Baseball movement and awards

Massive Baseball Trade

- The Miami Marlins are in full blowup mode (again) as they continue selling pieces of their team from last year to cut payroll. Sources are reporting that the Marlins are almost done with a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in which they will send 2011 price free agents (shortstop Jose Reyes and pitcher Mark Buerhle) as well as pitcher Josh Johnson, catcher John Buck and utility player Emilio Bonafacio.
- In return the Blue Jays will sending at least three players, including shortstop Yunel Escobar and their top two prospects in Jake Marisnick and Adeiny Hechavarria. The final agreement could include more players going to Miami.
- This move will likely make the Blue Jays much more competitive. Reyes and Bonafacio will likely be immediate starters, while Johnson and Buerhle will immediately be the top two starting pitchers on the Blue Jays’ staff. The Blue Jays are looking to compete in a division with the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles who all won 90 or more games last year.
- The deal has ignited a ton of commentary on Twitter from relevant players.  Remaining Marlin Giancarlo Stanton is apparently not happy but Bryce Harper (who we'll have more on below) has a simple solution for him.


Most Obvious ROY’s Ever

- As the 2012 baseball awards are handed out this week, the two most obvious awards are each conferences’ Rookie of the Year. These two young players were two of the best prospects in the past few years, and had incredible seasons to start their career.
- Bryce Harper, the outfielder for the Washington Nationals, received 16 of the 28 first place votes. Harper, the first pick in the 2010 draft, made it to the Major Leagues in late April and hit .270 with 22 home runs and 59 RBIs. Harper is the second youngest (by 24 days) winner of the National League Rookie of the Year award.
- Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout was the first unanimous winner of the AL Rookie of the Year since Evan Longoria in 2008. Trout has a legitimate chance to win the MVP this year after his beyond incredible year. He lead the league in WAR (wins above replacement - a statistic that judges the number of wins a player contributed to his team in a year), and would be the runaway MVP choice had Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers not won the triple crown.

Lakers hire coach, Football recap

D'Antoni, not Jackson, to coach Lakers

• Former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni was hired to be the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers Monday instead of Phil Jackson, as many had expected.  Jackson was asking for a king's ransom: the ability to take road trips off and make some personnel decisions to say nothing of the money he wanted. 
• The team likely would have given in to those demands if they thought it would give them the best chance to win, but his famous Triangle offense was seen as detrimental to the skills of new Lakers Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, while D'Antoni's up-tempo style meshes perfectly with Nash, who had a long period of success in Phoenix together.
• Jackson was reportedly 'stunned' not to be offered the job, probably assuming the D'Antoni was the backup plan only if he turned the job down.


K-State, Oregon 1-2

• After Alabama's stunning 29-24 loss to Texas A&M and star freshman QB Johnny Manziel (that was clinched on a 4th down offsides call) the BCS Title game looks to be SEC-free for the first time in years. 
• In the latest BCS standings, Kansas State is #1, while Oregon is #2 although those rankings are flip-flopped in the national polls.  Either way, those two will likely play in BCS Title game if they win their remaining games, leaving undefeated Notre Dame on the outside looking in at #3 unless something drastic happens.
• The 2005 season was the last time that there was no SEC team in the title game and in each of those six games, the SEC team has come out on top.
• Kansas State ends the season against #15 Texas while Oregon has an even tougher schedule, playing #13 Stanford, #16 Oregon State and most likely USC (or UCLA) in the Pac-12 Title game.
 

The Mighty Fall

• The Atlanta Falcons came into the weekend undefeated and facing the always dangerous New Orleans Saints. A couple of bad turnovers, a few choice penalties and star wide receiver Roddy White inexplicably cutting off a rout on what probably would have been the game winning touchdown, led to the New Orleans Saints winning 31-27, leaving the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the NFL's only undefeated team for at least one more year.
• The Falcons, at 8-1, are still in the driver’s seat in the NFC (as the Chicago Bears lost yesterday). The New Orleans Saints are now 4-5, and looking to make a late season push into playoff contention.
• As mentioned above, the Chicago Bears lost to the Houston Texans in a battle of the second best team in the NFC and the best team in the AFC. Part of the reason the Bears lost was the injury to quarterback Jay Cutler, who had to leave the game at halftime with a concussion. The Bears are still comfortably second in the conference.
• In addition to Jay Cutler, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith all left their games with concussions. All three were quarterbacks who have had calls to be benched by their fans, now look like they will have to sit down for at least one week.
• In Chicago, the Bears picked up veteran quarterback Jason Campbell as their backup, the Eagles will turn to rookie Nick Foles while the 49ers will turn to second year player Colin Kaepernick to lead them. The Bears and 49ers are both in contention for the Super Bowl, while Foles may be the future in Philly as Vick is a free agent after this year.

Colts Rolling, Lakers Stumbling

Colts top Jags, now 6-3

• Apparently the Indianapolis Colts didn't get the memo that trading Peyton Manning was supposed to usher in a couple painful years following his brilliant run as the team's QB and Andrew Luck may have quite a bit to do with that.
• The rookie phenom ran for two TD's and only made one mistake (an interception thrown while he was being hit) as the Colts won their 4th straight game, beating the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars 27-10.
• Luck eclipsed the TD total for his father Oliver's entire 4 year NFL career with his second score, the 15th of his career and has now doubled Peyton Manning's win total from his rookie year with the Colts.
• Reggie Wayne caught 8 passes for 96 yards, by far the NFL's leader in receiving yards, in the effort and Darius Butler caught two interceptions and also recovered a fumble.

Lakers Struggle Out of the Gate

• When the Lakers take on the Golden State Warriors tonight, they are favored to get their second victory of the season, unfortunately for the preseason Western Conference favorites, its their 6th game, and they are looking to move to 2-4.
• With the Thunder trading James Harden and the offseason acquisitions of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, the path to the NBA finals looked very clear for the Lakers. However, a nicked up Nash and a slowed down Kobe Bryant have led to the Lakers stumble out of the gate.
• Some of their early season struggles can be attributed to the two new starters. Especially Howard who missed much of the preseason recovering from back surgery. This veteran team knows how to win, and are still the favorites in the Western Conference, but perhaps by a smaller margin than in the past.

Trouble in Texas, and Sporting Election Results

Dallas Engulfed

• The Dallas Cowboys are engulfed in major turmoil after yet another close loss this weekend, even though it was to the undefeated Atlanta Falcons. Major questions are being raised about quarterback Tony Romo and Owner/General Manager Jerry Jones.
• Quarterback Tony Romo faces a great deal of scrutiny after throwing 13 interceptions and only 10 touchdowns this week for a team that is only 3-5. Many Dallas fans are calling for Romo’s head as it does not seem like he is maximizing the talent around him.
• Jerry Jones is the picture of a tyrannical owner. He owns, runs and is the face of the team. However, the former college football player is not necessarily a qualified general manager. Many of his moves are reminiscent of former Oakland Owner/GM Al Davis who refused to see that he was hurting his team by refusing to give up the reigns. While many fans are calling for Jones to hire a qualified General Manager, Jones is reticent to change, saying to the that he will always be the GM of the team.
• Fans of "America's Team" have to hope that Romo and Jones can turn it around soon and starting putting the "W" back in Cowboys.

Sporting Figures Fair Poorly in Elections

• Perhaps the biggest sporting name in the 2012 elections was Linda McMahon. The wife of pro wrestling magnet Vince McMahon lost her second senate bid in 2 years for Connecticut. McMahon was defeated by Chris Murphy, after losing in 2010 to Richard Blumenthal. All told, McMahon spent $97 million on both campaigns combined.
• Another family member of sports royalty lost a senate bid on Tuesday as George Allen lost to Tim Kaine in the Virginia Senate race. Allen's brother Bruce is the General Manager of the Washington Redskins and their father George was a longtime coach of the Redskins

Football update, NCAA and NFL

Alabama Holds its Ground

• The Alabama Crimson Tide, who have been the #1 team in the country for 10 weeks in a row, were almost dethroned on Saturday. Facing #5 LSU, the Tide were down 17-14 with under a minute left. Tide quarterback AJ McCarron found wide receiver TJ Yeldon for a 28-yard touchdown to give the Tide a 21-17 victory.
• LSU was hurt by a couple of questionable trick plays that didn’t end up working, including a fake field goal, a failed onside kick attempt and a 4th down conversion that didn’t work. LSU coach Les Miles is known for rolling the dice with risky plays but on Saturday he showed remorse after the game saying he wish he had some calls back.
• The other big teams in college football won, with every top-14 team coming out victorious. The Oregon Ducks hurdled the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the BCS polls to take the #3 spot after Notre Dame had a huge upset scare, coming back from a 20-6 4th quarter deficit against unheralded Pittsburgh to win 29-26 in triple overtime.  Kansas State, the #2 team, remained undefeated as well however star QB and potential Heisman Trophy winner Colin Klein left the game with an unknown injury and is his status against TCU this week is uncertain.


Doug Martin Goes Off

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin had himself a huge game on Sunday much to the consternation of the Oakland Raiders, and many fantasy owners who had to play against him. Martin, a rookie running back from Boise State, ran for 251 yards and four touchdowns in the Bucs 45-35 in.
• Martin, who is from Oakland, was playing in front of more than 60 friends and family, which you'd think would cause Tampa Bay management to shell out for plane and game tickets for his loved ones to come to every Bucs game. He is only the second back in the history of the NFL to rush for 250 yards and four touchdowns in a single game. It wasn’t until less than 2 minutes were left in the game when Martin had a touchdown of less than 45 yards.
• Also deserving mention for their Sunday performance are Brandon Marshall and the entire Chicago Bears team who won 51-20 against the Tennessee Titans to improve to 7-1 on the season.  Marshall had 122 yards and 3 TD's, Matt Forte had a 100+ yard game with a TD and the Bears defense caused 5 turnovers, bringing 2 of them back for touchdowns.