Big Trades

Yesterday, some big trades in the MLB and NBA took place.

On the MLB side, many teams were looking to get ready for the post-season, as yesterday was the trade deadline. There were some minor trades, but 1 stuck out from the rest.

Canadian Eric Gagne was traded today to the Boston Red Sox for left-hander Kason Gabbard, Class AAA center fielder David Murphy and Class A outfielder Engel Beltre. Although Gagne has had injury troubles in past years, he is still a great player. The Montreal native is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves for the Texas Rangers.

On the NBA side, another Boston team upgraded their team as the Boston Celtics traded for dominant big man Kevin Garnett. After months of wondering where he would end up, he is now in a place that can win. Earlier in the year, the Celtics acquired guard Ray Allen from the Seattle Supersonics. With Boston already having Paul Pierce, the Celtics are now instant contenders.

"Kevin Garnett is a great player in our league, with a fierce and competitive spirit, who brings offensive scoring prowess and a defensive presence to our team," said executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge. "The players we're trading to Minnesota have bright futures in the NBA and we wish them well."

Boston did give up a lot though as heading to Minnesota are forwards Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes; guards Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair; center Theo Ratliff and two draft picks. One pick is Boston's 2009 first-round selection and the second is the pick Boston acquired from Minnesota in the Wally Szczerbiak-Ricky Davis trade. The Timberwolves also receive cash considerations in the deal.

"This trade is about improving the Minnesota Timberwolves and improving our team for the future," said Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale. "The past few seasons our on-court performance has been disappointing to our fans, myself, Glen Taylor and the entire organization. Through this trade, we have obtained very talented, young players with a lot of potential, future flexibility with the salary cap and two future first-round NBA draft picks. This will not be an overnight fix, but it is the big step in renewing our commitment to build an exciting franchise for our fans."

The city of Boston should brace themselves, because this next year is going to be a wild ride.

Braves Land Teixeira From Rangers

In the 1st big MLB trade of the season, Mark Teixeira, the slugger from Texas was traded to Atlanta today.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 27-year old was shipped off to Atlanta with pitcher Ron Mahay and picked up rookie catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, minor league shortstop Elvis Andrus, pitcher Matt Harrison and a player to be named.

Teixeira has 13 homers and 49 RBI this season, but did miss about a month with injury troubles.

Saltalamacchia is a 22-year-old switch-hitter who can also play first base and was hitting .284 with four home runs and 12 RBI in 141 at-bats for the Braves. Feliz is a 19-year-old left-hander who is 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in seven games, including six starts, for the Braves' Rookie League team in Danville (Va.). Andrus is a shortstop who is hitting .244 with three home runs and 37 RBIs at Class A Myrtle Beach. He has 25 stolen bases.

This trade is probably the 1st of many to come in the next few days.

Who's Left?

Most of the NHL free-agents have been signed, but there are still some quality players out on the market.

Forwards

Centre- Peter Forsberg. The 34-year old from Sweden had yet another injury riddled season, as lingering foot problems took some of the jump from his game. But Forsberg still managed 55 points with the Flyers and the Preds. He should go for $4-6 million dollars per year with 1-2 years, because of his injury troubles.

Right Wing- Teemu Selanne. Selanne didn't miss a beat in his 17th NHL season scoring 94 points and coming 2nd in the Rocket Richard trophy race. Selanne has expressed little intrest in retiring at the ripe age of 37, and should probably get $4-5 million dollars in a short-term deal.

Left Wing- Nils Ekman. Ekman had a rough season playing only 34 games, but did manage to get 15 points. He has shown over his short flashes of greatness scoring 21 goals for San Jose in the '05-06 season. He should get signed for $2-3 million dollars and 2-3 years.


Defencemen

Danny Markov- Markov had a great year with Detroit playing as a solid 2nd line defenceman for the entire season. He still has some years on him, so maybe 3 years and $2 million for Markov

Andy Sutton- He played a good Atlanta team last and like Markov is a good 2nd line defenceman. He had a bad year in terms of offence, but has shown in the past that he can produce. 2 years and $1.5 million for Sutton.


Goalie

Curtis Joseph - The veteran goalie had another good year with a bad Phoenix team. His age seems to keeping teams away from him. Although he is past his prime, he can still produce, so probably 1 year and $1-2 million dollars for Cujo.

There are many other players that are out on the market that can produce, but those are the best 6.

Roy Signs Long-Term With Buffalo

Derek Roy of the Buffalo Sabres earned $627,000 last year and was supposed to be an average 3rd-line centre. But he quickly joined Thomas Vanek as the future stars for the Sabres.

Roy had 63 points last year with Buffalo, good for 5th best on the team, which is amazing considering the Sabres had players like Chris Drury and Daniel Briere in their lineup. Today he got rewarded for his hard work with a new 6-year, $24 million dollar contract, which is $4 million per year.

The announcement of this deal came just before Roy was scheduled for salary arbitration in Toronto.

He will be counted on to play a big role next year with the Sabres after the departure of Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. He, Vanek and Maxim Afinogenov will have to be the top forwards for Buffalo next year.

''Derek is a solid young player who will only continue to improve,'' general manager Darcy Regier said in a statement. ''He will play an increased role for our club, and we look forward to having such a quality player in our organization for many years to come.''

Roy should continue to become one of the best players in the NHL.

Oilers Sign Penner To Offer Sheet

The Edmonton Oilers are back at it tendering another offer sheet to a restricted free-agent.

Edmonton signed Dustin Penner, a group 2 restricted free-agent tendering a five year, $21.25 million offer sheet to Penner. This is the 2nd time this year that the Oilers have gone after a restricted free-agent after failing to pick up Tomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres.

The Ducks have 7 days to match the Oilers offer, and if they don't, get a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick from the Oilers!

''We're going to wait and see what happens here in the next seven days before we make a comment,'' Penner's agent Gerry Johannson told The Canadian Press.

Penner had 29 goals and 16 assists in his 1st full NHL season last year.

Staal Brothers Arrested

It seems there is a discipline problem in sports. The MLB, NFL, and NBA all have troubles, but the NHL seemed to be okay. After today, NHL fans can't say that.

2 Staal brothers, Jordan and Eric were arrested after a weekend bachelor party for Eric. It appeared that the brothers and 12 other members were drunk at the Lutsen Resort and Sea Villas, about 90 minutes south of the Thunder Bay, Ontario., hometown of the Staal brothers. After multiple warnings, the group was ordered out of the building. But the problems didn't stop there. ''After leaving the property, the group gathered on Highway 61 and began harassing passing motorists,'' the Sheriff's release said. ''At approximately 4 a.m. the suspects were placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. Some of the suspects fled in to the nearby woods.''

Eric was one of 10 people to spend the night in jail, and Jordan was released a booking but not before being charged with consumption of alcohol while under 21 years of age, in addition to disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process.

''I'm sure that everyone involved is embarrassed about the incident - as they should be,'' Rick Curran, the agent for both players, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday. ''Not to take anything away from the seriousness of it, it's what can happen when you get any group of 15 to 20 people together and there's loud noise.''

Yet another discipline problem that the sports community has to endure.

"Worst Situation"

David Stern,the commissioner of the NBA addressed the betting allegations against retired NBA ref Tim Donaghy yesterday. It was the 1st time since the news hit the public that he spoke about the issue, and he looked like a guy who hadn't slept in days.

As I said in my last post about this, Donaghy may have gambled on NBA games he officiated and didn't. It is so serious, that the FBI is investigating the situation! "I feel betrayed by what happened on behalf of the sport, regardless of how protective I've been," Stern said. "This is not something that is anything other than an act of betrayal of what we know in sports as a sacred trust."

"Not only aren't they permitted to either gamble or provide information to people," Stern said, "they may not even provide other than to their immediate family the details of their travel schedules or the games they are going to work."

The FBI contacted Stern shortly after the NBA Finals had ended, June 20th to talk about a ref that might of been gambling on games. Donaghy resigned on July 9th, just 19 days after the FBI contacted the NBA.

"I can tell you that this is the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or a commissioner of the NBA," said Stern, who has held the top post for 23 years.

"This is something that is the worst that could happen to a professional sports league," Stern said. "And I want to say on the other hand that we are going to make good on the covenant that we believe we have with our fans, and I pledge that my involvement will be as intense and complete as it can possibly be." Well at least someone is acting responsibly.

Right now, the NBA is just 1 of 3 of the 4 major sports in North America have some controversy surrounding them? The NFL has Micheal Vick and dog fighting. The MLB has steroids and Bud Selig's hesitation to go to Barry Bonds' potential home run record tying or breaking games. And then this situation with the NBA.

What is going on with the sports leagues right now? With all this controversy it is really hard for kids to look up at these athletes and want to be them. Many great athletes have used steroid or gambles or done some sort of illegal action. I say that all these players and officials of these leagues better get their act together, or their PR will be ruined forever.

Lets Go Streaking

The Toronto Blue Jays have been defined by 2 things this year. Their injuries and the 9-game losing streak in May. For the entire year the Jays have been trying to make up for that 9-game losing streak. And now, the Jays are going on another streak, and this time, it's the good kind.

One of the MLB's best young pitchers in Dustin McGowan took the hill for the Jays yesterday against the Minnesota Twins trying to get the Jays 4th straight win, which would tie a season high for them this season. McGowan was also trying to get the Jays back to the .500 level.

After 2 1/2 scoreless innings, John McDonald drove home Aaron Hill with a safety squeeze to give the Jays the 1-run lead. Next inning, the Hays would score again as Vernon Wells blasted his 1st home run since July 6th into the bullpen to increase the Jays lead by 2.

While the bats were driving in runs, McGowan was silencing the Minnesota bats as he pitched scoreless inning after scoreless inning. Toronto would get some insurance runs in the 7th and 8th, and McGowan would go 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball. The Jays bullpen then did their job to seal a 7-0 blow out win for the Jays.

This was the Jays 3rd shutout win in the last 4 games. The main reason for this are the starters. The 3 starters who pitched in the shutout games each went 7 or more innings. Gregg Zaun was quick to compliment McGowan's performance, as Zaun caught for him yesterday. "I can see his confidence building with every start, good or bid," Zaun said of McGowan, who has won three of his past four starts.

"I think the biggest difference for Dustin is knowing he's going to get the ball every fifth day. He doesn't have to go home and sweat and worry and look over his shoulder and thinking `are (manager John Gibbons) and (general manager) J.P. (Ricciardi) going to give up on me today and ship me back to the bullpen or even worse, to (triple-A) Syracuse. He doesn't have to worry about that right now. We're going to run him out there every fifth day and let him develop and continue to grow as a player and he's sure starting to respond."

Toronto's Jesse Litsch will try to get a sweep for the Jays when he takes the mound for them this afternoon.

Goodell Puts His Foot Down

In the few months that Roger Goodell has been commissioner of the NFL, he has shown that he is not afraid of making big moves. He already suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones for the entire 2007-08 NFL season, and he is already taking disciplinary action on Micheal Vick.

The QB from Atlanta has been been indicted for being at multiple dog fights in past years. Dogs would be trained to kill, and if a dog were to lose and survive, would be hung, electrocuted or shot. Vick's 1st court hearing is on the 1st day of Falcons' training camp.

Goodell made the 1st move of disciplinary action yesterday, ordering Vick to not report to training camp. To the Falcon faithful, taking action before Vick has been proven guilty may be a little pre-mature, but Goodell wrote a letter to Micheal Vick clearing that issue up.

"While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies, including the Personal Conduct Policy," Goodell wrote in the letter to Vick.

Vick is just 1 of many sports athletes that have chosen illegal activities, than using their sports talents. Some examples of these people are Ricky Williams with marijuana and Pete Rose with gambling.

No matter what happens with this case though, Micheal Vick's good reputation is now forever gone.