problem is that the Dodgers had a guy who was already pretty good at that on their roster in Kenley Jansen. Now, Jensen isn’t making nearly as much money as League; the reason this is a question is can they turn away from League after committing $22.5 million to him over the next three seasons and turn to Jansen. Not learning when to cut bait on who is supposed to be your high leverage guy can cost a team a season, a manager a job, and a city a viable team (see Miami Marlins and the Heath Bell Problem).

5. Can They Catch Up?
The Dodgers are starting in a hole with Hanley Ramirez sidelined and Juan Uribe sliding into his place in the starting lineup. Uribe is… not very good. He’s so bad he escaped the Brian Sabean Special. It will be interesting to see if by the time the Ramirez returns if the Dodgers have held themselves together with bubblegum and popsicle sticks long enough that they aren’t in an irreparable hole. The second Wild Card spot will definitely help them here. If they fall apart before Ramirez comes back, they are still talented enough to try to vie for that fifth playoff spot. 

Five questions for the Dodgers for 2013… They are the team that’s most difficult to place. They have immeasurable talent in all facets of their team, but all players come with a huge question mark. Not even addressed is Greinke’s history of mental health issues, alongside all the physical ailments and the players coming off down years. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Dodgers languishing in the bottom 10 of the league, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they hoist the trophy in October. They have the most on their line when addressing their questions.

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#ChampionshipOffseason; “Brief” Reactions from Day 2

This was a literal hashtag from a player on a team making a lot of big splashes early in the NFL new year.  I don’t want to call them out because it looks like I may be bashing the team and/or player. It won’t get the media play that Vince Young’s “Dream Team” did a couple years ago but it perfectly accentuates the issues with the NFL offseason.  Everybody is trying to make waves in March, getting excited and not realizing that making waves in January is what counts. This isn’t a “KISS THE RINGS” argument, just a pet peeve of mine. Too many teams are focused on making the big splash and nabbing the big name, rather than getting a player that works with their team or system and going from there. Instead, they need to show their fans that they are trying and are going to take “The Next Step.” The perfect example of this is the Lions using their cap dollars to sign Reggie Bush.

The Lions used a stable of running backs last year, including Joique Bell, who they dubbed their “Closer.”  Bell would come in at the end of games because of his catching ability and the fact that he represented a “change of pace” back option. Reggie Bush is touted as an above average pass catcher and an above average runner. The only issue is that Joique Bell represents essentially the same dimension of their offense.

Bush last year averaged 5.62 yards per target last year, which is not bad. His average yards after catch (YAC) was 4.73 per target, this means that Bush’s average target was just behind 1-yard from scrimmage (.89 yards from scrimmage to be precise). These are over 52 targets and 35 receptions—just about 67% of his targets were caught, but I’m sure his quarterback had something to do with it; especially considering that ProFootballFocus.com puts Bush at about a 3% drop rate for his career; one of the best at Running Back.

Bush would have been a great pickup for most teams who aren’t looking to run the football very often; an RB who can come out of the backfield and catch passes is becoming more useful in today’s pass-happy spread/west coast/whatever Chip Kelly ran with the pictures of Oprah and scallions at Oregon/now at Philadelphia. The only problem is that the Lions already had a Reggie Bush on their roster in the form of Joique Bell. Bell is a little bit beefier; 5’11” 220 lbs to Bush’s 6’ 200 lbs (both according to pro-football-reference.com), and they run a similar game.

Both backs appear much happier catching a ball in space and getting taken out by a defensive back or an outside linebacker than running the ball up the gut and getting taken out by a lineman (AKA having a fat man fall on you). Bush represents a decent commitment at 4 years, $16 million, but that money could have been better spent replacing vacating talent, such as Cliff Avril or Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Joique Bell is Reggie Bush minus the hype, the Heisman (oh wait) and the name recognition. Maybe if Joique could pry away a Kardashian from Kanye West or Lamar Odom, he could have gotten the nod as the Lions lead back going into this season.

The role in which Bush is meant to be used is clear; he is to run it sometimes, and catch it a lot. This is what I would do if I were the Lions and I had a Calvin Johnson as a target. So let’s compare Bell to Bush’s numbers outlined above.

Bell had 485 receiving yards on 68 targets, or 7.1  yards per target; better than Bush on more opportunities. Granted, Bell’s role as a “Closer” and the Lions propensity for losing last season, and the fact that the Dolphins decided Ryan Tannehill would throw to Bush, this naturally means that Bell had more opportunities. The thing is that Bell, on first glance, appeared to do more with his opportunities. Maybe this is an artifact of the pass-happy Lions offense, so let’s look deeper at the yards after catch per target and average point of reception, like we did with Bush.

Bell averaged just about 6.1 yards after the catch per target. This, again, trounces Bush; Bell was already on the roster, they just needed to give him a chance.  For reference, Bell’s average point of reception was almost exactly the 1-yard line. Bush and Bell were given the same chances, and Bell did more with them. Now Reggie Bush has been brought in to become the feature back at $4 million a year and do worse what someone on their roster already did well.

Why did the Lions do this? Well, two years ago, they finally made the playoffs after decades of pure stink. Just godawful putridity. Last season they returned to pungent status by going 4-12 and ending up last in a division that featured Joe Webb: Playoff Quarterback. They had to convince fans in March that they need to stick with them until September. This is the Offseason Championship Syndrome.

Other teams have done it as well so far this offseason. The Dolphins, Broncos and Eagles (heck, even the Lions) are prepping themselves to have one of their players trip over their own tongues and call them a Dream Team, a la Vince Young and the Philadelphia Eagles before they drooled their way to an 8-8 record.

As an aside, I looked that record up on Wikipedia and it tells me that their big acquisitions prior to 2011 were: Nnamdi Asomugha, Ronnie Brown, Steve Smith, Donald Lee, Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. With Asomugha, Rodgers-Cromartie and Jenkins looking otherwhere this offseason, none of those players currently wear a Philadelphia Eagles uniform. Neither does Vince Young. Funny how the NFL works.

 

WARNING: BELOW THIS LINE IS THE BEST THING THAT WILL HAPPEN THIS OFFSEASON

Player A is a slot receiver; he is about 5’10” and about 185 pounds. He is very undersized for his position and people often use the term “scrappy” to depict his play (this means he is white and not terrible). Player A played his college ball at Texas Tech and has had a fairly successful career as his team’s number one pass-catching option. It is not rare for him to rack up 100 yards receiving on 7 or so passes caught a game. Early in his career, Player A returned kicks and punts, but has stopped in the last few years over concerns with keeping him healthy. Player A was a free agent who signed a contract today, and will have one of the all-time great quarterbacks passing to him this season.

Player B is a slot receiver; he is about 5’10” and about 185 pounds. He is very undersized for his position and people often use the term “scrappy” to depict his play (this means he is white and not terrible). Player B played his college ball at Texas Tech and has had a fairly successful career as his team’s number one pass-catching option. It is not rare for him to rack up 100 yards receiving on 7 or so passes caught a game. Early in his career, Player B returned kicks and punts, but has stopped in the last few years over concerns with keeping him healthy. Player B was a free agent who signed a contract today, and will have one of the all-time great quarterbacks passing to him this season.

 

Do you know which is which? You shouldn’t, mostly because I copied paragraph A and changed “Player A” to “Player B.” Player A or B is Wes Welker, and player B or A is Danny Amendola.  Welker has spent the last spent the last 6 seasons with New England, being Tom Brady’s number one option. Danny Amendola has spent the last 4 seasons in St. Louis, being the receiver Sam Bradford trusts most.

 

Today they both signed multi-year contracts. Early in the free agency period, it was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Wes Welker was deciding between the Patriots and the Broncos. Today, he told us that Welker would make his decision today.  I, like most people, believed that the Broncos landing Welker was an outside shot. After all, Tom Brady recently restructed his deal to give the Patriots more cap room and Welker was a star in their system.

However, preceding the 2012 season, the Patriots slapped Welker with the franchise tag, paying him $9.5 million last year. Welker wasn’t happy that a long-term deal could not have been worked out between him and the franchise, leading to a bizarre falling out between Welker and Belichick that saw Welker benched in favor of Julian Edelman early in the season. As a Wes Welker owner in Fantasy Football, I was very up on the strangeness of his 2012 season. He eventually got his job back but today’s dealings make it clear that the damage was done between Welker and Belichick, and by proxy, the organization.

That $9.5 million dollars is roughly what the Patriots offered Welker over the course of two seasons today; they cited him being a product of the system and the vaunted “Patriots Way” (dumping players before they get pricy/old). This was a large pay cut and a slap in the face to Welker, who then turned around and signed a 2 year, $12 million deal with the Broncos to play alongside Demaryius Thomas & Eric Decker, with Peyton Manning throwing to the lot of them.

Adrmiral Duh could not be reached for comment, but Captain Obvious was able to tell us, “that’s a pretty good receiving corps.” Welker went from a good situation to a great one in Denver. He will lineup with two of the other twenty best Wide Receivers in the game in Thomas and Decker, and will get thrown to by the Evil Timeline Abed to Tom Brady’s Regular Timeline Abed, Peyton Manning. As Harrison put it, “Onstar, which receiver should I throw to?”

The Broncos are my preseason favorite to coast to the Super Bowl.

 

Welker’s reaction to the Patriots slap in the face isn’t my favorite part of the offseason; the Patriots counter-reaction is even more amazing. Danny Amendola is essentially a baby Welker and the player most thought would replace Welker if he split for free agency.  He did just that, signing with the Patriots today after Welker agreed to terms with Denver.  The part about this that I love so much is the terms of the contract.  While not nearly as much money is guaranteed, on its face, Amendola was given $6.1 million dollars a year, compared to the $6 million a year the Broncos gave to Welker. As I put it earlier today, it’s like Belichick was negotiating with Amendola, had a goon whisper in his ear, then offer Danny $100,000 a year more than that. Billy then leaned back in his chair, took a sip from his beer mug, put his foot on the table and flicked an Ace at Danny Amendola. Belichick has a reputation as a grump and a grouse, and throwing more money at the poor man’s version of Wes Welker than the man himself received in light of their falling out last season is trademark Belichick. I love it and I can’t stop laughing about it.

 

And for those of you keeping track at home, yes, that was a Zybourne Clock reference. Imagine four white receivers on the edge of a cliff. The Patriots work the same way.

 

Day 2 of free agency was just as entertaining as day one. I focused on some central ideas in this, but I haven’t even scratched the surface of the nuttiness of NFL free agency. I haven’t touched on Wallace, Goldson, the rest of the crowded Safety market, and other moves to be made. Stick around and I’m sure I'll have some stupid opinions to spout at you in the near future!

 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The new NFL season started today, which meant that Free Agents were officially free to sign wherever they like, and trades could become official. A lot of stuff goes down in the first day, mostly because this stuff has been unofficially setup for a while.  The 49ers, and former 49ers, were fairly active today, along with several players I had hoped the 49ers would land. Let’s start with the big move for the 49ers from today

 

QB Alex Smith Traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a Second-Round Pick in 2013 and a Conditional Pick in 2013.

The condition on the pick is, supposedly, based on the number of wins the Chiefs get in 2013. It will be at least a third, with the potential to become a second. This is not official, but rumored to be the case.

 

This is a bittersweet trade for me, because since the “WE WANT CARR!” game, Smith has been a good Quarterback. Not great, not stupendous, but good. His NFC 2012 Divisional Game antics sealed his place in 49ers history not as a bust, but as a redemptive tale. After years of terrible coaching, terrible offensive coordinating and inconsistent play time, Coach Harbaugh pulled him from the fire and made him a very good player. To best describe how Harbaugh turned Smith around, he garnered essentially no interest last offseason and this offseason he was traded for up to two second-round picks today.  I will be sad to see Smith go, but it was a necessity. His cap figure was $9.75 million, per Matt Maiocco. Unless you’re the Seattle Seahawks and you have a ton of players on rookie contracts, you can’t afford to light that money on fire with a backup QB.

 

Kansas City was my favored destination for Smith, which I espoused in a post a few weeks ago. It sets him up perfectly with a top-five Running Back in Jamaal Charles, a true #1 Wide Receiver in Dwayne Bowe, a top notch offensive line (assuming KC drafts Luke Joeckel first overall like everyone expects them to do).  He has a great coach in Andy Reid and a very good defense. Does all of this sound familiar? Alex Smith has been placed in the poor man’s version of the same position he was in a couple of years ago. The only bonus is I get to see him own the suddenly even-more-hapless Raiders twice a year. Depending on Peyton’s health, the AFCW is up for grabs. With a sudden turn-around and a last-place schedule, I could see Mr. Smith going to Washington (well, Maryland, to play and beat the Ravens in the first round).

 

That brings me to my second point…

 

49ers Trade Sixth-Round Pick for WR Anquan Boldin
The 49ers have two sixth-round picks in 2013. This is their pick (31st in the round).

 

Wow. Just. Wow. Anquan Boldin is much closer to retirement than he is to his rookie season, but the guy can still play. He was hampered in his first 2.5 years in Baltimore by the absolute terrible play calling of Cam Cameron. Cameron was fired in the second half of last season. This coincided with the unshackling of Anquan Boldin and the rise of the Joe Flacco Elite Quarterback Experience. Unfortunately, Flacco inked his $120,600,000 (had to write that out so you could see that number’s absurdity) contract, which meant that many of the pieces that went towards the Super Bowl 47 win needed to be excised to ensure Flacco will be rolling in the Chicken McNuggets for life. Lewis retired, Ellerbe, Reed and Kruger are gone via free agency, and Boldin and his approximately $6 million hit had to go.

 

I. Love. This. Trade. I love it. LOVE IT. This was a shot across the bow of the USS Seahawks—and maybe a consolation prize from John Harbaugh—after the ‘Hawks traded several picks for Percy Harvin (which is a much bigger deal). Boldin lines up all over the field and is more appropriately a TE/WR with his absolute ridiculous physicality and blocking ability. With Delanie Walker’s departure to Tennessee, this gives them a top four pass catching group of: Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Anquan Boldin and Mario Manningham. Outside Manningham, this is an extremely physical group of receivers who will knock you down and fight for extra yards. In addition, the 49ers’ biggest bugaboo has been red zone efficiency and touchdown conversion. These just happen to be two things for which the large, handsy receiver has made his hay.

 

This adds another dimension to the offense, as with the 49ers’ versatile backfield, obscene quarterback, mauling offensive line and suddenly punch-you-in-the-mouth receiving corps, they have the offensive firepower to match their defensive prowess.

 

TE Delanie Walker Signs with the Tennessee Titans (4 years, $17.5 million, $8.6 Guaranteed, per Rotoworld.com)
The “Swiss Army Knife” of the offense finds a new home, and got straight paid.

 

I’m not even mad the 49ers didn’t try to match this offer. The Titans made it clear today with their two opening salvos (also signing top FA OG and San Lorenzo Valley High School Alum) Andy Levitre that they intend on running the ball. Both are excellent blockers, but at $8.6 million guaranteed, I feel like someone forgot to tell the Titans that much like a real “Swiss Army Knife,” Delanie Walker does not come with a set of hands. Walker has a reputation as a pass dropper, but his real reputation is that much more frustrating: he only catches difficult passes. If the Titans only watched his highlights, they would see him making amazing passes, and not see the times balls would bounce off his numbers, harmlessly into the turf. 

 

I begrudgingly accept this non-move by the 49ers, given that they, in now way, could have matched Walker’s payday. My trust in the plan of the front office also gives me faith that they have a plan for TE going forward that isn’t already on the roster (I.e. Garrett Celek). I could forsee them trading up to grab Stanford’s Zach Ertz in the second round if he starts to slip (but not Eifert in the first, they NEED those first two picks, 31 and 34 to fill D-Line and Safety).

 

I’m sad to see Delanie go, his pass to beat the 5-0 Lions that got lost in Handshake-Gate in the 2011 season will forever be remembered fondly. As opposed to guys I will probably barely remember…

 

Whoops, Got Your Nose (Tackle)!
Good riddance Isaac, you were no longer needed up the middle.

 

Various sources state that Sopoaga played only 30% of the 49ers defensive snaps last year, which means he barely played. This is mostly because Sopoaga is a Nose Tackle and the 49ers did not run a 3-man front very often. Essentially, I was a bit rushed in my assessment of “good riddance” but much like Mr. Smith and the suddenly, and not surprisingly, jobless David Akers, we no longer needed him and he was paid millions of dollars to be a starter in a position we didn’t really use that often.  The only issue is his backup, Ricky Jean Francois, is also rumored to be gone.

 

Ricky Jean-Francois is a more versatile lineman, and technically Sopoaga’s backup. He is able to play the NT in a 3-4 front but also a DT in a 4-3 front. I know that sounds like gibberish, but it’s a huge change in size & skillset required. I would be more upset by losing Jean-Francois than Sopoaga. The bad news is that four teams are rumored to be linked to Jean-Francois, and none of them are the 49ers.

 

The 49ers hand has been played for them, and need to draft a DT in the upcoming draft.

 

The Belle of the Ball
Dashon Goldson is getting the royal treatment, and is likely to end up walking the plank.

 

The Buccaneers are expected to make landfall and give Goldson his coveted chest of dubloons in an attempt to bolster a secondary that had more holes in it than a Spanish Galleon after a run-in with Blackbeard off the Main. Something something pirate jokes. Dashon Goldson had big hits but got beat deep quite often. He was mostly very good in coverage, and deserves to be the most-coveted Safety in the market, but he is not worth “Eric Weddle Money.”

 

What’s Next for the 49ers?
Replacing the pieces of a Super Bowl team isn’t easy.

 

The 49ers were rumored to be in on D-Lineman Desmond Bryant before the allure of Cleveland and the storied Browns franchise tore him away. They are currently rumored to be interested in DBs Shaun Smith and Charles Woodson. Woodson, reportedly, has flown to San Francisco to meet with the team, and as Faux John Madden’s Twitter puts it is, “the closest a Packer defender got to Colin Kaepernick in 3 months.”  It’s hard for me to gauge the 49ers and free agency, only because they have so many picks in the upcoming draft that they can do almost whatever they want to plug the holes needed. The only thing I’m really hoping is that they get in on the ridiculously overcrowded Safety market to replace Goldson.  Recently cut Rams Safety Quintin Mikell comes to mind as a good fit. The 49ers were rumored to be tied to Ed Reed, but it just turned out to be a ploy to drive up Reed’s value.

 

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Ted Ginn is gone as the return man, and two interesting pieces are on the market: Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington. I could see the 49ers attempting to transfer Ginn money to one of those two players to prevent LaMichael James from potentially hurting himself on a return.

 

The next month until the draft should be very interesting, given that the moves made official today were already exciting. I haven’t even gotten to the rest of free agency, wherein the Dolphins spend like mad and the Eagles are tied to everyone. As for opening days go, I’ll prefer the one in September, but the one in March wasn’t half bad, either.

 

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The DeMarcus Cousins Problem

DeMarcus Cousins is the third-year center for the Sacramento Kings, and probably the only player that anyone can name on the Kings’ roster. DMC is a very talented player, however, the only reason anybody knows who he is is because he has a physical problem. As in, he physically cannot keep himself from acting like a child.  He is gifted with an amazing set of skills. He is a great passer and a true center in the league that is seeing more and more big Power Forwards play the position. He is a true asset to the Kings, or rather, he would be, if he could get his head on straight.

 

Young athletes are incredibly dumb. Like, next level stupid. The reason behind this is that all young people are basically idiots. Granted, I’m not exactly old, but I’m half a decade removed from being DeMarcus Cousins’ age. At 22, I was living with three other guys and doing nothing of real value to the world (unless you count being the Beer Board Champion, complete with Natty Ice can championship belt). I was pretty much a man baby who couldn’t see, or cared to see three feet in front of his own face and I didn’t take two seconds to think through the consequences of my actions. This is true of all 22 year olds, whether or not they are millionaires playing in front of thousands of people every night, with people buying their jerseys or some college graduate stuck in a state of arrested development in Isla Vista, CA.  While DeMarcus Cousins probably won’t grow up because the economy tanks and he loses his job, he will eventually. His career depends on whether or not he does it sooner or later.

 

Now, I realize it seems like I am defending DMC’s actions. I’m not. You don’t call referees “effing females,” for SO MANY different reasons. You don’t chase down sports announcers after the game. You don’t cuss out your coach at halftime. These are simply things you do not do. Why do you not do them? Because they are the actions of a moron, and they have consequences. The only problem is that Cousins’ actions do not have consequences. He has spent his professional career under Paul Westphal and Keith Smart. Granted, Keith Smart has a reputation for doing anything he can to help his players, and in theory, this should have been helpful to Cousins and his problems. However, Westphal and Smart have the combined forcefulness and authority of a third grade little league coach. Had Cousins been under coaches like Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich or Pat Riley, he would have figured out really quickly that his antics don’t fly. Smart attempted to bench Cousins, sending him home on an indefinite suspension, until the Maloofs informed him that he was not allowed to do that. Probably because DMC puts butts in seats, and Maloofs couldn’t trade him for two piles of cash.

 

Questions abound about what can be done about Cousins. Some are even questioning whether he will have a future in this league; they think he may head case his way out without another team giving him a second chance. Of course, this is an absurd proposition as current NBA All-Star Zach Randolph was essentially DeMarcus Cousins earlier in his career.  Cousins is a beast, but his future with the Kings is in doubt.

 

With the pending sale to either the Mastrov/Burkle group or the Ballmer/Hansen group, one of the prime questions going forward is what to do with the dumpster fire the Maloofs have constructed to keep them above the salary floor. The Kings roster is currently the NBA equivalent of the corner of the sock drawer reserved for those socks that came out of the wash mismatched. Nobody really wants to throw them away, but they can’t really go together.  A question on SactownRoyalty.com was “who do the Kings keep?” The biggest question, in my mind, is whether or not to build around DeMarcus Cousins.  There are two clear scenarios, and as The Clash put it:

 

Should [DeMarcus] stay or should he go?  Let’s explore both options here.

 

Cousins Stays!
The new ownership, new GM and new coach (let’s be honest, Smart and Petrie are both gone next year) sit down and decide that DeMarcus Cousins is going to be the cornerstone of the franchise going forward. Any NBA fan, GM or coach can tell you that if you could choose one generic piece to build around, it would be a young, talented center. This is precisely describes Cousins.  The question becomes, what gets put around Cousins? First off, the team needs to figure out a way to bring in a headstrong, no non-sense coach. One who sits down Cousins and tells him that his actions have consequences and that he is The Man, but that he could get shipped out at any time. This is key to DMC’s development and maturation going forward. He has true 20-10 potential, with great passing and very good defense. If DeMarcus Cousins was in a video game, he would be perfect, if only because you could tape over the “fly off the handle like a child” button on the controller. They need a coach to tap into that potential and mitigate the damage Cousins is causing with his behavior. Think Harbaugh and Alex Smith, except instead of mitigating interceptions and bad ideas, he mitigates absurd behavior.

 

The team must then turn to what pieces to put around Cousins. Sacramento has several young and talented parts, including Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton, Isaiah Thomas, Jason Thompson and Thomas Robinson Patrick Patterson. These are all players who have a lot of talent and potential, but thanks to Keith Smart’s decisions, that are, well… let’s say, the opposite of his name, they aren’t getting the chance to flourish. In an interview this week, recently traded former King Thomas Robinson said as much. The Kings don’t know when they will play next, thanks to Smart’s screwy rotations. I witnessed these idiocies first hand at Oracle Arena on Wednesday. The Kings’ best players that night were Jason Thompson and Isaiah Thomas, and they spent most of the game on the bench.  This tells me that the core of the roster isn’t really the problem, but the periphery is a real issue. Chuck Hayes is currently stealing approximately $6,000,000 a year from Sacramento, a carryover from the Maloof era, where they struggled to stay above the cap floor (including the time they traded a second rounder for the expiring contract of Mikki Moore, who was recovering from getting his back snapped in half, the height of Maloofian Economics).  The best bet is to keep the players mentioned above, shed the excess, including amnestying Salmons or Hayes, and moving on with intelligent draft picks and actually paying free agents to come to Sacramento.

 

Cousins goes!
Let’s say the new group of ownership decides that Cousins isn’t worth the headaches and ship him out for, honestly, 75 cents on the dollar. Likely for an expiring contract and a conditional draft pick. Who becomes the center of the team? If this happens, there isn’t a true cornerstone franchise player on the roster. There are a bunch of great second or third options, including Evans, Thornton and Thomas. They would likely have to take that expiring contract and wait it out, trying to grab someone on the open market. This is something that hasn’t worked for Sacramento in the past (but better for Seattle, if I’m being fair).  The new ownership group spends a few years in limbo, attempting to rebuild through the draft and attempting to entice free agents every year to a team without a true cornerstone player. Unfortunately the Kings/Sonics roster going forward will be good enough to get them a pick somewhere between 5 and 7 every year. They’re just bad, but not bad enough to get that franchise player through the draft.

 

Looking at these two options, it’s pretty clear that DMC’s antics aren’t the problem with the Kings. The problem is the junk status roster, including the coach, that Petrie and the Maloofs (mostly the Maloofs) have put together. The best answer to the DMC question is to find a coach who won’t put up with his nonsense.  Then shed the garbage GM and ownership (in progress!) and move forward from there.

 

DeMarcus Cousins is being blamed for being young and stupid, probably because young people are inherently stupid. You can’t really be mad when the organization around him is doing nothing to stop his petulant behavior. The best thing for the Kings to do for DeMarcus Cousins is to get someone who won’t stand for that nonsense, and go from there. This is the best for Cousins, and the best for the organization, and the best bet going forward (whether it is going forward to Sacramento or Seattle).

 

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