Posts Tagged ‘Kris Bryant’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 1, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, NASCAR, sports
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To the surprise of no one except maybe Scott Boras and the MLBPA the Cubs sent Kris Bryant to Triple A Iowa earlier this week. It’s not the fact that Bryant was sent down that should’ve been the story, but who went to the minors with him. Again it wasn’t a shock that Addison Russell was sent down. Russell hasn’t spent a full season at Triple A and he was injured last season; so a full season at Triple A wouldn’t be the worse thing for him. The story should’ve been that Javier Baez was sent down. Baez was a 1st round pick and 9th overall in the 2011 draft. He appeared in 52 games last season. He hit .169, but showed good power with 9 home runs and drove in 20. He did also steal 5 bases in 6 attempts. Did I mention he struck out 95 times in 213 at bats. Theo Epstein went out and hired Manny Ramirez to work with Baez the middle of last season and then the Cubs sold their fans on the fact that they would work with Baez in the off season to cut down on his strikeouts. This spring Baez hit .179 with 1 home run and 1 RBI in 16 games. In 52 spring training plate appearances Baez struck out 20 times. How much work did the Cubs do with him in the off season? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say NONE! Another issue I have is the fact that about a week or so ago Cubs management came out and said that they weren’t sure if Bryant could play 3rd base in the majors. Now 2015 was the start of Bryant’s 3rd season with the Cubs and they’re just now figuring out that he might not be able to play 3rd base. Bryant has played 160 games in the Cubs minor league system. He’s committed 27 errors and has a career fielding percentage of .942. He made a total of 21 errors last season; 14 of those errors were made at Double A Tennessee in 62 games, but at Triple A Iowa where Bryant played in 67 games he made just 7 errors. So the Cubs top 2 prospects start the 2015 season in the minor leagues. They couldn’t teach one to cut down on his strikeouts and they can’t find the proper position for the other one. Instead of focusing on how bad it was that Bryant got sent to the minors maybe it’s time to look at player development in the Cubs system. It’s great to stock pile all of these top prospects, but if you can’t teach them how to be good major league players; how is that going to help your team. Are you tried of seeing players the caliber of Baez traded and then turning into the player he should’ve been in a Cubs uniform?

Staying with Baez for a minute here. No one and I mean no one had him headed to Triple A. If someone tries to tell you they did they’re lying to you. On the Sunday podcast of Sports Time Radio Al Yellon from BleedCubbieBlue.com was on with us to preview the Cubs 2015 season. Al was the first person I had heard say that Baez was headed to the minors to start the season.

While I’m handing out credit on the podcast Sunday morning we also had Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com on to talk some NASCAR with us. Chris has been on the last couple of weeks with us to look at the goings on in NASCAR and preview which ever race is happening that weekend. I always give Chris a chance to pick 3 drivers that he thinks will end up in victory lane at the end of the race. While on the podcast Chris said that Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver Denny Hamlin was the guy to watch in Martinsville on Sunday. At the end of the STP 500 at Martinville Speedway it was Hamlin who was driving his car into victory lane.

We’re almost done with our season previews for the upcoming baseball season. Dan the Man was able to track down guests to come on the podcast and preview all the teams except the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals; so we’re trying to handle the previews ourselves. We’re actually down to just 1 team to go and that’s the Red Sox; will be doing that preview on the Friday podcast. Sadly for us we’re not as in depth with these teams as the other people we’ve had on, but we’re doing what we can to give a solid preview for 2015. You can listen to today’s podcast or any archive show we’ve done at BlogTalkRadio.com and just find our show Sports Time Radio.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 18, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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How many more injuries can the Oklahoma City Thunder take this season. Kevin Durant missed games early in the season recovering from his foot surgery and now he’s out because they had to go in and adjust the screws in the plate they put in that foot.  Russell Westbrook suffered facial fractures had surgery to repair them and didn’t miss too many games, but is playing with a protective mask on. Now Serge Ibaka injured his knee and is out four to six weeks. Ibaka had  successful arthroscopic surgery yesterday and would be back for the playoffs if the Thunder makes the playoffs. Westbrook has been keeping the Thunder in the playoff hunt while making a case for himself as the MVP, but with the New Orleans Pelicans victory last night Oklahoma City finds themselves 1/2 a game out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western conference. Oklahoma City has 15 games left starting tonight (Wednesday) against the Boston Celtics to get past the Pelicans and into the NBA playoffs. If the Thunder can find a way to pass the Pelicans and grab that 8th seed they’d  get a 1st round match up with the Golden State Warriors. You’d think the Thunder would have to go into that opening round match up without Ibaka, but Golden State doesn’t really feature their big men. If Oklahoma City can get a healthy Durant back playing with the MVP candidate Westbrook against Golden State’s “Splash Brothers” Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry in just the 1st round of the playoffs. Would a Durant return be enough for Oklahoma City to shock a team like Golden State?

The NCAA tournament goes into full swing tomorrow as the official 1st round starts. We don’t cover much college basketball on the podcast, but I always fill out a tournament bracket just for the fun of it. While I’m not going to go game by game through my picks, but here’s my Final Four teams. Out of the Midwest region I have who else, but Kentucky. I have the Wisconsin Badgers coming out of the West region and they’ll play Kentucky in the Final Four. In the South region I have the Gonzaga Bulldogs going to the Final Four to play the winner of the East region which I have as Northern Iowa; with Gonzaga going to the championship game. So my finals match up is Gonzaga vs. Kentucky and I have Kentucky winning it all with a 70 – 61 victory in the tournament final.

At just 24 years of age and with just one season of professional football under his belt San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland retired because he is concerned about head injuries. Now I have no issues with Borland deciding to walk away from the NFL but the mainstream media has handled this story very, very poorly. I’ve heard Borland called everything from a hero to a quitter and I don’t believe he’s either. To me he’s just a guy who no longer wanted to play football. When you’re an athlete you have this fire or love inside you for the sport you play; it’s what keeps you going when you think you can’t go on. I’m guessing that Borland didn’t have a love for football or the NFL and just decided to move on with his life. Of course the media jumped all over this story and started predicting the end of the NFL Just because Chris Borland didn’t want to play football anymore doesn’t mean there aren’t players lining up to find their way into the NFL Is it possible that you’ll receive an injury that might affect your long-term healthy; yes. Are you paid very, very well to take that chance and play professional football; yes. Let’s not turn Borland into the poster boy for leaving the NFL because of head trauma. I don’t believe he has or received a serious head injury; he may have had a concussion last season, but I don’t think he missed any games because of it. Borland is a guy who accessed the risk of playing in the NFL to what he’d like to do with the rest of his life and decided to leave the sport. Don’t expect the mass exodus that the media is predicting now that one player has done it. I’m interested to see if any other players go this route.

While the NASCAR season is only four weeks old with the way it’s started can anyone stop defending champion Kevin Harvick? Harvick started his season by finishing 2nd to Joey Logano at the Daytona 500. The next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway Harvick finished 2nd again; this time to Jimmie Johnson at the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500. Week 3 in Las Vegas Harvick led 142 on his way to his 1st victory of the season at the Kolbalt 400. Then last week at the Phoenix International Raceway Harvick led 224 of the 312 laps and easily won the CampingWorld.com 500. So in four weeks of racing Harvick has two 2nd place finishes and two victories. This week NASCAR moves to Fontana California for the Auto Club 400 at the Auto Club Speedway. Will Harvick get his 3rd win in a row or can another driver find his or her way to victory lane. I guess the question if someone else does win the race will Harvick finish 2nd?

I’ll be the first person to say that I can’t stand the way Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs are handling the Kris Bryant situation. To tell you the truth though I’m not really that upset with the way they’re handling his situation this spring training. The Cubs front office is making a business decision not a baseball decision to send Bryant to Triple A Iowa to start the 2015 season. In case you don’t know if Bryant goes to Triple A and spends 12 days there the Cubs gain and extra year of salary control with him. I can deal with him just going to Triple A for 12 days. The issue I actually have is this shouldn’t even be an issue as Bryant should’ve been in the major leagues last season and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Imagine if Bryant had a years worth of big league experience under his belt going into this season and wouldn’t have to learn on the fly at the major league level. Major league pitching is tough and it’s a lot more difficult to adjust to than Triple A pitching is. That would all be out-of-the-way had the Cubs just looked ahead and brought Bryant up last season. This is just part of the reasons why the Cubs don’t win. Poor front office decisions lead to poor on field results and the Chicago Cubs are living proof of that. Now the Cubs look better than they have in a long time and might have an outside shot at making the playoffs. How much more help would a Kris Bryant with one year of major league at bats be compared to a Kris Bryant who’s a rookie and learning major league pitchers be?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

Vs. Series (3rd Base)

Posted: March 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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We wrap up the infield position in New York and Chicago by looking at the players who will be manning the hot corner for the 2015 season. Let’s start in New York with this position.

The New York Yankees signed Chase Headley to a four year $52 million dollar deal to come back and play 3rd base for them. Even with Alex Rodriquez done with his suspension Headley is the Yankees everyday 3rd baseman. Headley was traded by the San Diego Padres with cash to the New York Yankees for Rafael De Paula (minors) and Yangervis Solarte in July of last season. Headley played in 58 games for the Yankees and hit.262 with 6 home runs. I don;t think Headley will get back to his 2012 power numbers when he hit 31 home runs and drove in 115 runs, but if he can get back into the 20’s with homers and maybe 80 plus RBI’s. I’m sure the Yankees would take that. Headley is a very solid defender and actually leads all active players with the highest fielding percentage at 3rd base with .967 over his eight year career.

For the Mets it’s David Wright at 3rd base; who else would it be. Wright is entering his 12th season with the Mets, but is coming off his lowest career home run total of eight. Wright has battled some injuries which helped his numbers drop, but the Mets are looking for a bounce back season from the player they call “Captain America”. Even Wright’s defense struggled last season; he did commit just 15 errors last season, but his fielding percentage was .954 his lowest fielding percentage number since 2011. Wright has won two Gold Gloves at 3rd base and a return to that defensive form would help the Mets playoff chances quite a bit. Wright’s streak of seven consecutive All-Star appearances ended last season. Wright hit .269 in 2014 which is a down season for him, but Wright ranks 15th among all active players in batting average at .298.

Both New York teams have veteran 3rd baseman, but as always I have to try to settle on just one. I think I’m more of a believer in Wright having a bounce back 2015 season; so I’ll go with him.

I’m not sure how many people know this, but Conor Gillaspie is starting his 3rd season as the White Sox full-time 3rd baseman. He played 113 games at 3rd base in 2013 and then 127 games last season. After being traded by the San Francisco Giants to the White Sox for Jeff Soptic in February of 2013 Gillaspie has filled a void for them. His batting average improved to .282 last season, but he’ll never be a power hitter with just seven home runs last season; he did hit 13 hoe runs in 2013. Gillaspie 16 errors where the lowest among American League 3rd baseman in 2013 and his total was down last season when he committed just 12 errors in a 127 games at 3rd base. Gillaspie had a fielding percentage of .961 and was involved in 26 double plays last season. The question will always be can Gillaspie provide enough offense for a championship team.

The question with the Chicago Cubs is who is the opening day 3rd baseman. The player who should be at the position (Kris Bryant) will open the season at Triple A Iowa; so the Cubs can have one more year of team control with him. It’s actually a huge joke as in reality Bryant should’ve been the Cubs 3rd baseman last season, but the stupidity of the Cubs front office has cost Bryant pretty much two major league seasons. So don’t be surprised if when Bryant gets to free agency in his career he leaves the Cubs very quickly. Bryant would be the runaway winner at 3rd base and might even be one of the top 3rd baseman in baseball if he had been given the chance. Wait until to see Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer give the interview where they have to tell you that Bryant is headed back to Triple A to work on his defense. I guess “I don’t know on 3rd” thank you Abbott and Costello. Anyway the depth chart I saw has Mike Olt listed as the starting 3rd baseman; so let’s run with that. Olt was a top prospect for many years in the Texas Rangers organization, but was blocked at the major league level by Adrian Beltre. The Cubs got Olt a player to be named later; who turned out to be Neil Ramirez, C.J. Edwards and Justin Grimm while the Rangers got  Matt Garza. Olt played 89 games for the Cubs last season and hit .160, but did show power hitting 12 home runs. Olt is another high strike out guy on the Cubs as he averages one strike out every 2.25 at bats. Olt had an eye issue that slowed down his progress to the majors, but hopefully that’s behind him. Olt played 52 games at 3rd base last season where he committed seven errors and posted a fielding percentage of .929. Is Olt just a two week position holder until the Cubs are smart enough to call Bryant up or will he have to man 3rd base longer than that?

Again if Bryant was in the running to be picked he would be a slam dunk choice, but since he’s not I’m take Gillaspie over Olt. Gillaspie is a better average hitter and fielder; so I’ll give up a little bit of power for that right now.

The Vs. Series is off again tomorrow (Saturday) as the usual How was your Week blog will appear, but the Vs. Series will be back on Sunday as we move to left field for our four teams.

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