2018 Baseball Hall of Fame Introducties

On Wednesday, Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman were all elected into the baseball hall of fame. For Jones and Thome it was their first time on the ballot thus making them first ballot hall of famers. As for Guerrero it was his second year on the ballot and Hoffman’s third year on the ballot.

Chipper Jones

Clipper received 97.2% of the votes, the highest mark of the four selected. He played 19 seasons, all with the Atlanta Braves. He was apart and a big reason the braves won 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005. He made 8 all star games and had a career batting average of 303. and 468 home runs.

Chipper is the only switch hitter in MLB history to have a 300. Batting average, 400. on base percentage, and 500. slugging percentage. He trails only Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray for most career home runs by a switch hitter. In 1995, Jones’ rookie season, he helped the Atlanta Braves win the world series over the Cleveland Indians. He also won his only MVP award in 1999.

Vladimir Guerrero

Vladimir, Vlady as he is better known by, Guerrero played 16 seasons in the MLB. He retired from baseball in 2012. He was on the hall of fame ballot last year and just missed out of making it in his first year. You need 75% of the votes to get in and he got 71.7 %. This year however he received 92.9% of the votes leaving no questions about it.

During his career Vlady accumulated a 318. Batting average, 449 home runs and 1,496 runs batted in. He was also named to 9 all star teams. He played for the Expos, Rangers, Orioles, and the team I remember him the most for, the Angels. As a young boy my first memories of baseball were going to Angel games with my family and watching Vlady take batting practice(man he could hit a ball hard and far). Sometimes overlooked, Vlady had a cannon for an arm and it was always so exciting when a runner would try to score from second on a base hit to right field and Vlady would throw a strike to home plate and nail the baserunner. He was a great player and is much desering for the Hall of Fame.

Jim Thome

Jim Thome received 89.8% of the votes on his first year on the ballot. He will always be remembered for his power. He hit 612 home runs, good enough for 8th on the all time list. He also owns the record for most walk off homeruns in MLB history with 13. Thome spend the beginning and majority of his career with the Cleveland Indians and will go into the hall an Indian. During the end of his career he bounced between teams including the Phillies, White Sox’s, Twins, Dodgers, and ended his career an Oriole.

Trevor Hoffman

Last year Trevor Hoffman barley missed being elected to the hall, he ended up with 74%. This season however he received 79.9% and was officially elected into the hall of fame. Hoffman, a closer, is only the third reliever pitcher to be elected into the hall of fame. Playing the majority of his career in San Diego he may be overlooked. He was the epitome of a perfect closer, throws hard and has a devastating out pitch, his signature changeup. Hoffman however was most known for his wake up song, Hells Bells by ACDC. Whenever Petco Park started playing Hells Bells the crowd knew exactly what was happening and got all energize. I was luckily enough to experience this as a kid and it is something I will never forget. The energy of the whole stadium was simply incredible.   

 

LeBron reaches 30,000 points

I have always admired LeBron’s game and drive to be great. He inspires many people everyday and I happen to be one of those people. He is a different breed and continues to amaze people even at the age of 33. As someone who never considered himself a “scorer” he enters a group of elite and best scorers in NBA history.

From Akron to 30,000 points

LeBron James was born on December 30,1984 in a little city outside of Cleveland, Akron, Ohio.  No dad in his life and a 16 year old mother LeBron has faced adversity his whole life. LeBron has never been shy to talk about his rough childhood and attributes a lot of the success in his career to the struggles he faced as a young kid growing up in Akron.

On Tuesday LeBron posted a photo of himself in high school congratulating himself for scoring 30,000 points on instagram. He always has shied away from talking about personal accolades and records he sets so the post was not normal for LeBron. He mentions how it was never a goal of his but how he should still take a moment and realize how great an accomplishment it truly is, only 6 other guys have scored that many points.

LeBron joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, and Dirk Nowitzki in the 30,000 point club and also began the youngest to reach the mark. Kobe was the youngest to score 30,000 at 34 years 104 days and LeBron achieved the feat at 33 years and 24 days.   

LeBron has always been a team first me second guy. He has never focused his game on scoring but more about getting his teammates involved. This is what makes this accomplishment even more amazing. All the guys he joins on that list had the score first mentality and LeBron does not.

As we admire and appaule LeBron’s historic night and career we sit here in awe and amazement. His drive and determination to be the best is simply amazing and inspiring. This is just another record to add to LeBron’s already crowered legacy. His achievements are astonishing but they are nothing to what he has done for the city of Akron and Cleveland. He is the greatest man to ever play the game of basketball and continues to be a great role model to anyone. He plays the game with great passion and always ##striveforgreatness.  

 

    

NBA Midseason Awards

Coach of the Year

The clear frontrunner for this award every year is Greg Popovich just like Lebron is for the MVP award every year. He is indeed my pick at the halfway mark of the season. He has overcame a lot this year so far.  With his older players such as Tony Parker’s play declining, Lamarcus Aldridge’s drama of wanting to be traded, and most importantly Kawhi Leonard’s absence from injury.

Through all this Popovich has lead the Spurs to a 30-18, good enough for third place in the west. Always a very interesting and funny interview, Pop has the Spurs exceeding expectations.

Defensive Player of the Year

This award always seems to be a dog fight between the same usual guys every season. Those guys include Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan, and Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi has only played a handful of games due to injury so he is out of the picture. Draymond has battled a few injuries this season as well. Also his teammate, Kevin Durant, has transformed his defensive game this season, taking some votes away from Draymond Green. DeAndre Jordan is having another good year but he has had better ones to date.

So, that leaves a few new guys, Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid. My pick for the award goes to Joel Embiid. He has the 76er’s as a top three defense in the league. Opponents are shooting just 51.1% at the rim when Embiid is guarding them. He has been a huge force for this young 76er’s team on the offensive and defensive side of the floor.

Most Improved Player

This one was a pretty easy choice for me. Victor Oladipo is the clear choice for this award. When he was traded to the Thunder last season there were a lot of high expectations for him that he never lived up to. However, this season when he was traded from the Thunder to the Indiana Pacers, his game took off, and he meet those expectations they had of him last year. The difference was he didn’t have any of those expectations going to a rebuilding Pacers team and finally just got to be himself and play his game.

He is having a career year this year to a stat line of 24.2 points per game,3.9 assists per game, and 5.2 rebounds per game. Compared to last year, where he only averaged 15.9 points, 2.6 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game. He has been a spark plug for the Pacers all year and I expect him to keep up the great play.

6th Man of the Year

This one is a pretty easy call for me as well. Lou Williams for the Clippers is my choice. Williams has been the Clippers best scorer all season long and has kept them afloat while Blake Griffin was out with injury. He’s averaging 23.4 points and 5 assists per game and is having another great season coming off the bench.

Rookie of the Year

The rookie of the year is a good race this year, but ultimately, Ben Simmons wins it for me. As much as I would like to say Lonzo Ball, his slow start is holding him back for me. When he does play however, the Lakers are a much better team and if this continues to be the case, he has a legitimate chance to win the award.

Donovan Mitchell is also having a wonderful year for the Utah Jazz. He is the sleeper for this award and if the Jazz somehow sneak into the playoffs, I could see him stealing the award from Ball or Simmons.

MVP

This is by far the most deep and interesting award this season. There are at least 6 legitimate candidates for this award. My choice however is LeBron James. He is putting up another MVP type season like every year. Even with everything the Cavaliers are going through right now with the losing streak and disagreement with Lebron and the front office, he is still putting up numbers every game even at the age of 33.

I expect the Cavaliers to make a big time trade and spark the team and LeBron. Also, with Isiah Thomas getting more healthy and comfortable with his new team, LeBron’s game is only going to get better. I expect an even bigger second half from the king.  

 

Tim Tebow gets his shot

Everyone remembers Tim Tebow from his college days at Florida, his heroics with the Denver Broncos, and of course his signature “Tebowing”. Everyone remembers one play from his time with the Broncos, an overtime playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you know what i’m referring to, you are picturing that play in your head right now. If you don’t know the play look it up, you won’t be disappointed(unless you’re a Steelers fan).

Tebow’s professional football career was short lived. He was drafted in 2010 by the same Broncos and only lasted two seasons there and was ultimately out of the league by 2015.

Tebow’s baseball dreams

After Tebow’s football life, he got into broadcasting and analyzing football, but he always wanted to be on the feild and not the booth. That’s just the person he is, he has that drive to be great. We all saw that in his college days at Florida, leading the gators to two national championships. Sports are just better when Tebow is on the field.

In August 2016, Tebow expressed interest in pursuing a career in baseball. He was 29 at the time and hadn’t played competitive baseball since his junior year of high school, but if anyone could make this happen it’s Tim Tebow. He held a tryout for MLB teams and 28 of the 30 teams had members present. On September 8, 2016, the New York Mets offered Tim a minor league contact which he accepted.

As for the 2016 season, he only had 70 plate appearances and batted .194. The 2017 season was his first full minor league season and proved to be a good one for Tim. He started the year at class A south atlantic league where he hit .222. He was promoted to class A-advanced Florida state league on June 25, 2017 and finished off his season there.

On January 19, 2017, Tebow was invited to spring training for the New York Mets. Nobody knows what the future holds for Tebow, but we all know he’s gonna work his tail off for a chance to play at the major league level.     

 

  

Conference Championship Weekend

The final four nobody expected

Coming into the season the Patriots were a virtual lock in the AFC championship game but the other three teams, not so much. Many people myself included had the patriots winning the Super Bowl again this year and some also had them not losing a single game. That didn’t last long with them losing week 1 to the Chiefs but you can argue they have been the best team all year long.

Now for the three other teams. Oh yes who would have guessed it. Case Keenum while talking to reporters sarcastically shouted out all the people who predicted a Case Keenum vs Nick Foles NFC championship game. We all know nobody in a million years would have predicted that. They both started the year as the backup quarterback.

So how is it that two backup quarterbacks ended up in the NFC championship game? I’ll start with the Vikings and Case Keenum. He started his professional career with a 9-17 record from 2013-2017, not that great. 2017 was the year he took the leap. He went 12-3 in the regular season and already has one win under his belt in this postseason, a game i’m sure no Viking fan will ever forget. Something Keenum has definitely benefited from is his number one ranked defense. Also having one of the best offensive coordinators,Pat Shurmur in the game helps. Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, and Kyle Rudolph also makes it much easier for Keenum. Even with all these things at Keenum’s display he has put up a career year and has shown his ability to be a full time NFL starting quarterback.

The Eagles are a different story than the Vikings. They had an MVP caliber quarterback for most of the season, Carson Wentz. He broke out in a big way in his sophomore season and was on his way to winning the MVP, then in week 14 against the Rams he tore his acl thus ending his season. Nick Foles was the man to take over. He is a very capable backup, starting many games in his career and is even considered one of the best backups in football but yet there was still doubt.  Nobody gave them a chance in the playoffs and said they would be a first round exit. After beating the Falcons last weekend many players, most notably Chris Long said all the doubt and being considered the underdogs fueled them and gave them extra motivation. He was shown wearing a dog mask on the field after the win. So can the Eagles, underdogs again against the Vikings this weekend, with Nick Foles and a motivated team ride that to a Super Bowl championship?

Now the most surprising team of them all, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not even predicted to make the playoffs, not even predicted to have a five hundred record the Jaguars are one win away from playing in the Super Bowl. A year after going a dreadful 3-13 the jaguars turned it all around. With a new coach, running back, a few key defensive players added through free agency, and most importantly a new head of football operations, Tom Coughlin. A whole new type of football has propelled the Jaguars to a winning record this year, ground and pound and a stifling, hungry defense. Blake Bortles has taken a lot of heat in his young career but he has made good strides this year that has paid dividends to this playoff run for the jaguars.

The game predictions

The AFC championship games seems to be lopsided in favor of the Patriots. They have the coach, the quarterback,the experience, home field advantage, and have been to 7 straight AFC championship games. The jaguars on the other hand have the confidence coming off a huge road win against Pittsburgh where nobody expected them to win. Tom Brady’s hand injury concerns me a little but I still expect him to play and play well. Even after stating all that I still am rolling will the Jaguars to pull off a huge upset. I have them winning 20-17.

The NFC championship game should be a defensive battle. With two elite defense going up against two backup quarterbacks. I expect points to be hard to come by. I like the Vikings defense a little more than the Eagles and also give the advantage to Keenum over Foles. I have the Vikings winning 14-10.    

Bullpen shaping up, Justin Wilson the X-factor

With pitchers and catchers reporting a little less than a month away the Cub’s bullpen seems to be taking shape. With most of the key core returning and a couple under the radar acquisitions the bullpen seems ready to erase the memory of the blow up in the playoffs last season.

The X-factor:Justin Wilson

When the Cubs traded for Justin Wilson at the trade deadline the Cubs thought they were getting a deadly left handed weapon at the back of their bullpen. This was ultimately not the case whatever. Before the trade Wilson was a door stopper for Detroit. He appeared in 42 games and had a 2.68 ERA while also racking up 13 saves. He also only walked 16 batters in those appearances. In chicago it was a total different story. He appeared in 23 games for the cubs and applied a 5.09 ERA with 19 walks.

Your guess is as good as mine to explain why this happened to him. He just totally lost it but the Cubs are not giving up on him. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer said they expect a big bounceback year for Wilson for the Cubs and he will be a huge part to the bullpen this year. Getting Justin Wilson back to his Detroit Tiger form will be a great boost for this bullpen. He was such a dangerous left handed option out of the Detroit bullpen and could play a huge role for the Cubs this year. Without a clear closer I could easily see Wilson grab the closer role if he has a great spring training. It’s not a guarantee this happens but if it does watch out for him this year. The guy can pitch.

 

The new faces

The Cubs have added Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek through free agency, two under the radar sneaky deals that could pay dividends. Brandon Morrow, who Cub’ fans surely remember from his part in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He appeared in 4 of the 5 games and did not allow an earned run in 4.2 innings. He seems to be the new closer for the Cubs, making him the 4th in 4 years. He signed for a 2 year 21 million dollar deal. Last year he posted a 2.06 ERA in 45 games. He mainly served as the set up man to Kenley Jansen. Whatever his role for the Cubs will be this upcoming season he will be a main part of this bullpen.

The Cubs also added side armer Steve Cishek. Steve split his 2017 season between the mariners and rays. Between the two teams he put up another solid season posting a 2.01 ERA in 49 games. He signed a 2 year 13 million dollar deal with the Cubs last month. He gives the Cubs a great end of the game matchup type of pitcher. His unique throwing motion is to credit for this and he will be a big piece of the bullpen this year and next.

 

The returning core

The Cubs of course have key guys returning. Even though they did lose Wade Davis to the Colorado Rockies they still feel good with the guys they have coming back. They have Carl Edwards Jr.,Perdo Srop, Mike Montgomery, and Justin Grimm.  With another year of experience for all these guys they should continue to improve. Edwards has the most promise all them all.  He appeared in a career high 73 games and had a 2.98 ERA. He struggled in the postseason but that could be running out of gas in his first full season. With that first long year over and done he should put up another solid year for the Cubs.

The Wildcard, Dillon Maples, is an interesting story. He started last year at Low A and ended up making a few appearances with the big league club. Even though he is not expected to make the club out of spring training he should be a name to watch and could easily be on the Cubs come the All Star break.

Overall the bullpen is looking lethal and looking for something to prove coming off that disappointing 2017 postseason performance.

The longer the wait the more beneficial it could be for the Cubs

With pitchers and catchers reporting to camps being a little over a month away there is still much more offseason left. The slow developing free agent market is to credit for this. The offseason is about to get very busy for many teams and players. The best is yet to come.

 

Optimistic for teams

The word free agent can be misleading. You are technically free to talk to whatever and as many teams as you please but in the end it really is up to the team itself to offer you a contract or not, thus putting the player at the teams mercy essentially. This in hand gives the advance to the teams.

As we move closer and closer to spring training you can definitely feel the push from players to sign with a team soon. It is an uneasy feeling for the players and their families. This also favors the teams. The team can potentially sign a team for cheaper than his actual valve because the players are eager to get a deal done. We saw this with the Jay Bruce signing yesterday.

 

So how does this benefit the Cubs?

Once the offseason started the cubs have been linked and the frontrunners to sign Alex Cobb. The interest was mutual between the two thus the Cubs offered him a three year-42 million dollar deal. Cobb decided to decline and explore other options. Recent reports say Cobb is seeking 20 million annually. That’s quite a lot to give to a guy who would most likely serve as the number four in the rotation.

So now as spring training looms closer and closer and players begin to wonder if they will be playing in Arizona or Florida for it the willing to get a deal done soon becomes a lot bigger. Cobb could very certainly end up signing with the Cubs for about that initial offer if he does not like the offers from the other teams pursuing him and like I said the longer a player waits to sign the lesser amount of money he could get.