Posts Tagged ‘New York Mets’

The Sports Time Radio World Series preview

Posted: October 26, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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The World Series gets started tomorrow in Kaufman Stadium as the Kansas City Royals host the New York Mets. I thought we should go position by position and see who looks to have the edge. It’s a 2-3-2 game format; so do you think it’s important for the Mets to take 1 of the first 2 games in Kansas City? Let’s try to break things down.

1st Base Eric Hosmer for the Royals against Lucas Duda for the Mets. Hosmer is hitting just .222 in the post season, but he is the team leader in RBI’s with 11. Duda is also having his issues at the plate hitting just .214 with 1 home run and 6 RBI’s this post season. So if your picking between 2 players who aren’t hitting well it should come down to defense. While Duda has turned into a solid fielding 1st baseman Hosmer is Gold Glove caliber at 1st; so while it’s a close decision it’s Hosmer.

2nd Base Ben Zobrist has taken over as the everyday 2nd baseman for the Royals. Before the playoffs Zobrist was a super utility guy. He’s hitting well this post season .326 with 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s. He also plays above average at 2nd. Zobrist would probably be the pick over any other post season 2nd baseman, but the guy playing 2nd for the Mets is Daniel Murphy. Murphy is leading his team in home runs with 7; he’s homered in 6 straight games he’s also leading te Mets in RBI’s with 11 and he’s hitting .426. While Zobrist’s number are good Murphy’s are great; so even though there’s no guarantee he’ll stay as hot as he was the choice is Murphy

Shortstop Alcides Escobar is the Royals leader in batting average at .386. He has 17 hits this post season 2 of which are triples. There was some crazy stat about how well he is hitting the very first pitch of the game as he’s leading off for Kansas City as well. Wilmer Flores took over at shortstop for the Mets after Ruben Tejada was injured. Flores is hitting .292 over his 24 post season at bats. Flores is a better power hitter than Escobar, but Esobar is one of the better defensive shortstops in the American League. Escobar is another player will have to see how the time off effects and he’s the choice at shortstop.

3rd Base Mike Moustakas is the Royals player who has the lowest batting average this post season (.167) he does have 1 home run and has driven in 5 runs even with a poor batting average. David Wright is hitting exactly the same as Moustakas is .167 and has struck out 12 times in 30 post season at bats, but has walked 9 times. It’s another situation where the players are both struggling; so we look to defense to try and make a choice. Moustakas has improved defensively at 3rd, but Wright is still a better defender at the hot corner; so let’s take Wright.

Left Field Alex Gordon is hitting .250 with 3 doubles 1 home run, but just 3 RBI’s. That could be a case of the guys in front of him are driving everyone in or is he not coming through in the clutch. He is the best defensive outfielder in this series though. Will the Mets stick with the platoon of Micheal Cuddyer who has 1 hit in 8 post season at bats and Micheal Conforto who has 1 hit in 15 post season at bats. Either way the Mets go the Royals have the advantage here; so the choice is Gordon.

Center Field Lorenzo Cain may still be one of the most underrated players in baseball even though we’ve seen him the last 2 post seasons. His base running alone put the Royals in the World Series. He’s hitting .275 with a home run and 7 RBI’s; plus 2 stolen bases. Yoenis Cespedes has had a solid post season a .265 average with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s, but he hasn’t had those flashes of brilliance we saw in the regular season. He had a shoulder issue and received a cortizone shot; so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. This may be the toughest choice of them all and you really could take either guy, but I’m going to go with Cain.

Right Field Alex Rios just goes about his business at the bottom of the Royals order. He’s hitting .333 with 2 doubles a home run and 5 RBI’s. Not bad at all for your #9 hitter. While Rios has been a bit of a surprise Curtis Granderson has been very good for the Mets. Granderson is hitting .303 this season and has driven in 7 RBI’s as the Mets lead off hitter. Granderson is the tam leader in stolen bases with 4 and may be the only stolen base threat on the Mets. They’re comparable defensively as well. Granderson is the choice here.

Designated Hitter This is really an unfair position as the Royals have Kendrys Morales who DH’s all season while the Mets will just use one in the American League ballpark. Morales is hitting .268; is tied for the team lead in home runs with 4 and has 10 RBI’s this post season. He’ll be a very big loss to the Royals when he’s out of the line up when the games move to New York. If I had to guess I’m thinking Cuddyer is going to fill the DH role for the Mets. Cuddyer has some experience in the American League and has DH’d before, but no matter who fills the role for the Mets when the DH is used it;s advantage Morales.

Catcher While Salvador Perez is struggling at the plate hitting just .194 he does have 4 home runs and we all know any hitting he does is just a bonus for Kansas City. Travis D’Arnaud isn’t hitting much better for the Mets. A .206 batting average, but he; showing some power as well with 3 post season home runs. Perez has thrown out 1 base stealer this post season, but D’Arnaud hasn’t thrown out anyone. It’s a pretty even choice here, but I think you have to go with the experience and go with Perez.

Starting Pitching It’s Edison Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Yordano Ventura and Chris Young as the listed starters for the Royals while the Mets have Matt Harvey, Jacob deGroom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz listed as there starters. This was an easier choice than I thought it was going to be. The Royals will run out a veteran staff while the Mets stick with there up and coming rotation. The Royals starters have been a little hot and cold while the Mets have been much more consistent. I really think that starting pitching is going to be the deciding factor in this series. If the Royals starting rotation can have good outings and hang with the Mets young stud starters it would really give the Royals an advantage. Either way when it’s rotation versus rotation the Mets have a big advantage.

Set Up Men Even with Greg Holland out the Royals still have the bullpen down to a science. Kelvin Herrera leads to Ryan Madson or Luke Hochevar who leads to the closer. It got them to the World Series last season and can shorten games to 6 or even in some cases 5 innings. It’s a very good system and Bed Yost knows how to use it. Tyler Clippard has always been a great set up guy, but has struggled this post season. Luckily for the Mets they have starters Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon added to the post season bullpen. If Addison Reed can get some big outs and Hansel Robles gets some outs the Mets bullpen might be able to hang with the Royals. Sadly that’s a lot of if’s for the Mets and you have to go with the Royals in the bullpen.

Closer Wade Davis has 10 strikeouts and 3 walks over 6 2/3rd post season innings. Jeurys Familia has 6 strikeouts and 2 walks over 9 2/3rd post season innings. Davis is 3 for 3 in save opportunities and has a win. Familia is 5 for 5 in save opportunities. Davis has been in 5 games while Familia has pitched in 8 games. Davis has given up 3 hits while Familia has given up 3 and by the way neither pitcher has given up a run. Both pitchers have proven they can get more than 3 outs to record a save. Have you made a choice yet? I think I’m leaning a little towards Davis, but not by much and if you picked Familia I can see how you came to that decision.

Series I’m picking Kansas City to win the title in 6 or 7 games.

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Wait til next year

Posted: October 22, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season
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The Chicago Cubs 2015 season came to and end last night (Wednesday) as they where swept out of the national League Championship Series by the New York Mets 8-3 at Wrigley Field. The Mets will move on to represent the National League in the World Series. They’ll play the winner of the Kansas City Royals/Toronto Blue Jays series. Kansas City currently leads that best of 7 series 3 games to 2. Game 6 is tomorrow (Friday) night in Kansas City.

On the Sports Time Radio podcast I was pushing very hard for Jon Lester to take the Game 4 start on 3 days rest for the Cubs against the Mets, but for some reason I seemed to be the only guy who was bang the drum for Lester to start. Jason Hammel had been the listed starter for the game, but I really thought Lester would be the better choice even on short rest. Being that it was an elimination game I thought the Cubs would want one of there Top.2 starters on the mound and since you’re not going to bring Jake Arrieta back on just 2 days rest Lester seemed like the next best choice. The Cubs didn’t listen and Hammel took the start. Sadly with Hammel on the mound the game was over before the Cubs even came to bat. Lucas Duda gave the Mets the early lead as he hit a 2-out, 3-run home run in the Top if the 1st inning. Travis d’Arnaud went back to back with Duda and his solo shot gave the Mets all the runs they would need on the night. Hammel by the way lasted 4 outs. In Hammel’s 1 1/3rd innings he was charged with 5 runs; all earned on 4 hits (2 home runs), he walked 2 and struck out 1. Do you honestly think that Lester on 3 days rest wouldn’t of had a better outing; honestly? The Cubs over used bullpen did a solid job after Hammel was removed giving up 3 runs over the 7 2/3rd innings they where asked to cover. Travis wood gave up 1 run on his 1 2/3rd innings as the first guy out of the bullpen and Fernando Rodney gave up the other 2 runs to the Mets when he pitched the his inning. Clayton Richard (2 Innings), Trevor Cahill (1 inning), Pedro Strop (1 inning) and Hector Rondon (1 inning) weren’t scored upon out of the Cubs bullpen. 24 year old Steven Matz made the Game 4 start for the Mets and while he only lasted 4 2/3rd innings he was able to relax right out of the gate as he was giving a 4-run lead before he ever had to take the mound and then 2 more runs where added to that before the Cubs batted a 2nd time. In a bit of an odd twist; Matz was almost dealt to the Cubs for Starlin Castro during spring training, but the Mets changed there mind on the trade. Matz gave up 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 4 and walking 2. Bartolo Colon relieved Matz in the bottom of the 4th inning and was credited with the win. Colon went 1 1/3rd innings; he gave up 0 runs while walking 1 and striking out 1. Addison Reed was next out of the Mets bullpen; he struck out 1 in his 1 inning of work. Tyler Clippard pitched the 8th inning for the Mets giving up the Cubs final 2 runs of the season on a Kris Bryant home run. Clippard gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 1 as well in his inning of work. I was a little surprised to see Mets closer Jeurys Familia come in to pitch the bottom pf the 9th. It was an 8-3 game and normally closers don’t do well in these type of situations. Familia didn’t have any issues. He got the first 2 hitters to ground out and after a walk to Miguel Montero; Dexter Fowler struck out looking to end the Cubs season and send the Mets into the World Series for the first time since 2000.

You always figure that fans will make some type of an excuse for there favorite team losing or maybe that’s just me when my favorite team loses. I was a little surprised last night to here some of the Chicago media making excuses for the Cubs losing the series. As tough as it is for Cubs fans to take the Mets where just the better tam in this series. The Mets played better defense, out-hit, out-pitched and Terry Collins out-managed Joe Maddon in the series. Even though the Cubs won all 7 regular season games against the Mets this was a different Mets team and that showed. Neither of these teams where expected to be here this season. The Mets weren’t suppose to be able to win there division because the Washington Nationals where going to take it. The Cubs where suppose to be a year away from contending for a playoff spot, but managed to get that 2nd wild card. These teams should be interesting for baseball fans to watch as the Mets have very good young pitching and the Cubs have very good young hitting, but right now I want to look at the Cubs since the Mets still have a series left to play.

Every team makes change in the off season and expect the Cubs to do a little tweeking here and there. Dexter Fowler is a free agent and I’m guessing the Cubs will allow him to leave unless he’s willing to take a short term deal for very low money to stay. While Chris Coghlan had a solid season and showed surprising power with 16 home runs; I don;t think he’s an everyday player for the Cubs next season. Coghlan is also a free agent, but could be a valuable utility player on a contender. If Fowler and Coghlan are out of the Cubs starting line up next season Miguel Montero will be the oldest everyday player at 32, but besides Montero no other regular will be older than 26. The playoffs proved that you can;t win without starting pitching and the Cubs will need more than Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. It would be difficult for Arrieta to repeat the kind of season he had this year; so someone will have to help out in the rotation. There are a couple of quality free agent starting pitchers who will be on the market, but I’m not sure if the Cubs will hand on another big money long term deal to a pitcher again. Maybe the Cubs target a young free agent starting pitcher like Mike Leake (29) or Jordan Zimmerman (31) instead of going after the top tier free agent pitchers. Of course the other way for the Cubs to add pitching is through trades. I expect that one of the regulars will be dealt for some young starting pitcher. If you’re going to take a guess I’d say Starlin Castro would be the guy traded and the Cubs would use a platoon with Tommy LaStella and another veteran; maybe Coghlan at 2nd base. As much as you get attached to the players on your favorite team little changes here and there are needed to continue to improve the team; so we’ll see what the Cubs roster looks like come 2016.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, post season
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The League Championship series are one win away from being wrapped as as yesterday the Kansas City Royals took a 3 games to 1 lead over the Toronto Blue jays and the New York Mets went ahead in there series 3 games to 0 on the Chicago Cubs. Game 5 of the ALCS is this afternoon with the Royals looking to go back to the World Series. Game 4 of the NLCS is tonight where the Mets will look to sweep and advance to the World Series.

The offensives really got rolling in the ALCS as both teams combined for a total of 19 runs in the Blue Jays 11-8 win. The Blue Jays had a 10-4 lead after 5 innings and added a run in the bottom of the 8th inning and looked like they would cruise to there first ALCS victory. The Royals decided to make the game a little more interesting than people thought it would be as they scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Jays held to for a win an9d cut the deficit in the series to 2 games to 1.

The offense continued in Game 4 of the ALCS, but just for the Royals. Kansas City scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning highlighted by a 2-run Ben Zobrist home run and an Alex Rios solo home run in the top of the 2nd gave the Royals a 5-0 lead and they never looked back on there way to a 14-2 victory and control of the ALCS 3 games to 1. Former Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey made the start for the Blue Jays, but didn’t get through 2 innings. Dickey lasted 1 2/3rd innings giving up 5 runs; 4 of which where earned on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 1. There was also a passed ball charged to catcher Russell Martin while Dickey was on the mound. Chris Young made the Game 4 start for the Royals. Young lasted 4 2/3rd innings before giving way to the Kansas City bullpen. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. It wasn’t a long outing for Young, but it was what the Royals need as Luke Hochevar (1 1/3rd innings), Ryan Madson (1 inning), Kelvin Herrera (1 inning) and Franklin Morales (1 inning) didn’t allow the Blue Jays to score in relief. Each pitcher gave up 1 hit in relief; Madson struck out 2 while Herrera and Morales each recorded 1 strikeout. After Dickey was removed Liam Hendriks came out of the Blue Jays bullpen and allowed just 1 hit to the Royals over 4 1/3rd innings while striking out 2. LaTroy Hawkins took over on the mound at the top of the 6th inning and didn’t record an out while giving up 3 runs on 2 hits while walking 1. Ryan Tepera relieved Hawkins and didn’t have much more success against the Royals line up. Tepera pitched 1 2/3rd innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and walking 2. Mark Lowe worked an inning after Tepera and gave up 2 runs on 1 hit while striking out 2. Shortstop Cliff Pennington got the final out of the top of the 9th for Toronto becoming the first position player to pitch in a post season game. Pennington pitched 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 hit, but 0 runs.

It will be a rematch of Game 1 on the mound as Edison Volquez starts for the Royals and Marco Estrada gets the start for the Blue Jays. Volquez got the win in the Royals 5-0 Game 1 victory. He pitched 6 innings walking 4 and striking out 5. Estrada took the Game 1 loss for the Blue Jays pitching 5 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6. Can the Blue Jays extend the series and go back the Kansas City for a Game 6 behind Estrada or will the Royals win with Volquez and head to the World Series.

In the NLCS the Mets have used there good young pitching and Daniel Murphy’s bat to take all 3 game of the series against the Cubs. The Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on a Javier Baez error that allowed David Wright on base and then with Wright on the move Yoenis Cespedes doubled and with Wright moving on the hit and run he was able to score. The Cubs got even in the bottom of the 1st inning on a Kyle Schwarber solo home run, Murphy struck again for the Mets in the top of the 3rd inning when with 2 outs he homered to center field to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. The Cubs evened the game up again in the bottom of the 4th inning on another solo home run this time by Jorge Soler. The Mets found a way to take the lead again in the top of the 6th inning on one of the odder plays this post season. With Cespedes on 3rd and 2 outs Michael Conforto struck out which would normally end the inning, but the baseball got away from Cubs catcher Miguel Montero and Conforto was able to reach base safely and Cespedes scored to give the Mets a 3-2 which they’d never relinquish. The Mets added 2 big insurance runs in the top of the 7th inning. With 1 out Wright doubled then Murphy got an infield hit moving Wright to 3rd base. Cesepedes followed that with a single to left field scoring Wright with Murphy going to 3rd and Cesepedes moving to 2nd on the throw. A Lucas Duda ground out allowed Murphy to score the 5th and final Mets run of the night on there way to a 5-2 win.

Kyle Hendricks made the start for the Cubs and while he had a solid outing he wasn’t around long pitching 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. Cjayton Richard was the first of 6 Cubs relievers out of there bullpen pitching 1 inning, walking 1 and giving up 1 hit, but 0 runs. Trevor Cahill followed Richard and pitched an inning giving up 1 runs on 2 hits while striking out 1. Travis Wood worked 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while striking out 1. Justin Grimm pitched 2/3rd of an inning giving up 1 hit while striking out 1. Pedro Strop was next and worked a perfect inning getting 1 strikeout. Hector Rondon was the last Cubs pitcher of the night and he threw 1 inning, walking 1 and striking out 1. Jacob deGroom started for the Mets pitching 7 innings. deGroom gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7. Tyler Clippard pitched 1 inning giving 1 hit and striking out 1 before closer Jeurys Familia entered the game working a perfect 9th inning striking out 1 to pick up the save and give the Mets a 3 games to 0 lead in the series.

The Mets are looking for the sweep tonight behind rookie pitcher Steven Matz. Matz has made 1 post season start going 5 innings and taking the loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. Trying to avoid the sweep on the mound for the Cubs will be Jason Hammel. In Hammel’s 1 post season start he lasted just 3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals in that NLDS match up. There was some talk last night that the Cubs may turn to Jon Lester on 3 days rest to take this start, but I don;t think that’s been announced yet. No matter who gets the start for the Cubs tonight they’re going t have to be the first team since the 2004 Boston Red Sox to come back from being down 0-3 if they want to get out of this series. Sorry Cubs fans, but Jon Lester wasn’t on that 2004 Red Sox team.

Believe it or not Week 6 in our NFL picks actually went my way. I won the week with a 9-5 record while Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu finished a game behind me at 8-6. Either Mr. Fantasy’s illness or the fact that he didn’t make his picks live on the Sunday podcast cost him as he finished under .500 at 6-8. With the poor showing by Mr. Fantasy Dan the Man has been able to leap frog him and move into 1st place by a game 56-35 (Dan) 55-36 (Mr. Fantasy) I’m still in 3rd place at 51-40 while Schaumburg Stu is 2 games behind me at 49-42. Let’s see how Week 7 goes for us.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, NFL picks
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Who had the Chicago Cubs being the first team to lock up a spot in the National League Championship Series (NLCS)? The Cubs wrapped up there series against the St. Louis Cardinals last night with a 6-4 win. What’s interesting in this Cubs series victory is the fact that players like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant didn’t carry the team. They each have 3 hits this post season with 2 of Rizzo’s hits being home runs and 1 of Bryant’s hits being a home run. Jorge Soler is hitting .571 during the post season. Kyle Schwarber is hitting .538 with a team leading 3 home runs and 5 RBI’s. Dexter Fowler is hitting .300 out of the lead off spot for the Cubs. Javier Baez had to enter Game 3 do to an injury to starting shortstop Addison Russell. Baez had a couple issues in the field which might’ve been do to nerves, but he was 4 for 5 at the plate and hit a big 3-run homer last night. Now I’m not sure if the Cubs can continue to advance with Rizzo hitting .167 and Bryant hitting .150, but they’ll have a few days off as they wait for the winner of the other National League Division Series (NLDS) be it the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The American League will wrap up both if it’s division series today. The first game of the day has the Texas Rangers on the road to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Now no home team has won a game in this series and the Blue Jays will need to change that to advance. The pitching match up for Game 5 is a rematch from Game 2 as Cole Hamels starts for the Rangers and the Blue Jays go to Marcus Stroman. Both pitchers threw 7 innings last game, but neither figured in the decision as the rangers win the game 6-4 in 14 innings. Hamels gave up 4 runs, but only 2 where earned on 6 hits while striking out 6, Stroman gave up 4 runs with 3 being earned on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5.This series has been kind of a surprise as no one thought the Rangers would be this much trouble for the Blue jays let alone take them to a Game 5. Do the Rangers have 1 more surprise in them.

The second Game 5 in the American League has the Houston Astros on the road to take on the defending American League champions the Kansas City Royals. The Astros are going with Colin McHugh as there starting pitcher while Kansas City turns to there trade deadline pick up Johnny Cueto. McHugh got the win for the Astros in Game 1 of this series pitching 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. Cueto started Game 2 of this series for Kansas City pitching 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5. Cueto didn’t figure in the decision, but the Astros won Game 2 5-4. This is another series that I don’t think anyone had going 7 games and I don’t remember anyone picking the Astros to win.

If you live in the Chicagoland area you might not know that there was a second National League playoff game last night. Clayton Kershaw went out and did just what he was suppose to do for the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. Over 7 innings Kershaw gave up 1 run on a solo home run to Daniel Murphy. Kershaw struck out 8 walked just 1 and besides the home run only gave up 2 other hits to the Mets. Steven Matz got the Game 4 start for the Mets. Matz pitched 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. The Dodgers got all there runs off of Matz in the top of the 3rd inning. An Adrian Gonzalez single to center with runners on 1st and 3rd got the Dodgers 1st run home. Justin Turner followed Gonzalez with a double down the left field line to drive in the Dodgers other 2 run. That gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead and they scored all of these runs with 2 outs in the inning. The Murphy homer cut the lead to 3-1, but neither bullpen gave up a run and Kenley Jansen worked a 1,2,3 9th inning striking out 2 while picking up the save for the Dodgers. The series heads back to Los Angeles on tied 2-2 with Game 5 being on Thursday. The Mets are going with Game 1 winner Jacob deGroom. deGroom worked 7 shutout innings giving up 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 13. The Dodgers are countering with Game 2 winner Zack Greinke. Greinke went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 8. The winner of this game knows they’ll go on to face the Cubs while the loser is done for the season.

Now baseball will always be my first love as far as sports go, but football isn’t far behind. This season I;m having a big problem with the NFL. Where has the defense gone? It seems as if every game I watch the when there’s about 3 minutes left to play neither team can stop the other one. I understand the rules greatly favor the offensive team, but you’ve stopped them time and again the entire game and now that there’s just 3 minutes left you can’t even slow them down. Not only can’t I figure this out, but I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my time watching the first 3 and 3/4th of the game when all I need to see is the last 3 minutes. If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that my biggest issue with the NBA is the fact that I only really need to see the 4th quarter to know what’s going on with the game. This season in the NFL has pretty much went the same way for me. Besides the Denver Broncos is there another team out there that’s going to play defense?

With baseball in the post season and the football season up and running you might not have noticed that the NHL season has started. The Montréal Canadiens are off to a 4-0 start and there are a few teams behind them at 3-0. Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty has 4 goals and is tied for the league lead with Justin Abdelkader of the Detroit Red Wings, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild and Oscar Lindberg of the New York Rangers. While it’s too early for these stats to mean all that much it’s always fun to see who’s putting the puck in the net.

Now I didn’t forget about our pick for Week 5 in the NFL, but I’d like to. Dan the Man won the week with a 10-4. Mr. Fantasy was a game behind him at 9-5. Schaumburg Stu had an 8-6 week while I barely made it to 7-7. Mr. Fantasy still has the overall lead at 49-28 with Dan the Man a game behind at 48-29. I’m a ways back in 3rd at 42-35 and Schaumburg Stu is still in the cellar at 41-36. Maybe I’ll have a good Week 6, but I doubt it.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalklRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: September 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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There where two pretty interesting series that opened this Labor Day. The New York Mets traveled to Washington to play the Nationals in a 3 game series and in another three game series the Chicago Cubs went on the road to play the St. Louis Cardinals. So far the visiting teams have managed to win the first 2 games in these series with the series finales being Wednesday. No matter what the outcome is in today’s game the Mets will have put some more distance between themselves and the Nationals and while it doesn’t look like the Cubs can catch the Cardinals they have cut into that division lead with this series. Let’s look closer.

This was suppose to be the series where the Nationals showed that they where the team everyone predicted they’d be at the start of the season and eat into that Mets lead in the National League East, but it hasn’t worked that way. The Nationals had Max Schrerzer starting Game 1; who they paid quite a bit of money this off season to win these type of games. Mets starter Jon Niese was giving a 2-run lead in the Top of the 2nd as Michael Conforto (6) and Kelly Johnson (13) both hit solo home runs off Schrerzer.The Mets added a run in the Top of the 4th inning as Yoenis Cespedes 31st home run of the season was upheld on review; 3-0 Mets. In the bottom of the 4th the Nationals got it all back and then some as Wilson Ramos hit a grand slam to give the Nationals a 4-2 lead. Jayson Werth also doubled in a run to give the Nationals a 5-3 lead after 4. Now this is the point where Schrerzer is suppose to take over the game and get his team a big win to start the series, but that didn’t happen. The Mets came back with solo runs in the 5th and 6th innings to tie the game 5-5 . That ended Schrerzer’s night after 102 pitches and he gets a no decision. The Mets took advantage of the Nationals bullpen combination of Blake Treinen, Felipe Rivero, Casey Janssen and Matt Thornton in the top of the 7th for 3 runs to make the score 8-5 which is how it ended. So with their ace on the mound the Nationals where unable to gain any ground in Game 1.

Last night (Tuesday) it was Jordan Zimmerman facing Matt Harvey. Now there have been a lot of talk about Harvey’s what seems to be self imposed innings limit looming. You had to wonder if it would affect him mentally and even though he’ll say it had nothing to do with his performance he went out and had one of his worst outings of the season. Washington jumped on Harvey right away scoring twice in the 1st inning and once in the 2nd. The Mets where able to get a run in the top of the 2nd; so it was 3-1 Nationals after 2 and that’s how it stayed until the bottom of the 6th. Michael Taylor singled to center with the bases loaded and with the help of a Cespedes error all 4 runners scored making it 7-1 Nationals and it looked like the series would be even at a game apiece. Erik Goeddel came in to finish the inning for Harvey who was done after 5 1/3rd and giving up 7 earned runs. Zimmerman was also taken out of the game in the 6th officially pitching 5 2/3rd innings before turning it over to the Nationals bullpen. Treinen started the 7th and he struggled again giving up 3 runs. Rivero relieved him, but couldn’t get anyone out and was charged with 2 runs. Drew Storen was next out of the Nationals bullpen, but the former closer had issues to and walked in the game tying run before getting out of the inning. So it’s 7-7 after 7 innings and Harvey’s teammates got him off the hook. Jonathan Papelbon entered the game in the top of the 8th with the game still tied 7-7. Papelbon got the forst 2 outs of the inning and then it was the pitchers spot due up. Kirk Nieuwenhuis pinch hit for Addison Reed and hit Papelbon’s 2nd pitch of the at bat into the right center field seats to give the Mets an 8-7 lead. Tyler Clippard pitched a 1,2,3 8th and while Jeurys Familia did give up a single and a walk in the bottom of the 9th he was able to close the game out for the Mets and give them a win in the 2nd game of the series.

So it’s Game 3 tonight and it is as close to a must win for Washington as there is in baseball. While a win would help them knock a game off of the Mets 6 game lead in the division just from a mental stand point a win is important. Don’t forget that these two teams end the regular season with a 3 game series in New York October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Washinton will send Steven Strasburg to the mound to try and avoid the sweep tonight. While Strasburg’s season numbers aren’t great 8-6 with a 4.35 E.R.A. in 18 starts; 4 of his last 5 starts have been very good. While he did struggle in his last outing against the Miami Marlins he’ll need to find that form from those 4 starts before that to get the Nationals a win tonight. The Mets will counter Strasburg with last seasons Rookie of the Year Jacob deGroom on the mound for them. deGroom has been good all season long for the Mets. He’s 12-7 with a 2.40 E.R.A. in 26 starts; so the Nationals have their work cut out for them. Now even if the Mets sweep this series they’re still not home free in the N.L. East, but it would make quite the statement with under 25 games left to go in the season.

The Cubs went into St. Louis in 3rd place and they’ll leave there in 3rd place. Chicago is 6 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the National League Central and while they might be able to pass the Pittsburgh Pirates for that 1st wild card spot it will be very difficult for them to catch St. Louis at the top of the division. What is interesting is how the first 2 games of this series has played out.

Lance Lynn made the start for St. Louis in Game 1. St. Louis has had the best pitching staff in baseball this season, but Lynn lasted just 2 1/3rd innings giving up 6 runs on 7 hits and the Cubs never looked back as they cruised to a 9-0 victory. Overall the Cubs got 12 hits on the night against the Cardinals pitching staff with 4 extra base hits. Dexter Fowler doubled and homered, Addison Russell also homered while Anthony Rizzo doubled. What may be the biggest take away from Game 1 for the Cubs is the fact that Dan Haren pitched 7 scoreless innings. Haren did give up 7 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5 to even his record up at 9-9. Haren hasn’t been sharp for the Cubs since they picked him up from the Miami marlins at the trade deadline; so could this outing turn the corner for Haren?

While the score of Game 2 an 8-5 victory for the Cubs looks like a closer game it really wasn’t. The Cubs had an 8-0 lead before the Cardinals finally got to Jason Hammel and Justin Grimm for 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to tighten the game up at 8-5. A Cubs bullpen combination of Clayton Richard, Fernando Rodney, Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon who picked up his 27th save they ended the Cardinals scoring over the last 2 2/3rd innings to get the Cubs their 2nd win in a row this series. It was another rough outing for a Cardinals top starter as Michael Wacha gave up 6 runs on 6 hits over 4 innings while walking 3 and giving 2 home runs; to Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro.

As the Cubs go for the sweep this afternoon they turn to Jon Lester on the mound to get the job done. While the Cubs have had a very positive season Lester has to be the biggest disappointment in it. Over his 27 starts this season he is 9-10 with an E.R.A. of 3.59. Not the kind of numbers he was expected to out up when he was signed for 6 years and $155 million this past off season. St. Louis will send out Carlos Martinez to try and avoid the sweep. Martinez is 13-7 in 25 starts with a 3.04 E.R.A. It not a must win or anything close to that for the Cardinals, but what a confidence builder this series has to have been for the Cubs. The winner of the wild card game will face St. Louis in the NLDS and if the Cubs can get by the Pirates in that wild card game they’d be hosted by the Cardinals and how nice is it for a young team to go into a place like St. Louis and not just win a series, but sweep it.

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: August 5, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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On Sunday’s Mr. Fantasy and I do 2 hour of fantasy baseball talk on the Sports Time Radio podcast. Now from time to time we’ll talk about what we’re going to do with the money league baseball team we co-manage. Are teams has struggled with injuries and poor pitching for most of the season, but lately it’s been performing better and we have a shot at making the playoffs. Sunday was our trading deadline and we tried to make a deal, but couldn’t get anyone to trade with us. Now there were some minor deals in the league; Arodys Vizcaino for Wellington Castillo, Nathan Karns for David Ortiz and Aaron Hicks for Mike Leake. Nothing to out of the ordinary, but I doubt I would’ve dealt Leake for Hicks, but it was a father and son trading with each other; so that’s how it goes. Now pretty much all season long we’ve had one team that has been head and shoulders about the rest and sure enough they made a deal at the trade deadline. The best team in our league sent Lorenzo Cain and Lance McCullers to what I believe was the worst team in our league for Erasmo Ramirez and Mike Trout. Yes, you read that right; the best team in our fantasy league got the best player in baseball and all they had to give up was a solid outfielder and an average pitcher. It’s a garbage trade and everyone in the league knows it’s a garbage trade, but they have always let these things go unlike our other leagues which have fail safes for ridiculous trades like this one. In the other leagues a trade has to be approved by the other owners and in a worse case scenario the commissioner can step in and veto and bad deal. I can understand letting trades go as is and if one guy can fleece another in a deal that’s the one guys problem for being dumb enough to make that kind of a deal, but this is more than a total fleecing. As an owner that’s just hoping that his team can find a way into the playoffs it’s tough to see the best team in the league add Mike Trout without having to sacrifice anything to get him. It’s hugely frustrating for me and it’s a good thing that I don;t have to make a decision if I’ll return to this league next season because I would probably say no right now. I’m sure when the time comes next season I’ll  be over this embarrassment of a deal and be ready to draft. Sadly there’s nothing I can do but come on here and complain about it, but hopefully this will help me feel better about the trade. If there;s any justice or karma the team that made the deal for Trout will some how get knocked out of the playoffs very early, but since they’ve dominated the league pretty much all season I doubt that will happen.

The New York Mets have taken over 1st place in the National League East from the Washington Nationals. Right now the Mets have a 1 game lead over the Nationals, but Washington has played 2 less games. Now this looks like it’s going to be a pennant race were just the winner makes the playoffs; so it will make it even more interesting to see what the Mets do with their group of young pitchers. There was a little talk about the Mets monitoring the innings of their young pitchers and not allowing them to throw over 180 innings. Jacob deGroom won N.L. Rookie of the Year last season and is the Mets leader in innings at 133 1/3rd. Matt Harvey is right behind him with 133 innings on the nose and since  Noah Syndergaard was called up after the start of the season he’s logged just 94 2/3rd innings. So if 180 innings is the number then deGroom and Harvey would have between 7 and 9 starts left this season. Could or would the Mets actually pull the plug on their young pitchers down the stretch of a pennant race. Remember the Nationals did this with Steven Strasburg is his rookie season and even though they’ve had a good team Washington has yet to win a World Series. It looks like the Mets have 3 very talented young pitchers that may possibly turn into 4 if Zack Wheeler returns from Tommy John surgery next season and is fully healthy, but there’s no guarantees in baseball and if the Mets decide to shut these pitchers down they may not contend next season. It’s a tough decision to make, but with the way they handle pitchers it wouldn’t surprise me at all f they cut deGroom and Harvey’s season short even if the team is in the pennant race. If this does happen I’d be more than interested to see how Mets fans would react to this decision.

Since I seem to be rolling along with baseball today let’s keep going with it.

It caught me off guard yesterday when it was announced that the Detroit Tigers and Dave Dombrowski had parted ways. Dombrowski’s contract was due to expire at the end of this season, but both parties reached an agreement to end their relationship early. Dombrowski had been the Tigers General Manger for 13 seasons. Dombrowski’s longtime front-office assistant Al Avila will take over as general manager in Detroit. He is the father of Tigers catcher Alex Avila. It doesn’t look like Dombrowski will be out of work long unless it’s his choice to take some time off. Dombrowski’s name has already been linked to teams like the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers. Would Dombrowski try to rebuild a team like Milwaukee or try to get the Red Sox back on track or take a team like Seattle that people thought would win this season. Maybe he’d like to try and add another World Series title to his resume; so teams like Toronto, Baltimore or the Angels might be more appealing. It would be interesting to see if Dombrowski could get David Price to sign with the Blue Jays as a free agent this off season after he was the guy who traded Price there. That is if he takes a job with the Blue Jays. Where do you have Dombrowski landing his next job at?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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We’ve been picking a fantasy players of the week this season for baseball. 1 hitter and 1 pitcher win the award every week.  I keep forgetting to post them; so I’m going to catch you up and cover who we’ve picked through 5 weeks of the season. Week 1 Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers and  Aroldis Chapman Cincinnati Reds. Week 2 Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles and Hector Santiego Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Week 3 Mark Teixeira New York Yankees and Gerrit Cole Pittsburgh Pirates. Week 4 Jose Altuve Houston Astros and David Price Detroit Tigers. Week 5 Bryce Harper Washington Nationals and Shelby Miller Atlanta Braves. You’re all caught up and now you can go back and look at the stats and see if you agree with us. We’ll pick our Fantasy players of the week on the Sunday podcast 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

What is going on with the scheduling for the NHL conference finals. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks don’t have a date for Game 1 of their series in Anaheim even though both teams wrapped up their series last week. There is a Game 7 tonight between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals, but that’s an Eastern conference game and shouldn’t have any affect on when the Blackhawks/Ducks series should start. The Tampa bay Lighting eliminated the Montreal Canadiens last night (Tuesday) 4-1 to win the series 4 games to 2. Tampa Bay gets the winner of the Rangers/Capitals game in the Eastern conference finals. I’m not saying that the Ducks/Blackhawks series should’ve started, but they could’ve played 1 game by now. I guess the NHL is waiting for all of the series to finish to announce the schedule for the conference finals. Tyler Johnson of Tampa Bay has scored the most goals in the playoffs with 8. Corey Perry of Anaheim has the most points with 15. While Lighting goalie Ben Bishop has won the most playoffs games with 8. Anaheim has had the best power play so far in the playoffs scoring 31% of the time they have a man advantage. At 3.89 goals a game Anaheim is averaging the most goals in a game as well. The Rangers have the best goals against average at 1.73. Of course the Rangers goals against will go up or down depending on how their game goes tonight.

Kyle Busch is having a good week. First it was announced that Busch would be returning for this Saturday’s All-Star race.  Busch received medical clearance from his doctors and NASCAR on Monday, but he has yet to make a start this season after suffering a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot in the Feb. 21 season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The shorter All-Star race and its segment-and-break format should help Busch in his return. There was more good news for Busch because on Wednesday, NASCAR granted a waiver to the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver who will return to racing in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Despite missing the season’s first 11 races, NASCAR has waived the Chase requirement for Busch. Should he win one of the remaining 15 regular-season points races and make the top 30 in points or earn a spot based on his position in the points standings, he would be one of the 16 drivers in this year’s Chase field. Similar situations have come up before — three other drivers have been granted waivers since NASCAR re-tooled the Chase format before the start of the 2014 season. Tony Stewart, out for three races last summer after his involvement in an on-track fatality in a non-NASCAR sanctioned event, was given the all clear to pursue a Chase spot upon his return. Unlike Hamlin, Stewart was unable to qualify for the 10-race program. Before the start of the 2015 season, NASCAR announced driver Brian Vickers would be eligible for a Chase spot after missing this season’s first two races due to health issues. Kurt Busch was suspended for the first three races of the season as a result of domestic violence allegations made by former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. A Kent County (Delaware) family judge granted Driscoll a protective order, however the State Attorney General declined to file charges against the driver. Busch was reinstated and granted a Chase waiver. Last month, he won at Richmond and is currently in the provisional playoff field with the victory and a 14th-place points position. Last year, Denny Hamlin missed one race (at Auto Club Speedway), won one race (at Talladega Superspeedway) and was awarded one of the 16 Chase starting positions, and this year, Kyle Larson missed a race in March at Martinsville Speedway, but both drivers took part in Coors Light Pole Qualifying to remain Chase-eligible. I thought it was only fair on NASCAR’s part to give Busch the waiver and a shot at making the Chase. Now it’s up to Busch and his JGR racing team to win a race and get into the Chase.

I saw an odd quote from Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer and I’m disappointed that I was unable to find it for this blog. Hoyer mentioned something to the affect that the Cubs and the New York Mets have some matching pieces, but they hadn’t come to any kind of deal yet. I did see a report that the Mets inquired about Addison Russell, but I’d be surprised if the Cubs would deal him. It does appear that the Mets may be looking for a shortstop. Does that mean Starling Castro is headed to New York. I actually thought he’d be the guy to take Derek Jeter’s spot for the other New York team, but I was wrong. Castro has a very friendly contract, but if the Cubs move him what do they get in return. The Mets do have some quality pitching prospects in their minor league system, but aren’t the Cubs suppose to be on the verge of winning according to the Theo Epstein plan. If Castro is traded Russell would have no issues moving over to shortstop, but then who takes Russell place at 2nd base. Did  Arismendy Alcantara show you enough in the games he played with the Cubs to handle the everyday job at 2nd base. Alcantara was on the opening day roster and has since been demoted to Triple A Iowa. There’s also Javier Baez. Just imagine the strikeout total Baez could put up playing everyday. Looking at a deal like this I’m not sure what Hoyer meant by match up.

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Vs. Series (Starting Pitchers)

Posted: March 20, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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We move to the mound to take a look at each teams five man rotation for the coming season. Every team except the Cubs have a starter who’s going to miss some time and in one case the entire season. Let’s start in New York with pitching.

The New York Mets have some of the best young pitching in baseball, but they’ll have to find a way to replace Zack Wheeler who has a torn UCL ligament and is going to have Tommy John surgery and miss the 2015 season. After missing all of the 2014 because he had Tommy John surgery Matt Harvey is back and has looked good in his spring training outings. Harvey is set to be the ace of this staff for a long time as long as he’s healthy. Bartolo Colon looks like he’ll fit in as the #2 starter for the Mets. As a 41-year-old Colon went 15-13 last season, but more importantly he’ll give you innings. Colon has pitched over 200 innings 8 times in his career. Jacob deGrom won the National League Rookie of the Year award last season going 9-6 with and ERA of 2.69 in 22 starts last season. Being slotted as the #3 starter will help deGrom not have to carry the load for the Mets. Jon Niese will fill one of the last two spots in the rotation. Niese was 9-11 in 30 starts last season with an ERA of 3.40 in 30 starts. Dillon Gee will be the other pitcher in the rotation to start the season. Gee made 22 starts last season going 7-8 with a 4.00 ERA You’d have to figure that either Gee or Niese will be headed to the bullpen once the Mets are ready to turnover a spot in the rotation to top prospect Noah Syndergaard. Syndergaard is 31-19 in 84 career minor league starts with an ERA of 3.25. With Wheeler out for the season and the Mets looking like they might contend for a playoff spot in 2015 you have to wonder how long they’ll leave Syndergaard in the minors.

It was the New York Yankees who won the Masahiro Tanaka derby last season and you wonder if they’re second guessing themselves for that right now. Tanaka put up great numbers for the Yankees last season. He was 13-5 with an ERA of 2.77 with 3 complete games and 1 shutout, but that was all in just 20 starts. Tanaka had arm issues last season, but passed on surgery to rehab it instead. He’s reportedly healthy and ready to go, but the Yankees will need to monitor him as the problem could come back. The Yankees even talked about going to a 6 man rotation to help Tanaka. He is undoubtably there #1 starter and the Yankees need him to stay healthy. C.C. Sabathia is another Yankees starter trying to bounce back from injury. Sabathia made just 8 starts last season covering 46 innings. The Yankees will need a return close to form from Sabathia if they’re going to compete in the American League East. It seems like I’m saying this about every Yankees starter, but Michael Pineda is also coming back from a season where ha made just 13 starts covering 76 1/3rd innings. To be fair Pineda did miss some starts due to a suspension, but the Yankees could use a healthy 30 plus start season from him. Now the 4th and 5th spots in the Yankees rotation might be a little up in the air. It was thought that Chris Capuano would fill one of those spots, but he’s likely to start the season on the disabled list with a strained right quad. Ivan Nova will also start the season on the disabled list. Nova is still recovering from the Tommy John surgery he had last season. It looks like former Miami Marlin Nathan Eovaldi will find a spot in the Yankees rotation. Eovaldi made 33 starts last season going 6-14 with an ERA of 4.37. Eovaldi will have to figure out how to miss some bats as he gave up 223 hits in 199 2/3rd innings last season. Will Adam Warren be the guy to take the 5th starters spot until Capuano comes back from injury. Warren made 69 relief appearances last season picking up 3 saves and posting an ERA of 2.97.

This turned out to be a pretty easy choice for me. I’ll go with the Mets starting rotation over the Yankees. Even if the Yankees had all 5 of their starters healthy; I’d still take the Mets.

The Cubs went out and paid Jon Lester $155 million dollars over 6 years to be the ace of their pitching staff. Lester has made 31 or more starts ever season since 2008. He has a career ERA of 3.58, but he should post a better number now that he’s pitching in the N.L. The Cubs where the only team willing to offer Lester a 6th year; so will see if their gamble pays off. Jake Arrieta had the best season of his 5 years career going 10-5 with an ERA of 2.53 in 25 starts with 1 complete game and 1 shutout. I’m sure the Cubs would like to see Arrieta get into that 30 start area, but keep his ERA around where it was last season. What a split season Jason Hammel had in 2014. Hammel was good with the Cubs 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA but he was bad after being traded to the Oakland A’s 2-6 with a 4.26 ERA Hammel is back in the Cubs rotation and they’re hoping he’ll just pitch like he did when he was with them last season. You would think Kyle Hendricks has a spot in this rotation, but all the reports out of Chicago is that the front office doesn’t like him. Hendricks went 7-2 in 13 starts with an ERA of 2.46. Those look like good numbers to me, but since Hendricks doesn’t hit 90 mph on the radar gun he’s not a front office favorite. With the demotion of top pitching prospect C.J. Edwards to Triple A Iowa yesterday (Thursday) it looks like the last spot in the rotation will go to Travis Wood. Wood made 31 starts last season going 8-13 with an ERA of 5.03. The ERA will have to come down if Wood is to keep his spot in the rotation as the Cubs have a couple of other options.

Chris Sale is the best left-handed pitcher in the AL and the 2nd best left hander in baseball behind Clayton Kershaw. Sale has a foot injury and will miss opening day, but should be back right after that. Sale was a Cy Young contender last season going 12-4 in 26 starts with an ERA of 2.17. Look for Sale to be in the Cy Young conversation again. The White Sox sent four players; Rangel Ravelo, Chris Bassitt, Josh Phegley and Marcus Semien to the Oakland A’s for Jeff Samardzja. Samardzija made 33 starts between the A’s and the Chicago Cubs posting an E.R.A. of 2.99 while going 7-13.  Samardzija lost a lot of close games with the Cubs last season; so if the White Sox can score fo him he might be able to turn his won-loss record around.  Jose Quintana is a very underrated starting pitcher. While his record was 9-11 his ERA was 3.32 in 32 starts last season. If the White Sox can get those numbers out of Quintana again with a better won-loss record they’ll be happy. John Danks should be #4 in this rotation. Danks was 11-11 with an ERA of 4.74 in 32 starts. Danks never turned into the starting pitcher a lot of experts thought he would, but he’s a solid guy to have in the 4th spot. It looks like Hector Noesi will start the season as the White Sox 5th starter. Noesi made 27 starts last season going 8-11 with an ERA of 4.39. Noesi will stay in the rotation until the White Sox decide if last season 1st round draft pick Carlos Rodon is ready for the majors. Rodon only has 9 games of minor league experience with 6 of those games being starts. He did make 3 starts at Triple A Charlotte last season and while he didn’t get a decision he did post an ERA of 3.00. He may be a factor in the White Sox rotation before the season is over.

These two rotations are close, but I’m going to go with the Cubs here. The 1 – 3 spots in the rotations are very, very close, but the 4th and 5th spots easily go the Cubs way and that was the deciding factor in me taking the Cubs here.

The Vs. series is off tomorrow for the regular How was your week blog to appear here. The Vs. Series comes back on Sunday with only one more comparison to do and that’s the bullpen.

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Vs. Series (2nd Base)

Posted: March 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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Three out of the four teams have questions about who will be their opening day 2nd baseman. The Mets appear to be the only team set at the position barring injury. Let’s take a look starting in Chicago with this position.

In a perfect Chicago Cubs world Javier Baez would’ve cut down on his strikeouts over the winter and would walk into spring training and claim the 2nd base job. Sadly it doesn’t work that way and the Cubs will have to make a big decision with Baez. Send down to Triple A Iowa to work on his swing or give him the starting job at 2nd base and hope he plays like the top prospect he was a couple of seasons ago. Baez played 52 games for the Cubs last seasons and struck out 95 times. If he would’ve played all 162 games his strikeout total would’ve been 296; yeah almost 300 strikeouts. In 2009 Mark Reynolds set the single season record for strikeouts by a batter with 223. If Baez hasn’t found a way to cut down on his strikeouts he’ll shatter that record in 2015.  The Cubs did go out this winter and make a deal with the Atlanta Braves for Tommy La Stella. La Stella played in 93 games for Atlanta and hit .251. La Stella doesn’t have a lot of power hitting just one home run last season, but he struck out just 40 times and did walk 36 times. If Baez needs more time in Triple A Iowa look for La Stella to handle 2nd base for the Cubs.

The White Sox starter at 2nd base sin;t any clearer. It’s looking like it’s going to come down to Carlos Sanchez, Gordon Beckham, Micah Johnson and Emilio Bonifacio. I’m thinking that Bonifacio is out as a starter as the talk is he’ll play the “super” utility position teams talk about and be used all over the field. Beckham was the White Sox 1st round draft pick, 8th overall in the 2008 amateur draft. Beckham never hit for the White Sox and was dealt last season to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Yency Almonte in August last season. Beckham was signed as a free agent this off-season and he’ll compete for the 2nd base job, but you have to wonder if anything has changed and he’ll hit. Sanchez played 28 games at the end of last season for the White Sox hitting .250. Sanchez like Beckham is a very good defender as he committed just 1 (one) error in his time at the big league level last season. Sanchez is 22 years old and did hit .293 for Triple A Charlotte in 2014. The White Sox will have to decide if he’s ready for the majors this spring. Micah Johnson is a bit of a wild card at this spring at 2nd base. Johnson has just 65 games of Triple A experience where he hit .275 but he does add a speed factor; stealing 12 bases at Charlotte in those 65 games. I think the White Sox would like to see Sanchez or Johnson break out and win the job in spring training. That would allow Beckham to be the back up infielder on the team and Bonifacio could fill in were ever the team needs him.

I think the Cubs are in a better spot at 2nd base right now going into the season. La Stella is a solid player and if Baez can actually become the player scouts have said he’d be the Cubs are set at the position for years to come. As for the White Sox; well if you have four guys competing foe a job you don’t have one. Gotta go Cubs here.

The New York Yankees situation at 2nd base isn’t a whole lot different from what the White Sox have. The Yankees did decide to bring Stephen Drew back after his horrible 2014 season. Let’s face it Drew and his agent over played their hand in free agency during the 2013 off-season and it cost him all of 2014. Drew combined to play 85 games for the Yankees and Boston Red Sox where he hit.162with 7 home runs. Not that Drew was ever going to hit for a high average, but .162 is terrible. He’ll have to adjust better on the defensive end as well. In 2014 Drew played 34 games at 2nd base for the Yankees and committed four errors.  Will the Yankees stick with Drew or will they look at a player like Jose Pirela. Pirela got 24 at bats with the Yankees last season hitting .333 with 1 double and 2 triples. Could Pirela do enough in spring training to unseat Drew at 2nd. The Yankees do have prospect Rob Refsnyder in big league camp, but he hasn’t played at the major league level and has just 77 games at Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Refsnyder did hit .300 at Scranton/Wilkes Barre with 8 home runs in limited action there. It would be a big jump for Refsnyder to make the Yankees out of spring training, but you’d have to figure he’s only a year away. The Yankees do have veteran Brendan Ryan, but he hit .167 last season and has a career batting average of .234. This looks like it’s Drew’s job to lose; so the Yankees need him to bounce back and be the player he used to be. Now the question is; can he?

Believe it or not the New York Mets are the only team that are set at 2nd base going into the 2015 season with All-Star Daniel Murphy there. Murphy hit .289 with 9 homers and 57 RBI’s last season. While Murphy’s not a power hitter; his career high in home runs is 13 in 2013 I’m sure the Mets would like to see the RBI’s total go up. Murphy did add 13 stolen bases last season. Murphy committed 15 errors in 126 games at 2nd base last season. Those 15 errors where more than any other 2nd baseman made in 2014, but did turn the second most double plays as a 2nd baseman turning 88 of them.

With Drew coming off a terrible season in 2014 and it looks more and more like he’ll be the opening day 2nd baseman for them is there really any other options than to take Murphy as New York’s 2nd baseman.

The Vs. Series takes a day off tomorrow (Wednesday) as my weekly Let’s Call it Wednesday blog will go up as usual. The Vs. Series will return Thursday looking at the New York and Chicago shortstop positions.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to our podcast Sports Time Radio over at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: December 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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12/27/14

The NFL is headed into the final week of their regular season and while most of the playoff spots have been locked up there are still a few things to be decided. While both the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions are in the playoffs one of them will win the NFC North and the other will be a wild card. They match up this week at Lambeau Field to see who ends up where. No team in the NFC South is over or at .500, but someone will win the division and the Carolina Panthers will go to Atlanta to play the Falcons and see who wins that division and who goes to the playoffs. Seeding may change if the NFC depending on the outcome of the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals games. Five of the six playoffs spots in the AFC are set; so that leaves one playoff spot left for four teams to try to squeeze into. The Kansas City Chiefs host the San Diego Chargers and if San Diego wins they’re in. A;ex Smith is out for the Chiefs with an injured spleen; so Chase Daniels will be the starting quarterback. The Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans both need to win their games and then get some help to claim that last playoff spot. The Sunday night game is the Cincinnati Bengals against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner takes the AFC North and the loser goes into the playoffs as a wild card team. Every team will tell you that they’re in the playoffs and anything can happen, but home field advantage can be a factor in the NFL. By winning their division either Atlanta or Carolina will get to host a playoff game even though they’ll finish under.500 on the season. New England has clinched the #1 seed in the AFC and won’t have to go on the road. With a win on Sunday Seattle will be the #1 seed in the NFC. Would you want your favorite team to have to play the Seahawks in Seattle?

The National Hockey League has been on a three day Christmas break, but they return to the ice today with 13 games on the schedule. Three of the four division leaders will be in action today. The Metropolitan leading Pittsburgh Penguins host the Washington Capitals. The Central division leading Chicago Blackhawks are on the road taking on the Colorado Avalanche. The Anaheim Ducks are leading the Pacific division and they are also on the road against the Arizona Coyotes. The Atlantic leading Montréal Canadiens are the only division leader not playing today. There is no national coverage of any of the 13 games today; so you’ll either have to just watch your home team or buy the NHL Center Ice package. As for me I’ll stick to my local coverage and watch the Blackhawks vs. the Avalanche tonight.

So the NBA season is just about 30 games old and there are people out there trying to crown a team as the best. Every team has 50 plus games to play and would one team be able to pull far enough away at this point in the season to be pointed out as the best. I’m guessing they got spoiled with the Miami heat for the past four seasons and don’t know how to handle looking at more than just a single team. How do you decide who’s the best right now? Is it by record, than let’s give it to the 23-5 Golden State Warriors even though they’ve lost their last two games. Is the hottest team the best team? The Phoenix Suns and the Chicago Bulls have the longest current winning streaks at five games a piece. How about a team that seem to have surprising records like the Portland Trailblazers at 24-7 and leading the Northwest division right now. Would you even consider putting the very surprising Atlanta Hawks in this conversation since their record is 21-8 and they are leading the Southeast division. Where do teams like the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs fit into these rankings. It’s just to early to tell; teams will go on streaks both good and bad, but I get it the mainstream media needs ways to get you to listen to them. Maybe we can revisit this about the midway point of the season and see which teams might have separated themselves from the field.

Not a lot of baseball moves over Christmas time, but the Minnesota Twins did sign Phil Hughes to a contract extension through 2019. It was announced yesterday that Hiroki Kuroda is returning to the place where he made his name: the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. Will this out the New York Yankees front and center in the Max Scherzer or James Shields bidding. On the other side of New York the Mets name still comes up any time someone mentions Troy Tulowitzki. As it stands right now the Mets shortstop would be either Wilmer Flores or Ruben Tejada. It looks like they could use an upgrade at shortstop, but is Tulowitzki worth giving up a young pitcher and a prospect or two. The main names that come up on what would be the Mets side of a deal are Zack Wheeler or their top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. While Tulowitzki is a star he also comes with a long injury history and a big contract. Tulowitzki is scheduled to make $20 million dollars a season for the next five seasons. In 2020 his salary goes down to $14 million dollars for that year and there’s an option for 2021 at $15 million dollars. How much of this contract are the Colorado Rockies going to be willing to pay. Tulowitzki is 30 years old coming into this season and played in 91 games last season because of injuries. Is Tulowitzki the right move for the Mets or could they get by with an Asdrubal Cabrera, Everth Cabrera or maybe even a Stephen Drew at shortstop while their young pitchers are developing. Just because I like him as a player I want to throw in that catcher A.J. Pierzynski got a one year deal from the Atlanta Braves.

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

So how was your week?

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