They key question in Dallas, and I think everyone knows this, is can they find a way to keep both Dez and Murray? I'm pretty sure that with Murray's injury history that he is going to want to cash in on the great success he had this past season. We know RB career longevity can be an issue, especially for players who are viewed as "injury prone". It will be interesting to see how things play out.
Murray is fantastic, but I don't think he's nearly as important as Dez. He has a TON of miles on his legs. Dallas's O-line is a strength, and I think the league has proven that it grinds RBs into dust. Not only that, but it's not difficult to find RB talent in all rounds of the draft. The Patriots just won with Blount at RB, and he's not even a top 10 talent. I'm not sure committing crazy cap space to Murray is the wisest move. Dallas needs help on defense badly. They're close to championship caliber, they just need to shore up that defense.
With who you have holding the bats next season you better be ready to celebrate a Red Sox World Series parade (yeah, you heard it here first).
I am far more bullish on the Red Sox than you are. I think there are quite a few teams that are ahead of them in terms of winning a championship. The Red Sox are taking the Atlanta Hawks approach to starting pitching (no superstars, just 5 solid guys), and that will need to work out exactly as they expect in order to work. pitching > offense. The offense will be much improved, thankfully, which will make for some entertaining games regardless. I was hoping we'd get an ace or at least re-sign our own...so we'll see. I am glad they didn't give up the ransom the Phillies were asking for Hamels, though. Still some offseason left.
63dot said:
That being said the NYY can one day take Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey from the Giants and Pablo Sandoval and David Ortiz from the Red Sox and become the Damn Yankees all over again. I have seen this type of unethical behavior from New York as long as I can remember. But enjoy the trophies while you can, because I can say that I am doing just that and realize this can never happen again like this in my lifetime. Of course we are anticipating the NBA championship over here in Oakland.
Believe me, I hate the Yankees, but a) the "sign ALL the free agents!" method hasn't really worked for them consistently. Yeah, they won it in 2009, but the dynasty (gag) period of 1996 - 2000 was because of their farm with free agents being complimentary pieces.
It's also within the rules - and although I think they have some unfair advantages over some teams with the amount they can spend and the draw of playing in
the toilet Yankee Stadium, I think cheapskate owners get no flack whatsoever and that's lame. The Yankees are operating within the rules. I, for one, am super glad we didn't pay Jacoby Ellsbury the funny money they gave him.
😉
