Month: August 2017

If they want to keep their bullpen, though, they should buy, but only if they can get controllable starting pitching. That’s the goal — pitchers who will be around for a couple years. Remember the Rangers traded for Cole Hamels when they looked like they were rebuilding, and while it ended up working that very season, it was more of a move for future years. It looks smart in retrospect, and if the Orioles can ape that sort of move, they should part with whatever prospects they need to.

If they can’t, however, they should sit tight, and spend this offseason doing what they’ve been unwilling to do in recent years. They’ll need to spend on starting pitchers, whether it’s using money or prospect capital. Might as well start now if they have the chance.

This hints that, yes, we’ll move on to a new large slugger in the future. It hurts, but it’s probably true. There will occasionally be an Aaron Judge if you look hard enough.

The other answer is that we’ll all be dead in 2047, and the lichen will rule our new sea planet.

But focus on the part about Howard. He was 6’7 in his playing days, which is the same height that Judge is listed. There has been a Judge before. Not a lesser version. A comparable player. There have been large players in the past. There will be large players in the future.

When you graph the average height of the top-10 home run hitters by decade (with help from Baseball-Reference.com), a pattern emerges:

Those large home run lads are getting larger. Except, hold on, we’re talking about a couple of inches spanning decades. No old-timer is really going to notice if a 6’4 comes to the plate Cheap Team Jerseys because he watched 6’2 players all his life. This is all incremental.

Ah, but there’s more context. When you sort the players of Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping the ‘20s by height, again, a pattern emerges.

They almost screwed that up with Gray, who looked entirely broken last season. His velocity was down, his homers allowed went through the roof, and he looked like … well …

Sonny Gray right now looks like Tim Lincecum when he started losing it. Four great pitches like the old allstar and then one godawful pitch.

The A’s original plan was probably to trade him last offseason, and then baseball took their wallet. All they could do is wait and wait and wait for him to get better.

He got better. While he’s not the burgeoning Cy Young contender he once was, not yet, he’s still a well above-average pitcher who won’t be a free agent until after the 2019 season. He’ll be cheap until then, too. Teams are lining up the prospects again, and a Jose Quintana comp for a possible return isn’t too far-fetched.

That’s true about everything. But baseball, too.

There are 10 teams in the American League that are currently within three games of a postseason berth. There are 13 of them within six games. The A’s and White Sox are probably out of the race. Everything else is at least negotiable.

Four-Club Tie for One Wild Card Spot: After Clubs have been assigned their A, B, C and D designations, Club A would host Club B and Club C would host Club D. The winners of each of Cheap Jerseys America those games would then meet, hosted by the winner of the game between Club A and Club B, to determine the Wild Card Club.

Got that? There would be a playoff game to see who goes to the playoff game to see who goes to the playoff game to see who makes the playoffs. Except there are six teams within three Cheap Jerseys And Sunglasses games of that final wild card spot. What are the official tiebreaker rules in that instance?

Wade Davis came in representing the Cubs in the top of the 10th inning with the score tied 1-1, and Robinson Cano saved us all from even more innings. Maybe you are saying, “But Marc, extra innings is free baseball, and Robinson Cano denied us that.” No. No he did not. This All-Star Game doesn’t count and does not need to go to extras. Sorry, those are the rules.

Well, fine, if the All-Star Game wanted to use the World Baseball Classic rules to put baserunners on at the start of the inning in order to make the whole situation tense and awesome, then yes, this All-Star Game would definitely need extras. That’s not the case, though, so: thank you, Robinson Cano, for allowing us all to go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.

One of the best defensive catchers of all time, Pudge just cleared the 75 percent threshold with 76 percent of the votes, getting in on his first year. With 13 Gold Gloves, 14 All-Star appearances, and the 1999 AL MVP, Rodriguez was a rock in the middle of the Rangers’ lineup for many years before going on to win a World Series ring with the Marlins. He developed a reputation as someone you don’t try to steal on, leading the AL nine times in caught-stealing percentage. Pudge could also deliver with the bat, taking home seven Silver Sluggers and ranking 26th all-time in doubles.

Scherholz will go down as one of the game’s best GMs, having success with two separate teams over three decades. He built the Royals roster that won the World Series in 1985, and then jumped to the Braves in 1990, where he was the architect of 14 straight division titles and the 1995 World Series Cheap Indiana Pacers Jerseys crown. Although he stepped down as GM in 2007, Schuerholz is still involved with the Braves Cheap Ireland Jerseys as team president.

The Dodgers finally made a huge trade for a top pitcher at the trade deadline, as Ken Rosenthal reported after the 4 p.m. close that the Rangers and Los Angeles had agreed to a deal that would send Yu Darvish to the Dodgers.

Jon Morosi reported that prospect Willie Calhoun would head to Texas as part of the return. Jeff Passan would follow that up by reporting that A.J. Alexy and Brendon Davis were also included in the deal.

You have to figure that even though trade talks with the Twins may have ended up suffering a bit of a collapse, the Braves have to be thrilled with what they got out of Jaime Garcia on Friday night. Garcia put together a thoroughly professional effort against an extremely good Dodgers team and helped hand that team their first losing “streak” since early June. The trade price for Jaime Garcia may not be sky high, but it definitely went up after what he did on Friday night. There’s no word on where Garcia will be heading soon, but at least he knows that he’ll be standing alongside the likes of Patsy Flaherty in the Braves’ history books after the night he just had.

Grant Brisbee has once again been put in charge of grading trade rumors, and this time he’s been tasked with giving a mark to the latest rumor that has Yu Darvish linked with a move to the Cubs.

Aaron Judge has hit his fair share of monster moonshots this year, but the dinger that he hit on Friday night at Safeco Field may very well be his magnum opus of power hitting.

The Yankees and Athletics may not be close to a deal on Sonny Gray, but the A’s have at least reportedly “named their price” for Gray.

Ian Kinsler could be the next veteran on his way out of Detroit, and Cheap High Quality Jerseys a possible fit could end up being the Boston Red Sox.

Yoenis Cespedes had to clear the air about some comments he Cheap Goalkeeper Jerseys made with regards to wanting to potentially end his career with the A’s.

Sonny Gray remains the player in the league with the biggest rumor magnet on his back, but fellow pitching standout Yu Darvish isn’t far behind. While the former is almost certainly getting traded, the latter may not be. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have teams after him, despite the Rangers not definitively deciding whether they’re even selling yet.

There are other players on the trading block too, though, of the non-pitching variety. So once again we’ve rounded all of the recently surfaced rumors up in one place so you’re able to keep track.

Los Angeles is a +350 favorite to win the World Series at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The favorites are extremely well-rounded, ranking No. 1 in the majors in ERA among starters (3.24), No. 2 in bullpen ERA (2.99) and No. 4 in run production with 5.14 runs of offense per game.

With no noticeable weaknesses and an elite home record at 39-11, this Dodgers team will be tough to beat in a seven-game series.

Los Angeles’ biggest threats in the National League currently appear to be the Washington Nationals (+700 to win the World Series), Chicago Cubs (+800), and Arizona Diamondbacks (+1600).

The defending champion Cubs still haven’t shaken off their World Series hangover, coming into the second half trailing the Milwaukee Brewers (+2500) by 5.5 games for the top spot in the NL Central.

It’s worth remembering, both with the Tigers and with basically every other China Cheap Jerseys Wholesale major deal we’re talking about here, that teams signed these contracts knowing that eventually, they’d be problematic. The hope was that, before they became issues, the Tigers would win a World Series or Cycling Cheap Jerseys two and justify all of the horror to come with a trophy. The Tigers haven’t won, though, and given they’re 39-48 as of this writing, don’t look like they’re going to, either.

Chris Clemons has been found guilty of misdemeanor assault for punching a woman in 2016, TMZ Sports reported.

The former Cardinals safety was sentenced to 10 days in jail by a Scottsdale, Ariz., court, with five of those days suspended.

Clemons, 35, also will have to pay a $30,000 fine, take an anger management course and be on probation for a year.

Clemons was outside a nightclub in Scottsdale in May 2016 when he punched the woman in the face after she and one of Clemons’ female friends got into an argument.

The Cardinals cut Clemons in September. He remains a free agent.

With Dixon unavailable for a quarter of the year, the Ravens signed Danny Woodhead to be West’s primary complement in the backfield. Woodhead is one of the best pass-catching running backs of the decade, but he’s now 32 and plagued by injuries in recent years, playing just 21 games in the past three seasons. Still, Woodhead figures to play a prominent role in the offense as long as he stays healthy.

The passing game is also dealing with injuries and retirements. Steve Smith rode off into the sunset, while tight end Dennis Pitta was released after suffering a possible career-ending hip injury. Breshad Perriman missed his entire 2015 rookie year with a knee injury and didn’t contribute much last season, putting up just 33 catches for 499 yards and three touchdowns.

The good news is that Baltimore took advantage of the Kansas City Chiefs’ poor salary cap management, signing Jeremy Maclin after he became a cap casualty in June. Maclin has injury concerns of his own, but the 29-year-old is just a season removed from hauling in eight touchdowns and 1,088 yards on 87 catches. He’ll Cheap Cycling Jerseys be playing out of the slot position with Perriman and Mike Wallace on the outside, which makes for a formidable WR trio if everyone stays Cheap Custom Baseball Jerseys healthy and plays up to their potential.

Adrian Peterson is ready to lead his team to victory.

Although the Saints running back hasn’t made an appearance in a preseason game in since 2013, he’s eager to get back on the football field after an extended absence.

Two factors worked against the two quarterbacks: First, they were facing the Broncos’ top-notch pass defense, and, second, the offense was working primarily in the red zone, where the windows are smaller, especially against veterans such as Aqib Talib and Chris Harris.

But …

It’s NFL football, Joseph said. Make your reads. We have good receivers. They can win against anybody. When you say that, it’s not about the overall secondary, it’s about the matchup. [Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders] can win. So find them and throw the ball to them.

Lynch suffered two of the INTs, one by Bradley Roby that would’ve been a pick-six.

Not pretty, but Joseph insists he isn’t frustrated by the QBs.

It’s not going to be based on a one-day evaluation, Joseph said. It’s been pretty good. It wasn’t very good today, and it was both guys. So I’m OK.

The Bears’ quest to find a franchise quarterback led them to pay steep costs to acquire both Mike Glennon and Mitchell Trubisky this spring. Adding Cousins doesn’t make a ton of sense — but neither did trading four draft picks to move up from the No. 3 overall Cheap Braves Jerseys pick to No. 2 in this year’s draft, so you can’t rule it out.

Chicago offers a solid offensive line — its quarterbacks were sacked on less than 5 percent of all dropbacks last season — but few legitimate receiving targets. Cameron Meredith and a potentially healthy Kevin White are the top options on a Cheap Bike Jerseys For Men depth chart that includes retreads like Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright, and Rueben Randle.

After a historic Super Bowl comeback, the Patriots have set yet another record.

New England has purchased two jets to become the first NFL franchise to own their own planes to fly to games, ESPN reported Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.

According to the report, the Patriots bought two 767 Boeing wide-body planes during the offseason. The jets have been retrofitted with all first-class seats and painted with the red, white, and blue team logo. They’ve even been decorated with five Lombardi trophies on the tail.

The Patriots will use the jets for round-trip travel to their 10 road games and allow the planes to be rented when they are not being used by the team.

Due to the expensive cost of charter travel and the fact that a number of organizations, including the Cardinals, Ravens, Colts, Jaguars, Steelers, and Dolphins, will no longer fly with American Airlines, more plane purchases could be on the Cheap NFL Jerseys horizon for NFL franchises.

Is doing all of it extra? Yes. Does it really matter? No.

Bringing that to the field shows Beckham is human. He might be somebody that — if given the chance to meet — you would have something in common with. Football is a game, and games are supposed to be fun. He’s making it fun.

Having customized cleats has been a practice that’s grown in football over the past decade, but Beckham has taken it to another level.

Beckham’s worn a variety of customized cleats that have celebrated Christmas with the Grinch, paid tribute Craig Sager with vibrant colors, or Cheap NFL Jerseys USA honored America in remembrance of 9/11.

Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL. We can all acknowledge that, no matter what team it is we root for individually. (Patriots fans, you have five championships. Admitting this is no slight to Tom Brady.) So why haven’t the Packers won more than a single Super Bowl with Rodgers in the huddle?

Ted Thompson’s low batting average in the draft and an aversion to free agency is definitely part of the problem.

Now that he’s healthy, Arians is taking a different approach to each day. I now realize more than ever nothing is guaranteed in life, he wrote. Every day needs to enjoyed and celebrated to the fullest. Roses need to be smelled, sunsets savored, time with family cherished.

Arians’ strength has been impressive. It’s easy for most to walk away from their work after experiencing bad health as Arians did as many times as he did. But he will try to use his perseverance to inspire others to push through their own trials and tribulations.

Moving forward, I want to be a beacon of hope for others struggling with cancer, he wrote. My fight is their fight. I’m not coaching for myself in 2017; I’m coaching for everyone who’s dealing with cancer. This is my charge.

The Cardinals had a disappointing 7-8-1 season last year, missing out on the postseason. Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald both returned to make at least one more push for a Super Bowl. Tyrann Mathieu will be healthy, they added a pair of Baseball Jerseys Custom veterans on the defense in Antoine Bethea and Karlos Dansby, and drafted highly touted Authentic Cheap Jerseys safety Budda Baker.

Arians will also be along for at least one more — possibly more.

Kenny Easley became the fourth former Seahawks player enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After congratulating his fellow Hall of Famers, stating the case for several of his former teammates and peers to get elected, and thanking former coaches, teammates and family members, Easley’s speech then took a serious tone during Saturday’s ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

He makes it easy, Mariota said, via the team’s website . He made a couple of great plays, and that is something to build off of and hopefully we’ll carry that over. He’s savvy, and he understands routes and ways to get open and create separation. So I think the way he was able to come out today and make plays says a lot about him and we are excited.

Decker, who is coming off a season-ending shoulder injury, spent three seasons with the Jets before being released in June after the team failed to find a trade partner for the 30-year-old wideout. Despite his dismissal from New York, Decker shared his optimism about working with Mariota, saying he admired the young signal caller and thought they would have great chemistry on the field.

He’s a big guy, and he throws a great ball. He is very accurate, and he uses his feet and gets out of the pocket and throws, Decker said in June. He’s a talent, but I also like the way he carries himself. He is very stoic, and he seems very humble. I hear he’s a real football junkie who wants to be great, and that’s so important.

A third-round pick by the Broncos in the 2010 NFL Draft, Decker Cheap NFL Jerseys China has three seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards and 10 receiving AC Milan Cheap Jerseys touchdowns since 2012.