Posts Tagged ‘Troy Tulowitzki’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 29, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, NASCAR
Tags: , , , ,
0

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. 

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Advertisement

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 8, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Major League baseball All-Star teams where announced this week. You can complain about the starters all you want, but it’s a fan vote and until they change it there’s nothing you can do about it. If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that Mr. Fantasy can’t stand the fan voting.

I thought the American League reserves were close to what I thought they would be with the exception of a couple of players. I thought that Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox would be the choice for that team, but they went with Brock Holt. While Betts has better stats and is a full time starter I understand why they choose Holt. Holt has played every position except for pitcher or catcher and since the game “counts” a manager can use that kind of flexibility on his bench. The big surprise to me was the fact that Alex Rodriquez (A-Rod) wasn’t named to the team or even in the final 5 voting. Is there anyone who isn’t surprised by the kind of numbers A-Rod has out up. A-Rod has played in 78 games, he’s hitting .280 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI’s. His OPS Is .892 with an Slugging Percentage of .505 and an On Base Percentage of .387. I can’t even begin to tell you how odd it is that I’m actually writing that A-Rod may have been snubbed as an All-Star this season. Is there a chance that after all of the trouble baseball has had with A-Rod that he was more or less kept off the All-Star team. A-Rod’s teammates  Dellin Betances and  Mark Teixeira were selected as reserves and Brett Gardner is on the Final 5 ballot. You could make a case for Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox being left off the team, but he has a chance to make the team as he is in the Final 5 vote as well. Besides Gardner and Bogaerts, the other 3 players on the Final 5 ballot are Yoenis Cespedes of the Detroit Tigers, Brian Dozier of the Minnesota Twins and Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals. Who do you like out of those 5?

In the National League the Final 5 ballot looks like this. Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets, Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals and  Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies. While only 1 of the players will make the N.L. team you could make a case that 4 of them should already be on the team. I’ve heard a lot of people om television complaining that Kershaw wasn’t selected. Kershaw is 5-6 with and ERA of 3.08 and while those are good numbers they’re not as good as the other 2 starters who are on the Final 5 ballot against him. Cueto is 6-5 with a 2.61 ERA and Martinez is 9-3 with an ERA of 2.70. Why the big outrage over Kershaw when Cueto and Martinez have better numbers and no one is complaining that they weren’t named to the team. Looking at the National League team far and away the biggest snub is Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki leads all National League shortstops with a .320 batting average. He’s 4th in home runs with 9, 2nd in RBI’s with 45 and has played in 75 games this season. Jhonny Peralta of the St. Louis Cardinals won the fan vote and Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants was added to the team as a reserve and I think both players belong on the team, but you can’t tell me that Tulowitzki doesn’t. There’s your 5 final ballot National League guys. Who are you voting for?

Who’s the top free agent left on the market in the NBA? Actually it would be LeBron James. James is very busy playing general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers making sure they sign the players he wants them to sign. Case in point the Cavaliers just signed 32-year-old Williams to a 2-year, $4.3-million contract. Williams played 27 games for the Charlotte Hornets last season. Williams averaged 17.2 points per game and 6 assists per game. Williams did play a little over 30 minutes per game, but don’t expect that out of him for the Cavaliers next season. Tristan Thompson is still trying to work out a deal to return to Cleveland and it’s being reported that James won’t resign with Cleveland until they come to an agreement with Thompson. It had been reported that Cleveland reached an $80 million extension contract deal with Thompson on the first day of free agency, however, the deal fell apart and there has been no update regarding the contract discussions since. There is no other team in the NBA that is going to give Thompson this kind of money; so expect him to resign with the Cavaliers eventually. Don’t forget that Cleveland has already signed Kevin Love to a $110 million contract extension. Additionally, the Cavaliers resigned guard/forward Iman Shumpert for $40 million. When the franchise re-signs James and Thompson as widely expected, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert will be facing a massive luxury tax bill. Don’t forget that J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova are also free agents, but James hasn’t expressed any interest in resigning either player yet. While James has found it very easy to spend owner Dan Gilbert’s money this off season have the moves Cleveland has made moved them any closer to winning an NBA title.

The NBA Champion Golden State Warriors told David Lee and his agent that they would do what they could to trade him. There was even some talk that Golden State would package their 1st round draft pick with Lee in a deal, but that didn’t happen. Yesterday Golden State traded Lee to the Boston Celtics for veteran swingman Gerald Wallace. Lee lost playing time when the Warriors opted to go with smaller lineups that featured more 3-point threats. Lee averaged 7.9 points and 5.2 rebounds in 18.4 minutes last season, his lowest averages since his rookie season. In the 2013-14 season, Lee averaged 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds while playing 33.2 minutes per game, but Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to give the bulk of Lee’s playing time to Draymond Green, who averaged career highs in points (11.7), rebounds (8.2) and assists (3.7) during the Warriors’ title run. Wallace played in 32 games for the Celtics last season. He averaged 1.1 points per game and 1.8 rebounds per game. Wallace hasn’t averaged double digit in points since 2011-12 season when he split time between the New Jersey now Brooklyn Nets and the Portland Trailblazers. Wallace has 1 year left on his contract and will make 10.105.855 for the 2015-16 season. It seems like Boston got the better end of this deal, but Lee didn’t fit into Golden State’s system; so it was better for them to deal him even if they didn’t receive fair market value.

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

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: May 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

So Troy Tulowitzki met with his agent this week to decide if he would ask the Colorado Rockies for a trade. I don’t know when this meeting took place, but I saw a crawler headline on “Yahoo Sports” that Tulowitzki has decided not to ask to be traded. Now if you;re the Rockies; what do you do with Tulowitzki? He’s the biggest name on your team, sorry Carlos Gonzalez and people buy tickets to Rockies games to see him. If you decided that you’re going to try to deal him; what can you get for an injury prone shortstop who when healthy can be on of the best players in major league baseball. Tulowitzki has appeared in every Rockies game this season (32), but has played in just 264 games from 2012 – 2014. Tulowitzki is off to a solid start; he’s hitting .284 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s along with 13 doubles. Now if the Rockies make the tough decision and feel it’s in their best interest to trade Tulowitzki what could they get for him and where might he end up. Now every team in baseball could use a healthy Tulowitzki, but I’ve narrowed it down to 4 possible good landing spots.

Let’s start with the New York Mets. There was quite a bit of talk last off season that these two teams were trying to work out a deal for Tulowitzki, but they couldn’t come to terms. Now that the Mets have come back to the pack in the NL East and are currently on a 5 game losing streak I think it’s time to revisit this deal. While Wilmer Flores has shown some power early this season with 5 home runs he is still hitting .240 and  Tulowitzki would be a huge upgrade at shortstop. Part of the snag in the off season deal was the Mets didn’t want to give up pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. I’m sure the Mets would still like to hang onto Syndergaard, but they have other pitching prospects they could include in a deal for Tulowitzki. If the Mets where to package Steven Matz, Marcos Molina and Flores in a deal would that be enough for Colorado to give them Tulowitzki. Remember Tulowitzki is signed until 2020 with an option for 2021. If the option on his contract was picked up the total value left on Tulowitzki’s deal is $109 million. That would be a lot of money for a team to take on along with dealing multiple prospects. Would 2 Mets pitching prospects and someone to fill in at shortstop be good enough for Colorado.

How about Tulowitzki to the Houston Astros. The Astros are off to a better start than anyone thought and they are currently in 1st place in the AL West. The Astros are 23-13 and have a 4 1/2 game lead in the division. Now Houston did just promote their top prospect Carlos Correra to Triple A and there is a chance he’ll be brought up to the majors in June. If the Astros were to pick up Tulowitzki and Correra was to come up in June there’s no reason Tulowitzki couldn’t move over to 3rd base in place of Luis Valbuena. There could also be some at bats at Designated Hitter for Tulowitzki. The Astros did sign Jed Lowrie in the off season and he is injured right now. Lowrie has been a utility player before and shouldn’t have any problems going back into that role if the Astros acquired  Tulowitzki. I’d be surprised if the Astros would deal Correra or Mark Appel for Tulowitzki, but could pitching prospects Vincent Velasquez, Michael Feliz, Jandel Gustave and someone like Jonathan Vyllar be enough for Colrado to move Tulowitzki to Houston. If the Astros are ready to contend this season adding a player of Tulowitzki talent level might be what puts them over the top.

Even though they are only in the 4th year of their 5 year plan the Chicago Cubs find themselves in 2nd place in the NL Central with a 20-15 record and 4 games behind the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals will be tough to unseat at the top of the NL Central because they’re the Cardinals and they always seem to contend, but adding a player like Tulowitzki could make the Cubs a threat if not to win the NL Central then to grab a Wild Card spot. The Cubs would have to include Starling Castro in a deal for Tulowitzki, but Castro has a decent contract to deal. Castro is signed until 2019 with an option for 2020 and if the contract was player out he would make a little under $41 million. I seriously doubt the Rockies would swap Tulowitzki for Castro straight up, but what if the Cubs added minor league prospect Javier Baez to the deal. It’s believed that the Rockies would be looking for young pitching in any deal for Tulowitzki, but I don’t think the Cubs would part with top pitching prospect C.J. Edwards. Would Colorado accept a deal that had Castro and a couple of the Cubs other pitching prospects say Duane Underwood and Pierce Johnson.

Now there are always dark horse teams that pop up when these type of deals take place. I think a team that might be able to be that dark horse team in any Tulowitzki deal could be the team across town from the Cubs; the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have struggled out of the gate. They are 15-17 right now and 6 games out of 1st place, but a deal for Tulowitzki could change that quickly. The Mets and White Sox talked about a deal involving Alexei Ramirez during spring training and he could go to Colorado in a Tulowitzki deal. Now it’s being reported that the Rockies would like to get young pitching in any type of deal involving Tulowitzki. So would Ramirez and a couple of the White Sox young pitching prospects not named Carlos Rodon be enough to get Tulowitzki. Would top White Sox pitching prospects like Francelis Montas, Spencer Adams or Tyler Danish along with Ramirez be enough to get Colorado to send Tulowitzki to the South side of Chicago. The White Sox have always found ways to make these type of deals; so I wouldn’t count them out of a Tulowitzki trade.

I thought it would be fun for Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I to do a 5 round fantasy draft of pitchers and use their hitting stats. Of course with us this took a lot longer than of should’ve, but we got it done. Here’s how are teams turned out. Dan the Man has Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs, Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies and Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies. Mr. Fantasy drafted Jason Hammel, Chicago Cubs, Josh Collmenter, Arizona Diamondbacks, Andrew Cashner, San Diego Padres, Shelby Miller, Atlanta Braves and Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds. My 5 pitchers are Kyle Kendrick, Colorado Rockies, Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Leake, Cincinnati Reds, Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals and Matt Harvey, New York Mets. We’re going to use Batting Average, Home Runs, RBI’s and Strikeouts. I’ll try to keep you updated as the season moves along and will see who’s team of hitting pitchers does the best at the end of the season. 

The 2nd race of the Triple Crown is today; the Preakness. While none of us picked the winner for the Kentucky derby Dan the Man’s picked did finish in 2nd place. Here’s who we’re going with to win the Preakness. Dan the Man is staying with his Kentucky Derby horse and has Firing Line to win today. Schaumburg Stu Likes the favorite American Pharoah to win. If he does he’ll have won the first 2 races of the Triple Crown. Mr. Fantasy likes the horse with Mr. in his name; that would be Mr. Z and I’m going with Divining Rod to get the Preakness win.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Who’s the ____ at Shortstop

Posted: March 27, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

We wrap up the infield by taking a peak at the shortstop position. I used to know the reason why the shortstop position was #6 and 3rd base was #5, but I can’t remember. Maybe it’s because the shortstop plays deeper in the infield.

The Best; Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies. The gap may be closing a little bit at the shortstop position, but even with his injury history Tulowitzki is still the best. He played 91 games last season hitting .340 with 21 home runs and 52 RBI’s. If your the fantasy owner that takes a chance on Tulowitzki and he plays 140 games this season you’ll cash in big time. Of course there is also the chance that you spend a high draft pick on Tulowitzki and he plays 91 games again; so while he’s the best at his position you just never know what you’ll get out of him.

Underrated: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles. You don’t hear Hardy’s name come up when they talk about shortstop’s, but if he ends up being your fantasy shortstop you won’t be unhappy. His power numbers were down a little last season. He hit 9 home runs, but his doubles stayed at at 20 and if he gets back into the 20’s for home runs and hits his career batting average of .261 it would be a solid season for you. Defense doesn’t count in all fantasy leagues, but Hardy is a 3 time Gold Glove winner; so he’ll help you there as well.

Bounce Back; Asdrubal Cabrera, Tampa bay Rays. The Cleveland Indians dealt Cabrera last season; so there young guys could get more playing time. He went to the Washington Nationals as a 2nd baseman for there playoff run. Tampa Bay signed Cabrera to a 1 year $7.5 million dollar deal and he’ll be their everyday shortstop. Just the fact that he’s going to be the guy everyday should improve his stats. Look for Cabrera to hit about .275 with 15 to 20 home runs and 75 or more RBI’s. His RBI total will depend on if he hits in front of Evan Longoria in the line up or behind him.

Stay Away from; Zack Cozart, Cincinnati Reds. Cozart hit .221 with 4 home runs and 38 RBI’s last season in 147 games. Even if Cozart’s numbers were to jump up would you be happy with .240, 10 home runs and 50 RBI’s out of your shortstop. Cozart’s career high batting average is .254 in 2013. Cozart did hit 5 triples last season, but that’s about the only positive offensive stat he had. If he ends up as your everyday fantasy shortstop your team might have some issues.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: December 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

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?

How was your Week? 5/17/14

Posted: June 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20140601-232005-84005962.jpg
We’re down to the conference finals in the NHL and the NBA playoffs. Last night, the Los Angeles Kings where the last team to make the conference finals with a 6 – 2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The Kings advance to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western conference finals. It’s a match up that features the last two Stanley Cup winners. The Eastern conference finals starts this afternoon with the New York Rangers vs. the Montreal Canadians. Chicago and Montreal have home ice advantage for the conference finals series. As you know from listening to the show we live in the Chicago suburbs; so I’d like to see the Blackhawks come out of the West. How about a Chicago/New York Stanley Cup final? I’m sure the NHL would love to see a match up like that with two big market teams in the Stanley Cup finals. In the NBA conference finals I think everyone got the match ups they expected. In the Eastern conference it’s the Miami Heat vs. the Indiana Pacers. Even after all there ups and downs the Pacers got by the Washington Wizards to make the conference finals. Miami has looked like the best team by far in the Eastern conference, but don’t forget the Indiana has the #1 seed and has home court advantage in this series. A lot of experts think home court won’t matter, but you never know and Indiana has it. The Western conference final feature the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder had struggled finding its way to the finals while the Spurs have been by far the best team in the Western conference playoffs. With the way the playoffs have played out so far it looks like more and more we’re going to get a rematch from last season and will see the Heat vs. the Spurs in the NBA finals. I’d like to see the Spurs win one more title before Tim Duncan’s career ends, but Miami is going to be tough to beat for any team. While I don’t like the way that Miami has went about winning their titles you can’t argue with their results. LeBron James seems to be understanding that he needs to take over with Dwayne Wade no longer being the player he once was. Chris Bosh used to be a top NBA player, but since going to Miami he has had big outputs every once in a while he’s not the top player he once was. The Spurs have their fair share of top NBA talent in Duncan and point guard Tony Parker. I’m not sure if Manu Ginobili is still a top NBA player, but he hits big shots and knows how to fill his role in the Spurs offense. Of course there is no guarantee at all that the NBA finals will have the Spurs or the Heat in them, but they look like the best two teams playing right now.

I was happy to see Michael Sam get drafted. He was picked by the St. Louis Rams in the 7th round of the NFL draft. It was a good landing spot for Sam as he played his college football at the University of Missouri and he’ll try to make the jump to the pro’s in the same state. Some people had issues with the fact that Sam and his boyfriend kissed a few times on television after he was drafted. It caught me off guard at first, but then I realized that it’s no different from any other draft pick kissing his girlfriend after he’s selected. The one negative that I had heard was the planned reality show that the Oprah Winfrey Network was going to do. I heard a report late last night that the show has been postponed and I think that’s in Sam’s best interest. The last thing a rookie 7th round pick needs is a camera following him around while he’s trying to make a team. Sam has an uphill battle to just make the team and the last thing he need was a show bases around that.

A lot of baseball talk on yesterday’s show, It Snowed Here Today, with Mr. Fantasy. A player that came up and is off to a hot start is Troy Tulowitzki. With about 25% of the baseball season in the books Tulowitzki leads the national League in batting average at .389, is tied for the league lead in home runs with 11 and is 2nd in RBI’s with 33. Now I’m not saying that Tulowitzki is going to win a triple crown, but I wondering if this is the season he stays healthy and we see the kind of numbers he can put up. I think a lot of baseball people have wondered the same thing. What do you think; is this the year Tulowitzki stays healthy?

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

So how was your week?