Quick Hits 1/13

MLB

I haven’t spent much time on baseball this off-season, as the Yankees have made a big splash with their signings, while no one else has really stirred up the pot. I feel like more teams are going to go the Rockies/Tampa Bay route or even the Phillies route in the coming years than try to emulate the Yankees/Mets/Red Sox route which has only really worked for the Red Sox.

Of course the Yanks have abandoned building from the ground up by signing C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Texiera, three of the four biggest names on the market. The other free agent of mega-value is Manny Ramirez, who seems have little options besides the Dodgers right now.

Being in the D.C. area, I don’t understand why they aren’t throwing him $100 for four years. As of now, they have no one on the team that’s going to put butts in the seats and their farm system isn’t as stocked as small market teams like the Rays/Rockies who’ve made recent runs, perennial small-market contenders the Twins and A’s or even their pseudo-rival 30 minutes to the north, Baltimore, who have the best prospect in the game besides Tampa’s David Price; phenom catcher Matt Wieters.

Honestly, if they don’t do something this off-season, the future of baseball in our nation’s capital could become shaky.

NCAA B

With Stephen having another shaky big-stage performance and Blake Griffin seemingly running away with the national player of the year race, I’m suspending the Curry Watches until he really blows up again. In between updates, you can assume he’s going to score 25-35, get 6-8 dimes, 3 or 4 boards and a few steals per game.

As for my loyal readers, I’ve been watching more college basketball than I have in a long time, so my post-season predictions should be head on.

NBA

I still want to go in depth in my player rankings, which might need some tinkering now that Kevin Martin is back and Boozer is out for a long time. I also want to do a bench and coach ranking first, then compare where teams rank in my opinion to where they actually are.

I apologize for taking up so much of your time with an “experiment” that may only be of interest to me.

NFL
Hopefully I’ll have enough time to crank out a conference championship preview later on this week, although I’ll say now I’m leaning towards Philly and Pittsburgh.

However, Philly’s not a lock as Arizona’s defense is making big plays and putting their offense in great positions. Arizona’s resurgent running game has been greatly overstated I think (86 yards, 3.1 ypc in their win over Atlanta, 145 yards, 3.4 ypc versus Carolina) as it’s the defense that has been behind Arizona’s playoff run. That, and stupid defense on Larry Fitzgerald.

Meanwhile, the Ravens are playing bonecrushing defense, as Ed Reed and the boys are dragging their offense along another title run like they did in 2000. The difference in the two runs maybe in QB experience, as an experienced Trent Dilfer is better than a decent, potential-filled-but-definitely-overrated-at-this-stage-in-his-career, Joe Flacco.