Before you start digging that hole for the impending burial of the 2008-2009 Cleveland Cavaliers season, let me be the first to quote that great American philosopher, Yogi Berra – It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. There are plenty of reasons why the Cavs are probably dead in the water…and plenty of reasons why Cavs fans should still have hope. Let’s take a quick stroll through the options, shall we?
Popularity: 60% [?]
I had occasion to be in Chicago this morning and the local sports radio guys up there were positively giddy with the Peavy-to-the-White-Sox deal. And they should have been. It was reported that the Padres had actually called Peavy in to talk to him about it on Wednesday night…which basically means that the deal was in place and just required Peavy to waive his no-trade clause.
Most of the experts are talking about a couple of key reasons for Peavy to invoke his no-trade clause and stay in San Diego:
- Peavy wants to stay in the National League
- Peavy wants to play for a contender
Obviously, neither of those two criteria apply to the 2009 Chicago White Sox, especially the second one.
If winning cures everything, then the potential for winning will set Peavy free. Here are some of the other things at play here:
- The Padres need to get Peavy’s salary off the books ASAP. They are way over budget and the owner is going through a messy divorce, in which the Padres franchise comprises over 50% of the marital assets and is also the key bargaining chip. They are in full-on fire sale / rebuilding mode. Hey, at least this guy have a bona fide reason for the fire sale (I am talking to you, Jeff Loria, you heartless, soulless, fan-destroying douche-bag). So, Peavy is gone before the trade deadline, we know that for a fact.
- The Padres want 4 good prospects in return for Peavy. There are only a small handful of teams that have the prospects to support that kind of trade without depleting the farm system and/or have enough money to replenish the farm system fairly quickly. I don’t quite have time to do all the research necessary to come up with the whole list, but it probably looks something like: Red Sox, Cubs, Braves, White Sox, Yankees, Mets, Angels, Rays, Phillies, Dodgers.
- Peavy has around $60 million of guaranteed money coming to him under his current deal. The list of teams that can support that kind of financial commitment is even shorter than the list of teams in the bullet point above this one. Once again, just a slightly educated guess, but that list might look like this: Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, White Sox, Phillies. Notice anything particular about that list? If not, you are kindly urged to check out the list of the largest media markets in the U.S. here.
So, it’s not exactly rocket science to figure out where Peavy might end up. If he is firm on the National League thing, then he will probably end up with the Cubs…who have finally figured out how to win in a league without a salary cap when you are in a major media market. Granted, they already passed on Peavy during the off-season for financial reasons, but they are far from done talking to Peavy about the prospect of coming to Chicago.
If Peavy is willing to relax the NL requirement to get himself to a contender, then he will be in New York or Boston. I think Boston, with the injuries they have had to their pitching staff, and all the young arms they have in the minors, would be a perfect fit.
Sure, I am a Red Sox fan, so the overall premise of this blog post is merely to pre-gloat about the upcoming Jake Peavy trade in the next month or two. Don’t go to sleep on Theo Epstein on this one.
So, just for kicks, let’s look at the potential playoff rotation for the Red Sox with Peavey in the mix, shall we? Beckett, Peavey, Penny, Lester, Dice-K, Smoltz…wait, that’s 6…and we haven’t gotten to Wakefield, Buckholz or Masterson yet. I have always wanted the Sox to be able to use Wakefield as a reliever in the playoffs. Could you imagine being able to have him get up every couple of innings or so of a playoff game, see how the knuckler is reacting under the current conditions, phone in the results to Tito from the ‘pen, and only have Wakefield used when he will be most effective? And what about having the ability to finish games like this: Masterson, Smoltz, Papelbon back-to-back-to-back…with Okajima available to put the occasional lefty to sleep in a pinch.
I think it might be safe to say that a Red Sox team featuring that kind of staff might have a better than average chance to win their 3rd title in 6 years. Uh, as a Red Sox fan, I am pretty excited about that last paragraph, even if you take the name Peavy out of it. In fact, if you are a Red Sox fan, read that last paragraph again, ignoring the word “Peavy” and remind yourself that the Sox have been accomplishing everything so far this year without Dice-K, Smoltz or an HR from Papi, except for the one he hit Wednesday night.
So, my feelings for the Red Sox aside, let’s assume that Peavy is going to end up with a contender that can provide the prospects required and weather the $60 million storm. Unfortunately, at least for small market teams and their fans…the rich get richer…again.
One last point…don’t go to sleep on Shallow Hal with this one, either.
Popularity: 62% [?]
This time of year is the best for me as a sports fan. With MLB starting to heat up, NFL voluntary camps and OTAs, and the NHL and NBA playoffs, it just doesn’t get better than that in terms of quality entertainment options.
While I like it all, what really gets me excited is the NHL playoffs. The following list will hopefully get some others excited about it as well.
1. The 1 vs. 8 matchups. It seems like every other year, one of the 8 seeds will pull the upset. This seems to happen about 70,000% more often in hockey than any other sport. For instance, it has only happened 3 times in NBA history (Denver over Seattle in 1994, New York over Miami in 1999 and Golden State over Dallas in 2007). It has happened in 6 out of the last 11 NHL playoff seasons.
2. Ovi and The Kid in Round 2. Very rarely do you get to see the 2 brightest stars in a league sharing the playing field for an entire series…and we could see it twice in rapid succession. Consider Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in the Pittsburgh-Washington series going on right now an appetizer to Kobe-LeBron coming up in a couple of weeks.
3. The Beards. While it’s always fun to see just how ugly guys can get, especially guys that share my annoying physical trait of having the beard grow way down the neck line, the high comedy really comes into play with the guys that just can’t seem to generate any scruff-related activity that could be considered anything other than “patchy.”
4. The Hair. Of course, I am talking about Melrose and Engblom. I applaud Melrose for sticking with the mullet, even here in 2009…I have no freaking idea what Engblom is trying to do.
5. The Goaltenders. It seems like every year there are 3 or 4 goalies that are not only capable of elevating their team beyond expectations, but they also deliver on it. Not only is that going on this year, but the crop of great YOUNG goalies right now is as impressive as it has ever been.
6. Boston-Montreal. The series kind of fizzled and turned into a rout, but for the first couple of games in Boston, it looked like it was going to be a battle, and when you have these 2 teams involved, with the genuine hate, it has the potential to be special. As a Habs fan, I think it’s only fitting that the Bruins are going to lose to the Whalers in Round 2. In unrelated news, is it too early to get a refund on Carey Price? OK…wait for it…waaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiit for iiiiiiiiiit…the “Price” has been too high indeed.
7. Versus. The Versus crew is outstanding, by and large. I especially like Mike Emrick and Jack Edwards. These 2 guys make watching the games on television about 50 times more exciting than if anyone else were in the booth…and it never seems forced. They get loud on goals, scoring chances, big hits, great saves, and that’s about it. Gus Johnson should put his television on Versus and throw his remote in the trash until he learns how to build on the excitement everyone is already seeing instead of trying to create excitement where none exists. Keith Jones in the studio is also about as good as it gets when it comes to providing the analysis fans want in between periods and in between games. Bill Patrick is functional as the host, but I think I miss Bill Clement (put that on the list of phrases I never thought I would utter in a million years).
8. Christine Simpson. Hockey’s answer to Erin Andrews. Take a look for yourself…and let’s throw in Christie Brinkley for free…is that something you’d be interested in? In fairness to how much of a hag Simpson looks like next to Brinkley, I included another one where she is surrounded by less attractive people…there are also a couple of interesting tidbits in that photo, if you know where to look.
9. The Ageless Wonders. Chris Chelios, Mark Recchi and Sergei Federov are contributing in a big way to their teams’ playoff runs.
10. Sudden Death. There is nothing like it. One defensive lapse, one mistake, or even one bad bounce and your life may be changed forever.
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