Author: Dave Long

I’ve never been a professional athlete and certainly have never been involved with a business decision where I could get an additional $20 million if I took a new job. But, while I understand the entire business and playing situation, I must say the Gordon Hayward free agent defection to the Hornets for a boatload of dough after opting out of the final year of his contract with the Celtics really irked me.
That’s me the “fan” talking, not me the sports writer. The sports writer gets the business decision thing. Ditto for what should go through any Celtics player’s mind after how Danny Ainge and the brass kicked Isaiah Thomas to the curb after he put his earning power/career on the line after taking one for the team by playing through a severely deteriorating hip injury during the 2017 playoffs. Not to mention doing it while playing through the pain of his sister’s death in real time and a face plant that forced extensive dental surgery that would have been a season-ender for me-firsters like the guy he was traded for a few months later. He’s still trying to come back from the damage that caused, which probably cost him somewhere between $50 million and $100 million.
But for me the fan, it irked me because it’s a reminder why fans should treat players as they treat them – as disposable commodities. I could give a lengthy speech about why things were better back in the day, but it’s not relevant. Today is what it is. Red Auerbach held on to his Big 3 because he felt they earned the right to retire in Boston and I was OK with that. But that led to 22 years without a title. Conversely, I must also admit I was in the chorus singing Danny’s praises for not doing that with his Big 3 after the haul he got back produced Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and others to give much more promise to the future than Red’s approach.
The being irked part comes in because isn’t getting attached to favorite players part of being a sports fan? It always has been that for me. I like the winning, but I also want to like the players on that team. That’s one reason I was cool to bringing Cam Newton to the Patriots, as I wasn’t sure about him. Turns out he’s a good guy and he gets extra slack because of it.
Now, on to specifically why Hayward’s leaving irked me. It was two-fold. First, while his horrific broken ankle wasn’t his fault, people in these parts invested a lot in him and his recovery. That included, if you read this space, infinite patience by me repeatedly sticking up for him to critics who didn’t get how long it would take to physically and especially mentally come back from that terrible injury. Ditto for the Celtics brass, especially Brad Stevens, who took a lot of heat inside the locker room for playing him when he clearly wasn’t the same. That led to a tumultuous 2018-19 Celtics season and if you want to insert toxic for tumultuous feel free. When a guy everyone did that for just up and leaves it makes one say what’s the point? Though smarter, more realistic people might say grow up because that’s the way it is.
The second part is the bigger issue, and no it wasn’t that I was bothered he was leaving. After all they beat Philly and Toronto and made it to Game 6 of the conference finals vs. Miami with very little help from him after getting hurt (again) in Game 1 of the playoffs. Plus, somewhere in the middle of last season I’d decided he was the guy to trade to help them get to a higher level. That’s because while I liked how he played at point forward, he’s just not mentally tough enough for me.
What I didn’t like was that his abruptly leaving as a free agent for the aforementioned extra $20 million scuttled a sign and trade being lined up with Indiana. And while I wasn’t in love with getting Myles Turner back, as the rumor mill said was being proposed, I knew he could be flipped for a better fit later. Which certainly was better than the talent drain of losing Hayward without getting anything back, as players of his caliber are hard to replace for a capped out team as the rising Celtics are. That irked me because it left fans who stuck by him during the dark times holding the bag for a lesser team.
However, by turning it into a sign and trade (for a mere second-round pick) Danny got back a valuable $28 million trade exception instead. That lets teams over the cap make trades involving contracts up to that amount without having to give matching salaries back. That’s even better than having Hayward’s contract to trade because it can be broken up into separate deals to fill their multiple pressing needs for bench scoring, long-range shooting and a deeper overall team.
Which brings me to the point of this diatribe regarding fans investing emotion in players who don’t return the favor. I’m not sure if it’s being willing to give up a piece of being a fan to avoid being irked in the way I was over the ungrateful way Hayward bolted. Or hanging in there because all’s well that ends well as this one may turn out to be. The only thing I do know is it’s not going to end here. Hayward joined far greater players named Brady and Betts in the exodus out of town for greener pastures this year and since the system isn’t likely to change any time soon they won’t be the last ones to do it. So all I’ll say to players going forward is just be honest. Say, “I couldn’t pass up the extra $20 million.”
Because most fans respect that and almost all know the rest of it is BS.

The Patriots enter December in the very unfamiliar position of being on the verge of elimination from playoff contention. We haven’t seen that in 20 years, which is so long ago I can’t remember much from that year besides that it was Coach B’s first year, they finished 5-11 and weren’t must-watch TV at that point. Since, they’ve only missed the playoffs twice, and that was only on tie-breakers after for the lead jn the AFC East in 2002 and 2018 when Tom Brady missed all but 10 minutes of the season.

That won’t be the case this year, as after Sunday’s win over Arizona they’re three games behind division-leading Buffalo and, at 5-6, two games behind in the race for the last playoff spot. That makes this year a little different, so here are a few thoughts on how it’s shaking down.

At 10-0 as I write this Pittsburgh is the latest to make a run at an undefeated season. After a couple of down years and question marks about Big Ben’s arm, few saw this coming. They have what look to be tough games with Baltimore (which may have happened by the time you see this), and the Bills in Buffalo, before finishing with the 7-4 Colts and surprising 8-3 Browns who’ll likely be playing for a spot in the playoffs, or a home field game. So we’ll see.

Speaking of the Steelers, why can they keep coming up with speedy and productive wide receivers while the last receivers of note the Pats have drafted were David Givens and Deion Branch in 2002? Technically Julian Edelman was taken in 2009, but he was a wishbone QB and picked to be more of a return guy. Patriots flunkouts in that time include Bethel Johnson (2), P. K. Sam (5), Chad Jackson (2), Brandon Tate (3), Taylor Price (3), Aaron Dobson (2) and Josh Boyce (4). Malcolm Mitchell (4) wasn’t bad, but pre-existing knee conditions said he was not likely a long-timer, N’Keal Harry trending that way. Meanwhile Pittsburgh’s draft room has picked Hines Ward (3), Plaxico Burress (1), Antwaan Randle El (2), Santonio Holmes (1), Mike Wallace (3), Emmanuel Sanders (3) and Antonio Brown (6) in the same draft, Martavis Bryant (4), Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster (2), James Washington (2), Diontae Johnson (3) and Chase Claypool in the second round this year. Am I the only one who finds that galling?

One final thought on Pittsburgh. With the Lakers tying the Celtics for most NBA titles at 17 in October, it’s already been a bad year for franchise legacy in Boston. But if Pittsburgh wins the Super Bowl it breaks their tie with New England for most SB wins with seven.

However, my money is on Kansas City to win because with all due respect to Russell Wilson they have the best quarterback. And the weird thing about Pat Mahomes is he doesn’t really look that good — until you see more and more of him. He doesn’t appear to have great arm strength but makes ridiculously on target deep throws off his back foot, on the run and from so many different angles that he reminds me of Luis Tiant doing that out of his corkscrew delivery. I wouldn’t call him fast, but he was fast enough to get two critical first downs with his feet Sunday vs. Tampa Bay. He was Larry Bird-like there in seeing things two counts before everyone else to bolt from the pocket early because he knew he could make it to the sticks and that was more valuable than any larger play down field. Which is what his real edge is — his brain. Which is what he has most in common with vintage Tom Brady.

Incidentally those two are 1-2 in passing yards in the NFL.

Fox broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt isa dead sound-alike for Red Sox TV guy Dave O’Brien. Spent the whole game on Sunday wondering if it was O’Brien till they showed a booth shot that showed it wasn’t.

Bill Belichick Coaching Tree Updates After Sunday: (1) Brian Flores improved 7-4 Miami playoff chances with a win over the Jets. (2) Ditto for Mike Vrabel, whose Titans won their battle for first in the AFC South over the Colts behind a punishing 178-yard rushing day from Derrick Henry. (3) After an 0-5 start Joe Judge has been picking up fans by getting the 4-7 G-Men into first in the moribund NFC East. (4) Matt Patricia didn’t make it to Sunday as he and fellow Pats alum GM Bob Quinn got fired after being Houston’s meal on Thanksgiving Day. (5) Romeo Crennel is now 4-3 as interim coach in Houston after consecutive wins over Matty P. and Coach B. (6) Bill O’Brien is on vacation after being fired in Houston.

Who can forget David Caldwell saying upon getting the GM job in Jacksonville that signing hometown hero Tim Tebow would only happen over his dead body? Well, owner Shahid Khan should’ve taken the dead body, because with the Jags a complete mess Caldwell got fired on Sunday.

So what’s the problem in Tampa Bay? They’re looking good for the playoffs, but there’s still a lot of yacking going on. TB-12 has made his share of key mistakes, but I put it on Bruce Arians’ stubborn unwillingness to adapt his system to the talent he has at QB. When Brady went there I predicted his interceptions were going up to at least 15 (he has 11) after only being in double digits twice (11 each time) the last 10 years. That’s because TB throws deep down field and that’s never been his strength. It’s incumbent on the coach to adjust to reality, rather than making a 43-year-old do something he can’t do.

Plus, Arians stupidly laying it all on Brady in public brings to mind the other thing I said when he left Foxboro: The grass often isn’t as green on the other side of the fence as it may seem.

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Today is Thanksgiving and we traditionally give thanks to things big, small and less important we sports fans have enjoyed over the year. But during a year of worry, uncertainty and total disruption of the sports calendar we’ll focus this Thanksgiving Day column on some recent stories of greater importance than we usually do.

News Item: Thanks for Cracking That Glass Ceiling

The glass ceiling wasn’t only broken in politics with the election of Kamala Harris to be Vice President of the United States in November. It also happened in baseball, where Kim Ng becamebaseball’s first ever female general manager. Her resume includes being senior VP of baseball operations for MLB and stints as assistant GM for the Dodgers and Yanks, where a professional relationship was developed with current Marlins owner Derek Jeter. And with never-played stat geeks running teams all over baseball, the folks who say she shouldn’t get it because she didn’t play at a high level have no leg to stand on. So thanks for her well-earned progress, because it might help Concord’s Becky Bonner, the Orlando Magic VP of Player Development, get the same chance someday.

News Item: Thanks For No Harden Days and Nights at the Garden

This isn’t a 100-percent thing just yet, so it’s said with crossed fingers. But yeah-hoo news reports of the Celtics trying to trade for disgruntled Houston Rocket James Harden didn’t pan out. Don’t take it to mean I don’t know how talented the beard is. He’s the most effortless scorer I’ve ever seen. But he is also the anti-Larry Bird in that no one gets better playing with him because he only gives it up when all avenues to get his own shot are exhausted, usually with little time left on the shot clock. Plus, we’d be hearing green teamers defending the constant whining for calls, flopping on almost every shot, and that he doesn’t even try on defense by saying look at the stats he puts up. I say look at all the rings those stats have produced. Biggest of all is it would’ve turned me off the Celtics, because it would show Danny Ainge and the brass learned nothing from the Kyrie Irving experience, which showed you don’t win with ball hogs and selfish people. So thanks to the basketball gods for this averted catastrophe.

News Item: Thanks To Mr. Celtic

The late Tommy Heinsohn was an acquired taste for me. My first encounters with him came when this (then) Knicks fan moved behind enemy lines to go to college when he was Celtics coach, during the only time those teams were ever equal competitive rivals. And if you think he was rough on officials broadcasting games, you should have seen him on the sidelines. Also, he did too much cheerleading broadcasting Celtics games for me even after I’d become a fan. But then I kinda sorta worked with him at Fox Sports Net while doing a TV show on the C’s, where I kiddingly told him I sports hated him when he was the Celtics coach. Predictably that didn’t go over too well and I’m not sure why I thought it would. But it started to change while doing a story with him to promote an upcoming showing and sale of his paintings. He explained he did it every day, which was obvious as the pond with the weeping willow tree I saw amazingly morphed into a mirror image on his canvas. But what stuck with me from that day was the story he told about how he became a painter. It happened after his parents gave him a kit while growing up in New Jersey during World War II because no kids would play with him because he was German. The gruff Tommy started to fade as he told his poignant story and a different one emerged. After another story followed, this time on onetime teammate Bill Russell, showed how genuine his love for the Celtics was, my appreciation of him grew. The result was getting a growing kick out of the antics during games to finally missing him on broadcasts as his health held him out in recent years. So thanks to Tommy because after an unbroken 64-year string of devotion as a player, coach, broadcaster and team cheerleader he earned the title of Mr. Celtic. RIP.

News Item: Thanks for the Memories

It seemed like the baseball deaths just kept coming in 2020. With 91 down as I wrote this, there are far too many to name. Among them was all-name teamer Biff Pocoroba and maligned symbol of the Yankees dynasty decline Horace Clarke. There was also non-Famer Yankee Don Larsen, who delivered a Hall-worthy performance by hurling the only World Series perfect game in 1956 vs. Brooklyn. First among the baseball elites migrating to Mt. Olympus was the great Tiger Al Kaline, always a favorite because my first baseball mitt was a Kaline signature model. There was also Tom Seaver, the symbol of the Miracle 1969 Mets and eternal youth for New York baseball fans. Bob Gibson, the fiery competitor who didn’t need closers to finish games because he knew how to battle and win, especially in the World Series. Cardinals teammate Lou Brock – 3,000 hits, all those stolen bases and a World Series spark plug with nine hits vs. the Yanks in 1964 and 12 more against the Sox in ’67. Joe Morgan left us after always playing bigger than his pint-sized build said he should. Lastly was my guy Whitey Ford, the crafty Yankees lefty with the highest winning percentage ever, who passed Babe Ruth’s record for consecutive scoreless World Series innings in 1961 vs. Cincy, two weeks after teammate Roger Maris broke his single-season record of 60 homers – to which he said, “It was a tough year for the Babe.” RIP to all those greats from my youth and thanks for the memories.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

So what do we have here with the Patriots? After losing four straight for the first time since 2002, they’re now on a two-game winning streak. Given what we’ve enjoyed for two decades that’s hardly something to get excited about, but still it’s something. The question is what to make of it without getting out ahead of your skis as they are still just 4-5 after all. So here’s a look at how it’s gone down so far.

Criticism of Coach B: He’s taken his share. They include some curious clock management issues, the recent draft record, salary cap management and how he handled the QB position after you-know-who left. We’ll address them as we go along, but some are fair, some debatable and some over-the-top ridiculous from whiners who can’t see past two weeks at a time.

Draft Record: Coach B was a bit defensive about it last week. I’ve been in that chorus and stretched it back to 2013. But I went back over it and it’s not quite as bad as I thought, though it falls down badly at the receiving positions. They haven’t gotten anything out of their tight ends, which they badly needed. But with a team-high 12 tackles Sunday Kyle Dugger had his best game, ditto for Josh Uche playing his most snaps while picking up a sack, and with Michael Onwenu doing well at right tackle they’re getting some production from 2020 picks. And with Damien Harris having three 100-yard games in his five starts and Chase Winovich out of the doghouse vs. Baltimore, 2019 is looking a bit better. Not great but, better.

Salary Cap Mismanagement: Coach B got hammered for saying they’ve been hurt by lack of cap room after selling out to win in recent years. While I can’t say I ever heard him make anything close to an excuse like that, it doesn’t make it untrue. True, there have been some questionable calls, but I’d argue putting the $14 million franchise tag on Joe Thuney was not one of them. That’s a lot of cabbage, but with the running game emerging as the calling card now and a disaster last year it was necessary. And with about $100 million to spend next year in free agency, it’s a one-year thing so harping on it is ridiculous.

Biggest Surprises and Disappointments

(1) Damien Harris – After he didn’t play at all last year, I didn’t have great expectations. But he has zero Laurence Maroney in him, which is to say he runs with a purpose and decisively to make him a huge development.

(2) Jakobi Meyers – 12 catches last week, five more with a TD pass to boot this week. He’s definitely benefited from Newton’s attention after Tom Brady’s indifference to helping young receivers in recent years.

(3) Nick Folk – He missed a PAT Sunday, but he had to rush it because a block was missed on his right side. But he won the Jets game with a 51-yard FG and has been solid, which was a life-saver after fifth-round pick Justin Rohrwasser busted.

(4) N’Keal Harry – With just 19 catches and one TD after nine games last year’s top pick is on the not so great side. He’s what people are pointing to about Belichick’s drafting mistakes. Made worse considering game breakers Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, Mecole Hardman and especially D.K. Metcalf were all taken right after him in Round II.

(5) Stephon Gilmore – He’s been inconsistent, disengaged at times and missed three games with injuries. But there’s still time to get the focus back.

(6) Cam Newton – He’s a little of both. SF and Denver were terrible games and the fumble in Buffalo was a killer. But I think the biggest problem was he just didn’t know the offense well enough, which led to indecision as a passer. Plus Josh McDaniels wasn’t quite sure how to most effectively use him. But it seemed in better focus the last two weeks as Newton played much better. Though I need a better sample size for a definitive conclusion.

What to Make of the Jets Win: Yes, it was the Jets. Yes, it took a field goal as the game ended to beat a winless team. Hardly something to crow about. So how come Coach B called it one of the best two moments of his career? My guess is after four straight morale-killing losses he saw the season going south in a hurry. So seeing his much-criticized team with the pride to fight back from 10 down in the fourth period meant something more than just a W.

What to Make of the Ravens Win: It was improvement. That’s it. The hallmark of Coach B’s team has been that outside of 2015 and last year they always improve as they go along. While there have been glitches, that’s mostly been the case the last three weeks as they’ve demonstrated who they are offensively by rushing for 186, 156 and 173 yards: a grind-it-out, run-it-down-their-throat kind of a team that will pick its spots with a conservative passing game.

Where Do They Stand? When the schedule came out I did the W and L thing and had them at 4-5 after nine weeks. Though I had Denver a win and Baltimore a loss. So they’re where I thought they’d be, making the relevant question today, what will they be when it’s over? The pessimists (and naysayers) understandably say it’s hard to avoid the obvious issues during the first nine weeks. The optimists say if Newton gets in on the final play for Seattle and doesn’t fumble on that final drive vs. Buffalo they’re two plays away from being 6-3. There is truth to both views and only time will tell on what will happen.

Though my money goes on Coach B helping them get better as they go along.

As we start today the Patriots are fighting through a rugged start where if they have somehow lost to the winless Jets by the time you see this, it’s going to get ugly around here. Free agency is about to start in baseball with the Red Sox in need of a major talent infusion. The Celtics are holding three first-round picks for now with the NBA draft 10 days away amid an accelerated time frame to reshape the team with training camp less than six weeks after the season ended. Thus there are a lot of local and national sports stories colliding in ways we’ve never seen because the world order has been so upended. So here are some thoughts on a wide range of them.

After you-know-who left and the team had little room under the salary cap to improve, I said the Patriots should look at the post-Brady era as an 18-month remodeling period focused on seeing which of the young guys, including Jarrett Stidham, can and can’t play over contending. Because that would establish where they need to spend their pre-pandemic $100 million free agent money next spring to put a contender back on the field in 2021. And with the Cam Newton audition sputtering, they should do that for the rest of the year.

I was OK with Tom Brady leaving because I thought he’d continue the tick down that started last year. Didn’t expect Willie Mays on the warning track, more like Joe Montana in Kansas City. But his 20 TD passes after eight games is a lot better than that. But oddly in the four games I’ve seen him play, against New Orleans twice, Chicago and the G-Men, he’s looked mortal at best to downright awful on Sunday against the Saints. So I don’t know if I was right or wrong. But maybe the tell is his inconsistency, which was never an issue until last year.

The rumor mill has Gordon Hayward opting out of his contract. If that’s true, where he goes will tell you where his head is at, as the only teams with big-bucks cap space — Atlanta, New York, Detroit and Charlotte — are terrible. Only Atlanta has a chance to improve quickly, so if he goes to any of those places it’s about a payday, not winning. Or paying back the team that stuck with him during his dark time, the uneven next season that ended with being awful in the playoff vs. Milwaukee.

If I could wave a magic wand here’s what I’d do: get rebuilding Indiana to give the hometown hero a contract extension as part of a deal sending Hayward and the C’s three first-round picks for Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon. They’d lose a little of his play-making/ball movement game and three-point shooting. But they’d get bigger and tougher to help Daniel Theis on the boards, the kind of real point guard they need and two guys tied up contractually longer than Hayward. And if Danny could somehow work Oak City free agent scorer Danilo Gallinari into that deal it would be a home run.

Am I the only one who thinks the oversized, bejeweled rings given to Super Bowl winners these days look ridiculously gaudy and ostentatious?

I get why people toward the end of their life auction off memorabilia from their careers. Which is what legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully just did to the tune of $2 million. But if he was going to sell any of the six World Series rings from being with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A., how did he choose the one from 1955? After years of futility and failure, especially to the Yankees, to whom they’d lost five World Series before then, that was Brooklyn’s 2004 and would seem to be the most cherished.

Loved Pete Rose’s reasoning for why he should be reinstated to baseball, because none of the players in the Houston sign-stealing scandal were punished. By the way, ahh, Pete, while they just got re-hired, AJ Hinch and Alex Cora both got fired as managers in Houston and Boston for doing it. You were betting on games when you were the Reds manager, not as a player. So the comparison is not valid. Though it works better as an argument for your Hall ineligibility, because that was done after the playing career ended and thus a separate act. Of course he denied he did it until he needed to juice sales for a new book. So no sympathy here for a dishonest guy getting what he earned.

I’m starting to think the The Washington Football Team should permanently keep their current name. It has a one-of-a-kind distinctive ring to it that other pedestrian name changes like the Wizards or River Rats will never have. And while it’s too bad the shorthand initials didn’t line up instead to be WTF to add a comic and prophetic touch to their plight during the Dan The Fan era, I can see them using “the WFT’s” as the nickname and logo. Sounds nuts, I know, but I’m all in.

Just saw the movie The Express about the great and tragic Syracuse running back Ernie Davis. I know, I’m a little late since it came out in 2008. But I don’t usually rush to see sports biopics because they make up so much stuff, as they did here as well. But it was pretty good. Though I must admit I didn’t really know about the racially charged brawl instigated by the Texas football team during the 1959 Cotton Bowl. In part because UT coach Darrell Royal pretty much sailed through the racially charged 1960s with his reputation intact. But seeing it made me think he may not have been so squeaky clean and that his being the coach of the last team to win a national championship (1969) without having any black players was more than a coincidence.

It’s a week after the Dodgers had the World Series handed to them so everyone has had their say about Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash lifting starter Blake Snell in the sixth inning after just 70 pitches despite having allowed just two hits and striking out nine. So there’s no reason to belabor the level of boneheadedness of that decision beyond saying the following.

If you read this space regularly you won’t be surprised to hear me say that if Tampa Bay had to lose the World Series I’m glad it happened exactly the way it did. Second, I guarantee you when Cash was on his way to the mound to lift his untouchable starter for the uncertainty of a relief pitcher, every single person in the L.A. dugout knew he was giving them a far better chance at winning the game.

I’m not even sure we can blame Cash because he probably got a text from the stat geeks upstairs telling him what to do, or did it because he’s so programmed by their lunacy/propaganda that he relied solely on the so-called “data” rather than what his eyes were telling him in that moment. That would be to remove any pitcher, be it Koufax, Gibson, Mathewson or Jack Morris, before he faces a batting order the third time around no matter what the circumstances. But the icing on the cake is it was done by people so impressed with themselves that they affixed the term “advanced” to “analytics” in naming this New Age way of baseball thinking like they had just invented plutonium, and it led to the single dumbest decision in World Series history. Good job, fellas.

Now a few other thoughts from around baseball.

The best two post-Game 6 Twitter comments came from Famer Frank Thomas — “another analytics meltdown” — and Mets hurler Noah Syndergaard — “Who gets to pull the manager?” If I were on Twitter, mine would’ve been, “Guess Calvin Schiraldi wasn’t ready yet.”

Yes, a disappointing Red Sox season. But I’ll put it to you this way: If they had to have a season like this, wasn’t this the perfect time to do it?

With the Sox still looking for a manager as I write this, the bad news is that 76-year-old Tony La Russa is off the market. I’m guessing the White Sox hired such a young buck because Connie Mack and John McGraw weren’t available.

Baseball 101: Name the only two managers in history to win more games than La Russa.

OK, it paid immediate dividends with Mookie, but how has the $340 million spent for Bryce Harper paid off in Philly? While the numbers (35 and 114) in Year 1 were decent, they missed the playoffs his first two years there. Meanwhile manager Gabe Kapler got blamed/fired for their under-achieving (81-81) 2019 season before they went backward under replacement Joe Girardi to finish 28-32.

With Mookie gone and JBJR on his way out the door the Red Sox need a leader to go along with Xander Bogaerts. They also need a second baseman, lead-off hitter and center fielder, plus three relievers and two starters. Free agent George Springer checks three of those boxes. Not willing to go 10 years, but if it’s five years with a big number I’d consider it because he’s the anti-Harper, smart, tough, versatile and his 19 postseason homers in just 64 games show he’s clutch.

By going 4-1 Clayton Kershaw had a David Price-like redemption in the postseason. But it still only got him to 13-12 lifetime and that has me wondering why some guys are great regular season pitchers and so ordinary in the postseason. Ditto for 300-game-winners Greg Maddux (11-14) and Tom Glavine (14-16), mostly with Atlanta when it went to just two World Series during 14 straight postseason appearances. My theory is living on the black ate up bad to mediocre teams, but better line-ups in the postseason handled that much better.

One last thing about this not letting pitchers face a line-up the third time around. If the numbers back it up, it probably has more to do with the pitch count than ineptitude of good starters like Snell. By limiting pitchers to a certain number of pitches they’re not conditioned to go beyond their count (see Pedro, Game 7, 2003 ALCS) and thus are giving up hits because they’re tired, not because pitchers are actually ineffective the third time around. If that’s the case, how did Nolan Ryan pitch seven no-hitters, Sandy Koufax throw 134 pitches on two days rest to shut out the Twins in Game 7 of the 1965 Series after throwing 130 in his Game 5 shutout, or Jack Morris go 10 innings for his 1-0 Game 7 win over Atlanta in the 1991 Series?

Baseball 101 Answer: The only two with more managerial wins than La Russa’s 2,728 are the aforementioned Connie Mack and John McGraw, whom he’ll pass early in 2021 unless he gets hit by a bus during spring training. While Mack’s 3,731 wins are the most in history, he also had 3,948 losses to actually be under .500. How’d he pull that off? Because people who own a team rarely fire themselves. As for McGraw, he lasted for 30 years with the Giants mainly because everyone was afraid of him, though having a .586 winning percentage with his 2,731 wins probably helped.

Those who think baseball is dying a slow death just got more ammo. The Fox TV audience in 2020 averaged a lowest-ever 9.7 million viewers per telecast. Last year it was 14.1 million and 2020 was off a whopping 32 percent from 2012’s previous low 12.6 million viewers as the Giants swept Detroit. So the question is why — indifference to the Covid season, more entertainment options, it included a team whose own city doesn’t care about them, or the slide to “go for broke homer or strike out” stat geek baseball?

My vote goes to robot managers and that the lack of constant action/pace is catching up with it.