Posts Tagged ‘New York Yankees’

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

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/11/15

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

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

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

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

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

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How was Your Week

Posted: December 6, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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12/06/14

While the NBA season is only about 20 games old for most teams there are some questions out their this early in the season. If you’re a fan of the New York Knicks are you asking yourself if the triangle offense is the right fit for your favorite team. The Knicks are off to a 4-17 start to the season after a last second loss last night to the Charlotte Bobcats 103-102. Carmelo Anthony is averaging 23.2 points per game, but Amar’e Stoudemire is the only other Knicks player averaging in double figures per game at 12.8. Stroudemire also leads the team in rebounds per game with 7.8. At 3.9 assists per game Jose Calderon is leading the Knicks in that category. While those might be solid individual stats for players it’s the team stats that show where the Knicks are suffering. The Knicks average 93.5 points per game and this is good for 26th place out of 30 teams. They are 13th in opponents scoring giving up 98.9 points per game for a difference of -5.4 points a game. As a team the Knicks are shooting .448 % from the field which puts them in 19th out of 30 NBA teams. Knicks opponents are shooting just a little better per game at .450 % from the field which ranks at 13th out of 30 teams. New York is one of the better 3 point shooting teams in the NBA. The Knicks make .371 % of the 3’s they take which is tied for 7th in the league. In return though opponents shoot a better percentage from behind the 3-point line. Knicks opponents make .379 % of the 3’s they take which is 25 out of the 30 NBA teams. New York is middle of the pack with turnovers per game at 14 this ranks tied for 14th in the NBA. There opponents are committing 13.9 turnovers per game which ranks 15th out of 30 teams. Before the season started the experts said it would take the Knicks some time to adjust to playing the triangle offense. How long is too long? To use the old if the playoffs started right now line; yeah the Knicks wouldn’t be close. The Knicks are 5 1/2 game behind what would be the 8th seeded Brooklyn Nets. I heard someone say just yesterday that resigning Anthony in the off-season was a mistake, but without him who’s scoring for this team. The triangle offense can and has worked with one top scorer in it. It’s the pieces around that player that have to really fit the system. Anthony doesn’t quite fit the triangle like Michael Jordan did for the Chicago Bulls or Kobe Bryant did for the Los Angeles Lakers, but there’s no doubt he can score. You have to wonder how Knicks fans will react if this team misses the playoffs for the second straight season in a row in the Eastern conference.

It was brought to my attention that I forgot to add Greg and Mr. Fantasy’s sleeper picks for Week 13. So here are there picks; so we’ll be all caught up. Greg went with Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. Cotchery was targeted 5 times; he caught 2 of those targets for 20 yards and 3.50 points for the week. Cotchery was 95th among scoring for wide receivers in Week 13. Mr. Fantasy picked Indianapolis Colts running back Dan “Boom Boom” Herron. Herron carried the football 8 times for 88 yards and a touchdown. He was also targeted twice in the passing game catching both passes for eight yards. Herron did lose a fumble, but totaled 18.35 points in Week 13 was 12th highest scoring running back for the week. Now we’re all caught up and we’ll see who Greg and Mr. Fantasy like in Week 14.

Did your fantasy football playoffs start this Thursday when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears 41-28? The better question might be; did you make the fantasy football playoffs? For your leagues Week 14 is the last week of the regular season and I find myself on the outside looking in, but I am in position to sneak into the playoffs. In our Next Year is Here league I am in 9th place and 8 teams make the playoffs; so I need a win and then a loss by the team ahead of me. In the Sports Time Radio league which is our auction draft league I sit in 10th place, but record wise just 1 game out of 8th place. I did have a couple of players go in the Thursday night game, but my guys didn’t put up great numbers. Our Next Year is Here league is the one you always hear us joke about that we start two tight ends a week. I have Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboy as one of my starting tight ends. Witten caught 2 passes for 26 yards and put up 4.10 points in our scoring system. Witten was projected to score 11.71 points in Week 14; so that team is in the whole to start. I the Sports Time Radio league I had two players going in Thursday’s game; both wide receivers. Brandon Marshall of the Chicago Bears and Terrence Williams of the Cowboys. Marshall looked like he was on his way to putting up good numbers for me, but a rib and lung injury ended his game and what appears to be his season. Marshall had 4 targets catching 3 of them for 61 yards. Marshall was projected to score 14.90 points in Week 14, but ended up scoring 8.35 points. Williams on the other hand had 0 targets which of course means 0 catches and 0 yards for a total of 0 points. While Williams wasn’t expected to put up huge numbers; he was projected to score 8.20 points in Week 14, but it’s tough to come back from a starter getting a big old 0 in points for your team. Here’s hoping your Week 14 started off better than mine did. That is unless you’re playing against my team.

The New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers have officially announced a three-team trade sending shortstop Didi Gregorius from the Diamondbacks to the Yankees, right-hander Shane Greene from the Yankees to the Tigers, and left-hander Robbie Ray and infield prospect Domingo Leyba to the Diamondbacks. Is Gregorius the long-term answer for the Yankees at shortstop or is he going to just be a gap filler until a bigger name comes along. In two seasons with Arizona Gregorius played in 183 games. He is a career .241 hitter with 25 doubles, 8 triples and 13 home runs. They Yankees also announced the signing of Andrew Miller to a four-year contract. Miller, a client of Frontline Athlete Management, will reportedly receive a $36 million dollars guarantee, but the contract does not include a no-trade clause. The 29-year-old Miller (30 next May) broke out in a huge way in 2014, pitching to a 2.02 ERA with an eye-popping 14.9 K/9 (an AL record) in 62 1/2 innings for the Red Sox and Orioles. He went on to throw another 7 1/3 shutout innings with an 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in the postseason as well. Miller will pair with Dellin Betances; an electric breakout story himself at the back of the Yankee bullpen, giving manager Joe Girardi a pair of dominant late-inning options. Does signing Miller mean that David Robertson is no longer in the Yankees plan. Will the Yankees still add a starting pitcher; which a lot of experts think they need. There’s still a lot of off-season left for teams to sign or trade for players; so we’ll see who ends up where before the 2015 season starts.

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

So how was your week?

9/27/14 How was your Week?

Posted: September 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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I realized after I posted the blog on Wednesday that I never did go through and see how Mr. Fantasy did picking his high scores at each position. Mr. Fantasy has struggled this year picking high scorers; so let’s look and see what Week 3 was like. He went with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts was the highest scoring quarterback. Rodgers ended Week 3 in 28th place for quarterbacks. At the running back spot Mr. Fantasy went with DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys. Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks was the highest scoring Week 4 running back. Murray ended up tied for 3rd place. Ay wide receiver Mr. Fantasy chose another Green Bay Packers player; Jordy Nelson. Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons was the highest scoring wide receiver in Week 3. Nelson ended the week as the 50th highest scoring wide receiver. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy’s choice was Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans. Walker was the 18th highest scoring tight end in Week 3. Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett was the leading scorer at tight end in Week 3. I even make Mr. Fantasy select a kicker and he went with Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nugent was the 19th highest scoring kicker in Week 3 while Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts led the kickers in scoring. Mr. Fantasy’s sleeper pick was New Orleans Saints running back Khiry Robinson. Robinson scored 11.40 points in Week 3, carrying the football 18 times for 69 yards, but no touchdowns. Tune in tomorrow (Sunday) from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. to see who Mr. Fantasy’s picks for high scorers for Week 4.

We may have actually watched two of the highest scoring players from Week 4 already play. In the New York Giants 45-14 victory over the Washington Redskins; Giants Quarterback Eli Manning and Tight end Larry Donnell put up some big numbers. Manning was 28 for 39 throwing the football. Manning threw for 300 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. 3 of Manning’s touchdown passes find Donnell who ended the game with 7 catches for 54 yards. Even through Donnell’s yardage numbers are low those 3 touchdowns will put him at the top of tight ends for Week 4. Even Manning’s other touchdown pass went to a tight end as Daniel Fells caught that one. Victor Cruz put up solid numbers with 6 catches for 108 yards. Ruben Randle led the Giants with 8 catches, but for less yardage (89 yards) than Cruz had. Rookie Andre Williams was the Giants leading rusher with 66 yards on 15 carries and 1 touchdown. Rashad Jennings had 55 yards on 13 carries and even Peyton Hillis had 8 carries for 31 yards. Dan the Man was the only one of us to pick the Giants to win this game as Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I all had the Redskins winning. Kirk Cousins struggled for Washington. Cousins was 19 of 33 throwing the football for 257 yards with 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions. Alfred Morris had good rushing numbers for Washington. Morris carried the football 12 times for 63 yards and a touchdown. If the game had been closer Morris would’ve had even better stats. Running Back Roy Helu was the Redskins leading receiver with 5 catches for 78 yards. Niles Paul was on his way to having a good game until he was injured. Paul had 3 catches for 60 yards. Paul was starting for injured Jordan Reed/ 3rd string tight end Logan Paulsen came in for Paul and added 3 catches for 28 yards. Depending on the size of your league the Washington passing touchdown may not have helped you. Cousins threw an 18 yard touchdown pass to Andre Roberts. I’d be surprised to see if Roberts was owned in a high percentage of leagues. So the last two Thursday night games have been blow outs. Week 5’s match up is an NFC North match up as the Minnesota Vikings are at Lambeau Field to play the Green Bay Packers.

On the late night Friday show, I pointed out how some people just seem to have things go their way. Derek Jeter is one of these people. Thursday night was Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium and the weather forecast all day was predicting rain. Not only was there no rain, but the game had an ending Hollywood would’ve wanted. The Yankees had a 5-2 lead going into the top of the 9th inning. Yankees closer David Robertson is in to finish the game. Nick Markakis walks to start the top of the 9th inning. Alejandro De Aza strikes out for the 1st out. Adam Jones hits a 2 run home run to cut the Yankees lead to 5-4. Nelson Cruz strikes out for the 2nd out and the Yankees are 1 our away from a victory. Steven Pearce is the batter for the Orioles and he hits a solo home run to tie the game 5-5. J.J. Hardy flew out to en the top half of the 9th. Evan Meek came in to pitch the 9th inning for Baltimore. Jose Pirela led off the 9th with a single and Antoan Richardson came out to pinch run for Pirela. Brett Gardner laid down a sacrifice bunt moving Richardson to 2nd base and now who’s up for the Yankees; you got it Derek Jeter. With 1st base open and 1 one you wonder how the crowd would’ve reacted had the Orioles decided to intentional walk Jeter, but they didn’t. Jeter proceed to hit the first pitch he saw to right field for a walk off single in his last game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m sure if it would’ve been a movie, Jeter would’ve hit a solo home run to win the game, but this has to be just as good and it was real. Now can we please put an end to the pitchers grooving pitches to Jeter. The Orioles where playing for home field advantage throughout the playoffs and I doubt they would’ve wanted to give a game away with that on the line. I have to go on record and say I am not a Yankees fan, but Jeter transcends that and it was a fitting ending to a great career in his home ballpark. Jeter’s career comes to a close in Boston’s Fenway Park. Jeter has said he won’t play shortstop Saturday or Sunday, but should be in the Yankees line up as a Designated Hitter (DH) for the Yankees. Here’s my question for you. In 5 years Derek Jeter will go into the baseball Hall of Fame on his 1st ballot. While I doubt he’ll go in with 100% of the votes because no one does. Will Jeter go in with the highest percentage of votes ever? Tom Seaver is the player who received the highest percentage of votes going into the Hall of fame at 98.84% he is followed by Nolan Ryan at 98.79%. Will Jeter get a higher percentage than that?

So how was your week?

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

7/23/14 Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 23, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Every time I heard someone talk about the New York Yankees making a trade they ta;l about how they need to add pitching. Well the Yankees made a trade yesterday and it was for a third baseman. The Yankees dealt infielder Yangervis Solarte and minor league pitcher Rafael De Paula to San Diego in exchange for Chase Headley. Headley has been struggling this season in San Diego. In 77 games Headley was hitting.229 with 7 home runs and 32 RBI’s. Headley’s big season was 2012 where he finished 5th in the MVP voting. He’s battled injuries since then and hasn’t regained his form. Maybe a move to New York helps Headley find that 2012 form again. Solarte had been getting regular playing time for the Yankees, but was sent to the minors a few weeks ago. Solarte appeared in 75 games for the Yankees hitting .254 with 6 home runs and 32 R.B.I.’s. De Paula was pitching in Class A ball for the Yankees. He was 6-5 in 17 starts and had an ERA of 4.15. Will the Yankees go out and try to get more pitching like people say they need. The Yankees have talked to the White Sox about left-handed starting pitcher John Danks, but it never got farther than talks.

It looked like the biggest pitcher that would be on the trade market would be Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price. You have to wonder if he’s even available right now. Tampa Bay is 5-3 in their last 10 games and are currently on a 6 game winning streak. Tampa bay is 48-53 and 8 games out of 1st place in the American League East. With 60 games left Tampa Bay can easily make up those 8 games, but I don’t think they could do that without Price. Will this winning streak be enough to get Tampa Bay to hold onto Price or is there a team out there that can bowl the Rays over with an offer they can’t pass up. It’s going to take quite an offer to get Price and you have to wonder if someone even has the prospects Tampa Bay would want in a deal for Price. Will find out in 8 days if Price is going anywhere.

I saw an interesting segment on which teams should’ve trading players and who they should be trying to trade. The thing I found interesting about this was the two experts they had in this segment had the Philadelphia Phillies moving quite a few players. They had the Phillies dealing or trying to deal 1st baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, outfielder Marlon Byrd, staring pitcher Cliff Lee and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Some of these players may be dealt by the Phillies, but all of them I don’t think that will happen. The Phillies are 13 games out of 1st place and in last place in the National League East, but if these players were traded it may be the biggest in season make over of a major league team. As nice as it is to talk about these players being traded you must have a team that’s interested in them for that to happen. While pitching always draws interest and I could see Papelbon and Lee being traded. Do you want any of the other Phillies listed? Byrd is the one player I’ve actually heard talked about. It’s been said the Seattle Mariners might have an interest in Byrd. Seattle is looking for right-handed hitting power and Byrd has 19 home runs and 21 doubles so far this season. I haven’t heard any of the other names Howard, Utley or Rollins being mentioned in any trade talks. I guess it is fun to speculate and think about what a guy could do for a contending team if he was traded there.

Are you ready for some football? All the NFL teams training camps will be up and running by this weekend. Are you ready for your fantasy season? How do you think your favorite team will do this season? Can the Seattle Seahawks repeat? Slowly but surly these questions should start to get answered as we see more and more of these teams. We have two twenty team fantasy leagues that Mr. Fantasy, Dan the Man and I play in. One is an auction league; so you have to figure out what you’re willing to pay for who. Our other league is a regular snake style draft set up. You need to start two running backs every week in this league and with twenty teams it can be tough to find a good mix of backs. They come off the board pretty fast and I think I know who the first five or six picks will go. Not in exact order, but the players that will be picked. After that it’s tough to figure out who’s going where. Hopefully I’m picking in the Top 5 in this years draft.

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

2/15/14 How was your Week?

Posted: February 15, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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I’m not a New York Yankees fan; I’m not a Derek Jeter fan, but I have respect for him. Jeter announced his retirement earlier in the week by posting it on his Facebook page. After a 2013 season where Jeter played in just 17 games do to injuries and also the fact that he’ll turn 40 years old during the coming season Jeter’s career is coming to an end. Right now Jeter is 10th all time in career hits with 3316. If Jeter can get 121 hits in the 2014 season he’ll move into 6th all hit on the hits list. The question that has come up through out the week is where does Jeter as a shortstop all time. I’ve heard experts who have him as high as 3rd all time and other who have him just outside of the top 10 all time. Those are all debatable issues and it’s up to you where you where you’d rank Jeter. You can say without a doubt that he’s a 1st ballot Hall of Fame selection and one of the greatest player in the modern era of baseball. We haven’t even brought up his legendary love life, but those are stories of a different blog. While the 2014 baseball season hasn’t even started yet and it’s way, way to early to even discuss this I brought up who would replace Jeter at shortstop for the Yankees. On a special Thursday edition of Sports Time Radio this week I mentioned that the starting shortstop for the Yankees in 2015 will be Starling Castro. The Cubs have Castro under a very good contract making him attractive to other teams. They also have top prospect Javier Baez very close to being ready for the majors. Now the Yankees don’t have the top prospects that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer would want in this deal; so a third team would probably have to be involved. There’s no one in the Yankees minor league system ready to come up and take Jeter’s spot. They do have Brendon Ryan on the roster, but he’s proven though his major league career that while he’s a great fielder his hitting just isn’t what teams look for in a starting shortstop. It’s an interesting topic to discuss and I’m sure it will come up through out the season as Derek Jeter takes a well deserved 2014 victory tour.

Michael Sam is gay. The University of Missouri defensive lineman is looking to be the first openly gay man to play in the National Football League (NFL). Sam was named SEC Co – Defensive player of the year last season. He has been projected as a 3rd to a 5th round pick in the upcoming draft. Another topic that has come up on out=r show with this is if Sam’s draft stock falls how many writers will come out and say it’s because he’s a gay man. Sam may be a little under-sized to play on the defensive line in the NFL. He’s listed at 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs in at 255 pounds. He did record 11 1/2 sacks last season for Missouri and if he can rush the passer might end up being a specialist along the defensive line. As you can guess there have been both positive and negative reaction to this. What I’m hoping happens is teams judge Sam on his football ability and not on his sexual orientation. For me I don’t care if he’s gay, straight or bi; if he can help an NFL team he should be on an NFL team. The NFL has the combines coming up this month and then the draft in May. I haven’t heard if Sam plans on attending the combines, but he should to try to improve his draft stock. Then will see where Sam is picked in the draft. I just hope the writers are smart enough to make this a football thing and not a gay issue. Sadly I think we all know they’re not.

On Friday’s show Mr. Fantasy and I talked about the release of Ted Wells report on the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin bullying claims. Wells pointed out that it wasn’t just Incognito bullying Martin but two other offensive lineman John Jerry and Mike Pouncey where also involved. This is a tough situation because even with the Wells report out it still more or less one man’s word against another. If you’ve played football at any level you know this kind of behavior right or wrong goes on all the time. I don’t know how far the three Miami Dolphins took this with Martin, but it was enough to make him leave the team. While I’ve never believed that bullying was the right way to describe what happened to Martin that’s the word they chose to use. I still find it hard to believe that a man of Martin’s size could be bullied; maybe harassed is a better term to use. I’m interested to see if and where Martin and Incognito end up playing in the NFL next season, but I’m pretty sure neither will be with the Dolphins. If you’re interested in hearing more of my opinion on this you can go into the archives of http://www.blogtalkradio.com to listen to them. The show title for Friday 2/14/2014 is “I got a new shirt”. If you’re having troubles find the show there you can go to http://www.ultimatesportstalk.com scroll down the right hand side and you can find Sports Time Radio listed with the other shows on the website.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 1/25/14

Posted: January 25, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
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So it turned out to be the New York Yankees who signed Masahiro Tanaka. It took a seven year contract for $155 million to get the deal finalized. Then of course there’s the $20 million posting fee that the Yankees now have to pay to Tanaka’s Japanese league team the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. It had been reported that Tanaka had narrowed his choices to the Yankees or the Chicago Cubs. There was actually a report that another team had offered Tanaka more money than the Yankees did but they never said if that team was the Cubs. A lot of scouts have been saying that Tanaka is a #2 rotation type of pitcher but the Yankees paid an awful lot of money for a guy to be a #2 starter. Of course we won’t know anything until the regular season starts and we see how Tanaka matches up against major league hitters. After the Tanaka signing it was being reported that Matt Garza had signed a four year, $52 million dollar deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers came out and said they hadn’t signed Garza and he needed to pass a physical before they could agree on a deal. We’ll see if the Brewers end up with Garza or if it turns into a Grant Balfour type of situation. Balfour by the way agreed this week to a two year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays for $12 million dollars. Now we start to look and see where pitchers like Ervin Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez end up signing as we get closer to the start of spring training.

The NBA announced the starters for the All Star game. The Eastern conference starters are LeBron James and Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat. Paul George of the Indiana Pacers. Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks and Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Western conference starters are Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers. Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Stephen Curry of the Golden State warriors and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. This is the fan voting and these are the players voted to start by the fans. Bryant is injured and probably won’t play; so he’ll be replaced as a starter. You also have to wonder if wade will be ready to go by the All Star game as he has missed the last four Heat games with a knee injury. With every All Star game where the starters are selected by fan voting there was some complaints about the starters. For me I think the biggest omission from the starting line up is LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trailblazers. While I’m sure Aldridge will make the All Star team it would’ve been nice to see him get the fans votes to start the game. Aldridge is an M.V.P. candidate and the Trailblazers are 32 – 11; two games behind the Thunder in the Northwest division. I’m sure you have your own snubs. Who do you think should start the All Star game?

It’s the NFL’s week off before the Super Bowl and this season they’re playing the Pro Bowl on the week off. They had a draft to pick the teams and I tried to watch it and just couldn’t. It’s an idea they stole from the NHL where two captains pick the teams. In this case it was Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders picking the Pro Bowl teams. While the NHL has stream lined their draft and it runs quickly and smoothly the NFL’s was a lot of fluff and way, way too much time between draft picks. I hope the NFL noticed the issues with this set up and can get it corrected by the time they do this next season. I doubt it will make any difference at all in the Pro Bowl itself as the game isn’t taken seriously by the players. Oddly the Pro Bowl still does very good ratings. While I’ll flip over to the game from time to time, but can never watch the entire game. Do you watch the Pro Bowl?

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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