Some Things

A few things from last night:

Ohio State 73, Penn State 59. This doesn’t quite kill PSU’s NCAA hopes, but they are in some serious trouble now. This one hurts a bit extra because the Nittany Lions had a lead in the second half, but the Buckeyes scored 25 of the game’s last 35 points. Jeremie Simmons came up huge for Ohio State, scoring 17 points and hitting four threes on a night where Evan Turner scored just six points and inexplicably took just four shots. Also of note: PJ Hill is still a douche.

Providence 81, Pitt 73. In a win bigger than Kim Kardashian’s ass, the Friars knocked off #1 Pitt in Providence to give their NCAA hopes a huge boost, nearly as huge as Kim Kardashian’s ass. An absolute must win for Providence to keep their hopes alive, and they got it. The Friars instantly go from the wrong side of the bubble to right smack dab in the middle of it. With two road games left, the Friars need to win at Rutgers on Sunday or the final Big East game at Villanova becomes another must win.

Stephon Marbury will finally have to play for pay. Point guard and noted glory hog retard Marbury was cut by the Knicks yesterday, and is reportedly on his way to a no-doubt tearful reunion with KG on the Celtics. Marbury hasn’t played in a game since January 11, 2008, but was still collecting his $20 million a season salary to not to anything much at all. He agreed to a buyout with the Knicks and will reportedly sign with the Celtics for the league minimum, since he clearly doesn’t need any more money unless he spends it like Kenny Anderson. Verdict: Pretty much a lose/lose here. Marbury will probably cry about not being the #1 option on the Celts after a week, and now he has to actually do some work to get paid a lot less. I don’t know about you, but sitting around on the couch playing x-box, drinking forties and smoking the dope all while getting paid $20 mil a year sounds pretty good to me.

Erik Bedard is getting better. The Mariners’ Bedard, recovering from shoulder surgery, pitched to live batters in Spring Training yesterday, the first time since the surgery to remove cysts and tissue in his pitching shoulder. I’m sure the Mariners are a bit miffed and all, since they gave a boatload of prospects to get him from the Orioles last year, but I’d start him against dead batters instead. Even Matt Guerrier can get out most dead batters (ERA just 3.50 vs. Zombies). Seriously though Seattle fans, at least you got Bedard instead of Kris Benson and his highly irritating, though hot, gloryhog on a Marbury-level former stripper of a wife Anna (pictured above).

Marvin Harrison has officially been released. It will be interesting to see what happens. The Colts will be fine, Gonzalez looks like the real deal and with the weapons they have this wasn’t a tough call once he wouldn’t restructure. As for Marvin, one possible landing spot would be Philly, which is funny because my junior year of college I played a dynasty on Madden and drafted a receiver named Pete Harrison out of Syracuse and pretended he was Marvin’s brother and he was awesome. I’m like some kind of Nostradamus..

LSU continued to be the dominant power of the SEC. The Tigers knocked off the Gators, 81-75. It brings the Tigers to 12-1 in the conference, and is their ninth straight win. LSU really isn't a great team, but the SEC is really down this year, which seems bizarre considering they might have been the best conference for a stretch not too long ago, but now they are this year's version of the Big Ten.

Last but not least, Spring Training games start today! The Twins take on the Red Sox at 6:05 tonight. You know what they say, when your bench players take on another team's bench players in the Spring Training opener, you can pretty much see how the season will play out.

Santana vs. Bedard

Someone somewhere on this stupid blog asked about a breakdown of the Santana trade vs. the Bedard trade. Since I have nothing better to do this afternoon, and there isn't any basketball on until Duke/Wake at 6:30, I'll see what I can do.

SANTANA vs. BEDARD:

They are both 28, actually being born only 8 days apart, so age is no factor. Santana has been one of the best pitchers in the majors, if not the best, for the past five years. Bedard made a major leap into the upper tier of pitchers this season, after steadily improving for the past four seasons, lowering all his metrics year vs. year for that period, topping out with a 3.16 ERA (146 ERA+), .212 OAV, and 11 K's per nine. Compare that to Santana's 3.33 (130), .225 OAV and 10 Ks per. Add in Johan atrocious HR rate this season, and Bedard may have had a better year - although Santana pitched more innings, 219 vs. 182.

This was clearly Johan's worst season since becoming a full-time starter, and he still finished fifth in Cy Young voting, while it was Bedard's best season, and he tied Johan for fifth. Looking at the contracts they signed after the trades, where Bedard went for 1 year at $7 million and Johan went for 6 years, $137 million, Johan is prohibitively more expensive. Johan had a no trade clause, while Bedard did not. I didn't really get this at first, but after looking into it, it appears there are many reasons why Bedard would be more attractive to certain teams. Of course, if they aren't able to hammer out a long term deal with Bedard, it becomes a very costly trade on their end. Bedard should get somewhere in the $100 million range, so certainly not cheap, but not Johan money and he could end up being every bit as good for the rest of their careers. But I doubt it.

CENTERPIECES:

OF Carlos Gomez to the Twins vs. OF Adam Jones to the Orioles.

Gomez comes to the Twins and is instantly their number 1 prospect. The bad news is that he wasn't the top Mets prospect, but was #2. Adam Jones was not only the #1 prospect in the Mariners system, but was ranked the #44 prospect in the Major Leagues last season, and, if he hadn't played in the majors too much, would be in the top ten this year (Gomez is ranked 65 this season). Jones is known as a five-star, while Gomez is a four-star. Both have limited time in the majors, where Jones hit .246/.300/.400 in 65 at bats last season and Gomez hit .232/.288/.304 in 108 at bats. Similar, but in the minors Jones hit .314/.382/.586 while Gomez hit .281/.350/.423 in his last full minor league season. Hitting isn't everything, and Gomez is faster, steals more bases, and is generally known as a top flite fielder, but it's pretty clear any way you look at it that the best prospect traded in either deal was Jones.

EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to include this when I originally typed it up, but in case the previous paragraph hasn't depressed you enough, the Mariners were supposedly interested in Santana, but pulled out when the Twins asked for Jones. Great.

SECONDARY TALENT:

P Deolis Guerra to the Twins vs. P Chris Tillman.

Guerra immediately becomes the number 2 prospect in the Twins' system. Guerra dominated A ball two years ago, but had trouble adjusting to the jump up to high A. He has pitched in 23 games in high A (22 starts) lasting a total of only 97 total innings - yikes, that's awful - and last season in 21 games there had an ERA of 4.01 and a WHIP of 1.17. He's generally regarded as an excellent prospect, ranking #79 in the top 100 prospects list. He's only 18 years old, and could climb the list, or flame out.

Chris Tillman ranks #44 on the list, and is similar to Guerra since he also got a bit rocked in high A ball, though scouts love him, and is only 19. He's a step ahead of Guerra, however, because Guerra has a great changeup but needs to develop other pitches, while Tillman already has an excellent fastball and curveball. That, as well as ranking 35 spots higher on the top 100 list, give the edge here to the Mariners as well.

THROW-INS:

P Phil Humber and P Kevin Mulvey to the Twins vs. P Kevin Mickolio, P Tony Butler, and P George Sherrill.

Neither Humber nor Mulvey are anything to get hyper about. Both rank as three star prospects and project to back of the rotation types. They have each had some minor league success, and will start the season most likely in AAA. I expect both to get a shot with the big club at some point, but neither will become a star. Humber is the #5 in the Twins organization, Mulvey is #8.

Mickolio and Butler are a step below Humber/Mulvey, with Butler a two-star prospect ranking 8th in the Mariners system, with Mickolio not ranked in the top 11. Butler is a big lefty who can throw 94 mph, and could develop into a star level pitcher some day. Mickolio isn't expected to be much.

At this point, it looks like the Twins win this category, but the difference is in the third pitcher, reliever George Sherrill. Sherrill is thirty, has been in the majors for four years, and certainly isn't considered a prospect. What he is, is a shut down middle reliever who really came into his own last season. In 46 innings, he allowed 28 hits while striking out 56, with an ERA of 2.36 and a WHIP of 0.98. In 128 career innings pitched, Sherrill has allowed just 10 home runs. It may seem weird that a crappy team like the Orioles would want a middle reliever, but if they're smart, they'll turn around and deal Sherrill. If he can even come close to repeating his numbers from last season, he'll be a valuable commodity at the trade deadline and could net the O's yet another prospect.

So, in conclusion, this sucks.