JOHNNY FOOTBALL TO RETURN?
Canadian League clears Johnny Manziel to sign a contract to play football again
Dec 29, 2017, 10:14 am
No. 2 might get a second chance North of the border. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Should we call him Johnny “Canadian” Football?
Former Cleveland Brown and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel has been cleared by the Canadian Football league to sign a contract, presumably with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Hamilton now has 10 days to make him an offer or trade his rights. If neither happens after that point, he becomes a free agent.
Manziel -- perhaps the greatest A&M football player ever -- has not seen the field since being released by Cleveland in 2016. He was a 2014 first-round draft pick after two explosive seasons at A&M, including a year where he won the Heisman.
But like a lot of great college players, things fell apart when he reached the pros. His work ethic was questionable, and off-the-field incidents with alcohol, drugs and domestic violence helped end his career quickly.
The CFL basically had to do a months-long investigation into Manziel before clearing him to be offered a contract. They have attached conditions to his eligibility. Here is the statement the league released:
“Since last summer, the Canadian Football League has been engaged in a thorough process to determine the eligibility of Johnny Manziel. This process has been conducted with the cooperation of Mr. Manziel and independent of the team which currently holds his CFL rights, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
It has included an ongoing assessment by an independent expert on the issue of violence against women, a review by legal counsel, and an in-person interview of Mr. Manziel conducted by the Commissioner. As well, Mr. Manziel has been required to meet a number of conditions set by the league.
As a result of this process, the Commissioner has now informed Mr. Manziel and the Tiger-Cats he is prepared to approve a contract for Mr. Manziel should one be negotiated.
The process that led to this decision does, however, continue. Mr. Manziel has been informed he must continue to meet a number of conditions in order to remain eligible. These conditions, while extensive and exacting, remain confidential.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have 10 days to make an offer to Johnny Manziel in order to keep his rights or to trade his rights to another team. If Manziel does not receive an offer from the Tiger-Cats or isn’t traded by January 7th, 2018, he will become a free-agent."
I watch a lot of CFL football and really enjoy the league, but it is a different game. The field is wider, the end zone is 25 yards deep, wide receivers get a running start and there are only three downs. The game puts a premium on a quarterback with a strong arm and mobility, and unlike the NFL size is not a huge factor. All of that should play to Manziel’s strengths.
If Ti-Cats head coach June Jones -- the former SMU and Hawaii coach (and Oilers assistant back in the day) -- is to be believed, Manziel will be offered a deal in Hamilton.
"I think he'd be the best player to ever play up here," Jones said. "He can throw it and he can run it like nobody ever has been able to do."
Manziel very well could be a star in the league. The quality of play is a lot better than people realize -- every roster is littered with former NFL players -- and it is not as simple as walking on a field and doing what he did at A&M.
If Manziel puts in the work, he could revitalize his career. Doug Flutie used the league to get back to the NFL, but he was an outlier. More former college stars fail in Canada than succeed. (Most recently, Vince Young tried it). But Manziel is still young enough and presumably talented enough to get things jumpstarted.
The big question is will he straighten his life out enough to be a success on the field? The skill is certainly not in question. If he focuses on improving his game and keeping his nose clean off the field, he can be an impact player. Jones’ overhyping aside, he definitely can have success. But only if he avoids the massive train wrecks that have followed him throughout his career and deals with the inevitable adversity.
Manziel was amazing to watch in college, and he could be for Hamilton, too. If he plays well, it will help him get back on track and raise the profile of the CFL in the States. If not? The Ti-Cats, who were terrible last season, lose nothing.
No matter how it plays out, it should be fun to watch. As it has been throughout his career, either Manziel will be a star or the victim of yet another massive train wreck.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.