Archive for the ‘fantasy’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 28, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

The new NFL season doesn’t start until March 14th and right out of the gate the big free agent will be Kirk Cousins. There should be quite a few teams interested in Cousins, but what will they be willing to pay him?

The New York Jets have made it clear that they will be strong players for Cousins. Josh McCown made 13 starts for the Jets last season and played well, but they view McCown as their back up plan if they can’t sign Cousins. Bryce Petty did make 3 starts for the Jets last season, but Christian Hackenberg who was a 2nd round pick in the 2016 draft has yet to see the field. Does an add like Cousins make the Jets a playoff contender? Cousins could have some weapons to throw to as Robbie Anderson looked like he was developing into a big play threat towards the end of the season. Jermaine Kearse is a solid #2 type of receiver and if Austin Seferian-Jenkins is a good tight end as long as he can keep himself on the field. The thing that might keep Cousins away from the Jets is the fact that he’ll probably be looking for a team that can get into the playoffs and even with him at quarterback it’s unclear if the Jets could make that leap.

The Denver Broncos used three different starting quarterbacks last season and while the reports are they’re interested in Sam Bradford you have to think they’ll take a look at Cousins. While Bradford and Cousins may be similar Bradford has a history of injuries that Cousins doesn’t have; so that may put him at the top of the Broncos quarterback choices. While the Broncos don’t have a strong receiving tight end they do have two very good wide receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders to throw to. The Broncos also still have a top defense that could help them get right back in the thick of the playoffs. Also remember the Broncos had a 1000 rusher in C.J. Anderson; so there’s a running game to help Cousins out. Will see if the Broncos are set on Bradford or if they’ll take a look at Cousins.

The newest team to seem to be interested in Cousins are the Minnesota Vikings. All three of the Vikings quarterbacks from last season are free agents; so they’re going to have to find someone. Case Keenum played very well for Minnesota last season going 11-3 in 14 starts, but the Vikings have announced that they won’t use the franchise tag on Keenum and he’ll be allowed to become a free agent. Minnesota has on one of the better defenses in the NFL and if it’s weapons Cousins is looking for the Vikings have them as well. Adam Thielen had a breakout season in 2017 catching 91 passes for 1276 yards. Stefon Diggs missed a couple of games due to injury, but still caught 8 touchdowns passes and don’t forget tight end Kyle Rudolph. Rudolph also had 8 touchdowns catches to go along with 57 receptions. The Vikings will also have Dalvin Cook returning from injury to be their feature running back. Cook was averaging 4.8 yards per carry before he got hurt in Week 4. The Vikings may have the best set of weapons for Cousins plus the fact that they just went to the NFC Championship game might be enough to get Cousins to sign there.

With the retirement of Carson Palmer it’s clear that the Arizona Cardinals need to find themselves a quarterback and you have to think that they’ll also check in a Cousins. Even juggling three different starting quarterbacks the Cardinals managed to finish 8-8 last season. Where could they have ended up had they had one solid starting quarterback? Larry Fitzgerald has decided to return after there was some talk he might join Palmer in retirement. Fitzgerald is coming off a 109 catch season while gaining 1156 yards. Now the Cardinals need to find that 2nd receiver to compliment Fitzgerald and they have a group of guys that they could find him from. Jaron Brown, J.J. Nelson and John Brown can all fill that role it’s just which one will step up to take the spot. The most important thing for the Cardinals and something that could be a factor in Cousins coming to Arizona is the return of the David Johnson. Johnson played just one game last season, but he’s a duel threat out of the backfield and is looked at as a Top 5 running back in the NFL when healthy. With a veteran core of players and a returning top running back could the addition of a quarterback like Cousins get the Cardinals into the playoffs?

Depending on What Cousins is looking for he could get the most money from the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have the most salary cap room in the NFL this off season, but is this some place Cousins would be looking to play. Running back Duke Johnson was the Browns leading receiver with 74 catches as the team doesn’t really have a true #1 receiver. Rashard Higgins and Ricardo Louis tied for the most receptions by a wide receiver with 27. Corey Coleman the 15th overall pick in the 2016 draft played just 9 games last season due to injury. He’ll be look at to establish himself as the #1 receiver. The Browns took tight end David Njoku with the 29th pick in the 1st round in the 2017 draft and while he was looked at as a talent that still needed to learn the game he did catch 32 passes an led the team with 4 touchdown receptions. Now Cleveland doesn’t appear to be a landing spot for Cousins and all the talk is that Cleveland will draft a quarterback with either the 1st or 4th pick in the upcoming draft, but it’s something to be looked at because the Browns have the money to offer him.

We’ve got to see a little bit of Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher and a hitter early in spring training. By hitting and pitching this season it will make him an interesting fantasy player. Now we use Yahoo to run your leagues and they’ve told us that he’ll be considered as two separate players. You’ll be able to draft Ohtani the pitcher or Ohtani the hitter. I have to see a few more at bats from Ohtani  before I’ll be able to figure out what kind of a hitter he might be. With that being said I think if I had to choose between them I’d take Ohtani the pitcher over Ohtani the hitter. Of course there is still quite a it of spring training left; so that could change. It will also help to know just how many at bats he’ll get when he’s not pitching.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but the podcast is also available for you to listen to whenever you want to at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 22, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

Now I always try to work in how we did on our picks for the past week in the NFL. Now there are times I just forget or sometimes run out of space to work it in. Now last week was one of these weeks and wouldn’t you know it I got a telephone call from Mr. Fantasy to yell at me about the win/loss totals not being in the blog. So to avoid getting scream at on the telephone again I decided that I’d start the blog out with them.

Our Week 11 picks went like this Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy both went 10-4. Schaumburg Stu and I ended up at 8-6. For the season Dan the Man is in the lead at 106-54. Mr. Fantasy is holding down the second spot three games out of the lead at 103-57. Schaumburg Stu and I are stuck at the bottom of the pile as we are both 96-64 on the season.

Since it is Thanksgiving tomorrow instead of one Thursday game we get three. Things start off with the Detroit Lions hosting the Minnesota Vikings. The middle game of the three has the Los Angeles Rams visiting the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL day wraps up with the Washington Redskins playing host to the New York Giants.

I’m pretty sure that the scheduling for all four of the big sports is done by computer, but you have to wonder what the NBA was thinking when they saw that there was just one game scheduled for last night and it was the Chicago Bulls at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now years ago this wouldn’t been a marquee match up and heck even last season the Bulls had Jimmy Butler and Dwayne Wade on their roster. This season there are very few recognizable names on either teams roster with the exception of Lonzo Ball.

Neither team was playing very well coming into the game as the Lakers where 7-10 while the Bulls have one of the worst records in the league at 3-11. The Lakers where a .500 team at home this season at 5-5 while the Bulls some how managed a road win and where 1-7 away from Chicago.

The game as a whole ended up being decent. the Bulls built a 14 point lead going into halftime at 56-42. The second half belonged to the Lakers as they scored 61 points while holding the Bulls to just 38 points as Los Angeles took a 103-94 victory.

Kyle Kuzma of the Lakers was the games high scorer with 22 points. His teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21 points. Lonzo Ball had another rough shooting night going 3 for 13 from the field in the game. Ball was also just 2 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Ball did grab a team high 13 rebounds. Julius Randle came off the Lakers bench to post a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures led by Denzell Valentine with 17 points. Bulls 1st round pick Lauri Markkanen (13 points and 14 rebounds) and Justin Holiday (10 points and 10 rebounds) each posted double-doubles in the game. Antonio Blakeney came off the Bulls bench to score 15 points.

The win improved the Lakers record to 8-10. This was also the first of back to back games for Los Angeles as they go on the road to face the 4-13 Sacramento Kings tonight. The loss dropped the Bulls to 3-12 on the season. This was also the first of back to back games for the Bulls. Chicago travels to Utah tonight to face the 7-11 Jazz.

If you have Denver Nuggets forward Paul Milsap on your fantasy team it looks like you’re going to be without him for about three months. Milsap had surgery on his left wrist to repair torn ligaments.

Milsap was injured in the 2nd quarter of Denver’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. The Nuggets ended up losing that game without Milsap 127-109.

Milsap has played in 16 games this season. He is averaging 15.3 points per game. To go along with 6.2 rebounds per game and 3.1 assists per game.

Luckily for the Nuggets they have quite a few players who can take over for Milsap while he’s out. Look for Kenneth Faried, Trey Lyles, Tyler Lydon and even Darrell Arthur to fill Milsap’s minutes. Faried appears to be the player who will take over Milsap’s plac in the starting line up; so if you’re looking for a fantasy pick up Faried may be the guy to go with.

As we wait for the baseball off season to pick up some stream you have to wonder if things will be a little slow until there is some type of movement in where National League M.V.P. Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins might go.

Right now it appears as the two most talked about teams with interest in Stanton are the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Talks with the Giants have actually gotten to the point where there are now players names associated with the deal. San Francisco would not only acquire Stanton, but Marlins 2nd baseman Dee Gordon as well. In return the Marlins would receive a package of players led by Giants 2nd baseman Joe Panik and multiple prospects. Gordon is another of Miami’s veteran players that new ownership and CEO Derek Jeter has expressed interested in trading.

It’s always interesting when names start to come up in trade talks, but before everybody starts putting Stanton in a Giants uniform, don’t forget that he has a full no trade clause and can veto any trade.

Stanton was born in Panorama City California and according to reports grew up a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Would he accept a trade to the Dodgers biggest rival?

The third team that has popped up lately in Stanton rumors are the Boston Red Sox. Now you knew sooner or later we’d start to hear about the bigger name teams wanting to get in on a Stanton deal and it’s no surprise that the Red Sox are the first name up. The Red Sox where last in the American League in home runs last season with 168 while Stanton himself hit 59 home runs.

We’re just at the start of these Stanton rumors and these are just the first three teams to come up. It appears as though Stanton will be traded at some point in time. Where do you have him playing baseball in 2018?

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 10, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in fantasy, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

Interestingly we’re about 30 games into the baseball season and I heard people talking about their fantasy football draft. Now I also got my invite to renew our two leagues already. I think this is the earliest I’ve ever received a notice to renew our leagues. Of course this got me thinking. Who could be the impact rookies to look for in this years draft. Now we still have to get through training camp and of course the wonderful pre-season games, but let’s have some fun and rank the rookies who could have a big fantasy impact this coming season.

While there are a few players you could put at the top of this list I think I’m going with Christian McCaffery of the Carolina Panthers. Carolina used the 8th pick in the draft to select McCaffery; so you have to think he’ll be a big part of their offense. McCaffery should not only get carries he should also be a big factor in the passing game. Leonard Fournette of the Jacksonville Jaquars should also get enough carries to have some fantasy impact. Fournette should be the #1 running back right fro  the start of training camo and as long as he gets the carries he’ll be a positive fantasy player. I seem to be running back heavy at the top here, but I also like Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota doesn’t have a #1 running back; so Cook should be able to step right in and fill that role. Cook could be a good fantasy player this season. It looks like wide receiver Mike Williams landed in the right spot with the Los Angeles Chargers. Keenan Allen just can’t seem to stay healthy and Phillip Rivers like to go downfield; so Williams has a chance to be the top fantasy receiver. The Cincinnati Bengals need someone to help A.J. Green; so with the 9th pick the Bengals selected John Ross. Ross was the guy at the combined with the lighting fast 40 time and should be able to run some of the coverage off for Green. Don’t be surprised if Samaje Perine wins the job as the Washington Redskins #1 running back in training camp. Washington doesn’t have a top back and if he’s given a chance Perine could take that job. O.J. Howard has a chance to get a lot of targets around the goal line and that could really help his fantasy numbers. If Howard can work well with Jameis Winston will be the key to his fantasy success. David Njoku is another tight end who has a shot at putting up some good fantasy numbers. Of course he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, but pretty much as soon as they selected him they cut their starting tight end. Njoku is young and might need a little time to learn at the NFL level, but if he gets it quick there could be some fantasy positives there. Juju Smith-Schuster is another wide receiver who went to a good spot. Obviously Antonio Brown is the clear #1 receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers, but there’s no true #2. While there are getting Martavis Bryant back from suspension he’s just one violation away from a lifetime ban. Plus Bryant is purely a deep threat; so there’s room for another underneath receiver. This could be a good spot for Smith-Schuster to fit in. I’m going to round out the Top 10 with Tennessee Titans wide receiver Corey Davis. Marcus Mariota needs a true #1 receiver and Davis could be that player. Davis was considered the best route runner in the draft and if he can get a good working relationship with Mariota there could be some fantasy positives there.

There’s 10 rookies for you to start looking at and I’m sure there are some that you like that I didn’t mention. Feel free to leave your favorite rookie headed in this fantasy season in the comments and as this list expands I’ll take a look at them.

On Sunday afternoon the Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 to in that series 4 games to 2 and advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time in team history. Then last night the Ottawa Senators beat the New York Rangers 4-2 to win that series 4 games to 2 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Tonight the Predators and the Senators will find out who they’ll be facing in the Conference Finals as we have two Game 7’s on the schedule. Now the marquee match up this round has been the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Washington Capitals and it just seems right that it should take seven games to decide who wins it. Of course the series didn’t look like it would be going seven games when the Penguins won the first two games and three of the first four games in this series. Washington has responded with back to back wins in Game 5 and Game 6 to get us to this point. Can the Capitals make it three wins in a row to take the series or will Pittsburgh find a way to get a win on the road to advance to the Conference Finals and continue to defend the Stanley Cup. The other Game 7 tonight features the Edmonton Oilers at the Anaheim Ducks. Edmonton jumped out and took the first two games of this series before Anaheim came back and won three straight games. The Oilers where able to hold off elimination with a big 7-1 win in Game 6. There has been a lot of offense in this series as the teams have combined to score 42 goals in six games. Can Edmonton put up another 7 goals and advance or will it be the Ducks who put the puck in the net enough to advance to the Conference Finals.

On a side note: at the start of the season Dan the Man picked Washington to win the Stanley Cup while my choice was Anaheim. It looks like we’re going to need big Game 7 wins out of our picks to continue in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com or find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

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

How was your week

Posted: March 25, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, sports, Uncategorized
0

What do Wilt Chamberlain, David Robinson, David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant and Devin Booker all have in common? Well if you where paying attention to last nights Phoenix Suns game you know that all of these players have scored 70 points in an NBA game. Booker joined this list of Hall of Fame players and of course future Hall of Fame player in Bryant’s case when he scored 70 points on the nose against the Boston Celtics on Friday night. It was the 11th 70 point game in NBA history.

Even with the 70 point effort by Booker the Suns still lost to the Celtics 130-120. Phoenix is 22-51 on the season and are just one game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers for last place in the Western Conference standings. While the Suns are obviously in rebuild mode Booker has to be one of the bright spots I a down season. Booker is in his 2nd season in the NBA and is the Suns leading scorer averaging 21.6 points per game. Eric Bledsoe is right behind Booker in scoring average at 21.1 points per game. Bledsoe is 27 years old while the Suns 3rd leading scorer is 23 year old T.J. Warren who is averaging 13.8 points per game. So the Suns have a young core of players to try and build around.

Booker played 45 minutes on Friday night to get his 70 points. He was 21 of 40 overall from the field going 4 of 11 from behind the 3-point line. He was however 24 of 26 from the free throw line. Along with his 70 points Booker grabbed 8 rebounds and handed out 6 assists.

Now throughout the 4th quarter Suns coach Earl Watson used his timeouts and had his players intentionally foul which aided Booker’s quest to reach that 70 point total. The fans at TD Garden didn’t seem to mind as they cheered Booker’s scoring outburst and it was almost as they where embracing what he was trying to do. Of course it was much, much easier for the Celtics fans to do with their team ahead by double digits. On the other hand the Boston players seemed less than enthusiastic about the way the Suns ran up Booker’s scoring total. Booker scored 28 of his 70 points in the 4th quarter.

Now no matter which side of this you might come down on it’s still a great accomplishment for a player to do.

We are just eight days away from the start of the Major League Baseball season. On Sunday April 2nd ESPN will televise three games to get the season started. At Noon the New York Yankees are at the Tampa Bay Rays. Masahiro Tanaka gets he opening day start for the Yankees while Chris Archer will get the honor for Tampa Bay. The second game scheduled to start around 3:00 p.m. will feature the San Francisco Giants at the Arizona Diamondbacks. Madison Bumgarner will make the start for the Giants while Zack Greinke will be the Diamondbacks starter. Opening day wraps up with an 7:30 p.m. game that has the World Series champion Chicago Cubs at the St. Louis Cardinals. Jon Lester will get the start for the Cubs while Carlos Martinez is the Cardinals starter.

Now as opening day draws closer and closer that means it’s time for our two fantasy drafts. There are 20 teams on both of our leagues. One league is just your standard snake draft style league while the other league we have is an auction style draft. While I still enjoy the snake style draft more than the auction draft the last few seasons my auction draft team has done better in the standings.

Now there’s a lot that goes into drafting your fantasy team. The way your league is set up and which stats are important to your league. Both of our leagues are category leagues; so you can look for all around players or you can try and get players who produce big numbers in a category or two. Now as anyone who’s been in a fantasy league before knows how difficult it is to find players who can put up stats in every category. Start thinking; how many players are out their that combine power and speed and still hit for a high batting average. When you’re trying to come up with these players; what is your acceptable stolen base total for these players. Remember there where just nine players who had more than 30 stolen bases last season. Of course in total there where 72 players who had 10 or more stolen bases. Now in most cases fantasy owners will trade 47 home runs or 133 RBI’s for a single digit stolen base total. Now it’s very easy to sit at the top of your fantasy draft and find the right player. What will win your fantasy league is finding that player or pitcher who will give you numbers in the categories you need help in. That’s why the best thing you can do is look at your league settings and use that to your advantage in the later rounds of your draft. I don’t remember how long ago it was, but when we started playing fantasy baseball Mr. Fantasy use to make fun of me because I would always pick Livan Hernandez in the late rounds of our drafts. Now Hernandez was past his prime and was no longer a top pitcher, but he was an innings eater and we have a minimum numbers of innings are pitchers have to throw a week. Finally last season Mr. Fantasy came around to my way of thinking as he selected R.A. Dicky late in our draft. With the way pitchers are handled in baseball today it’s tough to find a pitcher that will log a lot of innings for you; so if your league has a minimum number of innings you need to pitch a week don’t be afraid to take an innings eater late in your draft. That’s really the best advice I can give not knowing what your league settings are. If you’ve had your draft please let me know how you did, but if your draft is coming up feel free to share your strategy that you use in your league. Good luck!

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

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

games last season games last season nd see how we did with our NFL picks for Week 12. It was a good week for everyone, but Mr. Fantasy led the way with a record of 14-2. HIs two losses where the Seattle Seahawks; like I’m sure everyone lost on and he had the Denver Broncos over the Kansas City Chiefs. Dan the Man and I finished a game behind Mr. Fantasy at 13-3 while Schaumburg Stu was well over .500 as well at 11-5, but for a change he ended up last. Overall Schaumburg Stu is still in the lead with a record of 113-64. Dan the Man is in 2nd place at 109-68. Mr. Fantasy gained some ground, but is still in 3rd place at 106-71 and I am still in the cellar with an overall record of 100-77. Will have to see if we can continue to pick this well in Week 13.

Now I’m an avid fantasy player. I play in yearly leagues for the big four sports and would like to think I’m an above average player. I play in yearly leagues and I also play daily fantasy on the FanDuel website. I try to take in my share of fantasy news be it through the television or what I can read online. I’m always interested to see who they think the hot players are going to be and hopefully they’ll give a reason why they’re going with that player. When it came to quarterback for Week 12 it was a lot of the names that you’ll always hear; Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson where three of the guys that most experts liked in Sunday’s games. Now the name I didn’t hear as a hot play for Sunday was Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers. I think most of not all experts had Kaepernick as a below average play against the Miami Dolphins defense. In just one of those odd fantasy twist Kaepernick ended up being the highest scoring fantasy quarterback for Week 12. Kaepernick was 29 of 46 for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kaepernick also ran the football 10 times for 113 yards. Now Kaepernick did throw an interceptions and was sacked 2 times for 14 yards, but in a basic Yahoo Public Fantasy :League Kaepernick was worth 34.14 fantasy points. According to Yahoo Kaepernick is owned in just 24% of their leagues. So the question becomes; is he a good pick up for the final 5 weeks? This week Kaepernick faces a Chicago Bears defense that is missing quite a few players due to injury and suspension. In Week 14 he faces the New York  Jets. Week 15 it’s the Atlanta Falcons. In Week 16 it’s the  Los Angeles Rams and to wrap the season up Kaepernick goes up against the Seattle Seahawks defense. It looks as though you could get some use out of Kaepernick if you’re looking for quarterback help down the stretch.

The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 19-14 on Sunday and while it wasn’t that interesting of a game it was the way it ended that has everyone talking. With 1:05 left in the game the Ravens got the football on there own 21 yard line. After three running plays that gained 7 yards total the Ravens where facing 4th down and 3 yards to go with 55 seconds left in the game. The Ravens took a delay of game call to make it 4th and 8 yards to go, but more importantly there was just 11 seconds left in the game. Baltimore sent out Sam Koch to punt, but when the ball was snapped to Koch he started to back up slowly into his own end zone as the clock counted down. Now to give Koch the time he’d need to run out 11 seconds all the blockers on the Ravens punt team held which every Bengals player that was closet to the and in some cases even tackled them. Koch worked his way to the back of the end zone and was able to run the clock out with yellow flags all over the field as I think every referee had throw his flag. What Ravens head coach John Harbaugh knew was that the game could end on an offensive penalty; so why take the chance on punting the football. This way there was no chance of a blocked punt or a punt return and he also took away the Bengals chance to throw a “Hail Mary” and win the game. Now there where quite a few people who didn’t like this play, but the Ravens didn’t do anything wrong. I thought that it was very smart of them to go this route. Just imagine the heat that Harbaugh would be taking if the punt had been either blocked and recovered by Cincinnati for a touchdown or if they would’ve returned that punt for a touchdown and what if they would’ve throw that “Hail Mary” for a game winning touchdown. This could turn out to be a big win for the Ravens as they improved to 6-5 and are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for 1st place in the AFC North. Baltimore does currently hold the tiebreaker over the Steelers as they won their first head to head meeting, but the teams play again Week 16 in Pittsburgh.

The World Champion Chicago Cubs reached an agreement with free agent outfielder Jon Jay on a 1-year $8 million dollar contract. Jay missed about two months of the 2016 season when he was hit by a pitch and broke his forearm. The injury limited Jay to 90 games last season with the San Diego Padres. Jay hit .291 in those 90 games and has a career batting average of .287. Jay has played 7 seasons in the majors; his first 6 where with the St. Louis Cardinals before playing last season in San Diego. Jay has played all three outfield spots in his career and has a career fielding percentage of .995. It appears as though the signing of Jay ends any chance of Dexter Fowler returning to the Cubs. It looks as though Alberto Almora Jr. will be given a chance to be the everyday centerfielder with Jay serving as a back up to Almora and possible a late inning defensive replacement for leftfielder Kyle Schwarber.

Also on the free agent front one of the top names looks to be off the board as it’s being reported that Yoenis Cespedes as re-signed with the New York Mets on a 4-year $110 million dollar deal. Cespedes will get $22.5 million next season, $29 million in 2018 & 19 then his salary goes to $29.5 million for the 2020 season. The deal also includes a full no trade clause. It’s no surprise that Cespedes re-signed with the Mets as they seemed to be the front runners as soon as he opted out of his deal after last season.

You cam listen to Sports Time Radio live at BlogTalkRadio.com and you can also listen to the podcast any time you’d like at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Cubs Loss at Coors

Posted: August 20, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , , ,
0

It appears to start off great with a leadoff home run to Dexter Fowler.  But just as quickly as the inning is over, like Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks gives up a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the first to David Dahl.  In the top of the third, Kyle grabs a one out single and with two outs, Kris Bryant also singles.  Anthony Rizzo also singles to score Kyle to put the Cubs up by one.  The Cubs score again in the fifth as Bryant singles in Baez who walked, advanced on a sac bunt and stole third.  Addison Russell drives Rizzo on his 15th home run of the year.  Cubs are now up 5-1.  

Travis Wood joins the Cubs in the seventh, he gives up a two out double to Daniel Descalo who scores on a fielding error by Bryant on Nick Hundley’s ground ball.  In the eighth, after giving up a walk and a single, wood is out and Carl Edwards, Jr enters the game and gives up a ground ball to DJ LeMahieu that goes down the line that is ruled as a ground rule double due to fan interference.  Carlos Gonzalez ground out but another run scores.  Nolan Arenado flys out to left and DJ would attempt to score but is gunned down by Matt Szczur.  The Rockies challenge and it’s overturned for a tie game.  

We go to 11 innings and Aroldis Chapman enters the game getting the first out.  He then gives up a single to Nick Hundley who ends the game scoring on Ryan Raburn’s walk off double.  Not a great start for this trip out west but it’s only one game.   

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Double Header

Posted: August 16, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

 

Game 1.

The first game of a day night double header and Trevor Cahill gets his first start of the year against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Former Cub, Matt Garza gets the nod for the Brew Crew in his first start of the season against his former team.

Cahill goes five solid innings only allowing four base runners on two hits and two walks.  He strikes out three batters and gives up no runs.  Matt Garza would counters with five full innings also.  Garza strikes out two batters and walks three batters.  He gives up five hits and that starts in the first inning with a leadoff single to Dexter Fowler.  Kris Bryant reaches but forces Fowler out.  Anthony Rizzo sends him to third on his single.  Garza then loads the bases with his first walk of the game to Ben Zobrist.  Addison Russell drives in the first run of the game with a sac fly to left.

Garza scores his second walk in the bottom of the third to Fowler.  With one out, Rizzo grabs another single and each runner advances on Zo’s force out.  With Russell at the plate, Garza throws a wild pitch and Fowler scores the second run of the game.

In the bottom of the fourth, Chris Coghlan leads off with a double and advances to third on Miguel Montero’s single.  Coghlan is able to reach home and scores the third run of the game as Cahill helps himself out with a sac bunt.  Dexter walks again but Garza gets out of the inning.  Garza has a 1-2-3 ground out fifth and that would be all for him.  The Cubs score the fourth run of the game in the eighth after Damien Magnifico walks Zo then hits Russell and let’s both runners advance on a wild pitch and Zo scores on Coghlan’s sac fly.

To finish off  the Brew Crew, Mike Montgomery grabs his fourth hold of the year in two innings gives up a hit, a walk and strikes out three.  Hector Rondon takes one inning and only walks one and also gets a hold.  Joe Smith gets one out in the ninth and walks two but is pulled for Aroldis Chapman who strikes out one and ends the game for his 25th save of the year.

Game 2.

Jason Hammel gets the nod for game 2 as he takes on Chase Anderson.  Hammel must have been eating his Sea Salt Chips as he goes seven innings only giving up two hits, three walks and strikes out seven.  He has definitely broke his old ways of declining after the All Star break.

Chase Anderson for the Brew Crew leaves the game after two batters with an injury.  Jhan Marinez takes over him going 2 & 2/3 innings.  He walks three and and gives up four hits but the Cubs only score one run in the third on Kris Bryant’s single to left that brings in David Ross.

Rob Scahill enters the game in the sixth for the Brewers and gives up a leadoff double to Zo who scores on Wilson Contreras line to right.  Javier Baez steps in the box and launches his 13th home run of the year putting the Cubs up again by four.

Justin Grimm takes on the eighth and giving up only one hit and strikes out one.  Top of the ninth and the Cubs are up by four and Joel Maddon decides to go with Travis Wood.  He gets the first out on a bouncer to third.  Chapman is up in the pen just in case as Wood gets the second out of the inning.  The Cubs have a chance to pull off the first double header shut out sweep as Len and JD brought up but almost as quickly as they said it, Wood gives up a solo home run to left to Hernan Perez.  Chris Carter gets a bloop single to to center just out of range for Zo.

That would be it for Wood as Maddon decides to bring in Chapman for the final out but allows Carter to advance on a high fast ball off the back stop.  Jake Elmore takes eight pitches and walks.  Keon Broxton steps in the box and sends a slow bouncer just out of reach of Chapman halting Bryant from picking it up.  Bases Loaded for Maldonado and he gets called out on strikes as Chapman saves both games today not with out making it an exciting ending.  Jason Hammel gets his career high 13th win of the season.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Cubs split with the Cards

Posted: August 14, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Cubs wrap up their four game series Sunday night prime time on National TV.  John Lackey takes to the mound looking for his 10th win of the season.  John is 1-1 in three starts against the Cardinals and Mike Leake looking to get to .500 with his ninth win of the season.  His last start against the Cubs was April 18th against Lackey which was a loss.

Lackey makes it a quick top half of the first with a 1-2-3 inning.  Leake is not so lucky as he starts off by walking Dexter Fowler then gives up a single to Kris Bryant.  Anthony Rizzo sends a ground ball to right scoring Fowler for the first run of the game pushing Bryant to third.  Ben Zobrist sends a fly ball to left scoring Bryant for a sac fly.  In the first, the Cubs are up by two.

Lackey gives up a single and a walk in the 2cd but gives up no runs and strikes out two.  In the top of the third he gives up a one out single to Greg Garcia, then hits Stephen Piscotty.  Matt Carpenter sends a ground ball to short, Addison Russell throws to second getting the force out but Zo’s throw to first is wild and Garcia scores.

After the first, the Cubs bats wouldn’t be able to get to Leake until the bottom of the sixth inning with Bryant sending a one out fly ball to center for a his first triple of the year.  Rizzo then drives him in for the Cubs third round of the game.  After six the Cubbies are up 3 – 1 .

In the top of the 7th, Lackey gives up a leadoff single to Yadier Molina but gets the next two outs but that would be enough for Maddon as he brings in Justin Grimm to strike out Randal Grichuk to end the inning.  Leake starts off the bottom half by giving up a double to Chris Coghlan and makes it to third on Jason Heyward’s infield single.  Cardinals skipper, Mike Mathena decides to pull Leake for Matt Bowman who loads the bases by walking Wilson Contrearas but gets the next three batters out to end the inning.

Hector Rondon enters the game in the top of the eighth and gives up back to back singles to Kolten Wong and Garcia.  Both runners ate driven in by Stephen Piscotty when he takes Rondon deep to the center field bleachers.  He does get the next out but then gives up a solo homer to Brandon Moss.  Joel Maddon decides to bring in Travis Wood who gets the second out of the inning but walks Jhonny Peralta and gives up a single to Jedd Gyorko.  Grichuk comes in and doubles driving in Peralta putting the Cards up 6-3.  Kolten Wong back up again for the second time this inning flys out to end the inning.

Kevin Siegrist enters the game in the bottom of the eighth for the Cards to face Rizzo who takes the first pitch then drives the next fast ball off the right field score board.  Zo strikes out but Siegrist would have some unannounced injury and be replace by Seung Hwan Oh.  Oh comes in and strikes out Russell in three strikes.  Baez grabs himself a single.  Jason Heyward flys out to end the inning.

Top of the ninth.  Aroldis Chapman enters the game and strikes out the first two batters and gets Matt Carpenter to ground out.  Cardinals closer as of late, Oh stays in for the ninth.  He only sees Contrearas, Soler and Fowler and strikes out all three batters to end the game to help split the series between the Cubs and Cardinals.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Not That Grand of a Day

Posted: August 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , ,
0

Kyle Hendricks as who some would refer to as the best pitcher for the Cubs right now takes the mound looking for his 12th win of the season and to continue the Cubs wining streak.  He would be taking on rookie Luke Weaver in what starts as a pitcher’s duel.

Kyle would hit Stephen Piscotty in the first but strikes out the other three batters he faces to end the inning.  Luke starts his career out by striking out Fowler and Bryant and gets Rizzo to groundout to end the inning.  Kyle then gives up a leadoff hit to Yadier Molina but strikes out the remainder of the batters he faces.  Ben Zobrist leads off the bottom half of the second with a double and Addison Russell drives him in with a deep fly ball to left for his 14th homer of the season.  Weaver then loads the bases on two outs but gets out of the inning.

Both pitchers would get into a groove making quick of their opponents through five innings.  It would be the Cardinals who strike back in the top of the sixth with Brandon Moss’s two out home run to right center putting the Cardinals within 1 run.  Hendricks then gives up another solo home run in the top of 7th to tie the game at 2 to Jedd Gyorko.   Weaver only made it through four innings as Alex Reyes would take over for him in the bottom of the fifth.  He is able to hold the Cubs through the end of the 7th.

Carl Edwards Jr, replaces Kyle in the top of the 8th and gets the first out but almost as quickly loads the bases for Yadier Molina.  Molina strikes out but the ball would get passed the Contreras to put the Cards ahead by one.  Carl then walks Peralta to load the bases again and then Gyorko gets an RBI walk for the fourth run of the game.  With two outs Joe Smith replaces Carl to face Randal Grichuk who takes Smith deep for a grand slam but he does retire the next batter to end the inning.  Cardinals now up 8-2.  Kevin Siegrist takes over in the bottom half of the 8th retiring Fowler, Bryant and Rizzo without a hitch.

Mike Montgomery takes over in the top of the 9th gives up a two out single but gets out of the inning.  Cubs have one last chance as they take on Seth Maness who gives up back to back singles to Zo and Russell.  Zo scores on Heyward’s single who’s throwing error by Maness allows Russell to reach third as Heyward goes to second.  Zack Duke looking to redeem himself for the Cards joins the game getting the next three batters out but Russell does score but the Cubs go down 8-4.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

11 in A Row

Posted: August 12, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , , , ,
0

The Cubs are coming off a late night defeating the Cardinals in 11 innings for 10 in a row.  Jake Arrieta takes to the mound today looking for win number 14 and the Cubs 11 win in a row.  This year Jake is 1-1 against the Cards and hopes to make it 2-1 against Adam Wainwright who is looking for his 10th win of the season as he is 1-0 against the Cubs.

Jake would go just 5 & 2/3 innings today giving up only 4 hits, one of them a home run to Stephen Piscotty in the 5th with one out.  Jake strikes out six batters today while only walking two batters.  Today he really has no need going passed the 6th inning with the run support he was provided.

Matt Szczur fills in for Fowler leading off the Cubs half of the 1st with his seventh double of the year.  Kris Bryant decides to second that with a double of his own driving in Matt.  Anthony Rizzo walks on five pitches.  With one out Addison Russell would also smack a double scoring Bryant.  Montero walks to load the bases but Wainwright gets out of the first with just 2 earned runs.  Adam starts the second inning off by striking out Jake but then hits Szczur.  Bryant decides to double again and again drives in Matt for another RBI.  Jorge Soler only hits a single but its enough to score Kris.  Russell gets into a full count reaching on a walk.  Wilson Contreras steps in the box and takes the first pitch to left field for his seventh home run of the year.  Montero ends the inning with a ground out but the Cubs are now up by 7.  That would be all for Wainwright just two innings.  Seth Manness takes the 3rd and Jonathon Broxton takes the 4th and 5th each only allowing one hit and holding the Cubs at 7.

The bottom of the sixth sees former Cubs, Jerome Williams join the game giving up a lead off home run to Szczur.  He does get the next two outs but gives up another solo home run, this time to Jorge Soler.  He does get out the 6th but doesn’t have any better luck in the 7th starting with a single to Wilson, he gets an out but then gives up a two run home run to Javier Baez.  Chris Coghlan joins as a pinch hitter for Jake’s replacement Justin Grimm, and reaches on a walk.  Matt Szczur then launches his second home run of the day scoring Wilson and the Cubs are up by 13.  Williams gets out of the 7th, settles down and makes it a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

Joe Smith takes the top of the 8th inning for the Cubs and grabs the first two outs on eight pitches but gives up a home run to Jedd Gyorko to give the Cards their second run of the game.  He gets out of the inning and it would be Travis Wood taking the 9th.  He quickly gets the first two outs but then walks Tommy Pham.  Jhonny Peralta makes a pinch hit appearance and singles on the first strike he sees.  Stephen Piscotty swings on the first pitch he sees and sends it to Kris Bryant who throws it to Javier Baez for the force and the Cubs win, with an 11 game win streak.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Older Entries
Newer Entries