Greetings all... as you can tell, I've been absent in this space after spending 9 days in Texas, and being generally busy... my apologies... when I left? We were in the dog days of baseball and no storylines... upon return? Full-on NFL free agency, the MLB trade deadline passing, and stories galore... nice timing...
- The Braves trade for Michael Bourn... I'm aware that this is old news, but I haven't weighed in... I love the move... for all of the Schafer love I've seen, he's a far-below-average hitter, a simply average defensive CF, and should NEVER be a MLB leadoff hitter at this stage... so what does Frank Wren do? He acquires a guy with 40 steals already this year (the Braves team has approximately the same total... yes, the team), who has a career .337 OBP (with .340+ the last 3 years) who is an elite defender in CF... no-brainer... and to do it without dealing any of the "elite" pitching prospects? That's like stealing... bullet dodged by not acquiring Hunter Pence, who, IMO, never made sense in the first place because he doesn't play center... love it... that being said, the Braves now trail the Phils by 7 in the NL East and lead the WC by only 2.5 over Arizona... it's time to win some games... and the regression from Jurrjens that any sane person knew was on the horizon is upon us...
- Randy Moss retires... I'll believe this more when he's not on a roster in Week 6... but if Randy really is done, it's been a wild ride... I'll never forget how electrifying he was as a rookie during the Vikings 15-1 season in 1998... and he is the proud owner of the greatest WR season ever in his maiden voyage with the Pats (not a small feat when you consider that the greatest football player ever IMO in Jerry Rice played WR)... but for some reason? I think he plays this year... somewhere...
- The NBA lockout continues... with no end in sight... and you're hearing things like "quiet" and "alarmingly quiet" with regard to the talks on both sides... great work fellas!....
- The US men's soccer team has a new coach... Juergen Klinsmann takes over for the much-maligned Bob Bradley... I have no idea strategically because, well, it's soccer... but it seems like this could be an upgrade, yes?...
Quick NFL Round-up...
- While we're here... let's update the Falcons as well... the big splash of free agency was the signing of Ray Edwards... the 26-year-old DE had 8.5 sacks last year and gives them a legit end opposite Abraham while making Biermann a #3 DE which is what he is... that's a nice front 4 with those 2, Babineaux, and Jerry, and the defense will shape up nicely if Brent Grimes is brought back... as far as offense is concerned, 4/5 of the O-Line returns (Harvey Dahl signed elsewhere), and Michael Jenkins was let go... I'm okay with that, but it's kind of funny after he signed that big extension... see ya Mike...
- The Eagles are loaded... you've heard the stories by now, but with Nnamdi signed, and the acquisition of Rodgers-Cromartie to go with Asante Samuel, that literally could be the best trio of CBs in the history of the league... that's insane... anyway, it's still going to come down to Vick's health and performance, but that's an insane roster right now...
- The Jets bring back Holmes and Cromartie, sign Burress, and do generally "Jets" things... speaking of loaded secondaries... the Revis/Cromartie/Wilson trio isn't bad either, but the Burress signing makes me scratch my head a bit... $3 million for a guy who's 34 and hasn't played in 2 years?... Could've signed Moss for less than that...
Anyway... we're back in town, and they'll be content in this space again... stay tuned
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