Posts Tagged ‘Trade Deadline’

How Was Your Week?

Posted: July 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is tomorrow July 31st. After that teams will still be able to make trades, but for a player to be traded he’ll have to go through the waiver process. From my understanding waivers woks more or less like this. A team places a player or players on waivers and every team has a chance to claim them. The teams with the worst records get the first chance all the way to the team with the best record. If a player clears waivers meaning no one claimed him he’s free to be traded to any team in baseball. If a player is claimed by another team his current team has a couple of choices. They can actually just turn him and his contract over to the team that claimed him and he’s theirs.  They can also try to work out a trade with the team that claimed him, but only that team is allowed to make a trade for him. Or they can just pull that claimed player off waivers and keep him. 

Some years teams have put their entire roster through waivers; so don’t be surprised if some bigger names with bigger contracts not only be put on waivers, but make it through the process. We’re not past the trade deadline yet, but I’m not so sure we’re going to get the flurry of activity that a lot of experts where predicting. There was a big 7 player deal yesterday along with a good old fashion one for one trade as well. Let’s take a look at who went where.

The San Diego Padres found a new home for Andrew Cashner. Cashner along with pitcher Colin Rea and minor league pitcher  Tayron Guerrero  where traded to the Miami Marlins for pitcher Jarred Cosart, who at 26 will be joining his 4th teams. Along with Cozaart the Padres received relief pitcher Carter Capps. Capps had Tommy John surgery after injuring his arm in spring training and won’t pitch this season. San Diego also gets minor league Luis Castillo and the Marlins 2015 1st round pick the 12th selection overall in the draft 1st baseman Josh Naylor.  As I’m sure you can guess since the Marlins move a top prospect all the experts went nuts over this deal for San Diego, but lets see what they received.

Miami needed a solid back of the rotation starter and Cashner certainly fits that bill. Cashner was 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA in 16 starts for the Padres. With Wei-Yin Chin just going on the disabled list Cashner will slot into the 3rd spot of the Miami rotation behind Jose Fernandez and Adam Conley. Cashner won’t eat a ton of innings for you and you’ll probably only get 5 or 6 innings per start out of him, but with the better defense behind him in Miami he can keep them in games. Will Rea be a starter for the Marlins or is he headed to the bullpen?  With the Chin injury Tom Koehler and Jose Urena are pitching in the 4th and 5th rotation spot for Miami Could Rea take one of those spots until Chin returns? Or will he go straight to the bullpen as a long man? 26 years old Rea, appeared in 19 games for the Padres this season making 18 starts. He was 5-5 with an ERA of 4.98 this season. Guerrero is a 6’8 25 year old right handed pitcher who has appeared in just 1 game pitching 2 innings in the major leagues. Guerrero has split time between Double and Triple-A this season. He appeared in a combined 32 minor league games, all in relief. He was 0-3 with an ERA of 5.30 in the minors this season. So it looks like the Marlins got a major league starting pitcher along with possibly a second starting pitcher plus a bullpen arm.

San Diego was looking to get young and rebuild a team that tried to go for it last season. Cosart was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies before being sent to the Houston Astros as part of the Hunter Pence trade. The Astros traded him to the Marlins at the 2014 trade deadline and now the Marlins have sent him to San Diego. Cosart has spent most of this season at Triple-A doe Miami. He has made 4 starts this season going 0-1 with an ERA of 5.95. Cosart is just 26 years old and it will be interesting to see if San Diego gives him the time to try and develop the skills that made him a Top 100 prospect early in his career. The injured Capps is an interesting piece t this deal and not only because he was dealt while being hurt. Capps started to break out last season and  there was quite a bit of controversial about his unorthodox delivery. There are even questions of the legality of Capps’ delivery and that came into question on multiple occasions in 2015. Capps appeared in 30 games in 2015 going 1-0, but posting an ERA Of 1.16. Over 31 innings he struck out 58 and walked just 7 posting a WHIP of 0.806. Capps could be a future closer for the Padres as long as MLB doesn’t make a ruling that would change his delivery. Castillo is a 23 year old minor league pitcher who was in High Class-A for Miami. He appeared in 20 games making 18 starts and has a record of 7-3 with an ERA of 2.25. Castillo has hit 100 mph on the radar gun this season.  If he doesn’t work out as a starter maybe he goes to the bullpen as a power arm. 

The Top prospect Naylor being included in this deal is what caught all the experts attention. As you know you’re NEVER supposed to trade your prospects. Naylor was the 12th overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Marlins. At just 19 years old he has made it to Class-A in the South Atlantic League. In 89 games Naylor is hitting .269 with 9 home runs and 54 RBI’s He also has 24 doubles and has stolen 10 bases even though that wasn’t suppose to be part of his game. Naylor’s stats at mid-season Baseball America included Naylor in their Top 100 prospect list. At just 19 years old we may be waiting a few years to see how this trade actually plays out.

The other trade saw the Minnesota Twins send infielder Eduardo Nunez to the San Francisco Giants for minor league left-hander Adalberto Mejia. Nunez is a shortstop by trade, but can also play 3rd, 2nd and even some outfield. He seems exactly like the type of player the Giants would add. Nunez appeared in 90 games for the Twins this season; 51 at 2nd base, 33 at 3rd base and 6 as a DH. Nunez hit .296 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI’s along with 27 stolen bases for Minnesota. He’s on his way to setting career highs in all three of those categories and don’t forget he made his 1st All-Star team this season. With 3rd baseman Matt Duffy still out with an injury and 2nd baseman Joe Panik just returning from the disabled list it gives Giants manager Bruce Bochy some flexibility on the roster. Mejia is 23 years old and has split time between Double and Triple-A this season. Combined he is 7-3 with an ERA of 2.81. He had better success at Double-A (1.94 ERA) then he has at Triple-A )4.20 ERA) so far. He made 18 starts covering 105 2/3rd innings this season. Mejia is projected as a back of the rotation starter and if he reaches that this could end up being one of those trades where people say it helped both teams.

Will we see a big move before the trade deadline is still the question. Will players like Jay Bruce, Jonathan LuCroy or possible an Andrew Miller find new teams soon? Some of these names we’ve heard all season long and they’re still with the team they started the season with. So let me know; who makes the move?  

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How was your week

Posted: February 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, MMA, sports, Uncategorized
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Did you have it being the Portland Trail Blazers? Well it was the Trail Blazers who handed the Golden State Warriors their 5th loss of the season 137-105 behind 51 points from Damien Lillard. The Trail Blazers jumped out to a 42-31 lead after the 1st quarter and never looked back. The 137 points were the most by a Golden State opponent this season, and the 32-point margin of defeat was the Warriors most lopsided loss this season. While Lillard’s and the Trail Blazers offensive numbers will be what everyone see’s it was there defense that stepped up and helped them get this win. Golden State had 20 turnovers in the game with 13 of them coming in the 3rd quarter alone. Lillard made 9 of the 12 3-point shots he took and was 18 for 28 from the field overall to get to that 51 point total. C.J. McCollum added 21 points for the Trail Blazers. McCollum went 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line and was 9 of 18 from the field in the game. Mason Plumlee and Gerald Henderson (off the bench) each added 12 points while Maurice Harkless had 11 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds at 8 with Ed Davis. It was McCollum and Lillard who ended up tied for the team lead in assists with 7 apiece. The Trail Blazers actually made a better percentage of their shots from behind the 3-point line than they did from the field. Portland made 17 of the 30 (56.7%) 3-pointers they shot while they where 52 of 97 (53.6%) from the field overall. Stephen Curry led Golden State in scoring with 31 points, but more importantly may be the fact that he played just over 26 minutes in the game. Klay Thompson added 23 points while Draymond Green had 14 points and was the team leader in rebounds with 12 and assists with 8, but also had 9 turnovers in the game. Mareese Spreights was the only other Golden State player to score in double figures with 10 points.

Lillard became the first player to have 50 points, 7 assists and 6 steals since the steal became a statistic in 1973-74. Curry had his 101st road game in which he made a 3-pointer. He’s the only player ever to reach the triple digit of that streak. He also has made a 3-pointer in 124 consecutive games;  putting him just 3 games behind the NBA record. On a side note Trail Blazers guard Brian Roberts who was traded twice at the deadline this week made his debut. Roberts scored 7 points in just under 5 minutes of action.

The Trail Blazers get a day off before hosting the Utah Jazz on Sunday while the Warriors have to turn right around and face the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night in Los Angeles. Could Golden State actually drop a 2nd game in a row t the Clippers tonight?

While there wasn’t that star player type traded at the deadline there where a few teams that made moves that could help them down the stretch and into the playoffs. I liked the addition of Randy Foye to the Oklahoma City Thunder bench. While Foye is averaging a career low 6 points this season he is playing just under 20 minutes a game. I a better offense he should get that scoring average closer to his career number of 11 points a game. The other move that might not only help the team this season it might add to the off season drama was when the Clippers added Jeff Green. The interesting part t this is that Green plays pretty much the same position as Blake Griffin. In Memphis Green was expected t be more of an offensive force where with the Clippers he’ll be able to easily slid into the line up with Chris Paul running the show. Green averages 14.1 points per game in his career, but you’d think in an uptempo Clippers offense that number will go up. The team I thought was the big winner at the trade deadline was the Detroit Pistons. Now they did lose their first game out of the gate after the trade deadline last night 98-86 to the Washington Wizards. The Pistons added Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic along with Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline and while Harris was Detroit’s leading scorer last night with 21 points neither Thornton or Motiejunas played. With the trade and the travel Montiejunas and Thornton should make their debuts for the Pistons Sunday when the play host to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pistons are currently 27-28 and in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, but are just a 1 1/2 behind the Chicago Bulls for the 8th and final playoff spot. If it doesn’t take the Pistons to long to gel with the new additions they should be able to get themselves into the Eastern Conference playoff picture and might even be a threat to the top teams. If you have to say there where any losers at the trade deadline it would be any of the contending teams that didn’t make moves to get better. With the exception of the Thunder and the Clippers no other contending team made a move that might help them in the smallest way to catch the teams at the top right now like Golden State or the San Antonio Spurs. With about 30 games in the regular season we’ll see how this plays out for these teams, but right now do you see any other team besides Golden State holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy in the end?

The Bellator MMA promotion went back in time to get there main event for the Bellator 149 card. The main event was Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock and the tag line for the fight was that it would end their feud. With the ending of this fight I don’t really think anything was solved and you have to wonder if they’ll try this fight one more time. Gracie was awarded a first round TKO victory, but it appeared as though it was a knee to the groin that sent Shamrock to the canvas. As the two fighters where in a clinch the 49 year old Gracie threw a knee at the 52 year old Shamrock that appeared to catch him in or around the groin area. Shamrock went to the mat and Gracie knelt over him throwing punches until referee Jacab Mantalvo stopped the fight at 2.22 of the 1st round. A stat hat some people might find strange; this was the first knockout of Gracie’s career. The semi-main event was a match up of You Tube sensations as Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson) faced off against Dada 500 (Dhafir Harris). The end came on the 3rd round as an exhausted Harris  collapsed to the canvas following a punch from Slice; that didn’t appear to connect. Harris who is 38 years old and hasn’t fought professionally since 2011; landed his fair share of punches in the bout, but he was visibly winded early in the first round. The 42 year old Slice didn’t look much better. The two leaned on one another, exhausted, throughout the fight and the referee was forced to separate them numerous times due to inactivity. Harris was never knocked down from any of the shots, but the amount of shots he took eventually took an effect and he collapsed awkwardly in a heap. Harris was taken out of the cage by stretcher, but Bellator officials said he was able to sit and receive oxygen shortly after going backstage. The end of this fight received quite a bit of booing from the crowd.

I haven’t been invested in watching MMA in quite a while; so I really don’t know what to think about this card. Do you want to see a Shamrock/Gracie rematch?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 29, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, NASCAR
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We’re coming up on the trade deadline and there’s been quite a bit of activity with some of the bigger names changing teams. The Kansas City Royals made 2 big moves that should position them as the favorite in the American League. First the Royals went out and picked up Johnny Cueto and cash from the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati received 3 young pitchers in return Brandon Finnegan. Cody Reed and John Lamb. Kansas City then went out and picked up utility man  Ben Zobrist and cash from the Oakland A’s for 2 minor league pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea.

The New York Mets had made a move earlier to get a couple of hitters, but then they went out and tried to shore up their bullpen acquiring Tyler Clippard from the A’s in return for minor league pitcher Casey Meisner.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim seem to be stocking up on outfielders as they picked up 3. First they got Shane Victorino and cash from the Boston Red Sox for infielder Josh Rutledge. Then they picked up David DeJesus from the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league pitcher Eduar Lopez. Then they also added David Murphy from the Cleveland Indians for minor league shortstop Eric Stamets. I was wondering why the Angels where picking up all of these outfielders, but then I saw that Matt Joyce was placed on the 7-day disabled list with a concussion and there have been reports that Mike Trout has a hand or a wrist issue.

The Washington Nationals acquired closer Jonathan Papelbon from the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league pitcher Nick Pivetta. Papelbon will take over closers duties for the Nationals and Drew Storen will be put into a set up role.

The Toronto Blue Jays may have made the biggest splash in the trade market as they picked up shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins from the Colorado Rockies for shortstop Jose Reyes and 3 pitchers Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco.

As you can see some of the bigger names that were mentioned have now switched teams, but there is still one left; Cole Hamels! I saw a report that the Phillies have asked for every teams best offer today; so they can look at them and decide if they will deal Hamels. It appears as though the Phillies came way down on their demands for Papelbon as they took a Double-A reliever in return. The Phillies have had a very large asking price for Hamels; so we’ll see if it comes down as the trade deadline gets closer. While I wasn’t surprised to see Tulowitzki finally get traded I was surprised that Toronto was the team that acquired him. I was very disappointed in Tulowitzki’s reaction as he was leaving Colorado. He had mentioned that while he didn’t have a no trade clause in his contract he had a handshake agreement with the Rockies owner that they would run any trade by him before making it. Now the Rockies didn’t have a chance to discuss this deal with Tulowitzki as he was on the field playing against the Chicago Cubs. Tulowitzki was removed from the game after the trade was completed and he made his statement about being disappointed after he was dealt. Sorry, but Tulowitzki needs to get over it. Where they suppose to wait until after the game to make the deal; so they could speak to him about it. Colorado made Tulowitzki a very wealthy man and dealt with all of his injury issues for a very, very long time. It’s not like they went back on their word they where just in a situation were they couldn’t attempt to do what they had told him they would do. On top of it all he’s going form the team that was in last place in the N.L. West to a team that is currently 3 games out of a wild card spot in the American League. Now if Hamels isn’t the next big chip to move who is? Could Cincinnati continue to move pieces and deal  Aroldis Chapman. Some other Reds names have come up like Mike Leake, Jay Bruce and even Todd Frazier as possibly being traded. Another interesting team could be the San Diego Padres. Will they breakdown and deal some of the parts they acquired this off season as it seems it hasn’t worked out for them. The Milwaukee Brewers could be another team with players to deal. Would some be interested in adding Francisco Rodriquez to their bullpen or how about an outfielder like Gerardo Parra. Carlos Gomez name has even come up in some trade talks, but would the Brewers move him. The Detroit Tigers seem to be on the fence on if they’re buyers or sellers this trade deadline, but they’re going to have to decide very quickly as we only have a couple of days left to make deals. These last few days before the trade deadline should be interesting to watch. I’m sure I missed some players who might be moved, but hopefully I got close to covering some of them.

This past Sunday NASCAR held their race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and believe it or not Kyle Busch found a way to win his 3rd race in a row and his 4th race out of the last 5. It’s been a pretty magical run for Busch, but oddly he’s still not qualified for The Chase just yet. It might be more of a shock if Busch didn’t get into The Chase with the way he’s been driving, but right now he’s 32nd in the driver standings. Busch has to be in the Top 30 to qualify for The Chase; he is currently 23 points out of 30th place. This week the race is the Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway. Can Busch make it 4 in a row or will someone else find their way into victory lane. We’ll preview this race with Chris Olmstead from BeyondTheFlag.com on the Sunday morning edition of Sports Time Radio. I’ve had a couple of people ask me this; so here it is. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. 

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 22, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball
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The non-waiver Major League Baseball trade deadline is coming up July 31st. In what may be a bit of a surprise the Detroit Tigers may be sellers this season. The Tigers find themselves in 3rd place in the A.L. Central; 10 1/2 games behind the 1st place Kansas City Royals. The Tigers are just 4 games out of the 2nd A.L. wild card spot, but there are 3 teams ahead of them and that’s quite a few teams to get past even with 69 games left. If the Tigers are going to be sellers at the trade deadline you can look for them to attempt to move outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and starting pitcher David Price; both of whom will be free agents at the end of the season. Alfredo Simon and Joakim Soria are set to be free agents at the end of the season as well and while I’m sure the Tigers would be more than willing to deal either one Cespedes and Price are the more interesting players. Now it’s also being reported that Cincinnati Reds, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty has been giving the go ahead to strip the Reds down which might mean dealing Johnny Cueto. If Price and Cueto are added to the trade market you have to wonder if the Philadelphia Phillies overplayed their hand with Cole Hamels. I believe that most teams would take Price over Hamels and Cueto isn’t far behind Hamels either. Philadelphia has made some outrageous demands when it came to possibly dealing Hamels, but if he’s still on their roster when the 2015 season ends the first thing Andy MacPhail needs to do when he takes over as President is fire General Manager Rueben Amaro Jr. There is still some talk out there that the Houston Astros and the Los Angels Dodgers are still interested in Hamels, but will Amaro Jr. bring his asking price down enough for either team to make that deal. I’m sure there are those people out there who might think it’s not such a big deal if the Phillies end up hanging onto Hamels into the off season. The problem them becomes there are a lot of high quality starting pitchers that will be in the free agent market this coming off season. The names Price and Cueto have already come up, but you can add Jordan Zimmermann and Zack Greinke who can opt out of his deal with the Dodgers and with the season he’s having probably will. So then a team has to decide if they want to send a whole bunch of their top prospects to Philadelphia for Hamels or try to sign Price, Cueto, Zimmerman or Greinke. Even if you miss out on those top tier free agent pitchers there’s also Jeff Samardzija.  Scott Kazmir.  Hisashi Iwakuma, Wei-Yin Chen and possibly Clay Buchholz if his option isn’t picked up by the Boston Red Sox. With this flood of pitching possibly going into the open market this pretty much kills any off season trade value Hamels will have because let’s face it no team is going to give up 2 or 3 of their top prospects for Hamels when all these names are out there in free agency. One of the huge reasons the Phillies are were they are right now is because Amaro Jr. gave out some really bad contracts and then sat by and watched the team get old. If Hamels isn’t dealt by July 31st there’s a better than average chance that he opens the 2016 season in the Phillies starting rotation.

I haven;t heard much talk about it, but the race for Rookie of the Year (RoY) in both leagues is interesting. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the Dodgers Joc Pederson who does lead all rookies with 20 home runs, but he’s hitting just .227. Then after the Chicago Cubs brought Kris Bryant up a lot of experts thought this race was over. While Bryant has done well; a .260 average with 12 home runs and 52 RBI’s which leads all rookies. Are those numbers good enough to win RoY? The San Francisco Giants have a couple of rookies that haven’t gotten a lot of press that are in the running for RoY. Matt Duffy took over everyday at 3rd base for the Giants and is hitting .298 with 8 home runs and 41 RBI’s and Chris Heston is 10-5 in 19 starts with an E.R.A. of 3.18. Don’t forget that Heston also threw a no-hitter earlier this season. Now the set up guys don’t draw much attention, but Michael Blazek of the Milwaukee Brewers is having a very good season even though his team isn’t. Blazek has appeared in 37 games covering 46 innings. He is 5-2 with an E.R.A. of 1.76 on a team that is 42-52. Yasmany Tomas of the Arizona Diamondbacks is leading all rookie qualifiers with a .303 batting average. The American League has some interesting rookies as well and the best may be Billy Burns of the Oakland A’s. Burns leads all A.L. rookies with a .304 batting average and 19 stolen bases. Now the name you always hear is Carlos Correa the Houston Astros rookie shortstop and he’s right there is the running. Correa is hitting .291 with 8 home runs, but just 25 RBI’s; so far. Devon Travis of the Toronto Blue Jays of having a very solid rookie campaign hitting .299 with 7 home runs and 33 RBI’s, but his teammate Roberto Osuna maybe the bigger surprise. With the Blue Jays bullpen in flux Osuna has 4 saves in 5 tries with an E.R.A. of 2.14; he’s appeared in 40 games covering 42 innings and has a 1-3 record. As good as Osuna has been out of the Bullpen for the Blue Jays;  Carson Smith has been better for the Seattle Mariners. Smith has converted 8 saves in 9 chances with an E.R.A. of 1.86 in 38 2/3rd innings over 40 games. I hope when it comes time to vote for RoY that the people who get to vote for this award dig into the stats and look at the p[layers and not just the names the mainstream media throws out at them.

It looks like Richard Jefferson is going to try and chase an NBA title next season as the free agent forward has agreed to terms on a one-year deal for next season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jefferson will receive the veteran’s minimum salary of roughly $1.5 million. With the Dallas Mavericks last season the 35-year-old averaged 5.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 17 minutes per game and shot a team-leading 43 percent from 3-point range. He had been expected to return to the Mavericks, but he may have become expendable when the club signed shooting guard Wesley Matthews. It looks like Jefferson will fill the roster spot created by the retirement of Shawn Marion. it’s being reported that the Cavaliers remain interested in re-signing free agent J.R. Smith, who declined his $6.4 player’s option when free agency opened. Smith is expected to meet with the team later this week. Cleveland also continues to have talks with restricted free agent forward Tristan Thompson and guard Matthew Dellavedova. Thompson had a strong postseason with the club and could land a deal worth over $15 million per season. Dellavedova’s popularity soared when he performed well while filling in for Irving, and the Cavaliers love the Australian’s energy and attitude. Have the Cavaliers done enough to win and NBA title next season?

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8/2/14 How was your Week?

Posted: August 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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If you’re an Indiana Pacers fan the worst possible thing happened last night in the scrimmage for Team USA basketball. George’s leg landed and then buckled at the base of the basket stanchion after he fouled James Harden on a drive to the basket just 27 seconds into the fourth quarter. George suffered a open tibia-fibula fracture and had surgery on it last night. George is expected to remain hospitalized for about three days. One of the reports that came out said that while there didn’t appear to be additional damage besides the fractures, doctors believe George likely will miss all of next season, though no official prognosis has been given. The White team led George’s Blue team 81-71 in the scrimmage at the time of the injury, but the rest of the game was cancelled after George got hurt.

The Indiana Pacers had the best record in the Eastern conference last season before losing in the conference finals to the Miami Heat. George is the Pacers best player averaging 21.7 points per game, 3.5 assists per game and 6.8 rebounds per game. In 19 post season games last season George’s scoring average increased to 23.6 points per game. With the majority if not all of the top NBA free agents signed by now the Pacers don’t really have to many options to try to replace George outside of the organization. Remember the Pacers lost Lance Stevenson as a free agent in the off-season. I guess will see if the Pacers male a move and try to add a player like Shawn Marion or Al-Farouq Aminu to fill some of the void left by George’s injury.

The MLB non-waiver trading deadline was July 31st and a lot of teams made moves before the deadline. The day start with the Boston Red Sox making their 1st of s couple trades they would make by sending Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and cash to the Athletics for Yoenis Cespedes and a Competitive balance pick. The day ended with the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays making a three team deal. The Tigers landed the big prize in this deal getting David Price. The Mariners got the right-handed bat a lot of experts say they needed in Austin Jackson and Tampa Bay came away with three players Nick Franklin, Drew Smyly and top shortstop prospect Willy Adames. The Red Sox also sent John Lackey, minor league pitcher Corey Littrell and Cash considerations to the St. Louis Cardinals for Allen Craig and Joe Kelly. By far the busiest team at the trade deadline Boston made two other trades sending Andrew Miller to Baltimore for minor league left hander Eduardo Rodriguez and then trading Stephen Drew and cash to New York Yankees for Kelly Johnson. It was a year where major league players were traded for major league players, but as always there was a share of prospects moved in deals. The Yankees added another infielder getting Martin Prado from the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league catcher Peter O’Brien and a player to be named later. The Diamondbacks also Gerardo Parra to Milwaukee Brewers for two minor leaguers Anthony Banda and Mitch Haniger. The A’s sent Tommy Milone to the Minnesota Twins to get back outfielder Sam Fuld. The mariners did land a 2nd right-handed hitter getting Chris Denorfia from the San Diego Padres for Abraham Almonte and minor league pitcher Stephen Kohlscheen. The Houston Astros had said earlier in the week that they would be willing to trade a starting pitcher and they did sending Jarred Cosart, Enrique Hernandez and Austin Wates to Miami Marlins for Jake Marisnick, Colin Moran and Francis Martes. If you where listening to the show yesterday (Friday) you heard us talking about the Cubs trade to get another prospect. The Cubs traded Emilio Bonifacio, James Russell and cash to Atlanta Braves for Victor Caratini.

I think I got through all of the trades from deadline day and now will see if these deals work out for the stretch run. Of course there will be questions out there. Did the Rays get enough in the David Price deal? If Jon Lester is just a rental for the A’s; do they have to win the World Series to validate this trade? As this plays out the last couple months of the season will get these answers.

Did your favorite team make a move? Did they make themselves better or did they ship off players from their major league roster for prospects?

So how was your week?

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Let’s call it Wednesday 7/30/14

Posted: July 30, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Is there another sports league that gets more negative publicity than the National Football League (NFL)? It seems like almost daily there’s another NFL player arrested for something or failing a drug test. There’s the ongoing storyline with Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his now wife. ESPN’s Steven A. Smith was suspended over the comments he made about the situation. There’s the suspension of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon not only failed a drug test, but then got arrested for DUI. Just a month ago Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman John Abraham was arrested for DUI. Just in the month of July besides Gordon; Jimmy Smith of the Baltimore Ravens, Keelan Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jo-Lonn Dunbar of the St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon have all been arrested for different offenses. There was also Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay’s arrest for DUI and I didn’t even mention that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is still in jail awaiting trial for murder. I also left out former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. I thought Kluwe was trying to do something good when all of this first started with him, but more and more it’s starting to seem like he’s just out for himself.

Even through all of this the NFL remains the most popular sport in the United States. If you’re reading this I’m guessing you have at least one (1) if not more NFL fantasy drafts coming up. I myself actually have 3 (three) fantasy drafts coming up. I have a money league team that I share with Mr. Fantasy. Then there are the 2 (two) Yahoo fantasy football leagues we have. There’s the Sports Time Radio league which is an auction style draft and then there’s the league we’ve had for years titled Next Year is Here; which is a more traditional snake style draft. If you’re interested in joining either of our leagues they are free and run through Yahoo sports; email me at Sportstimeradio@hotmail.com

The Major League Baseball (MLB) trading deadline is tomorrow or at least the first trading deadline is tomorrow. Is your favorite team a buyer or a seller this season? David Price looked like he was going to be the big pitching prize on the market this season, but then his team the Tampa Bay Rays began to play better. Now the talk has turned to Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester. Lester is a free agent after this season and the Red Sox look to be out of it in the American League (A.L.) East. Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has said he’d need to be blown away by an offer to move Lester as the Red Sox hope to resign him in the off-season. It looks like the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners are the primary suitors for Lester heading into Wednesday. The Miami Marlins aren’t entirely out of the Lester sweepstakes. However, the Marlins won’t part with top prospect Andrew Heaney in a Lester deal or a deal for any rental player. Last night, Lester was scratched from his scheduled start tonight. A clear indicator that the Red Sox are looking to deal there ace. Lester may not be the only Red Sox starting pitcher headed out of Boston at the trade deadline. John Lackey’s name has come up in trade rumors with the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers showing the most interest right now. Lackey’s five-year, $82.5MM contract with the Red Sox contained a clause that gave Boston a 2015 club option at the league minimum in the event that he missed significant time with an elbow injury. A torn ulnar collateral ligament that required Tommy John surgery triggered that clause, making Lackey a highly appealing trade chip even to teams with the most modest of payrolls. It seems as if the Dodgers are in on even big name pitcher or just pitcher whose name comes up on the trade market. They’ve been linked to Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres closer Joaquin Benoit. Benoit got the Padres closer job when Huston Street was trade to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It seems like teams are looking for pitching, pitching and more pitching. Will have to wait and see if any of these big names pitchers changes teams and how much a team will have to give up to get one. If your favorite team could land a Lester, Price or Hamels in a deal it could lock up a playoff spot for that team and maybe get them into the World Series.

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