MLB Hot Stove Evening Rumors
News- Dodgers retain entire coaching staff for 2010.
I’m sure you all know by now that Tim Wakefield was resigned for two years and the Red Sox declined the options on Jason Varitek (he still has a $3 million player option for 2010) and Alex Gonzalez. Tampa Bay exercized the $10 million option on Carl Crawford and declined the options for Brian Shouse and Gregg Zaun. They also claimed Ramon Ramirez on waivers.
-Click here for the Elias official rankings on who the Type A and Type B free agents are.
-The Giants will not resign OF Randy Winn and move in a younger direction, says the San Jose Mercury News.
-From MLB.com’s Mike Siano: “Cameron Maybin underwent surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder. He is expected to be ready when ST opens in Feb.”
Rumors
-SI.com’s Jon Heyman says that after declining Yorvit Torrealba’s $4 million option for next year, they offered him a two year deal worth $4.5 which he declined. Padres GM Jed Hoyer says he does not necessarily have to trade Adrian Gonzalez. Yankees interested in John Lackey, Mets may stay away.
-Fox Sports reports on a possible three-way trade that would send Milton Bradley to Toronto, Luis Castillo to the Cubs and Lyle Overbay to the Mets. But Mets beat writer Bart Hubbuch said that “I don’t see it happening. I find it hard to believe the Jays want Bradley. Risky move for a new GM.”
-Yankees not yet talking to free agents, says MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
-The Mets are looking for a power hitter, starter and catcher this offseason and Jon Heyman thinks Matt Holliday, Randy Wolf and Bengie Molina would be their main targets. Heyman also heard that Andy Pettitte told the Yankees he’d like to come back for one more year. He also says the Mets will look into Roy Halladay and Adrian Gonzalez.
-Among the items from the live GM Meetings blog at Fox Sports: Arizona seems content at 2B with either Ryan Roberts or Tony Abreu and probably won’t try and deal for either Dan Uggla or Kelly Johnson. Ramon Hernandez is open to catching for the Reds next season despite the team buying out his $8.5 million option. Free agent Melvin Mora is working out at other positions to improve his market value. Baltimore likely won’t deal Jeremy Guthrie and the Twins will talk with Carl Pavano on Tuesday.
-An extensive look at Brian Cashman’s thoughts on what the Yankees will do this offseason from AOL Fanhouse. Nothing seems likely for the team in Chicago. Accompanying Cashman picture…
-Joel Sherman of the New York Post has an article on the Rockies saying how they’d like to move top OF Brad Hawpe and retain their strong bullpen while moving Ian Stewart to 3B and letting Garrett Atkins walk.
Hockey Hit of the Week
Chris Neil wallops Victor Hedman. 18-year-old, meet 30-year-old.
GM Meetings Rumors
-There are signs that Padres 1B star Adrian Gonzalez could be traded “sooner rather than later” according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Boston would be atop the list of potential trade partners.
-With two years left on his contract, Mariners ace Felix Hernandez isn’t going anywhere, says Joel Sherman via Twitter. The Rangers need a righty bat a starter and a reliever but need an owner first.
-Sherman also says that the Braves, Reds, Mariners, Orioles and Angels are looking for a righty power bat along with the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox. Jermaine Dye, Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson are other free agent options.
-The Dodgers are not going to pursue Aroldis Chapman, says the LA Times. They also know that Orlando Hudson will likely head to either New York or Washington and that they may resign Ronnie Belliard to split time with Blake DeWitt at 2nd, according to Jon Heyman via Twitter. The Yankees have not ruled out resigning both Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.
-Boston exercized the $7.1 million 2010 option on Victor Martinez, says Rotoworld. The Boston Globe confirms.
-Carl Crawford’s $10 million option for next year will probably be picked up, says the St. Petersburg Times.
Inside The NBA- The Robert Frost Report
Fire
Los Angeles Lakers- Kobe Bryant scored 28 and DJ Mbenga added 10 and 12 in the starting lineup with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol out in a win over New Orleans, their sixth straight win to go to 6-1 including five straight wins.
Phoenix Suns- The Suns are also 6-1 after a 12 point win in Washington that saw all of their starters score in double figures led by a revitalized Jason Richardson.
Chicago Bulls- Chicago went on a late 16-0 run to beat Charlotte on Saturday night for their third straight win to go to 4-2 despite some key injuries. Joakim Noah has really turned it on early, averaging 11 and 11 with 2.3 blocks per game.
Los Angeles Clippers- Hot? Clippers? After starting 0-4, LA has pulled off three in a row including a home win over Memphis on Saturday. Chris Kaman has been an absolute monster thus far, putting up 23-10-2 in the early going. They have a good deal of talent and could surprise a lot of people if Kaman keeps this up.
Tyreke Evans- Forget Blake Griffin or even the hot start of Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings, Sacramento’s rookie PG has lit it up over the last two games. He had 32 and 7 assists in Saturday’s win over Utah and 23 points and 8 rebounds in Sunday’s home win over Golden State.
Ice
New York Knicks- In the first half, New York allowed 66 points to a Bucks team that average 87.7 per game. They only lost by 15 on Saturday night, but their lack of defense or real offensive firepower is truly disgusting to watch.
New Jersey Nets- The league’s lone winless team without Devin Harris at least played respectably in a 10 point loss to Boston, but Courtney Lee is doing horribly and Ryan Anderson is doing quite well with the Magic.
Washington Wizards- I picked this team to make the eastern finals and they’ve just lost four consecutive games, including Sunday’s setback against Phoenix without Antawn Jamison, Mike Miller and Mike James. I can’t figure out why this is going wrong but perhaps they’ll turn it around after they get healthy.
Minnesota Timberwolves- When Oleksiy Pecherov is in your starting lineup for a majority of your games, you know your team is in big trouble. Minnesota has lost six in a row mainly because of an offense averaging just 91.3 points per game, tied with Detroit for the league’s second lowest total behind Charlotte, who averages just 85.3
NFL Week 9 Rapid Recap
-The red hot Michael Turner ran for 166 yards and two TD’s as Atlanta (5-3) snapped a two game skid with a 31-17 win over Washington (2-6) whose top RB Clinton Portis left the game early with a concussion.
-Arizona (5-3) remained unbeaten on the road, getting five TD’s from Kurt Warner the week after he threw five interceptions as Larry Fitzgerald’s 137 and two scores offset Greg Olsen’s three TD grabs in the Cardinals’ 41-21 crushing over the defensively challenged Bears (4-4).
-Cedric Benson became the first player since Jerome Bettis to rush for 100 yards against the Ravens twice in one season, but it was the Bengals defense taking charge and holding Baltimore (4-4) to 215 yards total offense as Cincinnati (6-2) silenced the Ravens 17-7 in The Jungle.
-Dallas Clark may have caught 14 of Peyton Manning’s 50 attempted passes, 40 of which were in the first half, but Joseph Addai caught a TD pass and ran for one with 7:11 left to give the still unbeaten Colts (8-0) a 20-17 over Houston (5-4), who missed a game tying 42 yard field goal as time expired.
-Tom Brady threw for 332 yards and one 71 yard TD to Randy Moss in the third quarter that ended up being the game winner as the Patriots (6-2) extended their AFC East lead with a hard fought home win over Miami (3-5).
-Down 28-17 in the fourth, the previously winless Buccaneers got two late TD passes from rookie Josh Freeman (he had three total and just one interception), in his first NFL start, and got a late interception return for a TD and six sacks of Aaron Rodgers as Tampa Bay (1-7) won its first game of the season in the old-school creamsicles 38-28 over Green Bay (4-4).
-Mike Sims-Walker had 147 yards receiving and a TD and Maurice-Jones Drew rushed for 97 yards and helped Jacksonville (4-4) hold the ball for over 36 minutes in their 24-21 win over Kansas City (1-7) which was only that close because of two late TD grabs by recently acquired Chief Chris Chambers.
-Detroit led Seattle 17-0 after the first quarter but the Seahawks (3-5) scored 25 unanswered points including 329 yards in the air from Matt Hasselbeck and five interceptions of Matthew Stafford, the last one returned for a TD in Seattle’s 32-20 win over the Lions (1-7).
-DeAngelo Williams ran for two TD’s in the first quarter (he had 149 rushing yards in the game) and Carolina led New Orleans 17-6 at halftime, but third quarter TD’s from Pierre Thomas and Robert Meachem tied it and a fumble return for a score sealed the game as the Saints (8-0) got 330 in the air from Drew Brees in a 30-20 home win over the Panthers (3-5) to stay undefeated.
-An Eli Manning TD pass to Kevin Boss in the fourth quarter was followed by an interception of Phillip Rivers that could only be converted into a field goal. San Diego then marched down the field and scored the game winning TD with 21 seconds left on an 18 yard strike to Vincent Jackson to give the Chargers (5-3) a huge 21-20 road win over the Giants (5-4), who lost their fourth straight.
-Chris Johnson ran for 135 yards and two second half TD’s to give Tennessee a lead they would never relinquish after Courtland Finnegan’s pick six sealed a 34-27 win over San Francisco despite Frank Gore’s 158 total yards, Vernon Davis’ 10 catches and Jason Hill’s pair of TD grabs.
-Tony Romo threw for 307 yards and only one TD and Miles Austin just caught one pass, but their 49 yard TD connection with 8:04 left was the difference as the Eagles (5-3) failed to convert on several short yardage opportunites (some would say with the help of the officials) in a 20-16 loss to Dallas (6-2) that gives them the outright NFC East lead.
