Happy New Year. I've been on a bit of a hiatus with the site, but am back now to update everyone one the standing of our fair city and its sports teams. 2014 is over now, but we still have two teams in the middle of their season, so there's still a lot to look forward to, kinda. Hopefully 2015 will bring us some competitive teams. Now let's see what has happened in the past two weeks in Philly sports...
Phillies
Last week the Phillies traded OF Marlon Byrd to the Reds for Minor League Pitcher Ben Lively and cash considerations. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's a positive step in the rebuild of the franchise. The team needs to get younger, so trading an aging vet for young talent is always a plus. On the other hand, Byrd was the Phillies best hitter and proved he still had the ability to play ball. If you think about it, the real bad thing is that Byrd was one of the Phillies best players last year.
The deal was being talked about in mid December, but took more time to finally get both sides to agree. The Phillies will send some money to the Reds along with Byrd, so that seemed to be the deciding factor. In return, the Phils get Pitcher Ben Lively. Lively split his time last year between A and AA, and performed adequately. He has control problems, as he walks too many batters, but that is something that a lot of young pitchers have to work out. Lively is expected to be a middle of the rotation guy when (if) he makes it to the Majors. All things considered this move was a good one for Philadelphia. They were able to get rid of Byrd's $8 million dollar contract and get a young arm in their system. Now they just need to find any team remotely interested in Ryan Howard, but that's easier said than done.
The deal was being talked about in mid December, but took more time to finally get both sides to agree. The Phillies will send some money to the Reds along with Byrd, so that seemed to be the deciding factor. In return, the Phils get Pitcher Ben Lively. Lively split his time last year between A and AA, and performed adequately. He has control problems, as he walks too many batters, but that is something that a lot of young pitchers have to work out. Lively is expected to be a middle of the rotation guy when (if) he makes it to the Majors. All things considered this move was a good one for Philadelphia. They were able to get rid of Byrd's $8 million dollar contract and get a young arm in their system. Now they just need to find any team remotely interested in Ryan Howard, but that's easier said than done.
Eagles
I'm not going to bother to do a write up of the Washington and Giants games. You and I both know what happened to this team. They had the division in their grasp and crapped out down the stretch. Injuries became troublesome, the defense was absolutely horrible, and Mark Sanchez was Mark Sanchez. After that Dallas game on Thanksgiving, my confidence in this team was at an all time high. But the Birds found a way to shatter all of our hopes and dreams, just like only they know how. The loss to the Redskins was the icing on the proverbial cake, which ended the Eagle's playoff hopes. Simply put, this team had too much to overcome and folded under the pressure.
Losing your starting QB midway through the season is something that never comes easy. Same with your starting MLB. Yet those are terrible excuses as to why this team failed. The main reason is the defense. When was the last time the D made a stop to end an opponents drive? I don't remember either. If I was Chip, I'd use every single one of my draft picks next Spring and shape up that secondary. If/when we get corners and safeties who can actually cover people, the team as a whole will drastically improve. Until then, we'll have to settle for Bradley Fletcher getting burnt on a weekly basis.
Losing your starting QB midway through the season is something that never comes easy. Same with your starting MLB. Yet those are terrible excuses as to why this team failed. The main reason is the defense. When was the last time the D made a stop to end an opponents drive? I don't remember either. If I was Chip, I'd use every single one of my draft picks next Spring and shape up that secondary. If/when we get corners and safeties who can actually cover people, the team as a whole will drastically improve. Until then, we'll have to settle for Bradley Fletcher getting burnt on a weekly basis.
76ers
The Sixers are having the best worst season of all time. They currently sit at 4-26 for the year, which may seem terrible on paper. You have to keep in mind, though, that by losing every game, the Sixers are in fact winning. We want and need them to lose. It won't be pretty, but in the long run it will be beneficial.
There's really nothing new to report for this team. Another day, another loss. The team did trade for aging Forward Andrei Kirilenko. They sent Brandon Davies to Brooklyn for Kirilenko, Jorge Gutierrez, and a 2020 second rounder. This move was most likely more about gaining more picks than anything else. While this trade was rather insignificant, it does mean one thing for the Sixers - they get to add Kirilenko to the long list of players with awesome nicknames. During his early days with the Jazz, Kirilenko was nicknamed AK-47. It is one of the best nicknames in NBA history because it hits on so many levels. First off, AK are Kirilenko's initials and he wore #47. Also, the rifle was manufactured in the same Russian town Kirilenko was born in. All together that is the making of one sweet nickname.
AK-47 joins the ranks of other great Sixer nicknames like Dr. J, The Answer, Round Mound of Rebound, the Boston Strangler, and Chocolate Thunder (my personal favorite). So yeah, other than cool nicknames, there really isn't anything else to say about the Sixers. Which brings us to....
There's really nothing new to report for this team. Another day, another loss. The team did trade for aging Forward Andrei Kirilenko. They sent Brandon Davies to Brooklyn for Kirilenko, Jorge Gutierrez, and a 2020 second rounder. This move was most likely more about gaining more picks than anything else. While this trade was rather insignificant, it does mean one thing for the Sixers - they get to add Kirilenko to the long list of players with awesome nicknames. During his early days with the Jazz, Kirilenko was nicknamed AK-47. It is one of the best nicknames in NBA history because it hits on so many levels. First off, AK are Kirilenko's initials and he wore #47. Also, the rifle was manufactured in the same Russian town Kirilenko was born in. All together that is the making of one sweet nickname.
AK-47 joins the ranks of other great Sixer nicknames like Dr. J, The Answer, Round Mound of Rebound, the Boston Strangler, and Chocolate Thunder (my personal favorite). So yeah, other than cool nicknames, there really isn't anything else to say about the Sixers. Which brings us to....
Flyers
The Flyers are a hard team to peg. They're way too bad to be a contender, but not quite terrible enough to be out of the playoff hunt altogether. While the team is underperforming, we do have one thing to get excited about; Jake Voracek. Voracek has blossomed into the scoring threat we, and the Blue Jackets, thought he could be. He leads the league in points currently, and along with Giroux has given the Flyers a great top line.
The rest of the team, though, is not doing so well. Just like with every other team in this city, Defense is a killer. With Timonen going down in the offseason, I think we all saw this coming. Still, it's tough to watch. Vincent Lecavalier was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career a few weeks ago, but now seems to remember how to play hockey. His massive contract remains one of the worst signings for the team in recent memory, but he has finally started to produce something other than hatred from the fanbase. While only time will tell what this team's fate is, it looks as though they will not make a deep playoff run. Which sucks, but can still play into the Flyer's hands. If they seem to be out of contention, they can not make any moves this season and retool the team in the summer. But knowing this team like I do, they will string together some wins, make us believe they can contend this year, make a stupid trade for a guy with a huge contract, lose in the playoffs, and then be $20 million over the cap in the offseason. Hopefully Hextall will prove me wrong.
The rest of the team, though, is not doing so well. Just like with every other team in this city, Defense is a killer. With Timonen going down in the offseason, I think we all saw this coming. Still, it's tough to watch. Vincent Lecavalier was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career a few weeks ago, but now seems to remember how to play hockey. His massive contract remains one of the worst signings for the team in recent memory, but he has finally started to produce something other than hatred from the fanbase. While only time will tell what this team's fate is, it looks as though they will not make a deep playoff run. Which sucks, but can still play into the Flyer's hands. If they seem to be out of contention, they can not make any moves this season and retool the team in the summer. But knowing this team like I do, they will string together some wins, make us believe they can contend this year, make a stupid trade for a guy with a huge contract, lose in the playoffs, and then be $20 million over the cap in the offseason. Hopefully Hextall will prove me wrong.