TOO SOON?

Del Olaleye: Hey baseball, it's not your time yet

Del Olaleye: Hey baseball, it's not your time yet
The Astros just celebrated a World Series win. Harry How/Getty Images

When did the final whistle of the NFL season start the clock on the baseball season? The moment Tom Brady’s final pass hit the turf and the Eagles won their first Super Bowl twitter took a dark turn. I don’t follow many people to avoid clutter but my picky twitter habits didn’t stop the onslaught of baseball tweets and retweets. It came from team-run accounts, media members and fans. Everyone was celebrating the start of the baseball season. On Feb. 5. The same Sunday night as the Super Bowl. What the hell is wrong with these people?

Baseball is fine if you like that sort of thing. That “sort of thing” is a sport that has traditionally frowned on players showing emotion that falls outside of what is deemed acceptable. A sport that features an archaic set of unwritten rules that you have no idea exist until one is broken. Do you think you might enjoy a sport that polices itself by hurling a hard fist-size projectile at a person’s ribs? Then I’ve got 162 games for you. That’s right, 162 games. Games that can range in length from two-plus hours to double the length of a feature film.  The following will be a common scenario at the beginning of April:

“Meet me at Cinemark at 9:30 for Black Panther? I’m watching the Astros right now.” - Baseball Fan

“But it’s only 4. I was thinking 7:30. How long can a game take?“ - someone smarter than Baseball Fan

“We never really know.” - Baseball Fan says wistfully

There is more than enough baseball to go around. The games that count begin in early April and end in October, if we’re lucky. In the case of the 2017 season we were “treated” to November baseball. A logical person might say that is way too much baseball for anyone reasonable. I’m resigned to the fact that the season won’t be shortened to 100 games or to my preferred 80. But baseball fans will not convince me that the third most popular sport in America actually begins in February. Don’t get too comfortable with that distant bronze medal either. Soccer is gaining and if the US Soccer Federation could put together a decent product baseball would get knocked off the medal stand.

There are multiple major sporting events on the calendar before baseball actually begins to matter. NBA All-Star weekend begins on the 16th of this month. The NFL Draft starts April 26th. The NBA Finals begin May 31st. The World Cup begins June 14th. These are all things that will take over the national conversation while baseball twitter is telling us “it’s too early to make draw conclusions” or “there is still so much baseball left.” Your favorite baseball team could put together a ten-game winning streak and it wouldn’t cause a blip. No one will care but the seven percent of the American population that still considers the sport America’s Pastime. By the way, a 10-game winning streak in baseball happens to equate to just under 6.2 percent of total games in a season. Yeah, the season is way too long.

I’m getting distracted. This isn’t so much about baseball as it is about baseball twitter. Twitter accounts operated by the Astros, MLB and something called Cut4 immediately announced the start of baseball season after the Super Bowl ended. They weren’t the only ones. Of all teams, the Marlins decided to tell us it is “their turn.” The Marlins? How many people in south Florida could name four Marlins? Just stop it. You have your place, baseball twitter. There is that little sweet spot after the Final Four and before the conference finals in the NBA. A little over a month to try to not overwhelm us with early season stats that you readily admit don’t mean much. Until then keep quiet. The rest of us just tolerate you.

The World Series lasted into November and the Astros defeated the Dodgers in Game 7 to win their first World Series. Baseball season was taken to the very limit and I guess it was so great people can’t wait to start it all over again.

Well I can wait.

The season really begins July 4. You know this baseball twitter. Don’t try to change the rules now.

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The Texans are the class of the division. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans received a lot of praise for their moves in free agency across various outlets. And for good reason, most people believe the team got significantly better with the additions of Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry among others.

But there's another factor to consider this offseason. How much have the other teams in the AFC South improved?

When looking at the PFF grades in free agency, the Colts received a B-minus. Most of the Colts moves this offseason involved spending a lot of money re-signing their own players. Which is great in theory, but it's hard to improve the overall quality of your roster when you're bringing back players that were already there to begin with. A lot will be riding on player development for the Colts to see a big jump this season. A healthy quarterback wouldn't hurt either.

The Jaguars have made some big additions financially this offseason by signing receiver Gabe Davis and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. They also lost the top receiver on the market, Calvin Ridley, to the Titans. Gabe Davis wasn't able to establish himself as a reliable No. 2 receiver with Josh Allen throwing him the ball in Buffalo. So it's hard to believe he'll take the next step in Jacksonville. Their best move of the offseason might have been retaining edge rusher Josh Allen by using the franchise tag on him. So what did PFF think of Jacksonville's offseason? They received a B-minus, just like the Colts.

The Titans have a lot of turnover heading into the 2024 season, and not just on the roster. They have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, who's looking to revamp Tennessee's offense. Early in free agency, they agreed to terms with former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, signing him to a 3-year deal at $8 million per season. Which is more money than the Ravens are paying for Derrick Henry, who left the Titans in free agency. Calvin Ridley was the most notable addition to the squad, he received a 4-year, $92 million deal. And while this could be viewed as an overpay, at least he gives the Titans' offense some upside. Their receiving corps looks a lot more dangerous with Ridley added to DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks.

They also spent big at the center position, adding Lloyd Cushenberry on a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Because the Titans spent a lot of money on some highly coveted players, PFF gave them a B.

Now that brings us to the Texans. The Texans re-signed some of their own players like Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. But they also made some big splashes with Hunter, Autry, Al-Shaair, and Joe Mixon. But the Texans spent their money in a more conservative way by not handing out many contracts over two years in length.

The Texans managed to add the best pass rusher in free agency with Hunter, but it's only a two-year deal. The overall talent level is going up on this roster, and GM Nick Caserio isn't having to sign players to long contracts that could come back and haunt him.

That's why we're seeing post-free agency power rankings coming out with Houston in the Top 10. And that's also why PFF gave the Texans an A for their moves in free agency.

Be sure to check out the video above as Craig from Sports Talk Extra takes an in-depth look at PFF's grades for the AFC South, and much more!

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