Yeah, so, I messed up when originally starting this little NHL Free Agency Preview and now we are T-minus 1 day to the opening of the market. Oh well.
Anyway, with the frenzy upon us, let’s take a look at the best of the best in unrestricted free agents under 30.
I don’t see the point of writing a long-winded preview of the 2008 college football season when you can go to Books-A-Million or Barnes and Noble to find 300+ pages of amazing writing from, say, Phil Steele, all for less than $10.
So I want to keep things as short as possible while still providing my opinion on the final conference standings, bowl matchups and ultimately the BCS title game next January in Miami.
The result: Haikus for every team, every conference, every bowl matchup Division I-A has to offer this year. First up was the “best” conference in the land, the SEC, which you can read here. Next up is my favorite conference, the Big XII. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Warning: These haikus will probably suck.
(Courtesy The Edmonton Journal)
Three days until the most exciting free agent season in sports opens up, so let’s build off yesterday’s look at the older unrestricted free agents with a look at the younger restricted free agents.
(Courtesy Getty Images/Carl De Souza)
From me, this morning:
“UPSET SPECIAL: Mikhail Youzhny (+130) over Radek Stepanek
This one has a chance to be a classic. Two players who excel at different things but have the experience battling toe-to-toe with the world’s best – you might remember Youzhny took the first two sets from Rafa Nadal last year at Wimbledon…before slowing down with a back problem and falling in five. Both guys went the distance in round two and will likely battle each other to the same conclusion here, leaving them useless for a possible fourth-round match with Nadal. On a side note, part of the reason I was so ready to pick Gasquet to come out of Rafa’s bracket is because I figured one of these guys would have the gas to wear Nadal down before Gasquet got to him. Doesn’t look like the case; either way, this one should be great and I think Youzhny wins enough long rallies with his backhand to stop Stepanek in give. Expect at least two sets to go to tiebreak.”
(Courtesy Ed Betz/AP)
The NHL salary cap continues its exponential annual growth, moving this year to $56 million with a floor of more than $40 million, which makes Tuesday’s opening of free agency all the more interesting.
That means you’ll see plenty of big contracts doled out to guys like Jeff Carter, the Philadelphia Flyers young center who, with just one 45+ point season under his belt, received a 3-year, $15 million deal with the hopes of his continued development. I’m a huge Carter fan, so I think his 29-23-53-+6 performance this season, which included 18 power play points, was a sign of things to come. However, this is definitely a huge leap forward for the league, which used to restrict players from getting out of virtual indentured servantry (is that a word/phrase…it is now) prior to the 04-05 work stoppage. Once the big young guns, such as Florida/Washington defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Mike Green, get their restricted free agent deals, be it from their current squad or an overzealous general manager willing to lose multiple draft picks, we’ll understand the full impact of the new collective bargaining agreement.
For the meantime though, signs of the old free agency are still running rampant because this year’s class includes plenty of old-guard superstars! Jaromir Jagr, Mats Sundin, Jose Theodore, Brendan Shanahan and Wade Redden are all up for grabs on Tuesday, but only a few of them are actually worth pursuing. Which team in the best fit for the best over-30 guys on the market, who is most likely to get them, and how much/how long will their contract be? Here are my predictions.
So my first dive into this was pretty bad, as I was 1-2 on Tuesday. However, that had nothing to do with Doug Davis, who I correctly pegged to stop the Red Sox. His bullpen blew a 3-run lead late and cost him a big win on the road.
With that, here are today’s best plays, courtesy of Sportsbook.com.
(Courtesy Alastair Grant/AP)three
Andy Roddick, once again, choked on the big stage today, falling in the second round of Wimbledon to the world’s 40th-ranked player, Janko Tipsarevic. The four-set defeat, in which Roddick dropped two tiebreaks, is just another steaming pile of dung to add to the landfill that has been Roddick’s career since his 2003 U.S. Open victory. In that nearly five-year span, Roddick has 14 singles tournament victories, with nothing to show for in the grand slams except three runner-ups.
Good morning fellow degenerates. Here are the best plays for today, odds courtesy of Sportsbook.com.
Tampa Bay (even) over Florida – Sonnanstine over Olsen
“Sonny” has been very good on the road this year, sporting a 24/5 K/BB ratio in 39 IP with just one start where he really didn’t give the Rays a chance to win (May 21 afternoon affair against Oakland, where he fell apart late after a strong start). Scott Olsen is coming off probably his second worst start of the season and while his sub-3 ERA at home looks good, he doesn’t have the peripherals to back it up. He also struggles against righties, so expect Jonny Gomes to get a rare start to leave just Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford or Eric Hinske as the only left-handed bats that have to play.
Dodgers (-120) over White Sox (even) – Lowe over Buehrle
The White Sox are losers of nine straight on the road, and Buehrle is due for a bad start having put together four straight quality outings, the last three being eight-inning performances. Those are the types of trends you have to look for when betting on baseball – yes, Buehrle is a good pitcher, but his flyball rate is rising and he’ll be facing off with a pitcher who historically much better at Dodger Stadium than he is on the road. This will be a low-scoring, tight battle, but I expect Lowe to go 7 for the win.
Upset Special: Diamondbacks (+160) over Red Sox (-180) – Davis over Masterson
Davis has put together two straight starts, but this is a risk because when he gets hit, he gets hit really hard and tends to lose control because of it. Still, 2 of his 3 road starts since his return from cancer treatment have been good, and as I said last week, Masterson’s luck (.185 BABIP, are you kidding?) won’t last forever. The Red Sox offense is running hot and cold, and while you could expect them to blow up tonight after two rough days (5 runs in 13 innings Sunday and 1 run yesterday), I’m going to take this upset over the other possibilities today like Kevin Slowey upending Jake Peavy at Petco.
I don’t see the point of writing a long-winded preview of the 2008 college football season when you can go to Books-A-Million or Barnes and Noble to find 300+ pages of amazing writing from, say, Phil Steele, all for less than $10.
So I want to keep things as short as possible while still providing my opinion on the final conference standings, bowl matchups and ultimately the BCS title game next January in Miami.
The result: Haikus for every team, every conference, every bowl matchup Division I-A has to offer this year. First up, the “best” conference in the land, the SEC.
(Courtesy Neil Tingle/AP)
The articles are coming in bunches, all of the essentially leading off with the question of “Is this the year Roger Federer gets knocked off?”
