Tag: Anthony Stalter (Page 98 of 133)

      On surface, 49ers’ power structure is sound

      May 21, 2010 /

      The 49ers have announced that interim general manager Trent Baalke, who oversaw the team’s draft last month, has been named vice president of player personnel. Joel Patten, who was with the Rams and worked with Baalke in the Redskins’ organization, is now the new director of college scouting.

      Team president and CEO Jed York has made it clear that Baalke won’t have as much control over budget matters as former GM Scot McCloughan did, but that might be a good thing in the end.

      On paper, this is a structure that should work. Patten will have the opportunity to concentrate on the scouting, while Baalke can focus on draft day decisions and Singletary can control the roster. With notable exceptions like the Cowboys, Redskins and Bengals, most teams’ front offices are set up this way and it’s a system that seems to have success.

      That said, Baalke and Singletary have to constantly be on the same page in terms of personnel decisions or else the entire structure will fall apart. Everyone saw what happened in Oakland when Lane Kiffin couldn’t get along with Al Davis (or more specially, the decisions Al made on draft day) and while the 49ers aren’t the circus that the Raiders are, they could be if the marriage between Baalke and Singletary doesn’t pan out. Hopefully San Fran never has to worry about that though.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      Ramirez apologizes to his teammates, but has he learned anything?

      May 20, 2010 /

      You know when you’re a kid and you get into trouble and your parents threaten to take something away from you (TV, video games, play time, etc.) as punishment until you apologize? Then, even though you don’t mean it, you apologize because you just want your Nintendo 64 back?

      That’s what I feel just happened with Hanley Ramirez. He wanted back into the lineup after skipper Fredi Gonzalez benched him on Monday for not hustling after a ball that he booted into right field, so he apologized to his teammates and now he wants to move on.

      Here are the comments he made following his 3-for-5 performance at the plate last night in a win over the Marlins (via the Miami Herald):

      “I just came back in the lineup and got a lot of motivation from my teammates,” Ramirez said. “We get along. Things are going to happen. 162 games. But I think you put those things on the side and keep moving forward.”

      When asked what he told teammates before Wednesday’s game, Ramirez replied: “I just apologized to everybody. So it’s in the past. I talked to my family, wife and kids, and they’re happy.”

      When asked if he was glad the saga was now behind him, he responded: “We’re just going to try to win the series (with a win Thursday). I’m happy to be in the lineup.”

      Now, the apology was meant to be a private manner between him and his teammates, so I get that he might not divulge a lot of details to the media. But does anyone else get the sense that he’s just trying to brush this situation under the rug? At some point we in the media have to let this story die and move on (it’s not like he killed somebody and tried to bury them under Sun Life Stadium), but I don’t know, I expected more from him in light of the apology.

      Maybe that’s because I don’t believe that he believes that he did anything wrong. He said as much on Tuesday when he was questioned about the benching. So is he really sorry for potentially screwing his team out of a win or is he just sorry enough to get back into the lineup?

      We’ll see. This isn’t the first time Ramirez has had run-ins with a coach or teammate and if it’s the last, I’ll be shocked. But at least the Marlins can put the situation behind them for now. For now.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Cutler: “I learned a lot of things (last year).”

      May 19, 2010 /

      Jay Cutler is ready to put last year’s struggles behind him, but before he does he wants to make it clear that 2009 wasn’t all bad. At least he learned a couple of things while throwing a league-high 26 interceptions.

      From the Chicago Tribune:

      “It was a rough year,” he said. “I’m not going to say it wasn’t. I wouldn’t say it was all bad. I learned a lot of things. Had some success in Denver, and then we came here and hit a few speed bumps. But I think it made me a better player. … I haven’t lost any confidence in my abilities.

      “You have to play within yourself, get back to some of those things that made you the player you were in the past, and not trying to force it. I think that’s kind of where I got in trouble last year … trying to make some plays, trying to get back in the ballgames, and trying to push the ball down field.”

      I think part of the problem last year was that the Bears thought they were better than they really were. Jerry Angelo tried to use toothpaste to fill the holes along the offensive line and the move blew up in his face. Defensively, the Bears weren’t as good as they had been in previous years and when Brian Urlacher went down in Week 1, then things really started to fall apart.

      When everyone expects a team to be good and it’s not, its star players start to press, which is what Cutler did. His offensive line didn’t give him a lot of protection, which in turn made Matt Forte useless and the receivers weren’t good enough to rise to the challenge and bail Cutler out. So what happened was Cutler tried to do too much and he usually paid the price for it.

      Cutler may work wonders with new offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Quarterbacks usually don’t struggle to learn Martz’s system and tend to improve in their first year. But that doesn’t change the fact that Angelo still hasn’t fixed the problems on the offensive line, so it’s important that Cutler doesn’t fall back into the same bad habits that made him fail last year or else the Bears will be in trouble again.

      It’s good to hear that Cutler hasn’t lost any confidence in his abilities, although confidence has never been a problem for him. He needs to trust in his teammates and in turn, his teammates need to step up and help take some of the pressure off his shoulders.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, NFL

      The difference between MLB and NFL players when it comes to steroids

      May 19, 2010 /

      When it comes to speaking his mind about the differences between how MLB and NFL players are treated when it comes to steroids, Astros’ first baseman Lance Berkman hits the nail on the head.

      From the Houston Chronicle:

      “I will say that what will be interesting will be the reaction, because generally when that happens to a football player, it’s kind of ho-hum,” Berkman said. “They’ll write a story and he’ll serve his four games and nobody will ever say anything else about it.

      “If that happens to a baseball player, they’d want to strike him from the record book. It’s just a totally, totally different reaction, and I don’t know why that is.”

      Here’s my theory: Football is just more popular than baseball is, so people have a tendency to give NFL players more leniency.

      Fantasy baseball isn’t as popular as fantasy football and the NFL has a clear advantage over MLB when it comes to gambling.

      There are only 16 games in football, so fans live and die on every play. There are 162 games in baseball, so fans could essentially miss an entire week of action and it still might not even matter in the grand scheme of things.

      People love football. They crave it. They want to see their favorite players in uniform and if one of them screws up, all they usually care about is how many games he’ll miss before he’s back on the field. When a baseball player screws up, the games he misses won’t necessarily have a barring on how the team does (look at Manny Ramirez’s suspension last year), so fans are more likely to get their moral handbooks out when passing judgment.

      It’s not fair, but that’s just the way it is.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB, NFL

      Is Alex Smith on the verge of his long awaited breakout season?

      May 19, 2010 /

      In 43 career games, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has completed just 56.1 percent of his passes for 7,029 yards with 37 touchdowns and 43 inceptions.

      Those numbers aren’t good for any quarterback, nevertheless one that was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft. But considering this will be the first time in his career that he’ll have the opportunity to work with the same offensive coordinator two years in a row, good things might be on the horizon for the former Utah product.

      Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye is giving Smith more responsibility this year, including setting alignments and reading defenses out of the shotgun on third downs. That was something that Raye admits Smith wasn’t ready for last season.

      Asked if Smith was prepared to handle that last year, the always honest Raye said, “Not really. He had some idea. Some of it was, ‘I hope I’m right, if not, run to the right.'”

      Bill Walsh used to hate the shotgun because it required the quarterback to take his eyes off the defense for a split second when he got the snap. But if it works for Smith, then it works for Raye and the 49ers. It’s time for the team to trust that the 26-year-old signal caller is ready to take the next step and get San Fran back into the playoffs.

      One of Smith’s teammates, tight end Vernon Davis, also recently applauded the quarterback’s improved leadership skills.

      “He’s talking. He’s vocal. He’s taking control and being that guy you want on your team — a guy who’s going to step up and take charge and handle his responsibilities,” Davis said.

      Outside of shaky performances against the Cardinals (Week 14) and Eagles (Week 15) in back to back weeks late in the year, Smith played very well last season after taking over for Shaun Hill in a Week 7 game against the Texans. It’s early, but things look to be aligning for the sixth-year quarterback.

      I like Smith this year as part of a two-man or three-man committee. In 11 starts, he averaged 214 yards and 1.6 pass TD against 1.1 interceptions per game. He wasn’t brilliant, but he was for the most part solid, and with an offseason to work with Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, Smith should perform well in good matchups. I’d expect him to finish somewhere in the QB10 to QB17 range, which makes him a prime target for a QBBC.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

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