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      SI.com: 20 best MLB decisions of the past year

      June 22, 2010 /

      SI.com’s Jon Heyman put together a list of the 20 best decisions made by MLB teams over the past year.

      His No. 1 was the Nationals’ signing of Stephen Strasburg, while his No. 2 was the Cubs’ decision to trade Milton Bradley to the Mariners in exchange for pitcher Carlos Silva (who is leading the club in wins, ERA and WHIP).

      Heyman’s No. 4 best decision involves a team that has been one of the bigger surprises so far this season:

      4. The Padres’ decision not to trade Adrian Gonzalez and/or Heath Bell

      Everyone assumed new Padres GM Jed Hoyer would want to make a big splash and set the team up for the future by trading All-Star 1B Adrian Gonzalez, who could bring a haul with his reasonable contract ($10 mil over two years) and big-time talent. Word supposedly was that Hoyer had an obvious landing spot in his old haunt in Boston, where Hoyer had been an assistant GM and knew the system. That assumption was supposedly bolstered by Padres marketing materials that allegedly omitted Gonzalez.

      However, Hoyer and Padres decision-makers held both Gonzalez and top reliever Heath Bell, fortified the rotation by adding stable veteran Jon Garland and kept their fingers crossed. To everyone’s surprise — except maybe San Diego’s brass — the Padres have been at or near the top of the NL West all year. Hoyer didn’t disrupt what former Padres GM Kevin Towers built in San Diego to satisfy his ego. Instead, he did the prudent thing. Just because Towers was fired by new owner Jeff Moorad doesn’t mean he did a bad job. It turns out there were some very good pieces in place, including what appears to be the majors’ best bullpen.

      There is still some concern in San Diego that the Padres will be sellers at the trade deadline, but if they stay in contention in the NL West it’s hard to envision that happening. This is just speculation on my part, but I have to believe that if Hoyer does make a big move (i.e. trading Gonzo and/or Bell), it won’t come until after the season.

      Until then, the Padres’ current roster will have every opportunity to make a run at the postseason this year.

      External Sports, MLB

      The fallout from Steve Smith’s broken arm

      June 22, 2010 /

      Is it just me or am I the only one that thinks it’s hilarious that Steve Smith broke his arm playing in an adult flag football league over the weekend? It’s not funny that he broke his arm for the second time in less than 10 months or that he’ll miss all of training camp, but just the thought of having to play against him in a flag game is humorous to me.

      “I OWNED YOU ON THAT PLAY!”

      “I know you did – you’re Steve f***ing Smith. You play in the National Football League and I play on weekend’s for Mike O’Shannon’s Pub & Grille.”

      Truth be told, how he suffered the injury isn’t that important. While it certainly could have been avoided had he not been playing in a meaningless game of YMCA flag football, at least he wasn’t riding a motorcycle without a helmet or driving home drunk after a night at the strip club. He could have suffered an injury weight lifting, playing basketball or even golfing at a teammate’s charity event.

      Either way the arm is still broken. Assuming he doesn’t suffer any setbacks, he should be ready to go by the first week of the regular season.

      But while the injury isn’t a long-term concern (at least not right now, anyway), it does have a ripple affect for Smith and his teammates.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, NFL

      Stoudemire headed for free agency?

      June 22, 2010 /

      Even with the Suns’ surprising post-All-Star run, it appears that Amare Stoudemire is headed for free agency.

      Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and coach Alvin Gentry are planning to meet with Amar’e Stoudemire next week and offer him a contract extension, but a source called it “pretty bleak” that the Suns will be able to convince the All-Star forward to agree to a deal.

      The Suns are expected to visit Stoudemire in Chicago at his summer basketball camp, if not wait for him to return to his home in Phoenix, Yahoo! Sports has learned. After rejecting what’s expected to be another counteroffer below the maximum, Stoudemire will opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent July 1.

      This isn’t a big shock; the writing was on the wall when Steve Kerr left the organization. Stoudemire isn’t really a ‘max’ player, but he sure thinks he is, and that’s a bad combination. No offense to Amare, he’s a great player, but his injury history and inability (or unwillingness) to control the defensive glass keeps him out of ‘max’ territory, at least in my mind.

      But that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to get a maximum contract this summer. Like any market, free agency is about supply and demand, and with all the cap space floating around, there will be a big demand for his services.

      It’s funny — the ‘Bird rights’ are supposed to favor a player’s home team, but for near-max players it can work against the home team. The Suns are trying to be pragmatic and don’t want to overpay, but Amare takes any less-than-max offer as an insult even though he’ll eventually sign for less than the true maximum when he goes on to another team. (Other teams can only offer five-year deals with a lower annual raise.) But Stoudemire will see the other team offering as much as they can and he’ll take that as a compliment, even though the total contract may be less than what the Suns originally offered. (I hope this makes sense.)

      I have a feeling he’ll end up in Miami with Dwyane Wade or possibly Chicago, where he’d be a nice fit alongside Derrick Rose.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      The Heat’s pitch to LeBron

      June 22, 2010 /

      Chad Ford has been outlining the ways that the different teams around the league can make their pitch to LeBron. As he tackles the Heat, he outlines Miami’s dream scenario:

      The Heat could engage in a sign-and-trade for LeBron or Bosh, most likely Bosh. Sign-and-trades are notoriously difficult to pull off. But they aren’t impossible.

      If Bosh and the Raptors would cooperate, for instance, the Heat could send Michael Beasley and Daequan Cook and return Toronto’s No. 1 pick (owned by Miami) to the Raptors and slide Bosh in under the cap at a starting salary of around $13.5 million.

      Of course, we know Bosh is unlikely to agree to a deal that starts at $13.5 million, especially if Wade and James are getting $16.5 million. But what if all three players — close friends from Team USA — decide to take a small pay cut to play together? If James and Wade both were to agree to a starting salary of $15.5 million, the Heat could offer Bosh $15.5 million as well.

      It’s a nice thought, and if winning was really the most important thing to these players then this is the type of situation they should look for.

      But as much as they like to say that winning is the most important thing — it’s not. While Wade is pragmatic enough to welcome LeBron and Bosh to Miami with open arms, I don’t think either free agent would want to join Wade’s team. Don’t get me wrong — they’d gladly play with Wade in New York or New Jersey or Chicago, but actually joining the franchise that already has a recent championship because of Wade? That is a tough pill to swallow, legacy-wise.

      Chris Bosh has said that he doesn’t want to be seen as an addition to a team and that he wants to be ‘the man.’ That doesn’t jibe with a Wade-LeBron-Bosh trio in Miami. For his part, LeBron is keeping his options open, but would he really want people thinking that he joined forces with Wade in Miami because he couldn’t win a ring on his own?

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Federer averts disaster in first round of Wimbledon

      June 22, 2010 /

      Six-time champion Roger Federer avoided a major upset at Wimbledon on Monday by overcoming a two-set deficit to beat Alejandro Falla 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0.

      From FOX Sports:

      “I live another day,” Federer said. “This one is one I should have lost. That’s sometimes how grass-court tennis works.”

      The 60th-ranked Falla had lost all 11 sets in his previous four matches against Federer, but the Colombian played brilliant tennis to take charge of the match. The turnaround came in the fourth set with Falla serving for the match and three points from victory, when Federer broke for only the second time.

      Federer played his best after that. It’s the third time in a row he has won after losing the first two sets at a Grand Slam event, but the close call was a new experience in such an early round.

      “You definitely feel uncomfortable,” Federer said. “For me it’s not normal to be down two sets to love. Especially at Wimbledon and early on in Grand Slams, it’s something I’m not quite used to.”

      The victory was the first time since 2001 that Federer has been pushed to five set at Wimbledon before the final. The last time was against Pete Sampras when he beat him in the Round of 16.

      External Sports, Tennis

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