There are sometimes so many things in sports to talk about it is frankly impossible to keep up.
That tends to be the way of it at present, so this week it’s a quick spin around to touch on a few matters of interest.
The first stop is our beloved Riderville where new boss Chris Jones continues to remold the team in his image.
The latest moves were to send a couple of fan favourites Weston Dressler and John Chick searching for new places to play.
Dressler has been the ‘face’ of the ‘Rider receiving corps pretty much since signing back in 2008, if you discount the obviously doomed effort to play in that other league. He can still catch footballs with the best of them, although his touchdown catches were off in 2015 with the assorted QB mix he had to work with.
But Dressler makes too much money at 30 on a team needing to rebuild.
Chick, at 33, and as a defensive lineman where quickness counts, is past his best years, and even more overpaid as a result.
So neither cut is a surprise, based entirely on contracts that were higher than expected performance return.
Jones has already replaced Chick with Shawn Lemon, six years younger, and at a lower cost. That’s an upgrade.
Dressler as an import receiver can be replaced more easily than most positions too.
Jones appears to have a vision that includes cleaning out the past core of the Roughriders, a team that has sputtered on late, some of it based on a revolving door at pivot, and part because of an aging team which has suffered from a lack of good coaching.
So far it’s hard to argue with the path Jones is on, and it will make for an interesting spring and summer ahead.
Then again if Dressler signs in Winnipeg, which appears likely, and that team surges and we sputter, the love affair with Jones will fade rather quickly.
Quarterback Darian Durant took a different approach signing a new one-year deal with the team just last week. While details were not released there is little doubt the veteran pivot saw a huge pay cut coming off two injury-riddled seasons, and a new regime trimming salary like it is the key to immediate success.
Durant may not be as happy inside as he has been in interviews on the new deal, but those two injuries have limited his options in the current edition CFL where every team has a credible starting pivot option headed into the upcoming season.
Jaysville
Onto baseball and our Blue Jays.
It has been a somewhat underwhelming offseason, at least in terms of the general feeding frenzy of free agency, the deal to bring J.A. Happ back to TO hardly inspiring thoughts World Series glory based in someone best suited to the back end of a rotation.
The Jays did move outfielder Ben Revere to Washington for reliever Drew Storen, a guy with lots of upside, but someone the Nats had so little faith in as a closer they took on the trouble that is Jonathon Papelbon. Now Washington has not shown a lot of brilliance in managing the on-field team, but Storen had 29 saves in 34 opportunities, and they still made a move. It might have been a 3.02 ERA, up from an NL best 1.12 in 2014.
If the Jays get the 2014-version of Storen they win big. If the big bat AL adds a few points to that 3.04 number from last season, well Roberto Osuna is still in TO.
Osuna should be destined for set-up work now, leaving Aaron Sanchez to eye a starters spot. If Sanchez could be a break-out starter with 14, or so wins, it would go a long way toward the world series dreams Happ can’t inspire.
Of course it will help when the Jays ink an arbitration deal with MVP Josh Donaldson. He needs to be happy and well paid and in the fold for at least two-three seasons as this team works of taking the final step to a World Series.
Getting deals with pending free agents José Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion would help set that course more firmly too. That said I doubt both players are Jays come August, and a poor first half by the team, and both will be traded.
Raptor rise
Staying in TO, but switching sports, the Raptors have climbed into second spot in the Eastern Conference of the NBA, at least as of this writing (the Raps are 1.5 games up on third spot where Chicago and Atlanta are tied).
Cleveland tops the east, three games up on TO, and frankly it’s unlikely the Cavaliers will give up top spot this season.
Teams two through six, and maybe a bit deeper into the standings, are pretty competitive on any given night, although Toronto is learning to play defence, a goal with several of the off season moves, adding the likes of Luis Scola, Bismack Biyombo and currently injured DeMarre Carroll.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are both putting up all-star numbers on offence, Lowry being voted a starter for the game to be held in TO, and in the case of DeRozan showing he has to be resigned by the Raptors for next season and beyond.
However, as entertaining as the Raptors are in a competitive east, the strength of the NBA resides in the west.
While I don’t see TO doing better than a conference final loss to Cleveland, depending on eventual match-ups, it’s hard to envision anyone from the east having much chance against whoever emerges from the west. That is likely to Golden State 38-4 at this writing, but San Antonio, Oklahoma City and the LA Clippers are all solid teams.
