Sez Me \u2026<\/p>\n
There are fewer people in China than there are baseball experts. They are legion. Lined up like Central Casting in the 1930s and \u201940s.<\/p>\n
Especially now, during the daunting age of unsocial media. Everybody used to have opinions, but with few ways of expressing them, except maybe in a bar. Now all they have to do is type it into cyberspace, and it\u2019s sometimes taken as gospel by fools. AI only has made it worse.<\/p>\n
Problem is, even people who know baseball don\u2019t know baseball, which makes betting on baseball stupid. The game is like Garbo. Mysterious. It wants to be alone.<\/p>\n
It can\u2019t be figured out. Computer nerds who\u2019ve never left their basements and mama\u2019s cooking are trying, and have taken over the sport with useless numbers, or analytics.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t working \u2014 for most. The Dodgers have made it work, and beat the system by bending the rules with endless money and being smarter than everyone else. They don\u2019t have to be the best organization in sports. They just choose to be, because they can, because baseball is so uneven and screwed up.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the Padres. Now is the time of power lists, and I can\u2019t find many \u201cexperts\u201d that have the 2026 Pads being anything special \u2014 or maybe even average. They are behind franchises that can\u2019t even see their own way, let alone get out of it.<\/p>\n
This, of course, is nonsense. Because no one can really know. Many teams wouldn\u2019t mind having the Pads\u2019 roster.<\/p>\n
In Fernando Tatis, Jackson Merrill and Ram\u00f3n Laureano, San Diego has one of the best outfields in baseball. Manny \u201cAlways There\u201d Machado is at third base, Xander Bogaerts at short, Jake Cronenworth at second and Gavin Sheets and newcomer\/batsman\/steal Nick Castellanos at first. There is depth.<\/p>\n
The catcher is capable Freddy Fermin (and others). The key will be the starting pitching and finding a fifth starter. The bullpen, anchored by closer Mason \u201c100 mph\u201d Miller, may be the best.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s up to the \u201cstars\u201d to perform up to their capabilities, which hasn\u2019t happened enough in recent years \u2014 especially from Tatis, who has unrivaled skills (he is a great right fielder). The big deal is getting Miller into the game with a lead.<\/p>\n
There is a new manager in Craig Stammen, and we also should remember what my dad said about not knowing what a captain is like until you get on the water with him. Good managers help, but they don\u2019t win rings.<\/p>\n
The Padres also will be under new ownership, but a fresh flag shouldn\u2019t mean much in 2026.<\/p>\n
I think these Padres have a chance to be good. Not Dodgers good. But fun. If they choose and try to be, experts be damned. \u2026<\/p>\n
Dodgers fans basically are tourists who either have an early dinner and arrive late, or have their dinner late after leaving early. \u2026<\/p>\n
Jurickson Profar is an ex-Padre. And that is a good thing. Once is not enough, Jurickson? \u2026<\/p>\n
A photo of Justin Herbert in a grocery store has gone viral. So he can\u2019t go to a grocery store just because he\u2019s a multi-millionaire? Don\u2019t you need a lot of dough to go to the grocery store? \u2026<\/p>\n
Now, if Justin has his girlfriend with him buying frozen lasagna, that\u2019s a picture. \u2026<\/p>\n
Justin does have a new center, Tyler Biadasz. If he only has one working leg, and that one is questionable, Tyler\u2019s a massive improvement. \u2026<\/p>\n
At least Herbert won\u2019t be seeing Maxx Crosby twice a year. I love Crosby\u2019s engine, but he isn\u2019t worth the two ones the Ravens threw on Vegas\u2019s craps table. \u2026<\/p>\n
David Montgomery is a fine back. And the Lions send him to the Texans for a fifth-round pick? This isn\u2019t a steal. This is charity. \u2026<\/p>\n
Running backs win Super bowls and they continue to get dissed. Don\u2019t get it. \u2026<\/p>\n
Dan Orlovsky agrees with me. Jeremiah Love is the best player in the draft. If he drops to the Chiefs at No. 9, smelling salts won\u2019t wake me up. \u2026<\/p>\n
Ty Simpson\u2019s quarterback stock rose sharply at the NFL Combine. Of course it did. He wasn\u2019t playing football. \u2026<\/p>\n
Beware the quarterback who hasn\u2019t played much college football. Simpson has started 15 games. And don\u2019t tell me he sat and learned behind good players at Alabama and faced good defenders on scout teams. Doesn\u2019t count. \u2026<\/p>\n
The only way you get better at football \u2014 at any sport \u2014 is to play it live. \u2026<\/p>\n
It happens every year. Not playing football improves draft status. It\u2019s like Hemingway winning the Nobel for his notes. \u2026<\/p>\n
Jerry Jones says he plans to reverse course and will spend a lot of money in free agency. Even though he\u2019s re-worked a few contracts to get under the cap, he doesn\u2019t have a lot of money to spend in free agency. \u2026<\/p>\n
Jerry says: \u201cI want to do everything I can to stop somebody.\u201d He\u2019s got a couple hundred million tied up in four offensive players and a horrible defense. \u2026<\/p>\n
The Eagles should keep A.J. Brown. They won\u2019t be as good without him, even if he reads \u201cWar and Peace\u201d on the bench. \u2026<\/p>\n
This may be the deepest draft for wideouts. But I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s an A.J. Brown in it. \u2026<\/p>\n
Kyler Murray gets $36.8 million from Arizona, who are releasing him. He is not big. He also is not a bum. \u2026<\/p>\n
Are the Vikings giving up on J.J. McCarthy? Looks like it. \u2026<\/p>\n
Chad Baker-Mazara, 26, and USC\u2019s leading scorer, is off the Trojans\u2019 basketball team. He once played for SDSU, one of his five collegiate stops. FIVE. This is Kosher? \u2026<\/p>\n
The Chiefs have traded Trent McDuffie to the Rams. Quick read: K.C.\u2019s secondary won\u2019t be as good, and Herbert is not unhappy. \u2026<\/p>\n
No chance the Rams get a corner as good as McDuffie with the 29th overall pick they gave up. Now, heaven forbid, does K.C. use their own pick (9th) and that 29th to move up and get Love? \u2026<\/p>\n
Myles Garrett, the NFL\u2019s best player in 2025, has received his ninth speeding ticket (94 mph in a 70) since joining the Browns in 2017. That\u2019s it. He\u2019s going to the Chiefs. \u2026<\/p>\n
Saw a remarkable film of 90-year-old Johnny Mathis singing \u201cMisty.\u201d A magnificent voice that can never be silenced. \u2026<\/p>\n
The L.A. Kings have fired their coach. Can you name him? Let me know. \u2026<\/p>\n
RIP, Lou Holtz, a good coach and a humorist who said highly questionable things. One not questionable: \u201cMoses died leaning on his staff, and so will I.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n
In 1970, when Lou was coaching William & Mary, he was beaten 43-7 by West Virginia\u2019s Bobby Bowden. When Holtz accused Bobby of running up the score, he was told maybe the outcome would have been closer if he had recruited more Williams and fewer Marys. \u2026<\/p>\n
My all-time favorite in-the-moment line from a coach unexpectedly came from Mike Riley, a great guy but not a quote machine, who was overseeing the hapless Judases. Ryan Leaf was out with a shoulder injury, and I asked Mike how the QB was doing. His reply: \u201cI don\u2019t know. I talked to him this morning, but I couldn\u2019t hear him over the slot machines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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