increase again very shortly.Rivera is eligible for the first time and big-hitting DH

OAKLAND Cheap Hunter Renfrow Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Jon Gruden has quickly put his stamp on the Oakland Raiders in his second stint as coach.He’s installed his new systems, overhauled more than half the roster and traded star pass rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago just before the start of the season for draft picks.Gruden’s quest to get the new-look Raiders back to the level they were at during his first stint that ended in 2001 begins at home Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams. Oakland has had just one winning season in the past 15 years.“We have not had a lot of success,” Gruden said. “We’ve got to turn this team around. We’ve got to get this team built back to where we can compete for championships. It was that way in 1998 and it’s that way 20 years later. We’ve got to put this train back on the track and we’ve tried to assemble the right guys to get us started. We’ll see where we are on Monday night.”There is quite a bit of intrigue in what Gruden’s offense will look like in his first game as coach in 10 years. He spent the past nine seasons after being fired in Tampa Bay as the analyst for “Monday Night Football.”Gruden spent much of the offseason talking about wanting to bring the Raiders back to 1998. He showed almost none of his offense in the preseason, but his former protege and current Rams coach Sean McVay knows to expect the unexpected.“He’s always done such a good job of mixing it up,” McVay said. “I’m sure he’s got a bunch of new wrinkles that he’s added to his arsenal. It’s going to be exciting, but it is a great challenge, really kind of that element of uncertainty and that does make it very difficult.”Despite the trade of Mack, Gruden has many of the ingredients he needs for a successful season on offense with Derek Carr at quarterback, a strong interior offensive line, a running game led by Marshawn Lynch and a pair of receivers in Amari Cooper and Jordy Nelson who have shown big-play ability in the past.Now he gets a chance to show some new wrinkles that he learned by visiting and watching all the other teams as an announcer.“I feel like he’s more advanced,” said tackle Donald Penn, who played for Gruden in Tampa Bay in 2007-08. “He’s gotten even smarter. That’s crazy to say because he knows so much already, but I feel like he’s learned even more during that time off.”Here are some other things to watch:TEACHER VS. MENTOR: Gruden hired McVay as a 22-year-old assistant wide receivers coach in 2008 but the ties between the families go back further. McVay’s grandfather, John, hired Gruden’s father, Jim, at Dayton in 1970, and helped Jon get his first NFL job as an assistant in San Francisco in 1990. The younger McVay has taken so much from Gruden that he has many of the same mannerisms and sounds so much like his mentor that Jon Gruden joked he does a better impersonation of him than comedian Frank Caliendo.“I hear it all the time,” McVay said. “”But I think probably subconsciously you pick up on some of those things just from being around somebody. I got so much respect for him so I take it as a compliment.”DOMINANT DONALD: While the Raiders cut ties with 2016 AP Defensive Player of the Year Mack after his contract holdout, the Rams gave last year’s top defensive player Aaron Donald a six-year, $135 million deal, with $87 million guaranteed to end his holdout. Donald, perhaps the game’s top interior pass rusher, joins a defense that added three former All-Pros in the offseason in defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib.GOFF’S GROWTH: Rams QB Jared Goff took a big step last year after the former No. 1 overall pick struggled in his rookie season in 2016. Goff increased his yards per attempt from 5.3 to 8.0 and his passer rating from 63.6 to 100.5. Goff still sees more room to grow, but didn’t get to show that in the preseason when he didn’t get any snaps because of injuries to the offensive line.“There’s a bunch of stuff we’ve been working on this offseason that we’re ready to display on Monday night,” Goff said. “A lot of the stuff is from last season that we’re going to continue to do, and then a lot of new stuff that we’re doing.”DRIVE THE CARR: Carr is looking to bounce back from a down season as he struggled with a back injury and an unimaginative offense by former coordinator Todd Downing. He matched his career high with 13 interceptions and recorded his worst totals in yards, touchdowns and passer rating since his rookie year in 2014. The Raiders hope for a revival under Gruden.HIDDEN SCHEMES: These teams played just over three weeks ago in an exhibition, although not much can be gleaned from that game. Both teams sat almost all of their starters and showed almost none of the schemes knowing they’d play a game that counts so soon.“You would think we’d know about them Josh Jacobs Oakland Raiders Jersey , they would know about us, but all of our starters on both teams were wearing sweatsuits,” Gruden said. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Harold Baines was given a save as big as any Lee Smith ever posted.In a vote sure to spark renewed cries of cronyism at Cooperstown, Baines surprisingly was picked for the baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday after never coming close in any previous election.“Very shocked,” the career .289 hitter said on a conference call.Smith, who held the major league record for saves when he retired, was an easy pick when the Today’s Game Era Committee met at the winter meetings.It took 12 votes for election by the 16-member panel — Smith was unanimous, Baines got 12 and former outfielder and manager Lou Piniella fell just short with 11.George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel all received fewer than five votes.Smith and Baines both debuted in Chicago during the 1980 season. Smith began with the Cubs and went on to record 478 saves while Baines started out with the White Sox and had 2,866 hits.Baines had 384 home runs and 1,628 RBIs in a 22-year career — good numbers, but not stacking up against the greats of his day. He never drew more than 6.1 percent in five elections by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, far from the 75 percent required.“I wasn’t expecting this day to come,” the six-time All-Star said.The Hall board-appointed panel included longtime White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.“I’m glad he was on that committee this year to help to get into the Hall of Fame,” Baines said.Reinsdorf praised his former player in a statement. Baines currently serves as a team ambassador in community relations department of the White Sox.“So happy for Harold. He’s a great player and a great human being,” Reinsdorf said. “I am so honored that I was a member of the committee. He deserved to be in long ago. I am just so excited.”“Not only was Harold one of my favorite players to watch, but I have nothing but admiration for him as a player and as a human being,” he said.Tony La Russa, Baines’ first big league manager, also was on the panel that elected him.In the past, Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski were among the players who benefited from friendly faces on Veterans Committees to reach the Hall. That panel has been revamped over the years, and the Today’s Game Era group was created as part of changes in 2014.“The era committees were established as a sort of a court of appeals for an opportunity in the event that over time it was felt that maybe somebody slipped through the cracks,” Hall President Jeff Idelson said. “And in the case of someone who received 6 percent of the vote in the BBWAA election, the reason that may have happened could be for many, many reasons.”Baines Josh Jacobs Oakland Raiders Jersey , now 59, had a smooth, consistent, left-handed stroke. But he never finished higher than ninth in an MVP vote, and never was among the top five AL hitters in the yearly batting race. His single-season high was 29 home runs at a time when lots of players hit more.Smith’s fastball helped him become a seven-time All-Star in an 18-year-old career. Known for his slow trudges from the bullpen to the mound, he owned the saves record when he retired during the 1997 season while with Montreal. Trevor Hoffman and then Mariano Rivera reset the mark.Smith never reached 51 percent in 15 BBWAA elections. Still, he kept believing his day would come.“I’m pretty patient, though, and I think I waited long enough. But it’s sweeter,” he said on a conference call. “You look at those things, well, OK, who’s on the ballot this year? Who’s on the ballot next year? But I’d never, never, never give up hope.“And then when they started with the second-chance ballot, I thought my chances got a little better. This probably today was probably the (most) nervous I’ve been with this Hall of Fame voting thing,” he said.Smith became the seventh pitcher who primarily was a reliever to make the Hall, joining Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm. The 61-year-old has long worked for the San Francisco Giants as a minor league pitching coach and instructor.Baines was a designated hitter for much of his career after knee trouble ended his days in the outfield. DHs have struggled to gain backing from Hall voters. Baines joined Frank Thomas as the only players in the Hall who spent more than half his games as a DH.“Everything I hear or read is DH is really not part of the game, I guess. But I disagree. But maybe this will the open up the doors for some more DHs,” Baines said.Both closers and DHs could see the numbers increase again very shortly.Rivera is eligible for the first time and big-hitting DH Edgar Martinez will be back on the ballot when results of the next BBWAA election are announced Jan. 22.Induction ceremonies are scheduled for July 21 at Cooperstown, New York.Between now and then, there’s certain to be more debate about who else should be in the Hall. Drug-tainted Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are on the upcoming BBWAA ballot, influential players’ union head Marvin Miller has been denied seven times by various committees, and admitted steroids user Mark McGwire wasn’t among Sunday’s candidates.