If you read my previous post about the music of 1995, you will be glad to know the music of 1990 is significantly better.
I wanted to write this blog for awhile, but something always seemed to interrupt. Besides the seemingly always terrible Cubs, where things haven't gone well in the first year of the Epstein regime, my MLB teams have been playing pretty well. The Dodgers and Matt Kemp both got off to explosive starts. The Dodgers have had the best record in MLB for most of this season. Even when Kemp was out on DL the first time, the Dodgers continued playing well. However now it seems that Kemp came back too early, in only his second game back he tweaked his hamstring again. This time the Dodgers haven't been as fortunate. The Dodgers started playing worse and worse. That culminated in losing 9 of their last 11 games. The nadir of that 11 game stretch was LA being shut out 3 consecutive times by their arch enemy the Giants.
And in the unrelenting schedule of MLB, the Dodgers have games every day over the next 11 days. That's already after having played nine straight days. At 162 games, the MLB regular season is just too long. I know that the greedy owners will never agree to shorten the season because they would lose money. I would be happy with 150 games with more days off built in. I think the game would be better with more rest for the players.
Matt Kemp is still injured and probably won't be back for a few weeks at least. Andre Ethier got hurt yesterday and who knows how long he will be out? Even with Kemp and Ethier the Dodgers have been short at least one more power bat. So without Kemp and Ethier, it's going to be a long stretch. Up to this point the reason for the Dodgers success has been good pitching, Matt Kemp and smoke and mirrors. The last two of those have now been stripped away now.
There was some good news for the Dodgers today, they might sign the Cuban defector Yasiel Puig. He'll probably sign a 7 year- $42 million contract as soon as tomorrow. (Thanks to espn.com.)
From Enrique Rojas' article on espn.com:
"The 21-year-old Puig batted .330 with 17 home runs, 47 RBIs and 78 runs scored in 327 at-bats with the Cienfuegos Elefantes in the 2010-11 Cuban National Series. He averaged .370 in 46 at-bats in the playoffs".
Sources told Rojas that Puig may be able to play as soon as this year. That certainly would fill a need, but realistically what are the chances that he'll really play this year? Even if he does, how effective would he be? Who knows if he'll ever be a difference maker? But I highly doubt he'll be a difference maker this season and maybe not even next season. People are saying that the Dodgers vastly overpaid on this contract, which is the same thing they did on the Andre Ethier's new contract. I appreciate the new Dodgers ownership spending money, it's such a contrast to former owners. However just because they now appear to have the money doesn't mean they should spend it. The fact that the Dodgers probably overpaid two players in the last few weeks is more than a bit concerning.
The obvious solution appears to be why don't the Dodgers just go out and trade for someone? Well it's not that easy. There are players like Alfonso Soriano, Justin Morneau and Vernon Wells available. But they are all very expensive. They might be able to help the Dodgers, but the Dodgers would literally pay for it. Also those three players would probably only be short term solutions. With the Dodgers still a relatively young team, do they really want to burden themselves down with short term solutions? As a Dodgers fan I say "no". Build for the future. It's been nice going on this ride with the Dodgers so far this season, but I don't think anyone really expected it to last. It feels a year or two early for the Dodgers to have a lot of success. I prefer the Dodgers go with the slow and steady wins the race philosophy.
The NBA Draft is tonight. I've been following espn.com all day and there are some intriguing looking moves that are being discussed.
1) The Lakers are shopping Pau Gasol. Reports suggest LA want a draft pick, an established veteran and for the receiving team to pay the nearly $40 for the final two years of Gasol's contract. I love that the Lakers think that would anyone be willing to take this deal. If I was a NBA GM and received this call from the Lakers, I would just hang up the phone. I know there are some bad general managers in the NBA, but agreeing to this deal should get that person fired. Honestly I wouldn't trade Gasol for a 6 pack of very cold Diet Coke.
2) The Lakers are also trying to
3) The Mavericks and Clippers are discussing Lamar Odom going to the Clippers. With his lame reality TV show I did wonder how long Lamar was going to last in LA. I think Khloe, and the producers of said crappy reality TV show, want them in LA. I don't think there's any coincidence that Odom going to Dallas didn't work out. Rumors are that the Jazz may jump in this trade and help facilitate Odom to the Clippers. The Jazz have offered to take former Jazzmen Mo Williams to facilitate the deal. I don't know how good of a move that would be for the Jazz. They already have 3 short term solution point guards on the roster, why would they want to add a 4th? That is unless they plan on packing Williams with one of their young bigs and get a long term point guard in return. The Jazz have a lot of potential, but they need a great point guard to get them where they can challenge in the Western Conference. I would love to see the Jazz get Steve Nash and for him to groom a young point guard for the next two or three years.
4) It appears that Houston is trying to acquire enough assets so they can make a run at Dwight Howard. Good luck with that Houston. Do you really want a egotistical, whiny, mercurial player who can't make half of his free throws? If the Rockets make this trade be prepared for a lot of "Houston we have a problem" jokes. Howard certainly won't make anyone miss the man Hakeem Olajuwon. Speaking of Dwight Howard, why doesn't he have his own reality TV show yet. Coming soon: Dwight Kardashian?
One final non-trade thought: With LeBron James finally getting his first NBA Championship, guess who else thinks he'll be getting one soon. That's right, our good old friend Carmelo Anthony. Unfortunately for Anthony, there are a few differences. For one, James is an all-around player. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals James had 13 assists, along with many points and rebounds. Anthony is a highly skilled one dimensional player. Anthony is a streak shooter. It's not a coincidence that the Jeremy Lin train crashed once Anthony came back from injury. ( I wouldn't mind Lin ending up in Utah.) Also James has Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade as teammates. Who does Carmelo have, Nomare stupid tweeting Stoudemire, Baron Davis and a bunch of players that no one else wants. In other words Carmelo don't hold your breath until you win a title.
themusicaddict
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