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We’ve been waiting to see what the San Francisco 49ers would do with Jimmy Garoppolo since they decided that Trey Lance would be their starting quarterback. Well yesterday we got an answer.

Garoppolo and the 49ers agreed to restructure the quarterback’s contract. By doing this it now appears as though Garoppolo will be staying with the 49ers.

The deal calls for Garoppolo to make $6.5 million dollars this season, but with incentives the deal could be worth another $9 million dollars. Garoppolo’s deal also includes a no trade clause and he’ll still be a free agent at the end of the season. The 49ers have been working with Garoppolo’s camp for the past week to get this deal done.

Lance is still set to be the 49ers starter come Week 1, but by keeping Garoppolo around it gives San Francisco a backup quarterback that they’re very comfortable with in case Lance struggles or gets injured.

There were a lot of rumors on where Garoppolo might end up, but after things shook out in the quarterback market this off season there appeared to be no landing spot left for Garoppolo. San Francisco gave Garoppolo’s people permission to seek a trade, but there were no takers at a salary of $26.95 million dollars. Now with a more manageable salary if Lance shows that he can handle the starting quarterback position there’s a chance that teams will show more interest in Garoppolo now that he’s scheduled to make just $6.5 million dollars this season.

Garoppolo has had success as a starting quarterback for the 49ers, but he seems too be unable to curry favor with the fans. Garoppolo is 31-14 as a starter for the 49ers and has a playoff record of 4-2. Last season Garoppolo was 9-6 as the starting quarterback for San Francisco. Garoppolo has never put-up huge stats as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, but to be fair he was never asked to be that kind of quarterback.

It will be interesting to see how quick of a hook Kyle Shanahan might have with Lance if he struggles knowing that he has Garoppolo waiting to take over.

What do you see happening with Garoppolo? Will he make it through the entire season as a member of the 49ers? Or do you see them trading him?

The NFL season kicks off in eight days with the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams hosting the Buffalo Bills. Both teams are favorites to get to the Super Bowl in their conference, so it’s possible that we could have the same match up to open and close the season.

While the season starts with two Super Bowl favorites Week 1 ends with Russell Wilson returning to Seattle as a member of the Denver Broncos to face off against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

It will be nice to get the NFL regular season up and running, but it’s always difficult to pick a winner. There are so many things that go into a team having success. They have to manage to stay relatively healthy and things just have to click for them. There were a lot of teams that made a lot of changes this off season so they could get to and win a Super Bowl, so it should be interesting to see who and how they get there in the end.

I’ve never really liked to pick the favorites and I won’t do that this season either. I’m going to go with the Indianapolis Colts meeting the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl with the Packers getting the win and Aaron Rodgers taking home the Super Bowl MVP award. Now it’s your turn, let me know your predictions.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.

Now it seems like it was decided in May that New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge would be the American League Most Valuable Player. Now even though Judge has had some struggles recently he did hit his 49th home run last night and no other player in the American League has really stepped up to challenge him for the MVP. Judge not only leads all of Major League Baseball in home runs, but he also is the leader in RBI’s with 119 and is hitting a very, very respectable .297 this season.

To be honest I think we all know that even if Judge went hitless the remainder of this regular season, he’d still win the MVP award. Since he plays for the Yankees, and he has the New York media behind him it’s a sure bet that he would take home the MVP award no matter what.

Now if you’ve read the blog for a while, you know that when they make this kind of decision with a large amount of the season left it drives me crazy, but I have to say that this one hasn’t bothered me as much as it normally does. With Judge having the season he’s having he’s managed to stop what seems like every talking head on the MLB Network telling how miraculous everything Shohei Ohtani does is.

Humorously one of the reasons Ohtani won the MVP award last season was because everyone kept touting the fact that he not only hit but pitched as well. Now it seems to me that he’s doing the exact same thing this season, hitting and pitching but that doesn’t make him the MVP this season. Why?

This falls into the category of it’s not that Ohtani isn’t a great player, but if any of the people who talk about him every played organized baseball, they would have known that in most cases the best player on the team pitches, plays shortstop and usually hits 3rd.

Don’t forget that just a few years ago the Cincinnati Reds had to decide if Hunter Greene would be a starting pitcher or a shortstop. Is it possible that Greene could’ve done both like Ohtani if allowed? You also have to wonder if a pitcher like Madison Bumgarner or Zack Greinke would’ve been able to do anything close to what Ohtani has done if the rules were different when they came up. Remember the Designated Hitter rule was changed this season and they only reason MLB made the move was so Ohtani could stay in games when he pitched.

So, with the American League MVP wrapped up there’s been more of a focus on who might win the National League MVP and until a few weeks ago there really wasn’t a true frontrunner. Now it seems as though St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Paul Goldschmidt has separated himself from the pack.

Goldschmidt is actually in the running to win the triple crown in the National League. Goldschmidt currently leads the national League in batting average at .338 and is the National League leader in RBI’s with 108. Goldschmidt has 33 home runs which puts him just two home runs behind the Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber for the National League lead. If Goldschmidt does win the triple crown, it will be the first time it’s been done in the National League since Joe “Ducky” Medwick did it in 1937. Medwick also was a member of the Cardinals when he won the triple crown.

Interestingly Goldschmidt’s biggest challenger for MVP might be his teammate, Nolan Arenado. There were some concerns that Arenado wouldn’t be able to put up the same offensive numbers he did when he was with the Colorado Rockies, but Arenado is hitting .300 with 26 home runs and 82 RBI’s. Adding to Arenado’s resume is the fact that he’s the best defensive player in Major League Baseball.

It’s doubtful that Arenado would garner enough support to take the MVP award from Goldschmidt, but he should get his share of votes for the award.

There should be a couple of Los Angeles Dodgers who pick up some MVP votes as well, but again it’s very doubtful that either Freddie Freeman or Trea Turner would pick up enough votes to win the award instead of Goldschmidt.

So, it’s your turn to chime in. Do you think Goldschmidt will win the National League MVP? I’d also like to know if you think Goldschmidt will win the triple crown.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter. You can find me @Burketime.

Now I’ve never been a fan of jumping on a team’s bandwagon really early in a season, but the media seems to love to do it and then they’ll slowly back away from any statements they made or just flat out deny making them.

If you can remember back to the start of the Major League Baseball season the New York Yankees got off to a great start and were able to continue that run until almost the All-Star break. Well, this had the media going out of their minds and they were going on and on about how great the Yankees were and how they’d easily win the World Series. Now I find it surprising how little the media has mentioned the Yankees or their record now.

At one point the Yankees had the best record in Major League Baseball. The Yankees no longer have that as the Los Angeles Dodgers have the best record. Since it’s not mentioned that often the Yankees don’t even have the best record in the American League as the Houston Astros have that. Believe it or not the Yankees actually have the fourth best record in baseball as they’re not only behind the Dodgers and the Astros, but their crosstown rival the New York Mets currently have a better record than the Yankees.

Now don’t get the idea that I think that the Yankees are a bad team because I don’t and they’re not. What always bothers me is when the media hands out a championship or award within the first month of the season. You can’t and never have been able to win the World Series in April and while it is important to get the season off to a good start there’s always a lot of baseball to play after that.

Now I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Yankees did win the World Series or represented the American League in the World Series, but it’s not the runaway that the media made it out to be at the beginning of the season.

Everyone seemed to forget just how poorly the Atlanta Braves played the first half of the 2021 season before getting on track. The Braves where the hot team heading into the playoffs last season, and they ended up winning the World Series.

The Yankees had lost seven of eight games until they just swept a short two game series against the Mets. It’s possible that those two games against the Mets could be what gets the Yankees back on track and out of the funk they’ve been in.

Will see how it goes for the Yankees as they head out on the road for 10 games. The Yankees have four games against the Oakland A’s starting tomorrow. Then the Yankees have three games against the Los Angeles Angles before wrapping up their road trip with three games in Tampa Bay against the Rays.

The A’s have the worst record in the American League and the second worst record in all of baseball and the Angels are in the midst of another disappointing season. This gives the Yankees the opportunity to pick up some wins before heading into what should be a tough three game series against a division rival.

The Yankees like every team are dealing with some injuries, but what may be more important to their success is getting their closer role figured out.

It looks like Aroldis Chapman’s time as a dominant closer is over and for a while it appeared as though Clay Holmes was going to be able to step into the closers role and perform, but he had a lot of trouble closing games before going on the Injured List. With bullpens being as important as they are in today’s game the Yankees will have to have this worked out by the time the playoffs roll around.

So, here’s where we are. Do you have the Yankees as the favorite in the American League? Or is there another team you like? If you like the Yankees to come out of the American League and go to the World Series, do you have them winning it? If not which team, do you have winning the World Series?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.

Earlier this week the national Football League and the National Football League Players Association agreed to extend Deshaun Watson’s suspension to 11 games.

Now remember NFL commissioner Roger Goodell no longer has complete authority to suspend players and Watson case went to arbitrator who ruled that he’d be suspended for 6 games.

I believe the majority of people thought that 6 games was too short of a suspension for Watson and they were trying to blame Goodell and the NFL for it, but it really wasn’t their decision. After the suspension was announced the NFL made it known they’d be appealing that decision and they actually asked for Watson to be suspended for the entire 2022 season. Obviously, the league and the players association where able to get together and work out a number that both sides would be happy with.

Watson was accused by over 20 women of sexual misconduct while with the Houston Texans. The state of Texas declined to charge Watson with any crimes, and he’s settled almost every one of these cases out of court. It hasn’t been made public what any of these women got and I’m sure there’s a non-disclosure agreement in the settlement, so we probably won’t ever find out what they were paid.

With the majority of this behind Watson his new team the Cleveland Browns can start to plan what and how they’re going to handle their quarterback position for the first 11 weeks of the regular season.

The Browns currently have three other quarterbacks on their roster besides Watson. As of right now it looks like Jacoby Brissett would be the starter with Joshua Dobbs backing him up and Josh Rosen as the third quarterback.

The Browns traded for Watson this past off season and you have to wonder if they’ll stick with Brissett as their starting quarterback or if they’ll look to possibly make another trade for a quarterback.

With the regular season starting in just a few weeks there aren’t a ton of options out there for the Browns. Of course, the big-name would-be Jimmy Garoppolo since the San Francisco 49ers have said that Trey Lance would be their starting quarterback and they’ve allowed Garoppolo to actually stay away from training camp. It’s unclear what the 49ers would want in return for Garoppolo, but you’d think that the Browns might to check-in and see.

There are actually still some veterans that are currently not on anyone’s roster, but I’m not sure they’re an upgrade over Brissett.

There’s Ryan Fitzpatrick who announced his retirement this past off season. Maybe for the right opportunity he might come back. Cam Newton is also available, but he’s had still struggles the past two seasons as he tried to re-establish himself as a starting NFL quarterback. Two other veterans available are Mike Glennon and A.J. McCarron, but they don’t have the starting quarterback resume that Fitzpatrick and Newton have.

What do you think the Browns will do? Will they sit tight with Brissett as their starting quarterback and wait for Watson to return in Week 13? Since the Browns have their Bye week on Week 9 Watson doesn’t return until Week 13. Or do you think they try to make a move and bring in another quarterback? If you’re leaning towards them bringing in another quarterback, let me know who you think that might be.

In what has to be just an odd scenario what should be Watson’s first game as Cleveland’s starting quarterback will come in Week 13 when the Browns are on the road against the Houston Texas. Watson was traded by the Texans to the Browns this past off season after spending his first five seasons with Houston.

It’s unclear how Watson’s situation will affect the Browns on the field, but I’m sure that having it settled should help as players shouldn’t be asked to comment about it any longer. It did appear that Cleveland might’ve been in a good position to compete in the AFC North, but that may have changed with Watson out until Week 13.

The division is tough with the Cincinnati Bengals just coming off a Super Bowl appearance and the Baltimore Ravens still being a very good team. There are some questions about the Pittsburgh Steelers this season as it’s the first time since 2004 that Ben Rothlisberger won’t be their starting quarterback. The Bengals and the Ravens have some questions as well. Can the Bengals repeat the success from last season? Or was there playoff run just a fluke? Baltimore may have a bit of a distraction as their quarterback Lamar Jackson is looking for a new contract. Jackosn has said that he won’t negotiate once the regular season has started and if this contract situation drags on into the regular season will it affect Jackson?

So, you can see that every team in the AFC North as some questions that need to be answered coming into the regular season. Unfortunately, it looks as though the Browns will have one of the biggest hurdles to climb as they know they’ll be without their starting quarterback for 11 weeks.

Don’t forget that you can find me on twitter @Burketime.

We have right around 45 games left in baseball’s regular season, and it appears as though half of the division might’ve been decided a while ago. Even with the struggles the New York Yankees have had they still hold a 9-game lead in the American League East. In the American League West, the Houston Astros have opened up an 11-game lead in that division. The Los Angeles Dodgers have the biggest lead out of any of the division leaders as they lead the National League West by 17 games.

That leaves what looks like three divisions up for grabs and the races in the American league Central and the National League Central might be more important since it looks more and more like only the division winner will make the playoffs.

The Atlanta Braves have cut the New York Mets lead to 3 1/2 games in the National League East, but it looks like both teams should make the playoffs barring one of them completely collapsing. The same can’t be said for the teams in both Central divisions.

The American League Central is a three-team race. The Cleveland Guardians lead the division by just one game. The Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox are tied for 2nd place behind Cleveland. Now the Twins and the White Sox are actually just one game out of a wild card spot, but there are more teams that they’d have to pass to get a wild card spot than they’d have to move past to win the division.

Over in the National League Central the St. Louis Cardinals have a two-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. The team that doesn’t win this division has a much better chance of grabbing one of those three wild card spots as the Brewers are currently just one game behind the San Diego Padres for that final national League wild card spot. Milwaukee’s cause has been helped by the Padres sliding back to the pack.

With the added wild card teams, it’s also important for the winners of each of the Central divisions as they would host the three-game wild card series. The way the playoffs are set up now that there’s been an extra team added is the lowest seeded division winner and the wild card team with the best record will be the host teams for the wild card round. There are no travel days in this opening round as all three games would be played in the higher seeded team’s ballpark.

I’ve heard discussion on both sides of this set up, but I really think it’s the only way Major League Baseball could add another playoff team. If there was an off day for travel that means the division winners that received byes would sit for almost a week without playing and that’s not exactly fair to them. As it sits now, they could go four or maybe five days without playing a game depending on how the playoffs are scheduled.

Don’t forget that weather could also become a factor as places like Toronto, Minnesota, New York or right here in the Chicago area where I live could easily experience rough weather any time in November. So, the sooner they can get the playoffs started and keep them moving the better off Major League Baseball is.

So, since we have what seems to be three division races still up for grabs it’s time for you to make some predictions. Who do you have winning the American League Central, the Nationals League Central and the National League East? Also, I’d like to know if you think any other teams besides the division winner in both of the Central divisions make the playoffs.

Don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

On the day of Major League Baseball’s trading deadline, it was the San Diego Padres that stepped up and sent multiple top prospects to the Washington nationals for outfielder Juan Soto. The acquisition of Soto gave San Diego a version of the NBA’s ‘Big 3″ with Soto 3rd baseman Manny Machado and hopefully shortstop/centerfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

Well, unfortunately for Padres fans they won’t get to see those three players in the lineup together this season and for part of next season.

Tatis Jr. hasn’t played this season due to an injured wrist, but it seemed as he was close to returning as it had been reported that he was beginning to take batting practice. Even with Tatis Jr. coming back it was doubtful that the Padres would catch the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West race, but San Diego is in position for a wild card spot and having Tatis Jr. back in their lineup would make them a threat to any team in the playoffs.

Now the Padres will have to figure out what they going to do without Tatis Jr. for the remainder of this season and into the start of next season as it was announced yesterday that Tatis Jr. had been suspended for 80 games for failing a random drug test. It’s unclear right now how many games Tatis Jr. will have to miss next season as any post season game that San Diego plays counts towards his suspension.

Tatis Jr. tested positive for the performance enhancing drug called Clostebol. His suspension started immediately, so last night game against ironically Soto’s old team the Washington Nationals was game one of that suspension.

Here’s the statement that Tatis Jr. released yesterday after the suspension was announced.

“It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol,” Tatis said. “I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so.

“I want to apologize to [team owner] Peter [Seidler], AJ [Preller], the entire Padres organization, my teammates, Major League Baseball and fans everywhere for my mistake. I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love. I have taken countless drug tests throughout my professional career, including on March 29, 2022, all of which have returned negative results until this test.”

It seems like every athlete that’s every tested positive for a performance enhancing drug has taken “inadvertently” like Tatis Jr. did. I’m not saying that Tatis Jr. or anyone else intentionally took a performance enhancing drug, but that there are a lot of players that seem to make this mistake.

Now that the Padres know that they’ll be without Tatis Jr. for the remainder of this season and through any playoff run they might make the question now is who plays shortstop?

San Diego had a top prospect C.J. Abrams who had played 32 games at shortstop and there was talk of moving Tatis Jr. to centerfield full-time and allowing Abrams to be the full-time shortstop. Well, Abrams was part of the Soto trade, so he’s unavailable.

At the start of his career Machado was a shortstop, but it’s doubtful that the Padres would ask him to move over from 3rd base even though they did acquire Brandon Drury from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline, and he could take over at 3rd base if Machado was to move over.

Jake Cronenworth has been a good utility man to San Diego and has played some shortstop during his career including five games at that position this season, but it’s doubtful that Cronenworth could be the answer full-time.

That leaves the Padres with Ha-Seong Kim. Now Kim has played 87 games at shortstop this season. He’s committed five errors as the Padres shortstop and has a fielding percentage of .984, so he’s a solid option for San Diego and this appears that this will be the route that they go.

Kim was San Diego’s starting shortstop last night in their 10-6 win over the Nationals. Kim went 2 for 5 in the game and drove in a run. One of Kim’s hits was a double and he also stole a base. Kim however did commit an error.

With the trade deadline past there really isn’t a move the Padres can make, so what do you think they do? Will they use Kim as the everyday shortstop? Is it possible that Machado moves over to shortstop? Or is there another option you see San Diego trying?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.

I think everybody has that one thing that really bothers them about sports no matter what sport they like. Now I have one of these issues and as always, I’d like to know what yours is and what you think about mine.

I have a big issue when a player is coming to an end of a long-term deal and he or she starts to complain that they’re under paid or that they’re out playing their contract. I always wonder if when they signed this contract if they didn’t realize that the market would change, and salaries would go up. You’d think that their agent would inform them of this, but I guess they either don’t listen or don’t care.

Now when players signed these type of big money long-term deals you almost always hear them talk about financial security. Obviously when a player is signed for 10 years and millions of dollars, they’ll have financial security, but here’s what I’m wondering. Say a player signs for just a couple of years and ends up making let’s say between $50 and $60 million dollars. Wouldn’t that also make them financially secure?

Now with the contracts that players are offered in professional sports today I understand that they jump on that type of a contract. Remember Juan Soto just turned down what was reported as close to $450 million dollars in a long-term deal. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees also decided to play out the final year of his arbitration and “bet on himself”.

It looks like that is really going to pay off for Judge as he’s having the best year of his career and will probably be named American League Most Valuable Player before hitting the free agent market. Now it would be surprising if the Yankees allowed Judge to sign with another team, but there are a lot of teams with a lot of money and I’m sure they’d love to steal a player like Judge from the Yankees.

With the type of money, the top baseball players are being paid there seems to be less complaining when they get to an end of a contract. It seems to me that the majority of the complaining about contracts come from NBA and NFL players.

Now to be fair I’ll give any NFL player on a rookie contract a break if they complain. There’s really no negotiating those rookie contracts and your more or less stuck with what the collective bargaining agreement says you’ll get. Then if you’re a 1st round draft pick the team that selected you has a 5th year option on that rookie contract for way under market value. I can understand why certain 4th year player complain when they see what some of the other players at their position get contract wise while they’re stuck on a rookie deal.

It does seem with the amount of money that players make in today’s game there does seem to be less and less complaining, but there’s always that one player that thinks they’re under paid and let’s everybody know about it.

Now in most cases teams will give in to a player demands and re-negotiate their contract, but every now and then there’s a team that stands pat and allows that player to walk away or they trade that player. That was what we just saw with Soto. The Washington Nationals must’ve realized after he turned down that large contract offer that they wouldn’t be able to re-sign him, so they tried to get the best trade package possible for him.

This seems to be the case more often than not since most teams would like to get something for a player, they can’t re-sign instead of watching that player walk away and get nothing in return.

There are always contract disputes in sports, but I just have a problem when a player has a contract and starts complaining about it. This is one of those situations where I wonder if it’s just me who doesn’t like when a player does this.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.

With the trade deadline past almost the only way teams can add players is to hope that a team releases a struggling veteran or the designate a player for assignment and then they can claim that player on waivers. Well over the last couple of days that has happened.

The Boston Red Sox decided to part ways with outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley Jr. was in his second stint with the Red Sox but was hitting just .210 in 91 games this season. Bradley Jr. is known more for his defense and has won a Gold Glove in his career, so it’s possible that a playoff contending team could add him to be a late inning defensive replacement in their outfield.

The Philadelphia Phillies where the other team that released a veteran player. Philadelphia parted ways with shortstop Didi Gregorius. Gregorius was in his third season with the Phillies but had played in just 63 games this season due to injury. Gregorius was hitting .210 this season with 1 home run. Gregorius also struggled last season hitting .209 and his power numbers have come down since joining the Phillies. Will have to wait and see if a team adds Gregorius for the remainder of this season or if he’ll have to try to catch on with a team next season.

There was also a third player that ended up on the open market and that was Dinelson Lamet. Now Lamet was just acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the trade that sent Josh Hader to the San Diego Padres. It’s unclear what the Brewers were trying to do with Lamet as they designated him for assignment, and he was claimed by the Colorado Rockies. I’m guessing that Milwaukee was hoping Lamet would go through waivers unclaimed, and they could assign him to Triple-A, but that was a big risk for the Brewers to take and it didn’t work out for them.

Lamet has appeared in 13 games this season covering 12 1/3rd innings. He has an ERA of 9.49 and has struck out 16 batters while walking 9.

Will have to wait and see if any other veteran players are either given their outright releases or possibly designated for assignment, so they can move on to other teams.

In case you weren’t paying attention that NFL pre-season started this past Thursday. The Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Jacksonville Jaquars 27-11 in the Hall of Fame game.

I’m sure absolutely no one was surprised when neither Derek Carr nor Trevor Lawrence didn’t play a down along with almost all the other starters from both teams. That’s just how the NFL pre-season goes now. Starters play very little if at all and in some cases that lack of playing time can carry over into the start of the regular season.

As always concern for injury is a reason that starters don’t play much in the pre-season, but it seems as though some teams have devalued pre-season to the point where they don’t believe that their starters need to play to get ready for the regular season. There are a few NFL head coaches that actually prefer those control scrimmages with other teams than pre-season games.

As a fan I have very little interest in pre-season NFL games, but I will try to catch the start of them when the starters may actually take a snap or two. I’m sure that season ticket holders are less than pleased since they have to buy tickets to those pre-season games and I’m sure they’re difficult to get rid of with the starters not playing.

Now, will get a whole slate of pre-season NFL game next week. There are two games on Thursday, five games on Friday, eight games on Saturday and then one game to wrap up the weekend on Sunday. Eight of these games will be shown on the NFL Network and I’m sure they’ll be televised locally as well.

It won’t be long before the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams are hosting the Buffalo Bills in the first regular season game of the year on Thursday September 8th.

Not only have NFL games started, but the start of the college football season is right around the corner as well. I hope you’re ready for football.

Remember to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.

Yesterday was the Major League Baseball trading deadline and there were a lot of deals that happened. Unfortunately, once the news was announced that Juan Soto was going to be traded by the Washington nationals to the San Diego Padres the networks pretty much stopped talking about any other trades that happened after that one. Now I understand that Soto was the biggest fish on the trade market, so to speak, but they could’ve worked in those other trades that happened.

Now, there was so much going on and I think that the networks did a huge disservice to their fans by not making sure to at least mention or even have a little discussion on some of the other trades that happened yesterday. Honestly besides the Padres and the Nationals fans who else cared about Soto being traded? The only other fans that may have cared about Soto going to San Diego were the Los Angeles Dodgers fans because they’re in the same division. Otherwise, there was a lot more to cover that didn’t get covered.

Here is the actual trade. San Diego received Juan Soto and 1st baseman Josh Bell and they sent 1st baseman Luke Voit, Left-handed pitcher Mackenzie Gore, right-handed pitcher Jarlin Susana, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood as well as shortstop C.J. Abrams to Washington.

Abrams and Gore have both appeared in the major leagues with the Padres this season. Abrams has played in 46 games and is hitting .232 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s. Gore has pitched in 16 games with 13 of those being starts. He has pitched 70 innings and has a 4-4 record with an ERA of 4.50. He’s struck out 72 batters while walking 37.

As for the other three players Washington picked up in this deal. Hassell III and Wood are both in Class-A. Hassell III was in high Class-A and will probably stay at that level with the Nationals. Wood was at Class-A and is also expected to stay at that level with Washington. Both Wood and Hassell III are considered top prospect. As for Susana, he’s just 18 years old and was in Rookie League for the Padres. Susana like Hassell III and Wood will probably report to that level with the Nationals.

Gore and Abrams where also considered prospects. Gore, who is currently on the IL with elbow inflammation was the 3rd pick in the 2017 draft while Abrams was the 6th pick in the 2019 draft.

With such a priority being placed on prospects most people think that the Nationals got quite a bit in return for Soto, but none of the players they received has performed at the major league level enough to actually know how this deal will turn out.

The other thing that confused me yesterday was the lack of moves by the Chicago Cubs. Now the Cubs did trade four of their relief pitchers which was kind of expected, but they weren’t and didn’t get much in return for any of those players.

The Cubs ended up sending Chris Martin to the Dodgers, Scott Effross went to the New York Yankees, Mychal Givens went to the New York Mets and David Robertson went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Now the Cubs did have two players that were talked about quite a bit as possibly being traded, but for some reason Willson Contreras and Ian Happ are both still on the Cubs.

Now it’s possible that the Cubs just didn’t get the offer they were looking for to make a trade, but you have to wonder just what they’re doing. Contreras is a free agent at the end of the season and there’s a very god chance that he’ll sign with another team and the Cubs will get nothing in return for him. Happ still has one more year of arbitration, so unless he’s dealt in the off season, he’ll be with the Cubs to at least start the 2023 season.

So let me know what you thought of the trade deadline and if you’re happy with what the team you root for did yesterday.

Remember that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

For some reason I thought that the trade deadline in Major League Baseball was tomorrow, but apparently, it’s August 2nd, so we have a few more days for teams to try and make deals for the stretch run.

For the last few weeks, the biggest question would be how much the Washington Nationals would get in return for Juan Soto, but just this week another interesting name came up that took some of the spotlight off of a possible Soto trade.

Now I don’t believe there was anything behind this and it was just a suggestion, but the name Shohei Ohtani came up as a possible trade piece.

Do you think that the Los Angeles Angels would actually consider trading Ohtani? I honestly don’t believe they’d deal him, but if a team came to you with a top farm system and offered you the right number of high-level prospects and a couple of major league players you’d at least have to listen, wouldn’t you?

Believe it or not Ohtani is only making $5.5 million dollars this season and he’ll be eligible for arbitration this coming off season, so he’d be a deal for any team that might be able to acquire him, but it would cost them. If the price for Soto is high just imagine what the price for Ohtani would be.

Now even with two of the best players in baseball the Angels just haven’t been able to get it right. The last time the Angels went to the playoffs was 2014 and they were swept out of those playoffs by the Kansas City Royals. To date that is the only time in his 12-year major league career that Mike Trout has been to the playoffs.

Now it’s not like the Angels haven’t spent money on big time free agents. They brought Anthony Rendon in on a 7-year $245 million dollar deal and in three seasons with the Angels he’s played in just 155 games and is currently on the 60-day IL with a wrist injury that needed surgery. Rendon will miss the remainder of the 2022 season with that injury.

The Angels also took a chance this off season and signed Noah Syndergaard to a one-year deal. Syndergaard was coming off a 2021 season where he only pitched in two games due to injury. Syndergaard has made 15 starts for the Angels covering 80 innings. He is 5-8 with an ERA of 3.83 but could be a trade candidate since he is just signed for the remainder of this season.

Now the Angels have said that they’re not actively shopping Ohtani, but they would listen to offers. It was reported that the New York Mets checked in with the Angels about a possible Ohtani trade, but you’d have to think that ever contender would be interested in acquiring him if the Angels would be willing to move him.

There might be one thing that could facilitate Ohtani being traded and that’s the injury status of Mike Trout. Now Trout is currently out with a spinal contusion but has said he’s planning on returning this season. Now there are reports that this injury might affect Trout for the rest of his career. This injury might mean Trout would need to spend more time as the Angels DH which of course is all Ohtani does when he’s not pitching.

Trout is signed until 2030, so the Angels might have to choose between him and Ohtani or they’re going to have to figure out how to work around Trout’s injury and keep both of them in their lineup.

Now we have had some minor trades leading up to the trade deadline, but will we see any big pieces like a Soto or Ohtani dealt? Let me know what you think in the comment section.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.