MLB’s New 2020 Proposal Gives us a Little Bit of Hope

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Baseball’s inability to come up with a plan for the 2020 season has been a source of growing frustration for fans since the beginning of quarantine, and while there has been news of proposals sent to the players from the owners, nothing has been close to being agreed upon yet.

The biggest bugaboo is that the owners want the players to take even less money than the previously agreed upon prorated salaries. The players remain steadfast that they don’t want to be paid less on a per-game basis. That’s an issue when you consider that the owners probably won’t be taking in any gate money over the rest of the summer even if there is baseball.

Karl Ravech of ESPN reported today on the latest proposal made by the owners.

 

That’s more “generous” than some of the previous offers, but according to baseball insider Jon Heyman, the players still want 100 percent of the prorated pay.

 

One area where there seems to be room for compromise is in the postseason structure. MLB can pretty much do what it wants as far as expanded the postseason, and that’s important because playoff games mean big television money. That money might be able to make up for some of what the owners are losing in gate revenue. If the players agree to an expanded postseason, the extra revenue might allow the owners to get closer to those salaries that the players want. Maybe there’s hope after all.

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Could the Astros Sign-Stealing Scandal be Good for Baseball?

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Spring training games are less than a week away, and baseball is still buzzing about the Houston Astros using an illegal center-field camera to steal opponents’ signs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The punishments to the Astros organization, former manager AJ Hinch, and former general manager Jeff Luhnow were handed down last month, but the spotlight is back on the scandal because of aggrieved players just this week meeting with the media at spring training in Florida and Arizona.

Some of the loudest comments were made by Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger, whose team lost to Houston in the 2017 World Series. He said that not only were the Dodgers robbed of a fair World Series, but that Jose Altuve stole the American League MVP award from Aaron Judge.

Much of the outrage was directed at the unemotional and insincere-sounding apologies from Astros players as well as the comments made by owner Jim Crane at a press conference. I feel bad for Crane, because he’s had to navigate this scandal as the head of the organization even though I think he had no knowledge of what was going on in the clubhouse. I could be wrong, but if Crane wasn’t in the dugout during games, there’s no reason to believe that anyone kept him up to speed on his team stealing signs illegally.

Just look at what the team’s hitting coach Dave Hudgens had to say about the scandal.

When I first heard about it, it was during a game. The season had been going for a little bit. I don’t remember exact dates or anything, I just remember sitting in the dugout and heard some bangs going on. After it went on for a little while, I asked a player sitting next to me – I can’t remember who it was – ‘What’s the banging going on back there?’ I didn’t know what it was. And he said, ‘Oh, they’re letting him know a breaking ball’s coming,’ or whatever. I said, ‘Wow. OK.’ And so I wish at that point I would’ve gone to A.J. and said, ‘Maybe this isn’t the right thing to do. What do you think?’ But we didn’t. So now we’re dealing with it.

Again, he could be lying, but it sounds like Hudgens, who is in the clubhouse and dugout with the players every day, barely knew what was going on. Why wouldn’t the hitting coach want to know more about what his players were doing to decide which pitches to swing at? Isn’t he burying his head in the sand just to avoid blame? Even if Hudgens knows more than he is letting on, it still leads me to believe that Crane didn’t know much at all.

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Penn State Basketball is on a Wild Ride and I Can’t Wait to See Where it Goes

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Yeah, that headline is asking for the worst. It’s asking for Penn State to win the rest of its Big Ten games and then lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although come to think of it, that would include a Big Ten regular season title and tournament title, so eh not bad. Still, the headline is asking for trouble, but just the fact that we’re a day after Valentine’s Day and talking about Penn State as a lock for March Madness is incredible. I don’t really care about jinxing anything anymore.

But maybe I should keep talking about how this team is bound to lose sooner than later (would a loss to Northwestern at home this afternoon be THAT surprising?). After I predicted a loss at Purdue this week, the Lions went out and shot 14-for-26 from beyond the arc, led wire to wire, and held off a late Boilermaker run to win 88-76. If Penn State had not beaten Michigan State on the road the week prior, it would have been the most impressive result of the season.

I can’t help feeling like it was a little fluky, though. Purdue defends the three well. Penn State has not shot it well until recently. And while I think Seth Lundy, who shot 6-for-9 on threes in the game, is a legitimate shooter who will boost the offense going forward, getting three-point bombs from guys like Jamari Wheeler and Izaiah Brockington is something that can’t be counted on in the future.

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Penn State’s Glory Run Probably Ends in West Lafayette, but Hopefully Not

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Wow. Penn State has now won six straight basketball games after it beat Minnesota on Saturday while I was in Canada celebrating my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday party. I was able to watch a decent chunk of XFL action because they get the big American TV networks up there, but they don’t get Big Ten Network, so I followed Penn State via text messages. It sounds like we got out to a big lead early on and almost blew it in the second half due to a scoring binge from Minnesota’s Marcus Carr.

That was me right after I found out that Myreon Jones would miss the game due to illness. Also working against the Nittany Lions was their lack of a solution to Daniel Oturu, who was responsible for half of Minnesota’s field goal attempts while scoring 32 points with 11 rebounds and three blocks. That should have spelled doom for Penn State, but Lamar Stevens carried the team with a season-high 33 points on 9-for-17 shooting. He’s peaking at the perfect time, as the offense really needed that kick in the rear with Jones out. In the two games since I said Stevens wasn’t scoring enough, he’s combined for 57 points. Good job by me.

Anyway, Penn State will face an even tougher test tonight as it heads to Purdue. The Boilermakers are 7-6 in conference, but they are ranked one spot ahead of PSU in KenPom due in part to their outstanding three-point defense and offensive rebounding. Plus, they’re hitting their stride with three straight victories. Purdue doesn’t have a reliable scorer like Penn State’s Stevens, but it has gotten balanced efforts in its last two wins over Iowa and Indiana.

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Penn State is a Big Ten Title Contender

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

I sure didn’t think it would happen, but Penn State beat Michigan State on Tuesday night for its first win in East Lansing since 2009. The win moved the Nittany Lions within one game of the Big Ten lead, and they’ve already got a victory over first-place Maryland. I thing I did know was that for Penn State to win, it would need to play great defense and get a great performance from either Lamar Stevens or Myreon Jones.

I figured “great defense” meant containing Cassius Winston, but he went off for 25 points and nine assists, including a couple of ridiculous three-point shots down the stretch that almost sunk Penn State. However, it turned out that “great defense” meant holding every other Spartan under 10 points and forcing 15 turnovers that turned into a bunch of transition buckets.

It also didn’t hurt that BOTH Stevens and Jones stepped up big time. The former was rocking the mid-range game all night and finished with 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting. Jones pitched in with 20 points on 6-for-8 three-point shooting and five assists. That game against a Michigan State defense that has only allowed opponents to shoot 28 percent from beyond the arc this season.

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Penn State Reaches for Basketball Greatness and Mets Sale Falls Through

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Penn State has a legitimate chance tonight to elevate itself to the top tier of the Big Ten. After rolling off four wins in a row — two of them on the road even — the Nittany Lions will take on Michigan State in East Lansing. Tom Izzo’s team is the most talented in the Big Ten, but it’s proven to be vulnerable. Just three days ago it lost at Wisconsin, but that might not be a good thing as it eliminates the possibility of Michigan State overlooking Penn State.

I don’t expect Penn State to win. Even during this winning streak, the offense hasn’t been very impressive. It’s hard to score consistently when Pat Chambers loves playing guys like Myles Dread and Jamari Wheeler who don’t contribute to scoring. Plus, Lamar Stevens has hit a plateau. After averaging 20 points per game last season, he’s only scored 20 points in a game once since November ended.

Penn State doesn’t have a guy like Cassius Winston who can score for himself and create for others. In fact, even Michigan State’s lead big man Xavier Tillman has more assists per game than any Penn State player. The Spartans may not be getting as much as they’d like from role players like Aaron Henry and Rocket Watts, but it’s still going to take a great defensive effort and a huge game from either Stevens or Myreon Jones for the Lions to prevail.
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Wife’s Birthday and Penn State Winning Streak

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

We’re celebrating my wife’s birthday this year by eating bougie brunch, going boot shopping, and doing a wine pop-up called Rosé Mansion. The best part is that I get to watch zero college basketball games today. Well maybe half of one if you count the Xavier vs. Seton Hall game that was on behind my head in the NBA Radio studio this morning.

All I can ask for is that Penn State PLEASE beat Nebraska on the road. The Cornhuskers are clearly one of the two worst teams in the Big Ten this season and thus one of the only teams that I feel is very beatable on its home court. The Lions have had their duds on the road, like their blowout loss in Columbus and their dreadful come-from-ahead loss at Rutgers, but they have also won in Ann Arbor and at Georgetown.

Nebraska has some talent. Their lead guard Cam Mack is a versatile player who could start on any team in the country, but this is still a rag-tag group of transfers that figures to struggle over the final month of the campaign. Meanwhile, Penn State is rolling off of three straight wins. A loss tonight would kill momentum and feed our fears that Pat Chambers’s team is not going to perform when it matters.

Yeah it’s a strange time to be a Nittany Lion fan. I can get used to being on the good side of the bubble, though.

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The Mets Fired Carlos Beltran and Jessica Mendoza Goes Hard at Mike Fiers

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets confirmed the inevitable today and agreed to “mutually part ways” with Carlos Beltran, the manager they hired just a couple of months ago. Beltran was mentioned by name in Major League Baseball’s investigation of the Hoston Astros sign-stealing scandal, but he was not punished by the league like AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow were.

I speculated yesterday that the Mets would no longer be interested in Beltran once he became a public relations liability, and here we are.

The Mets suddenly need a new manager, and Terry Collins is still lurking in the organization somewhere, so let’s roll that baby back. Dude has a real, actual, 100 percent satisfactual National League pennant on his resume, so why not? A lot of Mets fans are down on Collins, but the two managers hired since have been YUGE disasters. At the very least he can just man the helm for a year until more guys become available next winter. At the most, he’ll just lead the team to another pennant. No downside!

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The Mets Should Stop Being Weenies and Just Keep Carlos Beltran

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

You’ve heard the story by now. The Astros used a camera in center field of Minute Maid Park to steal signs during the 2017 season. MLB responded by suspending AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow for one year each. Then the Astros fired both of them. Alex Cora is probably going to get an even harsher punishment, but the Red Sox didn’t wait to hear about it before they parted ways with him.

No players on the 2017 Astros have been punished by MLB, but now Carlos Beltran is said to be on thin ice with the Mets. Some people like ESPN’s Mark Teixeira think that the Mets should immediately fire Beltran before he has managed a game with the team because of his association with the scandal.

If the Mets thought that Beltran was the right guy to lead their team before the Astros news came out, they should think the same now. Just like everyone else around the league, Beltran now knows the consequences of using technology to assist with sign stealing. He’s going to be held to the same standard as everyone else. Every team is going to be under high scrutiny for cheating in 2020, even if they didn’t play for the Astros in 2017.

So the Mets should stand by their guy. The problem is that they only reason Beltran was hired is publicity. I wrote back in November about the Mets grabbing Beltran because he’s a big name who is respected by fans, players, and the media. Now that some of that respect has eroded, ownership might not have any use of him anymore. He’s not cool anymore, so the Mets can take another crack at the manager hire while getting patted on the back by Teixeira and other weenies for doing the “right thing”.

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I Don’t Have Any Confidence in Penn State Tonight

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Penn State plays at Minnesota tonight at 9:00 p.m. on Big Ten Network. I’m going to watch, but I’m not too excited about it. That’s what happens when your team plays well enough in November and December to earn its first top 25 ranking since 1996 and then loses two straight games to mid-tier Big Ten teams.

Yes, the entire conference is a middle tier right now, but the Rutgers and Wisconsin games were still YUGE opportunities for the Nittany Lions to rack up quality wins. Since they lost both games, their KenPom ranking has fallen to 37th and they are projected to finish 19-12 (9-11 Big Ten), which is right in bubble hell.

Winning tonight would be a great way for Penn State to get back on track for the Tournament, but Minnesota has been lethal at home. The surprisingly competitive Golden Gophers have already taken down Ohio State, Northwestern, and Michigan in The Barn this season.

Just like that Penn State team that won the NIT two seasons ago, Minnesota is led by a trio of sophomores. Daniel Oturu has taken a big step forward after an encouraging freshman season, but the real surprise is Marcus Carr, who has become one of the Big Ten’s best point guards after transferring from Pitt. Considering that Micah Potter just tore up the Penn State defense, I’m thinking the Lions will have their hands full with Oturu. Perhaps Pat Chambers should mix in some zone, as three-point shooting isn’t a strength for the Gophers.

Considering how Penn State has played in its last two road games (at Ohio State and at Rutgers) it’s a little surprising that they are only getting 2.5 point from bookmakers.

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