The Chalk Talk with Dan and the Dawg

Before W e Give the Mets Too Much Credit... By: Dan Primiani      As reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the New York Mets have acted swiftly and severely in their punishment of now former general manager, Jared Porter, firing the recently hired former Red Sox, Cubs, and Diamondbacks executive after a story broke on Monday evening of his alleged harassment of a female reporter during the 2016 MLB season . Porter held the title of general manager for less than two months before word leaked out of his 2016 misconduct while he was a member of the Chicago Cubs organization in which he sent over sixty unsolicited text messages to a female reporter, with the content and intent of these message escalating before he "Brett Favre-d" it and sent her several explicit NSFW images of himself. Porter, attempting to justify his actions , conceded that while he did send numerous text messages to the reporter, the lewd images clipped on at the end were not of him and were of a "jok...

A Breakdown of the Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado Acquisitions and Why We Should Expect Them to Succeed in 2021 By: Dan Primiani Former Diamondback Archie Bradley will most likely slot into the 8th or 9th inning for the Phillies in 2021.     In just about a month, pitchers and catchers will report to major league camps in Florida and Arizona, intent on preparing for the upcoming 2021 MLB baseball season. It's been a turbulent past few months with the sport having to navigate through Coronavirus restrictions and a plethora of rule changes and modifications, but hope springs on the horizon with commissioner Rob Manfred pledging that teams should ready themselves for a full one hundred sixty-two game schedule . With that in mind, it is necessary for teams to begin readjusting their mindsets in composing their rosters and deeper starting pitching rotations and bullpens will be necessary to plod through six months of monotonous baseball action. For teams lacking particularly stro...

How Big of a Difference Does Trevor Bauer Make? By: Daniel Primiani Trevor Bauer is the type of pitcher who can make any team a playoff contender.      The Trevor Bauer watch continues with the Toronto Blue Jays being the most recent team linked to the outspoken right hander. As the top free-agent arm still on the open market, these past few months must've been a pipedream for the talented hurler; Bauer has amassed a remarkably passionate following on social media over his nine-season MLB career and seems to have truly enjoyed documenting his free agent experience for his subscribers. Whether it be posting pictures of his airline ticket to Boston, Massachusetts with a cryptic message attached or donning a New York Mets ballcap in the wake of the Francisco Lindor trade whilst gushing about his admiration for the talented shortstop , Bauer certainly seems to enjoy tantalizing fanbases with hopes of him joining their team's starting rotations.     And let's be hon...

You Can't Always Get What You Want (But You Should Beware If You Do): Tracking Victor Oladipo's Career from Start to Present By: Dan Primiani Former Pacer's star guard, Victor Oladipo, will be taking his talents to Houston for the foreseeable future.     In 1969, Rolling Stone's front man, Mick Jagger, once crooned, "You can't always get what you want." Well, for former Indiana Pacer Victor Oladipo, the intrepid star certainly got what he wanted this past Thursday: a move out of Indiana, the city with whom he developed into a legitimate NBA All-Star after being traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder on July 6th, 2017. Oladipo's exit from the Pacers comes as part of a league-altering four-team trade with James Harden headlining the transaction on his way to Brooklyn  and it comes on the heels of a prolonged dispute about his worth in Indiana. It's not difficult to imagine that the Pacers were more than happy to move on from Oladipo at this point give...

Dumpster Fire: Why You Shouldn't Expect Much To Change For The Eagles By: Joe Kearney-Argow     I waited a few days to write this. I wanted to calm down, see if more details would come out, see if I would get any inkling that things might change in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, things may only get darker for the Eagles with no light at the end of the tunnel that has been the 2020 season. I say this because, despite the shake-ups at head coach and defensive coordinator, the real root of the Eagle's woes is still around: Howie Roseman. Nothing will change as long as he continues to call the shots for this organization. While there's a lot to unpack here, I'll try to go in chronological order.       First, there's Jim Schwartz, who announced he would not be returning next year as the Eagle's defensive coordinator. All year, I heard about how bad of a job he's doing, how he needs to go, etc. But let's look at something very significan...

No Sure Bet: The Risk in Signing Veteran Relievers to Lucrative Contracts By: Dan Primiani Former Oakland A's closer Liam Hendriks will be suiting up with the Chicago White Sox in 2021.      The Chicago White Sox made waves in the MLB on Monday with the signing of coveted closer, Liam Hendriks, to a three-year deal with an option for a fourth season per the club. Regardless of whether the club picks up that fourth year option, Hendriks will be guaranteed $54 million over the length of the contract as the buyout for the final season of the deal will equal what Hendriks' contract would be should the club keep him ($15 million). While the final details on the deal are still being finalized and the ink dries, the signing would bring Hendriks to the south side of Chicago where he would presumably slot into the ninth inning closer role since vacated by Alex Colome, the club's primary closer for the past two seasons.     A failed starter during his initial cup of coffe...

A Diamond in the Rough? Taylor Heinicke's Unique Path to NFL Relevance By: Dan Primiani Taylor Heinicke suited up for the Washington Football Team in their Wild Card matchup with the Buccaneers.      Oh, 2021. I thought you'd be different. I thought that all of the oddities and anomalies that so characterized these past twelve months were going to give way to some semblance of sense and order. I'm not going to lie; life has felt like a stretched out Rick Astley song these past few months with the unexpected becoming the expected and the world continually Rick-Rolling us for NO. GOOD. REASON. Fool that I am, I began to hope that perhaps things would start making a little bit more sense. Up would be up, down would be down, and NFL career backup quarterbacks, undrafted ones at that, would fold under the pressure on the sport's biggest stage: primetime playoff football. It's an outcome that you would expect, a conclusion that nobody would be surprised by, and yet, here...

Opinion: Despite How It Looks, the Cubs Will Win the Yu Darvish Trade By: Joe Kearney-Argow      I know I am a few days late with this post, but I am still seeing a lot of talk about this trade. People seem to be losing their minds about how good the Padres are going to be and I wanted to bring everyone down to earth before we hand them the World Series trophy. I'll preface this by saying that, obviously, if Darvish repeats the season he had last year, the Padres will be looking pretty solid with the deal (I'm not a total idiot). That being said, I believe last season was a mirage and highly doubt that Darvish will repeat what he was able to accomplish in 2020.      Before I get into Darvish, I want to mention that I haven't looked into the prospects the Cubs received in this deal, other than the fact that the Cubs got four of them. Growing up a Phillies fan, I had the privilege of hearing how good Dom Brown, JP Crawford, Jesse Biddle, Joe Savery, Cornelius...

Failing the Eye Test: Marcell Ozuna is a Terrible Outfielder...Or Maybe Not? By: Dan Primiani Pictured: Marcell Ozuna flailing at the ball to little avail.     While scrolling through the MLB offseason rumor mill, I came across a forum post espousing how Marcell Ozuna's bat would benefit the Washington Nationals as protection in the lineup for Juan Soto and newcomer Josh Bell. It's not a hard argument to follow; Ozuna has obliterated the baseball at the plate over the past few years, turning in an outstanding .338 batting average with thirty-two extra base hits in a coronavirus shortened 2020 baseball season (good for an extra base hit every 8.3 at-bats). Any rational fanbase would want such a player hitting in the middle of their batting order, irregardless  of the reality that small sample sizes rarely play out over the course of a full season. Nevertheless, Ozuna has a .477 career slugging percentage and averages about twenty-seven homeruns and ninety-seven RBIs over t...