May 19, 2013

NHL’s postseason tricky to predict

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(PhatzRadio / AP) — NHL playoffs wild and wide open in salary-cap era Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane are as good as hockey players get. Their teammates are pretty good, too. In the NHL playoffs, that guarantees nothing. Superstars and teams that were successful in the regular season get sent home, regularly, in [...]

NBA Roundup: Sizzling Heat scorches Bulls for 9th straight win

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Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) celebrates with guard Dwyane Wade after scoring against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago, Thursday. The Heat won 86-67. (AP Photo) CHICAGO (AP) — LeBron James scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and the Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 86-67 Thursday for their season-high ninth straight win. James [...]

NFL: Union approves IR rule change, new trade deadline

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(The NFLPA agreed Thursday to move the trade deadline back two weeks, so there may be more major trades like the one that brought Carson Palmer to the Raiders last year. Photo: Getty Images) NEW YORK (AP) — The players’ union has approved a rule change that will allow one designated player to return from [...]

MLB: Lee among players who might still be traded during waiver period

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Cliff Lee #33 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 31, 2012 in Washington, DC. (July 30, 2012 – Source: Greg Fiume/Getty Images North America) (PhatzRadio / SI) — Satisfied? Me, neither. A trade deadline that promised all kinds of chaos fizzled out Tuesday afternoon, as rumors of [...]

The lack of big trades.

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As the 2012 baseball trading deadline approaches, it seems like there haven’t been any big names change teams. Sure, Ichiro, Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante, and (possibly) Ryan Dempster found new homes, but players just aren’t moving like you’d hope they would.

This promotes boredom among fantasy baseball owners. We need the drama of the trading deadline.

There are a couple reasons for the lack of trades as the 2012 deadline approaches.

  1. There was a second Wild Card team added this year. A second Wild Card team means there are more teams who feel like they have a chance to make the playoffs. If a team thinks they have a shot then they aren’t going to sell off their players for prospects.
  2. There have been significant changes to free agency under the new collective bargaining agreement. Before, if a team traded for a player that they’d use as a “rental” to make a playoff push and that player would sign elsewhere after the season was over, the team that traded for them would get a compensation (Type A or Type B) draft pick. That took away a little of the sting. But there are changes this year and I’ll try and outline them below:
  • Type A and Type B compensation picks have been eliminated. Under the new agreement, teams are only eligible for draft pick compensation if they make the player a qualifying offer.
  • What is a qualifying offer you ask? It is determined by averaging the top 125 player salaries from the previous year, and should fall in the $12 million dollar range. These qualifying offers are for 1 year.
  • If teams don’t make a qualifying offer, the player can sign uninhibited and without restrictions with any club and for any salary/duration.
  • After a team makes a qualifying offer the player has two choices:
    1. He can accept the one-year, $12 mil deal or
    2. He can decline decline the offer and go for a bigger, longer contract in free agency.
  • If the player declines the offer and signs with another club, his new team will have to give up a high round pick, which doesn’t go to the player’s former team.

Here is where it gets confusing:

  • The forfeited picks don’t go to other MLB teams. Instead, the first round is condensed.
  • However, the first ten selections in the draft are protected and this means that teams with those protected picks will surrender their second-highest selections instead.
  • The player’s former team will receive its compensatory selection at the end of the first round and teams now obtain just one compensatory selection, instead of two.
  • Only players who have been with their clubs for the entire season will be eligible for compensation.

You can see why this would make teams more hesitant to trade a large package of prospects for a rental (but the off season should be interesting). The problem is that teams who typically would trade away their stars for prospects are still used to those large offers and are expecting them. It’s created a stalemate.

It’s also created boredom among fantasy baseball owners. Yet, we will survive.

But we aren’t at the deadline yet. Surely, trades will still be made and as they are we’ll try and help you understand their fantasy baseball significance.

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MLB: Cole Hamels – Six-year, $144 million deal with Phillies

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(By Chris Humphreys, US Presswire) (PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a six-year, $144 million contract extension that will be announced at a noon ET press conference today at Citizens Bank Park, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations told USA TODAY Sports. The person, unauthorized [...]

NBA: Magic coach Van Gundy says Howard has asked he be fired

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Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy reacts during the NBA season opening game against the Oklahoma City Thunder December 25, 2011 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Oklahoma City defeated Orlando 97-89. (December 24, 2011 – Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images North America) ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando Magic coach Stan [...]

NBA: Lakers GM Kupchak responds to Kobe’s rant

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Mike Brown, (R)the new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, and general manager Mitch Kupchak aarives for Brown’s introductory news conference at the team’s training facility on May 31, 2011 in El Segundo, California. Brown replaced Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who retired at the end of this season. (May 30, 2011 – Photo by [...]

NBA: Howard requested trade to Nets

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(L-R) Director Kenny Leon, Orlando Magic center, Dwight Howard, actors Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Pitt attend the Y-3 Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at 82 Mercer on September 11, 2011 in New York City. (September 10, 2011 – Photo by Joe Kohen/Getty Images North America) (PhatzRadio / SI) — Orlando Magic [...]

Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos kidnapped in Venezuela

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(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped in his home country of Venezuela. Ramos, 24, was approached by four armed men near his home in Santa Ines and taken away in a car, according to El Nacional, a Venezuelan newspaper. Ramos’ Venezuelan winter league team, Tigres de Aragua, has also [...]