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      Rangers willing to eat about half of Young’s contract, could Phillies be a potential suitor?

      March 20, 2011 /
      Former U.S. president George W. Bush (L) greets Texas Rangers Michael Young (R) before his at-bat against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning of their MLB baseball game in Arlington, Texas, July 25, 2010. REUTERS/Tim Sharp (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL POLITICS)

      Given Chase Utley’s knee injury, don’t rule out the possibility that the Phillies could make a move for the disgruntled Michael Young, whom the Rangers are still trying to trade.

      According to Yahoo Sports! Tim Brown, the Rangers are trying their best to move Young and are “willing to eat about half” of the $48 million that still remains on the infielder’s contract. Brown tweets that Texas is still asking for top-end prospects, but nobody is biting.

      Meanwhile, the Phillies have a huge concern on their hands with Utley. There’s a chance that the second baseman will be sidelined for a lengthy period of time, maybe even the season. Seeing as how Jimmy Rollins hasn’t been the picture of perfect health himself over the last couple of years, scooping up a six-time All-Star and a career .300-hitter like Young wouldn’t be a bad move. If the Rangers were willing to eat half of his contract then hey, even better.

      In the end, it doesn’t look like Texas will get what it wants for Young and if his situation is going to be a distraction throughout the year, then there’s no sense hanging onto him. I think it was wise of Nolan Ryan and Co. to be patient this spring and let the situation develop. But we’re about a week and a half away from Opening Day and it might be time to press teams in order to see what they’d be willing to give up. Calling someone like the Phillies who could be entering panic mode would be a good start.

      External Sports, MLB

      Refs bungle end of UNC/Washington game

      March 20, 2011 /
      Washington Huskies guard Isaiah Thomas (2) walks off the court after losing against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their third round NCAA men’s basketball game in Charlotte, North Carolina March 20, 2011. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

      North Carolina outlasted Washington, 86-83, in Charlotte, but most of the talk after the game was how the officials determined the amount of time remaining on the last play of the game.

      Washington’s Venoy Overton heaved a half-court shot (with his off hand, no less) and the ball hit John Henson’s hand before it went out of bounds. The replay clearly showed it hit the floor out of bounds with 1.2 seconds remaining, yet when Washington’s coaching staff asked the refs to check the time, they said it was fine and play proceeded with 0.5 seconds remaining. Washington didn’t have much time to get a good look and ended up taking a contested two-pointer that wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game even if it had gone in.

      The NCAA director of men’s officials, John Adams, told CBS after the game that the officials acted correctly since there’s a lag time between when the ball hits, when the official blows his whistle and when the scorekeeper stops the clock.

      Fine. But there’s an elephant in the room — why didn’t the officials bother to go to the video? They don’t have to check the video, but if the Washington coaching staff did indeed ask about the time, then the officials should have double-checked. With the Sweet Sixteen on the line, why not take a minute and make sure you got it right?

      Who knows, had Washington had an extra 0.7 seconds, maybe they would have had time to get a better shot.

      College Basketball, External Sports, March Madness

      Don’t expect many draft day trades with no CBA in place

      March 20, 2011 /

      The current labor dispute has certainly tempered the excitement around April’s NFL draft and without a CBA in place for 2012, this year’s draft might be even more lackluster than it’s already become.

      Because of a stipulation in the deal, this year’s draft is allowed to take place even though the CBA has expired. But without a CBA in place next year, it would be illegal to have a draft and thus, there may not be one in 2012 if the players and owners can’t get their act together.

      But that’s next year. This year, there might not be as many trades as fans are usually accustomed to because without a CBA, teams can’t trade 2012 picks. If franchies like the Panthers, Dolphins or Jets (three teams that don’t have second round picks this year) wanted to trade back into the second round, they’re going to have a difficult time doing so.

      The CBA mess has made the draft a lot more interesting this year and not in the way fans would appreciate. From player boycotts to limited trades to the possibility that there won’t even be a draft in 2012, the life has certainly been sucked out of “Christmas in April” this year.

      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Brian Wilson injures ribcage, will auction off green shoes to help relief efforts in Japan

      March 20, 2011 /
      San Francisco Giants pitchers Brian Wilson (L) and Tim Lincecum stretch before the start of Game 3 of Major League Baseball’s World Series in Arlington, Texas, October 30, 2010. REUTERS/Mike Stone (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      A headline like that can only involve Brian Wilson.

      The 2010 MLB saves leader wore a pair of green shoes during a spring training game against the Angels on Thursday to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. He will auction off said green spikes, with all the proceeds going to help the relief efforts in Japan. (Visit his website for the deets.)

      In a small twist of irony, the green kicks didn’t bring him much luck. Wilson strained a ribcage muscle in the same game and might miss Opening Day now. He will be re-evaluated on Monday and if he’s out for an extended period of time, there’s reason to believe he could start the season on the DL.

      Fantasy Spin: Owners trying to prepare for their upcoming draft can probably draft Wilson with confidence, although it might not be a bad idea to snag Sergio Romo or Jeremy Affeldt with one of your last picks because they would fill in for the breaded one if need be. Affeldt collected four saves last year for the Giants, but Romo is actually the more logical choice to take over the ninth inning duties. He was lights out down the stretch last year as Wilson’s setup man, finishing with an impressive 2.18 ERA and a 5.00 K/BB ratio.

      External Sports, Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Bracket Update: Sunday Morning

      March 20, 2011 /

      Obviously, Pitt losing was a tough blow for my bracket. Anytime you drop a Final Four team in the first weekend, it hurts. But in the grand scheme of things, Pitt’s loss is not a bracket killer, at least not in the two pools (~20 players each) that I’m in.

      At this point, I still just need Ohio State to beat Kansas in the Final and I’ll probably finish in the money. It would help if Duke made the Final Four and if Florida didn’t — the best thing for those of us that had Pitt would be for Butler to make a repeat appearance in the Final Four, because then no one but the faithful Butler alumni would be capitalizing on Pitt’s loss.

      How are Sagarin and Pomeroy’s rating systems faring so far? Pretty darn good. Teams with a three-point Sagarin advantage are 26-4 (87%) so far (with USC, Louisville, G-Town and Pitt the four losers). Teams with a two- to three-point Sagarin advantage are just 1-2, but teams with a slight (zero- to two-point) Sagarin advantage are an impressive 9-2. Usually anything under two points is a toss-up, but Sagarin’s ratings have performed well in this area over the last two years. Overall, Sagarin went 26-6 in the first round.

      Pomeroy’s numbers are just as impressive. I track four different groups — 70%+ (20-4), 65%-70% (4-0), 60%-65% (2-1) and 50%-60% (9-4) — and they’ve all been pretty strong thus far. His favorites went 25-7 in the first round.

      If you’re looking for updated Sagarin and Pomeroy data, click here. Keep in mind that for record-keeping purposes, I use the static data from before round one to calculate all of these won/loss records since that’s all that’s available to users to make their bracket picks.

      College Basketball, External Sports, March Madness

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