The_SportsGuy

MLB Trade Deadline

2009-07-31T22:51:00.006-05:00

So, today was the trade deadline and some unexpected trades went down. Lets look at what all happened.

The Red Sox acquired catcher Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price. Also, the Red Sox acquired first baseman Casey Kotchman from the Atlanta Braves for first baseman Adam LaRoche and cash. -- Good trade for both. The Braves got the better player but the Red Sox wanted a bench player. LaRoche was to good to be sitting on the bench so they got some extra cash out of him. This is kind of a weird trade because this is kind of like the Church, Francoeur deal but the Braves are on the other side of the deal. They got a power hitter for a better average guy. You dont see many of these one guy for one guy trades anymore but the Braves have done it twice. I think its kind of funny how LaRoche was in Boston for a total of 9 days. The Red Sox acquired him from the Pirates on July 22 and then traded him July 31. Adam just cant find a team.

The White Sox acquired pitcher Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres for pitchers Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Dexter Carter, and Adam Russell. -- WOW! I did not see this one coming! Jake Peavy is a great pitcher and although he's been on the DL I think he'll be just as good when he comes back, which will be soon. I ChiSox made a good move here.

The Reds acquired third baseman Scott Rolen from the Toronto Blue Jays for pitchers Josh Roenicke, Zachary Stewart and third baseman Edwin Encarnacion. -- Woah.. I've heard some people saying the Reds made a good move here but I disagree. Scott Rolen is old. He doesn't have many years left. Yes, he has better stats, but the Reds need to look to the future, and Rolen wont be there in the future, he'll be retired. Do they think they have a shot this year? Encarnacion has potential. I would have kept him. Not to mention the Reds lost two decent pitchers.

The Marlins aqcuired first baseman Nick Johnson and cash from the Nationals for a pitching prospect, left-hander Aaron Thompson. -- Very good pick up for the Florida Marlins. I guess for the Nationals it doesnt really matter what they do at this time. It will be a while before they contend. But the Marlins should be very excited about having another bat in the line up. Its just what they needed. I dont think they could have made a better move. Watch out for the Marlins, they're already hot and this is just going to make them hotter.

Well I'm not going to go through and comment on every trade but heres the rest of the trades from today:

The Rockies acquired pitcher Joe Beimel and cash from the Washington Nationals for pitchers Ryan Mattheus and Robinson Fabian.

The Tigers acquired pitcher Jarrod Washburn from the Seattle Mariners for pitchers Luke French and Mauricio Robles.

The Dodgers acquired catcher Vinny Rottino from the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Claudio Vargas.

The Yankees acquired infielder Jerry Hairston Jr. from the Cincinnati Reds for catcher Chase Weems.

The A's traded shortstop Orlando Cabrera to the Minnesota Twins for shortstop Tyler Ladendorf.

The Rays caimed catcher Jose Lobaton from the San Diego Padres.

Well there you have it. The day in review. And after all that Halladay goes nowhere, remaining in Toronto. So many wasted words. I think it was the smart thing to do for them though. Wow this was a long post! Congratulations if you read all of it and thank you very much! See you around.

Big Papi

2009-07-30T14:22:00.002-05:00

David Ortiz has been said to also be on the list from the players who tested positive in 2003 for performance enhancing drugs. We all remember A-Rod getting busted at the beginning of the year, I'm thinking when Big Papi heard about this he knew his name was on the list so he stopped using performance enhancing drugs which was the cause of his rough start to the year. He's doing better now though, maybe he started again after seeing his results? Anyways, the point is he's already used them. I'm tired of just these little suspensions for players who have cheated. I want them banned. I know they're big names and big money makers but it's rediculous what they get away with. Heck, if I was in the MLB and knew how much of a difference PED's would make on my career stats I might use them if I knew I'd only have to miss 50 career games because of it. I say I want them banned from baseball but I don't know if my view would change if someone from my team that I rooted for got caught but seeing this clearly right now its the right thing to do.

Buehrle sets a record

2009-07-28T21:26:00.004-05:00

OK, so it wasnt the big back to back perfect games or no hitter everybody was talking about, although he did get close to that. Buehrle had a perfect game through 5 2/3 innings. But then he walked a batter, then let up a hit, and then a run. So, he had nothing. But, he DID set a record.
Mark Buehrle retired 45 straight batters beating the old record of 41 batters set by Jim Barr back in 1972. I dont care what team you go for, you have to have respect for this guy.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4362558

NFL Troubles and more

2009-07-28T10:18:00.005-05:00

OK, so the ruling has come for Michael Vick. He'll have to miss the first 5 weeks of the season to finish up his punishment for dog fighting. He can take part in pre season training though. But who's going to sign him? I don't want him on my team, the Titans, although I do think he could work very well. He's basically like a better Vince Young. They both have a little character problems. I think he will find a team this year but I dont think he will start. I'm fine with him coming back to the NFL now, he served the time he was assigned, not saying I agree with the length of time he served though but thats in the past. I'll have to wait and hear how he does in the preseason to see if he's still as good as he used to be after being away for so long before I decide if he can be a starter or not. Whichever team does pick him up will be gambling though and taking a risk.

More trouble in the NFL. Plaxico Burress is going to jail. He got caught last year with an unregistered gun. He could get up to 3 1/2 years. OK, well I want him to go to jail, but 3 1/2 years is too much. Yeah, he had an unregistered gun, but he didnt use it on anyone (except himself on accident). Vick actually killed living things and only got 1 1/2 years. I'd say Burress should get 1 year.

Now, you cant talk about the NFL without talking about Brett Favre!! Whats there to talk about though? He still hasnt made up his mind. Anyways, I'm sure Vikings fans care much more about this subject than I do so I'll let them talk about it. If he comes back, I'll say Vikings make the playoffs, if he doesn't, I'll say Vikings still make the playoffs, but lose 1 or 2 more games. Either way I don't see them winning the Super Bowl next year, but they are getting better. The only thing that interests me with Brett Favre is that if he does sign with the Vikings he'll get to play his old team, the Green Bay Packers. Now that's a game I'll have to watch!

Some small MLB updates... 4 grand slams in one day, 2 by one Josh Willingham of the Nationals. Almost equally as impressive was a walk off grand slam by the Cubs Alfonso Soriano. And the last one was a pinch hit grand slam by the team with the least home runs in the MLB, Fernando Tatis of the New York Mets. Also something that caught my eye was Tim Lincecum pitching a complete game with no earned runs and 15 strike outs. Man that kid is good! But Wait! Speaking of good pitchers, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox threw a Perfect Game against the Rays! As if the perfect game part wasn't already impressive enough he did it against one of the best hitting teams in baseball. WOW! Only the 18th in baseball history or something? He got a well deserved call from the President of the United States. Way to go Mark!

Anything else? Just ask me any questions you have! Thanks for reading!

Blog Updated

2009-07-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

Alright, got my blog looking a little nicer. Time to start blogging again, but this time I think I'm giong to make my blogs a little shorter, easier for you to read and easier for me to type, and hopefully I'll be able to update more often now. Thanks for reading!

What A Week

2009-06-28T13:06:00.005-05:00

Well, well, well, what a week! Lets break it down, short and simple.

The week started off with the finishing up of the U.S. Open. People held their breath as it came down to the wire. Everybody was sure the winner would either be Ricky Barnes or Lucas Glover who led the pack by a large margin. But, they began to struggle and a few got hot. Phil Mickelson tried his best to win his first U.S. Open after being tied for the most runner ups all time at 4. It looked all to familiar as Phil began to struggle on the final holes and blew any chance he had of winning. In the end Lucas Glover won it all and Phil took his 5th runner up spot along with David Duval and Ricky Barnes.

Next up was the NBA Draft. What a hectic day. People in New York waited and hoped that they would hear their team get the player they wanted, Stephen Curry. BUT, with the pick right before the Knicks the Golden State Warriors drafted Curry and there were boos everywhere. The Knicks ended up getting Jordan Hill. The Warriors have made it clear that they drafted Curry to keep Curry and they do not plan on trading him. So, the Knicks looked at another PG that might be willing to be traded. Spains Ricky Rubio. Rubio was drafted 5th by the Timberwolves who took another PG in Jonny Flynn with their next pick. Rubio didn't seem to happy. Shortly after Ricky's dad came out and said it was likely that Ricky would stay in Spain to play another year or two. But now the Knicks are trying to get him guarentee him playing time. Some were confused by the Timberwolves picks of 3 PGs in the first round but their third pick, Ty Lawson, was shortly after traded to the Nuggets. So now they still had two. Maybe they anticipated Ricky wanting to stay in Spain so got Flynn as a back up? I'm sure there will be more news on this subject next week. Oh, and I guess I should also mention Blake Griffin going number 1 to the Clippers.

There was plenty of other news in the NBA besides the draft. There were many transactions. The first one huge. Shaq is going to the Cavaliers. I think this a huge trade. We all saw how great the Cavaliers were last year and were shocked when they didn't even make it to the Finals. But now they have Shaq. Shaq averages much better statistics than the Cavs previous centers. I think we'll see another great season for the Cavs next year but this time, they're going to the Finals. Also, it has been decided Shaq will wear #33 on the Cavs just like he did in high school and LSU.

But wait! Who says its going to be easy for the Cavs. Not the Magic. They made a trade of their own to try and better their chances at a return to the Finals. The Magic acquired Vince Carter from the Nets for Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee. Again, another huge trade. Great trade for both teams in my opinion. However, the day after the Magic got big man Vince Carter, their other big man, Hedo Turkoglu, announced he would try the free agent market. He says he'd like to stay with the Magic but needs some more money, something it'd be very hard to do for the Magic after paying Vince Carter alot. I'm looking forward to a great race in the East again between the Cavs and Magic and of course, the Celtics, who now have KG back. However, Rondo and Ray Allan may be on the move. We'll see how that works later on.

A day after the NBA Draft came the NHL Draft. Unlike the NBA Draft, where we knew who was going first, the New York Islanders kept it a secret to whom they were going to pick. No one knew until it was announced. They ended up taking John Tavares from London. You can read more about the NHL Draft in one of my previous posts.

Back to trades for a moment. Nothing much happened in the MLB but yesterday the Cleveland Indians traded infielder Mark DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night for reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later. Albert Pujols was already giving DeRosa tips a few minutes after he arrived in St. Louis. These two will make a great duo. DeRosa has finished his first game with the Cardinals now but went hitless, but things will change soon.

One man did get a hit. Manny Ramirez, who had gone hitless in the AAA, hit a home run in his first at bat in Class A. ManRam went 2-2 with a walk before leaving after the fifth inning. I think he's finally getting his groove back and getting ready to return to the MLB after his 50 game suspension.

Heres something I haven't posted or tweeted about. This last week was All Decades Week. Players who have been outstanding throughout all or most of this decade were rewarded for their hard work. This list included: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ladainian Tomlinson, and many more. I don't want to list all 25 of these top players here, so instead I'll just give you the link. http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcwest/0-9-301/Best-of-the-best--Top-25-players-this-decade.html.

Tennis anyone? Theres been alot of upsets at Wimbledon this year. Two of the big ones include Sabine Lisicki of Germany beating two-time major champion and fifth seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and 17 year old American Melanie Oudin beating six seed and former number one seed Jelena Jankovic. These two young girls have bright futures ahead of them. While there were some upsets many big names moved on. Both the Williams sisters moved on and it looks there there is a good possibility that we will see another Williams sister final. Both have been playing amazing tennis. Home favorite Andy Murray has moved on into the fourth round and also American favorite Andy Roddick has moved on. Good luck guys.

Lastly, the U.S. Mens soccer dream at winning the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup ended today after a crushing defeat by Brazil. The end score was 3-2. Americans had their hopes up as they watched their team go up 2-0 in the first half. Everybody thought surely they couldn't blow this lead. They were playing so well! But Brazil came out hot and score within the first few minutes of the second half. Everybody in the U.S. was on the edge of their seets as Brazil had shot after shot and Tim Howard made amazing saves. But in the end, Brazil gave it all they had and ended up scoring three straight goals. It was a great game and both teams should be proud. Clint Dempsey (9) and Landon Donovan (26) of the U.S. had goals and Luis Fabiano (46, 73) and Lucio (83) of Brazil scored goals.

I hate to end on a sad note but there has been many deaths this week, something you never want to hear. I would like to send my prayers out to the families of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Ed McMahon. They come in threes as people always say, but this time, its been in four. Rest In Peace all of you. You will be missed.

Thank you for reading. Dont forget to stay updated by following me on Twitter @The_SportsGuy

Day In Review

2009-06-26T21:45:00.000-05:00

Well alot happened today so I decided I'd just make one big post to let it all out.

First off, after the big NBA draft yesterday another draft went underway today. The NHL draft took place today in Montreal and actually is still going on as I write. The first round has just ended and some questions have been answered. The New York Islanders kept it a secret who they were going to pick first. But now we know. The top 10 in the NHL draft were as follows:

1) Islanders - John Tavares
2) Lightning - Victor Hedman
3) Avalanche - Matt Duchene
4) Thrashers - Evander Kane
5) Kings - Brayden Schenn
6) Coyotes - Oliver Ekman Larsson
7) Maple Leafs - Nazem Kadri
8) Stars - Scott Glennie
9) Senators - Jared Cowen
10) Oilers - Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson

Congratulations to everyone who has been drafted. Good luck next year.

Other news in the NHL, the Philidelphia Flyers acquired defenseman Chris Pronger and prospect Ryan Dingle from the Anaheim Ducks for forward Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Luca Sbisa, first-round picks in 2009 and 2010 and a conditional third-round pick in 2010 or 2011. Pronger had 11 goals and 37 assists in 82 games last season, is going into the final year of a contract that will pay him $6.25 million next season.

There has been alot of gossip around the NBA after the draft yesterday. Tension is high as teams try to get the players they think can help their team get that much closer the NBA title. Fifth pick Ricky Rubio seems to be in the spotlight. Will he stay or will he go? And if he stays where will he play? Somewhere not so cold perhaps? Rubio didn't seem to happy when the Timberwolves used their next pick after they chose him to choose another point guard. He wants to make sure he gets to play if he's going to stay in the U.S. to play. After the draft Rickys dad said he wasn't sure if Ricky would stay here to play and that he might go back to Spain to play another year, or maybe even two. Maybe Ricky just doesnt like Minnesota? He says its "too cold" and that his mom doesn't like the cold. New York has shown interest in Rubio though to fill the spot that they thought they would fill with Stephen Curry. Yes its cold, but he's guarenteed playing time. I'm sure there will be more on Rubio tomorrow.

So Rubio might be traded but one thing we know for sure is Stephen Curry will stay in the Golden State for sure. Coach Don Nelson made it clear he wanted to keep the sharp shooting guard and they didn't draft him to trade him.

"He can unpack his bags and relax," Nelson said. "He can buy a house. We drafted him because we think he's a terrific player that fits right into our program. He ain't going anyplace."

So Curry may be staying in the same place but one man is looking to be on the move. Today Hedo Turkoglu officially announced that he will try the free agent market. This happened the day after the Magic traded for big man Vince Carter. Turkoglu says he would like to stay with the Magic but it looks like he is going for a big raise. He will probably get alot of money after helping lead the Magic to the NBA Finals last season.

Also looking to help lead a team to the NBA Finals is Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq is looking to give the Cavs that extra boost they need to make it to the NBA Finals after getting so close last year. It has been decided that Shaq will wear number 33. Shaq wore this number in high school and at LSU.

So enough of the NBA, lets move on to the MLB. Big Papi appears to be back. David Ortiz hit yet another home run today. Ortiz is hitting .333 over his last 17 games, with seven homers and 14 RBIs. This is a good sign for Boston. Another big home run was hit by Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod hit his 564th career home run to pass Reggies Jackson to become 11th all time. He is now 5 home runs from Rafael Palmeiro. In this subway series game the Mets fell behind fast making 3 errors in 1 inning. Who would have thought it was the Mets defense that costed them a game with 3 out of 4 of their main hitters on the DL. Not good.

In other news Roger Federer and Serena Williams both won their matches in Wimbledon today. Federer is looking to win it all as Rafael Nadal is not playing in this tournament. It looks like there might be another Williams sister finals match this year on the womans side. Remember to watch the US play Brazil in the FIFA 2009 Confederations Cup Final on Sunday.

That's all I can think of. I probably missed something but if I think of anything I'll just post a quick update on Twitter. You can find my twitter page by clicking the link over on the right hand side of my blog. Thanks for reading!!

NBA Draft Follow Up

2009-06-25T23:19:00.000-05:00

The second round of the 2009 NBA Draft is over and I think I'm done covering it. There were a few big names in the second round I expected to see in the first round. Heres a list of some of them:

36) Grizzlies - Sam Young
37) Spurs - DeJuan Blair
41) Bucks - Jodie Meeks
44) Pistons - Chase Budinger
48) Suns - Taylor Griffin

I really expected Sam Young and DeJuan Blair to go in the first round. Blair might not have gotten the extra cash from being a first round pick but he landed a good deal and got on a great team. I think he'll be happy there and the Spurs will be happy to have him.

I also thought Chase Budinger had a chance at going in the first round. He was drafted by the Pistons with the 44th pick but was later traded to the Houston Rockets.

If I was Jodie Meeks I would have waited another year to try out the draft. I think if he had stayed another year at Kentucky, which now how John Calipari for their coach, he would have moved way up in the draft. Im talking definite first round, maybe top 10. He is a great player and the Bucks really landed a great one there. Not sure if it was the best for Meeks though.

And of course the number 1 picks, Blake Griffin, brother went to the Phoenix Suns at number 48. Blake said he was worried about his brother but was very excited when he heard his name called. Its always nice to see siblings in the same league. I think having his little brother becoming better than him will give Taylor a little extra push and make him a better player. It will be fun to watch.

Griffin Goes First

2009-06-25T21:35:00.000-05:00

The first round of the 2009 NBA Draft is over. Heres how it went down.

1) Clippers - Blake Griffin
2) Grizzlies - Hasheem Thabeet
3) Thunder - James Harden
4) Kings - Tyreke Evans
5) Timberwolves - Ricky Rubio
6) Timberwolves - Jonny Flynn
7) Warriors - Stephen Curry
8) Knicks - Jordan Hill
9) Raptors - DeMar DeRozan
10) Bucks - Brandon Jennings
11) Nets - Terrence Williams
12) Bobcats - Gerald Henderson
13) Pacers - Tyler Hansbrough
14) Suns - Earl Clark
15) Pistons - Austin Daye
16) Bulls - James Johnson
17) 76ers - Jrue Holiday
18) Timberwolves - Ty Lawson
19) Hawks - Jeff Teague
20) Jazz - Eric Maynor
21) Hornets - Darren Collison
22) Trail Blazers - Victor Claver
23) Kings - Omri Casspi
24) Mavericks - B.J. Mullens
25) Thunder - Rodrigue Beaubois
26) Bulls - Taj Gibson
27) Grizzlies - DeMarre Carroll
28) Timberwolves - Wayne Ellington
29) Knicks - Toney Douglas
30) Cavaliers - Christian Eyenga

We all knew Griffin would go first and most figured Thabeet would go next. I don't think anyone saw James Harden going third. We'll have to see if the Thunder knew what they were doing there. Another highlight was the Timberwolves selecting 3 Point Guards with their 4 first round picks. I'm not sure what they plan on doing with all of them. The crowd exploded when the Golden State Warriors, who had the pick right before the New York Knicks, selected Stephen Curry, whom the Knicks wanted very badly. The Knicks still got a great player in Jordan Hill but I don't think the crowd knew it as he's not well known. Don't worry though Knick fans, you'll learn to love him. A few notable players who didn't go in the first round include DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Chase Budinger.

Along with the draft comes trades. The two big trades have been Shaquille O'Neal to the Cavaliers and the Nets traded Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson to the Magic for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee. I think the Nets got the better deal there. What do you think?

The First Blog

2009-06-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. Here I will post updates every now and then on updates in the world of sports and what I think about them. Im looking forward to getting this started. I hope it goes well. Thanks for your support!