MySports Today

So much for the Chicago Bulls blockbuster trade including Amar’e Stoudamaire, Chris Bosh and Tyrus Thomas. Instead, the Bulls moved Drew Gooden (who hasn’t played in a month because of a nagging groin injury), Andres Nocioni and Cedric Simmons to the Sacramento Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons. The Kings made the deal to get extra salary cap space this summer as Gooden’s and Simmons’ combined expiring contracts will free up $9 million in cap space.

Now to the bigger question – why did the Bulls make the trade? Like Gooden, Brad Miller has an abdominal injury and hasn’t played since January 30th (in a blowout loss to the Bulls in Sacramento). Miller is averaging 11.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Compare that with Drew Gooden when healthy – 13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game – and it is a little bit of a drop off. John Salmons is a big guard (6 foot 6 inches and 207 pounds) and is averaging 18.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He will fit in nicely with the Bulls, but the only negative is that he is under contract this year and next year, and has a player option that he will likely exercise that will keep him on the books through the 2011-12 NBA season.

The Bulls do get $26 million dollars in cap relief with the expiring contracts of Miller and Larry Hughes. They will either be able to use that money to trade for a big name player this time next year, or save it up for the summer of 2010 when mega stars like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh hit the free agent market. Stay tuned Bulls fans – the next 2 years will be interesting for sure as the Bulls get set to make some news during the summer of 2010.

Portland Trailblazers Center Greg Oden is injured again. This time he has a bone chip in his left knee that he suffered in a collision during a game against the Golden State Warriors last Thursday. Oden missed the Rookie Challenge during the All-Star Break festivities over the weekend and is scheduled to miss tonight’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Oden is listed as day-to-day and will be re-evaluated again by doctors during the course of the week.

In 39 games this year, Oden is averaging 9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Oden missed 6 games earlier this season because of a foot injury he suffered in the opening game of the season. Oden, the top pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, missed the entire 2007-8 NBA season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee right before the season started.

The Portland Trailblazers are 32-20 and are currently tied for 5th in the NBA’s Western Conference with the Houston Rockets. Any extended absence for Oden could end up hurting the Trailblazers chances of making the playoffs this Spring.

Looks like the rules don’t apply to Michael Phelps as a South Carolina sheriff said he was not going charge the swimmer for smoking marijuana. USA Swimming suspended Phelps for three months, although during the three months nothing was going on so it wasn’t a real punishment. This is not the first time Phelps has been in trouble in 2004 the swimmer was arrested for DUI at 19, he pleaded guilty and apologized for his mistake. The story does not end here, on Saturday this same sheriff made eight arrests for other people at the party. I guess if you are famous

The New York Giants have designated Brandon Jacobs as their 2009 franchise player. What does it all mean? Jacobs is guaranteed a 1-year salary of $6.6 million with the New York Giants. If another NFL teams signs Jacobs, the Giants can either match the offer, or get 2 1st-round draft picks in return. Jacobs has been the Giants leading rusher in each of the last 2 seasons. In 2008, Jacobs led the team with 1,089 yards rushing on 219 carries. He also scored a team high 15 touchdowns. In 2007, Jacobs rushed for 1009 yards on 202 carries with 4 touchdowns.

The Giants do have another 1,000-yard rusher to contend with – Derrick Ward. Ward rushed for 1025 yards on 182 carries. He also caught 41 passes for 384 yards receiving. He is also an unrestricted free agent.

The Giants can still negotiate with both players, perhaps signing each to a long-term deal. But at least they have something locked up on the running back end with Brandon Jacobs.

With the trading deadline fast approaching (next Wednesday, 2/18), the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors completed the much-talked about trade of Shawn Marion and Jermaine O’Neal. The Raptors also get Marcus Banks and cash. The Heat will also receive Jamario Moon and a 1st round pick at some point in the future. The 1st round pick is lottery protected which means that the first time the Raptors make the playoffs following the 2009-2010 NBA season, the Heats gets the Raptors 1st round pick that spring. And if the Heat does not get the 1st round pick during the 2010 NBA draft, they get an additional 2nd round pick that year.

Marion has been one of the Heat’s best players all year long and has helped them get off to a solid 28-24 start right before the all-star break. He even won the Heat’s game against the Bulls last night with a monstrous dunk off a pretty feed from Dwayne Wade with only 1.1 seconds remaining in the game. Marion averages 12 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game. Marion has expressed the desire to be rewarded with a long-term contract, however, and the Heat are not willing to do that. The Heat know that Wade, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh all become free agents in 2010, and they need to keep salary cap space to make sure they can sign Wade and maybe one other top player.

To that effort, the Heat get a true center in Jermain O’Neal. He has averaged 13.5 points and 7 rebounds this season, but has been hobbled by injuries of late. He is owed $23 million during the 2009-2010 NBA season, but that will not count against the Heat’s salary cap space for the 2010 free agent market.

The New York Mets just got some great news going into Spring Training – Johann Santana will not pitch for the Venezuelan baseball team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic in March. Santana underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee at the beginning of October to repair some torn cartilage. He just recently started throwing and appears to be on track for the 2009 MLB season. The Mets had expressed concern about Santana not getting enough prep work in before Venezuela’s first game against Italy on March 7th in Toronto. But the club also stated that if he was physically able to pitch, they were not going to prohibit him from playing.

The World Baseball Classic did not want to insure Santana to play in the WBC because of the high cost involved. Because of the surgery, Santana fell within a “high risk” category, and neither the WBC nor the Venezuelan Federation wanted to risk any sort of injury to Santana.

Good news all around for Mets fans. As the staff’s ace, the last thing the Mets needed was for Santana to get injured during the WBC. He has already started participating in drills and has yet to experience any difficulties or discomfort with the knee.

Two MLB signings to report:

Adam Dunn signed a 2-year, $20 million deal with the Washington Nationals this week. He is set to make $8 million during the 2009 MLB season and $12 million during the 2010 MLB season. Current Nationals GM Jim Bowden drafted Dunn in 1998 when he was with the Cincinnati Reds, and Dunn will be reunited with former Reds teammate Austin Kearns. Dunn is valuable because he can play first base or the outfield. During the 2008 MLB season, Dunn had a .236 batting average with 40 home runs, 100 RBI’s and 164 strikeouts. Dunn has hit 40 or more home runs in 5 straight seasons. During his career, the 29-year old Dunn has a .247 batting average and a .381 on-base percentage. Dunn led the National League in walks in 2008 with 122. Dunn has also hit 278 career home runs and driven in 672 career runs. His left-handed power-hitting bat will be warmly welcomed in Washington, DC where no Nationals player hit more than 14 home runs or had more 61 RBI’s during the 2008 MLB season.

On the other side of the country, Bobby Abreu came to terms on a 1-year, $5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. What a coup for the Angels! $5 million for a player of Abreu’s caliber – unbelievable. Although Abreu is getting older, he is still a force to be reckoned with. During the 2008 MLB season with the New York Yankees, Abreu hit .296 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI’s. He also had a .371 on-base percentage (he has a career .405 on-base percentage) and continues to be one of the more patient players in the game. Abreu can also still steal bases – 22 in 2008 and 25 in 2007. Abreu is expected to split time at Designated Hitter and in the outfield with fellow teammates like Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero, Juan Rivera and Gary Matthews, Jr. During the 2008 campaign, Abreu became only the 3rd player with 200 career home runs, 200 steals and an on-base percentage greater than .400 (he joined Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson).

With Spring Training starting in some camps today, there are still some free agents floating around. I’m sure we’ll be hearing some more players signings in the upcoming weeks. We’ll keep you posted here at MySportsToday!

Is he or isn’t he? Will he or won’t he? Will we ever know, or will we just keep speculating until he doesn’t show up for Jets mini camp this summer?

Brett Favre informed the New York Jets that he will not return to the Jets or the NFL for the 2009 NFL season. He had 2 years left on a 3-year deal, and was set to make $13 million for the 2009 NFL season. The Jets have 3 quarterbacks on their current roster – Kellen Clemens, Erik Ainge and Brett Ratliff. The Jets could make a play for one the many free agent quarterbacks on the market – Rex Grossman, Byron Leftwich, Kerry Collins, Jeff Garcia, Chris Simms – or start from scratch by taking a quarterback with the 17th pick in the 2009 NFL draft in June.

In any event, Favre will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, and is a sure lock for the Hall of Fame. In 18 NFL seasons, Favre currently holds the record for most career touchdown passes (464); yards passing (65,127); pass completions (5,720); interceptions (310); victories during the regular season (169); and most consecutive starts (including playoffs) (291). He won the Super Bowl once with the Green Bay Packers and is a 3-time NFL MVP.

Now that Spring Training is just around the corner, get ready for your regular baseball reports here at MySportsToday. One of the most exciting divisions is sure to be the American League East. The Tampa Bay Rays won the AL East and topped the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS to get to the franchise’s first ever World Series. Although the Yankees did not make the playoffs in 2008, the Yankees were the most active team in the off-season, signing free agents C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. They also have steroids-using Alex Rodriguez and the ever-reliable Derek Jeter.

Our prediction – The Yankees win the division, but fall to the Red Six (your AL Wild Card team for the 2nd year in a row) in the 2009 ALCS. The Rays still have a great 88-win season, but fail to return to the playoffs.

Check out Jeff Passan’s AL East preview here. It is a good little cheat sheet for your 2009 AL East baseball season.