nicksaviking

Maybe. I think Sanders and Ward might be trap QB prospects.

Philly up 27-7 in a game that probably doesn't matter and they still have Barkley in the game late in the 3rd. They're just asking for him to get hurt.

They need MIN and DET to both lose out to get the 1 seed, so this game is pretty much meaningless to them. Which means when they needlessly get Barkley injured in this game, there will be calls to fire the coach again.

1) Seems to me they'll have better attendance if they do two things. Not stink early in the season; I don't think this team has gotten off to a hot start since 2019. And more importantly, make sure the games are available to watch on every TV in your market. Getting those factors wrong will make the fans forget your team in a hurry. 2-4) seem like the same question. I don't know if they will happen, but I think relying on enough of (not all) your young players on the roster to improve is better odds than adding sub-par free agents looking to bounce back on a 10M contract. 5) The old adage is you never have enough pitching. Still, any team that has to go 8 starters deep for significant innings likely isn't going to do much regardless of their payroll. For all the offensive injury woes, the Twins starters have been overall pretty healthy compared to the rest of the league the last few years. 6) Probably not, but with today's rules, over-managing based on handed-ness is just as likely to bite you in the butt than it is to save the day.

Yeah, that sucked. McBride had a monster night too.

Well, I don’t believe the NFL is rigged, but if the fix WAS in, this would be the only time the calls would go the Viking’s way against the Packers. The only real drama for week 18 is if Detroit/Minnesota is for the #1 seed.

Looks like Eli is at least making the ballot. I doubt he gets in though, at least not now. Terrell Suggs, Luke Kuechly, Marshal Yanda, Adam Vinatieri, Steve Smith, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates, Jahri Evans, Jared Allen, Reggie Wayne, Fred Taylor, Torry Holt, Willie Anderson and Darren Woodson. Looks like we hit on most of these names in this thread. Final voting TBD. Looks like I picked six players in my above post but only five can get in (so stupid) so my bolded guys will be my parlay prediction (not what I'd want to happen, just what I think will happen). I'm swapping Evans for Anderson as my OL pick as it looks like Evans has ballot seniority and that seems to matter with this non-sense voting process.

He's making 22.5M this year. You trading Lopez or Correa to fit his 6.00 ERA and 15%K rate on to the roster?

We're complaining of missing out on free agents, and it's Max Kepler we are most upset about? Been there done that. Absolutely zero interest in giving him another chance to go into summer's-long slump yet still tempting Baldelli to plug him into the middle of the lineup. Good luck to him, maybe he'll find some motivation in Philadelphia, but he sure didn't look like his heart was in it here any longer.

It would be bad for the game if the Bears ruined and continue to ruin a generational talent. But good for the Vikings, so I'm on board.

Maybe, just to stash him in St. Paul. I'd think Detroit would have the same idea though. It's not like Keith was very good last year. Or really any of their young hitters. For all the hoopla about their offensive prospects, only Riley Greene has taken off. Yeah, they made the playoffs, but that team's failure with prospects is looking eerily similar to the White Sox from about four or five years ago.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. I would be surprised if they also had taught him how to progress through his reads and how to call audible protections at the line of scrimmage too. I can't believe they kept Eberflus last year.

Trying to merge the prior conversations about this weeks games.

Yeah, I think he could still be really, really good. But I'm also thrilled that just about all the coaches talked about as HC candidates are defensive coaches. I don't know who they chase if Ben Johnson doesn't go there, and popular opinion is that he most cares about non-meddling ownership and smooth front office collaboration making the Bears not a match. I'm not sure what other offensive minds you'd grab. Bobby Slowik was a hot name last year, but I'm not sure after this year. Also, if he's a Kyle Shanahan guy, he's absolutely not a fit for Caleb Williams. Shanahan's system calls for strictly a pocket passing game-manager who will call the plays exactly as drawn up. That takes away about 70% of what makes Williams an exciting prospect. If the Browns were to fire Kevin Stefanski, that would probably be an awesome fit, but fortunately, Stefanski just signed an extension and the Browns are notorious for not eating salary. The Bengals are pretty much the same so I doubt they fire Zach Taylor with a year left on his deal. I wouldn't be surprised if they steal Wes Philips from the Vikings. He doesn't call the plays in Minnesota though so I could totally see that ending up the way Brad Childress ended up. Maybe Joe Judge in Buffalo gets another look? Sounds like a bad idea (good). Joe Lombardi in Denver? Sounds like a boring choice. The GB OC maybe? He's put in three years as a coordinator now but his background is a run game/OL coach, not a QB developer. Anyway, long way of saying Chicago may have way more landmines to avoid than jackpots to hit.

But the Twins have no need to beat the odds, Correa isn't leaving any time soon. And it's not like they can use his savings to add additional good players. The players they can add in the 8-12M price range don't tend to be any better than the options they have in house.

Call me a buzzkill, but I don't care for Vegas. When I travel, I like to see authentic places. Local bars, restaurants, historical stuff. The strip just seems line one big Senior Frogs, even the places that are supposed to be traditional or 'classy'. And Freemont isn't any better now that they put that weird LED roof over the whole area to try to make it more like the strip. The Art District or whatever that hipster area is between the Stratosphere and downtown was the only part that appealed to me.

Still, Cleveland didn't get the better player in return in most of those trades. And as you said, most of those trades involved star players who had one or two years left on their deals; those moves were getting something before they lost those players for nothing. This is not the same situation, Correa still has many years of control left.

But the team getting the star player gets the better end of the deal most of the time. And it makes sense, no matter how good your scouts are, they don't know the prospects half as good as the team that currently holds their rights.

Even if Correa is overpaid and his salary doesn't fit with the Twins current model, I just don't understand what people want to use the savings for. I don't want three 8-12M free agents, those types of players just don't tend to be very good anymore. I'd rather have Correa and start Miranda and Larnach/Rodriguez instead of signing dusty old Nick Ahmed, Paul Goldschmidt and Max Kepler.

Whether they trade or keep him, (I heavily lean keep at this point) I still like tagging him to keep the long term options open. It's just really hard to make the longer term commitment being a fan of this club, as few sports cities have seen the one-year-of-excellence-then-disappointment like we've seen. I guess I'll say, if you can get him for 30M, go ahead and do a deal. But I'd guess it will be way higher than that. If it's higher, just tag him for 40M and don't think twice; I'd rather not put all my eggs in the basket if it's a decision over a few million. However, I'm quite confident that for any of his in-game faults, I do have pretty solid confidence that O'Connell knows a great QB when he sees one. If they do give him an extension, I'd at least be optimistic that they know more than our skeptical sports history has ingrained in us.

East Coast media is brutal and dwells on a guys psyche though. That translates to like two hits here in the Midwest.

Even bad free agent vets are making 10-15M on the market now. Yes, you could “fill holes” but with Joey Gallo caliber players. Not worth it.

No one to blame but themselves if they don’t get it. Exactly how it should be with two games to go.

3rd-and-1, no Hurts and the Eagles pass twice. Definitely not the same team.

Hold on Washington, this would be huge.