Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Another recent first-round pick is added to the list. Previous winner OF Nick Schnell (L/R, 6’3 180, 20 in 2020) 2019 statistics with rookie-level Princeton and Class-A Bowling Green: 226 PA, .272/.338/.455, 5 HR, 23 XBH, 5/8 SB, 8.8 BB%, 33.2 K% Injuries ended Schnell’s pro debut early and delayed his start to 2019, but when he’s been on the field, he’s played pretty well — despite a very high strikeout rate. Otherwise, he’s shown why the Rays selected him with the No. 32 pick in 2018. He’s hit well, showed power potential, and he has the chance to stick in center field with solid athleticism. Staying on the field will be key moving forward. Nick Schnell is the second straight high draft pick to be added to the list. Right now, the community is favoring upside when selecting players. I’ll take up to one tester for this poll. LHP Anthony Banda (6’2 225, 26 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Tampa Bay: 4 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 0.0 BB%, 11.1 K%2019 statistics with Triple-A Durham: 28 1?3 IP, 6.04 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 9.2 BB%, 22.5 K% Prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018, Banda was pitching well for Durham. He returned to the mound in June and finished his season in the big leagues. In his final appearance for the Bulls, he struck out six in five innings, his longest outing of the season. His velocity was down in his brief stint in the majors, but when he’s at his best, he throws in the mid-90s with an average changeup and slider. OF Jhon Diaz (L/L, 5’11 160, 17 in 2020) Signed Aug. 29 Diaz was the Rays’ top signing in the international period, and he was ranked No. 18 in the class by MLB.com. The Yankees were expected to sign him, but the deal fell through, giving the Rays an opportunity. He’s known for his performance in games, but he has good tools too. At the plate, he should make consistent contact with a nice plate approach and potential for average power. In the field, he could play a decent center field. LHP John Doxakis (6’4 215, 21 in 2020) 2019 statistics with short-season Hudson Valley: 32 2?3 IP, 1.93 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 8.5 BB%, 23.8 K% Doxakis had a strong pro debut after the Rays made him a second-round pick, which isn’t surprising considering his success in college baseball’s toughest conference. He’s an advanced pitcher who throws strikes with a deceptive delivery. His stuff is just average across the board, although Baseball America’s most recent report ($) has a little higher velocity than its predraft report ($). He also throws a slider and changeup. SS Lucius Fox (S/R, 6’1 180, 22 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham: 480 PA, .221/.331/.327, 39/50 SB, 28 XBH, 12.3 BB%, 21.7 K% In an organization filled with athletes, Fox is one of the best. He has at least 29 steals in all three seasons with the organization, and he’s an efficient basestealer. His defense in the infield is among the best in the organization, and for the first time in his pro career, he played some second base and third base. At the plate, he hit for slightly more power than usual, but he generally struggled, particularly in a cup of coffee with Durham. OF Moises Gomez (R/R, 5’11 200, 21 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Class A-Advanced: 489 PA, .220/.297/.402, 16 HR, 44 XBH, 9.8 BB%, 33.5 K% Baseball America views Gomez’s power as the best in the organization, and his 16 home runs set Charlotte’s single-season record. However, his aggressive approach got the best of him in 2019, and he wasn’t able to build on his breakout 2018 season. His athleticism and defense are just average, so he’ll need to improve his pitch recognition to make more consistent contact and get the most out of his raw power. RHP Seth Johnson (6’1 200, 21 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Gulf Coast League Rays and rookie-level Princeton: 17 IP, 2.12 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 4.3 BB%, 23.2 K% Despite both being college pitchers, Johnson and John Doxakis are not very similar. Johnson was a huge riser this spring as a fairly new convert to pitching after having little success as a hitter. His promise is why the Rays made him the No. 40 pick in June. He throws in the low-to-mid 90s, but the rest of his game needs refinement. His slider is his best secondary pitch, but his changeup has shown potential. RHP Riley O’Brien (6’4 170, 25 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Class A-Advanced Charlotte and Double-A Montgomery: 102 2?3 IP, 3.16 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 10.3 BB%, 24.9 K% O’Brien — a high school teammate of Blake Snell (Baseball America $) — has pitched well since he was drafted in the eighth round in 2017, but he received little attention until this season when he continued to have success at higher levels. He’s posted consistently high strikeout rates thanks to his mid-90s fastball and hard slider. His velocity wasn’t always that high. Moving forward, he has to throw more strikes. RHP Joel Peguero (5’11 160, 23 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Class-A Bowling Green: 47 1?3 IP, 2.85 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 5.7 BB%, 22.7 K% Peguero made his full-season debut in 2019, and for the first time, he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen. That was a key for him. For the first time in his U.S.-based career, he got good results. Despite his small size, he has touched 100 mph and sits in the mid-90s. However, it hasn’t yet resulted in high strikeout rates. He has to improve one of his secondary pitches. SS Alejandro Pie (R/R, 6’4 175, 18 in 2020) 2019 statistics with Dominican Summer League Rays 1: 253 PA, .289/.361/.342, 24/32 SB, 11 XBH, 4.3 BB%, 18.2 K% Pie was one of the Rays’ top two signings in the 2018-19 international period, and he was decent in his pro debut — although his 5.9 HBP% is likely unsustainable. Despite his size and potential for growth, he could stick at shortstop thanks to his athleticism. If not, he has the arm to play anywhere on the field. With that size comes power potential, but he hasn’t shown much of it yet. OF Garrett Whitley (R/R, 6’1 195, 23 in 2019) 2019 statistics with Class A-Advanced Charlotte: 439 PA, .226/.339/.412, 10 HR, 42 XBH, 16/28 SB, 14.1 BB%, 37.1 K% Over the final two months of the 2017 season with Bowling Green, Whitley hit .246 with a .381 on-base percentage and .462 slugging percentage. However, he was unable to carry that momentum over to the 2018 season due to shoulder surgery that kept him out until 2019. When he returned, he showed glimpses of the tools that made him a first-round pick in 2015, but as the strikeout rate indicates, he was very inconsistent. Loading poll...

Photo by John Babiak/Bucs Nation Web links on the Buccaneers. Glazer Wants Bucs To Be First Home Team In Super Bowl | Pewter ReportBucs owner and co-chariman Bryan Glazer joined a new local Super Bowl podcast and said he wants Bucs to be the first team to host and play in the big game. Report: Brees Retirement Consideration Is Real - JoeBucsFan.comDrew Brees could retire, Cam Newton could be cut and Matt Ryan could turn 35, all in the next four months. Trent Dilfer: Bucs should give quarterback Jameis Winston another yearThe former quarterback believes Winston will be better in Year 2 under Bruce Arians. 2019 Bucs in Review: Wide ReceiverA closer look at how the Bucs' wide receivers performed in 2019. How Kyle Shanahan grew out of the Bucs’ cradle of coachesSuper Bowl 54 | The 49ers head coach began his career as Jon Gruden’s “do-boy” as an offensive quality control assistant.

TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 05: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) looks to pass the puck to Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) during the NHL Hockey match between the Tampa Bay Lightening and Vegas Golden Nights on February 5, 2019, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. | Photo by Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Or... Ryan McDonagh? On Monday, The Athletic posted their prediction for the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft for the Seattle franchise. As the draft is over a year away, the authors made some reasonable assumptions as to what the Tampa Bay Lightning roster would look like and who would have to be exposed by then. I won’t give too much away and link it here for anyone with a subscription to read if they so choose. In this article, I wanted to get into one of the particular choices the Lightning might have to make as they narrow down their list of protected players down to 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and a goalie, or 8 skaters and a goalie. The beginning of the list is fairly straightforward — you can fill in about the first seven names without hesitating — but after that is when the team will either have to make a trade and give up some futures, or make a choice between some interesting pieces. Every team is going to lose someone decent, that’s for certain. The Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft proved that there’s enough talent out there for a smart team to reap from. In 2017, the Lightning gave up Nikita Gusev, a second round pick, and a fourth round pick for the Golden Knights to take Jason Garrison. It was definitely one of the more tame and justifiable trades made that summer and definitely one the Lightning would do again, even though Gusev is playing in the NHL with New Jersey after being traded there for a second and a third. Teams will hopefully have learned their lesson (even though the since-fired GMs are still in the league) and not make as silly risks as they did last time. For the Lightning, they will likely try to sell one of their middle-class forwards to Seattle in order to free up cap space for their young stars that are coming up. That might not work and they could be forced to give up one (only one) of a handful of decent players. For the forwards, even if the team is willing to trade one of their players for cap relief (that is sorely needed with extensions for Andrei Vasilevskiy and Mikhail Sergachev beginning next season), they’ll likely have to expose a good player or two. The defense situation, on the other hand, is a little less volatile, but still very risky. Sergachev and Victor Hedman have shown themselves to be young/prime and integral parts to this season — they’re locks to be kept — meaning there’s a three-way fight for the last protection spot on the team. Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, and Cal Foote. These are three very different players in three very different stages of their cycle as hockey players. McDonagh is far-and-away the best player right now, that has value. Cernak is young and in the NHL right now as well, his age gives him value. Foote is younger still and carries a higher potential as a prospect. Out of these three players, there are two questions we need to ask. Do we want maximum wins now, or wins in the future? And do we want a safe pick that is in the league now, or potentially more wins from a player who hasn’t played yet? I think there’s a real debate to be had around whether the Lightning should sell everything in the next few years and ride with someone like McDonagh while Stamkos and Hedman are still in their primes, but because young defensemen are so valuable and the fact that McDonagh’s contract could be a problem down the line, we have to assume the choice is between the two young pivots. The Case for Foote Cal Foote has been described as a dynamic offensive right-handed defenseman with the size and speed capable of being a good two-way player in this league. Foote’s been a good contributor from the back end on a struggling Syracuse Crunch team in the first half. He has 24 points in 45 games, including 71 shots on goal. By comparison, Timothy Liljegren and Conor Timmins each have similar point and shot totals this year on Toronto and Colorado, and both have played NHL games this year. (Okay, three combined). From what I know about those two apart from the scoring numbers, both should be in the NHL next season, and as should Foote. From there we’ll learn a lot more. If Foote isn’t in the NHL next year, I think the argument to keep him over Cernak loses a lot of footing (hah). We need to see him play up here and prove at least some of his potential in order to give some clarity as to who he can be. Patience doesn’t work when there’s a deadline. The Case for Cernak The argument for keeping Erik Cernak is much more simple and much less risky, which is pretty much mimics how the young Slovak plays on the ice. He has a little over a year of NHL experience under his belt and he’s been a very competent wingman for whichever defenseman he’s paired up with. Positive shot and expected goal numbers as the fourth or fifth guy every night is all you can really ask for in a young righty with size. There’s not much to argue over with Cernak, which is exactly where his appeal comes from. I guess it all comes down to this: will Cal Foote’s upside push him past Cernak on the depth chart one day in the near future, or is it safer to pick the defenseman who is young and (probably) reasonably cheap and has set the bar at a pretty good level already? Usually, I’m one to pick skill over competency (usually when the prospect has both), but there’s not enough information to be sure just yet. We need to see what Foote can do either at the end of this season or next year in order to have a clearer picture. Or maybe McDonagh provides more value over the next six years of his 30s than either kid will. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true. The good side is the Lightning will all but certainly be able to keep two of the three after next summer. Lightning Links Matt writes about what there is to learn from the overtime loss at the hands of the Dallas Stars. [Raw Charge] Bad news, but not all bad news as the Syracuse Crunch trundle through their season looking for a spark. [Raw Charge] Former Syracuse Crunch forward Mathieu Darche (whom I remember vividly from my old NHL video games) is trying his hand at a new career in the front office with Tampa Bay. [Syracuse] Hard work pays off, as Clair DeGeorge proves in her story getting to the US Women’s National Team. [The Ice Garden] Former NHL goalie Ed Belfour was arrested early yesterday morning for charges of criminal mischief and public intoxication. On one hand, I hope Eddy is okay and has the support he needs to keep things under control, but on the other what an amazing mugshot. Arrest citation for former NHL goalie Ed Belfour, who was charged with criminal mischief and public intoxication, states that the Hall of Famer was "laying on the floor clutching a curtain rod" and "trying to force his way into the spa room" at the Kentucky Grand Hotel and Spa. pic.twitter.com/X3JTU3lBxN— Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) January 28, 2020

Dozens of law enforcement are present on Fivay High School's campus Wednesday morning following a teacher being arrested for having a loaded gun on campus.