Hoss

Hard Knocks has made me nervous because they look extremely dysfunctional but I too think they’ve got a legit shot. The second wild card in the AFC looks very weak right now. They finished last in turnover margin and teams that do that average an increase of at least four wins the following season. Then you consider they have a HUGE upgrade at Tyrod (crazy to think you can actually say this) and/or Mayfield. They added two new running backs, made a huge upgrade at WR (and may add Dez), and the defense should be much better.

So you want extremely ritualistic pitchers to change what they’re doing? That’s also not realistic. But if that’s what a team has to go through to implement the shift then it’s a fine result.

There’s just about no way players would be breaking/running during the windup. It’d put them in an impossible position to field anything even if hit directly at them. It’d be so bad they wouldn’t even need to legislate against it (but they easily could). I understand general pushback against changing the shift. I was against it for a while. But at worst it should be easy to block the second baseman from standing in the batter’s eye. They already have stadiums create a clear path up center field so this is a no brainer.

Meh. They list the positions on the lineup cards every single night. There’s plenty of things baseball has now that they didn’t have before so this argument doesn’t really say anything. We’re talking about change so to say “the change you’re proposing has never been a thing” is redundant.

Wow that’s a great stat. The triple play is such an exciting moment. I remember seeing an unassisted triple play during a game once. Only TP I’ve seen in a game I was watching. Diving catch, landed basically on the bag then tagged the runner from first that was already standing essentially right there.

That’s not wildly different. He had Tyrod numbers on both games.

I want him off the team because he sucks and because he wears 82. But again: he was traded for a third round pick a year ago and was brutal in the year in between. He’s got no value of note. A 4th rounder at best but likely worse.

There are several RFAs that haven’t signed yet: https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/rfa/available/ I wouldn’t look into him not having a deal yet.

Edmonton jokes aside the Sabres traded a third for him last offseason and he had a terrible year. His value is below a third right now.

Doc is EXTREMELY good at what he does. One of the best in the business. His style might not be the best for you but that’s a taste thing, not an ability thing (in my opinion). I enjoy his voice and presentation most of the time. I think him being paired with Pierre so often turns people off a bit. Doc and Ferraro are a great duo. It’s like musical genres. I don’t like certain kinds but can respect that they’re damn good at what they do.

Corners have been the big one lately. Offensive linemen have long had that issue -- and a guy like Dawkins is at higher risk with how bad the guys next to him look to be.

There's just a constant uneasy calmness to it.

Article talks about the Bills as one of five landing spots for Khalil Mack: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-how-a-potential-khalil-mack-trade-might-work-and-five-landing-spots/ A former NFL GM suggests it would take a 1, 3 and 7 or some other combination of similar value picks. I would make that deal in a heartbeat. There's a few guys here that might not have much value to send the other way to lessen the pick cost (Lawson, Hughes, a few others). They don't have a ton of value but if you're dumb enough to trade Khalil Mack you might be dumb enough to value those guys. I have yet to see anyone report a trade is actually a possibility but there's been plenty of speculation. Buffalo and Green Bay are the two teams I've heard mentioned the most.

It was Moulson - game was November. Vanek for Moulson happened in October.

For my taste: he's good enough to do some college hockey and other similar-level hockey, not near NHL standards.

No. The defense was already very good last year and they’ve gone through a decent level of change. Vontae Davis lost a step a couple years ago and needs to stay healthy. Trent Murphy has had health issues for years and already has them here (I still like this signing but he’s no lock to be good or healthy). My main concern is that they’re relying heavily on three defensive backs (White, Poyer, Hyde) to repeat performances they’ve never reached in the league before. Corners seem to be the number one victim of sophomore slumps and Poyer/Hyde have never been even close to where they were last year. You’ve been nicer to me so far. ?

This one is reeeeeeally good. Not many people have heard of it but definitely check it out if you haven’t.

I always remember Myers being in it

There’s no indication of steroids and he actually hasn’t really slowed down. The shift has just been used exponentially more. From ESPN: From 2015 to 2018, Pujols has accumulated a whopping 403 hard-hit outs, putting balls in play that travel at least 95 mph. Nobody has more. His average exit velocity is 90.3 mph, ranked fourth among those with at least 1,700 batted balls during that stretch, according to Statcast. His batting average on balls in play is .245, tied for the lowest in the majors among qualified hitters during that time. In the same article he suggests at least one simple fix: don’t allow second baseman to play directly up the middle. It’s done to intentionally block the batter’s ability to recognize pitches coming out of the pitcher’s hand. It’s like face guarding in basketball which is no longer legal.

Albert Pujols is one of the greatest hitters of this generation and the shift has killed the end of his career. If he can’t beat the shift then the argument to “just hit it the other way” dies. Especially with modern pitching. It’s not as easy for batters to just pick their spots anymore. Other sports have similar restrictions. I’d compare it to line of scrimmage rules in football, offsides in Hockey and soccer, 3-seconds in basketball.

I don’t think people were disappointed with the end result last year but then boom big expectations.

I have a feeling there’s going to be a whole lot of disappointed Bills fan on this board in a few months. I hope not, though.

Baseball sucks because of a refusal to change. Chop the season to 120 games max. Pitch clock. Limit bullpens to where a pitcher has to pitch to at least two batters (doesn’t have to get two outs but two batters). If a pitcher comes out before this due to injury they have to miss the next two scheduled games. One mound visit per two innings unless to check on injury. Catcher counts as one. Calls to the bullpen are done from the dugout. Kill the defensive shift (I’m borderline on this one but recently joined the kill them party). You get extra runs for a bat flip. (Just kidding) A player recently got hounded and needed to apologize because he did a bat flip when he hit a bases-juiced walk off home run on the last strike on the last out for his team to win 4-3.

I like it. Corners are the new wide receivers. Feed me all the personality and trash talk. Nom nom.

LeSean McCoy's lawyers and Delicia Cordon's lawyers reached an agreement in the eviction case and she's no longer living at the home. She'll make one last stop (with a Sheriff's deputy) Monday to get her belongings.