The Sports Note: Heating up
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by user The Sports Note
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Almost more then watching sports, I enjoy reading about various trade rumors. There's nothing more fun then imaging who's going to get who, especially when your team is involved. I spend way, way, way too much time reading about rumors, 99% of which have not a shot in hell of happening. Its around the trade deadline that things start getting crazy. The NFL trade rumor market kinda sucks when it comes to trades because really big ones rarely happen and when they do usually draft picks are involved. The NBA pulls off some big trades now and then (and you can read about one later on in the Note) but its baseball that really captures the attention of sports fans. Baseball's deadline to trade players without putting players through waivers is July 31st, just over a week away. With the deadline so close, rumors are flying all over the place, with a lot of big name players being mentioned. We basically are refreshing MLBTradeRumors.com every five minutes to see whats new out there.
Already we've seen a pretty big deal go down with the eight player trade between the Reds and the Nationals. The Reds gave up a lot in their effort to win the Wild Card this year and only time will tell if they gave up way too much (I think they did). Another NL Wild Card contender, the Braves, made a pretty big move themselves yesterday. The Braves, desperate for a closer, traded a minor league prospect to the Indians in return for Bob Wickman. Now Wickman isn't a B.J. Ryan or a Mariano Rivera, he's more a Todd Jones type. But given what the Braves have been dealing with, he's a significant upgrade. As we noted (we love puns) in yesterday's power rankings, the Braves have been red hot of late, and while they probably aren't going to catch the Mets (barring an epic collapse that's not going to happen) they are well within striking distance of the Reds for the Wild Card. This is a typically smart move by the Braves; addressing a need with a solid trade where they don't give up much rather then a big splashy move. Tip of the cap to the Braves.
Now on to some of the big rumors. Everyone's heard about the Soriano rumors; going to the Angels, the Mariners, the Tigers or even the Yankees, so we won't discuss them right now. Bobby Abreu's name has been out there as well, going to the Tigers or the Yankees, but of note to us is a rumor we hadn't heard before: Abreu (or teammate Pat Burrell) going to the Orioles in exchange for starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez and a prospect. Now we try to be impartial here at the Note (emphasis on try) but we're huge Orioles fans at heart. And speaking as an Oriole fan, I'd trade Lopez and almost any prospect the Orioles have for either Abreu or Burrell any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Having watched Lopez pitch this year numerous times we can honestly say he's medicore at best and rarely is he at his best. The Phillies need starting pitching but the shedding of Burrell or Abreu's big contracts would have to be a primary goal if all they'd get back is Lopez. Frankly the chances of this type of deal happening is slim to none but an O's fan can dream.
The biggest rumor we've seen is one that just popped up on our radar screen: Dontrelle Willis to the Cards in exchange for prospect Colby Ramus, rookie Anthony Reyes and Chris Duncan, with probably another top prospect thrown in. At this point this rumor is far from being verified but it's rumors like this that get our juices flowing. Cards GM Walt Jocketty is under a lot of pressure from the fans to make a big deal, either for a bat or an arm, and this would be a big move in anyone's judgement. Having a Chris Carpenter and a Willis, last years 1 and 2 in the Cy Young voting respectively, starting Games 1 and 2 in a playoff series is about as good as it gets. While the Cards do need a bat in LF, C, and 2B, their rotation has been awful this year, so bad that they added Jeff Weaver (Jeff Weaver!) in hopes of improving things. One thing that confuses us is the argument that the Cards would be giving away their future in this type of deal. Willis is only 24 years old, he's got another 10 years in him at least, not to mention he's under contract for a couple more years. If we were running the Cards, and the Marlins agreed to this deal, we'd do it.
Pacers make a move The Pacers have made a pretty big move, trading for Al Harrington. Harrington was the best free agent still available and the Pacers got him in a sign and trade with the Hawks. Harrington makes is an upgrade over Peja to be quite honest. Jermaine O'Neal, Harrington and Danny Granger is a very good frontline, one of the best in the East. If they could just get a solid point guard who doesn't get injured they'd be in business. I'm not sure this exactly works out but basically the Pacers traded Ron Artest for Harrington and thats a pretty fair trade. Good recovery on the Pacers' part.
Yesterday's Baseball Barry Bonds celebrated not getting indicted by hitting the 722 home run of his career agains the Padres. Bonds' home run was the first of back to back to back home runs hit by the Giants, with Ray Durham following Bonds and Pedro Feliz following Durham. If you were a pitcher and you'd just given up two home runs in a row, wouldn't you be a little more careful about where you threw the ball? Maybe thats just me.
I'm not sure if this happened yesterday but its stil interesting. Did you know that Tony Gwynn, Jr's first Major League hit came 24 years to the day that Tony Gwynn, Sr. got his first Major League hit. Thats a bit eerie, isn't it? (via Ben Maller)
Keep your wife away from this man Patriots coach Bill Belichick will steal your woman. Watch out. Belichick is being accused of being the "other man" in a divorce case in New Jersey:
| Bill Belichick has been named The Other Man in an ugly New Jersey divorce case and the jilted hubby has asked the court to let his lawyers quiz the New England Patriots head coach about his relationship with the missus, a blond fortysomething mother of two.
Vincent Shenocca, a 42-year-old New Jersey construction worker, filed for divorce from his wife, Sharon, a former receptionist with the New York Giants, on the grounds of “extreme mental cruelty.” Shenocca’s court papers say his wife of 10 years “has had a relationship with Bill Belichick for several years” and would not end it, despite her husband’s pleas. “This relationship appears to have blossomed, including more frequent telephone calls, and (Mrs. Shenocca’s) receipt of large sums of money and expensive gifts from Mr. Belichick, which she has used to purchase expensive clothing, pocketbooks, watches, a treadmill and maid service, most of which she initially hid from (her husband),” the New Jersey court papers say. Shenocca told his wife “that he did not feel comfortable with her receipt of expensive gifts and large sums of money from Mr. Belichick,” the papers continue, but she “refused to consider (his) feelings and has continued her relationship with Mr. Belichick.” |
Who would have thunk it? The guy only wears cut off sweatshirts on the sideline and, from all reports, is obsessed with his job and football yet he still has the time to woo a woman away from her husband. He's quite the ladies man I guess. And here I thought it was Tom Brady who got the chicks.
More on Shea Hillenbrand Things are taking a turn towards crazy town. We wrote yesterday about Hillenbrand being designated for assignment by the Blue Jays and now some more details are coming out about the whole situation. Like the fact that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons apparently challenged Hillenbrand to a fight. This after Hillenbrand had written on a clubhouse chalk board "This ship is sinking". MLBTradeRumors.com (an invaluable resource if you haven't noticed from our constant references to them) has an inside source that says the whole thing went down like this:
| "It seems Hillenbrand and a few (word is two) of his teammates were being mischievious during yesterday's workout. Gibbons stormed in the clubhouse like an old den-mother and demanded the pranksters reveal themselves.
Just Hillenbrand stepped forward. Gibbons blew a gasket. Everyone's face hung open. Gibb told Hill to take a shower and leave (on his first day back from adopting a kid). As the team left for the field, Hill still suited-up and paced in the clubhouse, not knowing what to do. Until an in-house courier hand delivered his walking papers. He then left." |
No one has come out of this thing looking very good and at this point it probably is best that they are going to be parting ways. John Gibbons is on the hot seat, given the amount of money the Blue Jays shelled out in the off season, and if the guy is now challenging players to fights, well clearly the pressure is getting to him a bit.
Odds and Ends Myspace will be the end of all of us, I'm afraid. I'm ashamed to say I myself have a Myspace page but don't hold that against me. Anyway Kentucky has self-reported a possible NCAA violation because KY basketball fans were writing on a potential recruit's Myspace page trying to get him to go to the school. Kids these days.
Date
Sat 07/22/06, 10:48 am EST
