The Buscher

I’ll admit I still wanted BVW instead of a retread like Doug Melvin, but the clear choice to me was Chaim Bloom. I’m sure he’ll be getting some more interviews this winter and he’s going to make a team very, very happy.

Phillies get a 4-game sweep of the Mets with the Mets' bullpen collapsing in every game, capped by Diaz blowing another save and allowing 5 runs, his ERA now up to 4.94. Add this to how little Cano has done relative to the money he's owed and look at the numbers Bruce has put up along with Kelenic tearing up the minors and this legitimately is already one of the worst trades in history. I know I keep harping on it, but holy shit. Toss in Familia with his near-8 ERA and two stints on the IL and Lowrie having not yet appeared in a game and I think there's a very real case for BVW to be fired just three months into his four-year GM contract.

In a relative stunner, KD declined his option with the Warriors for next season. So he's going to try to cash in this offseason and hope somebody's willing to pay him to rehab for a year.

Bengals left tackle Jonah Williams, the #11 pick in the draft, has undergone shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum and he will miss the 2019 season.

There could be something to that, under Sandy Alderson the Mets only had three people in their analytics department and despite his best efforts, Sandy couldn't convince the Wilpons that analytics were important and so he never got any more hires. BVW however insisted on a bigger analytics group as part of coming about and they hired five or six people including several who I've heard nothing but good things about like Jared Banner from the Red Sox and Allard Baird from the Royals. Given the team was stuck in the dark ages analytically, maybe it'll take a long while before any of this stuff makes its way to the field. But I can just as soon see all of the analytics work falling on deaf ears because Fred Wilpon still doesn't believe in it.

Cano hitting a cool .223 with 4 home runs and 16 RBI. Jay Bruce has more home runs this season than Cano has extra base hits. I've asked if anybody has been able to point to any particular reason why he's been this bad other without defaulting to his age, but nobody has any other explanation. You look at the breakdown of what he's done his damage on this year - nearly all off-speed pitches. He simply can't square up on a fastball anymore. Everyone knew he'd regress eventually, but look at the numbers he put up last year even after the PED suspension, there was no reason to expect him to completely fall off of a cliff in one offseason just because he went from being 35 to being 36. And yet he has. The worst part is it's not even realistic to expect him to "rediscover" his swing or whatever. His swing mechanics are the same. His bat is just slow now. And how many players in their late 30s are willing or able to change the swing that's worked for them their entire career? Not many. So yeah...it doesn't seem like there's any reason to think he'll suddenly get better.

I fucking hate Mickey Callaway.

Mickey Callaway keeps his job while pitching coach Dave Eiland and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez get fired. The Mets hope to get a shot in the arm by calling up 82 year old Phil Regan to be the new pitching coach.

In possibly the worst idea ever, the Rays have asked for and received approval to explore the potential for becoming a two team city with Montreal, with the team playing early season home games in Tampa and the rest in Montreal. Just move the team to Montreal outright. People in Tampa don't care about the team now, who the hell is going to care about them if they're only playing there through May?

I didn’t think we had a shot either. But the fact that the two superstars available seemingly aren’t even considering the Knicks just sums up the state of the last 20 years. A potentially fun 2019-20 now appears doomed to another tank job, hoping Barrett pans out and possibly throwing big money at KD coming off of a year of rehab.

Kyrie rumored to be heavily leaning towards the Nets. Kawhi said to be deciding between the Raptors and Clippers. lol Knicks

Baseball would get more over if seals were allowed to play.

Adam Ottavino: 1.74 ERA DJ LeMahieu: .311/.355/.459 Cost: $51 million Jeurys Familia: 7.81 ERA Jed Lowrie: Signs point to him not playing this season Cost: $50 million And yet BVW is the one who talked all sorts of shit about the offseason the Mets had. "Come and get us!"

As I was saying.

Can't wait for the Knicks to strike out on everybody.

I'm pretty much over annual sports titles because they are such cash cows there is no real incentive for the producers to do much more than make it a glorified roster update. There will always be a few new features added, but rarely anything that on its own makes it worth a $60 first day purchase. If I cave and buy a WWE game nowadays, it's nearly always after a price drop because I know realistically I'll get bored quickly. Even MLB the Show, which is consistently amazing, I'm waiting until the midsummer price drop. I got Madden 19 but it was the first Madden I'd bought in three years, I figured by then they'd have added enough new features to justify the upgrade (and they did, specifically custom draft classes are what got me to buy in). But in all likelihood it'll be a few more years before I get another one barring a huge shake-up.

Jeremy Lin: NBA Champion.

The Blues and Raptors win titles on consecutive nights. 2019 is wild.

Like, everybody knew it was a risky trade, and right out of the gate got no shortage of criticism from guys like Keith Law who gets his jollies from blasting the Mets at every turn. Even the most optimistic fan had to know the last couple of years in Cano's deal would be rough. But if you believed Cano had a few more years of elite level production left, it was easy to see why they would've wanted to get him. And there was absolutely nothing in his numbers or recent history to suggest he was going to fall off a cliff in year one. And yet, he already looks done two and a half months into the season. Plus Diaz is simply reinforcing that it's pointless to count on closers anymore because so few relievers can stay consistently great year to year. The franchise is well and truly cursed.

Overrated Edwin Diaz blows yet another save while Cano and his .238/3/14 slashline sits in Syracuse having gone back on the IL one game into his return. It’s June and I’m already willing to declare this one of the worst trades in team history, possibly baseball history.

No real surprise here but MLB is said to be seriously considering expanding to Vegas and the thought is they're next in line for a team. In completely unrelated news, Bryce Harper is taking a bat to the Phillies clubhouse.

One thing the NHL undeniably gets right is handing the trophy directly to the players. Nobody wants to see a greedy ass owner be the first one to get his hands on the trophy. Hand it to the people that actually won it.

I feel like my fantasy draft strategy has always been the same. My year one bullpen always ends up loaded with really good relievers who are 35+ years old so the CPU ignored them and I snagged them all 30-40 rounds deep. Meanwhile my AAA team has a bunch of pitchers with high potential ratings developing with the idea that they'll be in my year two bullpen after the inevitable retirement purge happens in the offseason. But it seems like I'll play as the fantasy team for a few months and then retreat back to my normal franchise mode, never to return.

I don't buy for a second that anyone other than Eli is starting Week 1. I think they're just talking Jones up now to make it easier on the fanbase when he inevitably becomes the starter once the season goes off the rails.