How Baseball Has Changed

Chris Carter had 41 homeruns last year for the Milwaukee Brewers. He tied for the league lead.

The Brewers CUT him yesterday to make way for Eric Thames, an American who played in Korea the last three years because he wasn't good enough to play in the majors.

Why do you simply cut the league leader in home runs? That's a good question, but it shows how  much baseball has changed in the last decade. Carter led the league with 206 strikeouts, too. And that wasn't even his worse year. He whiffed 212 times in 2013.

His batting average was .222 last season, which was a career best. He's a .218 career hitter. He literally is an all or nothing type of hitter. And His fielding? Let's just say he reminds people a lot of Arcia with a little bit of Sano thrown in.

His overall WAR rating shows he's one of the worst players in baseball despite his 41 home runs.  Saber mathematics  is changing the way the front office looks at players. And you now know that even 41 home runs won't save you if that's all you have to offer.

That's something Twins fans should think about when it's time to re-sign Sano. I'm not saying Sano is as bad as Carter, I'm saying he should be on the watch list. He's still young, but there's more to baseball than potential power. Arcia found that out the hard way. And so did Carter.

Twins Sign Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, and LaTroy Hawkins!

They'll all be in uniform this spring.

As special assistants.

Green Bay

Well, it looks like the Pack is back. The Packers were so much better than the Eagles last night that it wasn't even close. Rodgers is starting to look scary good again. If the Vikes can't win this thing, I'd still rather it be the Packers than the Lions.

And there is still plenty of time left for them to win the division. Their funk may be over. Without an O-Line, the Vikings' is going to last a while longer.

Football

I didn't watch much yesterday. New England wasn't available in our area, and with the Vikings losing Thursday, I just couldn't get interested in the other games. The Vikings play again THIS Thursday against Dallas, so I'm thinking I'll be in another football funk for at least the next two weeks. NO ONE, and I mean no one believes the Vikings have a chance in that game.

I'm still trying to figure out how the Vikings could have went through so many injured offensive linemen this season. Most teams might have an injured lineman or two, who might miss a few games throughout the season, but many don't have any real offensive lineman injuries the whole season.

Take Dallas for example. Their O Line is one of the best in football this season. None of them have been hurt. It's one of the reasons they have had such success with a rookie quarterback and rookie running back. Offensive linemen have the longest careers in pro football. Some go entire careers without missing any games.

But not the Vikings. For whatever reason, we're playing third and fourth string lineman against every one else's first string defenses. The results have not been pretty. The Vikings will continue their death spiral into obscurity until we get good, healthy offensive linemen again. That Bradford hasn't been hurt severely yet is telling us how good the offensive coordinator is at creative game plans. The whole scheme is for Bradford to throw quickly with short passes. Anything else, and we'd really be in trouble. I don't blame anyone. For me that's unusual.

But I don't expect us to be any good either.

For me, that's par for the course.

Ohio State and Alabama Win

Much as I predicted, the Ohio State/Michigan game went down to the wire and needed two OT periods to decide a winner. Michigan outplayed Ohio State much of the game, but the Buckeyes did just enough at the end to win. Jim Harbough, coach of the Wolverines, blamed the officiating. In a game this close, it often comes down to the guys in the striped shirts.

Harbough knows that even though they were ranked number three going in, and that they just barely lost, and the refs might have determined the winner more than the players, they are no longer going to be ranked among the top four teams in the country. Their chance at a national championship just went down the drain.

In other news, Penn State, number 8 in the country did win yesterday, so they are now the clear favorites to win the Big Ten championship game. As I said yesterday, Ohio State could win the national title, and not even be the best team in the Big Ten. Ohio State's only loss this season was to Penn State.

Guess which team feels they now deserve to be in the top 4 and the playoff?

Guess which team is not likely to be there?

THAT is your college playoff system in action.

Michigan and Ohio State

I feel sorry for both. They are the number 3 and number 2 teams in the country, but by one of them losing today, they will drop out of the top 4 playoff system.

Which really makes no sense when you think about it. If it's a close game won by one point with a 53-yard field goal at the end by Ohio State as time expires, it would PROVE that these teams ARE number 2 and 3 in the country and so their rank should not change.

But teams 5-8 are just waiting to move up when one of them loses. Even if they tied, they'd probably both leave the top 4. The system is now rigged.

Which shows this new way of doing it is far WORSE than the old way.

I'll be watching though.

What's funny about all of this is there is a scenario where Ohio State could win this game AND the National Championship game and not even win the Big Ten Conference.

College football used to do it right.

sigh

Vikes Fail Late Again

My biggest consolation this season is that Dallas and Seattle are so much better than the Vikings that winning or losing at this point doesn't matter. Our offensive line has had 7 major injuries this year and there really is no way to get better from here.