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      Manning’s slow decision-making starting to affect other players, teams

      March 18, 2012 /

      Alex Smith will be in Miami on Sunday to meet with the Dolphins and perhaps the only reason he’s paying a visit to South Florida is because of Peyton Manning’s drawn out decision-making.

      That’s not meant to be a slap at Manning. Whereas Brett Favre often dragged his feet so that he could stroke his massive ego, Peyton is just thorough. But he’s so thorough that it’s starting to have an affect on other teams and players, such as Smith.

      A couple of days ago it seemed like a lock that Smith would return to ‘Frisco. But then the Niners emerged as a “sleeper candidate” to land Manning and now Smith is across the country in Miami. Everyone involved in this situation is essentially doing what he has to do. Manning doesn’t want to make a rash decision on where he wants to play next, so he’s taking his time. The 49ers clearly see Manning as an upgrade over Smith, or else they would have just brought back Smith by now. Thus, Smith is now in Miami, which also needs a quarterback because Matt Flynn has yet to take the Dolphins up on their contract offer.

      Hopefully in the upcoming days everything will be sorted out and if Manning lands in Tennessee or Denver, it’s likely that Smith will head back to San Francisco and Miami will still have a shot to land Flynn. But there’s also a chance that someone gets screwed here.

      Let’s say Smith does sign with the Dolphins and Manning agrees to terms with Tennessee. Then who starts for the Niners next season? Colin Kaepernick? And if Smith winds up back in San Francisco, Manning signs with either Tennessee or Denver, and Flynn signs with Seattle, then who will start for Miami next season? Matt Moore? Plus, if Manning winds up with Tennessee or Denver, what happens to Matt Hasselbeck or Tim Tebow?

      Even though Manning has every right to take his time and not let outside factors determine how quickly he signs, somebody is likely to wind up playing some bad cards in 2012.

      External Sports, NFL

      Brian Sabean has no excuse not to lock up Matt Cain long-term

      March 17, 2012 /

      “But he won the Giants a World Series.”

      That’s the response I get whenever I criticize San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean. As if his one improbable World Series victory erases the blunders that the man has made before, after, and even during the Giants’ title season.

      Yes, the Giants won a championship in 2010. But what does it say about Sabean when four of the top five players on his payroll were Barry Zito (who didn’t even make the postseason roster), Aaron Rowand (who shouldn’t have made the postseason roster), Edgar Renteria and Mark DeRosa (who didn’t make the postseason roster because of his wrist, which was held together by Elmer’s Glue when Sabean signed him in the offseason)? Sure, Renteria wound up being worth every penny of his $10,000,000 salary that year when he hit the eventual game-winning home run off Cliff Lee in Game 5 of the Series. But thanks to injuries and poor play, he was largely a non-factor in two seasons before that memorable home run.

      Remember Cody Ross? Phillies fans sure do. Ross hit two home runs off of Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the 2010 NCLS and also hit a solo shot off Roy Oswalt in Game 2. If it weren’t for his bat, the Giants may not have reached the World Series that year, nevertheless won the whole shebang.

      And Ross would have never made the postseason roster had Major League Baseball not conducted an investigation into Jose Guillen’s potential use of performance-enhancing drugs. Sabean acquired Ross that year in efforts to block any semi-productive player from going to the Padres, who at the time were leading the Giants in the NL West race. The fact that Ross wound up turning into “Ross the Boss” was more a product of luck than Sabean’s shrewd maneuvering. At one point, the Giants were thinking about putting Guillen (who ran like he had Oakland tied around his legs) on the postseason roster instead of Ross.

      That spectacular pitching staff that the Giants currently boast wasn’t exactly all Sabean either. It was scouting director Dick Tidrow that gave such glowing reports on Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner. (Not to mention closer Brian Wilson and former top prospect Zach Wheeler, whom we’ll get to in a moment.) Granted, Sabean deserves praise for pulling the trigger on this players during the draft, but too often he receives credit for “finding” the talented arms that the Giants currently have in their starting rotation.

      Which leads me back to Cain. It’s embarrassing to read some of the reports out of ‘Frisco these days about Cain’s contract situation. The 27-year-old right-hander is set to become a free agent after the 2012 season unless the Giants can hammer out a long-term deal, which apparently is more difficult than correctly picking every winner in the NCAA tournament. It was only recently that Cain suggested that he’s considering testing the market. Before then, he stated how he wanted to remain a Giant but Sebean has yet to come to terms with the soft-spoken starter, who has meant as much to the Giants as Lincecum. (Had Cain received more run support from that putrid thing Sabean calls a lineup every year, maybe he too would have challenged for a Cy Young by now.)

      There’s simply no good reason for Sabean not to lock Cain up to a long-term deal. If the righty wants $100 million, then the Giants should oblige. I mean, why not? Sabean had no problem overpaying Zito, Rowand, DeRosa, Renteria and Miguel Tejada, but he’s going to balk at signing a productive player? Are you kidding me? If Cain doesn’t get $100 million from the Giants, he’ll find it on the open market next winter. Thus, if he truly wants to stay, then all Sabean needs to figure out is if he wants to see Cain in a Giants’ uniform next season, or in Yankee pinstripes. And while there’s plenty of time to hammer out a deal before now and November, players usually don’t like discussing their contract situation during the season. Thus, Sabean’s window to sign Cain is closing.

      Let’s not forget that Sabean was also the professor who traded Wheeler to the Mets at the trade deadline last year for a two-month rental named Carlos Beltran. Then Sabean didn’t even attempt to re-sign Beltran this past winter, even though the Giants had the second-worst offense in terms of runs scored last season.

      Granted, not every decision Sabean makes turns to sulfur and he does have to worry about surpasing Cain’s deal when Lincecum because a free agent after the 2013 season. But the philosophies behind some of his moves are absolutely mind-boggling. It’s almost like the guy wakes up and says, “What’s the least logical thing I can do today while running this baseball team? Trade Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser for one miserable year of A.J. Pierzynski? Yes. Yes that sounds good.”

      If Sabean loses Cain in November after already dealing Wheeler for what amounted to nothing in return, then Lincecum turns around and heads to Seattle to play for his hometown Mariners (which is a distinct possibility), maybe then people will drop the whole “But he won the Giants a World Series” bit.

      Because if Cain isn’t in a San Francisco uniform next season, there will only be one man to blame.

      External Sports, MLB

      Peyton Manning’s next contract to be around $90 million?

      March 16, 2012 /

      This just in: NFL owners are insane.

      According to NFL Network’s Albert Breer, the parameters of the five-year, $90 million contract that Peyton Manning signed last year with the Colts are serving as the “starting point for negotiations on his next deal.”

      Let’s push the rewind button for a second. This is the same Manning that is coming off four neck surgeries and may not be able to withstand one more hit in the NFL, nevertheless countless hits over the next five years.

      Seeing as how he makes the league more competitive and fun to watch, I’m pulling for him to rebound and be the same player he was before. But the fact remains that until he gets on that field again, he’s the ultimate risk. I’ve spoken with former athletes who have dealt with similar nerve damage and they were never the same following surgery. They would throw a ball as hard as they could only to have their entire arm go numb for the next 20 minutes. And while Manning might not suffer through the same misfortunate, who knows where he’ll be in September when he starts taking hits from 290-pound defensive ends.

      Whichever team signs him will sell a lot of Manning No. 18 jerseys, or at least that’s what these owners are probably thinking. And considering he has multiple teams interested in his services, there’s no reason for Peyton not to ask for big money and play it off like 2011 was a complete aberration. If teams are willing to pay, good for him and his representatives for making them pony up to see which cards he’s holding.

      But $18 million a season for the next five years? Yikes. Obviously we have no idea how the final contract will be structured and the total number could be much less than $90 million. In fact, the Denver Post reports that the Broncos’ offer is for $60 million, with $30 million guaranteed.

      That said, $60 million is still a ton of money for a team to be investing in, for all intents and purposes, a complete unknown. Peyton isn’t going to take a $5 million “show me deal,” nor should he. But unless that $90 million turns out to be an incentive-laden deal (which is unlikely), then whichever team lands him might as well start holding its breath the minute he signs on the dotted line. Because they don’t quite know what they’re getting for their money and one workout at Duke isn’t going to tell them either.

      External Sports, NFL

      Credit the Bills for being aggressive when it came to signing Mario Williams

      March 15, 2012 /

      When I asked one former NFL VP of Player Personnel about whether or not he thought Mario Williams would wind up in Buffalo because other teams didn’t have enough cap space to sign him, the VP responded, “Oh, they wanted to sign him. They were just waiting for him to get out of Buffalo.”

      But Williams never left Buffalo.

      The Bills signed the edge rusher to a six-year, $100 million contract on Thursday, which also includes $50 million guaranteed. The deal almost puts Julius Peppers’ six-year, $84 million contract with the Bears to shame, which is saying something.

      Williams becomes the first ever defensive player to net a $100 million contract and he’ll have the opportunity to move back to his natural position at defensive end in Buffalo’s new 4-3 defense. Considering they also feature safety Jarius Byrd and 2011 second overall pick Marcell Dareus, the Bills are certainly moving in the right direction on that side of the ball.

      And landing Williams was the ultimate coup. Considering he spent three days in Buffalo, one would assume he received an initial offer from the Bills and had his agent shop that price around to other teams. In the end, I can imagine Buddy Nix sitting in his office while speaking to Williams’ representatives and saying, “What’s it going to take to wrap this deal up? One hundred mil? Done – sign the paper.”

      The Bills accomplished what other teams probably set out to, which was to put on a full court press and make sure Williams didn’t leave the city without signing a contract first. They had to. Buffalo isn’t exactly an attractive place to play so the Bills had to pony up in order to land the top free agent on the market. Give them credit for zeroing in on a valuable piece and not balking over a couple of million a year, because they certainly didn’t have the luxury to do so. Premier pass rushers don’t fall off trees, nor do they become available very often. And when they do, they probably don’t look at Buffalo as the ideal landing spot.

      It’s probably safe to say that the Bills will only go as far as Ryan Fitzpatrick will take them, but under Nix they’re finally spending money and retaining their own. (Receiver Steve Johnson got a new contract this offseason, as did linebacker Kirk Morrison.) They may not have enough overall talent to slay the Patriots yet, but you have to like what’s going on in Buffalo right now.

      External Sports, NFL

      Is Seattle serious about Matt Flynn?

      March 15, 2012 /

      Matt Flynn is visiting Seattle this week, but it’s not clear how serious they are about the young free agent.

      Flynn has a familiar pedigree coming from Green Bay. After all, that’s the same organization that traded Matt Hasselbeck to Seattle 11 years ago. There’s a little more history, too. John Schneider — now Seattle’s general manager — was in the Packers’ front office when they drafted Flynn in the seventh round in 2008.

      But no one should jump to conclusions or characterize Flynn’s addition as imminent. He’s still a largely inexperienced quarterback, and there’s a very real question of just how much the Seahawks will offer a quarterback with two career starts.

      Is Seattle convinced enough of Flynn’s potential to offer a deal that is significantly more than the two-year, $8 million contract that Seattle has used as its baseline for a quarterback it sees as a potential starter down the road? That was the contract Seattle signed Charlie Whitehurst to in 2010 before he had attempted a regular-season pass, and it was largely the same deal used to acquire Jackson last year.

      Maybe Seattle does see Flynn as a different caliber of prospect, a player worth a significantly higher investment. But a year ago, Seattle wasn’t willing to make the kind of financial commitment that Kevin Kolb got from Arizona or part with the draft picks it would have taken to acquire him, and Kolb had more experience than Flynn.

      Pete Carroll hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with his quarterback picks so far, but the rest of the team is progressing so maybe the Seahawks will step up here. Miami is also in the mix, and despite conflicting reports, I think the Browns would be interested at the right price. Much will depend on whether Seattle lets Flynn move on after his visit without a signed contract.

      I like Flynn and I’m hoping he lands in Cleveland. The kid learned the West Coast Offense under the best in Green Bay for four years, and experience is critical in that offense. This glowing profile from Peter King points out what Flynn has learned and how he made decisions in his epic game against the Lions. Here’s another very positive scouting report.

      There’s no guarantee with Flynn, and may bring up that he’s had only two NFL starts, but that’s two more than Andrew Luck and RG3. I’m not saying he’s a better prospect, but the “risk” is mitigated by his apprenticeship in Green Bay under Aaron Rodgers. The key is the size of the contract, and that will be dictated by how many teams enter the bidding.

      External Sports, NFL

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