Reigning AAC player of the year and outgoing SMU transfer Kendric Davis, the top target in the current transfer portal, is set to announce his destination in the next few hours. Five schools have made the cut of potential landing spots, and two of those—Memphis and Kansas—are an interesting pair, not specifically for Davis, but just as programs right now. Arguably the two programs most in limbo in terms of NCAA sanctions, the Tigers and Jayhawks are waiting for the other shoe to drop, and while this may or may not impact Davis (my impression is that the Memphis ordeal will take more than this summer to play itself out, and I’ve lost track of the Kansas timeline, as it seems just about everyone has, including possibly the NCAA), it’s a bizarre situation. Bill Self and Penny Hardaway allegedly acted with impropriety back when there were incentives to act with impropriety. Now, Name-Image-Likeness offers an avenue to achieve many of the same goals without breaking rules, and…they still (allegedly) broke rules back when those rules were good ones to break?
There are a lot of complaints about the NCAA that don’t actually hold up. It’s a flawed organization, yes, but sometimes it becomes more of a punching bag than is warranted. This, though—the inability to figure out sanctions within a calendar year of the offense being named—is and always has been a bonkers little thing, and it’s its most ridiculous right now, when the days of these sorts of infractions even occurring are theoretically over. Is it possible more infractions will occur and are occurring? Yes, it’s possible. Maybe rules will continue to be broken. But it sure seems like a lot of the obstacle to doing such things within said rules has been removed, and with it, a lot of the incentive to punish teams for breaking rules. It’s not a deterrent anymore, because there’s nothing really there to deter.
Anyway, just your semi-monthly reminder that the NCAA might give Memphis or Kansas (or Arizona, right?) a postseason ban, a la Oklahoma State, and that it might give Penny Hardaway or Bill Self (or Sean Miller, right?) a show-cause penalty, but it also might not. It might do the UNC slap on the wrist. And at the rate things are going, it might just never resolve these cases, because its ability to adjudicate such issues may not be long for this world. It’s always been weird how long this all takes. Right now, it’s its weirdest.
Talkin’ Baseball
Another week of the baseball season has found its way through, and here’s your roundup heading into games tonight, along with a few of the top performers from the last four days:
Will we ever tire of talking about Shohei Ohtani? I hope we don’t. I hope he’s an all-time great, and things are heading that direction. He played like one again in Houston this week, tossing six one-hit, one-walk, twelve-strikeout innings in the series clincher on Wednesday while doubling and driving in two himself. He reached base more than he allowed his opponents to reach base. The Adam Morrison approach to baseball. This weekend, Anaheim hosts the Orioles, looking to build a little lead on the Astros who have the Blue Jays to deal with.
The Blue Jays were also busy with big things this week, taking two of three at Fenway Park with Kevin Gausman’s eight innings of one-run ball yesterday the highlight. Gausman has now made three starts without allowing a walk. His FIP is 0.70. That is obscene. The Red Sox look to regroup in Tampa Bay as they start a ten-day road trip through the non-Bronx portions of the AL East.
Tampa Bay had a successful end to its week in Chicago, taking the last two from the Cubs after starting the road trip 1-3. Taylor Walls, one of the Rays’ many highly-ranked prospects and a 2021 graduate of the vaunted Tampa Bay farm system, had a big last two games, tripling and reaching base in five of his seven plate appearances. The Cubs are off to a rough start hosting the Pirates, to whom they lost 4-3 last night in the opener.
The Pirates were swept this week by the Brewers, who were looking for a series like that. Brandon Woodruff seemed to get right on Wednesday, raising his strikeout total from four to thirteen over six innings of shutout work. Milwaukee is in Philadelphia beginning tonight.
Philadelphia’s struggles continued out in Denver, as the Phils dropped two of three to the still-competitive-so-far Rockies. C.J. Cron is enjoying his second season in the mountains, drilling his sixth home run of the year on Tuesday night. That leads the Majors, and he’ll look to increase it this weekend in Detroit.
No 3,000th hit yesterday for Miguel Cabrera, but the Tigers did beat the Yankees, avoiding a sweep. Isiah Kiner-Falefa led the way for New York, reaching base in half his plate appearances over the set. The Yankees now host Cleveland.
What a start it’s been for the Guardians, who responded to rainouts Monday and Tuesday after a weekend sweep by San Francisco to take three straight from the White Sox. Shane Bieber was as himself as he’s ever been in his start Wednesday, striking out seven and allowing just one run over six strong innings. The White Sox visit the Twins this weekend.
It was a rough week for the Twins in Kansas City, where they lost two of three and dropped to 5-8 on the young season. Salvador Perez led the way for the hosts, clubbing two home runs on Tuesday. The Royals head to Seattle this weekend for a quick West Coast swing.
The Mariners are hanging around in the AL, taking two of three from Texas to rise to 7-6 overall. The infamous Abraham Toro trade looked pretty good this week, with the infielder and designated hitter reaching base all four times on Wednesday, thrice yesterday, and once on Tuesday, though Tuesday’s trip took him all the way around said bases on his first home run trot of 2022. The Rangers head to Oakland tonight, attempting to avoid yet more slaughter.
It was three wins in four days for the A’s over Baltimore, with journeyman Sheldon Neuse turning in a big series at the plate. Eight hits, on base more than half the time, great stuff from the infielder. You always wonder with the A’s when they start getting numbers out of guys like Neuse.
Further down the coast, Manny Machado had a huge week, leading the Padres to a sweep of the Reds with five hits, including two long balls. Machado trails only Nolan Arenado in fWAR as the Padres welcome the Dodgers to town this weekend for the pair’s first meeting of the season.
The Dodgers have wasted no time getting hot, though they did slip to just a .750 win percentage with the series win over Atlanta this week. Cody Bellinger has quietly been good, and his double and triple on Wednesday were key in the 5-1 win. Atlanta now returns home to host Miami, who’s trying to be pesky in the East.
That attempted peskiness is an uphill battle for the Marlins, who lost two of three at home to the Cardinals these last three days. Arenado continued to do his thing, recording three more hits yesterday to raise his average to .405 and his wRC+ to a gargantuan 283 in the early going. The Cardinals visit the Reds tonight.
The Mets continue to play well, becoming the first team in the Majors to reach ten wins with yesterday’s triumph over San Francisco, New York’s third of the four-game set. Eduardo Escobar was a busy man, doubling twice and homering once while reaching base nine times on 16 plate appearances. The Giants now head down to Washington to regroup.
It was a disappointing ending to the series for the Nationals, who lost both Wednesday and Thursday after sweeping Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Diamondbacks. Daulton Varsho homered on Wednesday and in the first game Tuesday for Arizona, who now hosts the Mets back home.
The Cubs’ Roster Crunch That Isn’t
Two key developments from the last 24 hours that will impact the Cubs’ crunch from 28-man rosters to 26-man rosters:
First, Clint Frazier has appendicitis. I don’t know the exact recovery time for that, but he won’t be back right away, and while the Cubs have called Alfonso Rivas back up, Rivas hasn’t really fit into any lineup plans so far, making him a likely candidate to drop back to Des Moines when the time comes.
The other candidate is Ethan Roberts, who was given a high-leverage situation last night against the Pirates and couldn’t deliver. The Cubs led 3-2 when he came on to pitch the fifth, and he left after yielding two walks and two doubles while striking out two.
Last night’s loss isn’t exactly on Roberts (the offense is more to blame, though to be fair, Wil Crowe has been excellent so far this year). It was a rough outing, but the strikeouts were good and the doubles weren’t smoked by any stretch. It’s more a body of work thing for Roberts at this point, who’s only pitched in six games but has just one clean inning in the six appearances and sports a rough 7.66 FIP. David Ross made the decision to give him a high-leverage spot, possibly in a pre-ordained plan with Mark Leiter Jr. not expected to throw many innings (he pitched four, allowing just two runs but having some trouble), but possibly because he believes in the guy. Maybe that belief is going to result in Roberts sticking around. More likely than not, though, with Scott Effross good so far, Michael Rucker better than Roberts, Chris Martin and Rowan Wick better both on paper and on the mound, and every other bullpen guy out of options, Roberts is the guy to get temporarily cut. Injuries may change this, but he should be at the bottom of the pecking order right now, and he should be headed to AAA to keep working when the moment comes. We like the guy, that’s where he’s at, and it was a head-scratching move by Ross to use him at all yesterday evening.
Tonight, Drew Smyly’s on the mound against José Quintana. Tomorrow, it’s Kyle Hendricks vs. Zach Thompson. Sunday, Justin Steele pitches against JT Brubaker. All winnable games, but two out of three is both the likeliest outcome and the goal. If the Cubs can do that, they’ll be back at .500 heading into five games in Atlanta and Milwaukee to end the month. Not where we’d hoped they’d be, but right around initial expectations. Tonight’s game’s been bumped back due to rain, and Sunday’s looking potentially stormy as well, with strong winds out to left tomorrow. Hope Hendricks can locate that changeup.
(Mostly) Central Time: College Baseball’s Weekend Ahead
Five good college baseball series this weekend:
TCU @ Oklahoma State
West Virginia @ Texas Tech
The top four teams in the Big 12 standings are going at it, with West Virginia trying to build itself some bubble cushion and the other three grappling for Regional and Super Regional host status.
NC State @ Louisville
Wake Forest @ Notre Dame
In the ACC, Miami’s got the Coastal pretty locked down at the moment, but five teams—these four and Florida State—are within a game of one another in the Atlantic.
Georgia @ Alabama
Lastly, Georgia’s at Alabama in the SEC’s best set of the weekend. Alabama could especially use these wins.
Deebo Samuel Doesn’t Make Sense for the Packers, Right?
It seems Deebo Samuel’s going to be traded before the NFL Draft, and I understand why the Packers are in the conversation surrounding that trade, but it doesn’t really make sense to me. Correct me if I’m wrong on this, but it seems to me that if the Packers were to acquire a high-priced (and Samuel seems like he’ll need to be high-priced, that’s why he wants out of San Francisco, right?) weapon for Aaron Rodgers, they’d want more of a pure receiver than the hybrid running back-receiver kind of player Samuel’s been for the 49ers. If they’re going to spend that kind of money, they’d want it to be more on someone like Davante Adams, who they already traded because they didn’t want to spend that kind of money on him. In other words, a numbers game with receivers in the draft seems to make more sense, at least to me.
***
No viewing schedule for this weekend, since we need to get these posted, but in addition to the college series and the Cubs hosting the Pirates we’ve got Guardians/Yankees, Brewers/Phillies, Red Sox/Rays, Blue Jays/Astros, and Dodgers/Padres making noise in baseball while the NBA playoffs wind on and we get both NASCAR (Talladega!) and Formula 1 on Sunday. Good weekend ahead. Enjoy it, and we’ll see you on Monday.
