Sports Time Radio

Coming into Thursday night there where a lot of people predicting that the New Orleans Saints would represent the NFC in the Super Bowl while the Dallas Cowboys seemed to be finding themselves, but weren’t considered in the same class as New Orleans. The teams met on Thursday night on Dallas and what happened? Of course the Cowboys held the Saints to a season low 10 points and picked up a 13-10 win. What we have to figure out now is was it just a rough night for the Saints? Or are the Cowboys going to be a serious contender?

We know all of the stats about the Saints. They came into Thursday’s game on a 10-game winning streak and had looked like they where unstoppable. Now the Cowboys came into this game on a modest 3-game winning streak, but they had been playing better and had taken over 1st place in the NFC East.

Even though the Cowboys won this game the question just kept coming. Was it just another fluke game on a Thursday night? Would the or could the Cowboys do this same thing had the game been played in New Orleans? Along those same lines there are people asking if the Cowboys could repeat a performance like this in the playoffs. Now of course we can’t answer any of those questions and it’s really just a way for the people who picked the Saints to win the game to cover up the loss.

Now to be fair I had the Saints winning this game as did Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu. I never got a pick from Mr. Fantasy; so he gets the automatic “L”. Hopefully the rest of our Week 13 picks go better.

Now I’m sure that everyone fully expects the Saints to bounce back next week as they travel to Raymond James Stadium to face the only other team they’ve lost to this season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

How about the Cowboys though. They’ll be hosting the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles next week and while the Eagles haven’t played anywhere near as well as they did last season they’re still a threat. Philadelphia could actually do the Cowboys a huge favorite this week if they can beat the Washington Redskins on Monday night. Dallas is in 1st place because of tiebreaker, but an Eagles win would give the Cowboys an actually one game lead in the NFC East. That win would also be huge for the Eagles as it would get them back to .500 and out them right in the race in the NFC East.

Now after the Eagles game the Cowboys have a tough game in Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts, but they have two very winnable games to close out the season. I Week 16 they’ll host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before finishing the season on the road against the New York Giants. While these look like two games that the Cowboys should win they’ll have to play good defense as the Buccaneers can put points on the scoreboard and the Giants feature two of the best players at their respective positions in wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and running back Saquion Barkley.

How do you see the Cowboy season ending? Do they win the NFC East and make the playoffs? Or do they struggle down the stretch and end up on the outside looking in?

While the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets work on a blockbuster deal that could get Robinson Cano’s salary off of the Mariners books they did make a smaller deal to keep the rebuild moving along.

Seattle sent reliever Alex Colome to the Chicago White Sox for catcher Omar Narvaez. Colome appeared in 47 games for the Mariners after he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays. Seattle brought Colome in to set up for closer Edwin Diaz and he did a solid job. Colome ended up going 5-0 with the Mariners while posting an ERA of 2.53. He did pick up 1 save, but more importantly in the set up role he had 30 holds. Colome had been the Rays closer since 2016 and led MLB in saves with 47 in 2017. Colome made $5.3 million dollars last season, but is head into his first year of arbitration; so his salary is expected to take a big jump up.

In return for Colome the Mariners get a catcher in Narvaez who has been playing in a platoon situation for the past two seasons. Narvaez played in 97 games last season for the White Sox and hit .275 with 9 home runs. Narvaez also threw out 24% of runners trying to steal against him. Remember that the Mariners traded their starting catcher from last season Mike Zunino; so it looks like Narvaez will get his first opportunity get a full season of at bats.

Now the Mariners deal that is getting the most attention features Robinson Cano along with closer Edwin Diaz heading to the Mets for a package of prospects. The hang up right now is which players the Mets would be sending to Seattle in this deal.

Some of the names that have been thrown out there are former 1st round draft picks Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn. Kelenic was the 6th pick in the 2018 draft while Dunn was selected with the 19th pick in the 2016 draft. David Peterson’s names has also came up; he was the Mets 1st round pick 20th overall in the 2017 draft.

Now there has also been some talk of current major league players being included in this deal. Names like Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak and Jeff McNeil have been mentioned. Bruce and Swarzak would be in the deal to help even out the salaries, but the inclusion of McNeil might just be the fat that him and Cano play the same position and there wouldn’t be a spot for him with the Mets. At first there was talk of Domenic Smith being included in this deal, but as of late I haven’t seen his name mentioned.

It does appear as though this deal will happen as reports are saying that the teams picked up “significant momentum” in trying to get something done.

Do you like the idea of the Mets acquiring Cano and Diaz? Or are they other player you’d like to see them target in a trade?

Don’t forget that you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but remember the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

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The Seattle Mariners finished the 2018 season with a record of 89-73. They ended up finishing 8 games out of a wild card spot after contending for it most of the season. Now it looks as though the Mariners will be the next team to go through a tear down and rebuild.

On Monday the Mariners got started down this road as they sent starting pitcher James Paxton to the New York Yankees for three minor leaguers.

The Mariners picked up Justus Sheffield who was the Yankees top pitching prospect. Sheffield started the season in Double-A, but pitched more in Triple-A. Sheffield made 20 appearances with 15 of those being starts in Triple-A. He went 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA. Sheffield did make 3 appearances at the major league level last season with 2 of those being starts, but they didn’t go so well. He pitched just 2 2/3rd innings and had an ERA of 10.13. Sheffield doesn’t turn 23 until May of 2019; so there’s no rush to get him to the majors.

The Mariners also got 25 year old right handed pitcher Erik Swanson. He pitched at three minor league levels last season Class-A, Class-AA and like Sheffield spent most of his time at the Triple-A level. Swanson made 14 appearances at Triple-A with 13 of those being starts. He went 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA, but he did throw a complete game. Swanson should compete for a spot in the starting rotation this spring.

The third player the Mariners got in this deal was 23 year old centerfielder Dom Thompson-Williams. He played 100 games between two Class-A levels last season with 90 of those games being played at High Class-A. For the season he hit .299 with 22 home runs and 74 RBI’s. He also stole 20 bases, but struck out 102 times. Since Thompson-Williams hasn’t played above the Class-A level it will be a few seasons before he might make it to the majors.

There are also some reports out there that the Mariners have engaged the San Diego Padres in trade talks centering around Will Myers. Now there are conflicting reports on how far along this type of a deal might be. There are reports that have this deal as on the table and other reports that say it’s not anywhere close to being done.

The actually trade as of now would see the Mariners send Jean Segura and Mike Leake to San Diego for Myers. Both Segura and Leake have full no trade clauses in their contracts; so that would have to be worked out before the deal could happen. Segura is signed through 2024 while Leake’s contract runs through the 2022 season.

With talk of Segura and Leake possibly being dealt you have to wonder how long before we’ll start to hear rumors about some of the other Mariners with bigger contracts. You’d have to think that Seattle would be interested in moving players like Kyle Seager and Dee Gordon. Another guy who they might like to move is Robinson Cano, but he still has 6 years left in his contract and he’ll be 41 by the time that contract comes to an end. I doubt there would be much interest in him unless a contender has an serious injury and Seattle would probably still have to pick up a very, very large chunk of that remaining contract.

Of course there’s also “The King” Felix Hernandez. Now Hernandez is in the final year of his contract, but he’s had his struggles the last couple of seasons. Hernandez was actually taken out of the starting rotation last season, but due to injury he only made one relief appearance. Hernandez made 28 starts and had a record of 8-14 with an ERA of 5.55. That was the highest ERA Hernandez has ever had in a season. He has also missed starts in the last three seasons due to injuries. Hernandez is just 32 years old, but will be starting his 15 major league season in 2019. As you can guess Hernandez is the Mariners all-time leader in every major category for starting pitchers.

Now with a salary of $25 million dollars for this coming season if Hernandez gets off to a good start and is looking more like his old self than he has the past couple of seasons could he be traded? You have to think that’s it’s possible in the final year of his contract that a contender might be interested in a pitcher like Hernandez.

While it would be sad to see Hernandez go and strange to see him in another uniform he might have a chance to add a World Series ring to his resume that should have him as a borderline Hall of Fame player.

Well if you where looking for some offense; you got it out of the Monday Night game as the Los Angeles Rams beat the Kansas City Chiefs 54-51.

Now interestingly I heard someone reviewing the game in Tuesday morning and they where going on and on about how Patrick Mahomes had the greatest game in the history of the NFL for a quarterback. Now Mahomes was 33 of 46 while throwing for 478 yards and 6 touchdowns. Now those are great numbers and that’s what this guy was really pumping up on television. Now what he forgot to mention was the fact that Mahomes threw 3 interceptions; lost 2 fumbles and I think more importantly his team came out on the losing end. The question I have for everyone is; can this be considered the greatest game ever for a quarterback when your team doesn’t win?

Now with my work schedule I didn’t get to see as much of this game as I would’ve like to have. I’m sure it was fun to watch and it seems as though everyone thinks that this is the way the NFL is going to go. Is this the style of NFL game you’d like to see played? I do enjoy seeing good defense payed, but with the new rules that are set to try and limit injuries it’s difficult to play good defense and against teams like this it’s even more difficult. I guess will have to wait nd see if and or how the league tries to react to what’s going on; until just enjoy the offense.

The Sports Time Radio podcast can be heard live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Dez Bryant waited to sign until he thought he had found the right fit for him. If you remember he turned down an offer earlier this season from the Baltimore Ravens and while I don’t know if they ever made an official offer to Bryant the Cleveland Browns where interested in signing him. It appeared as Bryant found a good landing spot for a wide receiver when he signed a 1-year $1.250 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints.

Bryant was official signed on November 7th and his first practice was this past Thursday. Then on the final play of practice on Friday just his second official practice Bryant was injured. Now the injury isn’t officially confirmed, but everyone is reporting that Bryant tore his Achilles. There hasn’t been any type of announcement from the Saints as they’re waiting for the results of an MRI, but that was called “a formality” as team doctors already believe it’s a torn Achilles.

If this diagnosis is correct this type of an injury would keep Bryant out approximately 8 months. That would make him healthy for training camp, but he would also be a free agent again.

There was talk that the Saints where willing to give Bryant a 2-year deal, but he wanted to sign for just the remainder of this season as a way to prove that he was still a top flight receiver in the NFL. He was hoping to use the final seven games of the Saints season to do that. I know that the Saints have eight games left this season, but Bryant wasn’t going to play this week against the Cincinnati Bengals since he had only been with the Saints for two practices.

Bryant was a three-time Pro Bowler for the Dallas Cowboys before they released him in April of this year. Bryant was due to make $12.5 million dollar with the Cowboys this season.

In 8 seasons with the Cowboys Bryant caught 531 passes for 7459 yards; averaging 14 yards per reception. For three straight seasons 2012-2014 Bryant had at least 1200 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. Bryant led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with 16 in 2014.

After an injury limited him to just 9 games and 31 receptions in 2015 there was talk that Bryant may no longer be a top receiving threat. He did bounce back with a Pro Bowl season in 2016, but it still wasn’t the season people where looking for out of Bryant. He had 50 catches for 796 yards and 8 touchdowns. Bryant did have better numbers in 2016 with 69 catches and 838 yards with 6 touchdowns, but he averaged the lowest yards per catch number of his career at 12.1.

Will we see Bryant in an NFL training camp next season?

The Bryant injury still leaves the Saints short at receiver; so what can they do? Remember Bryant wasn’t the only receiver they worked out. The Saints also had Kamar Aiken and Brandon Marshall in for workouts.

Aiken played in 5 games with the Philadelphia Eagles this season where he caught 6 passes for 53 yards.

Marshall played in 6 games for the Seattle Seahawks where he caught 11 passes for 136 yards and 1 touchdown.

It is possible that the Saints could bring one of these veteran receivers back and there where reports that Marshall “impressed” in his workout. New Orleans also has a wide receiver on their practice squad. Undrafted rookie Keith Kirkwood could possible be added to the roster for Sunday’s game just to add some depth at that position.

The Saints ended up needing some depth at wide receiver when Cameron Meredith joined Ted Ginn Jr. on inured reserve this week. Meredith is recovering from arthroscopic left knee surgery while Ginn had been in the injured reserve since Week 5 also with a knee injury. If he’s healthy Ginn can return Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers, but it’s unclear right now if he’ll be able to return.

Even with all of the losses at the wide receiver position the Saints are still very talented. They’ll head into Cincinnati for Sundays game with Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith as their starters at wide receiver. They’ll get contributions from Benjamin Watson and Josh Hill at the tight end position and of course don’t forget that Alvin Kamara can catch the football out of the backfield. Who knows maybe this is the week that Taysom Hill lines up at wide receiver.

With all the talk being centered on where Bryce Harper will be playing next season I’m wondering how many people noticed the report that Joe Mauer will officially announce his retirement from baseball.

Mauer has taken out a full page newspaper ad and wrote a letter to Minnesota Twins fans announcing his decision.

The Twins handled what turned out to be Mauer’s last game perfectly. Mauer started at 1st base. He took the field alone and was greeted by his two daughters at 1st base. Then it what turned out now to be his final at bat Mauer sliced a doubled to left centerfield in the signature way he had for 15 seasons with the Twins. Then for the first time in five years Mauer put his catching gear on. He caught one pitch from Twins reliever Matt Belisle before exiting the game to a standing ovation from the Twins fans.

With Mauer’s retirement the talk will turn to will he be elected to the Hall of Fame. It’s an interesting case and it looks as though he has a good chance to go to Cooperstown.

Mauer was a catcher for the first 10 years of his career, but was forced to move out from behind the plate after battling concussion issues. As a catcher Mauer won the MVP in 2009. He also won 3 batting titles, 3 Gold Gloves and was named to the All-Star team 6 times. I know the sabermetric people are jumping up and down right now screaming that batting average doesn’t mean anything. First off you’re stupid so shut up, but Mauer also led the league in On Base Percentage 2 times as well as Slugging Percentage and On Base plus Slugging Percentage once each.

Mauer played in 1858 career games. He had 2123 hits in his career. Mauer was never a big time power hitter as he hit 10 homers or more just six times in his career with 28 being his career high in 2009, but he has a career batting average of .306.

Mauer’s Hall of Fame candidacy may hinge n who’s voting at the time his name hits the ballot. If there are enough older writers still casting votes he should have a good chance to find his way in, but since he’s not a sabermetric darling if there’s enough new voters who believe in those stats he might run into trouble.

Take some time to look at Mauer’s numbers and tell me if you think he belongs in the Hall of Fame. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mauerjo01.shtml

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime