Mellinger Minutes: Positions of need for Chiefs in NFL Draft, plus Royals and more
We will get into all of this in more detail below, but with an actual sports event happening we should feel emboldened to go heavy on actual sports.
And by “event” I obviously mean Roger Goodell standing in his basement praying the Bengals fix their bandwidth problem and Dave Gettleman is OK with this newfangled computer stuff and the rest of us praying for at least some form of chaos.
Like, I want Bill O’Brien offering Deshaun Watson for a third, or the Lions getting confused and taking a made-up player because they thought this was another dry run mock draft.
Beyond that, obviously, we’re watching closest to see what the Chiefs do.
They have the league’s best roster, remain relatively young and will go into the 2020 season (PLEASE LET US ALL GO INTO THE 2020 SEASON) as the Super Bowl favorite. Honestly, they could probably just skip the draft altogether and still be the favorite.
All that is true but my sources say the Chiefs will not skip the draft. They plan to participate, select players when it’s their turn and maybe even make a trade.
All that said, here is a list of positions the Chiefs should be targeting:
1. Cornerback. Bringing Bashaud Breeland back helps but they’re still light at an important position. They do like Rashad Fenton, and he looked good in spots last year, but this is a priority position. I like the idea of hitting corner early because it’s so hard to find those guys later.
2. Linebacker. We’re going on, what, year four of this being a need? They really could use an every down guy, particularly one who can cover.
3. Safety. Remember, the Chiefs moved Kendall Fuller to safety even before Juan Thornhill’s injury. And he’s now gone. Teams play with three safeties often enough that taking the position at 32 could not be considered a waste.
4. Offensive line. The Chiefs’ weakness on offense, if there was one, was the interior of the line. They just struggled to move men, as the saying goes. Runs between the tackles were tough, and teams found some success with stunts there, too. Stefan Wisniewski played well there, but he’s gone. The Chiefs tried to sign Saints Pro Bowler Andrus Peat, so we know they see this position as a priority. Really, you can put these top four in any order you want and you wouldn’t be wrong.
5. Edge rusher. It’d be nice if the Chiefs had a major threat opposite Frank Clark. If they believe Tanoh Kpassagnon (who played well last year) or Breeland Speaks can close enough to that guy then never mind.
6. Running back. This is just a depth thing, because this position eats up bodies. The Chiefs lost four to injuries last year. If you can’t catch, you need not apply.
7. Receiver. I will never be against the Chiefs drafting someone to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes.
This week’s eating recommendation is literally anywhere you can afford to get takeout and tip like you’re eating there. We can all spend our money how we want, but I’ve been prioritizing places with local ownership and that would ruin my day if I saw news that they closed. It’s hard to make money on takeout, for a lot of reasons, so these places need our help.
This week’s reading recommendation is Gregg Doyel on former NBA forward Al Harrington’s second career as a marijuana tycoon.
OK, if you haven’t already, please give the Mellinger Minutes For Your Ears podcast a try. It’s been fun so far, and we’ve had some great guests already, including Mike Matheny, Bill Self, Gary Woodland and two Kansas Citians working to land an NBA team. If you have a question you’d like answered, please call 816.234.4365 and leave your first name, where you’re calling from, and whatever you want to talk about.
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OK, here’s the show.
Brett Veach and his staff* have obviously done a terrific job. They are Super Bowl champs. Hard to improve on that.
* The work of a front office is often shorthanded to the GM’s name but it’s a collective, and that includes the coaches.
But one thing they’ve done really well that isn’t talked about as much is they put themselves in position to make good decisions. That’s a different thing than making good decisions. The difference might be subtle, but it’s important.
What I mean is that a lot of bad decisions come from desperation. John Dorsey takes some criticism for cap management, and the worst contract he gave out was five years and $56 million to Dwayne Bowe. But, really, what was he supposed to do?
He had a coach who wanted to throw the ball and there was one competent receiver on the roster. This is incredible but true: Dexter McCluster was the No. 2 receiver on the roster Dorsey and Andy Reid inherited.
Dorsey probably doesn’t get enough credit for his role in both filling holes at the top and creating depth with the roster. He’s a huge reason that Veach inherited a vastly superior situation than what existed after the 2012 season.
Veach and his guys have continued to build on that. The benefits go beyond the obvious of having better players. Because desperation can be the enemy of reason, so when you have a glaring need you can talk yourself into putting a first round grade on a third round talent.
That’s not a football thing. That’s a human thing. Hamburger can look like ribeye if you’re hungry enough.
As well as could be reasonably expected, the Chiefs have covered themselves before the draft.
They could still use a cornerback, but they did re-sign Bashaud Breeland and bring in Antonio Hamilton. They could use a linebacker, but they got through fine enough last year. They could use an offensive lineman, particularly inside, but aren’t at the point of reaching. If the right running back is there that could an interesting pick, but DeAndre Washington means they don’t NEED a back.
They’re dealing from a position of strength, in other words, which is why the Henry Ruggs rumor (more on that in a second) makes at least some sense.
If your roof is leaking, you have to spend your savings to fix it.
If your roof is sound, you can think about a new patio, or a bigger kitchen.
The Chiefs have a great roof, is the point, and here is where I finally answer your question:
They don’t have to feel pressured to do any damn thing. If a guy they have as a top 10 pick drops into the 20s, they can figure a way to trade up and make that work*.
* But you know how it’s become a cliche to say teams need to stop trading with the Patriots? Another draft class or two like last year’s and it’ll be the same thing with the Chiefs.
If they see the pool of potential picks at 32 as deep and without a standout, they can trade down. The column the other day touched on this but the Chiefs should feel emboldened by some factors outside of their control.
This draft is said to be particularly deep at some positions of relative need, most notably cornerback and offensive line. The Chiefs don’t have to do anything.
Which means they can do anything.
I love it. If you’re catching up, this comes from the well-connected Peter King’s mock draft. The money quote:
Craziest rumor of the first round: Chiefs want to trade up for Henry Ruggs if he falls into the twenties. Insane. Do they want every sub 4.35 guy in the National Football League?
I’m all in on this. And I want to be clear that normally, I would be all out on something like this.
Because in a lot of ways it doesn’t make sense. The Chiefs are going to score a crap ton of points with or without Ruggs. They will score a crap ton of points if they draft nothing but defense. They will score a crap ton of points if they draft nothing but bus drivers. They will score a crap ton of points if they skip the draft entirely, and use their time to pop champagne and flash their rings when they’re on the clock.
But I just think the rules are different with Mahomes. He changes everything. Think about it from an opponent’s standpoint. What’s going through your mind if the Chiefs offense — who was last stopped by the 2018 Chiefs defense — takes a 4.27 receiver with good hands?
One other thing I think about. In some locker rooms, there would be some useful symbolism in taking defense. The organization doesn’t want to be seen as caring only about one player, or one side of the ball.
And I know — don’t think, but know — there was some frustration from defensive players last season about how they were viewed compared to the offense. You saw glimpses of that in how some guys on that side of the ball talked when the Packers and Vikings had so many fans at Arrowhead when Mahomes was injured.
But I also think that everyone on the roster understands that Mahomes is special. They respect him as a man, because of how he works and treats people. I do believe the locker room could be sold on pushing even more chips toward the offense*. The front offense has given some big contracts to defenders, too.
* If Chris Jones is traded, that might change a bit.
But, anyway, if the Chiefs have the same grades on them I’d push toward drafting a cornerback or maybe a linebacker first. I could get behind an offensive lineman, but they’ve had good luck finding guys on the interior later in the draft, too.
Again, that’s the beauty of where the Chiefs sit. They can take a third safety, to put more range or physicality next to Mathieu and Thornhill. They can take a corner, to deepen an important position and potentially have another rising stud to put next to Charvarius Ward. They can get a mauler on the interior of the line, to help protect the franchise and provide more options for 4th and 1. They can take a defensive lineman, and continue with the stated and clear priority of having the best and deepest collection of talent there possible.
Or, they could say screw all that and just give Reid and Mahomes another toy to play with.
Really, there are no wrong answers. Except kicker, punter, quarterback and bus driver.
The Bulls really had two different dynasties. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson were constants, so it’s usually labeled as one but to me they were two very different teams.
And I preferred the first one.
I don’t know if that was just because it was first, or because that’s the group that did the climbing, that got beat down by the Pistons and then made the Pistons pout and leave the floor early in 1991. I don’t know if it’s just because I spent a lot of nights as a kid watching WGN, which became sort of like my introduction to the NBA.
But I loved that first team, with Horace Grant* and Bill Cartwright and John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong and Craig Hodges and the rest.
* For a while I thought it was weird that Harvey Grant changed his name and got goggles.
I remember trying to shoot free throws like Cartwright, and mimicking the way the PA guy said his name in introductions. I remember little things, like Armstrong’s wraparound passes and Hodges waiting in the corner to shoot and a few good games Stacey King had with his jersey always seeming to be untucked.
I remember being at a youth basketball camp when Paxson hit the shot against the Lakers, and staying up late to watch Jordan vs. Drexler in the ‘92 Finals, and being in awe at all the talent on the floor when they beat the Suns in ‘93.
I’m actually saving the second episode of the Last Dance to watch later in the week, because I’m a huge nerd and want something to look forward to. And I know some are saying they’re not as interested in the doc because they lived through it and remember everything, but I was just a kid back then. I don’t remember everything.
I remember — later, much later — reading stories and hearing that the team didn’t like the GM, but I had no idea it was so open. I’d forgotten that Pippen asked for a trade, and the mess with his contract*.
* Twitter reminded me about this, which means it must be heavy in episode 2.
I’d forgotten that Jordan’s peers were calling him the best player in the league so early, and that Bob Knight — before Jordan’s rookie season — called him the best player he’d ever seen.
This would’ve been my most anticipated show of the year even in normal times. That it’s coming out now, in the middle of everything else, is a gift.
There are a few. A list?
A list!
10. 1980s Big 8 basketball. This one’s probably personal, because this is what made me a college basketball fan. I didn’t have an appreciation for it at the time but the personalities were so big — Billy Tubbs and Norm Stewart and Johnny and Stacey King and Danny Manning and Lon Kruger and everyone else.
9. The Royals’ fall. You might not want to watch the bad memories but this would be fascinating. You could set it up with the story about how the franchise came to be, and how they became the most successful expansion franchise in history. The story of their fall after the strike is the story of baseball’s struggles in a lot of ways. Scouts without cell phones, draft spending limitations, the dark comedy of lost seasons. I mean, I’d watch.
8. The Big 12’s scare. Again, not the best memories, but I’ve always thought the story of the Big 12’s experience through the last run of realignment is illustrative of what the whole industry was going through. Economics, egos, fear, self-interests, etc. The inside story of what went down between Kansas and Missouri would be a few episodes minimum. Same with Texas and Oklahoma.
7. Mark Mangino at Kansas. KU had six straight losing seasons before Mangino and have gone 21-99 since. But they went to four bowl games in six seasons with him (they’d been to four in the previous three decades) with the peak of the Orange Bowl and a whole mess of drama between him and his boss. I’m in.
6. 2012 Chiefs. It’s hard to describe everything that went wrong here. It was both the culmination of a lot of bad decisions and self-inflicted errors of the time leading up and a bunch of crazy things that went wrong in the moment, most notably Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide.
5. 1990s Chiefs. Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer saved the franchise in a lot of ways, and transformed it almost completely. They had some huge personalities, too, and unforgettable moments both good (Montana’s comeback in Denver) and not (the Monday night meltdown). That they peaked with an AFC Championship Game loss in Buffalo means this would be more of a local watch than national, but I’d be in.
4. Bill Snyder. I mean, how has this not been done already?
3. Royals’ rise. This might also be too local but being able to put everything in context and go back through what 2014 and 2015 meant to people is sports at their best. Game 4 in Houston could be an episode on its own. The Wild Card game could be like three.
2. Myron Piggie. This is almost too obvious. There are a lot of bigger stories can be told through Piggie, from the NCAA’s broken system to the Rush dynasty and others. Piggie was vilified pretty hard in the moment, and he’s had some more recent troubles with the law, but I’ve always thought people like him will be remembered a lot differently as the college system continues to evolve.
1. Patrick Mahomes. This will be done at some point. Right now you could do a show on that draft, and how the Chiefs identified Mahomes and then moved exactly where they needed to be to get him. But you could also do an episode or three on what’s happened since, starting with his season as QB2 and something like a folk tale, and continuing through the MVP season and loss on Dee Ford’s offsides and a coin flip, and then the Super Bowl run. There’s simply no way this won’t be done at some point.
They won two pennants and a World Series, so I’m not sure there’s a villain.
I might be missing someone, but in the 21st Century the only franchises to be in consecutive World Series are the Royals, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers and Rangers.
The only franchises to be in two World Series and win one in a five year period: Royals, Dodgers, Yankees, Cardinals, Giants, and Phillies.
The only teams on both lists: Royals, Yankees, Dodgers.
That’s pretty good company.
Nothing is perfect, and there will always be some regret about not making more out of 2016 and 2017. At some point, I might do a takeout on what happened there.
The letdown is often shorthanded by losing two All-Stars on one fly ball in Chicago, and that was huge, but there were also trades that fell through and lineup decisions that can be second guessed and a general feeling from some that those two years lacked the energy of the previous two. Yordano Ventura’s death before the 2017 season was tragic, and something I’m not sure the team recovered from.
Actually, now that you have me thinking about this, I’m putting it on my to-do list.
Look, I know you’re making a joke, and I respect it, but I’ve been thinking about a million things around this the last few weeks.
- How long is this sustainable? We’re seeing some (really stupid) protests around the country and locally, and while spreading a pandemic is a hell of a way to protest restrictions caused by a pandemic I do empathize with the frustration. I’ll continue to do my flawed best in following everything the health experts suggest, but I do think there’s a limit on how long politicians and health experts can reasonably expect those restrictions to be followed.
- Making the most of it. Six weeks ago, a lot of us would’ve said we wished the world could slow down. We’d have said we wished we had more time with our kids. We’d have said we wished we had more time to cook, or read, or whatever. Well, now we have that time. It’s up to us to make the most of it.
- Along those lines, and this is total luck and coincidence, but our kindergartner started to read — like, really read — in the last three weeks or so. It’s the most amazing thing. The other day, we went to the park and I threw him batting practice for like an hour. The preschooler is writing his name, and doing mazes. We’ve started some corny traditions, like Friday takeout night. I even got to see the kindergartner rage quit a game of Tecmo Bowl, which was a trip. Look, I’m like everyone else. I can’t wait for this to be over. I miss a million things about normal life. But there are some good parts here, too, and I want to remember those.
- I can’t quit thinking about how this experience will leave all of us changed. I wonder if grocery delivery will retain a big market share, and if restaurants will need to form their own version of Grubhub/Door Dash/Uber Eats and keep more of the money. I wonder how sports attendance will go. I wonder if we’ll live differently. I wonder if people will be more inclined to live in the country, or in smaller cities. I wonder a million things.
- I can’t quit thinking about how this experience will leave me changed. I’m probably the same as you. Hope to learn what to keep and what to throw out. I’ve actually lost a little weight, and I wouldn’t be more shocked if I woke up tomorrow with three feet. I gave myself a sort of buzz cut and it looks way better than I feared. I’ll probably keep it. I’ve learned to enjoy simple nights in more, but also know I want to double down on the intention to have a regular night out with just my wife.
- I do think I’ll have a better appreciation for normal life when it returns. This spring, we signed our two kids up for a total of five teams/leagues. I was kicking myself at the time for overdoing it, but now I’d give my left ear to do six. I’ve always enjoyed driving, but now even a 3-minute trip to the grocery store feels like freedom.
- I’m getting into the challenge. This new normal puts a spotlight on your inner circle. Any problems you have with your spouse, or space, or kids are emphasized. Same with the good. I know we’re (almost certainly) less than halfway through all this but it’s been cool to see and make little adjustments that might’ve otherwise been overlooked. We have a great support system, and that’s continued through all this, but it’s a powerful thing to know that you and your family can do it and be happy alone.
- I still get calendar alerts on my phone from normal life and oh-my-gawd I’d have loved to take the family to either of the afternoon games at Kauffman Stadium this past weekend.
I’ve said this before but all the stories and talk about the Arizona plan and everything else make two truths obvious:
1. MLB is willing to move mountains to have a season.
2. Mountains don’t move.
I do think MLB has some potential flexibility here, if they’re willing to go to extremes. To me, an 81-game season is the bare minimum and could be played inside three months. After that, a one-month postseason.
If we’re assuming games will be played without fans anyway, you might as well do it in the best weather. Depending on the case numbers locally you could have a shortened season and full postseason in Southern California and Arizona, and as long as weather isn’t a concern I’m not sure why you couldn’t do the regular season from September to November and be done with the World Series by or close to New Years.
Maybe you have to shorten or push back next year’s spring training, but these are extreme circumstances.
If that’s a general template then your drop dead date is probably around Aug. 1. If we get there and you’re not able to even train — we’re going to need at least a two to four week spring training — then I’m not sure what decision is possible than to bang the whole thing and plan for 2021.
We’ve spent most of the last decade or two wondering if the sports bubble would come from changing TV revenues, so it’s a bit jarring to think the money might go down because of attendance.
But that’s certainly where we are at the moment.
I do think it’s an opportunity to experiment. All the leagues understand this, particularly baseball. That’s why these reports exist about them considering anything from seven inning double headers to expanded rosters and automated strike zones. The NBA is in position to try some different things, too, if they come back on line.
I’m a little biased with my answer to your specific question, though, because I’ve long pushed for all teams to hold back something like 10 percent of their tickets for lower priced packages aimed at kids and families.
Honestly, for teams that take public money to build their stadiums, I don’t understand why this isn’t mandatory.
But the real answer here is that leagues will do what they need to. If we have a period of games with no fans, and then a period of games with limited fans, there’s no reason teams would have to discount those tickets.
There’d be a limited supply, first of all, and demand would probably be higher than ever after such a long time without live sports.
I wonder if we’ll look back on this as a line of demarcation in the economics of sports, though. Because there’s no less interest in the games now. If anything, there’s more interest.
If the games come back and people are hesitant to be part of big crowds that (presumably) would mean higher ratings on TV. Sports are already one of TV’s most valuable commodities because it’s DVR-proof. That would only be truer in a world when people were avoiding crowds.
So if ticket and stadium revenue go down, it would make sense that TV revenue could go up.
Either way, the NFL and NBA are well positioned because their payroll structures are tied to a percentage of total revenue. Baseball could have some major problems here, especially because there is such distrust right now between players and owners.
This isn’t going to be popular with some of you, but this whole Running Backs Don’t Matter thing has gone way too far.
They do matter. They are important. The pendulum was too far toward the running backs in previous decades, and it’s starting to swing too far away from them now.
Yes, the point has been emphatically made that paying big contracts to running backs with lots of wear on the tires is usually a terrible idea.
But these are players who still touch the ball more often than the best receivers, and you better have one you can trust.
Like, come on. I’m not arguing for taking a running back high in the first round, or even in the first round at all. But some of these RBDM arguments make it seem like you could put a trained seal back there and be fine.
The Chiefs got Damien Williams cheap, but that doesn’t mean you can plug any cheap running back in and get the same results. Running backs matter in the sense that you have to have the right fit, in a way that the ideal running back for the Chiefs is different than the ideal running back for the Ravens, who is different than the ideal running back for the Saints, and so on.
It used to be that running backs were celebrities, and in some ways put on a tier with or close to quarterbacks.
We see that was wrong now, but that doesn’t mean the position doesn’t matter. It just means the position’s importance is closer to a defensive tackle or interior lineman than it is the quarterback.
But it’s still important.
Well, they wouldn’t have had Juan Thornhill, who they took 63rd overall with the pick they got in that trade unless they would’ve used the 56th pick on him instead of Mecole Hardman.
So there’s that.
It’s impossible to know for sure if the Chiefs would’ve won the Super Bowl with Peters. Peters was really good last year with the Rams and Ravens (first-team All-Pro by the AP and Pro Football Focus), and obviously the Chiefs did fine in the playoffs without Thornhill.
A major wild card here is the salary cap, but logically, you could say the Chiefs would’ve been even better last year with Peters.
As time has gone on, I’ve crept a little in the direction of the Chiefs’ thinking on this, that they had tried everything possible and simply could not move forward productively with Peters in the locker room.
They really wanted to clear space for Mahomes to be the room’s dominant voice, and thought Peters was too much of the wrong kind of influence.
I still believe the team needs to take some ownership of that, because they went into this thing with eyes open and fashion themselves as an organization that can get the best from personalities that might struggle in other places.
But I also wonder if the wrong question was being asked. Because after the 2017 season the question being asked in some places was whether the Chiefs could keep Peters and defensive coordinator Bob Sutton together. The question should have been whether the Chiefs should move on from both.
We’ll never know what they would’ve been with Peters the last two years, but I do believe the vast improvement from 2018 to 2019 creates a real question about whether they could’ve made and perhaps even won the Super Bowl after the 2018 season with the same changes to the defense that came a year later.
Everyone. Absolutely everyone.
And not just the obvious — Jordan’s tongue, Magic’s no-looks, Neil Smith’s off hand in the air in his three-point stance, Gary Sheffield’s waving bat.
I tried to mimic Tim Hardaway’s crossover and goofy shooting form. The way Bill Cartwright brought the ball across his body to shoot. Julio Franco’s bat pointed at the pitcher, above his head. Dan Quisenberry. One year, I went as Jim McMahon for Halloween, right down to a headband I wrote Rozelle. I can’t imagine I had any idea who Pete Rozelle was.
In backyard football games, if I made a nice tackle you better believe I crawled around on the ground and lifted my leg like Bennie Thompson (who I’ve heard was one of Lamar Hunt’s favorite players, which makes me giggle).
There was a time I tried shooting left handed free throws because of Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers. Danny Manning had a step-through And-1 on a fast break in the 1988 championship game that I practiced a thousand times.
I’m such a nerd I did Juan Marichal, and he was retired long before I was born. Mickey Tettleton, the way it looked like he was barely holding the bat. Eric Davis, the way he looked so passive and almost timid until the pitch was delivered and he turned into Superman.
There was a KU basketball player named Terry Brown who shot the ball over his head, almost like you’re taught to do long outlet passes. There was an Oklahoma player, and his real name is escaping me right now, but they called him No Conscience because of the shots he took. There was an Arkansas player named Alex Dillard who wore shorts that looked like Capri pants.
Later, when we could dunk on 8-foot goals we took turns being Shaq.
Once, after seeing this play by Ozzie Smith a friend and I spent all afternoon at his pool trying to recreate it. I can’t imagine we ever did.
Man, I could do this all day.
My man. Some years back a brilliant reader named Evan Rist was nice enough to email me some recipes and tips. I’ve saved that email and referred back to it fairly often. Some of it I’ve stayed true to 100 percent, others I’ve adjusted a bit, and a few didn’t work for me.
I’m guessing that’s similar to the experience you’ll have if you take anyone’s advice now, mine included. But this is a rib method that’s pretty close to what Evan sent me, and one that I’ve had great luck with*.
* Including multiple rib championships in the neighborhood contest so suck on that neighbors who might be reading this.
Remove the membrane on the back if that hasn’t already been done, and then I let them sit overnight in a marinade made of ginger ale, orange juice, soy sauce, salt, and dry ranch mix. I’ve heard that it’s bad to let them sit more than four hours to prevent curing but I haven’t had a problem with them sitting overnight.
Take the ribs out, then pat dry with paper towels. Use a lot of rub (I like Cowtown, but that’s just a taste thing) and make sure to get all four sides. You want the ribs room temperature by the time they’re on the grill, but that should happen anyway if you’re doing this as the grill warms up (and use a water pan between the fire and the ribs).
I like to aim for about 240 degrees, but I’m not going to freak out at anything between 220 and 260 with some wood chunks soaked in beer. Let them go for about three hours. After that, spray with apple juice and apple cider vinegar and wrap in foil. Let that roll for about two hours, then take out of foil and put some sauce on them and let them go for another hour or so.
Ideally, you let them sit for about 10 minutes. But, lets be honest. You’re diving in right away.
There’s a million ways to do it, particularly with different sauces or rubs or marinades. I’ve offended some purists by suggesting the foil bit in the middle, and offended more purists by suggesting you finish with sauce.
But this is the most consistently delicious method I’ve found, and as a bonus you don’t need sauce later. You should definitely experiment a little.
This week, I’m particularly grateful for a dang near perfect weekend highlighted by those few hours at the park playing baseball. I’m trying to keep myself from being the pushy dad but it’s just so damn fun. They even let me take a round, and the kindergartner said “you hit better than Jorge Soler” and in that moment his lack of scale and baseball knowledge was my absolute favorite quality. There’s simply no way I was going to correct him.