Baker to Carolina; Chet Holmgren looks Legit; KD Staying in Brooklyn?

O’s

We kick it off tonight with Tom keeping Chris’ feet on the ground about the Orioles. Some might call Tom a hater…some. Credit where credit is due though, Tom agrees the O’s have been impressive, and improvement is exciting, now we see where it goes

The next few years will be critical and as we’ve mentioned before you will most likely see some familiar faces head out the door. Mancini will most likely get moved on, and rightfully so, as much as it will hurt the heart. Jorge Lopez is another candidate from the back-end of the bullpen. The offers will dictate, and could be critical to the short-term growth of the O’s.

Around the League

The Yankees hit 60 wins, and are in absolute cruise control at the moment. Gallo has been awful, but no harm, no foul at the moment. The Dodgers are getting healthier with Betts and Kershaw back, and have been in 1st place without them. The Mets have 50+ wins and are getting stronger with Scherzer back. The top of the league is strong. 

Tennis with Pete from Atlanta

Djokovic v. Kyrgios is an intriguing matchup because Kyrgios has the quality to beat Djokovic, but he’s a bit of a headcase. The Nadal withdrawal also affects the crowd for a Wimbledon Final as well with two pretty disliked players going head-to-head. The injury sounds pretty brutal for Nadal as well with a torn abdominal muscle and a timeline for return is unknown. 

Baker Mayfield to Carolina

The fanbase thinks this is an upgrade according to Joe from Charlotte, and Tom agrees that Baker has a greater upside in the short-term over Sam Darnold.The O-Line is solid in front of him with some draft upgrades and Baker has no shortage of weapons in McCaffery and Moore.

This is a true camp battle for the job in Carolina. Both QBs have the talent, but both also do some dumb stuff. Darnold has lost his confidence from his years in NY, and Baker has let his decision-making and accuracy slip, but both can get the job done…maybe. It will be interesting to see how this works out from camp and through the season. 

“I’d rather be Carolina than Cleveland, right now; wouldn’t you?” Chris asks. It is sounding a whole lot like Watson is going to get a slap on the wrist for this one and the Browns will end up with Deshaun Watson after a relatively minor headache. Tom doesn't think Watson is going to sit out this whole season and the NFL will use last year as part of his suspension retroactively. Business is Business in the NFL and it ultimately means, Cleveland won here and the Panthers probably got stuck with a potentially expensive dud. 

NBA Summer League

Chris is about that Summer League life and “nerds out” on it, so there’s been some good entertainment for him recently. Chet Holmgren was out there doing what we expect to see translate over to the league. Jaden Ivey lit the place up and was great to watch. Paolo was smooth in his outings and looked just fine. Generally speaking, the top ten have shown they should settle in fine with their clubs going into the season. 

It’s hard to watch some careers fizzle out when some Vets ride the bench in Summer League. There is a good amount to take away from the Summer League, but it doesn’t forecast great success for the NBA slog day in and day out. We can see if a guy can hit his spots, keep up with the speed of the game, use his body, etc. It’s always a game of “wait and see” either way. The Summer League isn’t “The Show” and nothing can really predict in-season success. 

Destinations for Kevin Durant

We may have done this a little bit over the last few weeks, and not much has changed. The market is small because the teams who can afford him are capped out, and not many teams are going to sell the farm for him. He’s in his mid-30’s and you’d have him for another 4 years. In short, we don’t know and nobody does at this point. We move on. 

Jimmy G returns!

Garopollo will be throwing later this month and it looks like there is no market for him now. Tom finds this plenty amusing, until you mention him landing in Pittsburgh, and he’s less of a fan. In his opinion, they looked at that option and chose Mitchell Trubisky, take from that what you will. . Chris, doesn’t find the idea so far-fetched. 

It does look bleak out there for him now that Baker landed in Carolina. Tom believes that he “is not good at quarterback” and he makes no bones about it. No, seriously, Tom thinks “he stinks”. Period. Eventually, somebody might need a QB this season so he’s worthy of a job. We’ll have to see how things play out as the season goes on,

DAN SYNDER IS HIDING ON A YACHT SOMEWHERE!!! THE GUY IS CERTIFIED TEFLON!!!