Page 1667 of 2957

      Braves acquire Nate McLouth from Pirates

      June 4, 2009 /

      In an effort to try and inject life into their stagnant offense, the Braves acquired outfielder Nate McLouth from the Pirates in exchange for prospects Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke and Gorkys Hernandez.

      The Braves acquired a speedy slugger who can bat anywhere in the top half of their order, and who they’ll have under contract for three or four more seasons.

      McLouth joins a Braves outfield that was tied for last in the majors with 10 homers through Tuesday, and finished last with 27 homers in 2008. He almost single-handedly matched the Braves’ outfield total with his career-high 26 homers in 2008, when he hit .276.

      He stole 23 bases in 26 attempts in 2008, and he has not been caught stealing this season.
      The Braves paid a hefty price: Morton was 7-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 10 starts at Gwinnett, and Hernandez, 21, hit .316 with 11 doubles, two triples, 19 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 52 games at Class AA Mississippi.

      Locke, 21, was 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 10 starts for Class A Myrtle Beach.
      It may seem like the Braves gave up a lot in this deal, but Hernandez might be the only real loss seeing as how Locke is struggling and Morton might not have cracked the starting rotation anytime soon.

      McLouth is a solid hitter, can play center, is locked up cheap throughout the next couple of years and seeing as how he’s only owed $2 million this season, the Braves still have room to make another move or two.

      As of now, it would appear that the Braves got the better end of this deal, which is no surprise considering their trade partner was the Pirates.

      MLB

      Otis Smith is the real Executive of the Year

      June 3, 2009 /

      All due respect to Denver’s Mark Warkentien, who won the 2009 NBA Executive of the Year Award, but Orlando GM Otis Smith deserves the honor. This is the problem with how the league hands out these awards at the end of the regular season — there’s no way to take the playoffs into account. Granted, it’s a regular season award, but in that case, wouldn’t Danny Ferry deserve it for pulling the trigger on the Mo Williams trade, which led to an All-Star nod for the guard and a 66-win season? Mitch Kupchak also deserves mention for his theft of Pau Gasol (now a year and a half old) along with mining Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown from other team’s benches.

      Of course, Warkentien pulled arguably the best in-season move by sending Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, which gave the Nuggets the toughness and defensive intensity to go from a Western Conference also-ran to a legitimate contender. I didn’t like his decision to give away Marcus Camby last summer in a salary dump, but in his defense, his signing of Chris Andersen offset that loss. Still, it would have been nice to have Camby on the roster against the Lakers, but there probably wouldn’t have been enough minutes for three centers. Warkentien rolled the dice that Nene was ready to explode and that Andersen could bring energy, rebounding and shotblocking off the bench, and it worked out, for the most part. Warkentien also signed Dahntay Jones, who eventually turned into (sort of) a starter for George Karl, and re-signed J.R. Smith.

      Now let’s take a look at the job Otis Smith has done (from HoopsHype):

      Continue reading »

      NBA, NBA Draft, NBA Finals

      Report: Westbrook out until Week 1 with high ankle sprain

      June 3, 2009 /

      According to a report by Comcast Sportsnet in Philadelphia, Eagles running back Brian Westbrook will be sidelined until at least Week 1 of the regular season due to a high ankle sprain.

      Comcast SportsNet reported that Brian Westbrook was examined by ankle specialist Dr. Mark Myerson in Baltimore on Wednesday and may need to undergo a procedure to clean out the ankle. Either way, according to the report, Westbrook is done until the start of the regular season.

      The only official comment thus far from the Eagles came from offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg who said that he wasn’t “concerned” about the injury after discussing it with Westbrook on Tuesday afternoon.

      While working out recently, the ankle began to bother Westbrook and he contacted head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder to check on it. Andy Reid said on Tuesday that Westbrook would see a doctor, but again, there has been no official update from the team since.

      Considering he’ll turn 30 in early September and averaged just 2.9 yards per carry in Philly’s last six games of the 2008 season, this is incredibly damper news for the Eagles. As the article states, the team hasn’t officially stated that Westbrook will miss camp and preseason, but let’s assume for a moment that the report is true.

      Philly did draft “Shady” McCoy in the second round this year, but he wasn’t considered a prospect that could be an every down back and he had injury issues himself while at PITT. The Eagles also have Lorenzo Booker, who is a poor man’s Westbrook but like McCoy, isn’t considered an every down back. In seven games for the Dolphins last year, Booker rushed for 125 yards on 28 carries.

      If Westbrook is out for the rest of the summer, the good news is that McCoy and Booker will receive plenty of reps. But nobody should be surprised if the team signs a veteran as insurance. Edgerrin James is still available, as is Deuce McAllister, although he’s expected to be suspended for the first four games of the 2009 season, so it’s doubtful the Eagles would add him. Another cheap option would be to bring back Tony Hunt, who was released last October by the Eagles but is a player that has experience in the offense.

      It’ll be interesting to see if the team makes this news about Westbrook official.

      NFL

      Federer advances to French Open semis

      June 3, 2009 /

      Roger Federer isn’t going the way of Rafael Nadal, at least not yet. He beat #11 seed Gael Monfils 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4.

      Federer is now just two wins away from tying Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles. A French Open win would be even sweeter because it’s the only Grand Slam he hasn’t yet one.

      He is 5-0 against Juan Martin del Potro, his opponent in the semis.

      Tennis

      Bill Simmons’ Finals preview

      June 3, 2009 /

      Bill Simmons previews the Finals by taking fake questions from well-known people. Here’s a sample:

      Q: Let’s say I pull this off and we win a title. Does that push me past Oscar and Jerry and make me the third-greatest guard ever?
      — K. Bryant, Los Angeles

      SG: Yes. Absolutely. No question. Just know that your title window is closing because of your odometer — more than 1,100 games in 13 seasons and 203 games (not including the 2009 Finals) over the last 19 months alone — and a group of contenders that will be better next season with Garnett and Ginobili back, Portland and Chicago possibly making a leap, and Cleveland undoubtedly getting LeBron more help. You will never have a better chance at another ring than you do this month. And if you get it, your place in history is secure.

      Let’s say you don’t get it. Let’s say Orlando continues to ride the “Nobody believed in us!!!!” wave and topples your Lakers for its first title. Let’s say the matchup troubles from the regular season (both Orlando wins) translate to the postseason just like they did in the Cleveland-Orlando series. That would mean the following things:

      A. You never won a title when you were the best guy on your own team. An indisputable fact.

      B. You lost not one, not two, but THREE Finals in which you were the best player on a favored team heading into the series: 2004 (versus Detroit), 2008 (versus Boston) and 2009 (versus Orlando). You played poorly by your standards in 2004 (23-4-3, 38 percent FG, 17 percent 3-point FG) and 2009 (26-5-5, 40.5 percent FG, 32 percent 3-point FG, 4.7 TOs); in deciding games those years, your team lost by 13 points and 39 points. If history repeats itself in 2009, you won’t be able to recover historically. You’ll be the guy who needed to ride Shaq’s coattails to win a title, and that’s that.

      Honestly, this is one of the reasons I love basketball so much. Kevin Garnett’s career was altered by the 2008 Finals in a good way. Karl Malone’s career was altered in the 1997 and 1998 Finals in a bad way. Walt Frazier’s career was altered in the 1970 Finals in a good way. Clyde Drexler’s career was altered by the 1992 Finals in a bad way. You can come up with 25 superstars like that. A “fork in the road” moment, if you will. For Kobe, we’re here. Officially.

      That pretty much sums up Kobe’s situation, though I’m not sure that a Finals loss would send him into a tailspin that he couldn’t recover from. The Lakers will be good again next year.

      Humor, NBA, NBA Finals

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑