Author: Matt Paige

Mookie Betts is a Dodger for life!

It all started early this morning at around 6:30 AM Pacific Time when it was first reported by Boston Sports Radio Host Lou Merloni that the Dodgers and Betts were close to a long term extension.

About 45 minutes later, MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman came in and said that he heard the same thing.

As a rule of thumb in baseball, you believe everything from reporters like Jeff Passan and Ken Rosenthal since they are never wrong. Since these reports were from different people, I didn’t fully believe them.

Then everything changed when Jeff Passan dropped a nuke on the baseball world when he confirmed the reports.

As you can probably tell I’m a Dodgers fan, and when Passan was the guy to report that the deal was close I went through the roof because I was so excited.

I mean how could you blame me. The Dodgers have come close to winning the World Series so many times over the past seven years and they never really spent money on the big name player. They have never gone all in.

The Dodgers always spent money on a few different guys like signing A.J. Pollock instead of Bryce Harper, and trading for Yu Darvish instead of Justin Verlander because Verlander had $40 Million left on his deal, etc.

So, it was nice to see them finally go for it and spend money. The Dodgers have the money to be the Yankees of the west coast, but they never spent money. Maybe now there will be a change in the front office philosophy and they will start spending big.

A couple of things to note about his contract is Betts is the only contract left on the books after the 2022 season. This means that the Dodgers will have the money to re-sign guys like Cody Bellinger, who is a free agent after 2022 and Walker Buehler, who is a free agent after the 2023 season, and others. Also his deal does not include a no-trade clause, and over $100 Million of his contract is deferred to the end of his 13-year deal and beyond.

The best part about this is Betts is only twenty-seven years old, and he’s right in the beginning stages of his prime. They have him signed until he’s forty, which is a little bit worrying, but to have probably the second best baseball player in the world on your team is pretty good.

Actually I lied. The best part was watching Red Sox fans melt down on Twitter.

A story in four parts:

Aaron Rodgers has it all. He won a Super Bowl, he is one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL, and he has all the money and fame he could ever want. Unfortunately, he couldn’t discount double-check his way into Danica Patrick’s heart.

It has been a rough few months for Rodgers. The Packers got blown out in the NFC Championship against Rodgers’ childhood favorite team, the 49ers, the Packers then drafted his replacement, and now he breaks up with his longtime girlfriend. Hopefully he can rely heavily on his faith and family during this tough ti… nevermind.

As for Danica, this relationship ended up about as badly as her NASCAR career. Besides, this relationship had to be tough for her. She is an Illinois girl dating the Quarterback of the Packers. There had to be some mixed emotions there.

Now I’m going to go full tin foil hat conspiracy theorist here.

Ever since they began dating, Rodgers play on the field has been declining. What if Danica secretly works for the Bears and her goal was to sabotage Rodgers.

I mean it’s possible, although I think the Bears would be better off using their resources to get a kicker that can actually make a field goal.

Seriously though, it’s a bummer that it didn’t work out for them. However, I do think Danica seriously downgraded from her last boyfriend to Rodgers.

I mean come on. She went from someone who looks like a 1980s country music singer who drives a red Chevy pickup, to a dude who drinks kale smoothies and drives a Toyota Prius.

To each her own I guess.

Happy Birthday to NFL Hall of Famer, Hollywood movie star, and convicted criminal Orenthal James Simpson!

Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 in San Francisco, California. Growing up he was a great athlete and he was not known to have any homicidal tendencies. He went to college at USC, and he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1968. Being drafted by the Bills was ONLY the third worst thing that ever happened to him.

The second worst thing to ever happen to him was being associated with the Kardashians.

Among O.J’s career achievements are a Heisman trophy in 1968, a NFL MVP award in 1973, a 2,000 yard rushing season in 13 games in 1973, and Co-starring in The Naked Gun and various Hertz commercials. However, his greatest career achievement was escaping a murder conviction that he was clearly guilty of in 1994.

Now that might be a little unfair. After all, if the glove doesn’t fit you must acquit. Luckily for O.J., the only twelve people in America who thought he was innocent were on the Jury.

After he was found “Not Guilty” O.J. could’ve played golf for the rest of his life and focused on finding out who the “real killer” was. Instead, his dumb ass decided to rob someone at gunpoint over some of his “stolen” memorabilia.

For his stupidity (and the fact he got away with killing two people), the judge sent O.J. to the pound for a decade. Finally in 2017, the juice was loose after he was released on parole.

Nowadays the only thing Orange Julius does is talk Fantasy Football on social media (hello Twitter world), play golf, and terrorize the widows who live in his retirement community.

So Happy Birthday O.J., I hope you three-putted every hole you played today.

P.S. I am not suicidal, so if I end up dead O.J. did it… or maybe Hillary did it like she did to Epstein.

In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, recently acquired Dodgers pitcher David Price announced that he will be sitting out the COVID shortened 2020 season.

This is completely understandable for Price to make this decision, he has a couple of young children and he doesn’t want to take any chances.

The question now becomes: Who will take his spot in the Dodgers pitching rotation?

In steps Ross Stripling. If you remember, Chicken Strip was nearly traded to the Angels with Joc Pederson this past offseason, until Arte Moreno puked all over himself and pulled the plug on the deal.

Stripling was not pleased that he was passed over for a spot in the starting rotation during Spring Training:

Now he will get his chance.

Over the course of his four seasons in the bigs, Stripling has a 3.51 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. He was also an all-star in 2018.

I like the fact that he’s now in the starting rotation. A pitcher with a chip on his shoulder who has something to prove is very dangerous. He could have a really big year.

Going into the season, the Dodgers thought the Price was right, but now they are going to have to eat more chicken.

Cue the imperial death march.

The reported death of the Patriots Dynasty has been greatly exaggerated. This is a very savvy move by Bill Belichick. It’s the typical buy low sell high transaction that he has been known to make. From Randy Moss to Darrelle Revis and now Cam Newton, Belichick takes players and drags them off the scrap heap, and more often then not he finds a gem.

This is also a very low risk transaction for the Patriots. It’s a one year deal, and Newton is probably not the Quarterback of the future.

If this signing pans out, the Patriots are a legitimate contender in the AFC. With their stout defense, Sony Michel and James White in the backfield, and Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry (assuming he stays healthy) lining up on the outside, they should be able to at least win the AFC East. As long as Newton can play at a level that is anywhere close to his 2015 MVP season, the Patriots will be tough to beat (unfortunately).

We will be able to tell pretty early on whether this experiment will work out or not. If it doesn’t, it will be a shock to the system for Patriots fans… at least this year. Belichick will likely pull the parachute early and he’ll ride out the year with Jarrett Stidham. They’ll punt the season and try to tank. The Pats won’t be the worst team in the league even if they tank, and there will be some guys that get shipped out to accumulate draft picks (Edelman, McCourty twins, etc.). I think Belichick will be able to accumulate enough draft picks to reload the roster or have enough picks to trade up to get either Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.

As for Cam Newton, he needs to make this work. It’s probably his last chance. If he can’t figure it out in New England, he won’t be able to figure it out anywhere else. This is his Dwight Howard/Carmelo Anthony moment. They had to set aside their ego’s to make it work and so will Cam if he wants to stay in the league. This means no more “look at me” outfits, and no more Superman… at least while he’s in New England.

Hopefully it works out for him on the Patriots. He’s a character and he’s a good personality to have in the league. No matter what happens, Darth Belichick is going to have his hands full this year.