Good morning, all! I hope your weekend is off to a great start!
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who has guided his club to back-to-back World Series titles, has opened a can of worms by being an advocate for a salary cap and salary floor in baseball. Those are two items the MLBPA will never support. I break it all down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts on this chilly Saturday in the northeast:
It is No. 1 ranked Ohio St. vs. No. 2 ranked Indiana for the Big 10 Championship tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game will be televised on Fox at 8:00 EST. Both teams are undefeated. Ohio St. is favored by four points. I like the Buckeyes.
Conference Championship Weekend highlights the Saturday docket and the SEC Championship is another worthy matchup, as No. 3 Georgia battles No. 9 Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It is the fifth time these schools have met in the conference title game and the Crimson Tide has won the previous four. ABC has the game at 4:00 EST. Georgia is favored by 1.5 points and my prediction is they win and they cover.
MLB’s winter meetings start Sunday in Orlando and the rumor mill is in overdrive. The clickbait stories are everywhere. “The Mets are prepared to make blockbuster trade.” “MLB insider expects big deals.” My hunch is most of what is rumored will not come to fruition. As an example, the Mets were supposedly in line to acquire OF Byron Buxton and P Joe Ryan from the Minnesota Twins, the tabloids screamed. That is, until the Twins announced on Thursday, they are not trading those two.
Another classic clickbait headline is “What we are hearing…”My advice - not that you are seeking it - is click at your own peril.
The New York Giants have a bye week, although some would contend they have been on leave for the last 10 years. Heck, the Giants may be 2-11 but that is not stopping two of their quarterbacks from auditioning for other jobs. CBS has brought Russell Wilson onboard to offer analysis and Fox has done the same with Jameis Winston.
Documents released by the FBI show MLB started investigating Pete Rose for betting on baseball in 1988, a year before an investigation into his gambling habits came to light. MLB apparently knew something was up with Rose and that he was in debt by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Some of the PGA Tour’s top golfers are competing this weekend in the Bahamas at the Hero World Challenge, in case you are stuck in the cold and want to warm up by watching the tourney. NBC has the coverage.
If I may, allow me to plug the Brad Field Weather podcast. Brad and I recorded another episode on Friday. Let’s just say the temperature is not going to warm up anytime soon. Here is the podcast link.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Enjoy your Saturday and thank you for being a subscriber. And if you just stumbled across the newsletter, how about becoming one?
DAN
