The Buscher

I would say tonight might seal up MVP for Lamar but it feels like the current favorite shits the bed every week. Notably, CMC has now moved to +170 and the 2nd favorite behind -105 Lamar. That’s the first actual betting indicator to suggest voters might get beaten into submission into voting for a non-QB.

You can’t convince me the NFL isn’t an easy sport to rig when the refs can willingly ignore blatant pass interference (or throw the flag on extremely borderline calls) Anyway, at least it was a close and watchable game instead of a blowout

Imagine being enough of a lowlife to jump someone during the alma mater.

Ultimately if David Stearns is the wunderkind executive he’s portrayed to be, he should be able to build a consistently competitive ball club without the histrionics, having to pay for aging mercenaries, or having to build a super team. Build a good team the old fashioned way and build up sustainability from within. Of course, I can’t bring myself to just blindly believe this will happen because A) it’s the Mets and B) the same exact thing was said about Chaim Bloom in Boston and that was a spectacular failure

There’s a contingent of Mets bloggers largely reaming Cohen for exactly this. Yes, he took the steps to fly out to Japan to meet him. Yes, he had Yamamoto over for dinner at his house. Yes, he offered Yamamoto the largest contract for a pitcher in the history of baseball. But his “failing” in this case is that he didn’t offer even more from the jump. Basically he needs to realize that nobody really wants to play for the Mets and that won’t change until they prove they can become a consistent winner and not constantly being a laughing stock 8 out of 10 years. So that means you have to spend a lot of money to talk guys into coming here. Like…a lot of money. In the eyes of these bloggers, Cohen blew it by not just laying down a $375-400 million offer from the jump. Billionaires don’t often make money by bidding against themselves, which he basically would’ve been putting out a number like that…but when you’re a shit team and leave your offer in a range a much better team will match, you’ll get burned. Definitely. This is shaping up to be the biggest “win the WS or it was a huge failure and everyone should point and laugh at them” season since the 2000s Yankees.

Mets offered him $325 million over 12 years. Yamamoto took it back to the Dodgers who matched and that was that. So yep. Cohen was used simply to get the bidding up to the team he wanted to go to. Not surprised but it still sucks. David Stearns’ MO is building a competitive team without ever having a sexy offseason and that’s pretty much what he’s gonna have to do here. Still sucks.

Well, he was wrong. Yamamoto is a Dodger and the boring super team continues. Welp, time to see if the Mets just sign a bunch of 1-year crap and punt the season. Will be nice to know I don’t have to waste time on them this season.

Ty Schmit (Pat McAfee’s producer) claiming he’s heard from a reliable source that Yamamoto is a Yankee for 9 years at $326 million. Nearly an identical contract to Cole. He’s a Yankee fan and I don’t think he’d blatantly troll about something like this. He’s gonna get a lot of shit on the McAfee Show if he’s wrong. So I’m willing to believe he does have a source he trusts. But that doesn’t mean the source is right. If 9/326 really is the deal that gets it done it virtually confirms to me he weighed prestige over money because Cohen absolutely offered him more than that.

General consensus from the media seems to still be that Yamamoto will be a Yankee. Most do expect Cohen will make him the highest offer, possibly by a significant margin, but they seem to all believe he's enraptured by the Yankees' organizational prestige and that he's simply using the Mets to buy up the final Yankees price as much as possible. I mean, if Cohen really does offer him the most and he says no there's not much you can do. All you can really ask is to have an owner willing to make the spend for top talent. Would be a gut punch though to just get another reminder that even players view the Mets as second rate, as that's not really a perception that money can overcome. I will say that if the Mets DO get Yamamoto, expect pundits to all say it's way too many dollars/years to give to a guy who has never thrown a pitch here, that it reeks of desperation and that Cohen is ruining baseball. But if he gets that same contract from the Yanks/Dodgers it'll be hailed as a great, bold move and healthy for baseball to see the top clubs going for it.

Well, time to play out the string Indianapolis Colts vs Atlanta Falcons (5) Washington Commanders vs New York Jets (1) Jacksonville Jaguars vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3) Dallas Cowboys vs Miami Dolphins (2) Baltimore Ravens vs San Francisco 49ers (4)

Oops, I didn't listen.

If there's any silver lining for the Eagles, they likely control their own destiny. I say likely because if both teams win out it's gonna go all the way down to the 5th tiebreaker (strength of victory) and while it technically could shift to Dallas it would take a lot of bad teams winning in the final 3 weeks to beef up the win percentage. I don't care that the Giants have won 3 of 4, they never beat the Eagles and really don't seem they'd have the pieces necessary to hang with them. The Cardinals game wedged in between the Giants games might cause them more trouble because Gannon should be as prepared as anyone to figure out a defensive gameplan. NFC East winner vs. crappy 7th seed and NFC East runner-up vs. crappy NFC South winner doesn't sound like a particularly compelling first round slate

If you subscribe to the "Dolphins won't hang with good teams" theory, they'll have a shitload of pressure on them against Dallas this week, especially with a Ravens matchup looming after that. Meanwhile the Bills have the Chargers and Pats in that same span. There's a non-zero chance Dolphins vs. Bills in Week 18 ends up being for the East which seemed all but impossible a month ago.

Entered the SNF game with a lead in my non-EWB fantasy playoff but was only given 33% odds to win with me having Likely and my opponent having Lamar and Engram. He had CMC who had his typical monster game and left me with little to no margin for error. I'd like to thank Lamar for throwing the ball to Likely on some big plays and the TD, getting me a win.

Chiefs take a knee on 4th and 10 from the Pats 5 yard line, thrilling fans who had them at -9.5 and depressing those who had them at -10.5

Welp that’s a big fat zero for me. This is why I need to do my picks as soon as I’m tagged

Yep, 2 plays later. Somehow Mostert’s anytime TD scoring line today was only +120 today. Free money.

Just watched my dad suffer a bad beat in real-time. He put $1 each on a handful of players to score the first Sunday TD across the league. Any one of them winning would’ve paid like $50. He had two of the heavy favorites in Henry and Mostert. Titans and Dolphins simultaneously on the goal lines. Just to watch Levis fake a hand off and take it into the end zone himself.

Rodgers expected to be medically cleared to play next week’s game. The Jets will, of course, likely be 5-9 after tomorrow giving them an excuse to shut him down and Rodgers can take a victory lap anyway about recovering in record time. Makes me want to root for the Jets tomorrow honestly. Make this guy actually go out there and play.

"I bet on the wire fox terrier because you made it sound like she was a shoo-in. You said she was majestic!" "They're all majestic! This is a nationally televised dog show!"

If it's not the Chargers for Belichick it'll be the Commanders. New owner wanting to make a splash + maybe Belichick feels Howell's a good enough building block to start with. Their defense is a total mess which, of course, is still Belichick's specialty.

Brandon Staley should be fired at halftime.

Dodgers on the verge of acquiring SP Tyler Glasnow and OF Manuel Margot from the Rays in exchange for SP Ryan Pepiot and OF Jonny DeLuca. If the trade goes through it's pretty much your prototypical Rays move - trading two expensive guys nearing free agency for two guys with 5+ years of control. Trade simulator labels that as a big win and overpay for LA, Pepiot would be a great get for Tampa.