Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

12/21/13 How was your Week?

Posted: December 21, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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Yesterday (Friday) the Baltimore Orioles voided their two $15 million dollar contract offer to free agent closer Grant Balfour. The Orioles reported that there was a shoulder issue that came up during Balfour’s physical. Now there are reports coming out this morning (Saturday) that physician’s from the Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t agree with the Orioles diagnosis. Balfour has released a statement saying he feels disrespected by the Orioles but it looks like he’ll be back out on the free agent market.

I mentioned on the show last night (Friday) that I’ve always been a fan of Kobe Bryant. So as you can guess I was disappointed to see him go down with a fracture knee cap in his left knee. It just happens to be the same leg that he suffered the torn Achilles last season. Bryant is scheduled to be out for six weeks and told reporters that “Only an idiot would” doubt his resolve to return to the Lakers. Bryant is 35 and is starting to have these injury issues pop up. Last season with the Achilles and now this injury happened just six games into Bryant’s season. Bryant was playing a little over 29 minutes in those six games he got to play in. He was averaging 13.8 points a game, shooting 42.5% from the field. Bryant had recently been giving the duty of handling the basketball more; so his assists where up to an average of 6.3 a game but with the extra ball handling duties his turnovers where up as well. He was averaging 5.7 turnovers a game. Being a fan I have no doubt that Bryant will be back but what kind of impact can he have on this Lakers team this season?

There are two months left until the NBA trade deadline but the name that was out right away with a lot of noise was Houston Rockets Center Omer Asik. Some of the rumors had Asik going to the New Orleans Pelicans for Ryan Anderson. Another rumor had him going to Philadelphia for Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. One more rumor being reported had Asik headed to Boston for Brandon Bass, Courtney Lee and a low-end first rounder from Boston. The Rockets have said that they’re going to hang on to Asik for nowbut will see how this plays out and where he ends up.

Let’s stick with the NBA here and talk a little about what has to be considered the biggest surprise team early this season, the Portland Trailblazers. 27 games into the season the Trailblazers are 22 – 5 going 10 – 2 at home during these games. The Trailblazers have four players averaging double-digit scoring for them this season. LaMarcus Aldridge leads the way with 23.3 points a game but Damian Lillard is right behind him at 21.3. Wesley Matthews at 16.2 points per game and Nicolas Batum at 14.1 points per game are the other two Trailblazers averaging double figures. Aldridge is also leading the team in rebounds per game at 11.1. Robin Lopez is 2nd on the team averaging 8.4 rebounds per game. Lopez also has the best shooting percentage on the team at just under 54%. Lillard leads the team in assists per game with 5.9. Batum is second on the team at 5.2 assists per game and Mo Williams is handing out 4.5 assists per game. I actually heard a sports writer explain that Portland doesn’t get a lot of coverage because sports writers and televised games don’t want to go to Portland because it’s not as exciting as an New York or Los Angeles. More or less saying that there’s nothing they like or want to do in Portland after a game. Sadly I didn’t know that part of being a good team meant having to have places for people to go after your games. Who knows how the Trailblazers will end up this season, but it’s a nice early season story and you never know they might be able to roll this good start into some type of playoff run. I guess then everyone would have to go to Portland.

@Burketime

How was your Week 12/14/13

Posted: December 14, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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The NFL Thursday night games aren’t always the best game of the week, but this week the match up had the San Diego Chargers vs. the Denver Broncos. The Broncos have pretty much wrapped up the AFC West while the Chargers are fighting to get into the playoffs. San Diego upset Denver 27 – 20 on Thursday night. The key to this game and what I’ve heard a lot of experts talking about is; did the Chargers show the rest of the NFL how to beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos? Manning was sacked once and threw a late interception to seal the victory for San Diego. The Chargers running game helped them control the game and keep the high-powered Denver offense on the sidelines watching the game. The Chargers ran 44 times for 177 yards and 1 touchdown. Ryan Matthews led the way for San Diego with 29 carries and 129 yards. Do you think the Chargers showed the rest of the NFL something?

We don’t talk a lot of UFC on the show but yesterday there was a big story concerning the UFC. Welterweight champion George St. – Pierre announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the UFC and was vacating his welterweight championship. St. Pierre has long been talked about as the best pound for pound fighter in the world but a lot of people think he lost his last fight. St. Pierre was awarded a split decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on November 16th. After that fight St. Pierre talked about hanging up his gloves and retiring from UFC. UFC President Dana White talked that there would be a rematch and even said he thought St. Pierre lost the fight. White hasn’t made a statement on this situation yet and I’m interested to see what he has to say. It was announced that Hendricks will fight Robbie Lawler to fill the vacant welterweight title on March 15th 2014 in Dallas, Texas.

While baseballs winter meetings ended this week the Kansas City Royals jumped out and signed 2nd baseman Omar Infante to a four-year deal worth $40 million. It would be difficult to go over ever signing that has happened in the last week; so I’ll just have randomly come up with some of them. A move I found really interesting was the Tigers signing Joba Chamberlain to a one year deal for $2.5 million. This could turn out to be one of the better free agent moves. Chamberlain always had a lot of potential but injuries have really derailed his career and you wonder if a change of scenery will allow him to get back on track. If it does he’ll be a great addition to the Tigers bullpen. Shin – Soo Choo and Nelson Cruz are the two most mentioned names still out on the free agent market. I think I’ve heard Choo’s name linked with just about every team in major league baseball. Cruz hasn’t been has talked about, but once Choo signs Cruz will become more popular on the free agent market. Did your team make a move?

So I have to ask you. How was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @burketime

12/7/13 How was your Week?

Posted: December 7, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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When was the last time that baseball was front and center in December? College football has it’s conference championships going on and is headed into bowl season. The NFL is in week 14 with playoff berths on the line and it seems like baseball made all the big news this week.

The Yankees actually started the free agent signings off a little while ago when they signed catcher Brian McCann to a five (5 year $85 million dollar deal. The Yankees also got last weeks signings started by getting Jacoby Ellsbury to leave the world champion Boston Red Sox. It took a seven years $185 million dollar contract to get Ellsbury to make the switch. Then in what most experts would consider a minor signing the Yankees signed Kelly Johnson to a one year $3 million dollar contract. While Johnson spent most of his playing time last season in the outfield he has been a full-time 2nd baseman at the major league level. With these signings by the Yankees you start to wonder if they have the money to get the biggest free agent on the market; Robinson Cano. That answer was no; as the Seattle Mariners stepped up and signed Cano to an eight year $240 million dollar deal. This seemed like a quick negotiation between Cano and the Mariners and at one point in time they where reporting the deal was dead. Cano and his team including Jay – Z went to Seattle yesterday and where able to agree to this deal. Cano was far and away the best free agent on the market and while he didn’t get that ten year $300 million dollar deal that was originally thrown out their by his agents he did still get that $30 million dollar a year figure he was looking for. Seattle signing Cano came as a little bit of a surprise but in the past few seasons they have tried to sign Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton when they where free agents. What always gets to me with these type of signings is the experts sell the player until he signs a deal, but when he doesn’t sign with a major market team they start to take shots at the player. This has already started with Cano and the Mariners. They gave him too many years and he won’t be any good-by the time the contract is at it’s end. They gave him too much money and no one else was close to paying him what Seattle did. These are just a couple of the things I heard after Cano signed his contract. It of course is a huge joke that these guys turned on Cano this fast. Of course if he would’ve resigned with the Yankees or happened to go to another big market team it would’ve been the greatest signing in the history of baseball. It gets very, very tiring listen to a guy who has praised a player turn on him so quickly after he either gets more money than they think he deserved or signs with a team they didn’t want him to sign with. I guess when a team comes to you with a big contract and a lot of money you’re suppose to turn them down and go where the experts say you should be playing. The Yankees didn’t wait long at all to bring in another big time free agent signing Carlos Beltran to a three year $45 million dollar deal. Beltran was the 2nd best free agent on the open market and wanted three years from whatever team he signed with. I’m interested to see where the Yankees go from here. Right now they have five outfielders for three position. Of course one of those outfielders can always be used as a designated hitter but that still leaves one man out. You’d guess since they went out and signed Ellsbury and Beltran that they’ll be playing full-time in the outfield. That leave Brett Gardner, Alfonso Soriano and Ichiro Suzuki for those other couple of spots. If you wanted to you could even add Vernon Wells to this mix of outfielders. With the baseball winter meetings coming up will the Yankees by looking to trade one of these extra outfielders and will they be able to get anything for one of them since most teams would think they’d be looking to trade one. While the Yankees went out and signed multiple free agents and the mariners put up the money for the top free agent there where other teams out there signing players. The Boston Red Sox where able to resign Mike Napoli for two years and $32 million dollars. The Red Sox filled there closer role by signing Edward Mujica for two years and $9.55 million dollars. The Red Sox also signed catcher A.J. Pierzynski for one year at $8.25 million dollars. The Red Sox signed Pierzynski to fill the spot of Jarrod Saltalamacchia who got a three year $21 million dollars from the Miami Marlins. The Marlins also went out and signed injury plagued shortstop Rafael Furcal to a one year deal. The Marlins also signed former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder/1st baseman Garrett Jones to a two year deal. The Minnesota twins went out and added the starting pitching they talked about at the end of last season. The Twins added free agents Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes to their starting rotation. One outfielder the Yankees did lose was Curtis Granderson who signed a four year $60 million dollar deal to stay in New York, but with the Mets. I know there where a lot more free agent signings and I could spend days writing about all of them. There where just a few of them and there will be many, many more signings to come. Any major league team looking for a starting pitcher is waiting to see if Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will be posted by his team. Major league baseball and the Japanese league have been trying to work out a new posting system to make it fair to all the teams. No one is really sure if the new system will be in place in time for Tanaka to be posted or if his Japanese league team the Rakuten Golden Eagles will post him under the new rules. Did your favorite team get in on these free agent signings? Did they sign the player you wanted them to?

Let me know, as I ask you. How was your Week?

You can follow me on @Burketime

How was your Week 11/23/13

Posted: November 23, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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A quick apology for not having a show Wednesday this week. There was a scheduling mix up and when I went to get the show set up for Dan the Man and I it was too late. I’m sorry about that.

Alex Rodriguez walked out of his arbitration hearing this week after it was ruled that Bud Selig wouldn’t be called to testify. This was all planned by Rodriguez’s legal team to try to get the public on his side. I could only imagine Rodriguez pounding on the table and getting up and leaving and I had a good laugh about it. Rodriguez is never going to admit that he used P.E.D’s and then lied to everyone about it but I think any real fan knows he did. I found it very interesting that his legal team had a press release ready to go right after the walk out happen. Even more proof that this was a planned event. Rodriguez ended up on the radio at WFAN in New York, but that interview was a huge joke as well. It was Rodriguez blaming Selig for everything and then denying any and all of the accusations that have been made against him. I also found it interesting that Rodriguez and his team wanted Selig to testify at the hearing but Rodriguez wasn’t going to testify at the hearing. Why Selig, but not Rodriguez?

A couple of big trades in major league baseball this week. On Wednesday the Detroit Tigers sent 1st baseman Prince Fielder and $30 million dollars to the Texas Rangers for 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler. This may actually be a trade that ends up helping both teams in the long run. With the trade of Fielder; Miguel Cabrera will move back over to 1st base and prospect Nick Castellanos will get a chance to play 3rd base. Also Kinsler can move into the lead off spot in the Tigers batting order and take some of the pressure off of Austin Jackson. With Fielder’s money off the Tigers book they’ll be able to look into resigning Max Scherzer. Cabrera is also getting close to the end of his contract and you have to figure it’s going to cost between $25 – $30 million a season to keep him in Detroit. On the Texas side of the trade Fielder will add power to the line up. I’d guess he’ll split time at 1st base with Mitch Moreland and also be a designated hitter. Fielder plays as close to everyday as any player in the majors; so the Rangers should get a lot of quality at bats out of him. The other trade happened yesterday when the St. Louis Cardinals sent 3rd baseman David Freese and pitcher Fernando Salas to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for outfielder Peter Bourjos and minor league prospect Randal Grichuk. There where a lot of rumors that the Cardinals where looking to make a trade, but that they where trying to acquire a shortstop. By trading for Bourjos I have to wonder if the Cardinals are out of the Carlos Beltran free agent derby. Looking at the trade you have to wonder if it’s the first move for each teams and that they have another trade in the works.

Last night the Chicago Bulls lost 98 – 95 last night to the Portland Trailblazers. Derrick Rose left this game with is what’s being called a non contact knee injury. Bulls fans went through this last season, but this time it was his right knee. He left the stadium on crutches and there hasn’t been any time-table as to this injury. Rose is schedule to have an M.R.I. in Los Angeles on Saturday. Rose was injured in the 3rd quarter and the Bulls went on to blow a 21 point lead in this loss. Rose had 20 points in about 28 minutes last night before getting injured. There was always talk about the Bulls giving the Miami Heat a run at the Eastern Conference and a spot in the NBA Finals. Without Rose it will start to look more and more like last season when Rose was gone for all of it. I guess Bulls fans will hold their breath until the M.R.I. results are known.

Now you know from listening to the show that Dan the Man and I rail on ESPN quite a bit. In week 1 or 2 of the college football season the network decided that the Heisman trophy would go to Florida State red-shirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston. Now Winston has been accused in a sexual assault case where his DNA has been found. Let me state that there have been no charges filed against Winston as I write this and I’m not hear to decide what the verdict here should be. The reason I bring this up at all is I’m interested to see where and or how ESPN gets themselves out of this. It doesn’t matter how this case plays out it looks this situation will cost Winston any chance at the Heisman trophy. I haven’t watched a lot ESPN as of late, so I don’t know if there running away from their early award. I’m guessing they are. The voting is still a few weeks away and I’ll be interested to see who comes out as the front-runner.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 11/09/13

Posted: November 10, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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With the World Series over, the baseball off-season starts to heat up. Yesterday on the show, Start of the weekend; Friday Dan the Man and I discussed free agent demands that Ervin Santana and Rickey Nolasco have made. Santana wants a contract worth $100 million and Nolasco is looking for a contract worth $80 million. Now I know this is a down year for free agent pitching but why would a team consider giving either if these pitchers contracts worth anywhere near that amount. Santana made 32 starts last season and had a 9 – 10 record. He pitched 211 innings and had a good ERA 3.24, but does that make him worth a $100 million dollar contract. Nolasco went 13 – 11 overall, but was 8 – 3 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nolasco made 33 starts and pitched 199 innings total. His ERA with the Dodgers was 3.52, but would that make you want to pay him $80 million dollars over the life of a contract. It will be interesting to see which teams will jump in and negotiation with these two pitchers but I think I’d be very surprised to see either of them get the kind of long-term deals and the kind of money they’re asking for right now. If these two pitchers are worth this kind of money what would a free agent pitcher like Matt Garza would command. Garza is a free agent as well and has always been looked at as a guy with #1 starter type of stuff. I’m not sure the same could be said about either Nolasco or Santana.

The NBA season is getting going and the Indiana Pacers are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0; while the Utah Jazz are the only team that hasn’t picked up a win yet. The Jazz are currently at 0 – 6 as I’m writing this. You’d have to say the biggest surprise to start the NBA season are the 4 – 2 Philadelphia 76ers. While the 76ers may still end up in the draft lottery you can’t say they haven’t gotten off to a surprising start; even getting a win over the Miami Heat. Evan Turner is leading the team in scoring at 22 points a game. While rookie Michael Carter – Williams is averaging 18 points and 7 assists a game. While I’m sure no one is ready to put the 76ers in the NBA finals they are a good story to start the year off.

With the NHL season about a third of the way over the Anaheim Ducks have the most points in the league right now with 29 and lead the Pacific division. The Colorado Avalanche aren’t that far behind with 26 points and are leading the Central division. There is still a long way to go in this NHL season and right now there are 13 teams with 20 points or more and 9 of them are in the Western Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby is leading the league in points with 23 while the St. Louis Blues Alexander Steen leads the league with 14 goals; Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks is the league leader in assists with 17.

Tuesday on the show we talked quite a bit about the Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito situation with the Miami Dolphins. I don’t want to go into all the details about what has went on with these two Dolphin players and at this points it’s a no win situation for both guys. At this point in time I’m wondering if either Jonathan Martin or Richie Incognito will ever play in the NFL again.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Another special Thursday

Tuesday

Sports Time Radio Pregame Show

11/02/13 How was your Week?

Posted: November 2, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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The Boston Red Sox are World Series champions. I have to tell the truth I thought the St. Louis Cardinals would end up winning that series. In game 6 Michael Wacha showed that he was a rookie with very limited playoff experience. I thought that the Cardinals would break out and start hitting, but the Red Sox pitching shut them down. John Lackey had a big comeback season and series. Lackey has clinched 2 World series for 2 different teams. As a rookie Lackey got the win in the World Series clinching game for the Angels. I don’t know if they where being called The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim yet or if they where still the California Angeles. Sorry I got a little side tracked there. David Ortiz was the M.V.P. of the World Series; while some experts where pushing for Clay Bucholtz to win the award. I believe they made the right choice as Ortiz put up numbers that only 2 people have done better than in a World Series. After the way Ortiz played in the World Series and with winning the M.V.P., talk started on if he will make the baseball Hall of Fame when his career is over. I don’t really know where I stand on this but I’ve heard everything from he’ll be a first ballot hall of famer to he won’t get in because he didn’t play defense. The Red Sox went from worst to first and now the talk starts on if they’ll repeat in 2014.

So which one of you had the Miami Heat starting the season 1 – 2. I know it’s very early in the season but I’m a little surprised the Heat have dropped 2 consecutive games. I really thought the Heat might struggle opening night against the Chicago Bulls but they handled the Bulls easily 107 – 95. They turned around the next night and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 114 – 110 and then last night lost to the Brooklyn Nets 101 – 100. Now I don’t think anyone would be surprised if at the end of the playoffs in 2014 the Heat are raising the trophy again. It just shows how odd and long the NBA season can be.

Every Sunday morning Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I make are picks for that weeks NFL games and have we had a rough year. We finally had a better week in Week 8. Dan the Man and I where 9 – 3 while Mr. Fantasy went 8 – 4. For the season Dan the Man and I are 70 – 42 while Mr. Fantasy is trailing at 65 – 48. It just seems like it’s been a tough year for us to pick games. We’ll be on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to make our picks again and talk about the week in fantasy football. I guess will see how this week goes for us.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on @Burketime

How was your Week 10/26/13

Posted: October 26, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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On Friday’s show Dan the Man and I discussed some fantasy football issues and I thought you’d get a kick out of a situation I found one of my teams in this week. Myself, Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man are in 2, 20team leagues together. One of the things I like to do is join another random league that has their draft before yours. I found a 14 team league that was having their draft before ours, so I joined. I was on a good run in this league as my team was undefeated through Week 6 but Week 7 turned out to be my first loss and the remainder of the season may be rough for me. Jay Cutler was my #1 quarterback and he hurt his groin and is expected to miss about a month. My other quarterback was Sam Bradford who torn his ACL and is out for the season. Doug Martin was one of my starting running backs, he has a torn labrum and is out anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Reggie Wayne was my top wide receiver, he torn his ACL and is out for the season. Jermichael Finley was the starting tight end on this team. He took a hit and suffered a bruised spinal column. There’s no time-table for Finley’s return and his injury may be career threatening. Just to add insult to my injuries we have defensive players in this league and my 2 linebackers are Lance Briggs; who is out 4 to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury . My other linebacker was Brian Cushing, who broke a leg and tore his LCL ligament. I’ve played fantasy football for many seasons now and I’ve never seen so many of my players get injured in the same week. I guess it’s just a string of bad luck.

Tonight is the Sports Time Radio fantasy basketball draft. This is the first time we’ve done a fantasy basketball league. It is set up to be an auction draft, so that always add to the draft. The question is how much is someone willing to pay for the top players in the NBA. I’d have to guess that LeBron James and Kevin Durant will garner the highest bids. Of course since we are based in the Chicago area the Chicago Bulls players always go for more money than what the average price is. Dan the Man and Mr. fantasy prefer the auction style draft where I am a fan of the snake style draft we’ve also used. Either way it should be a good time, but the auction drafts do take some time to do.

The Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied at 1 game apiece with the World Series headed to St. Louis for the next 3 games. While I am a big baseball fan and I enjoy watching the World Series what has interested me is the Cardinals pitching staff. Michael Wacha is 22, Trevor Rosenthal is 21, Carlos Martinez is 21 and Shelby Miller who I don’t believe has pitched in the playoffs for St. Louis is 22. This has to put the rest of the National League Central on notice with young pitching like this. Not to mention staff ace Adam Wainwright is 33 years old. With a pitching staff like that St. Louis could dominate their division and make playoff appearance after playoff appearance.

John Scott of the Buffalo Sabres was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for his hit on the Boston Bruins Loui Eriksson. Scott is what NHL teams might call and enforcer but fans would call a goon. Scott went after Phil Kessel in the exhibition season as well. This resulted in David Clarkson coming in to protect Kessel and getting a 10 game suspension. Scott has one career goal, so you know what he’s on the ice for. With concussion issues at the forefront of every major sport is there a place in the NHL for a player with Scott’s skill set? While Eriksson’s injury happened because of a late check it also brings up the issue, is it time for the NHL to ban fighting?

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 10/19/13

Posted: October 19, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The St. Louis Cardinals are headed to the World series after a 9 – 0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. St. Louis won the National League championship series 4-2, to advance to the World Series. Michael Wacha pitched 7 shutout innings striking out 5 and giving up 2 hits. Wacha was named the MVP in the series. In an interesting note, the Cardinals picked Wacha with the compensation draft pick they got when Albert Pujols signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It looked like the Dodgers where in a good position to get even in the series with Clayton Kershaw starting Game 6 for them. Kershaw went 4 innings giving up 10 hits and 7 runs. The Cardinals now wait for the winner of the Boston Red Sox/Detroit Tigers series. The Red Sox are up 3 games to 2 in the series. Boston has a chance to close out the series tonight; starting pitchers are Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox facing Max Scherzer for the Tigers. Even down a game Detroit looks like they might have an advantage in this pitching match up and if the series goes to a seventh game they have Justin Verlander ready to start a game 7. Of course just like last night; they have to play the game on the field.

I’m not sure how many people have noticed, but the NHL season has gotten underway. Early on the San Jose Sharks are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0. There are 4, 1 loss teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks. Of course it’s very early in the season but it’s nice to talk a little hockey. To no real surprise Sidney Crosby is leading the league with 14 points right now. It seems like the start of the season snuck up on me and sadly I didn’t even have time to set up the Sports Time radio fantasy hockey league. Hopefully it will be something will be able to play in next season.

Tom Powers a writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote an article suggesting the Minnesota Vikings trade Adrian Petersen. Mr. Fantasy and I covered a little of this story on Friday’s show and it’s an interesting idea. Would the Vikings trade Petersen if they got the same kind of deal they got when they traded Herschel Walker to the Dallas Cowboys. Or how about the trade the Miami Dolphins made to draft Rickey Williams. I’d be shocked if this trade ever happened or has ever been talked about by the Vikings.Petersen is going to end up being the best player in Vikings history as long as he stays healthy. With the way draft picks are paid now teams are more likely to hang on to those 1st round draft picks. That’s why the Trent Richardson trade was a bit of a surprise. It’s fun to consider the possibility of your favorite team trading for Petersen, but I doubt he’ll be playing anywhere except for Minnesota. What should your favorite team give in a trade for Adrian Petersen?

The NBA season is getting ready to start at the end of this month. The big question in and around the Chicago area where myself, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are from, is what will Derrick Rose play like. He had some swelling in his surgically repaired knee after a plane ride to Brazil. He did come back and score 32 points last night in pre-season action against the Indiana Pacers last night. He has looked like he might return back to the form that made him an M.V.P. a couple of seasons ago. You have to wonder if the Chicago Bulls will manage Rose’s minutes early in the season to make sure that swelling or any other knee issues don’t occur. Even with Rose I’m not sure the Bulls can get past the Miami Heat in the Eastern conference, but their chances are better with him on the court.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me @Burketime

The Sports Time Radio Baseball Awards; 2013 season

Posted: October 11, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I all submitted lists for this seasons major league baseball awards. Schaumburg Stu sent me 1st place votes; so I used his as tie breakers. If a player got a 1st place vote he was awarded 7 points; 5 points for a 2nd place vote; 3 points for a 3rd place vote; 2 points for a 4th place vote and 1 point for a 5th place vote. Here’s how the voting played out. Point totals will follow the person’s name in parenthesis.

American League Manager of the Year.

1st: John Farrell (14) Boston Red Sox

2nd: Terry Francona (13) Cleveland Indians

3rd: Jim Leyland (10) Detroit Tigers

Other managers receiving votes. Ned Yost (7) Kansas City Royals, Bob Melvin (4) Oakland A’s, Joe Girardi (2) New York Yankees, Joe Maddon (2) Tampa Bay Rays, Bo Porter (1) Houston Astros, Ron Washington (1) Texas Rangers.

National League Manager of the Year.

1st: Clint Hurdle (16) Pittsburgh Pirates

2nd: Don Mattingly (13) Los Angeles Dodgers

3rd: Freddi Gonzalez (13) Atlanta Braves

Other managers receiving votes. Mike Matheny (5) St. Louis Cardinals, Dusty Baker (4) Cincinnati Reds, Kirk Gibson (3) Arizona Diamondbacks.

American League Rookie of the Year

1st: Will Myers (19) Tampa Bay Rays

2nd: Chris Archer (10) Tampa Bay Rays

3rd: Jose Iglesias (8) Detroit Tigers

Other rookies receiving votes. Dan Strailey (6) Oakland A’s, J. B. Shuck (5) Los Angles Angels of Anaheim, Martin Perez (2) Texas Rangers, Brandon Barnes (2) Houston Astros, Conor Gillaspie (1) Chicago White Sox, Oswaldo Arcia (1) Minnesota Twins.

National League Rookie of the Year.

1st: Yasiel Puig (19) Los Angeles Dodgers

2nd: Jose Fernandez (12) Miami Marlins

3rd: Jedd Gyorko (8) San Diego Padres

Other rookies receiving votes. Evan Gattis (5) Atlanta Braves, Shelby Miller (3) St. Louis Cardinals, Hyun-Jin Ryu (2) Los Angeles Dodgers, Nolan Arenado (2) Colorado Rockies, Matt Adams (1) St. Louis Cardinals, Julio Teheran (1) Atlanta Braves, Junior Lake (1) Chicago Cubs.

American League Cy Young Award.

1st: Max Scherzer (21) Detroit Tigers Unanimous

2nd: Bartolo Colon (10) Oakland A’s

3rd: Aníbal Sánchez (6) Detroit Tigers & Chris Sale (6) Chicago White Sox

Other pitchers receiving votes. James Shields (3) Kansas City Royals, Yu Darvish (3) Texas Rangers, Felix Hernandez (2) Seattle Mariners, Hisashi Iwakuma (2) Seattle Mariners, C. J. Wilson (1).

National League Cy Young Award.

1st: Clayton Kershaw (21) Los Angeles Dodgers Unanimous

2nd: Adam Wainwright (8) St. Louis Cardinals

3rd: Zach Greinke (7) Los Angeles Dodgers & Jose Fernandez (7) Miami Marlins

Other pitchers receiving votes. Matt Harvey (6) New York Mets; Jordan Zimmerman (3) Washington Nationals; Francisco Liriano (1) Pittsburgh Pirates.

American League Most Valuable Player (M.V.P.)

1st: Miguel Cabera (21) Detroit Tigers Unanimous

2nd: Mike Trout (13) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

3rd: Chris Davis (8) Baltimore Orioles

Other players receiving votes. Robinson Cano (7) New York Yankees, Adrian Beltre (2) Texas Rangers, David Ortiz (1) Boston Red Sox, Joe Mauer (1) Minnesota Twins, Josh Donaldson (1) Oakland A’s.

National League M.V.P.

1st: Andrew McCutchen (19) Pittsburgh Pirates

2nd: Paul Goldschmidt (17) Arizona Diamondbacks

3rd: Matt Carpenter (5) St. Louis Cardinals

Other players receiving votes. Freddie Freeman (3) Atlanta Braves, Chris Johnson (3) Atlanta Braves, Clayton Kershaw (2) Los Angeles Dodgers. Yader Molina (2) St. Louis Cardinals, Jayson Werth (1) Washington Nationals, Troy Tulowitzki (1) Colorado Rockies.

This is how we voted; how did you see this season?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? (10/5/13)

Posted: October 5, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey
Tags: , , , ,
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It’s playoff time in major league baseball and not only did we get the wild card playoff but before that we got the Texas Rangers hosting the Tampa Bay Rays in a game 163 just to get into the wild card game. Tampa Bay and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their wild card game and advanced into the best of 5 division series. It looks like the loss to the Pirates in the wild card game cost Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker his job. The Reds fired Baker on Friday with one year remaining on his contract. Some of the stories out there have said that Baker’s choice to start Johnny Cueto in the wild card game and Cueto’s poor performance was the reason Baker was let go. There was also some talk that the way Baker handle the bullpen during the wild card game had something to do with his release. A lot of the experts didn’t understand why Baker didn’t go to another starting pitcher when Cueto was removed from the wild card game. Baker had guided the Reds to the playoffs two of the last three seasons but it looks like the failure to win a World Series title in Cincinnati cost Baker his job. The division series match ups started with a few blow out games but Game 2 of the Atlanta Braves/Los Angles Dodgers series and the opening game of the Oakland A’s/Detroit Tigers series where closer games. With the division series being five game match ups no one has taken control of a series just yet. With the Dusty Baker firing there are four major league baseball teams looking for new managers. Washington, Cincinnati, Seattle and the Chicago Cubs all have openings for a manager right now. A couple of names have surfaced on some of these cities. Cincinnati has been rumored to be interested in Tony LaRussa. LaRussa has said he has no interested in the Reds job but that’s what you’d expect him to say. Reds general manager and President of baseball operations Walt Jocketty has a working relationship with LaRussa from the time they spent together in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. In Chicago the Cubs are interested in hiring Joe Girardi and there’s a report out today that said the Cubs are willing to make Girardi one of the highest paid managers in baseball. The New York Yankees would like to keep Girardi’s managerial services and they haven’t given the Cubs permission to speak to Girardi. Girardi’s contract runs until the end of the month and the Yankees would like to have a new deal done with him before his contract ends. The interesting name that has come up in Washington Nationals manager search is Cal Ripken Jr. While Ripken has no managerial experience he was a student of the game while he played; everyday by the way. I haven’t heard any names mentioned for the Seattle Mariners job as of yet. I’m sure there will be a few more opens for managers before we get to next season, so will see how this plays out.

Over shadowed by the baseball playoffs the National Hockey League season kicked off. I actually get a NHL free preview this week, so I’ve been able to check out some games from different markets. Chicago Blackhawks got a win opening night as they celebrated winning the Stanley Cup last season. It’s a full season for the NHL this season after a strike shortened season last year. I’m wondering how many of you are watching hockey with the baseball playoffs going on?

The National Basketball Association exhibition season starts today as well and there has been a lot of talk about what kind of season Derrick Rose will have. Rose didn’t play at all last season and this was a big topic in and around the NBA. You’d think Rose will be 100% to start this season and one of the rumors is that he’s improved his jump shot. Dwight Howard has been a topic of off-season conversation as well this week. I guess Howard can make free throws with his eyes closed and has had a little war of words with Kareem Abdul – Jabbar.

How was your Week? You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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