BARTLETT, Tenn. – Sides Motorsports will feature the duo of team owner Jason Sides and fellow veteran racer Tim Shaffer this week as the season concludes at the Can-Am World Finals.

Both drivers will invade The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C., Thursday through Saturday for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series spectacle.

“Every year by this time you’re glad for it to be over, but in a couple weeks you’re chomping at the bit to go racing again,” Sides quipped. “This has been a different year because we have a week off before Charlotte. It’s been good to be home for a week to get everything ready to go.”

Sides charged from 15th to eighth at the oval earlier this season during his most recent visit. His career-best outing is a runner-up result, occurring in 2013 and in 2009. He has five top fives and 16 top 10s at the track since 2007.

Shaffer produced a pair of top fives during last year’s edition of the Can-Am World Finals.

“It’s gotten a lot easier,” Sides said of running two cars. “When it first started it was a little tough. Now we have it down to where we know what we need to do. Gravy has been doing great getting everything ready for both cars.

“The key is being prepared when you get there. Qualifying for two days on Thursday is tough. You really have to get qualified good. You have to have all your ducks in a row from the start.”

VISTA, Calif. -- Former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to raping an unconscious teen in 2003 and to sexual battery involving a 54-year-old hitchhiker in a deal that spared him the possibility of life in prison.

Winslow initially hesitated and seemed to agonize over his decision.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not thinking very clearly,'' Winslow told the judge at one point.

He asked the judge for more time before he finally entered the guilty pleas moments before he was about to be retried on six felonies including kidnapping, sodomy, forced oral copulation and two charges of forcible rape in San Diego County Superior Court that could have sent him to prison for life if he was convicted.

In exchange for his plea, the court agreed to sentence him to between 12 and 18 years in prison for the two charges and dismiss the others.

In June, a jury found him guilty of raping a homeless woman in Encinitas, north of San Diego. Jurors also convicted him of two misdemeanors -- indecent exposure and a lewd act in public -- involving two other women.

But that jury failed to agree on other charges, including the alleged rape of the hitchhiker and the rape of the unconscious 17-year-old girl in 2003 when he was 19. Under the plea deal, the attack on the hitchhiker was reduced to sexual battery.

The 36-year-old former tight end -- at one point one of the highest-paid in the NFL -- had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney, Gretchen von Helms, had said the sex was consensual.

Five women took the witness stand this summer, and three of them were expected to testify again.

Prosecutor Dan Owens said outside of the courtroom that the women were brave to want to testify again but that he was glad they would not have to put themselves through that again.

"Ultimately I feel this is a fair and appropriate resolution,'' he said.

Defense attorneys attacked the credibility of the five women and pointed out inconsistencies in their stories in the first trial.

The court had planned to allow the new jury to hear that Winslow was convicted of raping the homeless woman, who would have been among those testifying again.

Jurors would also have been told about the indecent exposure conviction, though that woman was not expected to take the stand.

Winslow, who played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New England and the New York Jets, earned more than $40 million over 10 seasons in the NFL. He is the son of Chargers Hall of Fame receiver Kellen Winslow, who was in the courtroom throughout the first trial and on Monday.

Winslow Jr. repeatedly looked back at his father before entering his plea. As he left the courtroom Monday, he reached an arm out to his father, who responded by touching his fist to his heart.

Winslow's attorneys said he suffers from traumatic brain injury from his football playing and a motorcycle accident that ended his career.

They will argue that information should be taken into consideration at his sentencing hearing.

FRISCO, Texas -- Each Wednesday last season, Jason Witten would break down film at an office not far from his home, going through the same routine he had during his entire career with the Dallas Cowboys.

The remote never left his hand as he watched play after play on a laptop for hours, prepping as the Monday Night Football analyst for ESPN. Pictures of his family adorned the wall behind his desk. A television hung on one wall, and he had a whiteboard on wheels filled with notes.

"That was one of my favorite things to do on Monday Night Football, watch both sets of offense and defense, just the preparation," Witten said. "Somewhere along the way I hoped I could pass that along to the producer, the director and, 'Hey, if this comes up, let's capitalize on it.'"

Witten, 37, is once again on ESPN's Monday Night Football, but the perspective will not come from the TV booth inside MetLife Stadium. Instead, Witten is back on the Cowboys' sideline for the 247th time in a 16-year career as Dallas plays at the New York Giants (8:15 p.m. ET).

"He's born for this," tight end Blake Jarwin said.

Witten's television experience was not what he had hoped, but the reviews of his on-air work were not what prompted him to return to the Cowboys after one season.

He chose to come back because he missed everything about playing football -- nothing more than the Monday-to-Saturday grind for the Sunday test.

"When they bring a blitz on second-and-11, you can have success because you prepared the right way," Witten said. "I just love football and love the challenge and the chess match, watching the coordinators, what those guys do well and then seeing it play out."

Witten's Wednesdays are now spent in the tight ends room at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

There is a flat screen hanging in the front of the room. Five chairs circle the desk, and there are whiteboards for notes. In the other position rooms, pictures of Cowboys Hall of Famers at those positions adorn the walls. One day, Witten's picture will grace the wall of the tight ends room, after he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

'He looks at football differently'

After the early-morning installation meetings for the entire offense, the first tight end meeting of the week starts the same way: "Hey, Witt, what do you think of these guys?" Cowboys tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier will ask.

For 20 to 30 minutes, Witten will go through detailed reports on the defensive ends, linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks the Cowboys will see that week.

"He's got a lot of background with these teams, and when the guys hear him talk, it affects the room in a positive way," Nussmeier said. "It shows the younger players how in-depth he is in his preparation. The detail, how he does it consistently week in and week out. What's their best moves? How should you attack it? What are the things to be concerned about?"

Jason Witten returns to the #DallasCowboys after taking a year off from the field. Hear what the rest of the team's tight ends say about how Witten's time away has helped the room grow. pic.twitter.com/YbwJ4DSIIY

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) June 28, 2019

Witten provides more than just information about the players he has played against. James Bettcher is in his second year as Giants defensive coordinator, so Jarwin and Dalton Schultz have familiarity with him from the 2018 season. But Witten played against Bettcher twice when the coach was with the Arizona Cardinals.

"He knows how they like to play a lot of defenses, how they play a lot of their personnel," said Cole Hikutini, a tight end on the Cowboys' practice squad. "It's just his insight from what he's picked up over the years. ... He's a genius. He looks at football differently than anybody I've ever been around."

Jarwin remembers Witten calling out a potential wrinkle in a coverage a defense had not shown in their previous games, and sure enough, it showed up when they played the Cowboys.

"That's just from experience and seeing it and studying, studying, studying," Jarwin said. "He does a great job just helping us young guys along."

Entering the season, Jarwin and Schultz had combined for 39 receptions for 414 yards and three touchdowns. Witten entered 2019 as the Cowboys' all-time leader in receptions (1,125) and yards (12,448). Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez is the only tight end in NFL history with more catches and yards than Witten.

Witten did not return to catch more passes, but through seven games he has 26 receptions for 263 yards and two touchdowns. He is on a similar pace to the production he had in 2017 when he played 98% of the snaps (he's playing 75% of the snaps through seven games this season).

'Talking graduate school'

In addition to missing the daily grind to compete for a championship and prove he can still play at a high level, he wanted to tutor the Cowboys' younger players.

"It's friggin' sweet," said Schultz, a fourth-round pick in 2018. "I mean, I watch myself out here this year and so many things, whether it be active or passive, that I've taken from his game, whether it's stacking up on a [corner] route and sticking it, giving head and shoulder fakes, slight stems just to keep a guy frozen there. That's stuff I wasn't even thinking about last year. Now it's starting to compound into my game. The influence that he's had on the room so far is pretty heavy."

The challenge for Nussmeier is pushing Witten intellectually while not talking over the heads of the younger tight ends.

"It's not like you're talking at a 100 or 200 [college class] level. It's 400 or 500. You're talking graduate school now," Nussmeier said. "For them to hear those discussions and hear the answers, that's what tells them that there's another level and you have to grow and understand. It's not only what it means for the tight end but how it fits the whole offense and how it relates to attacking the defense."

Nussmeier is Witten's eighth tight ends coach.

"He's going to challenge you every day," Nussmeier said. "You better be on your A game because he asks all the tough questions. Very intense. Very driven. It's not OK for him for it to just be OK. He wants it to be exactly right. That's a characteristic you see in a lot of great players."

Witten's sideline demeanor can be caustic. Nobody is immune, from teammates to coaches to the medical staff.

NFL Films cameras caught Witten on film during the New York Jets game: "I'm gonna say this as calmly as I know how: Field goals aren't going to win this f---ing game, man. We need a f---ing touchdown!"

"Witten is a very intense, prideful, wants-to-win, Hall of Fame player, and you have to come up to his level," running backs coach Gary Brown said. "He wants his teammates to come to his level as far as his passion and his desire and his want-to. He's been in the league for a long time. He wants to win a championship, and you love that about him. He gets fired up, but you know what? We know it's coming from a place of love and a place of wanting to win."

As game day approaches and most of the work is done, Nussmeier plays a game with his tight ends.

"It's like, 'Stump the Room,'" he said. "We'll throw out questions from what's in the game plan, that's different from what's in the game plan and see who gets it right. We make it real, and we all know it's important stuff. It's not just playing it for the fun of it. The game on the field is going to be played at a high level, and we've got to be able to adjust.

"Sometimes those thing are simple, sometimes it's not simple, but you've got to have the answers to the test before the test. [Witten is] always attacking it. ... If you know and know you know, you'll have conviction. If you're not sure, you probably won't have that conviction."

Witten has missed one question so far.

"It might've been something on what we kill a play to if we get a different look," Witten said. "He got me, but I know this -- I make it damn hard. But that's what I love talking about. OK, the guy's lined up tight or he's wider, what do we do? If he has inside leverage on this coverage, I'm going to do this. And then sharing that with the guys, with [quarterback] Dak [Prescott], so he knows what I'm thinking. That's the fun part of it."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The competitive fire drives New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley. As a matter of fact, it burns constantly, perhaps dormant only for the few hours he sleeps each night.

"I'm definitely competitive," Barkley said.

Barkley is next level. To the point where Giants receiver Sterling Shepard, one of his closest friends and most common opponents in his endless pursuit of menial competitions, sometimes feels the need to throw his hands in the air and say, "OK, you got it, Bro!"

When Barkley and Shepard get together, some type of game or competition breaks out. They lived and trained together throughout part of the offseason, and if it wasn't running or lifting weights, they were competing in handball, who could hold their breath underwater the longest or ... something. Anything.

Barkley needed to remind himself multiple times at his youth football camps this summer that he needed to chill.

"OK, you're playing against little kids. Calm down," Barkley remembers telling himself. "It's not that serious."

This could be a problem if Barkley, whose Giants host the Dallas Cowboys on Monday (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN), wasn't one of the NFL's best running backs.

"I'm not ... eh, I can be over the edge sometimes," he admitted with a smile. "I can be."

Hang around Barkley, 22, long enough and he is sure to turn something as ordinary as a handshake or answering questions at a meeting into a competition. His fellow running backs insist he takes joy in being the first to answer their position coach Craig Johnson. Tight end Evan Engram, another of Barkley's top friendly adversaries, shared a competition the pair had that centered around how well they could spit their gum in the air. Barkley was a master in this event.

If the Giants are coloring pictures for children during a team charity event, they joke Barkley will find a way to turn it into a winning endeavor. This is a man who won't turn down a challenge, whether it be thumb wars, Connect 4, arm wrestling, card games, chess, gripping footballs or tic-tac-toe.

"He's one of the most competitive guys I've ever met in my life," running back Wayne Gallman said. "I'm pretty competitive, but I don't reach out and try to compete with everyone on absolutely everything."

Barkley and Gallman are liable to each grab an end of the football at any moment. First to lose their grip loses. These competitions occur regularly.

"It can be things that don't matter," fullback Elijhaa Penny said. "Sometimes you just laugh at it like, 'You really want to compete about something like that. Go ahead. You got it! I don't have time.'"

This is how Barkley gets his fix. More than anything, he hates to lose. He was that kid growing up who hated losing so much he cried when it happened.

This was evident when the Giants added a pingpong table to their locker room this year. Barkley was admittedly awful at first. That was unacceptable, so he went home and practiced. He watched YouTube videos to get better. He has since transformed himself into one of the better players in the locker room and recently bought a table for his home to make sure he won't lose -- specifically, to Shepard -- because Shepard will let him know about it if he does.

That eats at Barkley's soul. He demands to keep playing until he wins because he wants those bragging rights.

"That's just how I am when it comes to sports," he said. "When I set my mind to something, and I want to be good or great at something, I work towards it. That's the only thing I know helps me. I've seen positive impact with that in my life."

It has been like that from the start.

Starting young

Barkley remembers when his competitive juices started flowing. It began when he was 5 or 6 years old. He would compete against his dad, Alibay, to see who could finish their spaghetti first.

"That's the earliest memory I had of always competing over little things," Barkley said. "My whole life it's how I've been."

Barkley would play with his older brother, Rashard Johnson, and his friends. Johnson was 10 years his senior but didn't show any pity. That was fine. The way Barkley remembers it, he was 6 or 7 years old when he would play football with the teenage Johnson and his friends. They would tackle Barkley as if he was their contemporary.

"My brother was like, 'No, don't take it easy on him,'" Barkley said.

This toughened him up. So, too, did the basketball beatings he took from brother, until he finally beat him when he was a teenager.

Barkley said it was a "big deal" to beat his brother. He was always trying to beat the older kids, and took the same approach to the football field.

His longtime friend and high school quarterback Nick Shafnisky remembers one of Barkley's first high school touchdowns came on a Hail Mary pass in the final seconds. There were a bunch of guys around Barkley. The ball wasn't intended for him, but Barkley came down with it.

"He never backed down from a challenge, I guess you would say," Shafnisky said. "He was just younger, but he didn't care. He was smaller, but he didn't care."

The competitiveness spawned from these experiences has him taking a similar approach with the next generation of Barkleys. He posted a video last year of him dunking on his younger cousin and proudly talking trash afterward.

Barkley doesn't expect it to be much different with his daughter, 1-year-old Jada. He insists (for now) his competitiveness won't allow it.

"No mercy at all. I'm not like that with any of my little nephews, any of my little cousins," Barkley said, before admitting this might be easier said than done with the little girl who melts his heart. "I think the best way to learn, obviously, is through lessons."

'I want to be great'

Teammates get a good laugh when Barkley loses at one of the competitions he concocts -- especially when it's against Shepard or Gallman. They seem to know how to push his buttons best.

But it's all in good fun. They know the same competitiveness they like to stoke is driving Barkley to be the greatest of all time.

"It doesn't matter if it's rock-paper-scissors. He doesn't like to lose," wide receiver Corey Coleman said. "That mindset and attitude has taken him a long way."

Barkley brings the same approach to the weight room and field. Craig Johnson says he rarely needs to get on Barkley. If anything, the second-year running back is too hard on himself if he drops a pass or misses a hole.

Gallman recalls a moment in the spring when Barkley upped the weight on his last set on the bench press just to make sure he did more than his partner. Gallman didn't even have a chance to match because he had completed his final set.

Anything to motivate. Barkley uses it all. When he sees Ezekiel Elliott, Christian McCaffrey, Todd Gurley II or Dalvin Cook going off in the middle of a game on the stadium video board, his teammates say he'll tell them he has to do better.

"Most people say it," Penny said. "When [No.] 26 does it, it's for real, because then he goes out there and does what he says, which is crazy."

It's no wonder Barkley studies and admires Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Their approaches are similar. Their win-at-all-costs mentality is what feeds his soul.

"When I think of great -- I don't think I'm at that level yet where I'm trying to get to -- I think Kobe and Michael Jordan. Those guys. You study their craft and their competitive nature. That Mamba mentality mode," Barkley said. "The psychology of Michael Jordan, I've watched that a lot of times on YouTube. Sometimes people hate [Jordan] for it, but that is the reasons they're great. I want to be great.

"When it comes to the sport and the field where I work and play, that is what I'm working towards. I want to be legendary like one of those guys. It starts there."

The New York Yankees have decided not to extend the $17.8 million qualifying offer to shortstop Didi Gregorius, making him a free agent.

The Yankees now will not get draft pick compensation if he signs elsewhere. New York still could try to re-sign him.

Gregorius, 29, was arguably one of the Yankees' best players before undergoing Tommy John surgery that limited him to 82 games last season.

From 2016 to '18, Gregorius averaged over 20 home runs per season. He drove in a career-high 87 runs in 2017 and 86 the next year. In last season's abbreviated campaign he still hit 16 homers and drove in 61 runs.

Gregorius has never been a big on-base player, but he has made up for that with power and solid defense.

The Yankees acquired Gregorius in the 2014 three-way trade that saw Robbie Ray end up in Arizona and Shane Greene in Detroit.

The Yankees could move Gleyber Torres from second to short, the position he played in the minor leagues, and have DJ LeMahieu play second.

Other big names did receive qualifying offers on Monday. Those getting it were Jose Abreu (White Sox), Madison Bumgarner (Giants), Gerrit Cole (Astros), Josh Donaldson (Braves), Jake Odorizzi (Twins), Marcell Ozuna (Cardinals), Anthony Rendon (Nationals), Will Smith (Giants), Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), and Zack Wheeler (Mets).

In other Yankees moves, Tyler Lyons, who earned a spot on the Yankees' postseason roster as a left-handed reliever, refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and elected to become a free agent.

The 31-year-old was released by Pittsburgh in August and signed with New York. He struck out 12 and walked two in 8 2/3 innings during 11 appearances with the Yankees in September. He made one appearance each in the division series against Minnesota and the championship series against Houston, striking out four over 1 2/3 hitless innings.

New York reinstated third baseman Miguel Andujar, first baseman Greg Bird, right-handers Jonathan Holder and Jake Barrett, and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury from the 60-day injured list on Monday and assigned Barrett outright to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Ellsbury has not played since 2017 because of a variety of ailments. He is owed $21,142,857 next year in the final guaranteed season of a $153 million, seven-year contract, which includes a $5 million buyout of a $21 million option for 2021.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

On the day after the World Series, an agent for a prominent free agent this winter expressed shock at how busy his day had been. In the past two seasons, free agency began with a whimper -- few texts, fewer calls. Thursday was different.

"I don't know if it's going to mean anything," he said. "But at least they're acting interested."

Free agency is at the heart of the discord between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association. The misgivings started in the winter of 2016-17, graduated to anger a year later and remained that way last winter. And with free agency starting Monday at 5 p.m. ET, what form it will take is a central topic as the hot stove season kicks off.

Offseason maneuvering once took place over a frenzied six-week period. In recent years, it has stretched into four months of posturing and parrying. And with that new paradigm, it seems the perfect opportunity to play a game of 20 Questions about the winter of 2019-20.

All right. Just rip off the Band-Aid. Is this offseason going to be a protracted mess?

Probably! There are countless factors at play here, this big, messy stew of changing valuations, disincentives to spend, no penalties for not spending, greater understanding of the aging curve and dozens more issues. And it's the same as it was last year and the year before. Why, then, would the behavior of teams change?

It's just a reality that both sides acknowledge is unlikely to end until this collective bargaining agreement expires in 2021. Midterm talks between the league and union to address economic issues went nowhere, and that almost certainly won't change. And while other teams talk about being aggressive this winter, you've got the Boston Red Sox -- much more on them later -- wanting to slash payroll.

What's saddest is that just about everyone in baseball recognizes that a winter in which the best players don't sign until the new year isn't ideal for the game. If these early calls to agents wind up being significant -- four others confirmed to ESPN that conversations have been much more active in the days leading up to free agency -- then the return of competitiveness in free agency will be the story of the winter.

Here's the issue: The players think it's eyewash -- a beloved baseball term that means something done purely for optics. Teams are changing things up, hoping players will bite on below-market deals early. The upshot of recent free agency is a deep, deep distrust of teams' intentions. Even if teams are evolving, placing an emphasis on winning, the players aren't buying it. Talk is empty. They want substantive action.

OK, Debbie Downer. Why can't it be like the NBA or the NFL, where everyone signs quickly?

It could be. In fact, last month MLB proposed a winter meetings deadline for the signing of multiyear contracts. The union rejected it because for whatever benefits it might have offered for getting deals done early and keeping baseball in the news during the offseason, the possible negative outcomes -- teams trying to squeeze players worthy of multiyear deals into accepting one-year pacts -- made it a complete nonstarter.

There are plenty of other ways to incentivize teams to spend early, but the foundational difference between MLB and the other two leagues is that baseball operates in an uncapped system. Football and basketball teams have limited amounts, and each player falls into a category with a near-set price. MLB teams can spend as much or as little as they want. So if a baseball player believes X is fair value and a team is offering X minus $10 million, the free market -- not a player's place inside a system with a finite amount of dollars -- will render that judgment.

Sometimes waiting helps. Sometimes waiting is boneheaded. Teams almost always wind up in a better position by waiting. Players have a far spottier track record when waiting. Teams recognize this and thus could be compelled to push for earlier deals, hoping to jump the market and prey on players who no longer believe free agency to be the paradise of their dreams.

So who's the best free agent?

Well, if you ask Keith Law, it's Anthony Rendon, the all-world Washington Nationals third baseman who spent October crushing baseballs and winning a championship. Rendon, 29, is the goods: a superb hitter with elite bat-to-ball skills, power, a great eye and a well-above-average glove.

I think it's Gerrit Cole, the best pitcher in the world at the moment. Cole also might be the best-positioned free-agent pitcher in baseball history. He is 29, coming off a year in which he struck out 326 batters in 212⅓ innings, doesn't have excessive wear and tear on his arm, holsters a truly elite four-pitch mix, has avoided any serious arm issues and brings both the personality and leadership traits that teams crave. He's big, he's strong, he's smart, he's motivated. It's hard to find a flaw.

Which of you is right?

Only one of them is so serious about free agency that less than half an hour after his team lost the World Series he said he no longer worked for that team and wore a hat bearing the logo of his agent's company during his postgame debrief.

Huh?

Oh, yeah. Winter is coming, and Scott Boras is the Night King.

The famous (and infamous) agent is back with a class of clients that gives him a disproportionate amount of control over the market. Cole wore the Boras Corporation hat. Boras represents Rendon too, as well as Nationals teammate Stephen Strasburg, who opted out of the final four years and $100 million of his current contract to strike free-agent riches. Those are the top three players in the class.

There are plenty more. Hyun-Jin Ryu, who for most of the season looked like the NL Cy Young favorite? Boras guy. Nicholas Castellanos, arguably the Cubs' best player over the final two months? Yup. Mike Moustakas? Dallas Keuchel? Boras, Boras.

Nobody is more comfortable waiting for the right deal. Sometimes it comes along, as it did with Bryce Harper last spring. In other cases, as with Moustakas and Keuchel, the market never met expectations. Exactly how Boras approaches this winter could be a key to understanding how it unfolds.

How much are the big three going to get?

Well, Cole is going to become the highest-paid pitcher in history. That title currently belongs to David Price, who signed a seven-year, $217 million deal with Boston before the 2016 season. He was a year older than Cole, had 250 more innings on his arm and didn't possess nearly the same arsenal. Price was a really good free agent. Cole is just better.

The question is not whether Cole will get years or dollars. It's whether he can get both. He could reasonably pursue an eight-year deal. He could reasonably pursue a $35 million-a-year salary. (Zack Greinke got $34.4 million per annum the same offseason as Price, though a chunk of it was deferred.) Just how hot and heavy the bidding gets -- and if it's not blazing and substantial, why not? -- will determine whether the eight and $35 million meet up for a $280 million total.

Rendon could take a different route. Multiple executives interested in signing Rendon believe he might be willing to take a short-term, high-average-annual-value deal. The notion of paying him $40 million a year for five years is realistic. Now, if Rendon wants to eschew that and go for the jackpot? Nolan Arenado, to whom Rendon compares well, got eight years and $260 million from the Colorado Rockies earlier this year. And Rendon reportedly turned down a $200 million-plus offer already from the Nationals. So $200 million would seem to be the floor.

Strasburg doesn't have quite the profile of Cole. He is 31. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010. This was the first year in the past five that he made more than 30 starts and threw more than 200 innings. That said: Strasburg was incredible in October and extremely good from April through September, and the desire for frontline starting pitching and ability for every team to bid should give him a $30 million-a-year target and a six-year term. And he might get more.

Isn't that, like, in the $700 million range combined for the three of them?

Aren't you good at math!

Don't patronize me. If three guys might get nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars among them, what exactly are players so mad about?

This is a reasonable question, and here is the answer: Massive paydays for the game's stars and crumbling job security for other classes of players don't have to go hand in hand. Most MLB teams in recent years have adopted a model in which they pay the best players exorbitant amounts, take advantage of the depressed salaries of young players and more or less eliminate the middle class that long consisted of -- you guessed it -- free agents.

The consequences of this have been monumental. A deluge of players, wanting to avoid free agency, signed contract extensions last spring. The idea of redistributing money to younger players hasn't been entirely embraced by the union, which wants younger and older players to be paid better. Salaries have not risen in line with industry-wide growth in recent years. MLB believes it's a free market correcting itself. The players just want it to stop and are livid that it hasn't.

Both sides signed this deal, right?

They did. And the players know that and kick themselves every day. How could they envision a world in which the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers would make it a priority to slide below the competitive-balance-tax threshold to reset the relatively piddly payment they make for exceeding it. This winter, it's the Red Sox who are cutting payroll and considering trading Mookie Betts.

The Red Sox are doing what?

It's true. Betts, 27, the best homegrown Red Sox player since Wade Boggs, could find himself among those on the move this winter as Boston tries to reimagine itself with new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. The long-term deals given to Price, Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi saddled them with about $80 million a year devoted to pitchers of questionable health and/or production. J.D. Martinez declining to opt out left Boston staring at a payroll that already exceeds the $208 million luxury-tax threshold if they don't make any moves. The Red Sox's farm system is a mess. One possible way to ease the strain of the former and address the latter is by dealing Betts.

Multiple executives don't believe this is a particularly practical plan. Because Betts could make upward of $30 million in arbitration this season, his trade market is already fairly limited. Beyond that, teams have shown a reticence to deal significant prospect talent for a player with only one year of club control. Winning teams would be right to do everything humanly possible to acquire a talent like Betts, but urgency hasn't exactly been a much-embraced characteristic of the game in recent seasons.

If the Red Sox are truly gung ho about dipping beneath the threshold, two executives posited, they could do something truly wild, like a 2.0 version of the Adrian Gonzalez trade. If there were a team that wanted an elite shortstop, might the Red Sox be willing to deal Xander Bogaerts and send along Price and Eovaldi and the $147 million remaining on their deals? It's unlikely, but it would free up the Red Sox to re-sign Betts and build around him and Rafael Devers. If the Red Sox's farm weren't so grim, the notion of having to deal Bogaerts to dump contracts would be laughable. But as the Red Sox face this financial mandate, it's the sort of thing that at least will be discussed.

Who else could move?

The biggest names are Francisco Lindor and Kris Bryant. The Indians control Lindor, their superlative shortstop, for two more seasons, and while a trade this winter is not necessary, they recognize that after the July 31 trade deadline next year, the same thing that happened to Betts' trade value will happen to Lindor's. Ditto Bryant, the Chicago Cubs third baseman who opposing executives believe would return the most if the team's roster overhaul included some of its best players.

These aren't exactly the same scenarios. The Indians are a small-market team. They struggle to attract fans despite three consecutive division titles and a 93-win season this year. Lindor could demand a $300 million-plus deal as a free agent. If Cleveland refuses to saddle itself to that sort of commitment -- whatever the merits of that choice, it's the reality ownership has foisted on the team -- then dealing Lindor this winter actually makes sense. It would hurt. It would presumably make the team worse now. But it also could replenish the Indians for the next wave.

The Cubs' situation is trickier. They don't need to move Bryant or his salary. Their clubhouse has grown stale over the past three seasons, and while new manager David Ross hopes to address that, the mixture of players might need a rejiggering. Bryant is an option to get dealt. Catcher Willson Contreras has significant value. Because shortstop Javier Baez is seen as the best option to sign a long-term deal, he's unlikely to go anywhere.

So if the Red Sox, Indians and Cubs are all considering trading stars ... who exactly is trying to win?

Nearly every executive and agent points westward: to the Los Angeles Angels. They have let it be known they plan to spend aggressively. They want to put together a competitive team for new manager Joe Maddon. They want to take advantage of Mike Trout's still-prime years. They're getting Shohei Ohtani back to play both ways next season. It sounds like the right time.

There are, of course, some issues. The fallout of pitcher Tyler Skaggs' death is the subject of an open federal investigation. General manager Billy Eppler is in a lame-duck year. And if they want to compete, the Angels are going to need a lot more than Gerrit Cole.

What other teams am I going to be hearing about?

In terms of teams expected to be busy, in no particular order: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves. Can't ever count out the New York Yankees. And if the Yankees are in it, you know the New York Mets aren't far behind. The champion Nationals are going to have some work to do too.

What other names am I going to be hearing a lot?

Almost every team loves Zack Wheeler. He is 29 and throws very hard, and a number of teams believe they can get more out of him than the Mets did. For the teams that either can't compete in the Cole/Strasburg stratosphere or don't want to, Wheeler is the prize.

After Rendon, the most productive free agent shares a position with him. Josh Donaldson turns 34 on Dec. 8, the first day of the winter meetings, and that is the only thing separating him from a megadeal. He was magnificent in Atlanta this year -- a monster at the plate (.270/.402/.556 in the second half) and at third base. He's not going to get a six-year deal. But he warrants at least $25 million a year for three or four seasons.

Yasmani Grandal eschewed a big multiyear deal last year and wound up signing with Milwaukee for $18.25 million. He hit like he always has hit: lots of power, lots of patience, solid from both sides, extremely valuable. What's odd is how divergent FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference are on his 2019 season. FanGraphs had him worth 5.2 wins above replacement, B-R less than half that, all because of divergent opinions on his defensive value. Find a team whose metrics agree with FanGraphs' and you'll find the team that wants Grandal.

Who is the most fascinating free agent beyond the big three?

Madison Bumgarner has been so good for so long, it's easy to lose appreciation of what he has been and what he might become. In a lot of ways, Bumgarner's career numbers mirror those of another left-hander who signed a long-term deal before his age-30 season: Jon Lester. Bumgarner comes with more mileage than Lester and didn't have nearly the same walk season, but the stuff itself is very similar. Lester's fastball velocity going into free agency: 91.8 mph. Bumgarner's last season: 91.4 mph. Lester's cutter: 87.8 mph. Bumgarner's slider: 87.3 mph. Both throw a looping curveball and a changeup too.

Does this mean Bumgarner is in line for a six-year, $155 million deal like Lester? No. But the idea that Bumgarner is some diminished version of himself is ludicrous. His 207⅔ innings last season illustrate that, as do his 203 strikeouts and nearly 5-to-1 walk rate. All that from the best pitcher in World Series history? That should play.

Honorable mention: Jose Abreu. He's exactly what new-age teams don't want: a 33-year-old right-handed-hitting first baseman who doesn't walk. He also hits the ball extremely hard, among the top 20 in overall exit velocity as well as percentage of hits barreled. His market is worth watching, if only to offer some insight into teams' willingness to look beyond age and position.

How about a sneaky, under-the-radar guy?

How about three? Jake Odorizzi is extremely athletic, productive, intelligent and, at 29, still young. He should do very well in the market. Rich Hill is extremely unathletic but also productive and intelligent. He'll turn 40 next March, but when he pitches, he's really good. Last year was a lost year for Alex Wood. In the previous three, he was excellent for the Dodgers. At 28, he's also one of the youngest players in the class, which should benefit him greatly.

That wasn't very under the radar, you know?

You're kind of obnoxious. Fine. Here's a list of guys who have fallen off radars or never were on them in the first place who should be popular this winter. In alphabetical order: Alex Avila (hard-hitting platoon catching option), Trevor Cahill (teams love his heavy-spin curveball), Jason Castro (see Avila), Scooter Gennett (high reward, low risk), Wade Miley (two straight really good years), Michael Pineda (stuff looked excellent before PED suspension), Rick Porcello (many R&D departments believe they can fix him), Eric Thames (legitimate, non-2019-ball-related power).

And here are three more totally off the radar: Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Shogo Akiyama and Josh Lindblom. Tsutsugo, 27, is a power-hitting, on-base-getting left-handed hitter from Japan with some defensive questions. Maybe he's a left fielder, maybe he's a first baseman, but the expectation is that his bat will play somewhere. Akiyama, who will be 32 in April, is a center fielder whose bat doesn't rate with Tsutsugo's but whose ability to play center should land him a job somewhere.

Lindblom, the former Dodgers reliever, has spent the last three seasons excelling in Korea. He's 32, and while scouts question whether his fastball will play against major league hitters, a number of analytics groups like the spin numbers on his off-speed pitches and believe he'll be a contributor somewhere in 2020, whether at the back end of a rotation or in a bullpen.

Why haven't you mentioned a single major league reliever?

Uhhhh ... it's not the greatest position. There are worse -- Didi Gregorius is legitimately the only everyday shortstop, and the outfield depth (Castellanos, Marcell Ozuna, Brett Gardner, Corey Dickerson, Yasiel Puig, Hunter Pence) is thin -- but the relief pitchers available are not going to be bank breakers, by any means.

The list: Will Smith, Will Harris, Daniel Hudson, Dellin Betances, Drew Pomeranz, Chris Martin, Joe Smith, Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler. There are others. Certainly someone not named here will sign for cheap and turn into a productive member of a bullpen, maybe even a closer. But as for those who have the standing to seek multiyear deals? It's not a long list.

What's the strongest position then?

There are a few choices:

Third base offers two elite-level talents (Rendon, Donaldson) and another (Moustakas) who warrants more than a one-year deal after signing for just that in each of the past two offseasons.

Catcher: There isn't quite the frontline talent, but Grandal, Castro, Avila, Travis d'Arnaud, Robinson Chirinos and Martin Maldonado, among half a dozen others, is a good start.

Starting pitching: This is the real answer. Cole, Strasburg, Wheeler, Bumgarner, Ryu, Odorizzi, Keuchel, Miley, Hill, Pineda, Porcello, Wood. And that's just the start: Cole Hamels, Kyle Gibson, Brett Anderson, Jordan Lyles, Homer Bailey, Tanner Roark and Adam Wainwright are available too.

What comes first?

Well, first technically happened already. Strasburg opted out. Aroldis Chapman, Jason Heyward, Yu Darvish, Kenley Jansen, Jake Arrieta, Elvis Andrus and Rusney Castillo did not. Grandal and Moustakas declined their ends of a mutual option. Teams declined their options on Edwin Encarnacion, Ryan Zimmerman, Starlin Castro, Jason Kipnis and Jedd Gyorko. They exercised their options on Anthony Rizzo, Corey Kluber, Nelson Cruz, Sean Doolittle, Jose Quintana, Starling Marte, Yusmeiro Petit, Adam Eaton and Chris Archer.

Now comes the waiting but maybe not waiting too long. The talking but maybe not talking too much. The dominos lining up, knowing what they're worth and sticking to it -- and the teams doing everything they can to knock them off that price. Trades are being discussed at all hours, and 99% of conversations go nowhere, but that 1% ...

That 1%, and the knowledge that most of these players will get signed, sustains those who do still look forward to the offseason. Admittedly, it's going through a rough patch. Used to be wired. Now pretty tired. But it's not unsalvageable, not with Cole and Rendon and Strasburg out there, not with the names being mentioned in trade talks.

It's not the NBA. It's not the NFL. It's just baseball, stuck in a system of its own creation.

HARRISBURG, N.C. — The lower divisions of NASCAR are loaded with talented young drivers who will eventually win races on Sunday afternoons.

Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer could comprise one of the Cup Series’ most potent rookie classes in recent memory next season, while racers such as Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Ankrum, Harrison Burton and Christian Eckes continue to hone their skills.

The driver-development pipeline is full, which bodes well for the future of NASCAR Cup Series racing.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the car owners’ side of the equation.

We did the math and found the average age of the seven individuals who own the six teams with cars in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is 69. That’s an age by which many successful businessmen are enjoying the fruits of their labors.

Roger Penske is the elder statesman of the group at 82 and he’s been involved in the Cup Series on and off since 1972. Joe Gibbs became a Cup Series team owner in 1992 and the former NFL coach is now 78 years old. Jack Roush, who ventured into NASCAR racing in 1988, celebrated his 77th birthday this year.

Rick Hendrick has been fielding Cup Series cars since 1984 and he’s now a septuagenarian, having turned 70 in July. Chip Ganassi is relatively young at 61, while Gene Haas turns 67 this month and his co-owner, Tony Stewart, is the youngest among the group at 48.

And don’t forget, team owners Richard Childress and Richard Petty, whose drivers failed to qualify for the playoffs, are 74 and 82, respectively.

Even though today’s top NASCAR teams are major corporations with detailed succession plans should anything happen to the team leader in the corner office, those ages are alarming as seven of these nine car owners are eligible for Social Security.

While NASCAR’s ladder system is doing a fantastic job of developing and advancing drivers, mechanics, engineers and over-the-wall pit crew members to the premier series, it has failed to produce a new generation of car owners.

That could become an issue as NASCAR navigates the next decade.

– It’s time for Marco Andretti to step out of the cockpit and assume more of a managerial role at Andretti Autosport.

The third-generation Indy car racer is now 32 years old and this was his 14th season in open-wheel racing’s premier series.

Andretti hasn’t scored a podium finish since he took the checkered flag third at California’s Auto Club Speedway on June 27, 2015, and he hasn’t been to victory lane since he won at Iowa Speedway on June 25, 2011. His best points finish of fifth came in 2013, and he was a distant 16th in this year’s standings.

There’s no way those stats are sufficient to keep a ride with one of Indy car racing’s powerhouse operations — unless your father owns the team.

– On Thanksgiving night at California’s Ventura Raceway, Christopher Bell will attempt to join Ron Shuman and Billy Boat as the only drivers to win the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget event in three consecutive years.

– With McLaren preparing to make its full-time return to Indy car racing next season, we came across an interesting article in the Nov 12, 1969, issue of National Speed Sport News.

Here are the first three paragraphs: “Weather permitting, testing of the new M15 McLaren Indianapolis car will be conducted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week, driver, designer and builder Bruce McLaren advised this newspaper Thursday. Drivers will be 1967 world champion Denis Hulme and Chris Amon, both of New Zealand.

“Designed by McLaren and Gordon Coppuck, the orange-red cars were called, ‘single seater versions of our successful Can-Am cars.’ They utilize a semi-monocoque chassis made of 16-gauge Reynolds aluminum.

“Power will come from a 650-horspepower, turbocharged Offenhauser engine bolted to two engine bearer plates on the rear bulkhead behind the cockpit where the monocoque ends.”

McLaren ended up making its Indianapolis 500 debut in 1970 with Peter Revson and Carl Williams driving a pair of M15s.

INDIANAPOLIS — Next year’s Indianapolis 500 will, no doubt, be a very different experience for motorsports business mogul and veteran NTT IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske.

It has to be, considering Penske’s announcement on Monday that Penske Corp. is purchasing Hulman & Co., the NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the site of the tour’s biggest event.

The 2020 season will therefore bring a host of changes with it for the 82-year-old Penske, as he transitions from solely being a car owner in Indy car racing to becoming the steward that takes the sport into its much-heralded future.

He addressed one of those major changes — as well as outlining some of his immediate plans at IMS — during Monday’s press conference revealing the IndyCar and IMS ownership change to the public.

“What I plan to do tomorrow, ironically, is to walk the entire facility and strategically sit down with the existing team and get their top 10 (things to do),” Penske explained. “I always like to work from a top 10 and see the things that we can do to make it fan-friendly. From a competitive perspective, I’m planning to step down from being a strategist on the pit box. You won’t see me there on race day. I think I’ve got a bigger job to do now, is to try to see how we can build the series to the next level. It will be nice to bring another car manufacturer in. I know Jay Frye is working on that, as far as can we have someone else come in to join the series.

“When you look at the speedway itself, the investment with the $100 million that was put in a few years ago before the 100th (Indianapolis 500), I think we’ve seen a tremendous change. … This is a great asset,” he added. “This business is not broken. This is a great business and the leadership team that’s been here has done an outstanding job and what we want to do is be a support tool.

“We bought Michigan Speedway in 1973; it was bankrupt. We built California. We help with the promotion of the Grand Prix in Detroit. This (the business of motorsports) is in our DNA, and I think with input from the media, input from our sponsor partners and all the teams and I had a chance to talk to most of the teams today. We’re looking forward to getting together with the car owners and seeing what we can do to make IndyCar even stronger. That’s something that is a priority for me.”

Penske called strategy for Helio Castroneves for the second half of Castroneves’ long Indy car career, and more recently has been atop the pit box for Will Power since Castroneves’ move to IMSA sports car racing with the Acura Team Penske program in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Now, though, Penske’s business-savvy will take center stage as he works to grow the Indianapolis 500 and American open-wheel racing as a whole back to the glory it basked in several decades earlier.

“Number one, I want to be sure that we’re as good as we’ve been, and I’m going to count on this team here. Remember, I’m going to be the new guy in town, so we’re going to take those plans and see if we can add anything to it that makes it better,” said Penske of the Indianapolis 500. “I don’t think you build a business overnight. This didn’t get to 300,000 (attendees) in three or four years, so we have to be rational on our investment.

“But we’re interested in economic development in the community and the Hoosiers that support this all over the state want to see this become and still be the iconic race of the world. So we’re going to do this a step at a time and build all this as we go along.”

With such an investment now at his fingertips, Penske will have a lot of juggling to do as he balances his NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA sports car and Australian Supercars properties.

Such a portfolio, he noted, is going to have his already-busy schedule even busier going forward.

“I don’t know if there’s any more weekends than 52, but if there are, I’ll probably fill them up with some racing opportunities,” Penske quipped. “I tell my wife that this is my fishing trip and golf game. My golf game is not good these days anyhow. But I spent a lot of time at the tracks. I love it. I want to be there, and I think that’s a knowledge base for me, too. I’ll continue. The good news is that it’s a short flight from Detroit to get to Indianapolis. We know a lot about it, and I think with the communications capabilities we have today, we can be connected from a business perspective.

“From a racing perspective, I’m committed 100 percent to our teams. We’ve got more than 500 people down in Mooresville where we have all our teams, and with Tim Cindric as our leader, I’ll be working with him just as I have in the past as we go forward. That part will not change at all.”

Monday’s announcement marked both a landmark day for the motorsports industry and for Penske.

And one thing is for sure, when the month of May rolls back around, there will certainly be plenty of change in the air at the most iconic racing facility in the world.

Atlanta United leads Forbes list of most valuable MLS franchises for the second year running, with a valuation of $500 million, while clubs league-wide saw franchise valuations rise by 30% on average.

Los Angeles-based sides the LA Galaxy ($480 million) and LAFC ($475 million) ranked second and third, while MLS Cup finalists the Seattle Sounders ($405 million) and Toronto FC ($395 million) rounded out the top five.

Forbes said its valuations were for the team only, and excluded stadiums and real estate. The report added that of the 23 teams that took part in the 2018 season, just six were profitable and half of those were barely in the black.

Yet the overall valuations continued to grow at an impressive pace. The average MLS team is now worth $313 million, up 30% from last year. The report noted that the year-over-year growth far outpaces rising team values in the NBA (13%), NFL (11%), MLB (8%) and NHL (6%).

The growth is being fueled by the belief that the sport in North America will continue to increase in popularity and participation. The league's media rights deal expires at the end of the 2022 season, and the U.S. will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

Joe Mansueto recently completed his purchase of the Chicago Fire for a total of $321.6 million. The acquisition of the final 51% revealed a valuation of $400 million, though Forbes was lower at $335 million.

In Seattle, former Microsoft executive Terry Myerson led an ownership group that includes celebrities Russell Wilson, Ciara and Macklemore that bought out Joe Roth's minority stake in the Sounders, giving the team a valuation between $300 million and $400 million

In Atlanta's case, its valuation was driven by a league best average attendance of 52,000 per game, as well as the sale of midfielder Miguel Almiron to Newcastle United for a league record $27 million.

Excluded from the valuations were revenues generated by Soccer United Marketing, the league's marketing and commercial rights arm which manages media rights for U.S. Soccer, CONCACAF, and the U.S. tours of the Mexico men's national team. Forbes said that SUM distributed $125 million to the league's owners last year.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The MRI results on the left knee of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett were as hoped for, revealing an MCL sprain, coach Frank Reich said Monday.

The Colts, according to Reich, will play it by ear in determining if Brissett will play in Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins (1-7).

"We're going to have to wait until Wednesday and see how it feels," Reich said. "It's one thing to come in [Monday] after the injury. I think in his mind he felt a little bit better than he expected to feel. That's still a far cry from being able to play the game. He's optimistic but you have to wait until Wednesday, 48 hours to see how it responds to see if you can even start thinking about practicing and wrapping your mind around playing Sunday."

Brissett suffered the injury in the second quarter when guard Quenton Nelson was pushed back into him deep in Pittsburgh territory in Sunday's loss to the Steelers. Brissett remained on the ground for a couple of minutes before jogging to the sideline with a noticeable limp.

Brissett, who was 4 of 5 for 59 yards prior the injury, spent an extended amount of time in the medical tent before he put his helmet on briefly, then took it back off and watched the rest of the game from the sideline. He said he had a difficult time making lateral movements on his left knee.

Veteran Brian Hoyer, signed by the Colts after the retirement of Andrew Luck, replaced Brissett and was 17 of 26 for 168 yards and three touchdowns despite not getting any first-team reps in practice this season. Hoyer's biggest mistakes were that he threw an interception that was returned 96 yards for a touchdown by Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and he fumbled the ball on a strip sack on fourth down.

Hoyer will start if Brissett doesn't play Sunday and Reich said Chad Kelly, the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, would likely be elevated from the practice squad to the active roster to be Hoyer's backup. Hoyer has started 37 games in his career while playing with New England, Arizona, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco.

"Brian, when you look back at the tape he played pretty well," Reich said. "Played really well in fact. Obviously the pick-six was the big blemish on the scorecard. He's a smart player. He's really simulated well to the offense. Most of those plays he hasn't gotten reps because he wasn't here for training camp and Jacoby takes all the reps. That's pretty much the standard protocol for all teams. You have to get mental reps. He's a pro, does a good job at that and he's a talented football player."

The Colts (5-3), who had their three-game winning streak end with the loss Sunday, are currently in second place in the AFC South.