The Price is Right

David Price, that is. The man who has dominated opponents over his career from Tampa Bay, Detroit, Toronto and now Boston just signed a 7-year, $217 million deal this week ($31 million a year) with a buyout after three seasons with the team. I don't know how Boston can afford all of these contracts. Of course, their payroll is much higher than one I am used to in the form of the Padres, but still, it's hard to pay 25 men $10 million or more (I'm just estimating the average per player on the roster) no matter who you are. Now they have Kimbrel and Price. Watch out AL East, Boston may be back. Another of the free-agent giants signed this past week as well in the form of Jordan Zimmerman. He goes from a dysfunctional Nationals team to Detroit for 5 years, $110 million ($22 million a year). Looks like the Royals may have some contention in the AL Central. Now they just need some consistent bullpen contributions. The next big name to possibly come off the free-agent market is Zack Greinke. The Dodgers' ace is searching for a deal from either the Giants or the Dodgers, and it very well may surpass Price's contract. I hate both teams, so I don't care which he chooses. Now let's fly to San Diego once more. Wednesday night was the deadline to offer contracts to non-tendered arbitration-eligible players. The Padres refused to offer deals to two such players on the roster: Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski. Yonder and Marc would have become free agents had A.J. Preller not traded them to Oakland in return for pitcher Drew Pomeranz, minor-league pitcher Jose Torres (finished in the low-A Midwest league) and either a player to be named later or cash considerations. This means we have an opening at first base. In-house candidates could include the combination of Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte. I personally want to see Myers out in left field and get a more reliable glove to cover first. We'll see. The Padres also introduced some new uniforms for the all-star 2016 season. Check out this video in order to see what they look like. The alternate and road jerseys still remain the same. Comment below to see what you think about the jerseys!

I apologize about lying last week when I said that Les Miles was leaving LSU. It was not official at the time though reports said that it was going to happen. After the game, LSU athletic director Joe Alleva announced that Miles would be staying. It makes sense too, because next year LSU has the highest recruiting class coming in out of any team in the country. Not to mention, the Bayou Bengals have many returning players coming back next year. The inconsistency is coming from the offensive coordinator (according to my Uncle) and that is the person who should be fired, not Miles. He can beat Alabama and get LSU back to the big stage of the college football playoff. I know that for a fact. In other coaching news, BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall has agreed to a position as the University of Virginia. He will seek for career win number 100 for their bowl game in the Royal Purple Las Vegas bowl on Dec. 19 against an opponent to be announced. BYU will start their search for a coach immediately. As for the action this weekend, we have conference championship games! And then Sunday we will place the fate of the college football playoff in the hands of the committee. We will know the entire bowl schedule after that. Here are the games of the week.
- #22 Temple at #19 Houston, Noon ET, ABC
- #18 Florida vs. #2 Alabama (from Atlanta), 4 ET, CBS
- #20 USC vs. #7 Stanford (from Santa Clara), 7:45 ET, ESPN
- #5 Michigan State vs. #4 Iowa (from Indianapolis), 8 ET, FOX
- #10 North Carolina vs. #1 Clemson (from Charlotte), 8 ET, ABC

In the NFL, week 13 has gotten off to a hot start as the Packers beat the Lions on a hail-Mary pass from Aaron Rodgers. Brock Osweiler has continued to impress as Peyton Manning's replacement as he takes his Broncos into San Diego to take on the woeful Chargers. Speaking of QB issues, the Browns have demoted Johnny Manziel as the back-up (even though Josh McCown is down for the rest of the year) behind Austin Davis. Manziel was caught partying inappropriately again when he is supposed to be "rehabbing." Yeah, whatever that means. Only a month left in the season. The playoff picture is becoming a lot clearer as we near January.

In the NBA, Kobe has officially announced his retirement. He has played the most seasons with one team in NBA history, though Tim Duncan is still active and at 19. A first-ballot hall-of-famer and five-time champion, Bryant has amassed an amazing career. Even though I am not a Lakers fan at all, I respect Kobe for the talent that he is and the legend he left for the league. In other news, The 76ers finally won...against the Lakers. It was Kobe's final trip to his home town. It is hard to tell who is the worst team in the league at the moment. What do you think? The Warriors are no doubt the best team in the league, that's for sure. At 20-0 it's hard to see when they will lose. They play Toronto tomorrow and then Brooklyn on Sunday. I don't see them losing there. Will they ever? Tell me what you think.

Thank you for reading again! I look forward to this week and especially the bowl season for college football. Have a great week!