MLB Trade Rumors: SF Giants Should Put All Their Eggs in the Hunter Pence Basket

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching us, it seems evident that the San Francisco Giants are going to make a move. 

The name that has been circulating around the ballclub has consistently been New York Mets' outfielder Carlos Beltran, and rightfully so. Beltran has been extremely consistent for the Mets this season, posting 15 HR to go along with a .285 BA and 58 RBI. 

Beltran is in the last year of his monster $119 million deal, which means he may not return to the bay area next year if he were to be dealt. The Giants may not want him back anyway, due to the fact that Beltran turns 35 next season. 

Although it seems unlikely, a trade for Houston's Hunter Pence could benefit the Giants in both the long and short term. Pence will be locked up for two more arbitration years in 2012 and 2013 before he becomes a free agent in 2014.

If the Giants were to acquire him, they would have him on the roster for at least two-and-a-half seasons, which would add value to anything the Astros would receive in return. Pence was an All-Star this season and will look to be there for years to come. 

The bundle that Houston would want back for their "Lone Star" would be extremely hefty for any team, which makes the chance of him being moved very slim. 

The price tag for Pence would include a quality major league starter along with an A-list prospect, which is something the Giants may be able to do. With a solid top end of the rotation, lead by Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, a deal involving Madison Bumgarner could be in the works.

Bumgarner has a ton of talent, but may not be tradeable at this point from the Giants' perspective. The 21-year-old pitcher shined in the World Series last year, and has posted a 3.74 ERA so far this season. 

Bumgarner is the exact piece that Houston needs, due to the fact of how strong the lineups are in the NL Central division. If the Giants gave up two more solid prospects, I could see this deal happening, but either team may feel their piece may be to good to give up.

Either way, I think both teams would benefit from a deal.

If the Giants want a chance at a second straight world championship, a deal like this may be the propeller. This deal is just pure speculation, but expect the Giants to make a move for an outfielder before the deadline hits on July 31st. 

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Tarvaris Jackson doesn?t want to be a Minnesota Viking anymore

Tarvaris Jackson is talking as if his odd and brief tenure as a Minnesota Viking is over. He doesn't feel like the Vikings are giving him a fair shake to be a starter, and he told the Star Tribune that he's ready to turn the page.

"It's probably time for a change," Jackson said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to play up here the last five years. ... [But] I'm not trying to be a backup. I'm trying to go somewhere where I have a chance, and I don't feel like I'd get that chance here. It's time to move on. No hard feelings or anything. It's a business."

[...]

"Since Day 1, I don't really think I was really welcome here anyways, because nobody really knew who I was, being from a smaller school," Jackson said when asked to reflect on his relationship with the fans. "A lot more things probably play into it, too. It's just the way things are. I can't help that."

T-Jack is 28 years old and wants a chance to be a starter in the league. The Vikings apparently feel better about Joe Webb and recent draftee Christian Ponder than they do about Jackson, so he wants to be elsewhere. One sympathizes.

However, one also wonders what NFL team affords Jackson a better starting opportunity than the Minnesota Vikings.

The number of teams that would say to Jackson, "Yes, please sign with us, and you can immediately become our starting quarterback" is exactly zero. The number of teams that would say to Jackson, "You can come here and be in an open, fair competition to be our starting quarterback" might be greater than zero, but probably not by much.

The teams that do need quarterbacks have their sights set on guys with better resumes than Jackson's. The teams that don't need quarterbacks ... well, they don't need quarterbacks, and Jackson isn't interested in carrying someone's clipboard.

My advice to him would be to stay in Minnesota, if he can. He's right when he says it hasn't always been a great situation for him there. He really got railroaded with all the Brett Favre nonsense, but it wasn't all bad. He did start 20 games there, and has, in brief stretches, looked decent. Minnesota might not be an ideal fit for him, but I don't know if there's a better one out there at the moment.

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Kobe Bryant: Could Playing Overseas Diminish His Legacy with the LA Lakers?

Recently Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant's agent said the young star would consider playing overseas if the NBA lockout continues to linger, adding his name to a list of stars that includes New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams and is sure to grow if the work stoppage persists.

In my opinion stars who consider playing overseas publicly are only hurling idle threats at the NBA's owners, since a lost NBA regular season has the potential to kill the NBA as we know it.

America's love affair with the NBA is much more fragile than similar relationships with the NFL and MLB, as professional basketball players are usually viewed as the most spoiled and over-paid athletes by the general public.

Basketball players are also in a more exclusive club since teams have fewer players than professional football and baseball, and it's always easier to identify with a sport that you may have had an opportunity to play.

Fans love to marvel at the skill and athleticism of today's NBA players, but many of those same fans actually had the chance to play football or baseball at least on the high school level and that generates a level of interest basketball can never match.

Younger stars like Durant and Williams defecting to Europe could turn novice fans away from the NBA, but they are also both young enough to play a role in what is sure to be a long revival for the league if the 2011-12 season is lost.

But for an aging star like Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant a lost season is much harder to replace at this stage in his career, and there is a possibility that playing overseas could diminish his career as a Laker.

Bryant has not been as vocal as some of his peers about the prospects of playing elsewhere if the lockout continues to linger, but he has contemplated about playing in Europe in the past.

I can appreciate a player's desire to stay in game shape, and competing in Europe or somewhere else professionally certainly does serve that purpose. But one of the most important things about Bryant's legacy is connected to the uniform he has worn throughout his career.

Each one of Bryant's glowing accomplishments has been achieved as a member of the Lakers, and to some old school fans that exclusivity makes a world of difference.

For instance, there are some fans who consider Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be one of the top two NBA players of all time, but there are few Lakers fans who would consider Kareem as the top player in the franchise's history.

That designation usually goes to Magic Johnson or Jerry West, two hall of fame players who were also life-long Lakers.

Both West and Magic were great players by any measure, but the fact that they spent their entire career with Los Angeles elevates them to near mythical status in the hearts of Lakers fans.

To be fair Kareem is also loved dearly by Lakers fans, but the fact that he started his career in Milwaukee is not lost on those who bleed purple and gold.

The same applies for center Shaquille O'Neal who may have erased any good feelings from leading the Lakers to three consecutive championships in 2000-02 by retiring as a member of the hated Boston Celtics.

Bryant is already the leading scorer in franchise history, and he has won five NBA championships to go along with numerous other individual awards and accolades and he has done it all with one team.

Those accomplishments alone place Bryant in the same rarefied air with Magic and West, but how will history remember Bryant if he does decide to play overseas during the lockout?

Even worse, what if the last image anyone has of Bryant on a basketball court is in the uniform of a team that is not easily recognized by the casual NBA fan?

It's not a likely proposition, but the threat of injury does make it a possibility that if Bryant does decide to play overseas he might never step onto a NBA court as a player again.

If the lockout does continue to drag on there are some players who may carry through on their threats to take their talents overseas, and if the NBA does face another work stoppage during the season fans may be slower to return the next time around.

Eventually the beauty of the game will lure us back, but there are some fans who will never forget the players who did choose to play in Europe instead of focusing on saving the NBA.

For a player like Bryant that type of notoriety could over-shadow what has been a spectacular career in Los Angeles, and that's certainly not the final memory anyone wants from what could be history's greatest Laker.

 

 

 

 

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Even Congressmen enjoy making fun of Jay Cutler

Paul Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, spoke Tuesday to The Economic Club of Chicago about his debt-reduction plan. If you'd like to know more about that, you can read the full transcript here. But if you're just here for the Jay Cutler jokes, you're my kind of person, so here those are for you:

"I want to thank you all for inviting me to speak. It was especially gracious of you to host me, even though I'm a Packers fan and I assume most of you are Bears fans," Ryan began.

"But that doesn't mean we can't work together. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, I stand ready to do whatever it takes to help you re-sign Jay Cutler. I'm here to talk about the economy today -- about the need to get four quarters of strong, consistent performance. That wasn't another Jay Cutler joke, I swear. It could be, but it's not," he continued.

Point, Paul Ryan. For a politician, that's high quality smack talk.

This all stems from Cutler's (non)performance in the NFC Championship game against the Packers last season. The Bears quarterback�spent about half of that game on the sidelines with a knee injury, one that a lot of people doubted really existed.

[Related: Jay Cutler engaged to reality TV star]

For about a week afterwards, Cutler was beaten mercilessly in the media. He was labeled everything from a quitter to a malcontent diva, and it seemed like the only people standing up for him were his teammates and a random blogger or two.

Anyway, this is what we should all be doing during the lockout -- not fretting over legal details, but reminiscing about the times when we did have football, and everyone could have a grand time arguing about Jay Cutler. I don't know what else you said, Congressman Ryan, but I thank you for your leadership on this Cutler issue.

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6 NFL Players Who Will Have a Harry Potter-Like Career Finale in 2011

Harry Potter, just released, has received very good reviews thus far—with the last movie, the final chapter closes on a great movie and book series.

In the NFL, many players are nearing the end of their careers and 2011 could be the last impression these players make on NFL fans.

Here are six players whose last season will be like Harry Potter's last movie—a success.

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