The Mets and Rangers teamed up to trade outfielder Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. One for one. Texas trims almost $7m from their 2026 payroll but will owe an additional $30m (ish) over the length of Nimmo’s contract. Where my Quants at? Run the NPV on these bad boys. Speaking of Quants. MLB wrapped up their annual GM meetings November 13th. The Brain Trusts of all 30 teams meet annually (this year at the Cosmo in Vegas) for three days. No owners allowed. Just the Boys havin a good time away from the Big Boss. Three days of convening in hotel suites. Picture an army of quarter zips, analysts angling to get invited to private dinners, and perhaps a chummy late night drink at the hotel bar. Probably a good time! And an appetizer for December’s Winter Meetings convention in Orlando (December 7-10). If you’re looking for more Transaction Action, keep your eye on Orlando. Otherwise, just enjoy that these uniquely baseball, glamorized fantasy drafts exist. The Pros. Just like us.

Uhhhh….college football’s regular season is….mmmm…over? We’re down to the last significant week of CFB action. It’s time to look in the rearview and figure out what the hell happened.

If this season felt off to you, you’re not alone. The sport’s biggest changes of the last 3 decades seem incredibly small compared to what we’ve witnessed in the last five years. I don’t think I’ve caught up to the new landscape. I’m not willing to unpack if things are Good or Bad, but it’s easy for me to callout the change. Let’s begin:

- The SEC is incredibly not on CBS. This is year two of ESPN owning the premier conference with CBS handling the BIG 10. I’m feeling like we’ve sacrificed two Primetime matchups for one. I grew up watching CBS handle some version of Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, etc… in the late afternoon window before ESPN and Kirk Herbstreit would finish off the day with an evening blockbuster. Technically, ESPN handles both games now. So instead of two network’s A-team and A-production, we get ESPN’s B-squad followed up Herbstreit. Take Week 8 for example. Herbstreit and Fowler covered the 3:30pm Ole Miss and Georgia tilt. That’s the apex. But, the mega-nightcap Tennessee/Bama game at 7:30 went to Greg McIlroy and Sean Mcdonough. Not bad. Don’t hate the actors, but the change is messing with my Saturday Afternoon Arc. As for CBS, they were messing around with a wildly uninteresting Wisconsin/Ohio State blowout.

- You can’t talk about change and not discuss the Playoff. I flip flop on this weekly, so hear me out. And then hear me out again next Tuesday. There’s a somewhat real element of “bonus” playoff games for teams fighting for the last handful of spots. USC’s season would’ve ended a month ago if not for their off-chance of sneaking into the 10 seed. Of course, they needed to beat Oregon last week and couldn’t do it. But last Saturday’s Oregon-SC matchup effectively became an additional playoff game for us to enjoy (except once it ended for Trojan fans). Typically, more playoff = Good. For now, I’m sticking with that. It hasn’t played out this year, but a team that seems to have a playoff spot “locked up” will inevitably crash out in the last 2-3 weeks of a season. Take Alabama. In a non-playoff world, Bama’s loss to Oklahoma last week would be devastating. It would end their chance at a title. The Purists of Ball contend that losing the magnitude of Every Saturday damages the sport because the Tide can drop a game to Oklahoma, but live to fight another day (even with two losses on the season). That’s true. The world did not come crashing down in Tuscaloosa, so I agree that some degree of pressure was missing last week. But this assumes Bama takes care of business in their last game against Auburn. That last game still has all the pressure of the world whether the Oklahoma game did or didn’t. In sum, the additional playoff spots generate enough “bonus” playoff games to cover the one or two diminished Saturday outcomes.

This was not a great college football season. We have barely a Heisman race and I challenge you to name three contenders. Lane Kiffin’s future employment has dominated the sport more than the product on the field. The BIG 10 produced limited drama. The Playoff sapped some drama from the SEC’s regular season. Will that prevent an amazing playoff, perfect holiday bowl matchups, or any less interest in the title game from me? No. But let me know if anything is missing for you and I’ll run it up the chain.