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Vs. Series (Centerfield)

Posted: March 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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Today we take a look at the four players who will man centerfield for our shared city teams. Today will start with the Chicago teams.

Adam Eaton is the Chicago White Sox centerfielder and he’s the engine that makes this team go. The problem with that is Eaton was injured quite a bit last season playing in 123 games last season, but that was his season high total for games. Eaton hit .300 on the nose and led the American League in triples with 10. Eaton is 26 years old and came over to the White Sox as part of a three team trade in December of 2013. Here’s what the trade worked out to be. The Chicago White Sox sent Hector Santiago to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Chicago White Sox sent a player to be named later to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim sent a player to be named later and Mark Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent Tyler Skaggs to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim sent A.J. Schugel to the Arizona Diamondbacks to complete the trade. The Chicago White Sox sent Brandon Jacobs to the Arizona Diamondbacks to complete the trade. If Eaton can stay healthy and hit like he did last season he seems to be the speed type of player the White Sox need at the top of their line up.

The Chicago Cubs went out and traded with the Houston Astros for Dexter Fowler in January of this year. In return for Fowler the Astros received Dan Straily and Luis Valbuena.. Fowler is 28 years old and entering his 8th season in the majors. Fowler is a career .271 hitter and has a season high batting average of .300 in 2012 with the Colorado Rockies. Fowler has put up double-digit totals in steals every season in the majors; he had 11 last season with the Astros and has a career high of 27 in 2009 with the Rockies. Fowler played in 116 games due to some injuries, Not known as a power hitter Fowler had just 8 home runs. Fowler has what the experts call plus range in the outfield; he committed 5 errors last season and had a fielding percentage of .980. Moving to a smaller ballpark like Wrigley Field should improve Fowler’s defensive numbers. With any Cubs veteran player you have to wonder if Fowler is a long-term solution in centerfield or if he’s just holding the spot for one of the many Cubs prospects.

We’re choosing between two good defenders who both have speed, but not a lot of power. While they are very equal and it’s a close decision; I’m going with Eaton because he’s that top of the order spark a team needs.

The New York Mets have turned their centerfield job over to Juan Lagares. This is 3rd season with the Mets and if he’s going to break out I’m sure the Mets are hoping this is the season he does it. Lagares has shown he can play defense at the major league level as he was awarded the Gold Glove as a centerfielder last season. Lagares had 293 putouts with 6 assists and committed 5 errors for a fielding percentage of .984. In 2013 Lagares led all National League outfielders with 14 assists. At the plate Lagares batting average jumped from .242 in 2014 to .281 last season. Lagares stolen bases jumped from 6 in 2013 to 13 last season and you wonder if Lagares could double his total this season and end up among the league leaders in that category. Lagares will have to improve on his 1 walk to every 4.35 strikeouts ratio from last season. A lot of experts think the Mets can contend for a wild card spot this season and they’ll need improvement from Lagares if they’re going to grab a playoff spot.

Jacoby Ellsbury has always been considered one of the top outfielders in the American League even with his injury history. There where no injury issues for Ellsbury last season as he played in 149 games for the New York Yankees and while his power numbers went up his other numbers went down. Ellsbury hit 16 home runs in 2014; it was the 2nd time he’s reached double-digit home runs in a season. He had 32 home runs in 2011 with the Boston Red Sox. Ellsbury hit .271 last season for the Yankees, but is a .293 career hitter. Ellsbury had 70 RBI’s and added 39 stolen bases. Ellsbury has always been a threat to steal a bag as he’s led the A.L. three times in stolen bases. Ellsbury had a fielding percentage of .997 last season and committed just 1 error as a centerfield. Ellsbury has always been considered a good defender and did win a Gold Glove after the 2011 season. A healthy Ellsbury is a key to any success the Yankees might have in 2015 and with the AL East wide open he’ll become more of a factor.

An easier choice for me among the New York centerfielders as I’ll take the former MVP candidate Ellsbury over the player who still has a lot to prove in Lagares.

Tomorrow we’ll move over to rightfield for our match ups.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Vs. Series (Leftfield)

Posted: March 15, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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The Vs. Series moves to the outfield today as we match up leftfielders from our shared city teams. I think this is the first platoon situation we’ve run into during this series. Let’s start today’s match ups in Chicago.

One of the Chicago White Sox big off-season signings was a leftfielder. Melky Cabrera was signed to a three year $42 million dollar contract to be their everyday leftfielder. The White Sox will be Cabrera’s 6th major league team. He started with the New York Yankees, then went to the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants before spending the last two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. Cabrera is a career .286 hitter and hit .301 with the Blue Jays last season. Never a big home run hitter, but Cabrera did hit 16 home runs for Toronto last season. That was his 2nd highest season total after the 18 he hit in 2011 with the Royals. Cabrera had 13 assists in 133 games in leftfield last season while committing only 2 errors and posting a fielding percentage of .992; just a little above his career fielding percentage of .989. Cabrera was a well received signing by experts and White Sox fans; so will see if it pay off.

For the Cubs it looks like they’re going with a platoon of Chris’ in leftfield. Either Coghlan or Denorfia should be in leftfield. Coghlan the former 2009 Rookie of the Year with the then Florida Marlins should get the majority of at bats since he’s the left-handed hitting part of the platoon. After some injuries and other struggles Coghlan had a bounce back season for the Cubs in 2014 hitting .283 in 125 games. Coghlan did tie his career high in home runs with 9 while adding 28 doubles and 5 triples in 2014.  Denorfia has a reputation for hitting left-handed pitching and that’s what the Cubs will ask him to do. Denorfia had a down year hitting .230 with the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners last season. His career batting average is .272 and the Cubs are hoping for a season closer to that number from Denorfia. The Cubs aren’t going to get a lot of power out of leftfield as Denorfia has only reached double-digit home runs once in his career; he hit 10 home runs in 2013 with the Padres. It’s two solid major league players splitting time; so this looks like it should work out for the Cubs.

Comparing the position between both of the Chicago teams I think you have to take Melky Cabrera over the platoon of Chris Coghlan and Chris Denorfia.

The New York Mets made what I believe was the first free agent signing of the baseball off-season when they inked Michael Cuddyer to a two year $21 million dollar deal. Cuddyer is penciled in as the everyday leftfielder for the Mets. Cuddyer was limited to 49 games with the Colorado Rockies last season due to injury, but he still posted a .332 batting average. Remember Cuddyer is coming off of winning the National League batting title in 2013 with an average of .331. Cuddyer is a career .279 hitter and the Mets will see if being moved out of playing home games at Coors Field will bring his average back to that level. Cuddyer has only played nine career games in leftfield, but has 907 career games in the outfield where he has a fielding percentage of .986. I’m guessing the Mets didn’t sign Cuddyer for his defense, but hopefully for a bat that can help David Wright out in the line up.

Brett Gardner is the New York Yankees everyday leftfielder. Gardner is coming off of a down year where his batting average fell to .256 a little below his career batting average of .265, but down 17 points from his 2014 average of .273. Gardner did post a career high in home runs last season with 17 and is still a threat on the base paths. Gardner stole 21 bases in 26 attempts last season and led the American League with 49 steals in 2011 and has a career total of 182 steals. Gardner is an above average fielder posting a .992 fielding percentage last season making just two errors in leftfield in 2014. Gardner did just have three assists last season; so that either means he has a great arm and teams don’t run on him or he has a weak arm and doesn’t throw anyone out. A bounce back year out of Garner is a key for the Yankees to compete in an AL East that looks like it might be up for grabs.

This is a tough choice here. Cuddyer has had the better numbers the last few seasons, but that was in Colorado. Gardner is five years younger and has more experience in leftfield. A tough decision here, but I think I’m taking Brett Gardner.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the centerfield position for these four teams.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: March 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports
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The NHL awards the Hart Trophy to its MVP and I thought we’d take a look at some of the contenders to win the award are. Pretty much any MVP conversation can start with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Crosby is 3rd in the NHL with 70 points; 23 goals and 47 assists. The Penguins are 39-18-10 and have 88 points and they are currently 3rd in the Metropolitan division. Crosby is still the best player in the NHL and barring injury he should always be included in any M.V.P. talk. Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks is close to having the best year of his NHL career. Getzlaf has 63 points on the season; 22 goals and 41 assists through 67 games. The Ducks have the most points in the NHL with 93 and a record of 43-20-7. There are some people who think Getzlaf doesn’t belong in the M.V.P. conversation, but the best player on the best team is always a contender to win the award. You’d have to think that New York Islanders Center John Tavares would be in the MVP talk. Tavares leads the NHL in points with 72; 33 goals and 39 assists. The Islanders have 90 points with a record of 43-23-4 and are in 2nd place in the Metropolitan division, but are just one point out of 1st.  Being the leagues leading point getter will get you votes and your team going to the playoffs doesn’t hurt either; so look for Tavares to get some MVP votes. How about Washington Capitals Left Wing  Alex Ovechkin for MVP Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 45 and has added 26 assists for a season total of 71 points just one behind Tavares for the league lead. While Ovechkin may not have the name value that Crosby does, but he’s a name people will recognize. Ovechkin has had a couple of down seasons; well down for him and has bounced back this season. Washington is holding on to one of the Eastern conference wild card spots and you have to wonder if the Capitals don’t make the playoffs if voters would consider Ovechkin for MVP Let’s look at one more MVP candidate and it’s a Goalie. There are people who think goalies shouldn’t win this award, but I have to tell you if I had a vote it would go to Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Rinne did miss a little time with an injury, but he’s 36-14-3 in the net with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.09 a Save Percentage of .927 and has three shutouts. The Predators are 42-20-7 and tied for 1st place in the Central division of the Western conference with 91 points. I think Rinne should get some votes because I’m not sure the Predators are a playoff team with him. Here’s five more players that should be in the MVP conversation and might pick up some votes for the award. 1) Rick Nash, New York Rangers. 2) Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens. 3) Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals. 4) Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers. 5) let’s throw out another goaltender; Carey Price, Montréal Canadiens. As the N.H.L. regular season comes to an end will one of these players set up and win this award or will someone who’s not even mentioned here surprise voters and find a way to become MVP

Now I understand when you’re running a NFL organization you have a salary cap to deal with, but if you’re a fan of the New Orleans Saints are you wondering what their team is doing. Your off-season starts off by bringing Mark Ingram back; you’d think that’s a good start. They add a defensive lineman in Tyrunn Walker; solid move the defense needs help. Linebacker Curtis Lofton is released. I think they said failed physical, but there were salary cap reasons involved. They also terminated the contract of running back Pierre Thomas. While they released a couple of players that had some service time with them not anything earth shattering. Then they send Jimmy Graham and a 4th round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Max Unger and Seattle’s #1 pick which is 31st in the upcoming draft. While they got a quality player back in Unger; he did have some injury issues and picking at #31 doesn’t guarantee you’ll land a star player. You gave up one of the top tight ends in the NFL It’s clear that Graham and Rob Gronkowski have separated themselves from the other tight ends in the NFL Did they get enough in return for Graham besides moving his salary. The next move saw the Saints send two time Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs to the Kansas City Chief for a 2015 5th round draft pick. Grubbs did have a down year in 2014 and the Saints wanted him to take a pay cut, but when they couldn’t agree he was dealt. In another deal the Saints sent wide receiver Kenny Stills to the Miami Dolphins for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a 2015 third-round pick. Then the Saints added a free agent as they signed running back C.J. Spiller to a four year $18 million dollar deal. Spiller is a former 1st round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills who at times showed flashes of brilliance, but never turned into the every down back the Bills had hoped he would. He’s battled some injuries throughout his career, but the Saints offense looks like it should be a good fit for him. So it looks like the Saints are going to rely on the running game  Ingram, Spiller and Khiry Robinson working in the backfield together, but who is Drew Brees throwing the football to. Marques Colston and Brandin Cooks look to be the top receivers on the roster. Will Nick Toon get a look as the 3rd wideout or is there a free agent out their the Saints might try to sign. Josh Hill and Benjamin Watson are the tight ends on the roster, but they are down grades from Graham. Brees is 35 years old and you have to wonder how many more seasons he’ll have as an elite quarterback. The Saints added some draft picks and may have saved some money or made some salary cap room, but did they improve is the question.

Most experts have already picked the Washington Nationals as the best team in Major League Baseball even though we’re only a week plus into spring training. With their returning roster and the addition of big time pitching free agent Max Schrezer the Nationals look great on paper, but remember they don’t play the games on paper. What;s the one thing that can derail a teams World Series dreams very quickly? Injuries and the Nationals are piling them up. Here’s what the nationals are dealing with right now; Anthony Rendon’s sprained left medial collateral ligament and Drew Storen’s hamate bone joined Yunel Escobar’s strained oblique, Jayson Werth’s surgically repaired right shoulder and Denard Span’s recently repaired core. Is this just a fluke or they way the Nationals season will go.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

Vs. Series (3rd Base)

Posted: March 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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We wrap up the infield position in New York and Chicago by looking at the players who will be manning the hot corner for the 2015 season. Let’s start in New York with this position.

The New York Yankees signed Chase Headley to a four year $52 million dollar deal to come back and play 3rd base for them. Even with Alex Rodriquez done with his suspension Headley is the Yankees everyday 3rd baseman. Headley was traded by the San Diego Padres with cash to the New York Yankees for Rafael De Paula (minors) and Yangervis Solarte in July of last season. Headley played in 58 games for the Yankees and hit.262 with 6 home runs. I don;t think Headley will get back to his 2012 power numbers when he hit 31 home runs and drove in 115 runs, but if he can get back into the 20’s with homers and maybe 80 plus RBI’s. I’m sure the Yankees would take that. Headley is a very solid defender and actually leads all active players with the highest fielding percentage at 3rd base with .967 over his eight year career.

For the Mets it’s David Wright at 3rd base; who else would it be. Wright is entering his 12th season with the Mets, but is coming off his lowest career home run total of eight. Wright has battled some injuries which helped his numbers drop, but the Mets are looking for a bounce back season from the player they call “Captain America”. Even Wright’s defense struggled last season; he did commit just 15 errors last season, but his fielding percentage was .954 his lowest fielding percentage number since 2011. Wright has won two Gold Gloves at 3rd base and a return to that defensive form would help the Mets playoff chances quite a bit. Wright’s streak of seven consecutive All-Star appearances ended last season. Wright hit .269 in 2014 which is a down season for him, but Wright ranks 15th among all active players in batting average at .298.

Both New York teams have veteran 3rd baseman, but as always I have to try to settle on just one. I think I’m more of a believer in Wright having a bounce back 2015 season; so I’ll go with him.

I’m not sure how many people know this, but Conor Gillaspie is starting his 3rd season as the White Sox full-time 3rd baseman. He played 113 games at 3rd base in 2013 and then 127 games last season. After being traded by the San Francisco Giants to the White Sox for Jeff Soptic in February of 2013 Gillaspie has filled a void for them. His batting average improved to .282 last season, but he’ll never be a power hitter with just seven home runs last season; he did hit 13 hoe runs in 2013. Gillaspie 16 errors where the lowest among American League 3rd baseman in 2013 and his total was down last season when he committed just 12 errors in a 127 games at 3rd base. Gillaspie had a fielding percentage of .961 and was involved in 26 double plays last season. The question will always be can Gillaspie provide enough offense for a championship team.

The question with the Chicago Cubs is who is the opening day 3rd baseman. The player who should be at the position (Kris Bryant) will open the season at Triple A Iowa; so the Cubs can have one more year of team control with him. It’s actually a huge joke as in reality Bryant should’ve been the Cubs 3rd baseman last season, but the stupidity of the Cubs front office has cost Bryant pretty much two major league seasons. So don’t be surprised if when Bryant gets to free agency in his career he leaves the Cubs very quickly. Bryant would be the runaway winner at 3rd base and might even be one of the top 3rd baseman in baseball if he had been given the chance. Wait until to see Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer give the interview where they have to tell you that Bryant is headed back to Triple A to work on his defense. I guess “I don’t know on 3rd” thank you Abbott and Costello. Anyway the depth chart I saw has Mike Olt listed as the starting 3rd baseman; so let’s run with that. Olt was a top prospect for many years in the Texas Rangers organization, but was blocked at the major league level by Adrian Beltre. The Cubs got Olt a player to be named later; who turned out to be Neil Ramirez, C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm while the Rangers got  Matt Garza. Olt played 89 games for the Cubs last season and hit .160, but did show power hitting 12 home runs. Olt is another high strike out guy on the Cubs as he averages one strike out every 2.25 at bats. Olt had an eye issue that slowed down his progress to the majors, but hopefully that’s behind him. Olt played 52 games at 3rd base last season where he committed seven errors and posted a fielding percentage of .929. Is Olt just a two week position holder until the Cubs are smart enough to call Bryant up or will he have to man 3rd base longer than that?

Again if Bryant was in the running to be picked he would be a slam dunk choice, but since he’s not I’m take Gillaspie over Olt. Gillaspie is a better average hitter and fielder; so I’ll give up a little bit of power for that right now.

The Vs. Series is off again tomorrow (Saturday) as the usual How was your Week blog will appear, but the Vs. Series will be back on Sunday as we move to left field for our four teams.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Vs. Series (Shortstop)

Posted: March 12, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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The Vs. Series returns after a day off to look at who will be playing shortstop for the teams in New York and Chicago. It looks like this is the first position that there isn’t any decisions to be made and each team knows who their opening day shortstop will be. Let’s start in New York. Before spring training started it looked like the New York Mets would have a competition between Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores to see who the opening day shortstop would be. Apparently there wasn’t a competition in the Mets mind as it’s being reported that the job belong to Flores. Flores played 78 games last season hitting .251 with 6 home runs. 51 of those games where at shortstop where he made 4 errors and had a fielding percentage of .979. Flores spent seven seasons working his way through the Mets minor league system where he batted .292 overall which is a batting average the Mets will be looking for out of Flores.  The Mets stayed away from making a big move at shortstop to give Flores a shot; so now they’ll see if he’s the right guy. The New York Yankees needed to find a replacement for their “Captain” and future Hall of Fame inductee Derek Jeter. So on December 5th, 2014 the Yankees sent Shane Greene to the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers sent minor league player Domingo Leyba  and Robbie Ray to the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Diamondbacks sent Didi Gregorius to the Yankees.  Gregorius has played 191 games in three major league seasons. 21 of those games where at the end of the 2012 season with the Cincinnati Reds. He is a career .243 hitter with 13 home runs. In 173 career games as a shortstop Gregorius has a fielding percentage of .976. This was a situation where most experts thought the Yankees would go out and get and established shortstop to fill Jeter’s position. Gregorius is just 22 years old and you wonder if the Yankees and their fans will give him the time he might need to develop as an everyday shortstop. It’s a difficult choice to make between  Gregorius and Flores. This will be each players shot at being a full-time shortstop at the major league level. Both the Mets and the Yankees are expected to contend for a playoff spot; be it wild card or winning a division; so they’ll need good shortstop play to do that. You have to wonder which team would make a switch at the position first if either guy struggles out of the gate. Since I have to make a choice I’m going with  Gregorius just by a tiny margin. In Chicago both the Cubs and the White Sox have familiar faces manning the shortstop position for the 2015 season. The White Sox have  Alexei Ramírez who is entering his 8th season with the White Sox; the 33-year-old. Ramirez had a hot first half in 2014 and it earned him his first All-Star appearance, but by the end of the season he hit .273 with 15 home runs, 74 RBI’s but added 21 stolen bases. You can count on Ramirez being in the line up as he’s played in 158 games in each of the last four seasons. Ramirez made the switch to shortstop in 2009 and his defense with the exception of one seasons has improved. Last season Ramirez made 15 errors and had a fielding percentage of .978. Ramirez led all AL shortstops in assists with 486 and double plays turned with 119. The biggest question with Ramirez might be will he stay with the White Sox the entire 2015 season as it seems his name is linked to every trade rumor involving the team. Starlin Castro is still just 24 years old, but is entering his 6th season as the Chicago Cubs starting shortstop. After a disappointing 2013 season Castro bounced back to tie his career high in home runs with 14 while hit for a .292 average and adding 33 doubles. Castro is another Chicago shortstop that will play a lot of games. Last season Castro played 134 games which was his lowest total since his rookie season when he played 125 games. Fielding has been a question for Castro, but last season he posted the highest single season fielding percentage of his career .973. He committed just 15 errors in the 2015 season; down from 22 in 2013. Also don’t forget that Castro is a 3 time NL All-Star selection. To be honest I thought the Cubs would deal Castro in the off-season and I’ve said on the podcast a few times that I thought he would be the guy to take Jeter’s spot in New York. This is another tough choice and you have to wonder if there’s a chance both guys are playing for another team by the end of the 2015 season. I think in this situation you go with Castro. He’s nine years young than Ramirez and they’re pretty equal stats wise. Tomorrow (Friday) we’ll look at the 3rd base positions for the Mets, Yankees, Cubs and White Sox. Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports
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The NFL 2015 officially opened yesterday with a flurry of free agent signings some trades and even a couple of retirements. Now some of these moves had already been announced, but they couldn’t become official until March 10th. I think the transactions that surprised me the most were the trades that were made. The Detroit Lions acquired Haloti Ngata and a 7th round draft pick for a 4th and 5th round draft picks. Since Ndamukong Suh has agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins the Lions need someone to fill his spot and they got Ngata to do that and it didn’t cost them a ton to do that. Most experts will tell you that the Seattle Seahawks need a threat in the receiving game. I think most experts thought it would be a wide receiver, but would they settle for one of the top tight ends in the NFL Seattle sent center Max Unger and their 2015 1st round draft choice to the New Orleans Saints for Graham  I’m not quite sure what the Philadelphia Eagles were thinking when they sent Nick Foles plus a 4th round pick in the 2015 draft and a 2nd round pick in 2016 for Sam Bradford and a 2015 5th round pick. Are the Eagles under the impression that Bradford will stay healthy with them. It had been reported that San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis was going to announce his retirement, but it was a bit of a surprise when Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds also announced their retirements yesterday. There where a bunch of free agent signings announced and I’m not going to go through and list them all for you. There will be a lot more to come as things move forward. It’s just interesting to me that with spring training moving along in baseball and both the NBA and NHL teams making playoff pushes the NFL found a way to rule the day in their off-season. Is the NFL the #1 sports league in America?

Would you believe that the hottest team in the NBA Eastern conference are the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are on a six game winning streak and have moved into the #7 playoff seed. The Pacers put their winning streak on the line tomorrow (Thursday) when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are currently in the #6 playoff seed and are four games ahead of the Pacers in the standings. I’m not sure if anyone had the Pacers making the playoffs this season when Paul George suffered that horrific injury playing for Team USA and there are rumors that George may return before the season ends. While I’m not sure if a return would be in George’s or the teams best interest, but it would be an emotionally lift for this team. Right now the Charlotte Hornets are holding on to the #8 seed in the Eastern conference and are one game behind the Pacers. The Miami Heat are the team on the outside looking in at the moment, but are just a half of a game behind Charlotte and a game and a half behind the Pacers. With a little over a month left in the NBA season these final two playoff spots look to be up for grabs between these three teams.

In the Western conference the team rolling along on a six game winning streak are the San Antonio Spurs. Are you surprised that at this time of the season the Spurs seem to be playing better? The Spurs also out their winning streak on the line Thursday night as they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Spurs currently hold the #7 playoff seed in the Western conference, but they are just one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the #6 seed. San Antonio has a five game lead on the Oklahoma City Thunder who hold that 8th and final playoff spot. The Spurs are also just three games behind the Houston Rockets and if they catch them they could move up to a 4th or 5th playoff seed. The Spurs have had a very San Antonio type of season. They’ve had their share of injuries and of course Gregg Popovich has rested his veteran players when he thought they’ve needed it. Would you be surprised if San Antonio ends up in the Western conference finals or even the NBA finals when it’s all said and done.

Over in the NHL it looks like the Eastern conference might have it’s eight playoff team set. The top three in the Atlantic division Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lighting and Detroit Red Wings are in. The top three in the  Metropolitan division the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins are in. The two wild card spots look like they’ll go to the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins unless the Florida Panthers who are currently six points behind the Bruins or the Ottawa Senators who are seven points behind the Bruins can get on a roll the Eastern conference is all set.

Over in the Western conference there are still playoff spots up for grabs. While it looks like the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues will get into the playoff out of the Central division, but the final division spot and the wild card position have three teams looking to fill those two spots. The Chicago Blackhawks hold the 3rd division spot right now with the Minnesota Wild as the wild card team. It’s the Winnipeg Jets who are 3 points behind the Wild and six points behind the Blackhawks are hanging onto the 2nd wild card spot, but just by one point over the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are actually tied with the Calgary Flames for the 3rd playoff spot in the Pacific division, but the Flames own the tiebreaker. The San Jose Sharks are still hanging around looking for a wild card spot. The Sharks are three points behind the Kings and Flames, 4 four points behind the Jets and seven points behind the Wild. The Vancouver Canucks hold the 2nd spot in the Pacific division, but they only have a three point lead over the Flames and Kings. It looks like the only team safe in the Pacific division are the Anaheim Ducks who have an 11 point lead over the Canucks. We should be headed for quite a finish. With all these teams having about 15 games left any opportunity to pick up two points will be huge.

We’re doing are baseball previews on Sports Time Radio and today (Wednesday) at 5:00 pm Tim Kelly from Section215.com will join the podcast to preview the 2015 Philadelphia Phillies. The at 5:30 pm Matt Gajtka from CityofChampionsSports.com will come on the podcast to preview the Pittsburgh Pirates 2015 season.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast cast at BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @BurkeTime

Vs. Series (2nd Base)

Posted: March 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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Three out of the four teams have questions about who will be their opening day 2nd baseman. The Mets appear to be the only team set at the position barring injury. Let’s take a look starting in Chicago with this position.

In a perfect Chicago Cubs world Javier Baez would’ve cut down on his strikeouts over the winter and would walk into spring training and claim the 2nd base job. Sadly it doesn’t work that way and the Cubs will have to make a big decision with Baez. Send down to Triple A Iowa to work on his swing or give him the starting job at 2nd base and hope he plays like the top prospect he was a couple of seasons ago. Baez played 52 games for the Cubs last seasons and struck out 95 times. If he would’ve played all 162 games his strikeout total would’ve been 296; yeah almost 300 strikeouts. In 2009 Mark Reynolds set the single season record for strikeouts by a batter with 223. If Baez hasn’t found a way to cut down on his strikeouts he’ll shatter that record in 2015.  The Cubs did go out this winter and make a deal with the Atlanta Braves for Tommy La Stella. La Stella played in 93 games for Atlanta and hit .251. La Stella doesn’t have a lot of power hitting just one home run last season, but he struck out just 40 times and did walk 36 times. If Baez needs more time in Triple A Iowa look for La Stella to handle 2nd base for the Cubs.

The White Sox starter at 2nd base sin;t any clearer. It’s looking like it’s going to come down to Carlos Sanchez, Gordon Beckham, Micah Johnson and Emilio Bonifacio. I’m thinking that Bonifacio is out as a starter as the talk is he’ll play the “super” utility position teams talk about and be used all over the field. Beckham was the White Sox 1st round draft pick, 8th overall in the 2008 amateur draft. Beckham never hit for the White Sox and was dealt last season to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Yency Almonte in August last season. Beckham was signed as a free agent this off-season and he’ll compete for the 2nd base job, but you have to wonder if anything has changed and he’ll hit. Sanchez played 28 games at the end of last season for the White Sox hitting .250. Sanchez like Beckham is a very good defender as he committed just 1 (one) error in his time at the big league level last season. Sanchez is 22 years old and did hit .293 for Triple A Charlotte in 2014. The White Sox will have to decide if he’s ready for the majors this spring. Micah Johnson is a bit of a wild card at this spring at 2nd base. Johnson has just 65 games of Triple A experience where he hit .275 but he does add a speed factor; stealing 12 bases at Charlotte in those 65 games. I think the White Sox would like to see Sanchez or Johnson break out and win the job in spring training. That would allow Beckham to be the back up infielder on the team and Bonifacio could fill in were ever the team needs him.

I think the Cubs are in a better spot at 2nd base right now going into the season. La Stella is a solid player and if Baez can actually become the player scouts have said he’d be the Cubs are set at the position for years to come. As for the White Sox; well if you have four guys competing foe a job you don’t have one. Gotta go Cubs here.

The New York Yankees situation at 2nd base isn’t a whole lot different from what the White Sox have. The Yankees did decide to bring Stephen Drew back after his horrible 2014 season. Let’s face it Drew and his agent over played their hand in free agency during the 2013 off-season and it cost him all of 2014. Drew combined to play 85 games for the Yankees and Boston Red Sox where he hit.162with 7 home runs. Not that Drew was ever going to hit for a high average, but .162 is terrible. He’ll have to adjust better on the defensive end as well. In 2014 Drew played 34 games at 2nd base for the Yankees and committed four errors.  Will the Yankees stick with Drew or will they look at a player like Jose Pirela. Pirela got 24 at bats with the Yankees last season hitting .333 with 1 double and 2 triples. Could Pirela do enough in spring training to unseat Drew at 2nd. The Yankees do have prospect Rob Refsnyder in big league camp, but he hasn’t played at the major league level and has just 77 games at Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Refsnyder did hit .300 at Scranton/Wilkes Barre with 8 home runs in limited action there. It would be a big jump for Refsnyder to make the Yankees out of spring training, but you’d have to figure he’s only a year away. The Yankees do have veteran Brendan Ryan, but he hit .167 last season and has a career batting average of .234. This looks like it’s Drew’s job to lose; so the Yankees need him to bounce back and be the player he used to be. Now the question is; can he?

Believe it or not the New York Mets are the only team that are set at 2nd base going into the 2015 season with All-Star Daniel Murphy there. Murphy hit .289 with 9 homers and 57 RBI’s last season. While Murphy’s not a power hitter; his career high in home runs is 13 in 2013 I’m sure the Mets would like to see the RBI’s total go up. Murphy did add 13 stolen bases last season. Murphy committed 15 errors in 126 games at 2nd base last season. Those 15 errors where more than any other 2nd baseman made in 2014, but did turn the second most double plays as a 2nd baseman turning 88 of them.

With Drew coming off a terrible season in 2014 and it looks more and more like he’ll be the opening day 2nd baseman for them is there really any other options than to take Murphy as New York’s 2nd baseman.

The Vs. Series takes a day off tomorrow (Wednesday) as my weekly Let’s Call it Wednesday blog will go up as usual. The Vs. Series will return Thursday looking at the New York and Chicago shortstop positions.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to our podcast Sports Time Radio over at BlogTalkRadio.com

Vs. Series (1st base)

Posted: March 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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I’d like to take a position by position look at the four teams that share a city during baseball season. That’s New York and Chicago. So we’re going Mets, Yankees, Cubs and White Sox. Now some people are going to ask about Los Angeles and while the Dodgers do play their the Angels actually play there games in Anaheim; so they’re out. Here we go!

The Yankees have Mark Teixeira at 1st base and if I was writing this five or six seasons ago he’d be a slam dunk as the best 1st baseman in New York, but now it’s not that easy. Teixeira signed with the Yankees in 2009 and led the American League (AL) in home runs with 39 and runs batted in (RBI’s) with 122. He also played in 156 games and had a batting average of .292, but it’s been down hill after that. Injuries have hampered Teixeira’s career and his stats have shown that. Last season (2014) he played in 123 games hitting .216 with 22 home runs and 62 RBI’s.  While Teixeira is still a plus defender entering his 13 major league season you have to wonder what he has left and if there’s another injury coming in 2015.

Last season the Mets settled on Lucas Duda as their 1st baseman. Duda’s never been a high average hitter, but playing on a regular basis he was finally able to show his power. Duda put up his 1st career 30 home run season in 2014 hitting 30 home runs on the nose while driving in 92 runs with a .253 batting average. The 30 home runs put him 3rd in the National League (NL) and Duda hit a home run once every 17.1 at bats which is also 3rd in the N.L. Duda may not win a Gold Glove for his defense, but he’s solid. Duda committed 7 errors last season and had a fielding percentage of .994. Duda was also involved in 125 double plays as a 1st baseman last season which was 2nd in Major League Baseball (MLB) for his position.

Teixeira turns 35 in April while Duda is 29 years old. I’m going with Lucas Duda as New York’s 1st baseman.

Anthony Rizzo mans 1st base for the Cubs and has shown his power since being a Cub. Last season Rizzo finished 2nd in the NL in home runs with 32 and the power numbers look to be going up. Rizzo hits a home run every 16.4 at bats which is 2nd best in the NL Rizzo had a .286 batting average in 2014 up from .233 in 2013. Offensively the big negative with Rizzo is the strikeouts; he had 116 last season and averages a strikeout ever 5.3 at bats. Rizzo is a good defender committing just 9 errors last season and leading the NL with 118 assists at 1st base. His fielding percentage was.993 and those 9 errors where 2nd least among NL 1st baseman.

The White Sox signed Jose Abreu last season out of Cuba and he rewarded them with and All-Star selection and also winning Rookie of the Year (ROY) in the AL in 2014. Abreu played in 145 games had a batting average of .317 with 36 home runs and 107 R.B.I.’s. With those numbers Abreu was 3rd in the AL in home runs, 4th in RBI’s and 5th in batting average.Adding 35 doubles and 2 triples to Abreu’s extra base total is 73 which is good for 4th place in the A.L. in combined extra base hits. Abreu did strikeout 131 times last season or 1 strikeout every 4.7 at bats. Abreu turned out to be a solid defender committing just 6 errors with a fielding percentage of .994. Abreu played 109 games at 1st base last season and was used in 35 games as a Designated Hitter (DH) by the White Sox.

Both Chicago 1st baseman had some injury issues last season. The concern is that Rizzo’s back trouble may be something he’ll have to deal with through out his career. While Abreu had some ankle issues and shouldn’t have any lingering trouble with it. Abreu has the advantage of being able to put up numbers as a DH so this makes picking one of these players over the other even tougher. Abreu is 28 while Rizzo turns 26 in August. I’m guessing this is as close to a “Push” as I’ll run into writing this series. As much as I’d like to have seen a little more out of both of these guys right now I’ll take Abreu.

It’s 2nd baseman tomorrow!

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: March 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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The NFL off-season is running at full speed as teams make moves to try to get themselves under the salary cap and sign free agents. Peyton Manning restructured his deal with the Denver Broncos to give them some salary cap space. Manning knocked $4 million off his 2015 salary, but don’t worry they added a couple of bonus clauses; so he can get that money back. He’ll earn $2 million if the Broncos go to the AFC title game and then another $2 million if Denver wins the Super Bowl. Brandon Marshall was traded for the 3rd time in his career as the Chicago Bears sent him to the New York Jets for a 5th round draft pick. On a side note; Marshall is the 4th player to be traded three times in his career since 1995. The others are Randy Moss, Glyn Milburn and Sage Rosenfels. The Jets would have an interesting trio of wide receivers if they hang on to them with Marshall, Eric Decker and Percy Harvin. Harvin is due a roster bonus soon and reports are the Jets may release him. When the Marshall rumors started I was wondering what his value might be. When the Bears traded for Marshall they the Miami Dolphins two draft picks; a 3rd round pick in 2012 and a 3rd round pick in 2013. Now we have to see who the Jets decide will be throwing the football to these receivers. Marshawn Lynch is staying with the Seattle Seahawks as he signed a two year deal worth a reported $24 million. There have been rumors of holdouts and retirements involving Lynch, but with this deal those rumors should disappear. There was one retirement announced as Maurice Jones-Drew (MJD) is ending his NFL career after 9 seasons; eight with the Jacksonville Jaquars and one injury plagued 2014 season with the Oakland Raiders. Jones-Drew rushed for a career 8167 yards and led the NFL in rushing with 1606 yards in 2011. The Jaquars drafted M.J.D. in the 2nd round of the 2006 draft. He was a three time Pro Bowl selection and was 1st team All-Pro one time. It is also being reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers will release Safety Troy Polamalu if he doesn’t choose to retire. Polamula has spent his entire 12 year career with Pittsburgh. Two other long time veteran players will be looking for new teams after in 2015 as their teams announced they’ll be moving on this week. After 14 seasons and more games played than any other Indianapolis Colts player it was announced that the team won’t try to re-sign wide receiver Reggie Wayne. The New England Patriots declined the contract option on defensive lineman Vince Wilfork after 11 seasons with the team. This may be the first set of moves by NFL teams as they get ready for the draft as well as being able to sign free agents starting March 10th.

Did the Atlanta Hawks make a statement last night? They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-97 last night in what may have been an Eastern conference finals preview. Atlanta got out to a 17 point lead in the 1st quarter, but they had just a 2 point lead at 81-79 going into the 4th quarter. Atlanta outscored Cleveland 25-18 in the final quarter to seal the victory. Al Horford led Atlanta in scoring with 19 points and rebounds with 9. Mike Scott came off the Hawks bench and hit seven of nine shots scoring 14 points while Dennis Schroder added 15 points off the bench as well as leading the team in assists with 8 . Jeff Teague and Paul Milsap each scored 16 points.  DeMarre Carroll drew the defensive assignment of guarding LeBron James and James struggled. James played a little over 40 minutes going 5-13 from the field including 1-4 from behind the 3-point line. James scored 18 points grabbed 6 rebounds and handed out 8 assists, but committed 9 turnovers in the game. The best part of James game was his free throw shooting was much better as he went 7-8 from the foul line. With James Struggling Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers in scoring with 20 points while Kevin Love had 14 points.  The hawks improved to 49-12 for the season and have actually won 42 of their last 48 games. Cleveland’s record falls to 39-25. Maybe Atlanta drew some extra inspiration from Dominique Wilkins. The Hawks unveiled a statue of Wilkins outside Philips Arena, wore throwback jerseys from the Dominique era, and honored No. 21 at halftime with a painting and a framed jersey autographed by all the current Hawks players. Up next; the Cavaliers: return home to face the Phoenix Suns on Saturday to complete a stretch of four games in five nights. While the Hawks travel to Philadelphia on Saturday to take on the 76ers.

Spring training is up and running and the defending champion San Francisco Giants lost one of their best players Hunter Pence for 6 to 8 weeks with a broken arm. While it’s very early in spring training; so Pence should be back in the line up by late April or early May. I guess if you must have an injury you’d like to have them early and get it out-of-the-way. Pence has played in every game for the Giants the last two seasons and isn’t going to be easy to replace. While the Giants aren’t a home run hitting team Pence was one of only two Giants with 20 or more home runs. Pence hit 20 home runs on the nose while Buster Posey led the team with 22 home runs. Pence was also 2nd on the team in RBI’s with 74. Posey was the team leader in this category as well with 89. Pence was also tied for the team lead in triples with Brandon Crawford; each had 10. Pence was 2nd on the team in doubles with 29. Michael Morse led the team with 32 doubles. Bruce Bochy may be the best manager in baseball at juggling his line up when needed. Look for the Giants to fill Pence’s spot with players like Gregor Blanco, Juan Perez or maybe  Travis Ishikawa. Nori Aoki may move over from left field to fill in for Pence in right field on the defensive side. The Giants also have non-roster invitee Justin Maxwell in camp; so this may be his shot to make the team and fill this role until Pence comes back from injury. This is Maxwell’s 4th team after stops in Washington, Houston and 20 games last season with the Kansas City Royals. Let’s see who Bochy chooses to fill Pence’s spot to start the season.

We covered the National League West on the podcast last night as we had four team previews. No one from the Colorado Rockies wanted to come on and talk to us. Maybe that says something about how their season might go. Tony Fischer started the podcast off talking Arizona Diamondbacks with me. You can find Tony’s Diamondbacks coverage at HeatWaved.com We talked Los Angeles Dodgers next as Scott Andres from LasordsLair.com came on the podcast with me. I wrapped up the night with two of my favorite guest. First Mark O’Neill from www.AroundtheFoghorn.com join me to talk San Francisco Giants baseball and I wrapped up the podcast talking to Billy Brost about the San Diego Padres. While Billy has left the Site FriarsonBase.com that covers the Padres he is staying involved with writing about baseball. Look for Billy’s new venture BaseballMagazine.net starting soon. You can listen to any or all of these interviews in the Sports Time Radio podcast archives. Click on Sports Time Radio and you can pick and choose the podcast you’d like to listen to.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime you can follow the show as well @SportsTimeRadio

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 4, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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There are very few blockbuster player for player trades in the NFL; so when the Philadelphia Eagles traded LeShon McCoy one of the top running backs in the NFL to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso it caught me a bit by surprise. McCoy rushed for 1319 yards and 5 touchdowns last season on 312 carries. He also caught 28 passes for 155 yards. Alonso missed the entire 2014 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), but is expected to be ready to go for the 2015 season. 2013 was Alonso rookie season where he had 87 tackles, assisted on 72 other while picking for 4 passes, recovering 2 fumbles and forcing 1 fumble. He also had 2 quarterback sacks. Looking at this trade it may be one of those that turns out to benefit both teams. Philadelphia gets some salary cap room and if they cut linebacker DeMeco Ryans as it’s being reported they will it will open up a little over $14 million dollars in salary cap room for the Eagles. Buffalo has a new head coach in Rex Ryan and with Fred Jackson getting up there in age and C.J. Spiller never really becoming the running back the Bills had hoped he’d be when drafted McCoy gives them the go to running back that Ryan likes to have. I did see some reports out there that say this is the first move in the Eagles going out and getting Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota in the upcoming draft. Mariota won’t be on the board when the Eagles 1st round pick comes up at #20; so if he’s their guy they’re going to have to find a way to move up to get him. There’s a chance the New York Jets might take him with the 6th pick. The St. Louis Rams pick 10th and they might be looking for a quarterback and then there’s always the chance that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take Mariota with the #1 pick in the draft. You’d have to guess it will cost the Eagles Nick Foles that #20 pick and more to move up high enough to get Mariota. Then the question becomes is he worth that? Even though he’s familiar with coach Chip Kelly’s offense. Is he a franchise type of quarterback? The Eagles also seem to have quite a few needs on defense and while they’ll have that extra salary cap money some of it will go to re-signing wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. It looked like the Eagles would address their defenses issues in the draft, but if they make a deal for Mariota how many of those draft picks would be included in that deal. Don’t forget that the Bills may not be sold on E.J. Manuel as their quarterback, but remember the Bills dealt their 1st round pick to the Cleveland Browns; so they could move up and select wide receiver Sammy Watkins in 2014. Free agents can start signing with teams on March 10th; so the NFL off-season is getting ready to roll.

So who are you picking for NBA MVP for this season? I’ve heard a lot of talk about this the last week or so and it seems to have been narrowed down to four players. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and of course LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry is averaging 23.9 points per game (PPG) is handing out 7.8 assists per game (APG) and leads the NBA. averaging 2.1 steals per game. Curry also leads the N.B.A. in 3-pointers attempted with 454 and 3-pointers made with 187. Don’t forget the Warriors also have the best record in the NBA at 46-12. James Harden is leading the NBA in scoring averaging 27.1 PPG he’s handing out 6.9 APG He leads the NBA in free throws made (492) and free throws attempted (568) and has taken the most shots in the league this season with 1062. The Rockets are in 2nd place at 41-19 a 1 1/2 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies in the Southwest division of the Western conference. Westbrook is averaging 26.5 PPG and handing out 8.1 APG The draw back with Westbrook maybe the fact that he’s missed 15 games so far this season and right now is recovering from surgery to repair facial fractures; so that missed game total may go up. The Thunder are 33-27 and hanging on to the 8th spot in the Western conference. You’d have to think if they don’t make the playoffs Westbrook may drop out of the MVP race. James may be in the same area as Westbrook is as he’s missed 11 games so far this season and you wonder if that total will go up as he takes games off getting ready for the playoff run. James does average 26.2 PPG he is also handing out 7.2 APG he does lead the NBA in field goals made with 479. The Cavaliers are in 2nd place at 38-24 and just a 1/2 behind the Chicago Bulls in the Central division of the Eastern conference. The votes are supposed to be turned in before the playoffs start; so that shouldn’t impact the voting. If I’m picking right now I’ll take Curry as the MVP with Harden 2nd, James 3rd with Westbrook 4th. How do you got?

We’ve been previewing the upcoming baseball season on Sports Time Radio by talking to different bloggers who cover the teams. Yesterday we had Brian Helberg from HaloHangout.com on with us to discuss the Los Angeles Angels 2015 season. On Friday we have a loaded line up of guests to talk baseball. Tony Fischer from HeatWaved.com will joins us at the start of the podcast (9:00 p.m.) to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks 2015 season. At 9:30 p.m. Scott Andres from LasordsLair.com comes back on the podcast to talk about the Los Angeles Dodgers 2015 season. Mark O’Neill from AroundtheFoghorn.com joins us again (10:00 p.m.) to preview the San Francisco Giants 2015 season. Will wrap up the night with Billy Brost from FriarsOnBase.com talking San Diego Padres baseball starting at 10:30 p.m. It will be a full night of baseball on the podcast; so the season must be getting close to starting.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

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