NFL Week 12

The New York Giants will play the Dallas Cowboys at home tomorrow afternoon at 4. This is the Giants season, the way they have played especially their defense any Giants fan can't be too confident. There may be some changes according to published reports Osi Umenyora and Fred Robbins may be benched in favor of Chris Canty and Mathias Kiwanuka. We already know that middle linebacker Chase Blackburn is being replaced by Jonathan Goff. The one piece of good news on the injury front the Giants received is that it looks like running back Ahmad Bradshaw will be able to play of course who knows how effective he will be. I think the Giants are going to come out with a lot of passion and this will be a very good game but I don't see the Giants defense being able to stop the Cowboys. I think the Cowboys are going to win this game 31-28. I am going to pick Atlanta to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles at home. I just don't think the NFC East is that good this season and I think the Falcons need a big win as they have been slumping lately and have had some injuries. I think they will win this game by the score of 21-17.

Hot Stove action

It looks like the Seattle Mariners will be getting speedy leadoff man Chone Figgons. The preliminary figure is for 4 years and 36 million. This is a good move for them getting a player like this and also taking him away from their divisional rival. The New York Mets have stockpiled catchers signing Chris Coste and Henry Blanco and still looking to sign Bengie Molina, why they are doing all of this doesn't really make much sense but it is the Mets. I don't want to jump to conclusions because maybe they will still get a John Lackey or Matt Holliday or someone like that. The Boston Red Sox today did aquire Marco Scuttaro who said he signed with them because they have the team with the best chance of winning a title for him. The big news today was coming from Jon Heyman of SI.com who tweeted that the Yankees are going to make an offer for Roy Halladay, he does believe the Red Sox have the best chance of getting him though. The Jays want some combination of Jesus Montero, Austin Jackson, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain from the Yankees. It does look like it will be a battle between the two ancient rivals for Doc Halladay and the Jays do seems intent on unloading him now when they can get something rather then waiting and have his value decrease or lose him to free agency and get nothing.

Hot Stove starting to heat up

The baseball Winter Meetings are scheduled to being on Monday from Indianapolis but the hot stove has started heating up. Roy Halladay of course is a big topic as everyone awaits to see if he will be traded and to whom with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at the top of the list. The Seattle Mariners are on the verge of signing Chone Figgons according to multiple sources. It looks like he will sign for 4 years and around 32 million or so. This would be a great move for seattle and deal a huge blog to their divisional foes the Anaheim Angels. The Brewers signed veteran catcher Gregg Zaun today and yesterday Placido Polanco signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. There is talk that the Mets are trying to unload Luis Castillo but that still remains to be seen. It will get really interesting next week as all 30 clubs will be together in one place looking to shape their rosters for the spring. The Boston Red Sox signed SS Marco Scutaro today also as they look to play catch up with the Yankees who went on their big splurge last offseason signing CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Boston apparantly will be pushing hard for Roy Halladay according to some although others believe they will stay away from him and go after John Lackey who is the biggest name pitching free agent. It sure looks like it will be a fun week so stay tuned.

Jets Staying Alive, Staying Alive

The New York Jets defeated the Buffalo Bills by the score of 19-13. The Jets defense was good once again and the running game did most of the work. The last 2 wins came by running and good defense with Mark Sanchez not having to do much. Darel Revis once again shut down a top flight receiver with this week being TO. The New York Jets pretty much have to win out to make the playoffs but right now they are in the picture at 6-6 and can only worry about one game at a time. The Jets play Tampa which is a winnable game and then they will play Atlanta, Indianapolis and Cincinatti the last 3 games so it will get more difficult but maybe by then the Jets will have some swagger back and build on that. The least they want to do is at least finish strong and feel good going into next season. The only blemish on the game was Mark Sanchez spraining his knee, he may be able to play on Sunday though so we will wait and see on that.

New York Yankees News

There isn't any news coming out of Yankee Land. The Yankees will be holding organizational meetings tomorrow and Friday. GM Brian Cashman, Manager Joe Girardi, Owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, President Randy Levine and others. They will be discussing possibly trading for Roy Halladay which I am hearing they are leaning towards maybe trading for him for one year without an extension then letting him go and getting the draft picks. They will also discuss how much they want and want to offer Damon, Matsui and Pettitte. I am thinking Pettitte comes back. Joe Girardi certainly thinks he will be back. I don't think Matsui will be back and I do think Damon is iffy but I think he will end up coming back on a 2 year deal. I think ultimately the Yankees will shy away from Roy Halladay and have Joba and Hughes in the rotation with David Robertson and Damaso Marte as main set up guys with Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves as other guys in the pen. They also still have guys like Mark Melancon and Mike Dunn, Albaladejo etc. Ian Kennedy, Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin will also be backups for long men or starters. Brian Cashman did a breakfast with Mike Francesa and WFAN listeners yesterday. You can find a writeup about it on http://www.riveraveblues.com. Brian Cashman really told a lot, some of the highlights were him calling Joe Torre's book garbage, him saying that some of his coaches were lying to him. Cashman had told some of the coaches it sounds like maybe Larry Bowa to go talk to Jeter about his defense and they kept telling Cash, we did it. Brian Cashman didn't see any difference so finally he went to him in the offseason and Jeter said no one had told him anything. Brian Cashman also said he is back to trying to get the payroll somewhat like it used to be where he doesn't go crazy spending and does things wisely.

New Jersey Nets set record they don't want

The New Jersey Nets set the NBA record tonight for most losses to start a season. They are now 0-18. The GM Kiki Vandeweghe will take over coaching duties starting tomorrow. I know they weren't supposed to be good this year but this is really embarrassing. The New York Knicks aren't much better and the local football teams are pretty much done. When does spring training start?? Since I mentioned the Giants if it couldn't get any worse for them well it did. It looks like Brandon Jacobs will be the only healthy running back Sunday against the Cowboys. Danny Ware and Ahmad Bradshaw are both hurt and it doesn't look like either will play. I think if the Giants lose this game they should just shut down QB Eli Manning also as he has been dealing with a foot issue for most of the season and it could lead to a stress fracture.

RIP-Tommy Henrich

The oldest living Yankee died early this morning in Ohio. Tommy Henrich who was nicknamed Old Reliable played only for the Yankees from 1937-1950. He served in WWII and missed 3 years due to his service. He was 96 years old, Tommy was a great teammate and a good ballplayer. The New York Yankees released a statement which can be read on www.yankees.com. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the lohud Yankees Blog wrote a nice piece on him also at http://yankees.lhblogs.com.

Yankees offer Arbitration to No One

The New York Yankees offered arbitration to no one again this year. If they offered arbitration and that player signed elsewhere they would be awarded a draft pick as compensation but then they would also risk having that player sign and go to arbitration. This really wasn't a suprise as they will still try and retain Damon and Pettitte. I am almost certain Hideki Matsui will be gone. Joe Girardi was out at Jets camp today teaching Mark Sanchez how to slide. The Jets were worried about him not knowing how to do that well and contacted the Yankees to see if they could help. Today was the day that Joe Girardi was available to come out to Florham Park and help the Jets out. I read today that A.J. Burnett was pushing for Doc Halladay, that is no suprise but I don't think the Yankees will end up getting him. The Yankees would have to give up a lot in prospects and money to sign him to an extension and that is too much. John Henry the Red Sox owner had a interesting take on the revenue sharing system today. He did basically bash the Yankees but at the same time he kind of defended them. The website www.waswatching.com has all the information on that. Dustin Pedroia stated today that he would move to shortstop to help the Red Sox with that problem. I don't think that is going to happen though and they will end up signing Marco Scutaro away from the Blue Jays. Did the New York Mets really sign Alex Cora for 2 million?? They also signed Chris Coste and are thinking of adding Henry Blanco also. I know the bench was criticized last year but is Omar Minaya going to be short sighted again and not worry about LF, SP, 1B?? I really hope not because after last season the Mets have to do something to excite their fan base.

Yankees announce Spring Training Schedule

The New York Yankees will open their Spring Training schedule March 3rd at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This was announced this afternoon by the Yankees. They will play 33 spring training games with 16 at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The Yankees will complete the grapefruit league schedule on April 3rd against their minor league stars. Ticket prices for all of these home games will remain the same for the 2nd consecutive season. The Yankees will play the Phillies 5 times and face every one of their AL East foes except for the Boston Red Sox who they open and close the season with. They have 6 night games, pitchers and catchers will report on Feb 17th and the first workout will be Feb 18th. The first full squad workout will be Feb 24th. The Yankees also today recieved a record postseason share. They divided it up by awarding 46 full shares, 12 1/4 partial shares and 2 cash awards. The total amount they had to divide up was 365,052.73.

Some things I missed over the weekend

The Baseball Writers Of American announced the nominees for induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame for 2010. The nominees are as follows: Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Roberto Alomar Barry Larkin Pet Hentgen Fred McGriff Edgar Martinez Andres Galaraga Kevin Appier Mike Jackson Shane Reynolds Todd Zeile David Segui Robin Ventura Ellis Burks Ray Lankford Lee Smith Jack Morris Dale Murphy Dave Parker Tim Raines Don Mattingly Mark McGwire Alan Trammell Harold Baines There are 15 first timers on this list, the closest to getting in are Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven. In order to be eligible you have to be retired for 5 years and in order to stay on the ballot you need 5 percent of the vote and then you can stay on for up to 15 years. Results will be announced on Wed Jan 6, 2010. I am a tough grader and on this list I really don't see many Hall Of Famers, my favorite player of all time is Don Mattingly and I wish he could get in but he just doesn't have the numbers for long enough unfortunately. I can see Dawson and Blyleven and Jack Morris should probably get in. There are a lot of players on here that I say wow good solid players but that is different from Hall Of Famer. I think Hall of Fame as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, A-rod, Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente guys like that. I think it has been watered down and should be the best of the best. Rickey Henderson got in last year and that was a no brainer to me. Roy Halladay apparently on Friday said he would waive his no trade clause to go to the Yankees not suprisingly. This to me is not big news but intersting anyway. Alex Gonzalez signed with Toronto leaving the Red Sox scrambling again for a shortstop. They will probably end up signing Marco Scutaro away from the Jays. He had a career year last year with them. The New Jersey Nets tied the record by going 0-17, they can break the record with a loss Wed at home against the Dallas Mavericks. This actually happened officially today but was gaining steam over the weekend. Charlie Weis has been fired as Head Coach of Notre Dame.

Derek Jeter named SI Sportsman of the Year

Derek Jeter has been named SI Sportsman of the Year. I think this is better then winning MVP. Derek Jeter leads a charmed life that is for sure, he won the World Series is dating Minka Kelly and now is Sportsman of the Year. He unlike others has stayed out of trouble on and off the field. I think Derek Jeter is truly a guy you can look up to as in this time there really isn't many that kids can look up to and aspire to be like. I am sure we will have quotes from Jeter later on. Derek Jeter is the first Yankee to win the award and 56th winner overall. He had a spectacular year batting 334 and batting 344 in the postseason and 409 in the World Series living up to his clutch reputation. He also broke Lou Gehrigs team record for most hits during the season and is on his way to becoming the first Yankee to ever record 3000 hits for his career. He also won the Hank Aaron Award and Roberto Clemente award during the postseason. Terry Mcdonell SI's group editor had this to say about Jeter, " Derek Jeter has always presented himself with class, he does numerous good work for the community with his Turn 2 Foundation. The foundation is one of the most effective and efficient foundations of its kind. Derek Jeter is extremely generous not just with him money but his time, which in many cases is more valuable. He also had another signature year on the field." Derek Jeter is the first baseball player to solely win the award since Cal Ripken in 1995.

New York Giants and Thanksgiving

The thanksgiving holiday is over and now it is back to work. I didn't get to post reaction to the New York Giants pathetic performance on Thanksgiving. The Giants just didn't do anything right and as far as I am concerned are done for the season. They are 6-5 and of course have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs especially if they win the next couple of game against the Cowboys and Eagles but I just don't see that happening. The Giants didn't do anything offensively in the first half of thursday's game and got behind 16-0 before cutting it to 16-6. I thought at that point ok maybe they will get back into this game but of course when the defense needed a stop they couldn't do it. The Giants defense is just dreadful right now and Bill Sheridan has to take the blame. I don't think the Giants will do anything until after the season but they still have the players on the field and someone has to take the fall for this mess. I think maybe it is time for Bill Sheridan to go up in the booth like he wanted too and see what happens. It can't be any worse then it is now. As for the offense I don't think the play calling has been great this season but they usually do what they have to do on offense. The running game hasn't been there but Brandon Jacobs should never be running east to west, he is a big smashmouth type guy that should always be going north to south and running people over and getting his yards that way. Eli Manning has been good but he has a foot problem that seems to be getting worse. We found out yesterday that he has a stress reaction that with any wrong move it could become a stress fracture and he will be done for the season. The Giants right now have to take it one game at a time and worry about winning against the Cowboys on Sunday in the meadowlands. If they lose the offseason will have already begun and everyone will start reacting to what they should do.