Sixers for Sale?

boston globe says the sixers are for sale. if it results in ed snider and billy king getting the boot, i'm all for it.

Abreau and Lidle Trade

first three opinions on the abreu trade:

ben

Pat Gillick sucks. He needed to get alot more than salary relief in dumping Abreu and Lidle.

bumble

I don't know what they got in return, but in the end I don't care.

ko'c

Was this REALLY the best deal we could get?

here is what baseball america thinks

Though the Yankees farm system is improving, this trade was all about money. New York will absorb the remainder of Abreu's contract ($13 million salary in 2006, $15 million in 2007 and either $16 million or a $2 million buyout in 2008) and the rest of Lidle's $3.3 million salary for this season. Because the Yankees took on roughly $23 million in financial commitments, they didn't have to part with any of their best prospects. Smith is the only player Philadelphia received who's playing above low Class A. Henry, who has the best pedigree of the group as a first-round pick in 2005, has struggled mightily in his first full season.

busy now, i'll have more later

David Bell Gone

woo hoo! pat gillick finally gets started dismantling the mess that head wade made.

david bell sent to milwaukee for wilfredo laureano. these are his numbers for the single a west virginia power:

W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
3	2	4.1	29	1	63.2	54	32	29	8	36	62

one down, burrell, abreau, lieberthal, lieber, lidle, and rhodes to go.

New Pro Football League

seems like a bunch of colleges are getting together to form a spring pro-football league.

i'm all for more pro-football -- upstart leagues are 1-1 in terms of entertainment, 1 win for usfl, 1 loss for the horrible xfl -- but this appears a little unseemly to me... and an obvious money grab from the colleges to get a piece of the pro-football pie.

also, what is with the college degree requirement? that stipulation makes it obvious to me that this is not an attempt to create a minor league football system, as they are passing this off to be. this is a pre-emptive strike *against* any potential future minor league system -- which might threaten the existence of college football (see minor league baseball/college baseball).

i guess everyone needs to protect their turf, but shouldn't the bastions of academic integrity who are so concerned about academics that they won't implement a much needed college playoff system worry more about the business of educating and less about the business of pro-football?

Pat the Splat

ha! according to this article on cnnsi.com, pat burrell is making almost 10 million this season but his production is only worth the league minimum.

normally i don't pay too much attention to the stuff on cnnsi, but this analysis uses actual numbers... shocking!

Player	Pos	Team	NES	Moneyball	Payroll	Value
Jacque Jones	RF	Cubs	17.2	$9,489,348	$4,033,333	$5,456,015
Alfonso Soriano	LF	Nationals	29.8	$14,464,575	$10,000,000	$4,464,575
Trot Nixon	RF	Red Sox	14.5	$8,337,336	$7,500,000	$837,336
Bobby Abreu	RF	Phillies	26.2	$13,316,318	$13,600,000	-$283,682
Jose Guillen	RF	Nationals	4.1	$3,197,633	$4,000,000	-$802,367
Carlos Lee	LF	Brewers	11.9	$7,053,320	$8,500,000	-$1,446,680
Reggie Sanders	RF	Royals	-2.9	$327,000	$5,000,000	-$4,673,000
Pat Burrell	LF	Phillies	-5.4	$327,000	$9,750,000	-$9,423,000

interestingly, abreau is supposed to be worth his salary.

Jerry Porter

mike florio from profootballtalk.com is reporting that the raiders are shopping jerry porter.

RAIDERS DANGLING PORTER

We've heard from two different sources that the Oakland Raiders are willing to trade receiver Jerry Porter, if an interested partner can be identified. One source said that the Raiders discreetly have been shopping Porter for several months.

Porter was a second-round pick of the Raiders in 2000. He received a $7 million signing bonus in 2005, only a day or two before word broke of a trade that sent Randy Moss to the Bay Area.

Porter is scheduled to earn base salaries of $1 million in 2006 and 2007.

Teams that might be interested include the Eagles, Packers, Bears, Patriots, Jaguars, Saints, and 49ers.

i'm a firm believer that you do not need a "number 1" wideout to win a superbowl, but adding porter would certainly address the need for one more guy who can "stretch the field" for the birds. question is what are the birds willing to give up for him? i'm guessing the raiders are looking for a second... the birds were willing to give up a second for javon walker coming off an injury, would they do the same for jerry porter? keeping my fingers crossed.

Bunkley Holdout

several stories in the papers about the bunkley situation. the inquirer, daily news, and delco times all ran stories focusing on or mentioning the holdout. the hold up seems to be over the length of the deal -- birds want 6 and wichard wants 5.

i think this is an issue worth monitoring, but not one to be concerned about. defensive fat guy is the least mentally taxing position in JJ's defense and is one that you can come in and contribute immediately. the last fat guy to hold out was little dumpling (i think), and he sacked aikman in his very first snap as a pro.

even if "the thing" ends up missing a big chunk of camp, i don't think it will have a huge negative impact on his effectiveness.

Eli Opinions

thanks to dave barr for pointing me to this article about eli manning written by kc joyner ("the football scientist"). kc pretty much backs up everything i've ever written about young eli the over-hyped.

in addition to the performance issues with eli's game, kc notes similar demeanor and personality flaws to the ones i've mentioned from time to time.

The other common theme in the game notes is Manning's approach to the game. I don't know that this is the case, but I keep getting the sense that something is really not right between Manning and more than a few of his teammates.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin described Manning's demeanor as very flat and said Manning lets nothing bother him. Other people have characterized Manning as placid and calm. It goes unsaid by nearly every analyst, but I will bet there are some players on the Giants who might read his even tone as nonchalance or immaturity.

good luck giants fans. the eli manning sour puss is yours to look at for the next 10 years!

Mammograms

so i've been sitting on a jury (doing my civic duty and all that) for a civil trial the last few days where the central issue is mammograms and it occurs to me that x-rays of other body parts don't seem to get special names (at least to my knowledge). do they have a name for an arm x-ray other than "x-ray of your arm?"

anyway, i wish they had picked "breast-ray" rather than "mammogram". it would make me chuckle.

Don's Opening Press Conference

from philadelphiaeagles.com

some observations and thoughts:

- don looks slim! it's like turning the clock back several years. i'm expecting him to be the incredibly nimble guy he's gotten away from.

- body language looks very good. relaxed, confident, definitely looks like he's put the ugliness behind him.

- season is too friggin' far away.

Offseason Review

it's almost football season! figured i'd start by reviewing what the eagles did in the offseason vs. what i proposed they do in the offseason.

QB
what i thought they should do - don't spend too much money on a backup. spend money on keeping mcnabb off his butt.

what they did - picked up jeff garcia here. i don't hate the move, but if he has to play the season likely isn't going anywhere, so this omIMO.

53 man roster - mcnabb, garcia, and either detmer or developmental guy

RB
what i thought they should do - draft a buckhalter replacement and wait for the steelers to cut duce. cut reno mahe, he cannot play!

what they did - no additions at running back. likely going into the season with f-ing reno mahe.

53 man roster - westbrook, moats, perry, and either mahe or buckhalter.

FB
what i thought they should do - this is a huge area of need. they *have* to upgrade this position. i don't know who will be available in free agency, but if they don't upgrade this position then mcnabb is going to get hurt again. i'd rather see warrick dunn playing fullback for the eagles than see josh parry again. at least i've never seen dunn get steamrolled on pass protection. parry spends too much time on his ass. maybe ritchie will be healthy by then? ritchie may have been the best blocking fullback the birds have had since i've been watching the team. give me a lorenzo neal type player. tony richardson may be a free agent. i'd take him in a heartbeat.

what they did - count on tapeh getting healthy and winning the job from parry. thomas, please win the job!

53 man roster - tapeh

TE
what i thought they should do - this is also an area of need. despite his ball protection issues, LJ is a serviceable pass catching tight end. he drops too many balls, but he's good enough. what they are lacking is someone who can block. LJ is a horrible blocker. chad lewis had worked himself into a decent blocker by the end. stephen spach cannot block and cannot run. i have no idea what he's doing on this roster. next season, i'd like to see LJ, bartrum, and a jason dunn type player via free agency or the draft.

what they did - pick up matt schobel. i'm ok with that, but he can't block either.

53 man roster - smith, schobel, bartrum

WR
what i thought they should do - i like reggie brown. not convinced that he's number 1 wideout material, but like his competitiveness and especially his blocking and you don't need a top tier wideout to win. you need 4 wideouts who can all play -- guys who can all get open and catch the ball. i'd have been fine if they went into the season with brown, pinky, mcmullen, while adding one guy who has a track record of being a decent nfl wideout -- antwaan randle el, david givens, joe jurevicius, or someone similar -- as long as that guy has good hands. then add another young guy with some potential -- michael robinson would be interesting in that role. whatever you do, don't break the bank for reggie wayne, unless he's going to be fine with not getting 100 catches a season.

what they did - tried hard to get joe jurevicius but had to settle for jabar gaffney, a decent possession receiver. draft jason avant a hard worker with good hands. trade mcmullen for a bus pass. draft the new white flash, jeremy bloom (i may take to just calling him beebe).

53 man roster - brown, pinkston, gaffney, avant, bloom, lewis -- doesn't seem right to be keeping 6 wideouts, but i can't see them cutting any of these guys. maybe lewis, but they just signed him to a long term deal two seasons ago.

OT
what i thought they should do - tra thomas hasn't been good in a couple of seasons, he's gone imo. however, i'd re-sign runyan. he's had one of his better seasons and shows no sign of slowing down. despite what everyone seems to think, i do not believe that shawn andrews can handle the right tackle position at this point. he's too heavy and he's getting out quicked by interior linemen right now, there's no telling what outside guys are going to do to him. i think herremans has potential and seems to be able to man left tackle competently. move artis back to tackle and have him back up the two tackle spots. artis is not physical enough to be an interior lineman. herremans, runyan, and hicks man the tackle spots.

what they did - resign runyan. have tra get surgery to fix his back and change his name to william. move herremans inside. draft the second best tackle prospect in the draft. good stuff!

53 man roster - runyan, thomas, justice

OG
what i thought they should do - shawn andrews needs to lose some weight. replace artis, who can't play.

what they did - shawn andrews lost some weight. replaced artis hicks, who can't play by moving herremans inside. draft max-jean gillies.

53 man roster - this is going to be a tough call based on the number of bodies they have at guard. andrews, herremans, gillies, scott young (potential), and adrian clarke (can play all o-line positions)

C
what i thought they should do - jamaal jackson has proven to be an upgrade over fraley. i have no problems with them going into the season with jackson as the starting center. i don't think it's worthwhile to keep fraley as a backup because he's not physical enough to play guard. since center is his only viable position, it may make sense to replace him with someone a little more versatile.

what they did - went hard after lecharles bentley but lost out on him. battle will be between jackson and fraley. i think they're giving fraley the chance out of loyalty. in my mind, he's as good as gone and is too expensive and specialized to keep around as a backup.

53 man roster - jackson

DE
what i thought they should do - darren howard and kyle vandenbosch are both supposed to be free agents this season, i'd *love* to see them pick one of those guys up. kearse, mcdougle, cole, howard, and a draft pick at the defensive end position. i don't want to see them break the bank and go after john abraham. he's the same type of high reputation, inconsistent production player as kearse. he's a turd just waiting to shut himself down.

what they did - picked up darren howard.

53 man roster - kearse, howard, mcdougle, cole

DT
what i thought they should do - spend the likely top ten pick on a tommie harris/marcus stroud type player to pair up with patterson. that would give them one of the better starting tackle tandems in the league with rayburn and walker spelling them and thomas as an extra body.

what they did - drafted "the thing", a tommie harris type player. dumped hollis thomas and picked up ed jasper. drafted lajuan ramsey.

53 man roster - patterson, bunkley, walker, rayburn, and either jasper or keyonta marshall

LB
what i thought they should do - trotter is an obvious keeper. mccoy will hopefully pan out better than barry gardner and quinton caver, but he hasn't had a chance yet. dhani jones is a serviceable player, but is not suited to playing the strong side. he's a much better fit on the weak side where he won't have to take on as many blockers. simoneau is a very good backup. they need to bring in someone in the emmons mold to play the strong side. there aren't too many of those guys around, but they haven't been able to effectively replace him and covering TEs has been a problem ever since carlos left. i don't know who will be available -- julian petersen is supposed to be a free agent but san fran is expected to tag him -- but they have to upgrade the strong side linebacker position. trotter, jones, simoneau, mccoy, adams, new guy will be fine as long as new guy can really play.

what they did - draft chris gocong to be the next emmons. draft omar gaither to be the next ike reese. resign shawn barber to play nickel LB.

53 man roster - trotter, simoneau, mccoy, barber, gocong, gaither, and either jones or richmond

CB
what i thought they should do - i think they'll be ok here once they fix the pass rush issue. i'd think about replacing wynn with draft pick, but there really isn't much you can do at the corner position. lito and sheldon are your starters. hopefully ware can develop as someone who can cover the big wideouts in the league, because the rest of them are pretty damn short.

what they did - stand pat

53 man roster - sheppard, brown, hood, ware, and either strickland or wynn

S
what i thought they should do - the birds drafted sean considine to be the young free safety they're grooming to replace dawkins. ray didinger loves sean considine, so i'm hopeful that he'll become a productive player. michael lewis had his worst season by far -- he missed a lot of tackles and generally played a step too slow all season. however, since this season is his contract year i suspect he'll be better. dawkins is still dawkins. i thought quinton mikell would leave as a free agent.

what they did - retain mikell. possibly get jr reed back.

53 man roster - dawkins, lewis, considine, mikell, jr reed

KR/PR
what i thought they should do - hood is decent at best as a kick returner. dexter wynn showed promise as a kick and punt returner before he got hurt in the preseason. maybe he's the answer, but i don't think he's at jr reed's level. upgrade needed here.

what they did - draft the white flash

53 man roster - bloom already accounted for

K
what i thought they should do - akers and johnson are good. hopefully johnson comes back healthy and ready to go.

what they did - stand pat

53 man roster - akers, johnson

Summary
use the high first rounder on a stud d-tackle - check
spend money to bring in a stud defensive end - check
sign a decent wide receiver - check
sign a decent tight end - check
sign a decent fullback - nada
sign a decent strong side linebacker - gocong
sign a decent offensive guard - herremans
re-sign duce staley - hoping
consolidate their draft picks into fewer but better picks - check

53 man roster - i only have 52 men listed above, figuring someone unexpected is going to make the roster. seems good enough to win if everyone "plays to their potential"

ECW Unwatchable Now

caught some of the new ECW show on sci-fi channel last night. it was unwatchable. what the heck did the WWE do to it? the crowd isn't into it and the wrestlers just seem to be going through the motions. even sabu seems rather... sterile (for lack of a better word).

having a corrupted ECW is worse than having no ECW at all. blech.

Tuesday Links

- skip bayless writes his me-o book review. i haven't read the book, but i strongly suspect that skip's article is more entertaining. skip agrees with me that there is no way that me-o is going to be successful in dallas. i can't see a honeymoon period happening there: a) me-o couldn't get along with jeff garcia and donovan mcnabb, no chance in heck that he's going to get along with drew bledsoe, b) bill parcells checked out years ago, if parcells couldn't take the bs that comes with antonio bryant, there's no way in heck that he's going to handle volume of crap that comes from me-o, and c) if me-0 was focused on the cowboys and fitting in, he wouldn't have missed the mini-camps and he wouldn't be out there making a fuss about his book (causing a distraction to his team). no sir, i just don't see it happening.

i know many eagles fans are concerned about how good the division is supposed to be, but not me. if the eagles just take care of business and focus on being team again, they'll be fine. the cowboys are going to implode (or parcells is going to quit), the redskins are a rotisserie team of mismatched parts with no QB, and the giants have a QB with no guts and a sour disposition. of those teams, i am most concerned about the giants because their defense is going to be top notch, but i think the offense is highly overrated and full of prima donnas.

- you know you're starting to make in-roads to becoming mainstream when "dyed in the wool" boxing writers like bernard fernandez are writing about UFC. i watched UFC 1-5 with great interest, but UFC sort of fell off the radar and for a long time i thought they went out of business. little did i know that there was a whole "mixed martial arts" sub-culture thriving underground. i watched some of this show on spike called "ultimate fighter", and i caught the bug again. it's pretty damn entertaining to watch and seems like it hasn't been politicized/corrupted yet (like boxing).

- looks like there's a pretty good chance that all draft picks will be signed in time for the start of training camp. only "the thing" is left to sign now that winston justice signed yesterday. just keep the momentum going. keep everything trending positive, big red and joe.

The Good Hands Team

here is the list of receivers with the highest drop percentage from last season (according to kc joyner, the "football scientist"):

Player	Team	Drops	Drop %
Ernest Wilford	Jacksonville	13	19.10%
Justin McCareins	NY Jets	16	16.70%
Reggie Brown	Philadelphia	13	16.30%
Roy Williams	Detroit	13	14.60%
Brian Finneran	Atlanta	11	14.30%
Erron Kinney	Tennessee	10	14.10%
Antonio Bryant	Cleveland	16	13.90%
M. Muhammad	Chicago	18	13.60%
Greg Lewis	Philadelphia	13	12.90%
Eddie Kennison	Kansas City	14	12.80%
Randy McMichael	Miami	12	12.00%
L.J. Smith	Philadelphia	12	11.80%
Alge Crumpler	Atlanta	13	11.50%
Mark Clayton	Baltimore	9	11.30%
Donte' Stallworth	New Orleans	14	11.20%
Chris Chambers	Miami	17	11.00%
Todd Heap	Baltimore	11	10.40%
Terrell Owens	Philadelphia	9	10.20%
Plaxico Burress	NY Giants	17	10.20%
Ben Troupe	Tennessee	8	10.10%

all i can say is... yikes.

on a positive note, donnie franchise was best among the leagues full time starters in kc's metric on lowest bad decision percentage (tom brady was second among full time starters). so even in his injury ruined season, he was usually making good decisions just unable to make the plays... of course when he did make the plays the receivers dropped the ball.

Peter King Feedback

egad, how does this guy keep his job? i learned nothing from his article on 10 things he'd change if he could be commissioner. i received no entertainment from reading it. it was literally a waste of my time... i wish i could bill him for it.

1.Expand the regular season to 18 games: Cut the preseason to two games, and expand the regular season by two.

eh, might not be a bad idea, but as he mentions, the salary impact is not an insignificant issue. the bigger issue is that it will make staying healthy an even more important factor toward a superbowl victory, and in my mind, that means it tilts the scale toward luck and away from skill. no thanks, i'll pass. what the nfl really should do is just eliminate 2 preseason games. 16 regular season games is plenty.

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion

this is a seriously stupid suggestion and a waste of time. not because i think the notion of expanding the playoffs is good (it's not), but because the idea of legislating against the possibility of future legislation is ridiculous. like we don't have enough freaking rules out there. if king ruled the world we'd have a law that said theft is illegal and a number of follow up laws saying that it's illegal to try to pass a law to legalize theft. what a dumbass.

3. Make long field goals more valuable

i'm aghast. there already is a game where kicking the ball is *very* valuable, dude. in fact, they've been playing their superbowl for several weeks now. go watch that and leave football alone. if anything, we should move toward eliminating field goals altogether. the world, and football, would be better for it.

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable

good job, peter. you're a genius. i'm sure it took you all day to think of that one.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles

right... because new orleans, jacksonville, arizona, houston, tennessee, and atlanta are chock full of rabid fans, no? LA supported their football teams no worse than these places, peter.

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay

three letters: X-F-L

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk

what the f*ck, peter? this cracks your top ten list of things wrong with the nfl? seriously? seriously? could an issue be less significant? the charity spin makes it seem like a good thing to do, but do you really think there is a market for this? 20 players paying that kind of money? i don't see it and i see this for what it, you continuing to stump for reggie bush.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years

eh, i'm down with that. i don't want to go to hell.

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: Let's just call this "The Ben Roethlisberger Rule."

hey genius, a football is a three dimensional object. what happens when the ball turns sideways? or rolls over? ok, so maybe you've never taken physics and you're not "tech savvy", but you do know what a football looks like, right? couldn't you have said "some" computer chips? why cite a specific number? you'd have been better off saying something like, "i think we should imbue footballs with free will and then just ask it whether or not it crossed the line." at least i'd have gotten some entertainment out of it.

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: Ha! Made you look. Just kidding. I may be commissioner, but I'm not that stupid.

yep. this is our peter king, demigod of football writers.

Me-O Book Reviews

some reviews of me-o's book don mckee, stan hochman, phil sheridan

waiting for training camp... and waiting... and waiting...