I have mixed feelings about the Soriano trade. I've really liked how he has been playing the last couple of years, and he appears to have responded to Sveum real well, so that makes me a little sad. On the other hand, the Cubs are definitely sellers, which means accumulating talent is the most important thing.
I have Soriano on my fantasy team, and I am not sure the Yankees is the best team for him to be traded to. The Yankees need the right hand bat, so he'll likely be in the line up, but will he see good pitches? Obviously, this is well out of my hands so only time will tell, but the trade to the Yankees make me nervous.
With my second pick of my fantasy baseball league draft I took Justin Verlander. At first, it appeared to be a very good pick but Verlander has looked very bad of late. He is doing the opposite of my big pick last year, Albert Pujols, who had a poor first half and a great second half.
Well, I am trying to do something about this by negotiating a trade for Verlander. I'll probably regret the decision, but as a Tigers fan I am thinking that it is the right thing to do.
Ryan Braun has been suspended for the rest of the MLB season and guesses are this is just the first of the suspensions due to the Biogenesis scandal. Of course Braun is getting an extra heaping of scorn because he avoided suspension in 2011 when he tested positive but successfully disputed the handling of the drug test.
Like most fans, I hate the idea of players cheating, yet its a bit hard for me to get all hot and bothered by players when you consider that the PED use went on for years and the MLB, owners, players and sports writers all ignored it. Mark McGwire and Sam Sosa's PED-fed home run battle was a big help to baseball as it was coming out of a work stoppage.
Selig is complicit in baseball's problems because he has been the man in charge while they have been going on, and he certainly could have taken action much sooner than he did. Consequently, I think that if MLB is serious about cleaning things up, Selig needs to be replaced, preferrably by someone who most believe will have the game's and the fans' interests top priority. Therefore, I nominate either Bob Costas or Peter Gammons for position of MLB Commissioner.
The second half the Major League Baseball season is about to start, and so it's time to take stock in our teams. Our fantasy baseball teams, that is. Unfortunately, my team looked much better on draft day than it does now, sporting a 5-7-2 record. I've been most hurt by below-par performances from Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, and Albert Pujols.
I picked seventh this year, and Albert popped up as the top guy on the board in the 5th or 6th round. Prior to my turn I had made my mind up to take Fielder, expecting Albert to be gone and therefore a non-issue, but alas I was left with the dilemma, pass on the highest talent or stick to my plan and take Fielder.
I went for the highest ranked player, and I am paying for it with a poor first half from Pujols, who is getting by with an injured foot that frankly isn't going to get better unless he is shut down for a month or two. Right now Albert is batting .249, .753 OPS, 15 home runs, and 57 RBIs, and I am hoping like heck he has as good a second half as he did last year. Prince is batting .267, .820 OPS, 16 home runs, and 69 RBIs, so the stat lines are comparable, but Prince has knocked in more runs leading to a higher OPS and it feels like Prince is having a much better year.
While I am disappointed by with some of my players, I do feel a little better having Chris Davis, who has been leading the majors in home runs all season. Alfonso Soriano has been having another good season, and I am hoping that he gets picked up by a better team soon and that translates to even bigger numbers. Josh Willingham has been fighting injuries so he is no where near last year's numbers, and Starlin Castro has regressed from the last two years.
For me to make a move I need more power from Pujols and one more outfielder to have great second half, I am looking at you Brandon Moss. My pitching staff needs to get more consistent, it seems every week one of them gets blown up and ends up with a double digit ERA and high WHIP that can't be recovered. Verlander, Sabathia, Sanchez, Hefner, Dempster, Feldman, Milone, Miley, and Chen, let's get it together!
AllThingsD has a good article comparing wearables. I've been wearing the Jawbone Up since the beginning of the year, and frankly, I was pleasantly surprised that this article shows it to be as accurate as it is. I suspected it wasn't very accurate and feel that the trending information collected by the app is the most important info rather than the specific numbers. Ideally, you want your exercise and sleep to trend in a positive direction.
Yesterday I posted a video of Steve Goodman singing "Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" and mentioned in passing his song Go Cubs Go, which is the current victory song at Wrigley Field. While it's cool that it's played and sung by fans in the park after a victory, I think the lyrics are more appropriate for before a Cubs game. So, in celebration of their current four game winning streak and to spur them on to extend that streak to five games, I give you Go Cubs Go.
While they may be 14 games out of first place, they are only eight games below .500 and so a winning season is still possible, and after a World Series win, all a real Cub wants is a winning season.
UPDATE: Obviously my exuberance jinxed the Cubs as they are being pummeled by the Angels tonight.
This Cleveland Brown's fan's obituary reminds me of Steve Goodman's song. I don't know if Goodman could imagine that his song Go Cubs Go would become an anthem after every Cubs victory.
No doubt there was much celebration in England today as Andy Murray won the Wimbledon men's tennis championship, making him the first from the United Kingdom to win a Wimbledon title in 77 years. The significance of the accomplishment is greater in large part because of the length of time, but that time is not terribly surprising given how few tennis players come out of the U.K.
More significant to me is the fact that Andy Roddick is the last American man to win the U.S. Open men's tennis championship in 2003. With no American a serious contender for this year's title that will make it a decade since the last time an American man has hoisted the hardware of his country's tennis championship.
The drought is significant because there is no American man in professional tennis who appears poised to win the title. John Isner is currently the highest ranking U.S. player at #19 in the world. Sam Querrey is #21, and Marty Fish is #61.
For the most part, tennis has become a European sport, particularly for the men. Today it appears that tennis has too much competition in the United States from other sports to be attractive to boys, and the situation is made worse by the fact that there is currently no star American male player in the sport. When I played tennis in my youth I was inspired by John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, but today's want-to-be male tennis players have no role model to aspire towards.
Hopefully a star is in the making in tennis schools throughout the country, but right now men's professional tennis does not appear to have a bright future in the United States. I wonder when, or if, Americans will begin to yearn for an American male to win the U.S. Open?
The Detroit Red Wings have signed Stephen Weiss to a 5 year $24.5 million contract. Last year Weiss played only 17 games due to injury. With the decision to let Filpula walk done, the Wings needed to sign another top tier center to allow for Datsyuk and Zetterberg to play on the same line.
Now that the Red Wings have made two big signings, I expect they will now focus on signing their own UFAs.
The free agent signing period has begun in the NHL and I see a flurry of signings on Twitter. The Detroit Red Wings have picked up another Swede, signing Daniel Alfredsson to a one year deal.
I see that Filpula wants much more pay than the Wings are willing to provide, so he will be gone. I hope that the Wings sign Clearly and I am ambivalent about Brunner.
I think the Detroit Tigers are starting to feel the pressure of what is shaping up as a medicore season. Last week Miguel Cabrera got upset at a high and tight pitch and the next day Rick Porcello plunked a Tampa Bay Ray. Now last night Tori Hunter got upset at a high and tight pitch resulting in a talking confab on the field. Hunter's reaction came after Omar Infante was injured by a hard slide that some Tiger players think was dirty.
Not that these are all non events but still they don't seem to be worth getting all hot and bothered over. It looks to me like the Tigers are not handling the pressure being applied by the Cleveland Indians. It's time for Leyland to use his managerial chops.
Theo Epstein is busy today. I just received a notification from ESPN that the Cubs have traded maligned closer Carlos Marmol to the Dodgers for RHP Matt Guerrier. Guerrier will just have to travel up the coast to join the team who is in Oakland.
I just receive a notification on my phone from ESPN that the Cubs have traded pitcher Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger to the Baltimore Orioles for two prospects and cash. Feldman, who the Cubs aquired during the off season, has been the most consistent pitcher in the Cubs starting rotation this year.
Feldman also has the distinction of being on my fantasy baseball team, and this trade makes the second year in a row that a Cubs pitcher on my team was trade mid season. I hope that Feldman is more productive after his trade than Dempster was after being traded to the Rangers.
The upside for me is that the Orioles are a much better team than the Cubs, so Feldman has a better chance of getting wins. The downside is I lose him for today and that I believe was on an AL team last year so the AL batters may already know him.
Now that the Cubs have started selling, the Soriano watch can begin in earnest.
It must be what the LA Dodgers are telling themselves if reports by ESPN Chicago that they are in talks with the Chicago Cubs to acquire exiled reliever Carlos Marmol. At one time Marmol possessed one of the most wicked sliders in all of baseball, but during the last two years Marmol's pitches have lost their way across the plate.
Marmol was designated for assignment last week after blowing yet another save opportunity for the Cubs. Over 31 relief appearances the reliever has a 5.86 ERA, and has struck out 32 while walking 21 in 27 and 2/3 innings this year.
Is it just me, or does Justin Verlander sound like Tiger Woods in the Mike & Mike interview this morning? Apparently Justin has found a hitch in his shoulder angle that is causing him problems. I've got Justin on my fantasy baseball team, so I really hope that he has in fact found the problem. Permanently fixing it can be another matter.