The Indiands just got themselves a deal

Travis Buck to a one-year, $625000 deal. Travis Buck could be a stud if he gets a chance. I'm talking 20/20 numbers with good defense at a corner outfield spot. He just has to get the chance and stay healthy.

Relatively Random Guesses for the Top 40 Free Agents

1. Cliff Lee - Yankees.

2. Carl Crawford - Giants.

3. Adrian Beltre - Athletics.

4. Jayson Werth - Red Sox.

5. Adam Dunn - Rays.

6. Victor Martinez - Tigers.

7. Rafael Soriano - Angels.

8. Mariano Rivera - Yankees.

9. Paul Konerko - Brewers.

10. Derek Jeter - Yankees.

11. Hiroki Kuroda - Dodgers.

12. Jorge De La Rosa - Royals.

13. Carl Pavano - Nationals.

14. Jake Westbrook - Cardinals.

15. Aubrey Huff - Giants.

16. Juan Uribe - Dodgers.

17. Carlos Pena - White Sox.

18. Jim Thome - Rays.

19. Vladimir Guerrero - Rangers.

20. Manny Ramirez - Blue Jays.

21. Magglio Ordonez - Athletics.

22. Orlando Hudson - Cardinals.

23. Derrek Lee - Orioles.

24. Lance Berkman - Athletics.

25. Andy Pettitte - Retirement.

26. Jon Garland - Diamondbacks.

27. A.J. Pierzynski - Rangers.

28. Miguel Olivo - Rockies.

29. John Buck - Marlins.

30. Javier Vazquez - Nationals.

31. Scott Downs - Red Sox.

32. J.J. Putz - Orioles.

33. Brian Fuentes - Diamondbacks.

34. Adam LaRoche - Rays.

35. Hisanori Takahashi - Padres.

36. Pat Burrell - Phillies.

37. Joaquin Benoit - Tigers.

38. Kevin Millwood - Rockies.

39. Kevin Correia - Brewers.

40. Arthur Rhodes - Reds.

The Luckiest Call I've Ever Made

http://thefirstblackpunter.blogspot.com/2010/09/i-cant-wait.html

On 11:30 AM, September 3rd, Troy Tulowitzki had 12 home runs. In the following 14 games he went on to score 23 runs, drive in 31 and go yahtz 14 times. His average went up 9 points, OBP 5 points and of course the rise in slugging by a staggering 92 points. His slugging rose, on average, 6.57 points a game for a 14-game span. The craziest part is, it might not even be over. Baseball works in cycles. Players get hot, players get cold, he just can't keep it up for the entire season, but he doesn't need to hit 162 home runs for the Colorado Rockies to win the division.

The fact is, Troy Tulowitzki is a stud, I've been saying it for a while, I'd take Troy Tulowitzki over Hanley Ramirez if the league was redrafted. You just can't teach desire, hustle or fielding. Hanley Ramirez is an athlete playing shortstop, he's truly better suited as an outfielder, even a center fielder. Hanley's filthy, Tulo's just better overall.

If the Rockies make the playoffs, they also win the World Series. Troy Tulowitzki also wins the MVP. But if they miss the playoffs, Votto wins the MVP and the Twins win the World Series.

I'd put money on the fact that Troy Tulowitzki will eventually make the Hall of Fame.

*I'd also bet that Grant Green is the next Troy Tulowitzki, but a less athletic version playing in the Coliseum, not Coors Field.

*Nothing to do with the fact that both their names have repeating initials.

Louis Murphy Monthly

He's going to have magazines named after him. Get him while you can.

Rearview

Why don't running backs use little rear view mirrors in their helmets?

Or do they?

On the Mark

Here is my proposal, as a die-hard Jets fan, and you have to hear me out.

This defense is good. It's good enough to honestly nearly win games on it's own, sure we have to deal with some refs and some Ravens sometimes, but this defense is pretty special. If Jenkins' injury is serious, it obviously goes down a notch, but the defensive backs, when corralled, are stellar. Ellis and Taylor off the rush obviously isn't the greatest ever but the guys know their way around the game. As an aside, I agreed with the Taylor signing, but it still pains me because I have always disliked the guy. He went to Akron! But he had some really nice tackles on Rice during the game tonight, literally just one-armed Ray Rice. Not easy. Anyways, here is my proposal:

Start Mark Brunell. As in, bench Mark Sanchez, and play Mark Brunell. While we're at it, start Ladainian. Greene is good in moderation, but I truly don't believe he has the RB1 talent, and this is again, coming from a Jets fan. I like him as a player, he's a bruiser, he occasionally has speed, but he's a poor man's Rashard Mendenhall. Ladainian Tomlinson was the best running back of all-time for most of a decade. I mean, he was legitimately one of the best players to ever grip a football. His natural talent is freakish. One of the best running backs ever, ever, and he never won a Super Bowl ring. Not one, blame it on whoever you want, but he never won a single ring. The Jets are primed and ready, and most importantly, hungry for a Super Bowl title. Thomas Jones broke 1,000 rushing yards five times in his first ten years in the NFL (this being his eleventh). Three of those seasons were with these New York Jets (who now have an improved O-Line as opposed to three years ago) as a 29, 30, and 31 year-old man. For the first five years of his career, all of which were sub-1000 yard seasons (but also sub-240 carry seasons), he averaged 3.84 yards per carry.

One thing I'll admit is that LT's legs aren't nearly as fresh as TJ's were, but Ladainian Tomlinson also has also averaged 4.3 yards a carry for his a career. Tomlinson's a more dynamic pass catcher than Jones was or Greene is right now. Tomlinson's 31, so he's be on the back-end of Jones' Jets career, but all I want is a Super Bowl ring this year. Did I mention Mark Brunell has already had the honor of hoisting a Lombardi trophy on Super Bowl Sunday? He's been there, as the backup for Drew Brees last year.

Ladainian Tomlinson, a relatively underrated, true legend of the game, will lead these New York football Jets to the 2010 Super Bowl. And I was at the game last night, and I'm that optimistic about my beloved Jets.

Fantasy Football

TOP QBs

Aaron Rodgers

Peyton Manning

Tom Brady

Drew Brees

Joe Flacco

Tony Romo

Eli Manning

Matt Schaub
Philip Rivers

Sam Bradford
Matt Ryan

Jay Cutler

Ben Roethlisberger

Carson Palmer

Kevin Kolb

Chad Henne

Josh Freeman

Matthew Stafford

Alex Smith

Fantasy Football

Top 25 WRs

Calvin Johnson

Andre Johnson

Greg Jennings
Miles Austin
Roddy White

Steve Smith (CAR)

Hakeem Nicks

Anquan Boldin

Michael Crabtree

Brandon Marshall

Reggie Wayne

Marques Colston

Wes Welker

Larry Fitzgerald

Randy Moss

Dexter McCluster
Marques Colston

Donald Driver

Mike Wallace
DeSean Jackson

Chad Ochocinco

Dez Bryant

Dwayne Bowe

Mike Williams TB

Mike Sims-Walker
Mike Williams SEA

Top 15 TEs

Antonio Gates
Dallas Clark

JerMichael Finley

Kellen Winslow

Vernon Davis
Jason Witten

Heath Miller

Visanthe Shiancoe

Tony Gonzalez

Owen Daniels
Rob Gronkowski

Brent Celek

Chris Cooley

Zach Miller

Dustin Keller

Fantasy Football

I know I'm a little late so this isn't 100% legit but there are still at least another 15 games to be played for every team in the league.

My Top 20 RBs

Chris Johnson
Ray Rice

Adrian Peterson

Jamaal Charles
Frank Gore

Maurice Jones-Drew

DeAngelo Williams

Michael Turner

Ryan Mathews

Knowshon Moreno
Arian Foster

Pierre Thomas

Ryan Grant

Ronnie Brown
LeSean McCoy

Jahvid Best

Cedric Benson
Shonn Greene

Matt Forte

Ladainian Tomlinson

Jonathan Stewart

Ahmad Bradshaw

Kareem Huggins

Marion Barber

Michael Bush

Shorten the Season

Shorten the Major League Baseball season. I'm pretty sure the only reason we continue to play a 162 game season was the home run chases it has produced. But the single-season record for home runs is 73, produced by a 35 year old man named Barry Lamar. There will never be another Bonds because the steroid era is over.

Shorten the season to 130 or 140 games, relieve some stress on the young pitcher's arms who are the ones driving all the revenue. There would be problems with salaries and what not, but that's something that could be figured out. David Price, Tim Lincecum, Kevin Slowey, Mat Latos, Matt Cain, Francisco Liriano, Jaime Garcia, Neftali Feliz, Phil Hughes, I mean the list goes on and on but there are a ton of young pitchers in the hunt for a pennant right now and are pushing themselves to extents they've never been pushed to in a situation where it could be win or go home for four months.

Now, I say you can either shorten the season and bring the playoffs back so we're hoisting the World Series trophy in mid-September or you just space out the games and give these players A) some rest B) occasional holidays to go see their families.

I know this blog post won't be read by many but 162 game seasons are unnecessary. Injuries are frequent enough and these triple-digit arms are fragile, give the kids a rest and let Sundays in September be about football.

I Found the Next Ray Rice

Dexter McCluster.

Let's go Chiefs.

I Can't Wait

for Troy Tulowitzki to get hot at the same time as Carlos Gonzalez. That was the gayest thing I've ever said. But really, the Rockies are going to win the division.

So are the Cardinals, and the Rangers, and the Twins, Yankees and the Phillies. I now change my opinion on the NL West as I believe it will either be the Giants or the Rockies. I'm going with the Rockies based on the notion that Troy Tulowitzki is about to catch fire. The Giants have the staff to win the division, the Padres even do if they could somehow maintain what they're doing. Which they won't, and to be honest, it's what I've been saying for months. 5/6 isn't too shabby and I had the Rays and Giants winning the wild cards, actually, which I believe will actually still happen. 7/8 on the confidence scale in early September feels good. I can't wait to compare my picks to the ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, and every other expert in the world.

Mike Trout

Mike Trout is not a top-10 prospect. He is a display of a minor league baseball player with an abnormally high BABIP. Why people care about Major League BABIPs but disregard Minor League BABIPs baffles me.

Trout has talent, pure speed, and power potential, but I don't see him in the same league as Heyward or Stanton.

Brown, Morrison, the Future.

The recent call-ups of Domonic Brown and Logan Morrison are massive. These are two guys that are in a wave of incredible baseball players taking over the league. While neither of them are quite on the level of Jason Heyward or Mike Stanton, they are going to be perennial All-Stars. The move for Morrison from a 1B to a LF is awesome. The Marlins are awesome. The future is awesome. I wonder if Carlos Santana can play the guitar too.

My Top Future Hitters List

Jason Heyward
Justin Upton

Domonic Brown

Desmond Jennings
Bryce Harper

Carlos Santana

Buster Posey

Mike Stanton

Pedro Alvarez

Justin Smoak

Logan Morrison

Jesus Montero

Grant Green

Gordon Beckham

Fernando Martinez

Chris Carter
Freddie Freeman

This is an absolute work in progress but I'm posting it for now anyways, HA.

Roy Oswalt

Roy Oswalt is a stud. Career 3.57 K/BB. Career .255 AVG against with a .306 BABIP. The Astros deserve a good prospect for him, regardless of contract, at least a package frontlined by Jesus Montero.

The man just does not get the respect he deserves. His ten-year career ERA+ is 134.

This year his K/BB is 3.53, his WHIP is 1.11, his strand rate is right in line with his career normal and his BABIP is only 23 points lower, although it would be the lowest BABIP he's ever recorded. Even with regression, Roy Oswalt will be an incredible 2-starter on any team. If the Rangers can land Oswalt in a three-way deal, they instantly become the World Series favorites in a relatively open year.

Of course the Yankees are always the favorites, but a healthy Rangers lineup with a playoff staff consisting of the best left-handed pitcher in the league, Roy Oswalt, Colby Lewis, and CJ Wilson or Derek Holland, if a fourth starter is even needed. Three guys who have been around, have seen the league, have never won a World Series ring.

Roy Oswalt has a good chance to win a World Series ring this year if he is traded. His salary is large, but he is just the kind of piece to make a good team great.

Lee for Smoak

As much as I want to say the Rangers screwed up, it is too early to tell. Say they win a ring this year or even the next, would you consider it a win even when Justin Smoak goes on to continually spank them for the next half-decade plus?

Say Nelson Cruz tears a hamstring or Josh Hamilton goes into remission, is that enough to completely take away their hopes at a World Series title?

By the way, a healthy Rangers roster with another addition to the staff such as Roy Oswalt or Brett Myers is my pick to win the World Series.

LeBron James

to Miami to become the first billionaire in basketball. International icon. Cocaine distributor.

All-Star Weekend

This is my proposal, to help shore up all the snubs that I just witnessed and to increase revenues for Major League Baseball. Instead of one All-Star game with two teams, have six teams playing a total of eight baseball games.

The first round would be lose and out. There are two options I've considered for this round and it is either the three AL teams play the three NL teams, rotating divisions similarly to interleague play. That or two intra-league games and one interleague game.

You are then left with three teams, each team playing two games. You will be left with two teams who go on to fight for the crown as Best Division in Baseball.

The players would have to be voted in to keep that fan-interaction aspect running, but the rosters would ultimately be determined by the manager who won the division the prior year with the other 3-5 coaches also in the dugout. For once the Yankees and Red Sox would have to combine forces with Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to try to take out Justin Upton, Carlos Gonzalez and Jonathan Broxton.

Proposed Rosters

AL East
C Martinez

1B Youkilis

2B Cano

3B Longoria

SS Jeter

LF Crawford
CF Granderson
RF Swisher

SP Hughes
SP Sabathia
SP Price
SP Lester
SP Buchholz

SP Romero
SP Cecil
RP Rivera
RP Soriano
RP Papelbon

AL Central

C Mauer
1B Cabrera
2B Callaspo

3B Peralta
SS Ramirez

LF Rios
CF Jackson
RF Choo

SP Pavano
SP Liriano
SP Danks

SP Greinke

SP Carmona
SP Peavy
SP Verlander
RP Rauch
RP Thornton
RP Soria

AL West
C Suzuki
1B Smoak
2B Kendrick

3B Young

SS Andrus
LF Cruz

CF Hamilton
RF Ichiro

SP Lee

SP Hernandez

SP Lewis

SP Cahill
SP Weaver
SP Pineiro

SP Gonzalez
RP Bailey
RP Feliz
RP Aardsma

NL East

C McCann

1B Glaus
2B Prado
3B Wright
SS Ramirez

LF Victorino
CF Pagan
RF Werth

SP Johnson

SP Halladay
SP Santana
SP Pelfrey
SP Hanson
SP Hudson
SP Strasburg
RP Wagner
RP Capps
RP Rodriguez

NL Central
C Doumit
1B Votto

2B Phillips
3B Rolen
SS Theriot

LF Braun

CF McCutchen

RF Rasmus

SP Gallardo
SP Leake
SP Wainwright
SP Carpenter
SP Garcia
SP Oswalt

SP Silva
RP Marmol
RP Meek
RP Rhodes

NL West
C Olivo
1B Gonzalez

2B Johnson

3B Reynolds
SS Tulowitzki
LF Kemp

CF Gonzalez

RF Upton

SP Jimenez

SP Kershaw
SP Latos
SP Lincecum
SP Cain
SP Sanchez
SP Richard

RP Broxton
RP Bell
RP Wilson

What is an Omar Infante?

Jered Weaver and Joey Votto stand out to me as the biggest snubs in their respective leagues. The worst player on either team is Omar Infante, that is absolute insanity. What is an Omar Infante?

Cahill is nice and all, but Weaver or Romero deserved a slot in the game, and this is coming from an Oakland Athletics fan.

Now that you mention it, Kurt Suzuki getting snubbed is an absolute snub and a half. Jorge Posada GET OFF THE TEAM.

Youkilis, too, snubbed.

Howard finally doesn't deserve to make the All-Star team and does. Brandon Phillips should be starting.

Don't forget Andrew McCutchen either. Jesus there are a good amount of snubs. Maybe they should play two All-Star games? Maybe three All-Star games? Each division gets their own All-Star game? Tournament? Holy crap.

Grant Green

Grant Green is the A's top prospect.

Cliff Lee

to the A's. Imagine what kind of sick, inhumane numbers he could put up at the spacious Coliseum, especially with the A's defense behind him. A 1-2-3 of Lee, Brett Anderson and Ben Sheets isn't too bad, 4 starter would be Gio and the five would be Cahill.

But realistically I believe he will be a Cincinnati Red. Yonder Alonso as the centerpiece surrounded by maybe Boxberger and Maloney, one righty and one lefty arm. The Reds will have the money to be able to sign Lee longterm. With a core of Votto, Bruce, Phillips, Stubbs, Frazier, Janish, Leake, Lee and a few others, the Reds could become a powerhouse in the Central.

As good as the Cardinals are, the Reds have the opportunity to be better.

Other Lee suitors:

Yankees
Mets

Dodgers

Angels
Twins
Phillies

but he could ultimately go to the Rangers in a deal not including Justin Smoak or Neftali Feliz. It could be Perez, it could be Davis, it could be one of their millions of a prospects as a centerpiece and another prospect or two on the side. Maybe not that high of a price, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Diplomatic

The Washington Wizards should be renamed the Washington Delegates.

Projected National League Standings as of Today

NL East

Phillies

Braves

Nationals
Marlins
Mets

NL Central
Reds
Cardinals

Cubs

Brewers

Astros
Pirates

NL West

Dodgers

Giants

Rockies

Padres

Diamondbacks

NL MVP: Braun
NL CY: Jimenez

NL RoY: Heyward

NL MoY: Cox

Projected American League Standings

AL East

Yankees

Rays

Red Sox

Blue Jays

Orioles

AL Central

Twins

Detroit

Chicago

Cleveland

Kansas City

AL West

Rangers

Angels

Athletics

Mariners

MVP: Longoria

CY: Verlander

RoY: Feliz

CoY: Washington

Twins vs. Rockies in Interleague Play

In October.

Troy Tulowitzki and the String of Causation

To read baseball statistics, one must see which statistics are directly derived from others and figure out how the string works. An example so far is Troy Tulowitzki. Not off to an incredible start and the direct reason is his decrease in BB%, from a career line of 9.5% to 5.1%, sure it's a small sample size but small sample sizes have reasons as well. He hasn't been able to draw a walk for his life in the first three weeks and it's the direct reason why he hasn't been hitting the ball like Ryan Braun or Matt Kemp. Tulowitzki comes from a great background being a first round pick out of the baseball-prestigious Long Beach State University, he routinely gets off to cold starts and it's probably just because he takes longer than other players to adjust to the in-game velocity, it's not the worst thing ever though considering he makes up for it in the latter months when some consider the game to mean even more. Ryan Braun put up 32 home runs last year while stealing 20 bases with a .386 OBP, so did Tulowitzki except for those pesky nine points missing on the OBP.

2010 National League Predictions

NL EAST
Phillies
Marlins
Braves
Mets
Nationals

NL CENTRAL

Cardinals
Reds
Astros
Brewers
Cubs
Pirates

NL WEST

Dodgers
Giants

Rockies
Diamondbacks
Padres

NL MVP: Ryan Braun
NL CY: Roy Halladay
NL RotY: Jason Heyward
Stephen Strasburg
Pedro Alvarez

1. The NL West is the hardest division to predict, by far. They have four teams who could all win that division, and four teams that could all do damage in the playoffs.

2. Ricky Nolasco makes a Cy Young bid.

3. The Reds take the Cardinals to a one-game playoff.

4. Joey Votto and Jay Bruce combine for 80 home runs.

5. Darkhorse MVP candidates: Chase Utley and Troy Tulowitzki.

2010 American League Predictions

AL EAST

Yankees

Rays
Red Sox
Orioles

Blue Jays

AL CENTRAL
Twins
White Sox
Tigers
Indians
Royals

AL WEST
Rangers
Angels
Athletics
Mariners

AL MVP: Evan Longoria
AL CY: Justin Verlander

AL RotY: Neftali Feliz
Brandon Wood
Michael Taylor

1. The three best teams in the American League are all in the East.

2. The next three best teams are all in the West.

3. Matt Wieters hits 30 home runs, Nelson Cruz hits 45 and Cliff Lee starts 20 games.

4. Brett Anderson wins 15 games with 200 K and a sub 3.50 ERA.

5. Brian Matusz, Carlos Santana, Michael Taylor, Chris Carter and Justin Smoak all become names you know. Gordon Beckham and Matt Wieters become stars.

Al Franken will be the president some day.