By Adam Roberts – 1/27/2021

No players are heading to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2021 class.

All 25 players up for election fell short of the required 75-percent of the vote needed to make it to Cooperstown. It marks the first time since 2013 that no player was selected and just the ninth time ever. Curt Schilling was the highest vote-getter after receiving 71.1-percent of the vote. Barry Bonds was next at 61.8-percent followed by Roger Clemens at 61.6-percent. Schilling as requested to be removed from the 2022 ballot, but it looks like the Baseball Writers of America will try to keep that from happening.

The 2020 class of Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, and Ted Simmons will be inducted into Cooperstown July 25th after last year’s ceremony was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Adam Roberts – 1/27/2021

The Minnesota Twins have come to an agreement with shortstop Andrelton Simmons for a one-year, $10.5-million contract.

ESPN reports that Simmons will be the starting shortstop for the Twins, moving Jorge Polanco to second base and Luiz Arraez switching to a super-utility role. The four-time Gold Glove comes to Minnesota from spending the last five seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, after being traded by the Atlanta Braves in 2015, who drafted him in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, hot stove talk has been interesting with the Brewers linked to a number of notable free agents. While nothing is even close to being certain, such names include former Dodger Justin Turner, outfielder Eddie Rosario, and infielder Marcus Semien.

As for the on-going discussions over reliever Josh Hader, it appears that any team vying for his services would have to pay a hefty price. According to Robert Murray, the Brewers think Hader is the best lefty reliever in the game, and so it will take an “overwhelming” amount for them to part ways with him.

By Adam Roberts – 1/26/2021

*UPDATE On The Pat McAfee Show today, Rodgers said “I don’t feel like I said anything that I hadn’t said before.. It was just more of a realization I think that ultimately my future is not necessarily in my control… I don’t think there’s any reason I wouldn’t be back, but there are no absolutes in this business”. He added that conversations will be had during the offseason with Matt LaFleur, Brian Gutekunst, and Murphy, just like after every season.

It didn’t take a ton of time for Packers team president/CEO Mark Murphy to address quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ comments after the end of Sunday’s 31-26 NFC Championship Game loss, the fourth in seven seasons for Green Bay.

Speaking last night with radio station WNFL in Green Bay, Murphy re-affirmed the organization plans for Rodgers to return for his 17th season in Green Bay in 2021. “We’re not idiots” Murphy said. “Aaron Rodgers will be back, he’s our leader.”

This remark came a day after Rodgers lamented that the team was facing an “uncertain” future, himself included. “There’s a lot of unknowns going into this offseason now.” Rodgers said after the loss to Tampa Bay that put him 1-4 in NFC Championship games in his career as a starter. “I’m going to have to take some time away, for sure, and clear my head and just kind of see what’s going on with everything. But it’s pretty tough right now, especially thinking about the guys that may or may not be here next year. There’s always change. That’s the only constant in this business.”

As I said in my game recap yesterday, I do not believe Rodgers will be gone next season; the team is fully aware they drop to a wild card team at best without Rodgers at quarterback, and despite facing a looming challenge handling the salary cap and a bevy of free agents. According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky:

                        Rodgers has a salary-cap charge of $36.3 million in 2021 and $39.9 million in 2022. If he and the team were to go their separate ways after the 2021 season, the Packers would save $22.648 million in salary-cap space but would have to count $17.204 million in dead money. If they moved on after this season, they would save only $4.76 million on the cap and have $31.556 million in dead money.

Realistically, the only way Rodgers leaves is if he pulls a Deshaun Watson and forces his hand. It would make for a messy situation that I’m sure all sides would like to avoid, so keep the above numbers in mind when hot-take artists predict where he will play other than with the Packers next year.

By Adam Roberts – 1/25/2021

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, baseball had just begun it’s spring training schedule and was saddled with figuring out how to hold a season. What we got was an abridged year with a number of rule experiments, such as the universal DH, extra-inning baserunners on second, and an expanded playoff. On those first and third experiments, the MLB Players Association is today rejecting proposals for both into the 2021 season.

Multiple reports say the union has shot down both ideas, which were used during the shortened 2020 season.

MLB used a 16-team playoff format this past season compared to 14 teams in years past. Under this format, a sub-500 Brewers team was able to make the postseason, albeit they were ousted fairly quickly by the eventual World Series champion Dodgers.

By Adam Roberts – 1/25/2021

If for whatever reason you want to hear me popping off on yesterday’s NFC Championship earlier this morning on COW97, I made my argument for why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winners yesterday 31-26 over the Packers, thoroughly deserved to be heading to a Super Bowl after doing what they needed to do to surround 43-year-old Tom Brady with the weapons he needed to win.

A combination of drafting two All-Rookies in right tackle Tristan Warfs and safety Antoine Winfield Jr, supplying Brady with a familiar piece in Rob Gronkowski, and developing a hyper-aggressive pass rush spearheaded by second-year linebacker Devin White and veterans Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh has put the Bucs back in the big game for the first time since the 2002 season. And on the other side, it will be another offseason of Green Bay struggling to figure out why they haven’t been able to seal the deal in now four tries since the 2010 championship season. While Peter Bukowski makes a decent counterargument that there were some pieces added to bolster the roster, that Jordan Love selection still looms large. There were a number of excellent cornerbacks and wide receivers available when the Packers made their pick that would have helped more yesterday than a guy like Love who, despite having done literally nothing wrong, was wearing a headset yesterday.

After the contest, quarterback Aaron Rodgers sounded like a man who didn’t know what to say or where to turn. He was a dejected man at the postgame presser, and said the loss left him feeling “gutted”. As I said in the above clip, I can’t fathom the team moving on from Rodgers this offseason, given his MVP-like performance this year and the lack of depth behind him at the position. However, who knows what Rodgers himself wants to do with the time he has left in the league. This morning on ESPN’s Get Up, Pat McAfee said we might not hear much from Rodgers this offseason as he contemplates things, and I think that’s the most likely course of action and will end up with Aaron back in Green Bay for 2021 but with a great deal of uneasiness if another offseason of little adjustment occurs (on a side note, let’s cool it with the day-after ‘Rodgers goes to ______’ talk; McAfee wants him with the Colts and others have indicated LA or San Francisco. Please let’s just cool it.)

As for the tangible numbers from yesterday, they are not great for Green Bay:

• Rodgers was sacked five times; the Tampa defense sacked Aaron 10 times this year, compared to the 15 sacks against Rodgers in every other game this regular and postseason.
• Rodgers had to be the hero with no run game to compliment him; he went 33-48 with 346 yards, 3 scores, and a pick, while the run game racked up just 67 yards and no scores, not to mention a costly Aaron Jones fumble in what might have been his final game as a Packer.
• Despite better secondary play in the second half, the Packer offense converted three Brady INTs into just six points.
• Two drops loomed large in the final box score. The first was on a quick out to Davante Adams on what ended up being the Packers’ first field goal. Rodgers knew he’d be open given the lax coverage on Adams in that situation and Davante just dropped the ball. The second was on an attempted two-point conversion intended for Equanimeous St. Brown that eventually allowed Tampa to go up 31-23 instead of 31-24.

And then there are the intangibles. From the above questionable choice to go for two by head coach Matt LaFleur, to the even more questionable 4th and 8 field goal decision, to the awful defensive play call at the end of the first half that allowed a Scotty Miller touchdown, to the lack of penalties on suspect holding no-calls until the very final play that mattered with a DPI on Kevin King, it was just a cluster-bleep all over the place.

I guess little will change, because GM Brian Gutekunst and team president Mark Murphy won’t complain about back-to-back 13-3 seasons with NFC Championship Game appearances. But as the modern fan, I wouldn’t mind at least hearing that another instance of coming up just short and looking flat when it matters most won’t be tolerated going forward.