Category Archives: MLB Baseball

MLB Baseball

Louisville junior quarterback Lamar Jackson will enter the 2018 NFL draft, he announced Friday morning.

Leave a reply

A New Year’s Day mock draft by SB Nation’s Dan Kadar has five QBs going in the first round, including with four of the top six picks. That list has Jackson going sixth overall to the Jets. The dominant storyline of the draft’s first round where be will these quarterbacks all end up: Jackson, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen, and Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph.

No matter where Jackson ends up, Louisville fans will miss him dearly. Card Chronicle writes:

Is Lamar Jackson the greatest college player of all time? Debatable, but he is the best I’ve seen in my lifetime. Is Lamar Jackson the most underappreciated/divisive player in football?

Seahawks ball, their 20-yard line, 1:39 left. No timeouts. “That was cool,” Wilson said. “It actually happened that way.”

On first down, Wilson, who throws one of the prettiest deep balls in football, lofted a tight spiral 52 yards in the air, straight down the middle, to Paul Richardson, running a skinny post. “My second read there,” Wilson said. But Richardson was single-covered, and Wilson knew, jumper that Richardson is, he’d have a good chance at a 50-50 ball against safety Marcus Gilchrist. Two plays later, no one covered Graham, trolling the middle alone, and Wilson hit him for the easiest touchdown of the day.

The longer defenders are fighting to bring down an offensive player, the greater the chance of injury to any one of them. Blowing a play dead when forward progress is done reduces those chances a bit.

What’s the downsideWe saw the Chiefs get burned by this rule twice against the Titans in the 2018 Wild Card Round. Forward progress can get tricky when there’s a fumble involved.

Watson’s charity, the One More Foundation, recently partnered with the International Justice Mission, the world’s largest international anti-slavery organization working to combat human trafficking, modern day slavery and other forms of violence against the poor. Watson took a three-day trip to Lebanon, where he witnessed firsthand the Middle East’s refugee crisis. He and his wife, Kirsten, traveled to the Dominican Republic in June to begin formulating plans that combat sex trafficking. .

Named one of CNN’s Most Extraordinary People of the Year (2014), Benjamin regularly appears on FOX News and CNN to discuss issues such as race, persecution, ISIS, civil unrest and social responsibility.blues_1055

The way you get an airplane is to drive the 5-year-old Bronco

Leave a reply

Authentic Dennis Rodman Jersey I’ve been told that I have, by CT scans, that it’s like the brain of a 40-year-old, Jones said in 2013, according to NFL.com. … The guy really did not know it was me. I was there anonymously. He said, ‘And so I just wanted to come down. I saw your chart. I know how old you are. That part is really impressive.’

Jones has likened Jason Garrett’s performance as the head coach of the Cowboys to holding two handfuls of JELL-O, and he explained his decision to let DeMarco Murray go with an interesting metaphor.

And I said you can’t have it all, Jones said. The way you get an airplane is to drive the 5-year-old Bronco.

There are so many entertaining Jerry Jones sayings that we couldn’t possibly include them all. But in honor of his Hall of Fame induction, here are a few of our favorite categories of Jerry Jones-isms.

Things were a bit rougher after his surprising trade to the Seattle Seahawks, and they took an ugly turn with a career-threatening knee injury. Torn patellar tendons are nothing to mess with, which guys like Victor Cruz and LeCharles Bentley learned the hard way.

Yet, we probably shouldn’t have doubted Graham in the first place — he came back from the injury without missing a beat. With his contract expiring after the year, the Seahawks haven’t made any indication as to whether they plan on keeping the 30-year-old around.

If Graham does hit the open market in 2018, he’ll almost certainly be the best free-agent tight end available even with his advancing age and injury history.

Some of the NFL’s biggest names will be playing out the final year of their contract in 2017. How they perform this year will go along way toward what kind of payday they can expect next year. SB Nation is taking a closer looks at the stakes for each player.
Elite Bruce Ellington Jersey

Hall of Fame displays Antonio Brown’s gloves from 600th catch

Leave a reply

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is making his Hall of Fame mark early.

Brown became the fastest ever to 600 NFL catches on Nov. 20 against Pharoh Cooper Youth Jersey the Cleveland Browns, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is honoring Brown’s work by displaying his gloves from that game, the 96th of his career.

The gloves were sent directly to the Hall and are in display in the Pro Football Today Gallery.

Tom Flores never did it. Neither did Daryle Lamonica, Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett or Rich Gannon, let alone Todd Marinovich or JaMarcus Russell.

None of them had that stark black glove, either, or worked exclusively out of the shotgun to limit the pain that would accompany taking the snap from Hudson.

Although Carr’s completion percentage fell from 75.0 percent (15 for 20) to 61.1 percent (11-18) after the injury, his degree of difficulty also increased. Call it playing catch up to the Panthers.

Per ESPN Stats & Information, Carr’s average pass went 9.1 yards past the line of scrimmage when he returned to the game, as opposed to 5.1 yards before his injury. Plus, he completed five of those seven passes that went at least 10 yards — including a touchdown — after Rob Havenstein Youth Jersey the injury. He was just two for four on such throws before.

“He’s a fighter, he’s a beast,” left tackle Donald Penn said of his quarterback. “He came in that second half and didn’t miss a beat. I don’t know what you guys are watching, but that dude is a beast.”

And Carr’s deepest completion was a 49-yarder to Michael Crabtree, a ball that went 44 yards through the air on the game-winning drive.

“Their safety got flat-footed and doubled (tight end Mychal) Rivera on the left side, and had Crabtree one-on-one, with their guy and his back turned,” Carr said. “And you know me; I’m going to give my guys chances to make plays, especially in that kind of yardage and situation.

Still, his degree of difficulty was up after his return, with his average pass going 9.1 yards past the line of scrimmage, as opposed to 5.1 yards before his injury, and his deep game actually improved.

How strictly are the England rioters being sentenced?

Leave a reply

How strictly are the England rioters being sentenced? Where are they from? What are their neighbourhoods Rahim Moore Jersey like? These are some of the questions the Guardian is trying to answer as part of its Reading the Riots project, conjunction with the London School of Economics, Rowntree Foundation and Open Society Foundations. One of the core elements of the project is a database compiled by the Guardian of more than 1 individuals arrested and charged amidst the riots – more than two-thirds of the 1 people charged far connection with the disturbances. The data has already been used to demonstrate the first individuals passing through magistrates’ courts are typically receiving sentences between 25% to 40% above the average for their crimes, and new analysis carried Randy Starks Jersey out on the first 72 Crown court cases suggests this trend is accelerating: A preliminary analysis of the Guardian’s court data, which constitutes more than 70% of the total number of defendants processed through English courts, indicates that sentencing at crown court is more severe than is normal, with judges even more willing to take involvement the riots as aggravating factor than their counterparts magistrates courts.

The average crown court sentence for individuals engaging theft or handling stolen goods from crown courts far is 13 months, nearly three times the average 4 month sentence handed down 2010 – equivalent to a sentence 231% longer than the 2010 average. Magistrate courts have been delivering sentences around 25% longer than is normal for the same offence, according to the Guardian data. This reflects the greater sentencing powers of crown courts, and potentially also the severity of riot-related cases transferred to the higher courts. The information be used for further analysis of sentencing the coming weeks, alongside more detailed work looking at the demographics of alleged rioters’ addresses versus their boroughs and cities as a whole. The data also be used to inform the central pillar of the Reading the Riots study – talking directly to rioters, their families, and communities. Initial work on deprivation of alleged rioters suggested 41% of those initially charged came from areas the top 10% of the index of multiple deprivation.

A team of journalists directly staffing courts provided the initial core data, which was then supplemented through extensive access to magistrates’ court registers from around the country. Many courts were able to specifically identify which of their cases were riot-related, but where courts could not directly do this, information was gathered on the date, location and type of offence to judge its inclusion. Where available, supplementary information from local media reports and elsewhere is used to bolster this data. The definition of a rioter is ambiguous one, especially as the police and CPS have charged almost no-one with the offence of riot. At this stage, we constantly updating and refining the database it contains only those cases connected to the riots. It is also important to note that of those listed have plead not guilty at their first trial and eventually be cleared of all charges. The database be updated weekly over the course of the project as the individuals contained the data proceed through the court system and new people are added. The data includes the names, approximate addresses, charge and where applicable sentence of the listed individuals. The data also includes a flag indicating whether the case was most recently heard magistrates’, crown or youth court. No-one under 18 is named for legal reasons. SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Federica Cocco, Helen, Siraj Datoo, National News, Newsteam, Raymonds Press, Central News, Magistrates Courts, John Burn-Murdoch, Siraj Datoo, Cerutti, Farah Jassat, Anna Smith, Sarah Marsh, Freya Gibbs and Ministry of Justice Here’s a large sample of the data we are working with. Let us know what you think.

Menu Baylor receiver Corey, shown here earlier this against SMU,

Leave a reply

Menu Baylor receiver Corey, shown here earlier this against SMU, caught two touchdown passes Saturday’s first half against West to break the school’s all-time record for touchdown catches a single. John Rieger USA TODAY Sports Baylor wide receiver Corey needed only one half into the Bears’ sixth game of the to become the school’s all-time leader for touchdown passes a single. His two touchdown catches the first half of Saturday’s game against West were Nos. 14 and 15 on the year, pushing Henrik Lundqvist Jersey him past Tennessee Titans receiver Kendal Wright’s record of 14 set 2011. – Big 12 Conference October 17 – Baylor Football October 17 The junior speedster scored on passes of two yards and 11 yards to set a new record that likely increase with each passing game. Second the Big 12 receiving yards and first touchdowns entering Saturday’s game, eclipsed 100 receiving yards the first half against West.

REP. PAUL, R-WIS.: Why would we representing the taxpayers we represent, give you all this extra money, you are asking for if this is what the IRS is doing with hard-earned taxpayer dollars? We are seeing two months waste, fraud, abuse and taxpayer targeting, and you are saying give us another billion dollars. Why James Patrick Jersey should we do that? WERFEL, ACTING IRS COMMISSIONER: If we underfund other critical priorities that we need to improve taxpayer service and improve enforcement on the tax code, then we’re leaving dollars on the table for the American people because every dollar — : Just ‘t forget, you work for the American taxpayers, not the other way around. GRETA SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: going head to head with IRS chief Danny Werfel. We spoke to Congressman right after that contentious hearing. SUSTEREN: Congressman, nice to you, sir. : Great to be back with you,. SUSTEREN: Big day today, hearing and the head of the IRS was there testifying before House ways and means. What is the takeaway? : A couple of things.

Number one, we know that some progressive words or names were on the filter, but their applications were approved. And they were not singled out for the kind of harassment and intimidation and delays that IRS placed against the conservative groups. we got to the bottom of that one. The other thing we learned is they ‘t have answers to all these questions. And the other part was, we had the IRS coming here to Congress asking for additional billion dollars, about a 10 percent increase. They’re asking us to give them money to hire another 4 people after we’ve just uncovered just about two months all of this waste, all of this fraud, and all of this abuse. SUSTEREN: If you are the IRS now, how do you not know how it happened? It’s just not that complicated. I’ve been Washington and you can learn things pretty quickly if you really want to. Secondly, how the world do you come after all this stuff that has come out about the IRS, the targeting and all the parties, how do you have the gall to ask for a billion dollars more from the taxpayers? : First of all, the first question is a good question. How do they not know what happened and who was responsible and who asked for it? They won’t answer those questions. They claim they ‘t know the answer to those questions. SUSTEREN: How can they not know them? : Right. the point is we’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’re not going to accept these answers. It’s not good enough. That’s why our investigators are interviewing IRS employees up and down the food chain and we’re getting emails and we’re getting data, and we’re going to go through this very thoroughly. Second point — take a look at the $49 they spent over two years on these conferences, on these parties and the catering and the videos. I just ran the quick numbers. A town of Sturdivan, Wisconsin, a little less than 7 people, people working at factories, people working farm fields, these working families work all year to pay their taxes and it wasn’t enough to even cover these conferences. what I try to impress on these people of the IRS, a town where you talk about millions, billions, trillions, it’s actually hardworking taxpayer dollars.

Kershaw, Sale, the Big Unit and … Robbie Ray?

Leave a reply

It’s been a disastrous season for the Arizona Diamondbacks, as they have baseball’s third-worst record at 59-84. What’s remarkable is they have actually had several things go right: Jake Lamb, despite slumping in the second half, has still had a breakout season; Jean Segura has put up a 4-WAR year; Yasmany Tomas has hit 29 home runs. Then there’s Robbie Ray, who starts Tuesday night. He’s 7-13 with a 4.46 ERA, numbers that scream mediocrity more than greatness, just another cog in the Diamondbacks’ losing ways. And yet there’s this:

Those are the eight starters who have averaged 10-plus K’s per nine, which would be the largest that list has been in a single season, and there’s Ray, No. 2 on the list. Ray’s season ranks 20th all time in K’s per nine, and the only left-handers with a higher rate have been Randy Johnson, Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw. So that’s obviously good company to be hanging with. But then there’s this: Ray has allowed 163 hits in 155.1 innings, a lot of hits for a pitcher who strikes out so many batters. I did a quick search for all pitchers who have struck out 10-plus batters per nine in a season, a list of 80 seasons. Batters have hit a collective .212 against those pitchers. The worst averages allowed:

Garcia is at the center of the storm at the moment, but he’s hardly alone in having gotten the Cardinals into this perilous spot, a half-game behind the New York Mets for the second wild card with only 18 games left. The Cardinals have three of the highest ERAs in the National League among qualified starters: Garcia is fourth with a 4.65 ERA, Mike Leake is fifth with a 4.60 ERA and Adam Wainwright is eighth with a 4.45 ERA.

Then it happened again nine days ago in a game in Baltimore that Girardi dubbed “the most important game of the season,” following two losses that threatened to drop the Yankees out of the AL wild-card race. Once again, Ellsbury, who presumably was signed to play center field everyday for the Yankees, found himself on the bench.

Fast forward to Tuesday and another “must-win” game, this time against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had won big on Monday. With rookie lefthander Julio Urias on the mound, once again Ellsbury was on the bench.

That Ellsbury got off the bench had a lot more to do with an injury to Aaron Judge than any change of heart on the part of the manager. That Ellsbury delivered what turned out to be the winning blow in the Yankees’ 3-0 victory, a solo home run in the seventh inning that broke a scoreless tie, is unlikely to change anything going forward.

Ellsbury is the Yankees’ everyday center fielder, except when he’s not.

The weakness that could derail each remaining contender

Leave a reply

If March is when fans of every club get to dream the biggest dream, September is when certain dreams transition from feeling possible to feeling probable. Every team in the race has some well-defined strengths, and the belief that if the players execute, the World Series will be theirs. The Baltimore Orioles, for example, will win so long as they can hand a close game over to the bullpen. The Boston Red Sox will win if they hit the way they’ve spent the summer hitting. The Chicago Cubs will win unless they shoot themselves in the foot. On and on, for each team in contention.

That said, I talked to several scouts at Dedeaux Field who found snippets of encouragement. One evaluator took note of Tebow’s weak arm but said the results were better when Tebow chased down balls on the run and came up throwing without obsessing over his mechanics. Former big league reliever David Aardsma, who threw live batting practice to Tebow, said after the workout that Tebow was gripping the bat too tightly and looks more natural on the back field when he’s not trying to impress 40-something scouts.

ESPN dispatched Paolantonio and his crew to Cortland, N.Y., to cover the New York Jets’ training camp in 2012 — a.k.a. The Summer of Tebow. It was a media frenzy for those three weeks, with dozens of journalists chronicling Tebow’s every move. It made for an entertaining summer that bordered on farcical.

Everything became a story: Tebow signing autographs. Tebow running the Wildcat offense. Tebow going to the local church on Sunday. Tebow running shirtless through the rain after practice — a video that went viral.

The SportsCenter set was adjacent to the practice field, feeding live reports to the Tebow-loving world on his progress.

The most memorable day occurred when the Jets decided to hold a clandestine practice, designed specifically for the Tebow package in their offense. No fans were allowed to watch, but reporters were granted access under the proviso that nothing pertaining to strategy could be reported.

All three have also stolen 20-plus bases, so Trout doesn’t even get extra credit in that department. So why does Trout have the higher WAR? He has a big edge in on-base percentage, for starters — .442 to Altuve’s .406 and Betts’ .357; he has more walks than Altuve and Betts combined. That’s important; outs matter. He also has an edge over Altuve in baserunning value. FanGraphs estimates Trout has been worth 7.7 runs above average on the bases compared with Altuve’s minus-0.3 (Betts is at 8.8, as he ranks second in the majors and Trout fourth). This stat includes double plays hit into, and Altuve has hit into 13 compared to Trout’s four. Betts also plays in a good hitter’s park, which cuts into his value (runs produced in a higher run environment are less valuable since there are more of them); Trout plays in a pitcher’s park.

Defensively, Betts has been spectacular, according to Defensive Runs Saved, at plus-24. Trout is rated at plus-6, and Altuve at 0. That’s what makes Trout so good: He has no weaknesses. The only chance Trout would have of winning MVP honors while playing on a bad team is to compile big home run and RBI numbers. But in a season in which home runs are way up, Trout isn’t going to come close to the 41 he hit last season. He may not drive in 100 runs. Dismissed (by some).

Steering Tebow toward the Mets is logical for his representatives at Creative Artists Agency, as well. CAA also represents Mets aces Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom, and had a hand in negotiating Yoenis Cespedes’ contract with the Mets. So there should be benefits for all of their Mets clients in terms of exposure.

former gators teammates rooting for tim tebow ?

Leave a reply

They watched and rooted him on as he made history on the college gridiron. They watched and rooted him on as he made his mark in the NFL. They watch and root him on as he works in the community to better the lives of those around him.

Former Florida Gators and current Cubs catcher David Ross has seen a lot in his 14 years in the Majors. He also admires Tebow’s passion and said he would never criticize someone for giving a heartfelt effort.

Last season, Cole went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA in 208 innings over 32 starts, finishing fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting. He avoided the disabled list entirely and credited his routine for his consistent success on the mound.

Leake was replaced by Alex Reyes, the Cardinals’ top prospect, in the rotation Saturday. Reyes, who is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in 14 innings, likely will continue to pitch in Leake’s spot while he is out.

“I just think it was inevitable [he would go on the DL] given that he wasn’t turning the corner, but it does look better now,” manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s a little more contained, his energy level’s up, his appetite is better. Things are starting to go a positive direction for the first time.”

But for every rule, or assumed rule, there’s always going to be outliers. In the case of Sanchez, who made his most recent return to the big leagues less than a month ago, we seem to have exactly that. Small samples or not, you can’t fake arm strength like this. For all the talk of his hitting feats, clearly he’s not going to be hitting .405 for the foreseeable future. The arm, though, that’s very real. We expected that coming up. Now, we know it for certain. You can be pretty sure that opposing runners have figured that out, too.
Mike Petriello is an analyst for MLB.com and the host of the Statcast podcast. He has previously written for ESPN Insider and FanGraphs. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

The Cardinals signed Leake to a five-year, $80 million deal in December shortly after they learned that Lance Lynn would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. Leake is 9-9 with a 4.56 ERA for the Cardinals.

With Michael Wacha and Leake out, the Cardinals have rookies in two of their five rotation spots. Luke Weaver took over Wacha’s rotation spot three starts ago.

“There wasn’t anything I saw from Luke Weaver or anything I saw from Alex Reyes that tells me they shouldn’t be back out there, regardless of the situation,” Matheny said. “They’re young pitchers, but they’re young pitchers with good stuff and they’re getting better each time they go out. So, keep them rolling.”

marlins giancarlo stanton rehabbing injury

Leave a reply

NEW YORK — Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton was examined by a specialist on Monday, and later in the day he did some light running and agility drills before his team took batting practice at Citi Field.

We knew when Sanchez was coming up that he had a strong throwing arm; after all, just about every scouting report mentioned it. MLBPipeline.com, for example, noted that he had “two standout tools: huge raw power and an exceptionally strong arm.” Now that we’ve had a few weeks of Sanchez in the big leagues and in front of the Statcast? tracking cameras, we can confirm that, and then some.
Consider this: Through Sunday, we’ve tracked 1,128 individual catcher throws to second base on steal attempts. Despite starting only 15 games at catcher (he’s been the designated hitter a few times so far), Sanchez is tied for the third-strongest throw by anyone this year — as well as owning three of the top seven, and five of the top 10.

That’s impressive company, or at least it ought to be. Remember, Bethancourt’s arm is so well-respected that in addition to his catching duties, the Padres have used him both as a pitcher and a corner outfielder this year. Put another way, the 10 throws listed there make up less than the top one percent of the best throws by all catchers this year, and Sanchez alone has half of them in just a few weeks of play. Unsurprisingly, of the 70 catchers with at least five attempts to stop stolen bases at second, Sanchez’s average arm strength of 87.4 mph is the best, topping Bethancourt’s 86.5 mph and Drew Butera’s 84.9 mph.

So far, Sanchez has thrown out six of the nine baserunners who have attempted to steal against him; for comparison, Colorado’s Nick Hundley has also thrown out six, but of 53. In an obviously small sample size, that 67 percent success rate is the best of the 82 catchers with at least five total stolen-base attempts against, at all bases.

Interestingly enough, that strong arm helps to mask a roughly average or ever-so-slightly below exchange time, which is to say that part of what makes a catcher successful is how quickly he can get the throw out of his hands after he receives the pitch. Going back to that same list of 70 catchers with five attempts at second base, Sanchez’s exchange time of .78 seconds is tied for 54th, slightly below the Major League average this year of .74 seconds. (The best is David Ross, at .64 seconds, and it progresses up in fractions until you get to Devin Mesoraco, who was rarely healthy this year and had a mark of .86 seconds.)