He played for just one season in a Colts uniform and now he’s gone. Indianapolis has traded quarterback Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders for draft picks.
The Colts get the Commanders’ third round picks in both this upcoming draft and in 2023. Next year’s third could improve to a second-round pick if Wentz plays in 70 percent of Washington’s snaps in the season ahead.
Also, the two teams swapped second-round picks for this year which moves the Colts up from the 47th overall selection to No. 42.
Wentz was not Washington’s original trade target at quarterback. Sources reported the Commanders offered three first round picks for Seattle’s Russell Wilson, but the Seahawks dealt Wilson to Denver.
So the next question is who will be the new QB for Indy? Who knows? But it will be the sixth different opening day quarterback in six years.
Speaking of opening day, we already know the traditional opening day for baseball along with the entire first week of the Major League Baseball season was canceled.
Well, another deadline was missed, and MLB announced yesterday a second week of games has been pulled from the schedule with no plans to make them up. The earliest baseball will resume is now April 14th.
But, hey, at least the two sides agreed to one incredibly critical piece in the negotiations. The size of the bases will increase from 15 to 18 inches square.
In all seriousness, the thought behind larger bases is to increase safety and to give runners a greater chance to slide around defenders. Players oversliding trying to avoid a tag and getting tagged out happens more often than one might think.
The larger bases may also increase the number of stolen bases. The total number of steals per year has gone down steadily from nearly 3300 in 2011 to just over 2200 in 2021.
Reportedly, the two sides have also agreed to a couple of other significant rule changes which would go into effect starting in 2023. They include banning the defensive shift and implementing a pitch clock.
So what are the biggest sticking points between the owners and the players? Traditional issues like minimum salaries, the competitive balance tax threshold and the pre-arbitration money pool are things both sides have given ground to and the gaps are closing.
But the biggest hang up, of all things right now, is an international draft. The owners want one and the players association does not.
For us fans, I think 99.99 percent of us could care less about it. Let’s play ball.