BERNIE BITS
Or as I like to call them, bits-ing to all fields. Here are some opening takes …
1) The Cardinals signed an interesting right-handed hitter in outfielder Nelson Velazquez. A take-a-look minor league contract for a dude who is only 27 years old and had a booming 2023 big-league season before lapsing into inconsistency in 2024. In ‘23 Velazquez displayed impressive metrics in bat speed, batting run value, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, average exit velocity, and expected slugging percentage (.570.) That good stuff translated into 17 homers, a .586 slugging percentage and .888 OPS in 179 plate appearances. In 189 career MLB games, Velazquez has a .433 slugging percentage, overall, and has done damage to lefty pitchers. He can play all three outfield positions. Has a strong throwing arm. Crushes fastballs. The challenge will be doing better against breaking balls and offspeed offerings. After reconstructing his swing during a stint in Mexico, Velazquez returned to the U.S. in 2025 and slugged .658 in 49 games for the Pirates’ Triple A affiliate.
2) Awesome stat: since foolishly firing head coach Mike Vrabel at the end of the 2023 season, the hopelessly dumb Tennessee Titans have won six games since the start of the 2024 season. Vrabel? Including the postseason, he’s won six games since Dec. 28. Vrabel has led the New England Patriots to a 17-3 record and a spot in the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach. But the Patriots are a 4 and ½ point underdog to Seattle in Super Bowl 60.
3) If St. Louis Rams fans want to hate the Patriots all over again, here’s a reminder to fire you up: The biggest play of Super Bowl 34 was a pick-six interception by Ty Law to give New England a 7-3 lead. It was the first of three Rams turnovers that led to their downfall in a 20-17 upset loss to Belichick-Brady. The pick-six was caused by Vrabel, who blitzed in unblocked, and smashed into quarterback Kurt Warner in a blatantly obvious helmet-to-helmet assault. Surely, there would be a flag for a personal flag against Vrabel … but no … the officials swallowed their whistles that day. Despite New England late hits, the head shots, the strategic decision to illegally tackle Marshall Faulk early and often before he could get out of the backfield and into a pass pattern, the Patriots were penalized only 5 times for 31 yards. In fact, the Rams were penalized six times for 39 yards. Coach Belichick instructed his team to pound on the Rams (outside of the rules) all day – especially Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt – because he correctly believed the officials would decline to litter the Super Bowl field with a large number of penalty flags. And sure enough, that gutless crew looked the other way as Faulk and Rams receivers were getting mugged on most plays.