KEEPING IT RAHEEL
Raheel Ramzanali: A snarky look at the top NFL prospects for 2019
May 1, 2018, 6:05 am
Ed Oliver should have been in the draft out of high school. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
With the end of every draft season comes the start of the usual, and predictable, draft cycle for the following year. I wanted to get a jump start on my 2019 Draft Coverage by putting out my list of every prospect that will get hot with draft talk as the season progresses. Not much changes every year so this list could be used almost every draft season:
Prototypical Pocket QB with a Big Arm, QB. Underachieving Power 5 School - He’s the guy that teams tank for because in the NFL you need a QB to win it all. It doesn’t matter that this guy’s team didn’t make it to the College Football Playoffs because well he didn’t have enough talent. Scouts will love this kid’s arm and poise in the pocket because it fits the NFL. He might not be the best athlete in the draft, but man, he fits the mold. Nevermind that teams will start using more explosive QBs with offenses built around their strengths because this guy, well THIS GUY, has it all for an unimaginative NFL offense.
Looks the Part Defensive End, DE. Middle of the Pack SEC Team - If you can’t build through a QB then you better start thinking about the defensive line because disruption. Sure, this guy doesn’t have the ungodly numbers that you might want from a defensive end in terms of sacks, but my god does he disrupt. He’s the most talented player in this year’s draft, but because he has no other players around him, his team is just meh and we’re OK with it because disruption!
Really Good Running Back That Could Never Go Number 1 Because NFL, RB, A Big 10 School - I get it, there is no value at taking a really good running back high in the draft because you can always find a gem later in the draft so we can’t rank this guy too high just yet. Sure, he’ll measure really well and maybe even be the no.1 draft pick in some mock drafts following the combine, but soon we will all come back to Earth and put him in his place by dropping him down the rankings. This guy can get you tough yards and catch out of the backfield, but he’s still not good enough to be the consensus number 1 pick because NFL.
Franchise Saving Offensive Lineman for Your Franchise QB, OT, A School In a State That Exports Meat or Cheese - Boy, they sure do grow em big in <insert any school in the Big 10 or SEC>, don’t they?! I know O-line picks aren’t sexy, but damn they make sense so you have to insert one in the top 5.
Talented QB That Nobody Really Watches All Season Long but Has All the Tools, QB, Some School That has a Farm Animal as a Mascot - Every year all the draft pundits fall in love with a QB from a small school because he has this “tools” that nobody else has in a bigger conference. I’m not sure how scouts always find this unicorn every year because if I was a scout and I happened to find this magical QB, I wouldn’t tell anybody about him and just scoop him up way later in the draft. But every year, somehow these guys get run. Who let’s the secret out?! I know who - The Belluminati.
Uber Talented Defensive Player That Should’ve Been Allowed to Enter The Draft at 18, DT, Houston - Ugh, I wish Ed Oliver was allowed to enter right out of high school.
This Wide Receiver Can Be a Game Changer, But The Drama Might Not Be Worth It, WR, A Pac-12 That Always Plays at 10:30 P.M. on Saturday Nights So Nobody Ever Watches Him - Stop with the lies, you’ve never watched this receiver play. The only person I know that watches late Pac-12 football is Del Olaleye and even the thinks this guy isn’t worth the pick.
Alabama’s Best Defensive Player, LB, Alabama - Sometimes you just have to take the most beast guy from the most stacked team in the nation as your pick. Would this kid have been great at another school? Absolutely. But because he went to Alabama has a 5-star, there will be no doubt in his game and abilities so he will crack the top 10.
This Guy Is a Winner, QB, A College Football Playoff School - This kid just wins. He might have the most flaws of everyone in the top 10, but there is no measurement for that winning DNA. WE LOVE A WINNER!
Another O-line Stud, G, Big 10 School - Again, gotta get the big dudes up here because we need to protect the investment!
How latest reports abruptly shift Houston Astros rotation x-factors
Mar 18, 2024, 7:23 pm
Bruce Bochy doesn’t ever want the Texas Rangers to let go of those memories of their first World Series title.
“We just don’t want to lean on them,” said Bochy, whose first season with the Rangers ended with the first World Series championship for the 63-year-old franchise, and his fourth as a big league manager.
While Texas has the opportunity to be the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back world championships — the New York Yankees were the last, with three in a row from 1998-2000 — the Rangers aren’t even defending champs in their own division.
And they aren’t favored to win the AL West this season.
Houston is again the odds-on favorite in the division it has won each of the last six full MLB seasons since the Rangers finished on top in 2016. The Astros won their regular season finale last Oct. 1, matched Texas at 90-72 and won the AL West since they were 9-4 head-to-head.
The Astros have made the AL Championship Series the past seven seasons, even when not division champs in the 2020 season shortened to 60 games because of the pandemic. They made four trips to the Fall Classic and won two titles in that span.
Dusty Baker retired days after Houston lost ALCS Game 7 at home to the Rangers last fall, finishing with 2,183 wins over 26 seasons as a big league manager with five teams.
New Astros manager Joe Espada, their bench coach for six seasons, is certainly familiar with a lineup that has big hitters Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, and a loaded starting rotation.
Espada isn't the division's only new manager. Ron Washington, who took the Rangers to their previous World Series in 2010 and 2011, was hired by the Angels, who still have Mike Trout but not two-way star Shohei Ohtani, now with the other team in Los Angeles.
Seattle again revamped its roster without big spending in free agency and hopes for a quicker return to the playoffs. The Mariners missed by one game last season, a year after its first postseason appearance since 2001.
And just like last year, the Athletics go into another season not knowing if it will be their last in Oakland.
HOW THEY PROJECT1. Houston Astros. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, reacquired in a deadline trade last July, will start this season on the injured list. But the 41-year-old’s IL stint is expected to be a short one. The Astros still have lefty Framber Valdez (12-11, 2.45 ERA, 200 strikeouts and a no-hitter) and right-hander Cristian Javier. Eight-time All-Star second baseman Altuve signed a new $125 million, five-year contract that goes through 2029. But two-time All-Star third baseman Bregman, the only other position player to make all seven ALCS trips, is at the end of a $100 million deal.
2. Texas Rangers. After going from six losing seasons in a row to a World Series title, the Rangers should be playoff contenders again. They return ALCS MVP Adolis García and most of the lineup that hit 233 homers and scored an AL-high 5.4 runs per game. But World Series MVP and AL MVP runner-up shortstop Corey Seager (sports hernia), Gold Glove first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (oblique strain) and All-Star third baseman Josh Jung (calf) missed significant time in the spring. All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi tops a rotation still missing injured multiple Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
3. Seattle Mariners. The front office put together a roster that might be better than last year, but everybody has to stay healthy. Seattle should be better offensively with the additions of Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley to go with young superstar Julio Rodriguez. If J.P. Crawford can replicate last season at the plate and Ty France returns to his 2021-22 form, the lineup will be deeper. Couple a better offense with one of the best rotations in baseball led by Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, the Mariners should once again contend in the division.
4. Los Angeles Angels. They feel like they’re starting over yet again and still haven't been to the playoffs since 2014. Ohtani left after six seasons for a record $700 million with the perennially contending Dodgers. The Halos added almost nothing in free agency, only revamping their bullpen again and taking low-cost flyers on Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Trout and Anthony Rendon are back, and an open DH spot will allow them to rest their injury-prone bodies more regularly. Their rotation is last year’s group minus Ohtani. The 71-year-old Washington brings a unique blend of expertise and enthusiasm, which should benefit an exciting crop of young talent ready to break through in the majors.
5. Oakland Athletics. This could be the final season playing at the Coliseum with a lease set to expire. So the A's are still trying to figure out where they will play beyond this year with a new ballpark and move to Las Vegas scheduled for 2028. Manager Mark Kotsay has been committed to keeping his team focused on what it can do to be better on the field after two years with a combined 214 losses (112 last season). The A’s acquired Ross Stripling from the San Francisco Giants and added Alex Wood to the rotation.
OLD SKIPPERSWhen the 74-year-old Baker retired, Bochy became the oldest manager in the majors. That lasted only a few weeks until the Angels hired Washington. Bochy will turn 69 on April 16, just 13 days before Washington turns 72. Bochy, with 2,093 wins going into his 27th season, is one of six managers with four World Series titles, his first three coming in San Francisco (2010, 2012 and 2014). Washington won a franchise-record 664 games in eight seasons with Texas from 2007-14. He was on Atlanta's staff the past seven years, and part of the Braves' 2021 World Series title.
RELIEF HELPSeveral new relievers are in the AL West, including hard-throwing lefty Josh Hader with the Astros, veteran right-hander David Robertson and former All-Star closer Kirby Yates in Texas, Gregory Santos and Ryne Stanek in Seattle and Robert Stephenson with the Angels.
Hader's $95 million, five-year deal was the biggest after becoming a first-time free agent. The 29-year-old, once in the Astros' minor league system, turned down a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from San Diego.