Cheech Tremendous

Any guesses as to who the final three cut will be? I say Antawn Jamison, Shane Battier and Joe Johnson.

No link yet, but ESPN Radio is reporting Gil Meche to the Mets for Aaron Heilman. Also, the beat writer for the Nationals says that Soriano to the White Sox is far from a done deal, and that it may actually be the Angels who have the inside track to acquire him. EDIT: Haven't found real confirmation anywhere else, so take it with a grain of salt until something official comes out.

The story they need to emphasize is that Big Show will take on any challenger from anywhere, as long it is on "his" turf and "his" type of match. Big Show plowing through outsiders every week would go a long ways towards establishing the ECW brand, the title, and Big Show as a main-event player.

The White Sox' current center fielder is hitting somewhere around .205. Acquiring Soriano would allow the Sox to move Podsednik to center field. That's a decent point, but the White Sox as a team lead the entire majors in runs scored, HR, RBI, and SLG, and are third in AVG and sixth in OBP. Offense is not the problem, despite Anderson being a black hole of suck in that lineup. Putting Soriano in left and Pods in Center is a defensive downgrade, and trading McCarthy weakens the pitching staff considerably. Considering they are in the bottom half of baseball in runs allowed and ERA, I would consider that a poor use of resources.

Just a thought that crossed my mind this afternoon. Does anyone think that Kenny Williams acquired Soriano with the intent to flip him for pitching help? Perhaps I give him too much credit as a GM, but I have hard time trying to figure this deal out from the perspective of the White Sox. By the way, MacDougal to the White Sox is now official, with two minor leaguers going back to the Royals. Trade info can be found on the ESPN main page.

Peter Gammons, before his aneurysm, reported on WEEI the weekend of the Braves-Red Sox series that the two sides had talked about a possible deal for Andruw Jones, for the reasons I mentioned above. The rumor has picked back up this week due to Hansen now being eligible for trades, but I don't have any sources regarding the deal being re-discussed. It was just reporting a RUMOR, which I would think would be acceptable in this thread. As for the Soriano deal, I'm not sure what the White Sox are thinking. I guess they are thinking they can just try to outslug everyone down the stretch. That team needs pitching help bad, but I guess every team does. Still, why trade McCarthy, who could slip into the rotation now, for a rental in the OF that's just going to hurt their defense and add a few more runs to what is already the best offense in baseball? I guess it theoretically keeps the Yankees and Tigers from acquiring him, which would maybe be the difference in those two playoff races.

It's speculation, Bob, not a sure thing. Smoltz and Jones HAVE been discussed in potential trades. Sure they are just rumors, but at least they have sources. Some people like the trade deadline and want to talk about potential deals. If you aren't interested, don't come in the thread.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2528494 Chicago White Sox are "extremely close" to acquiring Alfonso Soriano. The package revolves around Brandon McCarthy. Also noted in the article is a Mike MacDougal to Chicago trade.

Okay I have one coming out of Boston. Rumor has it that Atlanta and Boston have discussed a Coco Crisp, Craig Hansen, +, + deal for Andruw Jones. It was apparently discussed earlier in the year but fell through because Hansen was not eligible to be traded until July 24th. A second amended deal also included Smoltz, but I won't even discuss that one because it sounds completely implausible for both sides. Apparently Atlanta's current ownership would like to move Jones before he gets 10/5 rights, but only in a deal that would bring back cheap players who can contribute today. Boston, despite its record, has an abysmal offense outside of Manny and Papi. So it makes sense for both sides, but I doubt it happens.

Anyone interested in having a separate thread for trade rumors? There will probably be a lot of discussion this week and it might clog up the thread if certain rumors get out of hand.

Jeter may not have been able to handle CF, but they never even tried itdespite so many suggesting it, and that fact that Jeter had the sort of skill set that could have translated. This happens all the time in baseball. Good athletes are often SS as they come up in the system, but they move down the defensive spectrum once they show the inability to play it at a high level. The Yanks never did this with Jeter. Jeter also could have tried 2nd or 3rd. It just seems weird that you would make the best SS in baseball change positions because you don't want to hurt your captain's feelings. That infield defense murders their pitching staff.

I didn't witness the events surrounding Souled Out 2000 at the time, but wasn't that a very similar situation to this, as well as the political turmoil between Russo/Sullivan/Radicals? Hart and Jarrett were each taken from the show via concussions (Bret's from Goldberg's kick and waiting to get a check-up and Jarrett's from Russo's brain-fart of letting Jarrett work 3 matches in one night including a cage with Snuka). The main event was basically the remaining halfs of the two main events (Sid/Hart and Benoit/Jarrett). Since Benoit/Jarrett was supposed to be a Triple Threat Theatre (3 Matches, 3 stipulations), they turned it into Kidman vs The Revolution (Melenko, Wall and Saturn). Then you throw in the Russo and Radicalz bullshit. Nothing can touch this mess. Let's not forget the first match of the Triple Threat Theater, Kidman vs. Malenko (no ropes?) where if anyone touched the floor they lost. About two minutes in, Malenko rolled out to regroup...and the match was over. Don't forget that the Bret/Sid match was itself a replacement for Bret/Goldberg, after Goldberg lost a loser leaves town match with a limo window. The fact that Tank Abbot was booked to win the title on that show makes it the greatest booking nightmare in history. Thank God the monkeys in charge at WCW had the forsight to boot Vince Russo off the team when he told them he wanted Tank Abbott to win the title. Given what happened, it probably would have been better to just go along with Russo on that one.

Or they could have done the rational thing and moved Jeter to center, A-Rod to short, traded for a 3B and kept the $40 million they spent on Damon for pitching help. But I guess that would have hurt the captain's feelings, and we can't have that now, can we?

I didn't witness the events surrounding Souled Out 2000 at the time, but wasn't that a very similar situation to this, as well as the political turmoil between Russo/Sullivan/Radicals? Hart and Jarrett were each taken from the show via concussions (Bret's from Goldberg's kick and waiting to get a check-up and Jarrett's from Russo's brain-fart of letting Jarrett work 3 matches in one night including a cage with Snuka). The main event was basically the remaining halfs of the two main events (Sid/Hart and Benoit/Jarrett). Since Benoit/Jarrett was supposed to be a Triple Threat Theatre (3 Matches, 3 stipulations), they turned it into Kidman vs The Revolution (Melenko, Wall and Saturn). Then you throw in the Russo and Radicalz bullshit. Nothing can touch this mess. Let's not forget the first match of the Triple Threat Theater, Kidman vs. Malenko (no ropes?) where if anyone touched the floor they lost. About two minutes in, Malenko rolled out to regroup...and the match was over. Don't forget that the Bret/Sid match was itself a replacement for Bret/Goldberg, after Goldberg lost a loser leaves town match with a limo window. The fact that Tank Abbot was booked to win the title on that show makes it the greatest booking nightmare in history.

Wow, some of those are awesome. Young Randy Savage and Bill Goldberg with the Hitler stash may be my favorites.

Dammit, Cena's Writer beat me to it. Steve Nash has had more accomplishments in his career than Tim Hardaway, Rod Stickland and Mark Jackson COMBINED. Counting stats are bullshit unless you are comparing already great players. None of those guys are at Nash's level (Hardaway would be closest, but not really in the same ballpark).

Well as far as most valuable or best player, it's arguing semantics really. The basis for the award seems to change every year, so we really have to argue it at face value. The majority of voters considered this player to be the most indespensible in winning ballgames, or something like that.

There have only been 11 players in the history of the NBA to win multiple MVP awards, let alone back-to-back trophies and Steve Nash is one of them. He's had a short peak, but that peak has been phenomenal. Think about that... amongst those who are paid to analyze the NBA, he was considered to be the best player in the entire league... twice. That's enough to put him in the conversation for the top 50.

Could some of that drop come from the fact that the show was on an hour later this week? A show that runs until midnight in the middle of the week is going to lose some viewers. Some people have to work in the morning.

It was a nice effort and it's cool that you took the time to do this, but the list didn't turn out that well. It sways too hard towards players from the 80s and 90s, which must be a flaw in the way things are calculated. Some suggestions: -More emphasis on postseason success. Try factoring in playoff appearances, Finals MVPS, postseason numbers, etc. -Other awards should count. What about ROY, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year? Factor in the top 5 in MVP voting, not just just the winner -Where are the corrections across eras? There were about 20% more rebounds per game in the 70s. Scoring before the shot clock? The fact that George Mikan didn't make the top 50 shows something is wrong -What about blocks and steals? I know those stats haven't always been kept, but they are important. I'm not trying to put down your list, but if you really are this nerdy and have the time to do it, make the best list possible. It's too one dimensional.

If, and I really mean IF, the Yankees are considering moving A-Rod, they should call the Dodgers, Anglels, Phillies, and Mariners, and tell them privately they have one week to come up with a bid for A-Rod. If they get a good offer, approach A-Rod and ask him if he would consider waiving his no-trade. If there are no offers, go on with the usual business.

Speaking of crazy trade rumors, Buster Olney has reported (and it was discussed on BBTN last night) the possibility of a Jake Peavey for Mike Lowell swap. Even as a Sox fan, I know that sounds insane. But apparently the rumor has some sort of legs, as it has been discussed in both chats this morning on epsn.com. If there is a trade in the works, it's more like Woody Williams or Chris Young coming back with a 1B, or a third team would have to get involved. There's just no way the Padres would trade Peavey, especially for Mike F'n Lowell. EDIT: Did a little snooping around, and if there were to be a deal, it would be in two parts. The Red Sox would send some combination of bullpen help (Seanez, Tavarez, ?) and money to Colorado for Ryan Shealy. They would then move Lowell and some combination of prospects for Peavy and Klesko's albatross of a contract. Still extremely unlikely, but there is some sort of talk going down. DOUBLE EDIT: Forget everything I've posted, this all Buster Olney bullshit (the least credible mainstream reporter I've ever seen). He has also floated rumors that the Sox would trade for Bobby Abreu, and is now saying they are close to trading Pedroia and Ellsbury (the two best position players in the system) for Alfonso Soriano, a guy who fits in nowhere on this team! Why can't he keep his Yankee homer ass thoughts to himself and leave the real reporting to credible baseball writers.

Does it seem weird to anyone else that Yankees fans just seem to magically disappear when they are having a bad day or bad series? This was a nationally televised game and there wasn't one comment the whole time.

Somebody's really uptight about their team.

Edited for unfunny joke. Edited for accuracy.