MLB
With the MLB coming up on the 20 game mark of the season it’s difficult to make decisions on how the season is going to go. One thing appears to be certain and that the National League isn’t going to be happy about it. Through 4 starts this season Jake Arrieta looks better on the mound than he did last season. Arrieta is 4-0 in his 4 starts for the Chicago Cubs. He’s thrown 31 innings giving up 15 hits, 3 earned runs and 2 home runs while walking 6 and striking out 26. That translates to an ERA of 0.87 and a WHIP of 0.68 for Arrueta. On Thursday Arrieta threw his first shutout of the season which just so happened to be a complete game no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. It looked as though Arrieta didn’t have his best stuff when he no-hit Cincinnati. Arrieta issued 4 walks in this start against the Reds while striking out 6 and throwing 119 pitches over 9 innings of no-hit baseball. This is Arrieta’s second no-hitter as a member of the Cubs. On August 30th of last season Arrieta no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in Dodger Stadium. That no-hitter against the Dodgers was part of a Cy Young award winning season for Arrieta. In 2015 Arrieta went 22-6 with an ERA of 1.77. He made 33 starts covering 229 innings with 4 complete games; 3 of those being shutouts. Arrieta also struck out 236 batters last season while walking just 48 and his WHIP was 0.87. Arrieta picked up 17 of a possible 30 1st place votes as he edged out former Dodgers teammates Zack Greinke (2nd) and Clayton Kershaw (3rd) for the N.L. Cy Young award. While we can’t forget that it’s only April, but with the way his season has started off could Arrieta be a back to back Cy young award winner after this season.
On Thursday, Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers threw a 47 pitch bullpen session and things looked like they where on track for him to make his first rehab start on April 26th as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. After the bullpen session Darvish himself was dissatisfied with the fact that not all his pitches where he wanted them to be, especially his curveball and his change-up. After the bullpen session and the dissatisfaction that Darvish showed the Rangers have decided to push his first rehab start back to May 1st. The Rangers will still have Darvish pitch on Thursday, but it will be a longer bullpen session. The Rangers are hoping that Darvish can throw a 60 pitch bullpen session or close to 4 innings total. Even with his first rehab start being pushed back this hasn’t thrown off the timetable for his return to the Rangers if things go well. If Darvish looks ready to go he could return to the Rangers rotation as early as May 16th. If Darvish isn’t ready to go after those 3 rehab starts the Rangers could expand his rehab assignment to a full 30 days and six starts. Texas is off to a 10-7 start and they are tied with the Oakland A’s for 1st place right now. Adding Darvish to a starting rotation that already features a 3-0 Cole Hamels could be the key to another post season appearance for Texas.
Now I was unable to do this in any of my fantasy leagues, but a lot of owners tried to grab Darvish late in their fantasy drafts. They would either have to hide him on their bench until he returns or put him on the disabled list if your league offers that feature. If Darvish returns in May this could turn into a move that might make or break your fantasy season. Depending on where you had to draft Darvish it might be hurting your team right now, but once he returns it’s tough to find an ace through trades or waiver pick ups. In this case you just have to wait for your ace to get healthy.
NFL
The NFL is gearing up for the draft which starts with the 1st round on Thursday. While the draft has taken center stage as far as NFL news goes there was a big move made by the Carolina Panthers.On Wednesday the Panthers removed the franchise tag from cornerback Josh Norman making him and unrestricted free agent. After becoming a free agent it only took Norman 2 days to become the highest paid cornerback in the NFL. On Friday the Washington Redskins announced that they had signed Norman to a 5 year $75 million dollar deal. It’s being reported that $51.1 million dollars in the deal is guaranteed. With an average salary of $15 million dollars a season Norman supplants Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals; who makes $14.01 million dollars a season; as the highest paid cornerback in the NFL.
Norman makes his regular season debut on ESPN’s Monday Night Football September 12th against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Norman and his new Redskins teammates will appear on Monday Night Football again on December 19th; this time against his former Panthers team. On course signing with the Redskins out Norman in the NFC East where he’ll get to match up with New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. twice a year. The Giants host the Redskins on September 25th and then the two teams meet again on New Year’s Day with Washington being the home team.
Norman had a career-high four interceptions with 16 passes defensed and 56 tackles last season for the Panthers last season, but was looking for a long term deal with Carolina. The Panthers had placed the franchise tag on Norman last month, guaranteeing him $13.952 million in 2016. Norman never signed it and was planning to skip at least the first part of off-season workouts, which begin Monday. There are reports that the Panthers made Norman a contract offer of $11 million dollars, but Norman wanted to be paid in the range of $15 to $16 million dollars a season. Carolina never moved off their offer and on Thursday Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman said the Panthers chose to rescind Norman’s franchise tag because of the flexibility the team would have without him counting toward its salary-cap number. With the draft starting Thursday does Carolina have an eye on someone to fill Norman’s role with there defense.
NHL
The San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lighting have advanced to the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs. The Sharks knocked the Los Angeles Kings out of the playoffs winning that series 4 games to 1. The Lighting also won there series 4 games to 1 as they knocked out the Detroit Red Wings. We could see two more series end today. If the Pittsburgh Penguins or the St. Louis Blues pick up victories in their games today they will both win there series and advance to the 2nd round. Then on Sunday we could have three series come to an end. If the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars and New York Islanders all win on Sunday their series will be over and they’ll all move into the 2nd round. Sadly the Kings where my pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup. Is your pick or team still alive?
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