EARLY RETURNS MOSTLY POSITIVE FOR BUFFALO’S NEW REGIME
The Buffalo Bills are receiving mostly favorable reviews – at home and across the NFL nation -- for last Friday’s bombshell deals sending top wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams and top cornerback Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles – and for the overall work being done by new general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott.
NFL scout and former Chicago Bears general manager Greg Gabriel was among those impressed. He wrote for Pro Football Weekly, “Granted it’s only been a few months of Beane-McDermott but I feel this is (Buffalo’s) best group of decision makers in almost 20 years.”
That’s probably not saying a lot...but it sounded good.
Here’s how I view the Watkins and Darby trades: I wonder if Beane and McDermott determined that this season’s Bills weren’t likely to end the franchise’s 17-year playoff drought with or without Watkins and Darby.
I wonder if they figured Watkins would be walking after this season and that Jordan Matthews is a solid replacement wide receiver who has less talent but more durability than Sammy. I wonder if they thought cornerback E.J. Gaines is a reasonable replacement for Darby.
I wonder if the 2018 second- and third round picks included in the two trades were too good to pass up.
I was mildly surprised by the reaction from the majority of Bills fans in Western New York. The feedback from fans and media has been mostly positive. But I get it. A lot of people loved Sammy’s talent and potential but had grown weary of his nagging injuries.
I thought many people in Western New York – fans and media – were slightly overrating the Bills before Friday’s trades. They looked like a 6-10 team to me before the deals and I’ll stick with that prediction.
The new regime has accumulated quite a batch of draft picks for the 2018 NFL draft – two firsts, two seconds and two thirds – and maybe a few more in future deals.
The Bills obviously will be in great shape to select a potential “franchise quarterback” in the 2018 NFL draft – maybe even UCLA’s Sam Darnold No. 1 overall.
WHY KERSHAW AND HARPER SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED FOR MAJOR AWARDS
Los Angeles Dodgers superstar pitcher Clayton Kershaw has missed one month with a back issue and Washington Nationals superstar slugger Bryce Harper is sidelined indefinitely with a “significant left knee bruise” suffered Saturday.
Here’s a suggestion to National League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player voters: Consider what they did when they were healthy and not what they couldn’t do when they were sidelined.
Kershaw’s arm and Harper’s bat were the main reasons their teams built huge leads in their divisions before they went down.
Kershaw was 15-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 0.88 WHIP (walks + hits per inning) when he was sidelined with a back problem July 232. In 141 1/3 innings, he allowed only 101 hits, with 24 walks and 168 strikeouts. The Dodgers were 68-31 and leading the NL West by 10 ½ games. They’re 15-3 since. They’re pretty good, with or without Kershaw. But he makes the Dodgers the best team in baseball – at least in the regular season.
Kershaw is expected to return to the Dodgers August 24 after further bullpen sessions and a few rehab stints.
The only other serious NL Cy Young Award candidate I can see is Washington’s Max Scherzer: 12-3 and 2.23 ERA.
Harper, in 106 games, is batting .326, with 92 runs, 29 HRs, 87 RBI and a 1.034 OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage). A few other Nationals figure to get MVP votes, including Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman, but I believe Harper is the team’s MVP.
Harper’s injury figures to cost him this season’s MVP award but he deserves to finish high in the top 10.
Kershaw was NL Cy Young Award winner in 2012-2013-2014. Harper was the unanimous NL MVP in 2015 (.330 batting average; 118 runs; 42 HRs; 1.109 OPS).
RED WINGS AND IRONPIGS ALL SQUARE WITH 21 GAMES TO GO
The Rochester Red Wings won 4-3 over Norfolk at home Sunday while the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were losing 9-4 to Charlotte.
One of the two teams likely will earn the fourth and final International League playoff berth. They’re tied with records of 69-52 with 21 games remaining for both in the regular season.
The Wings are idle Monday and start a six-game trip to Columbus (3) and Louisville (3). They’ll return to Frontier Field for a huge four-game series against the IL-best Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Rochester-Lehigh Valley Tale of the Tape:
Records – Red Wings and IronPigs are each 69-52.
Run differential – Red Wings +80 (493-413)...IronPigs +45 (554-509)
Home runs – Red Wings 88...IronPigs 137
Total bases – Red Wings 1,560...IronPigs 1,661
Stolen bases – Red Wings 45...Iron Pigs 54
On-base percentage – Red Wings .325...Iron Pigs .325
Slugging percentage – Red Wings .393...IronPigs .419
OPS – Red Wings .718...IronPigs .743
Earned-run average – Red Wings 3.20...IronPigs 3.82
WHIP (walks+hits allowed per inning) -- Red Wings 1.20...IronPigs 1.31.
BASEBALL’S TWO WILD-CARD FORMAT A HUGE SUCCESS THIS SEASON
Major League Baseball had a one-team wild-card format from 1994 through 2011. The two-team wild card format began in 2012. It has never worked better than in the American League this season.
In the American League, the New York Yankees entered Monday with a 1 ½-game lead for the first wild-card berth by 1 ½ games over the revitalized Los Angeles Angels, suddenly revived by the return of Superman (Mike Trout), who will get major support for this third AL MVP if the Angels make the playoffs.
In his five full MLB seasons, Trout was AL MVP twice and runner-up three times.
The Angels are 43-35 in games with Trout this season (including the current six-game winning streak) and 18-23 without him. He is on pace for his best season yet (.341 batting average; 89-for-261; 57 runs; 18 doubles; 2 triples; 23 HRs; 55 RBI; 13 SB in 15 attempts; .468 on-base percentage; .690 slugging percentage; 1.158 OPS).
Seven other AL teams were within four games of a wild-card berth – Minnesota, Kansas City, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Texas and Toronto. Five of those teams had losing records entering Monday but that won’t dampen the enthusiasm of their fans. The turnstiles in those cities figure to be spinning in the next seven-to-eight weeks.
The National League isn’t nearly as wide open. Colorado and Arizona both are 65-52 in the race for the two wild-card berths. St. Louis is 4 ½ games behind and Milwaukee is 5 ½ games behind.
For the record, since the two-team wild-card format began in 2012, wild-card winners are 5-5 in the division series, 2-3 in the championship and 1-1 in the World Series (the 2014 San Francisco Giants won).
SHORT SHOTS
How about this for the outcome of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor “superfight” August 26: Mayweather the winner by disqualification. McGregor, after being embarrassed in the boxing match, reverts to his UFC-inner self and erupts with MMA moves and is DQd.
The Bills are favored by 6 ½ points at home against the New York Jets in the season’s opener September 10. The over/under is 41 ½ points.
The NBA owners are expected to approve rules to discourage teams from benching healthy star players for rest purposes. Considering the cost of tickets and the high salaries, it isn’t asking too much for the players to play.
The Rochester Knighthawks have traded veteran defenseman Adam Bomberry to the New England Black Wolves for 21-year-old forward Brandon Robinson and the No. 14 overall pick in next month’s 2017 National Lacrosse League draft. Rochester will have the second, fifth, sixth and 14th picks in the draft.
In a blockbuster National League Lacrosse trade, the Saskatchewan Rush acquired 2016 NLL Goaltender of the Year Evan Kirk from the New England Wolves for goalie Aaron Bold, defenseman John Lafontaine, a first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2018.
The American League has a slim 121-117 lead over the National League entering Monday. The AL has won interleague play every season since 20024.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Monday, August 14
Josh Bell (25)...Kiko Alonso (27)...Tim Tebow (30)...David Peralta (30)...Shea Weber (32)...Clay Buchholz (33)...Josh Gorges (33)...Juan Pierre (40)...Mike Vrabel (42)...Wayne Chrebet (44)...Mark Loretta (46)...Tommy Shields (53)...Neal Anderson (53)...Mark Gubicza (55)...Eugene Marve (57)...Magic Johnson (58)...Rusty Wallace (61)...Bob Backlund (68)...John Brodie (82). Halle Berry (51) and Steve Martin (72) are invited to the birthday party.
I will be on vacation Tuesday through Friday. Kevin Oklobzija will be guest host on Bob Matthews On Sports, 6 to 8 p.m., on News Radio WHAM 1180. My column will resume Monday, August 21. Thank you for listening and reading.