SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012

Ranking Instant Replay in Sports

Instant replay has been used for officiating purposes since 1985 (to the best of my knowledge) when the USFL tinkered with it and the NFL followed the next year. Many purists claim that the use of it takes away the human error from the game, and that the officials are just as much part of the game as the players. The problem with that is that the players are the ones playing the games and therefore the ones that should be deciding the match, not the referees. As someone that has officiated both baseball and ice hockey (baseball at much higher level than ice hockey), I would very much appreciate help in certain calls. There are some plays that are just bang bang and although at the youth level you can't have instant replay you can have it at the professional level. Sports such as baseball, soccer, and football have a problem where a play can be called dead when it should not be, and the only way to fix that is to let close plays go and fix it afterward. Here is my ranking of 7 sports that are popular in America that use instant replay:

Hawk Eye Tennis Review

1. Tennis Tennis has had a review system since the 2006 US Open where players were allowed so many challengers per set. The most common technology used in tennis the Hawk-eye system which uses slow-motion footage to decide whether

or not the ball was in or out. Pros: Around 30% of challenges are successful which is actually pretty high cause that means that officials are only 70% effective. Tennis is a good sport for instant replay because tennis players officiate themselves at a young age so they have a

better idea of in or out calls and won't be as likely to waste challenges as they do in other sports. Cons: None Possible Improvements: I guess you could make Hawk-eye even more accurate. 2. Ice Hockey Instant replay has been used by the NHL to determine whether or not a goal is actually goal since 1991. The league office has also been using it in recent years to punish players who participate in dirty play. The goal review is used to make sure the puck crosses the line and that the puck wasn't put into the net illegally. Goals toward end of period are also reviewed to make sure they crossed line before end of period

Pros: every goal is reviewed by video goal judge while play is stopped after goal to prevent delay in game, referee and video goal judge are only ones allowed to call for instant replay, very accurate Cons: depends on the the home or national broadcast to feed footage(problem in Pittsburgh few years back where douche bag the station director didn't provide all footage and it ended up costing the Flyers, the Flyers still won cause the Penguins are bitches) Possible Improvements: league can set up own cameras 3. Basketball The NBA began using instant replay in the 2002-2003 season to see if a buzzer-beater shot left the hands of the shooter with more than .02 seconds left on the clock. Later, the NBA started to use instant replay to decide which players were involved in fights and deciding if fouls were flagrant

or not. It can also be used to fix clock malfunctions as well as deciding if a shot was worth two or three shots. If a player was fouled on said shot it can determine how many free throws the player gets. The NCAA uses replays for reviews of fights, buzzer beaters, determining two-pointer or three-pointer, and to see which player was fouled in order to determine who takes the free throw. Pros: covers most situations, refs get to decide when to use it Cons: could add more situations to be reviewed Possible Improvements: use it to punish players who flop, out of bounds calls 4. College Football The Big Ten started using instant replay in 2004 and most conferences followed suit in 2005. By 2006, the NCAA made instant replay part of the rules. Although there is no unified code for instant replay, reviews can come from either a coach's challenge or from the video review official up in the press box. Most fouls cannot be challenged except for illegal forward pass and passing interference (only to wipe it off if ball was tipped before hand). Catches, down or not Pros: replay can be initiated by official, usually very few challenges per game Cons: coach's can challenge (which means there are either wasted challenges or teams get punished for challenging a call they sincerely thought was wrong), dead balls can't be reviewed (no way to fix that except to let play go on and fix later) Possible Improvements: NCAA needs to have same replay rules for each conference

5. NFL The reason for the split between NCAA and NFL football is that the NFL pretty much solely relies on coach's challenges instead of a third party to initiate reviews. The plays reviewable for college and professional are pretty much the same. NFL began using replay in 1985 but the current system wasn't adopted until 1999. Pros: all scoring plays reviewed, Cons: coach's challenges (see college football), dead balls can't be reviewed (see college football), booth challenges only allowed in last two minutes of half and overtime Possible improvemnts: BOOTH REVIEWS ONLY

6. Baseball Instant replay made its debut in baseball during the 2008 playoffs to determine whether or not a home run occurred. Fan interference, fair or foul, and whether or not a ball crossed the fence are eligible to be reviewed. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement which is currently being negotiated plans on expanding replay to all fair or foul calls, all fan interference, and whether or not the ball is caught. If those changes are put into play, baseball will shoot up the rankings but they haven't happened yet.

Pros: they finally put it in, game does not get delayed too much, umpires call for review not pitcher Cons: not enough plays reviewed Possible Improvements: add current proposed replayable plays as well as runner interference and fielder obstruction, as well as umpire's interference, possibly foot on bag or not, problem is that baseball depends on one call to effect how the rest of the play plays out 7. Soccer

Soccer still doesn't use any type of instant replay and so far the only technology I've seen them use walkie-talkies and temporary spray paint to mark where the wall can stand. FIFA's 2010 World Cup was covered by blown calls and they can fix this. The only problem is that FIFA is unwilling to change, in fact FIFA's president Sepp Blatter claims that blown calls add to the "fascination and popularity of football."(he can't be too bright,

he helped Qatar get a world cup) The good news is that FIFA is

looking into using the Hawk-eye technology that tennis uses to

determine whether or not the ball crosses the goal line.

Pros: None Cons: None cause it doesn't exist Possible Improvements: review all goals to make sure players weren't offsides and that

a handling of the ball didn't help the scorer, goals that are scored directly after an

incorrect offsides call can be reversed, assistant ref can push button for assistance on who

gets throw, corner kick, or goal kick, and of course technology to decide whether or not

ball crossed line

umps running off to use replay

Douche Bag Idiot

Sepp Blatter

Posted by Alexander Cattermole at 3:48 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: baseball, FIFA, flyers, Football, hawkeye, hockey, MLB, ncaa, NFL, NHL, penguins, pittsburgh,referee, Sepp Blatter, Soccer, tennis, umpire

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2012

Rule Number 5 Rule Number 5

The recent trade that sent Shane Victorino to the Los Angeles Dodgers made me think about his career. The most significant effect he had on baseball didn't happen on the field, it made the Rule 5 draft relevant. Shane Victorino shouldn't be remembered for his clutch hits or his diving plays. He shouldn't be remembered for pointing at his head and then his midsection in game three of the 2008 NLCS. Shane Victorino is, and always should be, the face of the Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 Draft states that a player is eligible for the Rule 5 draft if they are not on the teams 40 man roster AND:

– were signed at age 19 or older and have been in the organization for four years; OR:

– were signed at age 18 or younger and have been in the organization for five years.

Victorino with the Jacksonville Suns

Victorino was drafted in the 1999 Rule 4 Draft (that's the technical term for the actual

amateur draft) by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school at the age of 19.

Therefore, he had to wait four years before he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Four

years later, in the winter of 2002, Victorino was selected by the San Diego Padres via

Rule 5. Once selected, the player must spend the entirety of the next season in the Major

Leagues or they can be offered back to the team that they were taken from. The Padres

used him sparingly, and with little success, in the first month of the season and they

offered him back to the Dodgers on May 28th. He languished in the Dodgers minor

league system, never getting higher than AA. In 2004 the Phillies decided to take him in

the Rule 5 draft once again. Again he sputtered when given his shot in the bigs and he

was promptly offered back to the Dodgers, who declined to take him back.

.

Game 3 of the 2008 NLCS

Finally Victorino started living up to the expectations. He hit .310 at AAA for

the Phillies and was not only selected to the International League All-Star

team, but he was selected as the MVP of the IL as well. He was named to the

2nd team all-minor league team by Baseball America and was awarded the

Phillies minor league player of the year award. He got called up to the Phillies

in September of 2004 and never looked back. He would take over right field

for Bobby Abreu in 2006 and took over centerfield for Aaron Rowand in 2007.

Shane Victorino is not the only success story, Jose Bautista, Johan Santana,

Josh Hamilton, and Jayson Werth were also Rule 5 studs.

Rule 5 is a great way for players to get a chance that they never would have

with another team. Victorino may never have gotten called up to play for the

Dodgers and baseball would have been poorer for it. Certainly there is some

risk with selecting a player in the Rule 5 draft, but with names like these

coming from the draft there is also great reward.

Posted by Buffalo Bill at 1:59 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: AA, AAA, Astros, baseball, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, cardinals, Dodgers, domonic brown, draft,Hawks Report, hunter pence, philadelphia, phillies, playoffs, Prospects, shane victorino

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012

NL Central Deadline Madness

Every team in the National League's Central Division played a part in a major trade in the month of August. The Reds, who are leading the division by 3 games made the fewest but the pick of Jonathan Broxton improves there already steady bullpen. The Pirates and Cardinals also made themselves buyers at the deadline while the Astros, Brewers, and Cubs were all willing to give up one of their top pitchers for prospects. Here is a team by team look at all the NL Central moves. Cincinnati Reds

Already 3 games in front of the second place Pirates and 7 games ahead of the 3rd place team in the wild card race, the Reds did not need to make a huge change but they didn't hurt themselves by getting Jonathan Broxton. Broxton, who was the closer at Kansas City will move to a middle relief role for the Reds as Aroldis Chapman is their current closer. Broxton and Chapman have both been pretty good in the closer rule as they have gone 23 for 27 and 22 for 26 in save opportunities respectively. The Reds already had a great bullpen with 6 pitchers having ERAs at either 3 or below (team bullpen ERA of 2.61 is best in majors) and have completed 74% of their save opportunities (8th in majors). Donnie Joseph who became the Royal's #8 prospect after that trade has a chance to help the them right away as he is currently at AAA with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.409 WHIP. It is hard to imagine that those numbers represent a struggle at any level but at AA this year he had a .89 ERA with a .692 WHIP. J.C. Sulbaran was the other prospect in the trade and is 22 years old and at AA. He has an ERA of 4.04 and is a couple years away from the major leagues if he even ever gets there. This subtle trade will help save the arms of the Reds rotations as they now have another trusted arm in the bullpen. The most important move that can happen for the Reds is for Joey Votto to come off the DL. Chicago Cubs The Cubbies find themselves 15.5 out of the wild card and 18.5 behind the the division leading Reds so it is safe to say that their season is over. They realized and quickly began to trade away for prospects. Catcher Geovany Soto and Pitcher Ryan Dempster (who everyone knew was going to be traded) were traded to the Rangers for Pitchers Jacob Brigham and Kyle Hendricks and 3B Christian Villanueva. To replace Soto, the Cubs called up Wellington Castillo up from the minors. Soto will serve as the Ranger's backup behind Matt Napoli while Dempster will become their #4 starter. Dempster's 2.25 ERA is well above average for an end of rotation starter. None of the prospects that the Rangers gave up are in their top 20 but both Dartmouth grad Hendricks and Mexican Villanueva show some upside.

In a trade with the Braves that the Cubs clearly won, they were able to pick up 21 year old Arodys Vizcaino who was the #40 prospect in baseball at the beginning of the year. As a rookie this year he has a 4.67 ERA and is 1-1. He may be struggling in his first year but he is expected to become a reliable starting pitcher. Along with Vizcaino they received pitcher Jaye Chapman who has a 3.52 ERA in AAA this year. To receive those players they gave up Pitcher Paul Malhom and OF Reed Johnson. Both are decent major leaguers that should add depth to the Braves team but they were not needed on the Cubs. Houston Astros

Their last season in the National League and it is not a successful one as they have lost twice as many games as they have won. Perennial sellers at the deadline the Astros have given up Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence in recent years, they were up to the same game this year and they picked up some solid prospects as they usually do but it is likely they won't take advantage of them. Earlier in the month they unloaded themselves of the weight that is Carlos Lee and in return by getting one of the Marlin's top prospects Matt Dominguez. They also got rid of veteran 3B Chris Johnson to the Diamondbacks in exchange for above average LF prospect Bobby Borchering. However their biggest trade was sending their ace Wandy Rodriguez to the Pirates for LHP Colton Cain, CF Robbie Grossman, and LHP Rudy Owens. Owens had a 3.14 ERA with the Pirates AAA team but since moving to the Astros his ERA has sky rocketed above 7. At age 24 he is getting old for a prospect but he is on the verge of becoming a major league pitcher. Like Owens, the 21 year

old Cain has struggled since changing organizations. Grossman was hitting .266 in AA for the Pirates and in 6 games with the Astros is hitting .292. He is a speed threat with average power. Milwaukee Brewers The Brewers are 14.5 games outside first place so they did the smart thing by selling their biggest asset for prospects. In the off-season they lost their one of their best players, Prince Fielder, to free agency so many thought that they would not be able to contend this year. Ace Zack Greinke was sent to the Angels in return for some great prospects to replenish the farm system after they gave up so much to get Greinke. SS Jean Segura becomes their #1 overall prospect is hitting .297 this year at the AA level. The Brewers new #6 prospect is 23 year old Johnny Hellweg who is 5-10 at AA this year with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. The third prospect they picked up in the trade is 23 year old Ariel Pena, after having a 2.99 ERA in AA with the Angels he struggled in his one start with the Brewer's AA team. Pittsburgh Pirates Currently 2.5 out of the division lead and holding onto a wild card spot the Pirates are in a position to make the playoffs but there is nothing wrong with bolstering their line up and rotation. The first big trade the Pirates made was getting SP Wandy Rodriguez from the Houston Astos(see Astros for prospects Pirates gave up). Wandy had a 3.79 ERA with a 1.270 WHIP in Houston but was mediocre in his first start in Pittsburgh giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. In a trade with the Marlins the Pirates were able to pick up one-time all star Gaby Sanchez and P Kyle Kaminska while giving up prospect OF Gorkys Hernandez. Kaminska and Hernandez are both 3rd level prospects but Sanchez could be a nice addition. After being an all star last year he has struggled this year only hitting .200 and will have to compete with Garrett Jones for playing time at first base as well as RF

Travis Snider since Snider's acquisition moved Jones to 1B. Because of the Sanchez trade the Pirates were able to flip their old first baseman Casey McGehee to the Yankees for RP Chad Qualls. While losing McGehee hurts they found two replacements for him Qualls brings his 4.89 ERA

to Pittsburgh. That might seem high but he has a respectable WHIP of 1.578. The Pirates weren't done though, as they traded for OF Travis Snider while giving the Blue Jays RHP Brad Lincoln. Lincoln was stellar in Pittsburgh this year with a 2.73 ERA mainly in relief appearances but the arrival of Wandy Rodriguez made him expendable. Snider has floated between the majors and the minors over the past couple of years but was off to a good start for the Blue Jays before being traded. He is only 24 and was hitting .325 in the minors this year. St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinals had probably the least exciting trade of the NL Central as they only made one and that was to pick up a mediocre relief pitcher in Edward Mujica while giving up way too much in the form of 3B Zack Cox who was rated as the #88 overall prospect in baseball by Baseball America. Mujica had a WHIP of 1.154 with Miami and has already thrown one perfect inning so far with the Cardinals. Cox was great at AA last year and mediocre at AAA this year but can be expected to help the Marlins in the future. After reviewing all the trades Hawks Report believes that the division will end like this: 1. Pittsburgh Pirates; they did the most to improve their team and even if one trail fails they will have someone to pick up that slag 2. Cincinnati Reds (WC); The Pirates just themselves better than the Reds but they should be able to hold on for a wild card spot 3. St. Louis Cardinals; unless they can pull off the same magic as they did last year they won't be making the playoffs. 4. Milwaukee Brewers; building for the future 5. Chicago Cubs; same as Brewers 6. Houston Astros; moving to AL West next year where they will continue to dominate last place, building for never

Posted by Alexander Cattermole at 9:47 AM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: AA, AAA, Astros, baseball, Brewers, cardinals, Carlos Lee, Cubs, deadline, Jonathan Broxton, NL Central, pirates, Prospects, Reds, trades, Travis Snider

TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012

NL East Fire Sale

NL East Fire Sales

Both the Phillies(45-57) and Marlins (47-55) find themselves more than 10 games out of the wildcard and have decided to call it quits at the trade deadline. Both teams were projected to finish towards the top of the NL East but both teams have fallen short. The Marlins participated in their third fire sale in the 20 years after big free agent grabs Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle. Their first move was sending Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers in exchange for pitching super prospect Jacob Turner and solid prospect C Robert Brantly. Shortly following that was the deal that sent Hanley Ramirez and Randy Choate to the Dodgers for the #2 prospect in the Dodger's system P Nate Eovaldi and throw in prospect Scott McGough. On trade deadline day the Marlins worked out a trades with both the Pirates and the Cardinals. The Marlins sent relief pitcher Edward Mujica(0-3, 4.38 ERA, 2 SV, 36 H) to the Cardinals for 3B prospect Zach Cox who is hitting .254 at the AAA level this year. Cox is 23 years old and probably only a year or two away from the majors. I feel that the Marlins are the winners

in this trade because middle relievers are not always consistent from year to year and Mujica isn't anything special this year. In a year when all is lost a veteran reliever does nothing and Cox should be able to help the Marlins for years to come.

In the deal with the Pirates the Marlins sent off one time all star 1B Gaby Sanchez and P Kyle Kaminska in exchange for the

Pirates Outfielder Gorkys Hernandez. Kaminska seems to

be just thrown in and most likely won't make a huge impact

in the Pirates future as they are already stocked with young

Zach Cox

Gaby Sanchez

arms. Gaby Sanchez will replace Casey McGehee

who the Pirates sent to the Yankees. Hernandez struggled with the big club this year and is doing okay in AAA after an above average year at AAA last year. He will most likely start off in the majors for the Marlins as Giancarlo "Don't Call Me Mike" Stanton is out for the season and Logan Morrison also on the DL.

The Phillies seem to have ended their era as kings of the NL East today by sending away their two best outfielders. Hunter Pence was traded to the Giants for OF Nate Schierholtz and catching prospect Tommy Joseph. Pence for Schierholtz straight up would be a great trade for the Giants and even with throwing Joseph in there it still is. The Giants have gotten themselves an elite right fielder that will help them beat out the Dodgers who have also been busy with deal. Tommy Joseph is the best catcher in the Giant's organization and #3 overall. The Giants will not be hurt too much by this because they already have Buster Posey and Andrew Susac is right behind Joseph in the Giant's system. With Carlos Ruiz aging the Phillies made a smart move by picking up a young catcher. Not to be outdone by the Giants, the Dodgers made a move of their own to pick up a solid outfielder. By giving up P Josh Lindblom and P Ethan Martin, they received Shane Victorino from the Phillies. Victorino is a career .277 hitter with a .776 OPS and should be expected to take over the starting left fielder role from Bobby Abreu. Abreu has slightly better numbers than Victorino this year but Victorino's speed and defense outweighs the older Abreu. Edit:

Dodgers Designate Abreu for assignment. Worse case scenario for Victorino is 4th outfielder but with plenty of playing time as Ethier and Kemp aren't the most durable players. The Dodgers gave up a package that is as valuable to them as Victorino but it is not great for the Phillies. Victorino means more to the Phillies than the Dodgers and they didn't get many prospects for him. Martin is at best a 3rd tier prospect while Lindblom is the#7 prospect in the Dodger's system. Lindblom has spent the whole 2012 season

in the majors with 3.02 ERA in 47.2 innings.

The Phillies moved John Mayberry to starting center fielder status as a result of the trade as well as Domonic Brown. Mayberry will just be a placeholder in the organization as he

is not young enough to be part of the franchises great next wave. The Phillies will most likely play out the rest of most of their contracts and then their prospects will be ready to make a run. The Marlins are in the same situation

Tommy Joseph

Josh Lindblom

except that their players with heavy contracts have more years left and aren't quite as old. If the Marlins want to go back to rebuilding mode Reyes, Bell, and Buehrle will want to get out of Miami.

Posted by Alexander Cattermole at 9:15 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: abreu, baseball, Dodgers, domonic brown, hunter pence, Marlins, MLB, phillies, pirates, shane victorino, Trade deadline, Yankees

MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012

Issues with Olympic Gymnastics

From generation to generation, the Summer Olympics have continued

to dominate the global sports scene once every four years. Recently, there

have been many rule changes to a variety of competitions and have changed

the modern day Olympics. After a weekend of this edition of the Summer

Olympics, there are issues that need to be commented on.

In an extraordinary form of flipping and twisting, the women’s

gymnastics competition began with a thrilling and beautiful sense of style and

amazement. On the first night, squads fought for the top eight positions to

advance while individuals worked to qualify for the 24 all-around spots. This is

where the rules began to put a damper on women’s gymnastics. Instead of the

logical format of advancing the highest 24 individual scores, there is a limit of

just two gymnasts that can move on to the all-around final. The United States

produced three gymnasts that would easily finish in the top 24 spots. Olympic

Trials champion Gabby Douglas, former World Champion Jordyn Wieber and

upstart Aly Raisman were competing for those two delegated spots in the top

24 from the American team. In a stunning finish and wonderful floor routine

from Raisman, Wieber was eliminated from the all-around competition and was

forced to just help the team.

The International Olympic Committee was trying to give the lesser

nations’ competitors more of a chance in medaling by changing the rules. They

wanted to diminish the amount of gymnasts from the larger, powerhouse

countries and give those spots to the underdogs. In theory, the IOC was trying

to create more interest from the small countries and introduce parity to a sport

that is traditionally top-heavy. By trying to make a more competitive internal

team round, the IOC actually makes the individual all-around final less

competitive. The World Champion, Wieber, who easily qualified in the top 24,

will not flip or twist for the all-around gold because she finished third on an

ultra-competitive team.

Judging has always been a controversial issue when it comes to

gymnastics but this time a new rule continues the long line of frustrating

gymnastics conclusions.

Posted by Cody Manmiller at 8:27 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

Fixing the Draft

Professional sports in North America have been using drafts to disperse players ever since 1921 when major league baseball teams began drafting minor leaguers who had not already signed with a major league team. The NFL started the first amateur draft in 1936 when the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles was upset that his team was unable to sign any top prospects. The NBA's first draft happened in 1950 after its first season of merging with the National Basketball League. The NBA had a nice little feature in the draft in which teams had priority over local players. In 1963 the NHL held its first Entry Draft, all amateurs under the age of 20 were eligible. Prior to the 1963 draft NHL teams used a system similar to European soccer where teams would own junior players and sign prospects out of there. Baseball was the last league to implement the draft in 1965 after ridiculous bidding wars over amateur players. Drafts have done a good job of creating parity but I believe they cause more problems than they solve. Players should have some type of say in which team they will end up playing for, by having a draft that doesn't allow for player choice, it limits their ability to get the most economically out their ability as well as freedom in choosing their team. Since drafts determine their order based off of which team performed worse in the previous season (although some leagues have lotteries), some teams may tank during the last few weeks in the season. Sports such as baseball and ice hockey that allow for control of 200+ and 90 players respectively, also have way too much power over the lives of players. These following proposals will try to fix those problems. Change the Number of players controlled by team Currently major league baseball can have over 200 contracts in their possession, that is ridiculous. On the other hand NBA teams can only have 15, a number that should be boosted although they do have the rights to draftees

they have not signed. The NHL is almost as bad as baseball with 90 contracts when they only have a maximum of 2 minor league teams. The NFL has no limit because of their assortment of reserve lists. Under this proposal baseball teams will only have the control of 100 players and they would only have two minor league teams (This leaves open the door for those who want to see promotion and relegation in baseball, there will be more on this later) and a 25 man prospect list. No team would be allowed to have greater than 10 teams per graduating class. The players on the prospect list would be allowed to distributed to teams that are not affiliated with any other major league team(possibly teams inside the baseball pyramid) as well as college teams. This means that the NCAA needs to change their definition of amateur, players should be allowed to be signed to contracts and still play college sports. Teams will pay for the players education but not anything else. The current rules about 40 man rosters and and DL rules will still apply.

NBA teams should have their contract limit set at 20, they are allowed 15 players to be selected for games as well as 10 prospects. Each team would be allowed two players per graduating class(ie. 2 Freshmen, Two Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, Redshirt Seniors). A team is not required to carry all those players but if so they are allowed. NFL rosters should be expanded as well, They will keep their current active player and reserve list limits but will be allowed 3 players per graduating class to be under contract. Those players will be playing for college teams. The NHL would undergo changes similar to baseball, there contract limit would remain at 50 so that each team could field one minor league team. There franchise limit would be brought down to 65 with 3 players coming from each graduating class. European players will have their graduating class determined by their age if they did not finish high school or lived in a location that finished high school at age 16. Change the Draft Structure Teams should no longer be rewarded for finishing in last place but teams that do the best should not become stronger by getting the best talent. In this proposal the draft order will go like this. Teams that do not make the playoffs will have their first picks of the draft starting with the best record and ending with the worst. Then the playoff teams will get to draft towards at the end of

the round with the champion picking last and the worst record of playoff teams going first. To give teams the option sign local talent as well as give players the opportunity to play for their favorite team, teams will have the ability as many local players as they are allowed prospects per graduating class. (In other terms, a team could sign 3 local players per graduating class if they are allowed 3 prospects in that graduating class).

A local player can be signed by a team that's television market covers his hometown, birthplace, or college. Each team would rank their local players in order of how important they are to each team. If another team would draft a "local" player in a draft round higher than the rank given by the team that player signed with, the drafting team would have priority(If a player was given a rank of 4 but a team drafted him in round 3, the team that drafted him would get him. Another confusing part of this is that no draft has a set amount of rounds. Teams are only allowed to draft as many players as they have spots left on their prospect list. So if a team has 8 spots left they are allowed 8 rounds of drafting. They also still have to comply with the graduation class restrictions. Although all these changes may seem very confusing, they would make a difference in sports if ever instituted. Writing these rules would not be easy because teams would try to find loopholes in the rules so a legal team would be necessary. Teams being rewarded for sucking is not right, it gives the fans a poor game and wouldn't it be great to see your hometown compete for every game instead of calling it in.

Posted by Alexander Cattermole at 7:54 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: changes, draft, Eagles, MLB, national basketball league, NBA, nbl, NFL, NHL, radical, slotting

Reaction to Ichiro and Hanley Trades

As I assume many of you may know by now the Marlins have begun there franchise tradition of fire selling. They have already traded away Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and Omar Infante, and there has been rumors that they are also willing to trade Heath Bell. The other big trade this past week has been the Seattle Mariners sending longtime face of the franchise Ichiro to the Yankees. Earlier this week Hawks Report posted about possible trades and while neither of these trades were proposed by us, we did assume the Yankees would get an outfielder and the Marlins would try to get rid of some contracts. While both the Hanley and Ichiro trades seem one sided now, I wanted to take a deeper look into what each team was getting and what they were giving up. I took a look from each team's perspective:

Miami Marlins

Both trades the Marlins made just show that they are about to start another Fire Sale. The executives know that they just aren't going to win this year and with the trades they are making they don't plan on winning for a couple of years. Hanley was considered the face of the franchise after winning both a rookie of the year and a batting title but with the acquisition of Jose Reyes over the off-season pushing Hanley to third, he has not been on good terms with the franchise. He was due 31.5 million dollars over the next two years so the cash strapped Marlins made a good move by dealing him. LHP Randy Choate was also sent to the Dodgers in the deal. In return they received pitching prospects Scott McGough

and Nate Eovaldi. Eovaldi was the #2 prospect in the Dodgers system according to minorleagueball.com and should be able to contribute in the top of the Marlins rotation for years to come. McGough was drafted out of the University of Oregon last year and was not considered one of the Dodgers top prospects but might make it as a reliever because there development and luck sometimes has a lot to do with luck.

Nate Eovaldi

In the trade with the Tigers, the Marlins really took a "now" hit but there future actually looks much brighter afterwards. C Robert Brantly may never make it to the majors but there is just a good of a chance that he will, no one is expecting him to be a superstar but if things work out in his and the Marlins favor, he could be a quality major leaguer. The other prospect they received in that trade is Jacob Turner and he is considered to be a no doubt ace. He is only 21 years old and although is has a major league ERA of over 8, his minor league ERA has been just over 3. Marlins were able to dump the Contracts of Ramirez (2 years/$31.5 mil overall) and Infante($4 mil). Sanchez is due to become a free agent at the end of the season so the Marlins did the right thing by trying to get some prospects out of him. If the Marlins are going to start a fire-sale, I hope they go full blast, I'd like to see Josh Johnson who is about to make $13.75 million next year (while eligible fro arbitration at the end) go as he needs to be put in a situation where he can win. Heath Bell has to go as he was just a dumb signing and I am sure he can help out somewhere. Jose Reyes and his remaining 5 years $96 million need to be sent elsewhere. Johnson would make a good fit in Toronto who is trying to make a push for the playoffs while having the #1 rated farm system allowing them to make moves. Reyes would fit in at almost any playoff contender but I feel the Braves would be the best fit considering their shortstop problems. Every team in the majors needs a relief pitcher so Bell could find a home anywhere, the only problem is that he $18 mil over the next 2 years with a games finished option for 2015. Los Angeles Dodgers

With the Dodgers two games out of the NL West and one game out of the Wild Card, it makes perfect sense to why they would try to improve their team. Although Hanley has not been having the best year of his career, he will surely

be an offensive improvement over .196 hitting Juan Uribe at third. The Dodgers will lose their #5 starter Nate Eovaldi but that is a hole they should be able to fill and in the long stretch relief pitching is very important and Randy Choate should be able to help out. According to mlb.com, the Dodgers are likely to start Stephen Fife, a 25 year old who had an impressive outing against the Phillies this year, Mattling has said that the pitcher will come from within the organization and it will not be Jamey Wright. McGough is a non-prospect and will not figure into much.

Jaocb Tuner

Randy Choate

Detroit Tigers

Boy, the Tigers must be trying to win it all this year. They splurged for 1B Prince Fielder in the off season and are pretty much renting Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante. Sure Infante has next season under his contract so they will be getting 1.5 years out of him instead of .5. The Tigers are currently tied for the division lead but would be half a game out of the two wildcard spots. The addition of Sanchez makes the Tigers rotation a force to be reckoned with, Sanchez and his 3.94 ERA will be

one of the best #5 starters in the league. Omar Infante is hitting .284 this season and will be a huge upgrade from Ramon Santiago who is hitting .216. The Tigers do give up a lot though as their #1 pitching prospect is now in Florida but if they are able to re-sign Sanchez they aren't going to have to worry about pitching for awhile. Rob Brantly, is not a sure thing but giving him up could not have been easy either. Seattle Mariners

This is a weird trade because the Mariners aren't giving up much (Ichiro was only hitting .261) but they aren't really getting anything. On the other hand,

the Yankees could revive Ichiro and get a lot out of him while not really being hurt at all. The Mariners are paying most of Ichiro's contract so they aren't exactly getting out of that. The one thing they get is a culture change, this is no longer the Seattle Ichiro's and they have a new target to build around, Felix Hernandez. RHP D.J. Mitchell has not had success at either the Major league or AAA level this year so if the Mariners get something out of him this year, it will be a surprise. He is 25 so unless he is a late bloomer, he has very little upside left but with how bad the Mariners are, I'm

sure he will have a spot in the majors. RHP Danny Farquhar has been on waivers twice this season and probably won't pitch for the Yankees until September call ups if he ever does. He is most famous for having a name that is similar to the king from Shrek, don't expect anything out of him.

Omar Infante

D.J. Mitchell

New York Yankees

The Yankees give up two non-prospects for a guy that has been one of the most consistent hitters in baseball history while only having to pay him $2.5 mil. Sounds like a sure fire winner for them right? Possibly... Ichiro just hasn't been himself this year and if things continue to go down for him, they gave up two guys that might fix things up and become contributors. Everyone knew that the Yankees were going to get an outfielder (Hawks Report suggested Justin Upton, younger, more power, more upside), but no one really expected Ichiro. It shouldn't be that surprising because the Yankees love veteran players and very rarely take chances on young players and prefer prime to past prime players that they can get from other teams. Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, and Brett Gardner are the only position players on the Yankees that are home grown. They Yankees were forced to designate Dewayne Wise for assignment, he has been used for defensive substitutions this year and is most famous for making the catch to save Mark Buehrle's perfect game. No one knows which teams will turn out to be the winners and losers of these trades. It is safe to say that the Yankees will make the playoffs and they could have done it without Ichiro. The Dodgers and Tigers are fighting for their playoff lives while the Mariners and Marlins will continue to try to win 5 years from now.

Posted by Alexander Cattermole at 12:31 AM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: Blue Jays, D.J. Mitchell, Dodgers, Farquhar, Fire Sale, Hanley Ramirez, Hernandez, Ichiro,Mariners, Marlins, Omar Infante, Randy Choate, tigers, Yankees

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Dewayne Wise had to be

designated for assignment

because of Ichiro