Jay Cutler gets his wish
In the drama that is the Broncos offseason, Jay Cutler has received his wish and has been traded. The Broncos asked for 2 first round picks in exchange for Cutler and the Chicago Bears stepped up to the plate. The Broncos will recieve a first round pick this year and next as well as a third round pick and Kyle Orton who made strides last year and was a productive Quarterback. This trade makes both teams better. The Bears desperately need a QB and the Broncos can use the picks and Orton to build with new coach Josh McDaniels.
start a NBA franchise today, what player do you build your franchise. The hosts decided to take LeBron James out of the equation, both feeling that he was the clear cut favorite. There discussion came down to either Chris Paul or Dwight Howard. Based on these parameters i will start there. The key idea is to decide if you want to build around a guy who will have the ball around 80% of the time on offense vs a guy who can score, rebound and dominate on both ends of the court. Having a guy who controls the pace of the game, make other players better and be a floor leader is much more important to me that a guy who can score, rebound, and block shots. I feel like i can get a Sam Dalembert or Erick Dampier to block shots, rebound and control the paint. To find a Chris Paul is much harder to do. That said starting today i would choose Dwyane Wade over any player including Lebron James. D Wade has already won a championship. Granted it was with Shaq but D Wade carried that team in the finals, and had them one step away the year before with Lamar Odom and Caron Butler as his key weapons. I think Wade can lead a team, make players better and score at will with the game on the line. Wade is a close second to Kobe in key shots at the end of games and is right there with Steve Nash and Chris Paul distributing the ball. Some people may ask why the Heat are so terrible now then. The answer is in his teammates. He is working with some over the hill players, NBDLers, and rookies. If you put Wade in New Orleans or Toronto with Chris Bosh and they would be right there in there respective divisions.
In one of the most interesting and unforeseen match ups in recent History the Arizona Cardinals will be playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. While the Steelers had looked polished, strong and clearly one of the best teams in the NFL the Cardinals are the exact opposite. Every week seemed to produce a different version of the team. The team that showed up for the playoffs has been dominant. Larry Fitzgerald is playing incredible and looking like the most dominant player in the NFL. That said the most impressive part of the Cardinals run is the play of the defense. They have made plays when it matters most. While everything in my head says to go with the Steelers, I have the strangest feeling the Cardinals are going to win the Super Bowl. In one of the strangest playoffs in recent history, everything that should have happened hasn’t. The Steelers can win if they can keep the running game active and productive, as well as stopping Larry Fitzgerald. It seems like the Eagles would have seen what he did to the Panthers and make an adjustment. The Eagles seemed to make improvements in the second half, and if the Steelers can figure out what they did they might be able to slow him down. Cardinals win 27-24 with Larry Fitzgerlad as the Super Bowl MVP.
and helped their teams win games. Johnson is splitting carries which is hurting his numbers but has made plays when it was his turn to play and running well late in games. Jeff Fisher is trying to save Johnson for late in the season when they are pushing deep into the playoffs. Forte has been exceptional and has allowed the Kyle Orton and the Bears passing attack to be effective. Others to watch as the season goes are DeSean Jackson and Felix Jones who have big impacts on their teams.
With combinations like Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh or Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin it is
very tempting to take both players during a draft especially when they are the best players on the board. However this can lead to serious issues down the road. The biggest problem occurs when that team enters its bye week. You now have to replace to studs and the chance of getting the points are very small. Also if the Injury bug hits their quarterback their production will diminish also.
The trade deadline proves to bring more thunder. Another all-star changed teams as the trade deadline passed Thursday. Manny Ramirez is now a Los Angeles Dodger, after much talk and complaining on Manny’s part, the Red Sox made his wishes come to fruition. As this deal happened the Pirates joined the party to make the trade work. The Pirates sent Jason Bay to Boston and the Pirates got prospects in return, including touted prospect Andy Laroche who joins his brother Adam in Pittsburgh.
In another move that shocked everyone Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the White Sox forNick Masset infielder Danny Richar. The move will allow Nick Swisher to play first base in place of Paul Konerko who was been hitting a dismal .214 since returning from the DL. During Konerkos DL stint, Swisher plauyed first and the White Sox went 13-7. The move allows Griffey to play for a team with serious title contention.
In a move that shocked baseball fans and media alike the Detroit Tigers sent Future first ballot Hall of Famer Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth who was pitching well of late. The move was made to fill the vacancy left by Jorge Posada’s injury that sidelined him for the season. The acquisition of Farnsworth will sure up the Tigers bullpen and Farnsworth could become the closer if newly anointed closer Fernando Rodney does not produce in the roll. This move will allow Brandon Inge to return to his old position and catch full time. Inge has been playing very well and is a big part of the tigers upswing after a terrible start. This is the latest trade in one of the biggest trading deadlines in recent history and i don’t foresee the trade barrage slowing down until the deadline passes
Tuesday Mark Texeira became the latest big name to swap teams before the trade deadline. The Braves got Casy Kotchman who was making strides and becoming a solid everyday first baseman. Kotchman is the player the braves coveted. They were also looking to aquire pitching and wanting top pitching prospect Nick Adenhart but the Angels were unwilling to part with Adenhart, however they were able to get Stephen Marek in addition to Kotchman who could provide help to the Braves pitching staff. This trade improves an already potent lineup. Texeira will provide power to the lineup and should produce a ton of RBIs with people like Torri Hunter and Chone Figgins getting on base in front of him. Texeira just wants to be part of team, “Hopefully I can just go over there and be one more piece of the puzzle.” The Angels were a title contender before the deal but they just catapulted themselves to the top of the list with this trade.