Winter meetings summary

Holy smokes! What an amazing week of baseball this has been! Nobody won any games, but the drama felt like it was a chase to the playoffs!

Let's get started, shall we? So many transactions went down from the eighth to the eleventh that I do not have time to list all of them. Besides, who has the time to go through them all. The main ones will be listed here, however:

MONDAY: Cleveland Indians acquired Brandon Moss from the A's in exchange for 2B Joey Wendle
TUESDAY: Chicago Cubs acquire C Miguel Montero (AKA Padre killer) to the Cubs for pitchers Zack Godley and Jefferson Mejia.
-White Sox acquire Pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa from the A's in exchange for P Chris Bassitt, C Josh Phegley, 3B Rangel Ravelo, and SS Marcus Semien.
-Chicago Cubs: Sign P Jon Lester
WEDNESDAY: White Sox acquire P David Robertson.
-Dodgers acquired 2B Howie Kendrick from Angels in exchange for somebody I do not know.
-Marlins: Acquire P Dan Haren, 2B Dee Gordon, and SS Miguel Rojas from the Dodgers in exchange for C Austin Barnes, Pitchers David Hatcher and Andrew Heaney, and SS Enrique Hernandez.
-San Diego Padres: signed Clint Barmes to a one year deal.
THURSDAY: San Diego Padres: acquire Matt Kemp, C Tim Federowicz, and cash in exchange for C Yasmani Grandal, and pitchers Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin.
-Dodgers: acquire SS Jimmy Rollins from Phillies. It is unclear as to what the Phillies received in return. We'll see soon.
-Tigers: Acquire P Alfredo Simon from the Reds in exchange for P Jonathan Crawford and INF Eugenio Suarez.
-More Tigers: Acquire OF Yoenis Cespedes, and Pitchers Alex Wilson and Gabe Speier from the Red Sox in exchange for P Rick Porcello.
-Marlins: Acquire P Mat Latos from Reds in exchange for P Anthony DeSclafani and C Chad Wallach.

Whew! That was a busy few days! There were many, many more deals that went down, but I have just failed to mention them. I am very excited to see what these new additions will bring to their team. As far as the Padres are concerned, Clint Barmes should be a good pick-up because of his leadership and defensive prowess. He was the one that tagged Trevor Hoffman for the game winning RBI on October 1, 2007. That was probably the last time I shed tears of sorrow. Matt Kemp, on the other hand, leaves me puzzled. I mean, I know why we did it. The fan base is going to get pumped up about this. But he is 30 years old, injury prone, and has yet to show leadership abilities in the clubhouse. Then again, he almost won the MVP in 2011 with 39 home runs and 125 RBI. That would be more home runs by any Padre since Greg Vaughn hit 50 in 1998! Grandal was really improving well in the Padres lineup. I hate to see him go, but I am excited to see Kemp work his magic at the plate. I just hope he decides not to fizzle out, especially when playing for a team he used to destroy.

Now that the winter meetings have come to a close, there are still deals to be done. AJ Preller is going to bring in at least one more bat to fit into the lineup. We'll see how he does it.

In terms of college football, the bowl schedule is out! Click on the link to view it! I am so excited to see the playoff games. Ohio State was able to sneak in there at the last second to get the final spot. Hopefully I actually get to watch the games instead of traveling back up here to school. Ohwell. Post some comments below to state your opinion!

That is the final news that I feel is absolutely important. I look forward to another great week in the wonderful world of sports (and school).

Championship weekend

I apologize for not writing last week. I was on vacation in Utah and had no time to write my weekly post. So here is what I have for the past two weeks. I will mainly be focusing on college football first, but also will dive heavily into the baseball realm.

Here we go. College football championship time. The official bowl schedule along with (and especially) the college football playoff will be released this Sunday at 12:30 ET on ESPN. Tonight (Friday the fifth) we have witnessed one of those teams in action most likely stamp their ticket into the playoff. Oregon defeated Arizona 51-13 in Santa Clara, California in the PAC-12 championship game. A quite one-sided affair never left any doubt who was the better team. Here we have the remaining big-game schedule this weekend:
SEC Championship: 1 Alabama vs 16 Missouri 4 ET CBS
ACC Championship: 4 Florida State vs 11 Georgia Tech 8 ET ABC
BIG 10 Championship: 13 Wisconsin vs. 5 Ohio State 8:17 ET FOX
9 K-State at 6 Baylor 7:45 ET ESPN
Those are just some of the exciting games on hand tomorrow afternoon. Please take some time to watch some of them. It will be exciting to see how this all shakes out by Sunday.

 In terms of the baseball world, all eyes will be across the train tracks from Petco Park at the San Diego convention center where the baseball winter meetings will be held. It is expected (at least in the Padres community) that a big deal will be made by the end of the week by current GM A.J. Preller. He has made some news this past week since he signed veteran infielder Clint Barmes. He has played with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the past three years and before that he was with the Rockies and Astros. He was the one that drove in the game-winning RBI off of Trevor Hoffman in game 163 on October 1, 2007 -- the last day I shed tears of sorrow. He should bring some needed leadership into a young clubhouse. Preller also signed Mark Kotsay as the news hitting coach for the Padres. Lots of people like what they see with this veteran, who played with the Padres in 2013 before retiring and being hired into the front office. I like the hire. Phil Plantier, apparently, was the one that demanded results out of the hitters. Kotsay is the one that is a little laid back but also very supportive: the right tools for the job. He will continue to work alongside Alonzo Powell as his assistant. Last week, meanwhile, Pablo Sandoval signed with the Red Sox and Yasmany Tomas with the D-Backs. Preller was aggressively Both of these free agents. pursuing these two free agents, offering Sandoval a higher contract than his 6-year, $95 million deal he got with the BoSox. My biggest disappointment was the Tomas deal. Now that he has signed with a rival team, he is guaranteed to hit .360 with like 7 home runs in Petco. Just kidding. It seems like the big hitters have great success at Petco, though.

In terms of the NFL, the Chargers are doing well as they pulled off a tough win in Baltimore last week. They will take on the Patriots this Sunday night on prime time TV.

In the NBA, LeBron and the Cavaliers have embarked on a 6-game win streak after beating the best team in the east tonight in the form of the Toronto Raptors. Does it look like this team is turning things around? We'll have to wait and see once the end of the calendar year approaches. Anyways, have a great week and check in next Friday night or weekend and I will have the bowl schedule posted!

Offseason happenings

I failed to mention some more awards in the majors this past week: The MVP and Cy Young awards. Clayton Kershaw won both the Cy Young and MVP awards this year, the first time that that has happened since Justin Verlander in 2011 for the Tigers. It was the first National League pitcher to accomplish that feat since Bob Gibson in 1968 with the Cardinals. What an amazing accomplishment! In the AL, Angels CF Mike Trout won the MVP while Kory Kluber took home the pitchers' hardware for the Indians. Exciting things there. Congratulations to all the winners this year. Meanwhile, the offseason hot stove is heating up at a rapid pace. The highlight in the MLB trade department so far is a trade between the Cardinals and Braves. The Braves sent Jason Heyward to St. Louis along with a teammate while the Braves received Shelby Miller along with a teammate. The Padres have been in the news a lot this week. They made a trade between minor league players this week sending Reymond Fuentes to the Royals in exchange for a hard-throwing left-handed reliever, Kyle Bartsch. Even bigger news, however, is the fact that the Padres are pursuing two major free agents. Historically the Padres have never been close to signing a big-time free agent. I believe that this is the time that changes. In a report earlier today, the Padres have become the front-runners along with the Braves in acquiring Cuban sensation, Yasmany Tomas. I have a lot of faith that this goes through. The report concluded that we as fans should not be surprised to see a deal made by Monday. Another player involved in the talk is current Giants' third baseman, Pablo Sandoval. I don't know how I feel about his pursuit to PETCO Park, but hey, it's an improvement. He knows how to play in the postseason and has become one of the majors most pesky hitters. Looks like A.J. Preller really knows what he is doing and is not afraid to open the checkbook in order to put a winning team on the field. Another possible player the Padres have been looking to acquire is Reds' outfielder, Jay Bruce. Bruce's season ended early this year with arthroscopic knee surgery, but he is expected to be ready for spring training at the end of February. With the Reds in need of lots of pitching, they are looking, perhaps, to get Ian Kennedy or another one of the Padres' three-headed mound monster (Cashner, Ross, and Kennedy). Perfect solution, right? Overall, something is going to happen this winter that has never been seen before in Padres history (except maybe before the 1998 season when the Padres went all the way to the world series).

 

Now on to college football. There has been some shakings in the top four over the past week. After Alabama dismantled Mississippi State last week, they jumped from #5 to #1 in the college football rankings. Oregon stayed at #2 and Florida State at #3. I honestly believe that the Seminoles ought to be on top because they are the only undefeated team left. But as long as they remain in the top 4, I can be satisfied. Here are your top games for the weekend.
25Minnesota at 23Nebraska noon ET ESPN
Boston College at 3Florida State 3:30 ET ABC
15Arizona at 17Utah 3:30 ET ESPN
19USC at 9UCLA 8ET ABC
There are not as many highly anticipated games as there were last week, but it is exciting to see the schedule this week. Check out the game of your choice.

This week in the NFL, the Chargers beat the Raiders on Sunday and then the Raiders went on to beat the Chiefs in Oakland Thursday night for their first win of the year. Looks like they will be in place for the top spot in next year's draft. Let us wait until the end of the year to make it official. The Buffalo Bills were going to host the NY Jets in Buffalo this coming Sunday, but because of snow drifts bringing that city 4+ feet of snow, the game has been moved to Detroit on Monday night instead. In fact, the players for the Bills had to be taken to the airport on snowmobiles from their homes. It was interesting to see the huge walls of snow covering cars.

In the NBA, the Cavaliers and their hyped squad are a woeful 6-6 so far this year after losing tonight to the Wizards in D.C. It is believed that they will turn their season around, though. It is looking like this will be the first season without someone with the name of LeBron James in the finals for the first time since 2010 when the Lakers defeated the Celtics in 6 games.

I am looking forward to a great Thanksgiving break as we give thanks and prepare for more exciting news in all the world of sports!