Wednesday, November 17, 2010

11/17: Uggla!, Hoops, etc.

Big day for the Braves...
  • Dan Uggla is an Atlanta Brave... a huge acquisition for the power-stricken Braves in getting the right-handed bat they've coveted for a long time... Uggla (noted Braves-killer) has a career .837 OPS including last year's .877 OPS with 33 HR, and 105 RBIs, and is a middle-of-the-order type of bat... for the cost of? Omar Infante, a utility guy coming off a career season that apparently warped his perceived value to ridiculous proportions, and Mike Dunn, a lefty reliever who is wild, and is the 3rd best lefty in the Braves bullpen... Seems like a steal?... Yeah... The national/local/blog media have all passed favorable (hugely favorable) judgment on this deal for the Braves and I agree... It fills a huge need without parting with the "elite"pitching reserves, and while there's a soft spot for Infante in Braves country, this is definitely a deal you have to make... I'll save the projected lineup talk for a later (much later) date, but I'm very excited about the offense, and while the defense will take a slight dip with Uggla at 2nd, I'd imagine that Prado (who will move to LF in the projected scenario unless Chipper Jones can't return) would likely be better than the Melky/Diaz platoon was in left last season... Love this move...
  • Roy Halladay is your NL Cy Young award winner... Unanimously, no less... No debate here... he was my preseason pick, and he was the only guy that could've won this award, even in a remarkable year for NL pitching...
  • NCAA Basketball thoughts... Ohio State looked... fantastic... Sullinger is a legit beast, and they have so much veteran talent/experience around him (David Lighty is 30 years old I think) that it could be a scary team... Louisville blew the doors off Butler in a game that surprised me... It's nice to see Louisville being relevant, even if it's just to make Rick Pitino jokes (aha!), but they looked explosive... Kansas State may be the least talked about top-10 team, and they beat up on a good Va. Tech team... Jacob Pullen, Jacob Pullen, Jacob Pullen.... Gonzaga goes down... San Diego State (a trendy pick to win the MWC) beat the Zags, at the kennel no less, 79-76 despite Steven Gray's 35 points for the Zags... Elias Harris with 4 shot attempts!? huh?....
  • NBA Box Score Check - The Hawks get a 10-point road win... randomly 5-1 on the road (very good) after this one, and Josh Smith was fantastic... still too much jumpers for my taste (including a pathetic elbow jumper airball mid-game), but 25 points, 8 boards, 7 blocks speaks for itself... Derrick Rose beats up on the depleted Rockets... Ish Smith was no match here (lol) and Rose ends with 33 in a road win for the Bulls... Gotta give some love for Wesley Matthews... 30 points for Portland in their 100-99 win, and he's making them look smart for that questionable-looking contract they gave him... this type of spot (Roy's injury) that exposes his versatility is the reason why... Landry Fields! Who is that you ask?... the Knicks rookie swingman who went undrafted (and disrespected) put up a career night with 21 and 17 in a seeming battle of the unknown with Gary Forbes (still plugging along) dropping 19 and 9 for Denver...
  • Gotta mention Maya Moore... the UConn women's star put up a 30/7/6 in their win over #2 Baylor... they simply don't lose (80 straight wins), and she's one of the best women's basketball players I've ever seen (like, on the short list with Taurasi)... But here's the takeaway... #1 vs. #2 played basically to open the season... that's fantastic PR for the women's game... why not do this? It's a great, great thing...
  • Donovan McNabb is only guaranteed $3.75 million dollars... yes, 3.75 million of a total of 78 million... I'm not sure how that math adds up... but it's all making sense now...
  • The Steelers cut Jeff Reed on Tuesday... their long-time kicker had missed 7 of 22 on the year, and missed another on Monday night, but it just goes to show the fickleness of the position in the NFL... going into the year, you'd have wagered significantly on him being safe regardless of performance....
What to watch for...
  • Suns/Heat - 7:00 ESPN - Not impressed with Phoenix so far, and I don't think this is a particularly good matchup for them... but the Heat continue to be pretty much must-see just to try and digest what's going on there...
  • Bulls/Spurs - 9:30 ESPN - Really nice matchup... Bulls on the 2nd night of a road back-to-back, but this will be competitive... San Antonio is firing right now...

3 comments:

Nick said...

Any word on the Mavs beating the Celtics and New Orleans in the space of a couple of days?
Give Dirk some R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Nick said...

Ron Wash has to be AL Manager of the Year. If you give it to Gardenhire it is a reward for 6 Divisional crowns in 9 years. If they win 6 out of 9 then I could manage them to the playoffs!
Plus Ron likes his nose candy.

Brad said...

Agreed on the Washington over Gardenhire thing... and he clearly would've won it if it was voted after the season... Tell Dirk to start guarding somebody!