Categories
MLB General

Bad, bad, bad MLB trades

In the world of sports, there is nothing riskier than making that big trade. Then again, trades can also be extremely rewarding. Just think of how much thought, struggle and heartache goes into each trade you make in your fantasy league and then add the pressure of million dollar salaries, job security and team chemistry. It piles up quickly. So, with so franchises exercising extreme contemplation and deliberation, how do they make such horrible deals sometimes? It’s tough to say, but it happens, and the The Sports Muffin has the 10 Worst MLB Trades in Recent Years to prove it.

10. Texas Rangers trade John Danks, Nick Masset, and Jacob Rasner to the Chicago White Sox for Brandon McCarthy and David Paisano.

9. St. Louis Cardinals trade Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder.

8. Oakland Athletics trade Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals for T.J. Matthews, Blake Stein, and Eric Ludwick.

7. Tampa Bay Devil Rays trade Bobby Abreu to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kevin Stocker.

6. New York Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano.

5. Texas Rangers trade Chris Young…and Adrian Gonzalez to the San Diego Padres for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and Billy Killian.

4. Seattle Mariners trade Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox for Heath Slocumb.

3. Montreal Expos trade Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Lee Stevens to the Cleveland Indians for Bartolo Colon, Tim Drew, and cash

2. New York Mets trade Nolan Ryan, Don Rose, Frank Estrada, and LeRoy Stanton to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi.

1. San Francisco Giants trade Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, and Boof Bonser to the Minnesota Twins for A.J. Pierzynski.

This isn’t exactly recent history, but there is no way we could talk about bad trades without reminding everyone how the Red Sox dealt Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 for $100,000 and a $300,000 loan!

Links:

[The Sports Muffin]: 10 Worst MLB Trades in Recent Years

Categories
New York Giants

Giants’ Super Bowl rings get jacked in Ocean’s Eleven-style job

All, and we mean all, the odds we’re stacked against the New York Giants this past season, but they overcame, shocking the world by defeating the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. Well, after all their hard work, some of the fellas don’t even have there championship bling to show for it.

Local police are investigating a robbery in Attleboro, Massachusetts, in which $1 to $2 million in gold and diamond jewelry was stolen over the weekend, including New York Giant Super Bowl rings, designed in conjunction with a consortium of Giants players and high-end jeweler Tiffany & Co.

According to local press reports, the burglars disabled the alarm system at E.A. Dion Inc, cut a hole in the roof and lifted a 1,000-pound safe through the ceiling, fleeing with it. The theft was discovered Sunday when an employee arrived at the store.

Police said there were no suspects and declined to comment further.

The white gold New York Giant Super Bowl rings are set with 1.5 carats of diamonds and designed to be big, seen 10 tables away at a restaurant.

According to reports, it’s the biggest heist in Attleboro’s history and ranks just behind the Memphis heist of Pau Gasol by the Lakers for the country’s largest robbery of 2008.

Links:

[IndexOnline.com]: Jewelry Robbers Nab Super Bowl Rings

Categories
New York Giants

Jeremy Shockey finally lets us know how he feels about the G-Men

Jeremy Shockey has always been a little on the controversial side, continually opening his mouth and inserting his foot directly inside. However, Shockey has been silent since his Giants won the Super Bowl without him, shocking the undefeated Patriots. But we all knew that golden silence wouldn’t last for long and on Saturday, he let his true feelings come out, clearing the air in an interview with Steve Serby from the New York Post.

“Everybody said that I agreed to get traded and that I would welcome a trade or that I’m unhappy. . . . But you can’t find one article that had my direct quote, except from an anonymous source or from this person or from that person, OK?” Shockey was saying yesterday at the POWERade Pro Challenge for children and heat-stricken media at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

That was the good news.

It doesn’t mean Shockey and the Giants don’t desperately need to sit down and clear the air.

His broken leg isn’t 100 percent yet and his broken relationship with some member or members of the front office requires immediate healing.

To wit: why was he watching the Giants shock the Patriots from a skybox?

“And the truth is, I went to the Super Bowl game to go watch my team play; the Giants wouldn’t let me sit on the sidelines with my teammates – I was forced to sit up in a box,” Shockey said.

I said to Shockey: “And that ticked you off.”

“Words can’t explain,” he said.

I asked him: “What is your relationship with the front office right now?”

“That’s between the management and myself,” Shockey said.

I asked him: “Do you want to and expect to play for the Giants this year?”

“Tough questions,” he began. “I’m not the Giants front office, because they feel like they have to tell the world about things that happened . . . when it’s a situation like this that’s so severe, you don’t leak it in the media. I’m not ever going to be a leak, its a team. But they feel like they’re obligated to put their feelings in the media, which really hurt my family and myself, with the things I’ve done for them.”

Shockey said he had texted yesterday morning with co-owner Steve Tisch.

“I consider him a father figure to me – and he would never betray me, like some other people that are there,” Shockey said.

I asked him: “Would you welcome a trade?”

“I’m not saying that – no comment,” Shockey said. “Whatever’s happened between the Giants and myself is gonna stick between the Giants and myself.”

I asked him: “Will you be at minicamp?”

“I plan on fulfilling my contractual obligation but the No. 1 thing that I’m going there for is to be with my teammates (who) I miss so much,” he said.

When he arrived, wearing a black POWERade T-shirt and shorts, he had offered a statement: “I’m here for POWERade, fellas, and the statement I would like to make about the Giants and the speculation in the offseason is that whatever happens between the upper management, the lower management, the owners, any management, is gonna stay between my representation and them. Unlike the Giants, I’m gonna be quiet. They’ve released multiple things about myself and if you look back into the media, there’s always a source. Well I’d like to know who the source is, and we’ll go over here and we’ll deal it out ourselves because I haven’t said one negative thing towards the Giants.”

Finally, Jeremy has decided to keep his yapper shut and let his actions and representatives do his talking. This really shows a huge step forward in maturity.

Links:

[Fox Sports]: Shockey breaks post-Super Bowl silence

Categories
New York Giants

Odds and Ends: Giants tap Sierra Leon dry for their SB ring


Championship rings just keep getting bigger and bigger and blingier and blingier. Apparently, the New York Giants have no plans of discontinuing the trend because their Super Bowl ring will probably have to be delivered in wheelbarrow. The ring has a whopping 1.5 carats of diamonds and, as Michael Strahan put it, is a “10-table ring,” meaning it can be seen from 10 tables away in a restaurant.

There was some discussion about maybe one of the rings was too big,” said center Shaun O’Hara, who was among group of players and team executives who designed the ring with officials from Tiffany and Co.

“I threw out the fact that it was a big win, it was a huge win, so the ring should be designed accordingly,” O’Hara said. “Michael said it best when he said he wanted a 10-table ring. I think everybody is going to be very pleased with the design. It is very clean, very classy, but at the same time it is very strong.

O’Hara forgot to mention gaudy, blinding and heavy as hell.

In other news…

[MySanAntonio.com]: NBA vs. NCAA hoops. The debate rages on.

[The Sports Point]: Even Moises Alou thinks Bartman deserves a break.

[NewsOK.com]: Reactions on Sean Sutton and the end of his Oklahoma State coaching career.

[MMAJunkie.com]: Don Frye and his moustache work a new MMA promotion.

[TheStar.com]: No Nazi sex scandal is going to keep Max Mosley from doing his job.

[The House of Smack]: “The 10 Lamest Sports…Ever.” How did Finger Jousting not make the list?

[Steroid Nation]: Florida man photoshops his head onto Bill Romanowski’s body.

[KansasCity.com]: Wilt Chamberlain could soon be coming to a post office near you.

[CBS3.com]: Sorry ladies; Andy Roddick is off the man meat market.

Categories
MLB General

2008 MLB Payrolls



It’s good to be A-Rod

The 2008 Major League Baseball payrolls were released today and the Yankees somehow managed to spend more than ever with a total payroll of $209M. That is a $14M increase over last year’s payroll, which incidentally bought them a first round exit out of the playoffs by the Indians, who cost about a third as much. It’s hardly surprising that the Yankees are #1 when you consider that A-Rod will make more than the entire Florida Marlins roster this year.

The real surprise is that the Red Sox are no longer #2.  Boston actually pared payroll by $10M this season and have been supplanted by the Detroit Tigers, who acquired Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera in the offseason, apparently with designs to win it all this year.  The Tigers spent a league high $43.5M more this year vs 2007.  Other teams who really opened up the checkbook this year are the Mets (+$20M) and the… Rays?  Tampa Bay spent an extra $20M this year but still ranks next to last with a total payroll of $43.8M.  

Besides the Red Sox, the Giants, A’s, and Orioles all stand out for significantly reducing payroll when MLB as a whole spent an additional $203M this year vs 2007.  For the record, the Rockies only spent $54M on payroll last year.

The entire 2008 MLB Payroll numbers after the jump.

Categories
New York Giants

Tiki Barber "helped" the G-Men win the Super Bowl, just ask him


It’s not that we give a flip about the Patriots, but we just aren’t particularly fond of the Giants. So, when New York pulled off the upset on Super Bowl Sunday, we were hit with a tidal wave of mixed emotions. In the end, we found what gave us solace was 1.) knowing Jeremy Shockey was injured for the big game and could take absolutely no credit for the shocker, and 2.) Tiki Barber must have wanted to jump right in front of a moving bus. Well, believe it or not (we say not), Barber claims to be cool with missing out on getting a giant ring. But, at the same time, it sounds to us like he’s expecting one in the mail at any moment.

I feel great joy for them because I know in a lot of ways I helped a lot of guys on that team,” Barber said. “I know Brandon was someone who benefited from me being there; even criticizing someone is a way of getting them to think about themselves.

After all, it was Barber’s stern words for Tom Coughlin that got the ball rolling. But Tiki doesn’t need to tell you that because apparently he’s not the only one drinking his own Kool-Aid.

Last summer, a current Giants veteran, who is a member of Coughlin’s advisory board of players, confirmed the effectiveness of Barber’s outspokenness in an e-mail message. Under the subject line of “Miss U,” the message read:

“You would be happy to know all your work paid off for us. Tom has been unbelievably cool this year. Took us bowling last night instead of meetings and just been joking around and busting on guys all the time. You would be impressed by his transformation.

And Eli Manning’s MVP trophy; Tiki might be responsible for that too.

I asked Barber if he thought his criticism of Manning helped prod him out of a shell. “I don’t know, cause Eli doesn’t pay attention, ” Barber said laughing. “In this case, it made him stand up and I guess become aware.

Links:

[Awful Announcing]: Tiki Barber Finally Says What We All Know He Was Thinking
[NYTimes.com]: For Barber and Giants, a Parting, Then an Embrace

Categories
NFL General

The Pats are bummed, but Nevada sports books: You are the biggest losers!


Besides Eli Manning going down in history as a Super Bowl MVP – we’re still shaking our heads in disbelief – a whole lot of other people found themselves in unexpected position following Sunday’s shocker. Mainly bookies that lost a ton o’ greenbacks when the Patriots didn’t pull through with perfection.

Nevada sports books lost a record $2.6 million on Super Bowl bets when the Giants defeated the Patriots 17-14.

Nevada Gaming Control Board analyst Frank Streshley said large amounts were bet on the money line that the Giants would win outright. Payouts on those bets were as much as 4-to-1 because the Patriots were such heavy favorites.

Sports books handled just over $92 million on the game. That was the third-highest amount ever, but down for the second straight year.

Of course, the easiest money made all weekend was our little wager that New Yorkers couldn’t celebrate without committing random acts of vandalism. Yup, somebody’s finally getting Rock Band!

Dozens of young New York Giants fans jumped on the hoods, trunks and tops of cars and buses along the parade route through lower Manhattan yesterday, partly marring an otherwise joyous event designed to celebrate the football team’s Super Bowl victory.

At least four different incidents were caught on videotape around the intersection of Reade Street and Broadway.

During one of them, youngsters ganged up on a yellow taxi and smashed its windshield with their elbows despite a woman’s efforts to pull them off the car.

Links:

[KTVU.com]: Super Bowl Upset Costs Bookies
[NewsDay.com]: Arrests for vandalism made during Giants parade

Categories
New York Giants

David Tyree grabs SB play of the game honors or at least pins it to his helmet for a first down

It’s not a dream. The New York Giants are the winners of Super Bowl XLII! And so what if Plaxico Burress’ prediction was a few points off!

About ¾ of the game can be thrown out of your mental memory bank in order to preserve room for all those memories of bikinis and coco butter from your last youthful spring break to Cozumel. But make sure you keep that fourth quarter inside the ol’ noggin because that was something special. A Manning miracle, you might say. We’ve watched enough football over the years to know that games are never won or lost on a single play but, you might as well put a cape on David Tyree because he saved the day with this whacky snag.

Easily one of the most sensational plays in S.B. history; however, we’re a little bitter towards Tyree because of his play. Primarily because it revived Mercury Morris and the rest of the population of Perfectville from potential obscurity. We weren’t exactly looking forward to hearing about the Patriots “pursuit of perfection” for the remainder of our lives, but, damn, we’re getting to the point of physical nausea after 36 years of Dolphins reunions/celebrations when the final unbeaten goes down.

Categories
NFL General

Super Bowl tickets are expensive; don’t forget you’re gonna have to watch Eli too


We know that the chance to see a perfect 19-0 season doesn’t come around very often, but this is starting to get just a little out of hand. Don’t you people have kids you want to send to college?

Asking prices for the Feb. 3 game range from $2,450 to $19,446 at StubHub, a unit of eBay Inc. and the biggest of the online resellers. Officials there say the average price so far is $4,300 for tickets that the National Football League originally priced at either $700 or $900.

“You gotta mortgage your home to get into the game,” said Michael Hershfield, a former lawyer who recently started the ticketing Web site LiveStub.com. “There’s this recipe that’s been spiced up for a very exciting, very hot event. With all the changes in the industry, this combination has created this current wave of supply and demand.”

RazorGator Chief Executive Jeff Lapin, who is predicting total sales will set a record, is amazed what buyers are willing to pay. Tickets on his Web site are listed between $2,700 and $7,200. “I’m telling my friends to buy now because it looks like it’s going to be tight,” he said.

StubHub figures show the march higher of scalped tickets in recent years. Tickets it handled for last year’s game between the Bears and the Colts averaged $4,004. That was sharply higher than the Steelers-Seahawks in 2006 at $3,009, the Eagles-Patriots in 2005 at $2,659, the Patriots-Panthers in 2004 at $2,290, and the Raiders-Buccaneers in 2003 at $2,767.

Considering the University of Phoenix Stadium will seat around 75,000 on game day, we’re talking about a whole lotta the greenbacks. Even with an expensive divorce settlement ahead, we know Shaq Daddy can foot the bill, but what about us regular Joe Six Packs? We’re going to have to sell our organs to get through the gates? Aww, screw it; if we’re dropping a load of cash, it’s going to be at the Lingerie Bowl and it’s going to be all in one dollar bills!

Links:

[CBS2.com]: Super Bowl LXII Tix Fetch Record Prices

Categories
New York Giants

Yet another reason to take the stairs

There were plenty of shrieks of agony coming from New York Giants fans on Saturday as the Patriots made history inside the Meadowlands, beating the G-Men 38-35 and becoming the first team to ever run the table during a 16-game regular season. While there was plenty of pain in the stands, the real suffering and anguish occurred under the bleachers.

The escalator at Gate A apparently failed at the bottom steps, state police Lt. Jim Crann said. The escalator runs from the stadium’s upper tier to the ground level, and Crann said it appeared some bottom steps became bent, causing some fans foot and leg injuries.

James Minish, executive vice president of facilities for the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which operates the stadium, said one of the injured fans appeared to have a fractured leg, while others had scrapes and bruises.

Two fans apparently suffered more serious leg injuries, Minish said, but he did not have further details.

Of course, escalator accidents aren’t always a result of mechanical failures. In fact, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 75 percent of the 6,000 escalator injuries per year are due to falls. Like this one:

Or this one:

Links:

[WashingtonPost.com]: 7 Injured on Escalator at Meadowlands
[NorthJersey.com]: Stadium escalator had failed before