Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

How was your Valentine’s Day?

Posted: February 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

2/14/15

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or caught some of the blogs here you know I’m not a fan of All-Star games. I do however enjoy some of the events that the NBA has during its All-Star weekend. Last night (Friday) they had two games that I didn’t have a lot of interest in. The Celebrity game kicks off the weekend followed by the Rising Stars Challenge. This year they had the World vs. USA with the World winning 122-112. Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves playing for the World team was the MVP of the game scoring 22 for the World team. There are four events held today (Saturday) starting with the Shooting Challenge. Then it’s the Skills Challenge followed by the 3-point Shooting Contest and ending with the Slam Dunk Contest. The Shooting Challenge features four teams of three players. The teams are; Team Bosh with Captain Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Dominique Wilkins is the team Legend and Swim Cash of the New York Liberty is their WNBA player. Team Curry; with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry as the team captain, his father Dell Curry is their Legend and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm is their WNBA player. Team Westbrook captained by Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as their Legend and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever as their WNBA player. Team Milsap is captained by Paul Milsap of the Atlanta Hawks. Milsap is replacing the injured Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. Milsap’s teammates are Legend Scottie Pippen and W.N.B.A. player  Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. I’ll take Team Curry to win this event. The Skills Challenge features eight NBA players who compete in a bracket-style tournament for the first time. The format calls for two players to compete simultaneously on an identical course with the fastest finisher reaching the next round.  The players will be tested in an obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills. Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz is back to defend last year title and he is joined by Brandon Knight of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors. Isiah Thomas of the Phoenix Suns, Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks and his teammate Dennis Schroder who is replacing Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls. Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic is taking the place of Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers and Patrick Beverly of the Houston Rockets is taking the place of Washington Wizards guard John Wall. I’ll take Teague to win this competition. A lot of experts think that this will be the best 3-point shooting challenge ever. The eight guys in the 3-point shooting Contest are defending champion  Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trailblazers, J.J. Reddick of the Los Angeles Clippers and teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. It seems like most experts think that one of the Golden State players either Thompson or Curry will win this contest, but I’m taking Wesley Matthews to win. The Dunk Contest has lost most of its luster from when it was a must see event, but this season they are returning to their classic format. That means it will be a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players will have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges will score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. The four players in the Dunk Contest are Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets, Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m taking LaVine to win the Dunk Contest. To me these events at least feature players skills while the All-Star game itself is just players watching other players score. Will you watch?

The first interview on the podcast last night had Scott Andes from LasordasLair.com to talk Los Angeles Dodgers baseball we followed that interview with Billy Brost from FriarsonBase,com for some San Diego Padres talk. On the field the Dodgers and Padres are rivals and both play in the NL West. While the Dodgers have had the better of this rivalry for years now the Padres have made a ton of moves this off-season to try to close that gap. There are questions on both sides as teams get ready for spring training to start. The Dodgers will be brand new up the middle with Yasmani Grandal catching, Howie Kendrick at 2nd base, Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and rookie Joc Pederson in centerfield. The Padres will have a new starting outfield with Matt Kemp in rightfield, Will Myers in centerfield and Justin Upton in leftfield as well as Derek Norris catching. Both teams still have some questions though. While Kenley Jansen is a solid major league closer posting 44 saves in 49 chances. The question is who gets the ball to him? Is the biggest question I think the Dodgers have to address. In San Diego the Padres have to decide if Yonder Alonso is the right player at 1st base? The Padres also have a glut of outfielders with  Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable on the 40 man roster. Are the Padres done dealing? With the addition of James Shields the extra outfielders and Philadelphia Phillies General manager Ruben Amaro Jr’s interest in Andrew Cashner could Cole Hamles be on the radar. One of the best things was listening to Scott and Billy’s take on each others team.

The NHL trade deadline is March 2nd; so which players may be switching teams. Will the Ottawa Senators trade Chris Neil? Will the New York Rangers try to deal J.T. Miller and clear some salary cap space? Will the  New Jersey Devils trade Jaromir Jagr? Since the Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been able to reach extensions with forwards Jiri Tlusty and Jay McClement, will they be dealt before the trade deadline? There’s a couple of names that might move before March 2nd for you. Which Stanley Cup contenders need to add what to win it all? We should get some of these answers soon.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

2/11/15

The big story right now is that the little league team from Jackie Robinson West out of  Chicago used players from outside their boundaries and were stripped of their U.S. Little League World Series championship. I spent about 10 years coaching Little League baseball in the town I grew up in and while I didn’t coach at this level I can tell you first hand that this happens all of the time. I coached at what was called at the time the Senior league level which is players 13 to 15 years old. The level this is happened at is called the Major league level which has players from 10 to 12 years old. Now not only did I coach in my time in Little League, but I was also Vice President of the league and had to be acting President on a few occasions when needed. Does it make it right that they did this, no it doesn’t, but the kids themselves probably didn’t have much to do with this. I’m sure if you played Little League there was a kid you knew who used his Aunt’s address so he could play with his friends. When I was in elementary school my parents used the neighbors address so I could go to the school closest to our house. With every Little League World Series game on television now coaches are going to do whatever they can to win. Remember Danny Almonte; he was the pitcher who turned out to be 14 or 15 years old when he pitched in the Little League World Series. That turned out to be his father’s idea. There has always been an issue with either Japan or Korea and the ages of their players. I’m sure this has happened before and the team or teams just got away with it, but you wonder if the reason this is happening is because this team won. It’s too bad for the kids, but I’m sure some of them knew where certain players lived and that they should’ve been on different teams. I’m not sure if there’s a way to fix this now that it’s a featured television event, but remember that its Little League and it’s suppose to be for the kids.

So Alex Rodriquez had a meeting with the New York Yankees to apologize for his disastrous 2013 effort to escape a Biogenesis doping ban, even as team brass told Rodriguez that they did not intend to pay him the millions in marketing bonuses for any home run milestones he might reach in the future. As pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report you have to wonder where does Rodriquez fit in the Yankees plans for the 2015 season. Chase Headley was resigned in the off-season and will play 3rd base. If he’s healthy you have to figure Mark Teixeira will be at 1st base. There’s also the fact that Rodriquez has never played 1st base.  Chris Young finished the season strong for the Yankees and Garrett Jones was signed in the off-season; so even the Designated Hitter role is crowded. The meeting took place at Yankee Stadium and it’s being reported that it lasted about 90 minutes. Rodriquez  did not say whether he would challenge the Yankees on the bonuses, according to the person present. The execs told him they do not consider any records he might set as milestones and will not pay them, and that he was free to challenge them, according to the source. It will be interesting to see what kind of media circus follows Rodriquez around at spring training. On a side note Rodriquez will be the first player I nominate in our fantasy auction draft this season just to see how high the bidding might go.

A hamstring injury will sideline Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy for 4-6 weeks. The Brewers did not specify how Lucroy was hurt. Lucroy should be able to play by the time the Brewers open the regular season on April 6 against the Rockies at Miller Park. But he will miss the bulk of Spring Training, and those lost at-bats could be troublesome.  The Brewers have a quality backup catcher in defensive-minded Martin Maldonado, who signed a two-year contract last month. The other catcher on the 40-man roster is Juan Centeno, who briefly appeared in the big leagues with the New York Mets in 2013 and 2014.  Brewers pitchers and catchers are expected to report to camp on February  20th. The first full-squad workout is scheduled to be held on February 26th.

On the podcast today (Wednesday) we have Tim Kelly from Section215.com scheduled to talk some Philadelphia sports and I’m wondering how he feels about the Philadelphia Flyers playoff chances. The Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, picking up points in seven straight games after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday gave them a 5-0-2 record since January  20th, when they beat the rival Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 at home. The Flyers are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. For the second season in a row the Flyers got off to a poor start. Last season they were 4-10-1 after 15 games and went 38-20-9 the rest of the way to reach the playoffs. This season the Flyers were 8-13-3 after 24 games but have gone 15-9-6 since to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Having overcome a poor start last season gives the Flyers belief they can do it again, but this is most definitely doing things the hard way. The Flyers announced starting goaltender Steve Mason would be out 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury. I did see a report yesterday (Tuesday) that Mason will have knee surgery. That was hardly the type of news you want to hear in the middle of a late-season push toward the playoffs, especially considering the difficulties backup Ray Emery has had this season. Emery entered the game against Montreal with a 9-9-1 record, a 3.34 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. But Emery made 39 saves against the Canadiens, withstanding a bombardment over the second half of the game to get his team into overtime and earn the Flyers a point in the standings, one that could have easily been lost were it not for his stellar play.

The national basketball Association is heading towards its All-Star break and I saw that one of the All-Star game activities this season is a fashion show. Yes, you read that right a fashion show. Apparently there will be three different looks per player. At least I think it’s the players who are modeling, but I don’t know for sure. I understand that the dunk contest got boring and not everyone likes three point shooting or skills competition, but a fashion show really. I also believe I heard that LeBron James is a producer or something to that effect on this. All I know is this is one All-Star event I have zero interest in.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week

Posted: February 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
1

2/7/15

For the first time last night (Friday) we started the podcast with an interview. Eric Huysman from Climbing Tals Hill came back on Sports Time Radio to discuss some Houston Astros baseball, but mostly to talk about the MLB Networks Top 10 2nd baseman rankings. On Eric’s first visit to the podcast he learned what big fans of Jose Altuve we where and tweeted out that MLB Network had him 6th on their Top 10 list. You have to look at the source of the list and try hard to not take fantasy baseball into consideration when making a list like this. That can make it tough and I try not to be to fantasy bias, but I think 6th is quite low. I’m sure the list had a lot of Sabermetics involved in it and there is some East coast bias. Then add in the fact that the Astros have been bad for a few seasons now and I’m sure those are some of the reasons they held Altuve down. Here’s the MLB Network list:

#1 Robinson Cano Seattle Mariners

#2 Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox

#3 Ben Zobrist Oakland A’s

#4 Neil Walker Pittsburgh Pirates

#5 Ian Kinsler Detroit Tigers

#6 Jose Altuve Houston Astros

#7 Howie Kendrick Los Angeles Dodgers

#8 Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies

#9 Brian Dozier Minnesota Twins

#10 Scooter Gennett Milwaukee Brewers

Besides the error in ranking Altuve; where is Dee Gordon? I have no issues at all with Cano at #1 and I don’t think even Astros fans would argue that ranking. I would’ve had Altuve as the #2 2nd baseman. I like Zobrist at #3 and Gordon would be #4 for me. Give me Kinsler at #5, Walker at #6  with Utley at #7 with Pedroia at #8. Kendrick would be solid at #9 and I would have Jason Kipnis at #10. Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals would’ve been on this list, but he’s playing 3rd base this season.  Am I a little bias towards Altuve; yeah I’m sure I am. If you follow this blog you know that I believe he was the MVP in the American League last season. While Houston was 70-92 in 2014 I think you could make a case that Altuve is just as important to the Astros as Mike Trout is to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Where would the Astros of ended up last season had they not had Altuve. Not only did he win a batting title; which with Sabermetrics doesn’t mean a whole lot, but he also hit clean up at times for the Astros. While Trout is the best player in Major League Baseball, Altuve hung with him stat wise in 2014. Trout scored more runs 115-85, had more triples 9-3, more home runs 36-7, more RBI’s 111-59 and walks 83-36. Altuve led in hits 225-173, doubles 47-39, strikeouts 53-184, stolen bases 56-16 and batting average .341-.287. You can just pick the stats that you like best and run with them. Now if Altuve’s numbers can compare with the best player in baseball and last seasons MVP award winner; how is just the 6th ranked 2nd baseman in M.L.B. for the 2015 season.

We where hoping to have some breaking news on the podcast last night, but it never happened as James Shields is still unsigned. Shields camp was saying that he’d sign with a team by the end of the week. Now depending on what the end of the week is to you maybe he has until tomorrow (Sunday) to sign with a team. Now that Shields contract terms appear to have changed the Chicago Cubs have shown some interest in him according to reports. I found it funny that on Chicago sports radio fans where calling in and complaining about this signing if it happened because Shields has a bad post season record. Did I miss the Cubs repeated trips to the post season and all those World Series titles that they’ve been winning. I guess since the Cubs are the trendy pick this season and in the coming seasons I guess their fans think they can be picky. I would think as a Cubs fan that you’d be excited to add a pitcher of Shields quality. Shields takes the ball every five days as he’s made 31 or more starts every year since 2007. Now at 33 years old I can understand that a team wouldn’t want to go four or five years on a contract with Shields, but you could go three years with him and maybe an option for a 4th depending on how he pitches. I guess we’re still waiting for the “end of the week” to find out where Shields pitches in 2015.

The two best teams in the NBA played last night as the Atlanta Hawks (42-9) defeated the Golden State Warriors (39-9) 124-116 in Atlanta last night. Jeff Teague led the Hawks in scoring with 23 points, but seven Hawks where in double figures. Paul Milsap had 21 points, Kyle Korver and Mike Scott had 17 points, DeMarre Carroll and Al Horford had 12 points while Kent Bazemore added 11 points. Scott and Bazemore came off the bench for the Hawks last night to add scoring. Horford grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the team while Korver had 7 boards. Dennis Schroder tied Teague for the team lead in assists with 7 while Horford also handed out 6 assists. Korver was 5 for 9 from behind the 3-point line while Bazemore and Scott both went 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point arc.  Atlanta shot 55.6% from behind the 3-point line last night going 15 for 27 in the game. Klay Thompson led the warriors in scoring with 29 points, Stephen Curry added 26 points and Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green add 12 points for Golden State. Green also had 20 rebounds and handed out 6 assists as Curry led the Warriors in assists with 9. Thompson was 4 for 8 and Curry was 4 for 9 from behind the 3-point line, but the Warriors shot just 36.4% from behind the arc. The game was tied at 52 all at halftime. The Hawks where able to get a 4 point lead after 3 quarters and outscored the Warriors 35-31 in the 4th quarter for the win. Did we get an NBA finals preview last night; it’s still to early to tell, but we did get a good game. With the win Atlanta now has the best record in the NBA Golden State is in the midst of playing four games in five nights and take on the New York Knicks tonight in New York. The Hawks get a day off before visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

If you’re in a fantasy hockey league like Dan the Man and I are it was a good night to play all of your Columbus Blue Jackets and a bad night to start the St. Louis Blues Brian Elliott in-goal. Elliott gave up four of the seven Blue Jackets goals and was pulled for Jake Allen; who gave up the final three Columbus goals. Nick Foligno was the only Blue Jackets player with multiple goals scoring two to bring his season total to 20. Cam Atkinson, Ryan Johansen, Corey Tropp, Matt Calvert and Scott Hartnell where the other Blue Jackets who put the puck in the back of the net last night. Brandon Dubinsky and Johansen also picked up two assists for Columbus. Paul Stastny was the only Blues player to score a goal. Curtis McElhinney got the win on goal for Columbus stopping 33 of 34 St. Louis shots. The Blue Jackets turn right around and play the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa tonight while St. Louis has a rivalry game with an early Sunday start (11:30 a.m.) against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 4, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

2-4-15

What other question did you think we’d be starting with today. Why didn’t they run the football? The New England Patriots came back from 10 points down to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24. It looked like Seattle was on it’s way to a game winning touchdown with 2nd down and the ball on the one yard line, but for whatever reason the Seahawks decided to throw the football instead of hand it off to Marshawn Lynch and New England intercepted it to seal the victory. Lynch had scored earlier in the game on a three  yard run as part of his 24 carry, 102 yard rushing game. Now I’ve heard the argument that Lynch only scored once from the one yard line during the season on five carries. Lynch had 280 carries on the season; so those five carries are a very, very small sample size to use that as the reason. The Seahawks talked about clock management and wanting to get three plays while they where at the one yard line instead of two  rushing plays. Those are two of the stupidest reasons to not give the ball to one of the top running backs in the NFL with two chances from the one yard line to win the Super Bowl. If you’re into conspiracies there is the reason that the Seahawks and the NFL didn’t want Lynch to be the one to score because he’d be a top choice for MVP and they didn’t want him to win that award. I know that’s quite a reach for a reason, but I’ve heard that mentioned by more than a few people. Give Malcolm Butler credit; he took a big chance and it paid off for him. You also have to give quite a bit of credit to the Patriots offense as they where able to come back and take the lead against a defense that most people think is the best in the NFL. New England may have dinked and dunked it’s way to a win, but it was a Super Bowl win. I’m going to go on record right now and say that this loss affect the Seahawks through next season and I wouldn’t be surprised if they miss the playoffs next season or just sneak in as a wild card team, but I would be very surprised to see them in the Super Bowl after in 2016.

On the Sunday edition of Sports Time Radio I had Mr. Fantasy tell us where he would put his money if he was wagering on some of the Super Bowl prop bets. Here’s how he ended up doing. On Tom Brady’s prop bets where 262 1/2 passing yards; Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady had 328 passing yards, LOSS. Pass attempts over/under 35 1/2, Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady attempted 50 passes, LOSS. Passes completed over/under 24 1/2 Mr. Fantasy took the under, Brady completed 37 passes, LOSS. Rush yards over/under 5 1/2 Mr. Fantasy took the under Brady ran for -3 yards, WIN. Let’s look at his Rob Gronkowski prop bets. Receiving yards was set at over/under 74 1/2 yards, Mr. Fantasy took the over. Gronkowski went for 68 yards, LOSS. Catches was over/under 6 1/2, Mr. Fantasy took the over. Gronkowski caught 6 (six) passes in the game, LOSS. Longest catch was over/under 24 1/2 yards, Mr. Fantasy took the under. Gronkowski’s longest catch was for 22 yards, WIN. It’s a good thing Mr. Fantasy isn’t a betting man.

I caught just the end of a crawler report on television that said free agent pitcher James Shields would sign with a team by the end of the week, but I didn’t see which teams it is and looking for more information no team name has surfaced. Shields has said that he’d prefer to play on the West coast, but the San Francisco Giants passed on him earlier to bring back Jake Peavey. The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Brett Anderson and Brandon McCarthy this off-season. I know Anderson has been injury prone; so would the Dodgers sign Shields and use Anderson as insurance or a 6th starter. While the Arizona Dianmondbacks could use Shields I have a feeling they’re not going to make that move. They seem to be in more rebuilding mode than signing a top free agent type of mode. Maybe it’s the San Diego Padres who land Shields. The Padres have made big moves this off-season and adding a pitcher like Shields would be another big step towards contending in 2015. The Padres have a solid starting rotation, but would have no problem at all finding a spot for Shields in that rotation. It’s never been said if Shields preferred the American League or the National League; so maybe the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the place Shields lands. While the Angels starting rotation looks solid it has three young pitchers in it; so a veteran like Shields might be a good fit their. It would be a big, big surprise if the Oakland A’s end up being the team that Shields signs with. The A’s have made quite a few moves this off-season and this would be an off the radar type of signing for them. Are the Seattle Mariners considered on the West coast? If they are this is also a good landing spot for Shields. Seattle is another team that is hoping for two young guys to come through in their rotation; so adding a Shields would push back some of the expectations on the younger guys.

I was a little surprised to see Kyle Kendrick end up signing with the Colorado Rockies. I thought Kendrick might be a good fit for a contender as a 4th or 5th starter, but he didn’t draw a lot of interest on the free agent market. Kendrick is just 30 years old and has proved to be an innings eater type of starting pitcher for today’s game. Kendrick has only been on the disabled list once in his eight year career. He’s won 10 or more games the last three  seasons for some bad Philadelphia Phillies teams. The Rockies got Kendrick for one year at $5.5 million dollars.

Tonight (Wednesday) on Sports Time Radio will be talking with Brian K. Patterson from House of Houston then on Friday night will talk with Dylan Smith from Chowder and Champions and also on Friday will have Billy Brost from Yanks go Yard and Friars on Base To listen to these shows and any other archived editions click here Sports Time Radio.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime Listen to Sports Time Radio on Blog Talk Radio

How was your Week?

Posted: January 31, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/31/15

All the talk is just about over and tomorrow (Sunday) the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will meet in the Super Bowl. It looks like neither team will lose any players to injury for the start of the game, but there are some key players listed on the teams injury reports. For New England the biggest injury listed is to center Brian Stork who’s been dealing with a knee injury and has been limited in practice. The Seahawks have three of their four starting defensive backs on the injury report. Safety Earl Thomas is playing with a shoulder injury. Everyone saw Richard Sherman play the end of the NFC championship game with one arm. Sherman injured his elbow against the Green Bay Packers, but the bigger question with Sherman is what will he do if his girlfriend goes into labor before the game. The breaking injury news that came out yesterday was on Seattle safety Kam Chancellor. It’s being reported that  the last play of practice yesterday (Friday) Chancellor injured his knee and left the field with a wrapped left knee. Will the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady be able to take advantage of a banged up Seattle secondary which is considered the best in the league? Finally it won’t be long until we find out on the field instead of just talking about it.

Besides just my predictions on the game I went out and had everyone from Sports Time Radio send me their final score and who they think will win the MVP award. Here’s what we’ve picked for the Super Bowl.

Schaumburg Stu has it New England 30 Seattle 17 with Tom Brady winning the MVP.
Dan the Man has it New England 42 Seattle 34 with Brady as his MVP as well.
Mr. Fantasy has it New England 27 Seattle 17 and he went with Brady as his MVP also.
I have Seattle 27 New England 21 with Kam Chancellor as the MVP.
Greg from our fantasy challenge has it New England 31 Seattle 20 and get also likes Brady as MVP.
I also asked Phil Watson from http://www.DairylandExpress.com for a prediction and he went with Seattle 24 New England 23 with Marshawn Lynch as his MVP.
If you’d like to hear who Dylan Smith from Chowder and Champions James Silberman from Emerald City Swagger and Tony Fischer from Detroit Jock City picked to win and who they liked as MVP. Go into Blog Talk Radio and listen to the Friday edition of Sports Time Radio. Mr. Fantasy and I had them all make picks at the end of their interviews last night.

The Chicago Bulls are 30-19 and a 1 1/2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 1st place in the Central division of the Eastern conference, but with the Bulls up and down play this season there are people wondering what’s wrong with this team. As with any team that has reported issues the first person everyone looks at is the head coach. In the Bulls case that’s Tom Thibodeau that the spotlight is on right now. there are reports out of Chicago that the relationship between Thibodeau and the Bulls front office; General Manager Gar Foreman and team President John Paxson is “beyond repair”. It seems to be Thibodeau’s intense style of coaching that is causing the issues between him and the front office. This may actually go back to November of 2013 when a report surfaced that the Bulls team executives where telling Thibodeau how to dispense minutes to the players. With Thibodeau’s coaching style the Bulls top players log major minutes, but this season the starting unit of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah have played together in 15 of Chicago’s 49 games this season. This of course doesn’t count the last two seasons that Rose lost to injuries. ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, for whom Thibodeau was an assistant when Van Gundy was head coach of the Knicks and Rockets, blasted Chicago’s front office (and the journalists that cover the Bulls) during last Friday’s Chicago Bulls-Dallas Mavericks game. The Bulls are 4-6 in their last 10 games and dropped their 2nd game in a row last night 99-93 to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns loss follows a tough double overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers 123-118 on Thursday. These two  losses come after a big victory in Golden State against the Warriors 113-111. This is the kind of up and down play that has people questioning if Thibodeau had lost the Bulls locker room and if his style was too much for a long-term coach. Thibodeau has two years remaining on his contract and you’d hope before Foreman and Paxson would make a coaching change they’s ask themselves if they could find someone better. To make a change for changes sake would be stupid on the front offices part, but if the relationship between the head coach and the front office is that bad there may be a change coning. The Bulls have six more games before the NBA All-Star break and with all of these reports it looks like the break will be much appreciated.

With the big signing of Max Scherzer the Washington nationals look to have the best starting rotation in the MLB but after they dealt Tyler Clippard to the Oakland A’s I had some questions about their bullpen. The Nationals made a move to address the bullpen by signing free-agent reliever Casey Janssen, to a one year with mutual option, $5 million guaranteed including option buyout. Janssen appeared in 50 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014 saving 25 games. His ERA was 3.94 which was up from 2013 when it was 2.56 and from 2012 when it was 2.54. While the Nationals aren’t looking for Janssen to close; they have Drew Storen set to take that role, but if needed Janssen could fill in as closer if needed. The bullpen will get a boost from Tanner Roark who should move into the bullpen after the Scherzer signing. Will Janssen, Roark, Craig Stammen, Jerry Blevins and Matt Thornton be the bullpen combination that leads the Nationals to the season they’re predicted to have in 2015.

MLB Network built a show around the top prospects in baseball; here are the top 5 prospects. Byron Buxton outfielder Minnesota Twins, Kris Bryant 3rd baseman Chicago Cubs, Carlos Correa shortstop Houston Astros, Francisco Lindor shortstop Cleveland Indians and Addison Russell shortstop Chicago Cubs. Will we see any or all of these player in the major leagues this season who knows. This is the second year in a row that Buxton has been the #1 prospect in MLB so you have to wonder how much longer it will be before the Twins need to bring him up and take a look at him. If you’ve listened to the podcast at ll you know how I feel about Bryant. He should’ve been with the Cubs last season and there;s no reason he shouldn’t be on the major league team at the start of the 2015 season, but the Cubs are trying to hold on to him as long as they can and I’m betting he starts the season in the minor leagues. It’s a huge joke on the Cubs part, but they have control of Bryant and can do that. Most of the reports I’ve read have said that Correa is a season or so away from being the Astros everyday shortstop; so I’d be surprised to see him in the majors this season. Lindor is the next Indians shortstop, but they want to make sure that he’ll play that position everyday when he’s brought up to the majors. Russell is another player who is probably a year away from the big leagues, but if he’s going to be there with the Cubs he might have to switch positions. Russell played some 2nd base in the Arizona Fall League for a short period of time and barring a trade of Starling Castro 2nd base may be Russell’s position at the big league level.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

How was your Week?

Posted: January 24, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/24/15

Sad news last night for Chicago Cubs fans as “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks passed away at the age of 83. Banks’ catch phrase “Let’s play two” suggesting a doubleheader was always better than just a single game in one day; showed his love for the game of baseball. Banks started his career in the Negro League playing with the Kansas City Monarchs before being signed by the Cubs as a free agent in 1953. Banks got into 10 games for the Cubs in that 1953 season and after that spent the next 18 seasons in a Cubs uniform. Banks won the National League MVP award in back to back season, 1958 and 1959. He also finished in the Top 10 of M.V.P. voting in three other seasons. Banks was also an 11 time All-Star and won the Gold Glove at shortstop for the 1960 season. Banks is a member of the 500 home run club; with 512 home runs for his career. He led the N.L. in home runs with 47 in 1958 and then again with 41 in 1960. Banks had a career batting average of .274 with an on base percentage of .330 and a .500 slugging percentage. Banks totaled 2583 hits in his career with 407 doubles, 90 triples and added 50 stolen bases all with the Cubs. Banks ended his 19 year Cubs career on September 26th 1971 going 1 for 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5-1 Cubs loss. In 1977 Banks received 83.8% of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America and was enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame. In 1982, Banks had his No. 14 jersey retired, the first Cubs player to receive such an honor. In 2008, the Cubs unveiled a statue outside Wrigley Field that honored him. Then in November 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, joining the likes of Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial in gaining this honor. With his out going personality and the obvious love for baseball that Banks had he became an ambassador for the Cubs fans and the game of baseball itself after his playing career ended. While it may be January in Chicagoland, but “Let’s play two”.

While I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots I’m already tired of the side stories coming into the game. It’s to the point here I don’t care if New England deflated the football in their game against the Indianapolis Colts. Would a fully inflated football have changed the outcome of the game; I seriously doubt it. Even if the Patriots are guilty of this do you think Tom Brady or Bill Belichick where the guys taking the air out of the football. On the Seattle side is there any chance the mainstream media will leave Marshawn Lynch alone this week. Everyone knows that Lynch isn’t a big fan of talking to the media which will put a huge target on his back for every moron who’ll want to be the one that thinks they can get a quote from Lynch. Believe it or not there are players that don’t want to be media superstars; I know that’s hard to believe, but Lynch seems to be one of these guys. While I fully agree with Lynch being fined for his crotch grab end zone celebration I don’t think he should be forced to speak to the media. I’m not a big fan if what the NFL calls media week and the game can’t get here soon enough for me.

I really hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. Just last night (Friday) alone we had three interviews. Now these aren’t the type of interviews you’ll hear on your radio where the person is on for five minutes and they answer two or three questions. We keep guys up to 30 minutes; so they can answer all of the questions that need to be answered. Starting off the Friday night show we had Ian St. Clair from PredominatlyOrange.com to talk Denver Broncos football. After that it was Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports.com joining us to discuss the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. We ended the podcast by having Mike Marteny from FantasyCPR.com to talk about early fantasy baseball rankings along with who to look out for this upcoming season. Next week is shaping up as another big interview week for Sports Time Radio as will have guest on every show and even three more interviews on Friday the 30th show. Starting off with the January 26th show (Monday) we’ll have Eric Huysman from ClimbingTalsHill.com to talk about what the Houston Astros will look like in the 2015 baseball season.

Jeff Gordon’s 23rd season in NASCAR will be his last full-time season. Gordon is 3rd all time with 92 wins, has made 689 consecutive starts and is a four-time champion, but at 43 he’ll step away from his full-time ride #24 with Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon won’t use the word retire as he plans to stay involved with NASCAR and may even get behind the wheel at selected races; just not full-time. Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t made any announcements on who might take over Gordon’s ride for the 2016 NASCAR season, but it appears that Chase Elliot will be their choice.

You could say Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors had a night with 52 points in 126-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings, but to be more specific he had a quarter. In the 3rd quarter alone Thompson went 13 for 13 from the floor including a NBA record nine 3-point shots in the quarter. The 37 points Thompson ut up in the quarter was an NBA record as well. Thompson surpassed the 33-point mark set by George Gervin in 1978 and matched by Carmelo Anthony in 2008 for the most points in a quarter. Michael Redd and Joe Johnson shared the previous mark for most 3-point shots made in a quarter with eight. Thompson scored 19 consecutive points during one stretch, which ended with him making a left-handed pass to Draymond Green for a lay up. Thompson helped make sure the Warriors equaled the franchise’s highest win total before the All-Star game. The defending champion 1975-76 Warriors went 35-13 before the break and finished with a team-best record of 59-23.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: January 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/21/15

Are the Atlanta hawks the best team in the Eastern conference of the NBA? With a 34-8 record and on a 13 game winning streak you could make that argument. Under 2nd year head coach Mike Budenholzer the Hawks are playing more of an uptempo style and have been compared to the team that Budenholzer worked for 16 or 17 seasons the San Antonio Spurs. Yesterday on the Sports Time Radio podcast Brad Rowland from ATLallday.com talked about the fact that the hawks are just one win away from tying the team’s all-time record for wins in a row. They’ll get their chance to tie that record tonight (Wednesday) as they host the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are in last place in the Central division of the Eastern conference at 15-28 coming into tonight’s game. This could be considered a classic trap game for the Hawks as they have a big match up with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and if they’re looking ahead to that game the Pacers may surprise them. If the Hawks can get their 14th win tonight and they find a way to get past the Thunder for #15 they’ll have a couple of winnable games Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves and then a week from today against the Brooklyn Nets. Could the Atlanta winning streak be at 17 when they go up against the 2nd best team record wise in the Western conference the Portland Trailblazers. Now if you don’t consider Atlanta to be the best team in the Eastern conference; you’d have to say they’re the biggest surprise right now. Stat wise you wouldn’t know how well this team is doing. They don’t have a player who averages 20 points a game. Jeff Teague is averaging the most points per game with 17.2. Paul Milsap isn’t far behind at 16.9 points per game. Milsap is the teams rebounding leader with 7.9 per game. Al Horford is 2nd in rebounding at 6,6 per game. Teague is easily the team leader in assists handing out 7.3 per game. You can’t talk about the success the Hawks are having without mentioning the role that Kyle Korver has played. Korver is shooting 53.6% from behind the three point line and adding 13.2 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game. The Hawks have avoided a major injury to a star player this season and still may have some issues inside against bigger teams, but their isn’t a team in the NBA on a better roll right now.

The team in the Eastern conference that might give the Hawks the most problems could be the Washington Wizards. While the Chicago Bulls are struggling right now and the Cleveland Cavaliers are still trying to find their way the Wizards have the 2nd best record in the Eastern conference at 29-13. The Wizards have what the Hawks struggle against; bigger player who can move. The Wizards have Marcin Gortat, Nene as starters with Kris Humphries and Kevin Seraphin coming off the bench. While I think everyone is expecting the Cavaliers or the Bulls to represent the Eastern conference in the NBA finals, but don’t be surprise if you see the Wizards vs. the Hawks for the right to play for the NBA title.

7 years and $210 million is what it took the Washington Nationals to land Max Scherzer. Scherzer turns 31 in July; so that means the back-end of this contract will be terrible for Washington. There was a lot of money deferred; so does that make Schrezer the new Bobby Bonilla? While the contract says seven years he’ll be paid over a period of fourteen years. Schrezer was 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA last season for the Detroit Tigers. The knock on Schrezer is the fact that he’s had one complete game in 198 career starts, but that complete game was last season. Schrezer is also one year removed from a Cy Young award-winning season. Schrezer joins the nationals starting rotation along with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister. They also have Tanner Roark, but you’d think if the Nationals don’t make another deal Roark may be ticketed for the bullpen. There is talk of the Nationals looking for a bullpen arm, but would they deal Zimmerman to get him or would Roark be the starter that gets dealt. Either way with the Schrezer signing the Nationals have on paper what appears to be the best starting rotation in Major League Baseball but will it win them a World Series.

I was a little surprised to see the Milwaukee Brewers trade Yovani Gallardo. He had been the ace of their pitching staff and even though his stats where in decline I didn’t think they would trade him. In return for Gallardo Milwaukee received a group of young players. Infielder Luis Sardinas and right-handed pitchers Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan. There was some talk that the Brewers would be interested in Jordan Zimmerman of the Nationals, but it doesn’t appear that will happen; so it looks like Jimmy Nelson is the guy tab to move into the Milwaukee starting rotation. We’ll have Phil Watson from DairylandExpress.com on the podcast today (Wednesday) and you know this topic will come up.

The Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs made a deal as the Astros have traded outfielder Dexter Fowler to Chicago for infielder Luis Valbuena and right-handed pitcher Dan Straily. The Cubs had reportedly been seeking an outfielder, and Fowler will take over in center and join an outfield mix that also includes Jorge Soler, Chris Coghlan, Chris Denorfia and Arismendy Alcantara. Alcantara is just 23 and struggled in his first big league season in 2014, so perhaps the Cubs will have him start the season in the minors, or maybe they’ll also have him play infield, perhaps using him at third base until Kris Bryant arrives. Mike Olt and Tommy La Stella could also be in the short-term mix at third. If you’ve ever heard the podcast you know I’m all in on Kris Bryant and thought he should’ve been with the major league team at the end of last season. Sadly the Cubs are looking for control of Bryant for as long as they can; so I won’t be surprised at all if the Cubs keep Bryant in the minors until July just for that one extra year of control. Where Bryant starts the season at will tell you exactly where the Cubs think they are. If he’s in Chicago with the big club the Cubs think they have a shot at a playoff berth. If Bryant starts the season at Triple A Iowa the Cubs feel they won’t be a playoff team and hold Bryant back.

Don’t forget to listen to the podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

Also follow me on @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: January 17, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/17/14

With the way the off-season started if you where a fan of the Oakland A’s where you concerned what your team would look like? I’m not even a fan of the A’s, but I couldn’t figure out what Billy Beane was trying to do with the team. There’s still about six weeks before spring training starts and who knows if the A’s are done making moves, but the team looks a lot different from last season. I think most if not all A’s fan realized that Jon Lester wouldn’t be back with the team in 2015. There was a lot of talk that if the A’s couldn’t sign Jeff Samardzija they would trade him, but I think most expert thought it would happen around the trade deadline not at the owners meetings. Even though the Samardzija deal happened a little earlier than people thought it would him and Lester being gone was kind of expected. Then Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss are traded in separate deals. Two of the three catchers from last season; Derek Norris and John Jaso where dealt. They didn’t make an attempt to resign shortstop Jed Lowrie and utility man Nick Punto was let go. Luke Gregerson was also allowed to leave as a free agent. Even though they brought Billy Butler in to be the Designated Hitter and Ike Davis to play 1st base I wasn’t all that sold on the A’s competing in the American League West, but slowly the team has come together. With the two latest deals getting Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar from the Tampa Bay Rays and then turning around and sending Escobar to the Washington Nationals for Tyler Clippard I wouldn’t be surprised to see the A;s contending again. Mr. Fantasy and I discussed the A’s line up last night (Friday) on the Sports Time Radio podcast. I believe he’s actually more sold on them than I am. I think they needed one more power hitting threat in the batting order, but he thinks they’ll get by. Stephen Vogt will get to catch full-time, Brett Lawrie takes over at 3rd base, Zobrist will play 2nd base with Davis at 1st and as long as you’re sold on Marcus Semien as your everyday shortstop the infield is set. The outfield looks like Josh Reddick in right field, Coco Crisp in centerfield and Sam Fuld in left field with Craig Gentry as the 4th outfielder and then Butler in the DH role. The rotation has Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez, Drew Pomeranz and Jesse Hahn possibly set to open the season. Don’t forget they also have A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker; both of whom are recovering from Tommy John surgery, but will be back some time during the 2015 season. Clippard should drop right into the set up role in front of closer Sean Doolittle. Ryan Cook will also fit into a set up role in the bullpen. If the A’s are done do you think they can contend with this team? or do they need to make another move or two?

Staying in the Bay area the San Francisco Giants signed outfielder Norichika Aoki to a one year deal worth $4.7 million dollars. The deal includes a club option for 2016, and can max out at $12.5 million over two seasons based on the option and performance bonuses. It appears that Aoki will take over in left field for the Giants and may hit towards the top of the batting order. With the Aoki signing and Casey McGehee being brought in to play 3rd base are the Giants done this off-season? There where some rumors this week that the Giants might have some interest in starting pitcher Dillon Gee of the New York Mets. The Giants did talk to Jon Lester and there might have been some interest in James Shields, but they brought opted to bring Jake Peavey back. With Matt Cain coming off of ankle surgery and some other rotation questions are the Giants looking for another starting pitcher? On the podcast last night (Friday) Mr. Fantasy and I talked everything Giants with Mark O’Neill from www.aroundthefoghorn.com you can hear what Mark thinks the Giants might do with the rest of the off-season at Sports Time Radio.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been suspended for two games, without pay, for slew-footing New York Rangers forward Derick Brassard during their game in Boston on Thursday night. I’m wondering if you had the same question I did; what is slew footing? Here is the NHL definition of slew footing. A dangerous play where a player comes from behind an opposing skater and trips the player unexpectedly by dragging the skate so the victim falls to the ice and quite often hits his head or lands hard due to the sneaky nature of the crime. I’ve seen it done before on the ice, but didn’t know what it was called. It is however considered one of the dirtiest cheap shots a hockey player can do, particularly due to the unexpected sneaky nature of the infraction. Match penalties can be assessed by the referee when a player deliberately takes these kinds of penalties. However, sometimes players can commit the foul by accident when skating up behind a player and attempting to body check them. Even the best players in the game get accused of slew footing; Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby for example in 2009 and 2010 in separate incidents. Although it is considered a severe penalty, there is often debate when slew footing penalties are examined for further suspension. Besides numerous small suspensions, a severe injury or long suspension is rarely seen.

Tomorrow we find out who’s going to the Super Bowl. I had the Seattle Seahawks facing the Indianapolis Colts at the beginning of the season; so I guess you know who I’m picking to win tomorrow’s games. I’ve been trying to get Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man to join me on the Colts bandwagon, but it looks like I don’t have any takers. I have Dan the Man’s picks and he likes New England while Mr. Fantasy hasn’t officially made his picks I believe he’ll go with the Patriots to win as well. I’m still waiting for Schaumburg Stu’s picks for Sunday; so maybe he’ll be the one to join me on that Colts bandwagon.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: January 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/14/15

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one  game under .500 at 19-20 and they’ve been without LeBron James for a few weeks. Even with James returning and scoring 33 points it wasn’t enough to stop the Cavaliers losing streak; which is now at six games. Cleveland lost to the Phoenix Suns 107-100. Cleveland is also 1-9 in their last ten games. There’s still a little over half of the season for the Cavaliers to get the ship righted and make a playoff run. Now if you’re a Cavaliers fan are you worried about this being LeBron’s only season in his Cleveland return. I actually though LeBron’s opt out was after next season, but it’s being reported that it’s after this current season. I always thought it was just a money play James. The new NBA television contract will kick in and it’s expected that the salary cap will jump and then James could cash in big. Then there was the Christmas game against the Miami Heat and the conversation that took place between James and Dwayne Wade after that game. James big everything he could so people couldn’t see what he was saying, but it was picked up by a microphone on the floor. This is what James was quoted as saying to Wade. “Like I said, if we aren’t better this year, we’re gonna re-unite again and do some bigger and better things, alright” James excuse was that it was about doing something off court and says it had nothing to do with leaving Cleveland. I guess we’ll find out in about half of a season what will happen with LeBron. Can Cleveland and the Cavaliers fans take another round of free agency for James?

The Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics are swapping veteran point guards in a trade that sends Jameer Nelson to Denver and Nate Robinson to Boston. After spending 10 seasons with one club, the Orlando Magic, Nelson will be on his third team of 2014-15, after joining the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent and playing 23 games for Dallas, then being dealt to the Celtics as part of the return package for Rajon Rondo, and now the Nuggets. In all, Nelson is averaging 6.8 points and 4.4 assists in 24.3 minutes that includes starting for the Mavericks and primarily coming off the bench in Boston. Robinson, who would be in his second stint with the Celtics after previously playing there for parts of two seasons, is contributing 5.8 points and 2.3 assists in 14.1 minutes in Denver. The Celtics are expected to negotiate a buyout, with Robinson, saving money while allowing Robinson to become a free agent who would draw interest from playoff teams. The Clippers, who have been linked to another Boston guard, Austin Rivers, would apparently likewise look at Robinson in hopes of upgrading the bench that has been a major problem area the first half of the season.

We don’t spend a lot of time talking about college sports on the Sports Time Radio podcast, but there was a National Championship game Monday night. College sports has kind of lost it’s luster to me and I’m not sure I’ll ever be that interested in it again. It always drives me crazy when I hear an interview with a guy and even though he’s spent a few years in college it seems like the player has no grasp of the English language. It’s to the point now that I feel like these guys aren’t going to any classes and are getting money on the side to play college sports. Now I’m sure this doesn’t happen everywhere, but I think everyone understands that it happens at certain schools. With all my misgivings aside Ohio State won the first college football playoff beating Oregon 42-20. Ohio State was the fourth team to make the college football play system and if this was the old BCS system college football used to use these two teams wouldn’t have played for the championship. Did the system work perfectly; no, but it was better than the BCS system. TCU and Baylor probably had claims to that fourth spot that Ohio State got, but by winning the championship that has to put some of that talk to rest now. They’re reporting all time high ratings for the title game Monday night. If I had to guess I’d say this will end up as an eight team playoff down the road, but for the first timeout of the box this was a good start.

The Arizona Diamondbacks added their second Cuban born player this off-season by signing 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Yoan Lopez. The deal technically isn’t done pending a physical and while terms of the contract haven’t been released yet it does contain a record-setting $8.27 million dollar bonus according to reports. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Sa Diego Padres, New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds were among the teams to express interest in signing the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Lopez. One source said the hurler turned down a $9 million offer from another club because he believed Arizona was the best fit. Lopez was said to be impressed with general manager Dave Stewart and chief baseball officer Tony La Russa, and he believes the quickest path to the Major Leagues runs through Arizona. Lopez is expected to be invited to big league Spring Training camp. The scouting report on Lopez says he throws a cut fastball, a changeup, a curveball and a slider, but he is best known for a fastball that travels in the 93-95 mph range. He played three seasons in Cuba for Isla de la Juventud in Serie Nacional, the island’s top league. Lopez sported a 3.12 ERA with 28 strikeouts and 11 walks in 49 innings in his final season before defecting. Earlier this off-season the Diamondbacks signed Cuban born outfielder/3rd baseman Yasmany Tomas to a six-year, $68.5 million deal.

It’s down to four in the National Football League playoffs. The first game Sunday is scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m. and it’s the Green Bay Packers vs. the Seattle Seahawks. The second game is schedule to start at 5:40 p.m. and has the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots. We’ll make our picks later in the week; so you’ll have to tune in to Sports Time Radio to see who we’re going with. Last week I went 4-0 on the weekend while Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man where all 3-1. Through the first two weeks of the playoffs Mr. Fantasy and I are 6-2 while Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man are 5-3. Oh; by the way both times I listed are Central Standard Time.

You can find <a href=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sportstime-radio”>Sports Time Radio</a><a> on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter </a><a href=”http://www.twitter.com/burketime”>@Burketime</a><a&gt;.</a>

How was your Week?

Posted: January 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

1/10/15

On Wednesday I mentioned the Cleveland Cavaliers looking for a big man and talking with the Denver Nuggets about Timofey Mozgov. Well the two teams finally came to an agreement on a deal. Cleveland sent 2 protected 2015 1st round draft picks to Denver for Mozgov. That sounds like it was a lot to give up for a player who’s averaged 8.6 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game, but the Cavaliers needed some size and at 7 feet 1 inch tall and listed at 250 pounds Mozgov has that. With Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and of course LeBron James the Cavaliers weren’t looking for scoring, but someone to try to replace the void created by Anderson Varejao’s season ending Achilles injury.

Is it full rebuild mode for the Boston Celtics? After sending who many considered their best player Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks the Celtics announced one deal and have been rumored to be making another deal. Brandan Wright who Boston got in the Rondo deal was sent to the Phoenix Suns for a conditional first round draft pick and created a $5 million trade exception in the process. The other deal being reported, but I haven’t heard if it’s official yet has the Memphis Grizziles trading veteran Tayshaun Prince’s expiring $7.7 million contract and future first round draft pick to Boston for forward Jeff Green. After Rondo was dealt many experts looked at Green as the Celtics best player and now it looks like he’s on his way out of Boston. The Celtics lost 107-103 last night (Friday) in overtime to the Indiana Pacers. Green was pulled from the Celtics starting line up because of the trade rumors and Wright was already on his way to join his new team. Avery Bradley led Boston in scoring with 23 points while Brandon Bass added 17 points. If you’re a Celtics fan who are you looking to step up and lead this team; is Marcus Smart that guy?

Jimmy Butler bet on himself in the off-season and it looks like the Chicago Bulls guard made the right choice. The Bulls tried to sign Butler to a contract extension in the off-season, but Butler turned them down choosing to enter free agency after this season. Butler is off to a career year averaging 21.4 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 3.2 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. Butler has always been a good defender, but with his offensive skills coming around this season the Bulls are ready to offer him a “Max deal” this off-season. That would mean a max salary just under $16 million next season and the Bulls would be able to pay him more than $91 million over five years, compared to $67 million over four years by any other team. You’d have to say that Butler made the right choice.

The NHL is at or in some teams cases just a little past the halfway point of the season. Who had the Tampa Bay Lighting or the Nashville Predators leading their divisions with 58 points, The Anaheim Ducks also lead their division with 58 points, but going into the season they looked like contenders. Tampa Bay is led by Tyler Johnson (Center) with 46 points. Steven Stamkos (Center) leads the Lighting in goals with 22 while Johnson’s 28 assists lead in that category. In goal Ben Bishop is 21-6 in 31 starts with two overtime losses and one shutout. In Nashville Filip Forsberg (Center) is leading the Predators in points with 38; he also leads the team in goals with 14. Mike Ribero (Center) leads the team in assists with 27. Pekka Rinne has made 35 starts in-goal going 27-6 with two overtime losses and a 2.00 goals against average and Rinne also has three shutouts this season. Rinne has started in-goal 35 of the Predators 40 games this season. Neither team is running away with their division by any means. Tampa Bay has a four point lead over the Montréal Canadiens in the Atlantic division of the Eastern conference while Nashville’s lead is even smaller. The Predators have a two point lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Central division of the Western conference. Will we see a Tampa Bay vs. Nashville Stanley Cup finals; probably not. The NHL playoff road is always has it’s share of upsets; so will these teams be the ones being upset or doing the upsetting.

It’s the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs with two of the game being played (Saturday) today. In the first game it’s the Baltimore Ravens vs. the New England Patriots. The second game has the Carolina Panthers vs. the Seattle Seahawks. We went into quite a bit of detail on these games during last nights podcast, and you can get our thoughts on these games. For the record Mr. Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu, Dan the Man and I picked the same winners in these games, We all have New England winning the first game and Seattle winning the second game. You can also listen to from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. as we preview Sunday’s playoff games and review what happen in Saturday’s games.

It’s being reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly close to officially signing Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang to a four year deal. Terms of any deal haven’t been reported yet, but it’s being said that Kang was looking for $5 million a season. While Kang played shortstop for Nexen Heroes in the Korean Baseball Organization it is unclear what position he’d play for the Pirates. He could back up Josh Harrison at third base, Jordy Mercer at shortstop and Neil Walker at second, and he could be a part of the mix at first base. The 27-year-old Kang hit 40 homers and drove in 117 runs in 117 games while batting .356 with a 1.198 OPS last season while playing shortstop.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

Older Entries
Newer Entries