Strike One: Has there ever been an NFL General Manager who came out after his team had completed their draft and not said, “We’re happy with our group.”
Of course not. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, GM’s are always going to pat themselves on the back after bringing in a new, unproven group of wet-behind-the-ears prospects. Denver’s George Paton did the expected over the weekend. But do you believe him?
Paton, who shocked most observers by tabbing Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II in the first round – bypassing two highly touted quarterback prospects in the process – was direct in telling observers that Surtain, the top-rated cornerback in the draft – was the team’s target all along. Mock drafts be damned.
He then went out and made nine more selections, including a top ranked running back, Javonte Williams. No quarterbacks were considered, Paton said. “We’re happy with our group.”
The national pundits seem to agree. Pro Football Focus gave Denver a grade of A- , while NFL.com gave them a B+.
Not too shabby for Paton’s first go ‘round.
They wanted a new quarterback, and Justin Fields and Mac Jones were both available. Paton is fine with Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater. We’ll see who turns out to be right.
Then there are the Aaron Rodgers rumors. A complication to be sure.
Should Denver have drafted Fields or Jones? Only time will tell for sure, but Paton has to be fully aware of the recent professional careers of former Buckeye and Crimson Tide signal callers. It’s not good.
Going back to pre-Urban Meyer/Ryan Day, Ohio State has put some talented guys under center in Columbus. Heisman winner Troy Smith. Terrelle Pryor. Braxton Miller. Cardale Jones. Dwayne Haskins. None have done anything of note in the NFL. So, Justin Fields is an automatic standout as an NFL QB?
During the Nick Saban Era at ‘Bama – which has been spectacular by any measure – the QB’s have not been. Greg McElroy, AJ McCarron, Blake Sims, Jake Coker, Blake Barnett. None of those guys have made people forget Ken Stabler or Joe Namath. To be fair, the jury is still out on Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, but the fact remains we aren’t talking about a program that’s been an NFL QB factory. What makes people think Jones will be any different?
Maybe Paton has had it right all along. We’ll find out.
As for Rodgers, maybe if John Elway gets involved and courts ARog like he courted Peyton Manning…so you’re sayin’ there’s a chance?
Strike Two: When times get tough – and times haven’t been much tougher than 2020 and into ’21 – businesses all look for ways to cut costs. Since losing a reported $100 mil in 2020, the Colorado Rockies have been in cost-cutting mode, themselves.
Some retail businesses will look for specific areas to make cutbacks. Like back in the late 2000’s when during the recession, K-Mart decided to go lean on things like advertising and marketing, while Walmart was expanding both. K-Mart ended up going bankrupt.
The Rockies have decided to make most of their cutbacks in the bullpen. Will they go bankrupt?
After getting burned by the expensive signings of guys including Mike Dunn, Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw and Wade Davis, can you blame them? After all those contracts were finally off the books, Rockies ownership had spent $125 million (although the shortened ’20 season reduced some of that) on those four relief pitchers who’s on the field production was…umm…lacking.
So it stands to reason that during what we all know is the beginning of a rebuilding period (that is, if you trust the arsonist to do the rebuilding…) the team would turn to less expensive arms in the bullpen to try to get by. It can’t get much worse on the bump, right? In 2021 the Rockies expenditure on their entire bullpen won’t equate to what Davis made for a single full ($17.3 mil per) season.
You construct a bargain basement bullpen two ways: You look for guys who are past their prime on the field and in their earning years, like Mychal Givens and Jhoulys Chacin, who combined make $5 mil for the season. What you get is some decent efforts and some…um…spotty ones. You toss in a reclamation project in Daniel Bard – a terrific story but not someone a contender would put at the back end – and that expenditure for “veterans” skyrockets all the way up to $8 mil for the season. Less than half of what Davis made during a terrible 2019.
You have low-cost holdovers in Carlos Estevez, Yency Almonte and Tyler Kinley…plus the unfortunate injury situation with Scott Oberg, and you add an additional $6 mil to that bullpen budget.
The other way you go cheap is with at or just slightly above minimum wage guys. Youngsters like Ben Bowden, Robert Stephenson, Jordan Sheffield and Justin Lawrence. All making league minimum or just slightly above.
After one month of games, can anyone say that this Rockies bargain basement bullpen has been worse than the budget busting outfits of the past few seasons? It’s very early, but Givens has an ERA of 2.53, Estevez 3.60, Stephenson 3.09, Sheffield 2.35 and Lawrence – who possesses a sinking fastball that hits triple digits – has yet to be scored on.
Make no mistake, this is not a bullpen that’s built for a pennant race. There will be plenty of implosions along the way. But when the alternative has been an expenditure of almost four times what it is now for results that haven’t been any better, it’s easy to see why this was the call that got made.
Strike Three: Finally. Finally the Denver Nuggets have made it official, and they have a real life minor league (“G- League”) affiliate of their very own. The Grand Rapids Drive will now officially function as the training court for future Denver Nuggets. Being able to have draft picks and top prospects play and learn in your system rather than taking up space on the bench is invaluable in a whole bunch of ways.
The benefit could be almost immediate. Imagine if rather than riding the bench, prospects like Bol Bol and Zeke Nnaji were playing and improving alongside other top draft picks starting next fall? The Nuggets have done a terrific job of developing depth even without the advantage of having a G League affiliate. Now they can do it even better. (Maybe they can teach the Colorado Rockies how to?)
But there’s a lingering question sitting out there: Grand Rapids is about 1,200 miles – almost 17 hours by car – from Denver. Meanwhile, the former home of a G-League team (remember the Colorado 14ers, circa 2006 –’09?) the First Bank Center in Broomfield, is a mere 25 minutes from Ball Arena by automobile. The First Bank Center is owned by none other than Kroenke Sports Enterprises. Hmm.
How long until Kroenke buys out the current owner of the Drive, Steve Jbara, and moves his newest team back to occupy one of his buildings and resume playing as the new Colorado 14ers?
Back in 2009, the old 14ers were bought and moved to Frisco, Texas, where they became the Texas Legends, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. Makes sense. A similar move would make sense for Kroenke, too. But would it make dollars? Does it need to?
Jbara remains in charge of the business side of the Drive – which is going to get a new name we’re told – while the Nuggets will handle the player’s side. Everything he’s said to this point would have you believe there are no plans to relocate the team. But will that be his call in the end?
This has been the working model for minor league baseball affiliates for decades. But in recent years, teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers have gone ahead and purchased their own minor league affiliates, many of whom bring in a great deal of money (in a normal year) precisely because they don’t have to pay players’ salaries while they get to keep all the revenue the teams generate. For instance, the Dodgers now own their top affiliate in Oklahoma City. (As if they need to make more money, right?)
The Drive probably do pretty well financially, being a good distance from Detroit and Chicago and providing an exciting brand of basketball for local fans. On the flip side, it’s unlikely that the 6,500 seats at the First Bank Center would be filled very often for the new 14ers, given that the Nuggets play less than 30 minutes away, while Tad Boyle’s successful Colorado Buffaloes are about the same distance from there in the other direction. But perhaps that will matter less to Kroenke than the idea of having everything closer – players, business, all of it, while being able to market games on this TV network too?
If we know anything, it’s that Stan Kroenke likes his own buildings, his own players, and doesn’t mind moving his teams. Stay ready, Broomfield.