I just heard that Ron Artest has said that he will be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers for the upcoming season. “I’m definitely going to L.A. — to sign, yeah. Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I’m in L.A. right now. I don’t really care about the money,” Artest said. “I’ll play there for nothing. … L.A. was very interested in me, and they got me.” This would almost certainly mean that Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza will be gone. What does this mean for Kobe & Co.?


Artest is a huge risk vs. reward type player. His talents are undeniable but so is his temper. He is known for being a disruption but showed this past season while playing for the Houston Rockets that he can control himself when needed. Will he be able to replace Odom and Ariza both? Probably not, but he will cost less than the two of them put together. He does bring crazy defense to the Lakers, which they will need with the loss of Ariza. This should be very interesting to watch this year.

Remember when it was reported that the Phoenix Suns were discussing a trade with the Golden State Warriors involving Amare Stoudemire going to the W’s for Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright and Stephen Curry, only to see the W’s quickly state that they will not be trading Stephen Curry? Well, now it seems that the Suns are willing to talk about swapping out Curry for Marco Belinelli.

I can see this trade happening a lot easier than the original proposal. Although, I’m not sure the Warriors should do it unless they could ensure that Stoudemire will not become a free agent by signing him to an extension. With the money they’d free up from trading Biedrins, the W’s might be able to make a lucrative offer to Stoudemire and make him the focal point of the team offense. He would be absolutely loved in the Bay Area and would be the star of the team. Not to mention return to a system that he flourishes in. He won’t be called upon to play crazy defense and he could focus on gorilla dunking on people the way he so obviously enjoys doing. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know about you, but I personally think Manny Ramirez should not be allowed to attend the All-Star game this year unless he buys a ticket. The guy slapped baseball across the face by taking PEDs (and no he’s not the only guy to do this) and now the fans are voting him into the All-Star game. This in my opinion is ridiculous. I understand that the fans get to vote in who they want to see but c’mon.


It’s sad when a player who has missed 50 games before the All-Star break, for whatever reason, gets to start the All-Star game. What about Torri Hunter? He deserves to start the game over Manny and now he probably won’t. This is even worse than when Shaquille O’Neal was voted the starting Center and he had been injured the entire first half of the season.


Some things shouldn’t be left in the hands of the people. Or at least the voting system should be built to prevent something like this. The players and managers should have a vote that could help even it out a bit. All I’m saying is that Manny shouldn’t be allowed to play at all and I hope Charlie Manuel has the guts to bench Manny before he even has a chance to take the field. That would absolutely make my day.

I was browsing the message board in one of my leagues the other day and came across a post titled “Wieters For Sale”. I was intrigued so I decided to read the post and this is what it said, “Let me know if you want him, as he is officially on the block. I’m looking for some speed and a legit SP. J”. He is referring to Super Prospect Matt Wieters of course. Now keep in mind that this is a keeper league so it makes sense for J to use his #1 waiver on a prospect as heralded as Wieters. But speed and a legit SP might be asking too much. I desperately need a catcher but I don’t think that Wieters is the answer this year. Read the rest of this entry »

I have this crazy dream of seeing all of the MLB stadiums before I die. So far I’ve seen the stadiums for the A’s, Giants, Cubs, White Sox, and the Yankees (the house that Ruth built).


A few weeks ago I was in Chicago so I decided to take in a few baseball games. The first game I went to U.S. Cellular Field to see the White Sox/ Rangers game. The game was a blowout with the Rangers winning but I was really there just to see the field. So, since all I really wanted to do was watch a few innings then walk around the stadium, I decided to purchase cheap seats thinking it wouldn’t really matter where I was sitting. Well, that was a big mistake. Apparently, if you purchase seats in the 500 level for the White Sox you aren’t allowed to go anywhere else but the 500 level. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy.


From what I could see of the park, it was very nice and clean. It wasn’t really that impressive of a park but I will say that our seats albeit in the 500 level, were still very nice seats. The view of the park was wonderful and the concessions were very close as well as the restrooms. Now if only Michael Young and Jermaine Dye could have played better for me.

Could the Oakland A’s be taking a look at Pedro Martinez? How about the Los Angeles Angels? There is a good chance that Billy Beane has contacted the agent of Pedro Martinez recently. In fact most if not all of the AL West could use some starting pitching. It is really surprising that we haven’t heard more about teams being interested in Pedro.


Pedro dazzled in the World Baseball Classic and there is no reason to believe that he won’t be an effective middle of the rotation pitcher if he can stay healthy. The AL Central could use him too. The Chicago Whitesox (not to mention their crosstown buddies now that Carlos Zambrano is on the DL) have to do something about Jose Contreras and his 8.31 ERA. Kenny Williams can’t be happy with the way he has started the season and my guess is the Whitesox will be making an offer to Pedro very soon. Somebody out there will bite on Pedro and he could very well be of some help for a team that needs SP.

Kevin Durant – Ankle – He wants to play but he has to be cleared by doctors before he can play. The Daily Oklahoman is reporting that the injury could sideline him up to a month. This is a huge blow to his owners as he was having a top 5 type of year. Hopefully he’ll be able to return sooner rather than later, for his owner’s sake.

Kevin Garnett – Knee – Still out for at least this week. The Celtics don’t want to bring Garnett back too soon and risk losing him for the playoffs too.

Danny Granger – Foot – He may be able to play on this upcoming road trip but give him a game or two before you put him back in your lineup.

Luol Deng – Shin – Apparently there is no stress fracture so it looks as though he’ll just need a little rest. He hasn’t been playing well though lately so temper your expectations when he does return. Read the rest of this entry »

Now is the time to take a good hard look at your fantasy basketball roster and see what your strengths and weaknesses are. See which players on your squad are only adding to categories that you are completely dominating and which categories you are seriously struggling in but still have a chance to move up in.

For example, let’s say you have a strong rebounding, blocking and field goal % team but you are seriously lacking in assists, steals and free throw %. If you have a player like Dwight Howard, why not try to trade him for Jason Kidd? Or if you have Andris Biedrins why not trade him for Raymond Felton or Chris Duhon?

These might not seem like fair trades for you but in reality, they are boosting your chances of overtaking categories while not hurting you in the categories you are in command of. You can’t think in terms of fair value this late in the season even though that is how most people think. Take advantage of someone that thinks they are getting a great deal when you are actually just giving up some of your strengths to counter your weaknesses. Read the rest of this entry »

Fantasy Relevance ‘09 is a breakdown of each M.L.B. team that shows the players with fantasy value from each respective team. There are four categories the players will be broken down into and they are as follows: Studs, Role Players, Keepers and Sleepers. Hopefully this will help you in your quest for Fantasy Baseball dominance.

Studs:

Grady Sizemore- He will most likely be taken in the top 10 of your draft this year. Sizemore is entering the beginning stages of his prime and should be a great source of HR, RBI, Runs and SB. The BA could also be there even though he only hit .268 last year. In ‘06 he hit .290 so we know that he is capable of producing a good BA. Most people feel that he will improve on all of his numbers across the board and with good reason. He increased his RBI, HR, SB and OPS last year but went down in OBP and Runs. The decrease in Runs can be attributed to not having a healthy Travis Hafner or Victor Martinez in the lineup for most of the season. So, if those two guys comeback healthy, there’s no telling what could happen. Sizemore is one of those guys that just might make a serious run at AL MVP. Read the rest of this entry »

Fantasy Relevance ‘09 is a breakdown of each M.L.B. team that shows the players with fantasy value from each respective team. There are four categories the players will be broken down into and they are as follows: Studs, Role Players, Keepers and Sleepers. Hopefully this will help you in your quest for Fantasy Baseball dominance.

Studs:

Tim Lincecum- Last year’s NL Cy Young winner is probably going to come off the board as the one of the top three pitchers in most drafts. He is an excellent source of ERA, Wins, WHIP and K. The only thing he doesn’t do is get you Saves. Some people might think that there is no way he could repeat what he did last year but I am not one of those people. He is the real deal and will be for a very long time. There is a very good chance that he will repeat as the NL Cy Young award winner unless Johan Santana has something to say about it. He also has one of the greatest power pitchers of all-time as his stable mate in Randy Johnson. Having that veteran presence available will be an unbelievable resource for Lincecum to tap into. It is a toss up between Lincecum and Santana as to who I would pick first but I think but there is no arguing that you can’t go wrong with Lincecum on your roster. Expect Wins in the high teens with an ERA below 3.00 (I know it’s crazy), 240+ K and a WHIP below 1.20. Read the rest of this entry »