Juuust a Bit Outside

Looking at the 2010 Chicago Cubs

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:58:00 GMT

We are just about two and a half weeks away from the start of the 2010 Major League Baseball season, and no team needs to atone for a dismal 2009 perhaps more than the boys from the North Side of Chicago.

After winning back to back division crowns in 2007 and 2008, Lou Piniella's boys fell flat last season, scoring 148 less runs than the year before and falling from 97 victories to 83 as the hated St. Louis Cardinals ran off with the NL Central crown. Certainly, there are a multitude of reasons for this, from a lack of cohesion, to injuries, to the loss of super utility man Mark DeRosa and his bat, inability to advance runners in key spots or get them in from third base with less than two outs, or the elephant in the room: Milton Bradley.

Bradley was a complete and utter bomb in his one season in Chicago, on and off the field. He never lived up to anything close to the three year, $30 million deal he signed last offseason. He couldn't remember how many outs there were in a game against Minnesota. He was tossed from a couple games for arguing calls. He was removed by Lou Piniella which led to a full blown confrontation between manager and player. He claimed that the city was racist, and so were people within the Cubs organization.

To say Bradley was a bust would be too kind to those who have been labeled with the term. Bradley, in short, was a cancer. He made the locker room a war zone instead of a place where guys can relax and focus for the upcoming contest. With him gone and some better clubhouse presences in the locker room, things should be calmer on that front.

The Cubs won't be hurting from a pitching perspective. The team ERA under Larry Rothschild was practically identical from 2008 and 2009, when they finished fifth in the majors both seasons. The starting rotation is strong as ever, with Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Randy Wells, and Ryan Dempster anchoring the first four slots of the rotation. Lilly is coming off shoulder surgery and might miss his first couple of turns, but the team has enough live arms with starting experience. Carlos Silva, who came to Chicago in the Bradley deal is in the mix, along with Tom Gorzelanny, Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija.

Kevin Gregg, who many, myself included, thought never should have been the closer last year, is gone, giving the job to Carlos Marmol from the start. Marmol has electric stuff, but needs to curtail the walk total that plagued him last season. Angel Guzman was in line to be the big setup man, but he'll be out a while after an MRI diagnosed a torn tendon in his shoulder. John Grabow is death on left handed hitters, and a couple of the guys that don't make the rotation will add good arms to the bullpen. Again, pitching will not be an issue.

Offensively, the Cubs need to be more aggressive on the basepaths for starters. Ryan Theriot has been installed as the leadoff man for Piniella's lineup. Kosuke Fukudome will be hitting second, followed by sluggers Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and free agent signing Marlon Byrd. Alfonso Soriano, who was disappointing last season due to injuries and his usual high strikeout total, whoever plays second base, either Mike Fontenot or Jeff Baker, Geovany Soto, and the pitcher slot.

Soto, Soriano and Fontenot all have a lot to make up for after dismal 2009 campaigns. After winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2008, Soto bottomed out to a .218 average with 11 homers and 47 runs batted in. He lost playing time to journeyman Koyie Hill in the latter part of the season. He needs to get back on track. Fontenot was the Opening Day starter at second last year, and flopped to a .236 average as well. Soriano missed 45 games, hit just 20 homers, and hit .241 with a .303 on base percentage, prompting him to be dropped from the leadoff role. His bat needs to come back to life.

The Cubs are better suited to deal with injuries this year. Last year when Aramis Ramirez was lost with shoulder issues, the team scrambled to try and make up for his power and run producing ability. This year, there is some depth and quality bench players to use late in games in key situations. How Piniella decides to fill out his bench has yet to be determined, but Xavier Nady will be there, along with the loser of the Fontenot/Baker mix for certain.

All said, on paper, the 2010 Cubs look to be in much better shape than the 2009 version. However, what happens ON the diamond is a lot different than what the guys at ESPN, Fox Sports, WGN, the beat writers and myself can project. As the saying goes, that's why you play the games.

Bring them on.

To consider when filling in your March Madness bracket

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:13:00 GMT

When filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket and deciding which team to write in as the champion, there are many things to take into account besides just the strength of the team or picking the team you think is the best all-around.

In some years, when there's an overwhelming college basketball betting favorite like a stacked North Carolina team from last year, it makes sense.

But filling out a bracket in this year's NCAA Tournament office pool scene requires a little more careful planning.

None of the top seeds in the tournament betting field this year is an overwhelming favorite, as they all are pretty flawed when you really get down to it.

Kansas is the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket but tough potential third round matchups against Michigan State and Maryland hurt their odds a bit in the midwest bracket and for winning the whole tournament.

Kentucky also has a potentially tough second round matchup that March Madness betting fans should be aware of when they take on Texas. If you pick them in an NCAA Tournament office pool and they lose early, it could really mess up your bracket as well.

But the odds should be in favor of Kentucky winning it all over most other teams because the rest of the East bracket is not that strong.

Right now, Kentucky and Kansas look like the two top picks as far as odds to win the entire NCAA Tournament.

Duke could be a good pick to win the whole tournament as well because they are in a far weaker bracket with only Baylor, Villanova, and a weakened Purdue team without star forward Robbie Hummel to deal with.

But Duke has to deal with some past failures that continue to haunt them in the tournament and ranks fourth in terms of most likely to win the tournament among one seeds.

As a one seed in a fairly weak west bracket as well, Syracuse is probably the third-most likely pick to win it all odds-wise.

This year's crop of two-seeds is surprisingly weak, but Evan Turner gives Ohio State a good shot to win it all and they should have solid odds for betting fans looking for a sleeper pick. Villanova has Final Four experience and is also a good NCAA Tournament betting pick to make a run at an NCAA title despite their recent struggles because guard play is key in the big dance and Duke is not the strongest one seed around.

While the top seeds are good this year, the odds should be even better for NCAA Tournament betting fans looking for good odds in their quest to pick a championship winner.

March Madness, 2010 Style

Chris — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:40:00 GMT

It's that time of year again folks...the busiest three weeks of the year as far as lost productivity at work, and everyone thinking they're an expert on college hoops has come upon us sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. March Madness is here, where sixty five teams harbor visions of winning the NCAA Tournament. While there are sixty five teams in it, let's face reality: there are realistically perhaps a half dozen teams, ten at the most, with real, true aspirations of cutting the nets down in Indianapolis come April 5th.

Along the way there will be Cinderella stories, upsets that people wouldn't expect, and players that make an impact we may have never heard of. We'll see fringe players step up, marquee players step back, and coaches make or break their teams' chances in the blink of an eye. It's a great time of year to sit down on the couch with some snacks and a couple of your favorite cold beverages, and settle in for wall to wall hoops action.

The fun and excitement kicks off tonight with the play in game, taking place in Dayton, Ohio. Winthrop tangles with Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with the loser getting the title of "first team eliminated in the tournament" and the winner known as "that team that will probably get walloped by 50 in round one by Duke." That's how I look at the play in game...it's kind of a lose lose situation: if you get beat, your season is over. If you win, and go on to play Thursday or Friday, let's face it, your season is over. A sixteen seed has yet to beat a 1 seed in the tournament since it expanded to 64, and now 65 teams.

I have to be brutally honest...it's nice for teams like Lehigh, East Tennessee State, whoever wins the play-in game and Vermont to be in the tournament, but the ride will come to a quick, abrupt halt. Yes, I know Vermont beat Syracuse a few years ago in round one, and they have a rematch here, but times are different, and so are the teams involved. Jim Boeheim won't let his team fall flat on its face here when it a) is a number one seed, b) they have something to prove after flopping in the Big East Tournament to Georgetown, and c) with the team having hopes for a title.

One thing that has come predominantly clear when it comes to games in March Madness from the perspective of people picking brackets or laying down money that is still remarkably overlooked is the fact that upsets DO happen. Almost every year, at least one twelve seed beats a five. Sure, you see lower seeds like 13s and 14s pulling upsets too, but not nearly as often. That said, if you were going to look for one twelve seed to pull the trick, I'd probably go with Cornell over Temple. Temple may be the A-10 champs, and play good defense, but Cornell plays in the Ivy League, a league where there is no postseason conference tournament. You win the league in the regular season to get in, or you go home. It's not a league where multiple teams get in.

One of the oddities this year in the tournament would be the absence of traditional powerhouses. For the first time since 1966, the quintet of Indiana, Arizona, UCLA, defending champion North Carolina and Connecticut failed to have at least one of their brethren make the tournament. Instead, it's become a wide open affair, as mid major conferences saw more teams get in. You have schools like Houston, which stole a bid when they knocked off UTEP in the Conference USA tournament's championship game. You have Ohio, who was a number nine seed in the Mid American Conference, in the Big Dance. Other teams like Utah State, Robert Morris, Northern Illinois, Wofford, Murray State and Oakland all get a crack at it too.

The one thing for certain out of all this is that there will be a new national champion with North Carolina hitting the skids. Who will it be? Duke? Kentucky? Kansas for the second time in three years? Michigan State making a return to the title game after losing last year? Perhaps a potential dark horse candidate? We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out over the next few weeks, but the certainty lies in this:

There's no better way to welcome spring and get ready for the start of baseball season than by enjoying the uncertainty and excitement that March Madness brings to the table. Whether you're a hoop junkie or just a random Joe who likes filling out the brackets based on mascots or what school you like, you can't beat it. Stay tuned as we take the day by day action as they come down over the next few weeks until we see the champion crowned on April 5th.

Free Agency Continues, Names Continue to Switch Teams

Chris — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:36:00 GMT

It's now day three of free agency, and teams keep throwing money around as if millions were dollar bills in a strip club.

Less than twenty four hours after losing Antrel Rolle to the New York Giants, the Arizona Cardinals went out and swung a deal with the other New York club, the Jets, to acquire Kerry Rhodes. In exchange, the Cardinals gave up a fourth round pick in this year's draft and a seventh rounder in 2011.

What makes this move more ironic is that the Jets had stated that Rhodes would be back and a part of the team in 2010 immediately after swinging the deal for Antonio Cromartie earlier in the week. Why there was such an about face in personnel decisions has yet to be revealed, unless GM Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan were merely paying lip service to Rhodes, all the while trying to make a move to extricate him from the defensive secondary landscape.

One thing is for certain, the Jets definitely could take some time to read up on the latest colon cleanse reviews: they seem to be rather stuffed up at the moment. To do such an about face that quickly makes one think that there was more than meets the proverbial eye regarding Rhodes and his imminent departure.

Elsewhere, the Jaguars look to bolster their league worst pass rush by signing former Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman to a contract. Kampman struggled after switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense in Green Bay and then suffered a season ending knee injury in November. However, he has recorded at least 9.5 sacks in the three seasons prior to that, and still has the ability to get after the quarterback. Jacksonville recorded a franchise low 14 sacks last season, a number that definitely needs to improve in order to force turnovers and create short field opportunities for the offense.

The Redskins added Minnesota guard Artis Hicks yesterday, which surprisingly was their first acquisition in free agency from another team. After throwing truckloads of money around in the past decade, Daniel Snyder and company have been a bit more patient and cautious this time around, much to the surprise of many around the league. The loss of Hicks allows Minnesota to now sign two unrestricted free agents. Remember, they lost Chester Taylor to the Bears on Friday.

Then there is a list of guys making some rounds. Terrell Owens is still wanted in Cincinnati according to Chad Ochocinco, and Carson Palmer said he has no problem with Owens' past or anything of the sort. Willie Parker was making a trip to Washington, and could be an effective 1-2 combination with the equally injury prone Clinton Portis. David Carr went to San Francisco but left without a contract and there is talk that Cleveland may have some interest in him. The Browns also reportedly have interest in Seattle backup Seneca Wallace, who is familiar with the Mike Holmgren style offense that is going to be implemented in Cleveland. New England is interested in having a meeting with Bills slot receiver Josh Reed, who could be useful with Wes Welker being injured and most likely missing the first part of the season.

No matter how you slice it, whether your team has made a big splash, or yet to create a ripple in the pond, there's a lot going on between now and the draft next month. What teams do now may very well influence who gets picked where come draft day.

College Basketball: Another #1 Team Falls

Chris — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:28:00 GMT

March Madness is just days off now, with conference tournaments getting underway and tickets being punched for automatic bids to the Big Dance.

What no one seems to want to be right now, however, is the number one team in the nation.

After last week, when both number one Kansas, number two Kentucky, and number three Purdue all fell, in addition to other top teams scuffling, Syracuse was elevated to the top spot in the polls for the first time since winning the national title when Carmelo Anthony played his one season there.

It was to be short lived.

In front of a record crowd at Freedom Hall in Louisville, where the Cardinal were playing their final home game in the storied venue after 54 years, Louisville upended the top ranked Orange by a 78-68 count, setting the top team in the nation tumbling again and opening up for debate who would be number one when the new rankings came out. It was Syracuse's first loss away from the Carrier Dome this season, as they fell to 11-1. Reserve Kyle Kuric scored all of his career high 22 points after intermission to spur the Cardinals to victory, allowing them to sweep the season series from Syracuse and beat them for the sixth consecutive time.

FIfth ranked Kansas State also suffered from the upset bug, as they fell in overtime to Iowa State 85-82. With a chance at the Big 12 regular season title on the line going into the week, the Wildcats wilted, dropping games to Kansas and the Cyclones. The upset win boosted Iowa State's road record against ranked opponents to a staggering 8-104. That's right...it was the EIGHTH win for them in 112 chances on the road against a ranked opponent. Kudos to them for pulling it off. It was a gritty performance from a team that will be seeded eleventh in the Big 12 Conference tourney next week.

One man who doesn't need to worry about purchasing weight loss supplements is North Carolina coach Roy Williams. The stress and clamoring from the fan base on Tobacco Road and in Chapel Hill will be more than enough to keep his metabolism running high. The Tar Heels were flat out waxed by Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night by a count of 82-50, one of the most one sided losses in the storied history of the Duke/Carolina rivalry.

One season after winning the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina bottomed out, finishing 5-11 in the conference, and 16-15 overall. Instead of defending their crown, they'll be lucky to get into the NIT with their numbers. The 50 points was the lowest scored in the Williams era, and the 32 point defeat was the worst since a 96-56 whipping by Maryland back in 2003. How the mighty have fallen.

Conference tournament action abounds and March Madness looms...it's the best time of year for college hoops. Sit back, grab some snacks and a cold beverage of choice, and enjoy it.

Where Milton Bradley Goes, Controversy Follows

Chris — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:42:00 GMT

Milton Bradley may no longer be in the Windy City, but his mouth still is generating a fair amount of hurricane force gusts.

Bradley, who was mediocre at best in his one season on the North Side of the city, struggling on a regular basis, forgetting how many outs there were in one game with the Twins, striking out in key at bats, and generally failing to live up to the $10 million he was paid for last season, has relocated to the Pacific Northwest this year. He was dealt to Seattle in a deal that allowed Jim Hendry to get rid of the mercurial outfielder in exchange for Carlos Silva, who disappointed for the Mariners in his stint there.

However, while Silva has been working to fit in with his new team and getting in shape, Bradley continues to run at the mouth about Chicago and how it was the city's fault, not his, for his performance in 2009. Here is what Bradley had to say, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times:

''Two years ago, I played, and I was good,'' he told the Times. ''I go to Chicago, not good. I've been good my whole career. So, obviously, it was something with Chicago, not me.''

''Just no communication. I never hit more than 22 homers in my career, and all of a sudden I get to Chicago, and they expect me to hit 30. It doesn't make sense. History tells you I'm not going to hit that many. Just a lot of things that try to make me a player I'm not.''

That statement was refuted by manager Lou Piniella, GM Jim Hendry and pretty much everyone in the organization. Bradley claims that "Any time I've had a problem anywhere, it's because I've been disrespected. And I will not be disrespected by anyone.'' Really...so the problem is because you're disrespected EVERYWHERE you go, but it has nothing to do with you? His comments make me want to go out, purchase a stack of netbooks, and systematically smash them over his enlarged cranium.

It's his eighth team in eleven seasons now. He's quickly running out of real estate. Blaming an entire CITY for your misfortunes and poor play is bordering on ridiculous. For the sake of the Pacific Northwest, I hope that Bradley can dig his head out of his ass and put together a decent campaign for the Mariners. With Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki on the club, Bradley will be kept in check, at least to start. Whether that holds true for the rest of the season, or if he becomes the headache that he has been prone to being, remains to be seen.

I wish Bradley well...as long as he stays away from the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.

Roethlisberger in Hot Water Again?

Chris — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:38:00 GMT

For as good as Ben Roethlisberger is at staying cool, calm and collected on the field, he seems to be equally inept at maintaining that off it.

Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault by a 20 year old college student. Roethlisberger allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in a nightclub in Milledgeville, Georgia, which is a college town roughly 85 miles southeast of Atlanta. This is the second such accusation made against the two time Super Bowl winning quarterback in the past three years. A woman working as a VIP hostess at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe claimed that she was lured to Roethlisberger's room under false pretenses in 2008, where he then forced himself on her.

She has sued Roethlisberger for $440,000 and an additional $50,000 from Harrah's, claiming that the casino conspired to help cover up the matter. One thing Roethlisberger doesn't seem to need if the allegations are true is Viagra...maybe he should just invest in some vitamins for men or something to keep his head on straight.

Roethlisberger also has had other off field issues. In 2006, he was in an accident after he crashed his motorcycle that he was driving without a valid license. In that incident, he broke his jaw and several other bones in his face.

Roethlisberger's agent, Ryan Tollner, released the following statement (courtesy of ESPN.com):

"Last night, Ben and his friends met a group of women and everyone mingled together throughout the evening. We have spoken to law enforcement. Based on information currently available, an allegation was made against Ben, which appeared to be dismissed after a preliminary investigation last night. Obviously, given the prior accusation against Ben, we are skeptical of motive, but we will continue to cooperate with everyone involved."

A spokesman for the Steelers, Dave Lockett, said that the team was still gathering information and had no further comment at this time.

Roethlisberger is going to have to decide at some point if he wants to be a football player or a party guy. The fine line between talent and stupidity gets blurred more every day. Athletes with checkered pasts are looked at with a microscope when it comes to contracts, especially during free agency. Antonio Cromartie is a prime example of this, as was Pacman Jones. Roethlisberger has put himself at a crossroads, where he must decide if he wants to continue to play football for the Pittsburgh Steelers, or start wondering if he might be moved to a team that might be a bit more lax with his off field indiscretions.

Pittsburgh is a blue collar town, and its inhabitants stand by a regular code of ethics and common sense. To draw their ire, or the ire of the Rooney family, is as good as signing your own extradition papers from the Steel City. It's Roethlisberger's move. What he does next may very well determine the fate not only of his career, but the Steelers' fortunes for the next few seasons.

NFC North Trendsetters in Early Free Agent Market

Chris — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:31:00 GMT

Let the dollars start to flow like the raging rapids of the Colorado River.

Free agency got underway yesterday with a flourish, as teams decided whether to take advantage of the uncapped year by throwing truckloads of money with front loaded deals to players, while others made tough decisions to let some long time members of their franchise go.

So far, the NFC North has been leading the charge of those spending the bucks, and none more so than the Chicago Bears. Normally a fiscally conservative team that doesn't like to throw money around, the Bears went out and inked three free agents yesterday, including arguably the biggest name on the market in former Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers.

Peppers, who has 81 career sacks in eight seasons, signed a six year deal worth $91.5 million, with $42 million of that being guaranteed. Think about that for a second. Peppers could go out, blow his knee out in training camp, never play a down for the Bears, and still collect $42 million. If that's the kind of deal we're handing out in the league, sign me up. I'll even take a personalized gift of a team photo. hat and jersey to knock my price tag down to a more cap conducive number for after the lockout. At 33, I still should have two or three years left before I have to retire.

The Bears weren't done there though, as they signed versatile running back Chester Taylor away from division rival Minnesota with a four year, $12.5 million deal to be the BACKUP. That's right, he's not even the starter, as Matt Forte seems to have that job locked down for the foreseeable future. Taylor backed up Adrian Peterson in Minnesota, but was a 1000 yard rusher the year before Peterson came to the Vikings. He's a good third down back and insurance policy. The Bears also inked blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna to a five year deal, which may signify the end of the road for Desmond Clark.

The other team in the NFC North making moves was the Detroit Lions. Tired of having subpar options and journeymen opposite Calvin Johnson at wide receiver, Jim Schwartz and company went out and plucked Nate Burleson from the Seahawks. Burleson got a five year deal worth $25 million, with $11 million guaranteed. Not bad money for a guy who has only broken the 1000 yard plateau once in his career. To his benefit though, the offensive coordinator when he did that was Scott Linehan. Detroit's offensive coordinator, you ask? The same Scott Linehan.

The Lions also bolstered their defensive line with the signing of former Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch to a four year, $26 million deal. They also acquired defensive tackle Corey Williams from Cleveland along with a seventh round selection for a fifth round pick in this year's draft. Those two moves make the Lions defensive line much more formidable, especially considering they hold the second pick in the draft, which they could use to take Gerald McCoy or Ndamukong Suh should they be so inclined.

As far as teams taking a hit, the Arizona Cardinals are losing players left, right and center it seems. Kurt Warner retired. Anquan Boldin was traded to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday for third and fourth round picks in the draft. He had been vocal about being moved for two seasons now, and with the emergence of Early Doucet and Steve Breaston to go with Larry Fitzgerald, that won't be an issue for the Cardinals.

Where they might suffer is defensively. Bertrand Berry also retired, taking away a pass rush specialist. They released safety Antrel Rolle, rather than pay him a $4 million roster bonus and his $8 million salary. Instead, the Giants signed Rolle to a five year, $37.5 million deal, the highest contract ever for a safety in the history of the NFL. Of that, $15 million is guaranteed money. The Cards also lost linebacker Karlos Dansby to the Miami Dolphins. Dansby scored the winning TD in overtime of the Cardinals 51-45 win over Green Bay in the wild card round of the playoffs this year and was the heart and soul of the defense, along with Darnell Dockett. Miami was unhappy with their inside linebacker play, and threw Dansby a five year, $43 million deal with $22 million of it guaranteed.

For all the doom and gloom about teams losing money and preaching fiscal conservatism, all I see is a whole lot of big numbers being thrown around. It makes you wonder if the NFLPA has something going when they demand to see the books. We'll have to wait and see.

Free Agency to Run Wild in NFL as Uncapped Year Looms

Chris — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:54:00 GMT

With the flipping of the clock to 12:01 am ET this morning, free agency officially began in the NFL.

The one difference between this year and years past?

There is no salary cap thanks to the owners opting out of the last labor agreement struck with the players association, making this an uncapped year with the strong possibility for a lockout in 2011. That means there is no limit to how much a team can spend, but no one is telling them that they have to spend x amount either. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? How can the NFL survive with such an unbalanced set up?

Well, for starters, it's the classic "rich get richer, the poor get poorer" mentality. Someone like Jerry Jones, if he were to choose to do so, could go and sign a truckload of free agents at massive dollar amounts to try and get his team to the Super Bowl. On the flip side, the Kansas City Chiefs could keep cutting players down and sign an entire roster of guys making the league minimum. They already have a payroll of just $41 million, or roughly one third of what the cap for 2009 was. Kansas City is the NFL's fiscal version of the best fat burner the way they've shed payroll.

There are also a lot of players who were looking forward to unrestricted free agency that were hosed under this. Instead of it being four years and unrestricted free agency, now with the opt out, for this season, it is six years of service before that comes into play. That means that a lot of good talent can be signed at much lower numbers than they would have commanded on the open market, but teams also would have to pay the compensation involved should they tender a deal to a restricted free agent. Depending on the player and the tender that was given to them by their respective team, the cost could be anything from a first and third round selection in the draft, all the way down to a seventh round pick, to absolutely nothing.

Teams have been scrambling already to make moves. Remember last season, in the first few hours after free agency started, Redskins owner Dan Snyder inked defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million deal. No deal that large has been hit yet, though Julius Peppers may command a hefty price tag. He is being pursued by several clubs, including the Chicago Bears. Nate Burleson has cashed in a deal with the Detroit Lions worth $25 million over five years with 11 million of that guaranteed money to be the #2 receiver opposite Calvin Johnson in Detroit. Gary Brackett has resigned with the Colts to a five year deal worth reportedly in the neighborhood of $33 million, which is a major plus for both sides.

We'll keep you posted on the rest of the transactions as they become relevant. Who will your favorite team sign or lose? It's all a matter of how much money they want to throw around.

NHL Trade Deadline Has Flurry of Movement

Chris — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:22:00 GMT

As the regular season winds down and games become more important in an effort to obtain the necessary points to procure a postseason berth, teams and their front office staff are left scrambling to try and make moves that they feel might put them over the top.

The trade deadline was compounded this season thanks to a roster freeze for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Rosters were frozen immediately prior to the Olympics, and didn't unfreeze until Monday after their conclusion, leaving teams just a scant two and a half days to frantically work the phones in an effort to make the moves they deemed necessary.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, there were quite a few deals of complementary pieces, but no real major stars swapping uniforms like the Ilya Kovalchuk deal before the Olympics. The Phoenix Coyotes were so busy swapping players and draft picks (seven deals in all), one would have thought they considered players the way one looks at modern furniture: cookie cutter pieces that can easily be replaced or swapped out with no issue.

In at least two places last night, traded players had major impacts in the contests. In the Phoenix/Colorado contest, Wojtek Wolski, who was acquired by the Coyotes from the Avalanche, burned his former team with a game winning goal, coming with just 22 seconds remaining in the contest. Another acquisition, Lee Stempniak, who came over from Toronto, bagged the first goal for Phoenix.

Elsewhere, Scott Walker, who had just three goals all season in Carolina, hammered home a pair for his first multi-goal game of the year, including the game winner late in the third period, as the Washington Capitals won their franchise record twelfth consecutive home game 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Other teams look for youth and stockpiling draft choices. Brian Burke made several deals for the future, shipping out Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Martin Skoula (who was with the team less than 24 hours), Joey MacDonald and others. Vesa Toskala was bounced from Anaheim to Calgary without ever playing a game for the Ducks. He thinks he'll be able to help the Flames as the backup to Miikka Kiprusoff. I'm not convinced personally, given his inability to stop the puck in Toronto, which prompted him to be shipped out to begin with.

I guess more importantly than the names that did move, were ones that didn't. Vincent Lecavalier, Marty Turco, Chris Osgood, and Dan Hamhuis were all potential big names with trade potential before the deadline, but deals were unable to get done. There were grumblings from Sabres fans that Darcy Regier failed to pull the trigger on anything big, instead choosing to deal Clarke MacArthur for a third and fourth round selection in the 2010 draft, and procuring Raffi Torres from Columbus for Nathan Paetsch and a second rounder.

While those deals won't set the world on fire, especially with the Sabres struggling, they were cap strapped and would have had to dump salary in order to take any on. That simply wasn't feasible given the price tags on the players out there. Regier and Ruff decided to roll the dice with what they have core wise and make a few minor tweaks. Will it pay off? Hard to say...we'll find out how it goes in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned, there's always top notch NHL action right around the corner.