MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – FAJARDO CEMENTS MOP CASE – With five games left in the season, Cody Fajardo is third in the league in passing yards and second in completion percentage.  He’s fourth in overall QB rating, but two of the guys ahead of him (Nick Arbuckle and Matt Nichols) aren’t likely to play the rest of the season. He’s second amongst QBs in rushing yards (behind only Chris Streveler) and second amongst QBs in rushing touchdowns, with ten.  His average yards per carry is equal to Streveler. I think we’ve all seen enough. Pay him along the same lines as Mike Reilly and get him locked up. Finding a good quarterback is never easy and the Riders have made it a franchise lifetime task to search for one. You could count their elite pivots on one hand over the last hundred years.  Get Fajardo signed.

2 – RIDER RECEIVERS – Where does Jordan Williams-Lambert fit in?  Who are you removing from this group and what would be your reasoning for doing so?  I recognize the knee jerk reaction from fans who say JWL, instantly, becomes your top receiver.  I get that, but how many more wins would they have with him in there over the group now? I can’t think of any time where Fajardo was let down by his receivers when the game was on the line.  To me, all you are doing by putting in JWL is telling your current set of receivers that you don’t trust them as they are constructed and you are disrupting a good thing. Yes, Williams-Lambert is the most talented of the bunch.  But, there is no need for him and I don’t think you put him in the line-up just because he’s back. I think Saskatchewan has to consider dealing him at the deadline to shore up another area of need. I’m just not sure what they could use right now.  I like the make-up of this club, and relegating Manny Arceneaux may not seem like much and maybe it isn’t in the grand scheme of things. I just wonder because there’s only one ball to go around.

3 – POWER RANKINGS – 1) Hamilton, 2) Calgary, 3) Saskatchewan and then there is everyone else.  There is no point ranking the others because I would be surprised if two of these three aren’t in the Grey Cup in November.  I get that Montreal is a trendy pick at the moment and I’d have them 4th, but I think they are quite a step behind the top three.  I’m stunned Edmonton hasn’t made a coaching change. I don’t think Ottawa should, but I suspect Rick Campbell is Jason Maas’ replacement this offseason.

4 -BASEBALL CHANGES – In 1983, the NL leader in stolen bases was Tim Raines with 90.  This year, Ronald Acuna led with 37. In ‘83, there were ten other players who had more steals than Acuna had this year.  While we are on the topic of 1983, the 88-and-74 Yankees didn’t have a single player strikeout 100 times. This year’s Yankees will feature four over 125 (Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit, Aaron Judge, and Gleyber Torres).  In fact, the Yankees had Butch Wynegar, Willie Randolph, and Steve Kemp all walk more times than they struck out. It was not uncommon for that to be the case on each club. To have even one player across MLB do that in 2019 would be a massive feat (Alex Bregman did for sure, but I’m not certain if there were others or not).  Do we like this? I seem to be the only one who enjoyed watching speed on the base paths and actual hitting as opposed to swinging for the fence every time. I realize the game has changed, but is it better this way?  

5 – PITCHING – Masahiro Tanaka led the Yankees in innings pitched this year with 182 and he’s had a partially torn ligament in his throwing elbow for over two years now.  Maybe it’s healed itself, I don’t know. But, it’s something else to see a guy pitch injured and lead his staff while everyone else throws fewer innings to guard against injury.  If you go back to 1983, the Yankees had Ron Guidry, Dave Righetti, and Shane Rawley all throw in excess of 200 innings. Guidry threw, at least, 190 innings every year from 1977-1986.  Aside from injury, the single biggest reason I hear from fans as to why you can’t use pitchers like you used to is because it’s harder to pitch now and the hitter are better. But, when you have an entire roster of batters fanning over 100 times a season, is it really that much harder to pitch?  The analytic geeks will insist the ‘third time through the order’ is kryptonite for pitchers because the hitters have made the necessary adjustments. Why can’t pitchers adjust to hitters? They aren’t given the chance.

6 – PITCHER SALARIES – I wonder if teams will stop paying for pitching.  Would you rather give $25 million to a guy who goes out for 6 innings a week and gives you a solid start or would you rather pay a hitter who’s in the line-up for 9 innings six times a week?

7 – WORK STOPPAGE – With the ultra rich Boston Red Sox announcing they are cutting costs and with players already upset that there aren’t enough teams trying to win, the scene is set for a possible work stoppage at the end of the 2021 season and it could last a while.  At this point, I’m rooting for one and I hope the two sides make real progress on advancing the game so that it’s a lot more appealing. Every other major sport has made changes for the better.

8 – SUCCESS IN SPORTS – What determines this?  It’s something I may go more in depth on in future columns, but I used to believe that because sports franchises are not the major source of income for billionaire owners that it was bravado and bragging rights to have a sports team that wins championships and that’s what keeps professional sports competitive.  However, I am tending to lead towards assuming that standings, wins, and titles are, merely, a byproduct of just running a business and trying to make as much money as possible. So the questions shouldn’t be ‘does Free Agent A help us win?’. The main question should be, ‘does Free Agent A make our team money?’

9 – MAHOMES – I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time where I have witnessed some of the most dominant athletes ever.  From Wayne Gretzky to Michael Jordan to Tiger Woods to Mike Tyson to Michael Phelps to Donovan Bailey to Tom Brady. Brady is great and I don’t think we will ever see another coach/QB combo like what New England has shown over the last 20 years, but every time I watch Pat Mahomes I can’t help but wonder if I’m not watching the most exciting and talented quarterback to ever play the game.  He’s in his second full year of starting and he has no real running back and his top receiver is on the shelf. I am not sure he even has a very good coach. Yet, there he is passing for 400 yards almost weekly and making household names out of people like Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman. It’s early. But I think greatness is upon us in Mahomes. 

10 – MULHALL – I’m not going to get too deep into this, but I find it interesting that 29-year-old Justin Trudeau can dress up as a black person multiple times and the media writes it off as a dumb decision made by a man in his youth; yet Greg Mulhall is 19 and has been, pretty much, blackballed from ever playing junior hockey again. I’m not advocating that the penalty is too harsh. I’m just pointing out that if a 29-year-old future Prime Minister gets a pass for poor judgment multiple times, maybe a 19-year-old (who isn’t likely to ever be Prime Minister) should get the benefit of the doubt once everyone calms down. That’s not to defend him, that’s not to try and diminish what’s happened. It’s just a bit of perspective during a time when we are all ramped up and emotional. For me, I hope Berk Berkeliev gets healthy soon and we see him back between the pipes. He was off to a great start and it’s sad this has all unfolded the way it has.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)