And Your New Favorite Team is Denver

It's all but official, Iverson is going to Denver to join the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson on the same team with George Karl as the coach. Now they might not be good for at least 15 games as Carmelo sits and thinks about the stupid punch he threw the other night. At first I liked Carmelo's punch. It was like "Fuck with my teammate I'm going to fuck with you." Which is great and all, but what you got to realize also is that you are your team's best player and if you make that move you know you are going to get punished for it. Your team might lose a few games and that could end up really hurting your team in terms of playoff position. Either way Carmelo probably does regret it a lot and he's learned from it.
January 20th is the first game he can come back for. Until then, its going to be the Iverson show in Denver. As it stands right now, Denver will have the 1st and 2nd highest scorer in the league. Hopefully the two of them can work together. I'm not used to rooting for non-Philly teams, but this is definately an exception. I'm rooting for Iverson, I'm not taking my Iverson poster down. I want to see him and the Nuggets beat everyone in the league. The fans still love Iverson and I bet Iverson still loves the fans. Tuesday, January 2nd, the Sixers travel to Denver. Too bad that game isn't in Philly. The Nuggets don't come to Philly anymore this season.
Maybe Comcast can start showing Denver games instead of the Sixers?


Eh, at least we are going to have 3 first round draft picks next year, right?
I'm also rooting for the Sixers to lose every game so we can get that top draft pick. And don't try and tell that I'm a bad fan for saying that. This is a certain circumstance where you can root for your team to lose.
Just to ruin the draft pick thing for you too, here's the all the first round draft picks the Sixers have had since Iverson in 1996:
Keith Van Horn, Larry Hughes, Speedy Claxton, Samuel Dalembert, John Salmons, and Andre Iguodala. Granted Iguodala could still become a great player, but he's not really capable of leading the team yet. I guess we do Chris Webber to lead the team now though, geeze doesn't that sound great. Or Andre Miller, it's all up for grabs.

Sixers, Nuggets reach agreement for Iverson - ESPN
Iverson goes to Nuggets - Inquirer
Iverson Finally Traded ... To The Nuggs! - Deadspin

Rumor Wrapup 12/7

I know it's only 8pm so there could still be more happening today, but here's what's gone down so far. In case you missed it, late last night the Phils went and made a pretty surprising trade and gave up 2 relievers for a 30 year old ace. Great move in my opinion.
Keith Law in his ESPN blog says how it's a good deal for the Phillies:

The Phillies desperately needed a starter like Freddy Garcia, a durable league-average starter to head the rotation and take some of the pressure off Brett Myers and wunderkind Cole Hamels. Garcia has thrown at least 200 innings in six straight seasons, and just posted the best walk rate of his career. Acquiring him allows the Phillies to trade Jon Lieber, whom they've recently criticized publicly for his lack of conditioning (perhaps not the best marketing strategy) and whose inability to get left-handed hitters out makes him a major liability when the team you're chasing has Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran all coming at you from the left side. Garcia's a free agent after 2007, assuming the Phils don't work out an extension with him, so this is a straight future-for-present deal for Philadelphia.

It could still turn out to be a good deal for the White Sox, Gonzalez could end up being good and maybe Floyd can live up to his potential with a nice change of scenery.

Now let's get to today's rumors, because as we know the Phillies still need relief help and another bat.
Check the Rumor Mill for any new rumors.
-Supposedly the Phillies might go after Vernon Wells. Since the Blue Jays won't be able to resign him after next season they are probably looking at their trade options.
-After getting Freddy Garcia, the Phils are probably out of the running for Jason Jennings.
-The Phillies are still being included right now in the Barry Zito talks, though that seems very unlikely. Bad for the Phils, the frontrunner for Zito appears to be the Mets.
-The Phillies have been thrown in as being interested in 28 year old center fielder, Ryan Church, of the Nationals. Church went .276 - 10 - 35 in 71 games last year after being called up from AAA. He may have some promise as a centerfielder, but I don't really think the Phils need a centerfielder. He may be a good major league ready bench pickup if the trade is right. I don't know what the Nationals are going to want.
-I don't know what the status of Aaron Rowand is since the Garcia trade with the White Sox went down without him. The Cubs are listed as another team interested him as well as the White Sox. Rowand had this to say after being asked about the Phils trying to trade him, "There is reason to speculate that I could be traded because [the Phillies] have a guy in Shane Victorino that can fill my spot and comes a lot cheaper than myself. And I know they wouldn't mind bringing in another pitcher to try and make the club better." It appears as if Rowand is safe for now unless same team wants him for the reliever or right handed big bat that we want.
-No one really knows whats going on with Manny Ramirez, but the Phils could possibly be in that mix, unlikely but possible.
-Ruben Amaro Jr. was asked why the Phils decided go after a SP when everyone knows the need a RP and a bat. He had this to say, "Most deals we were trying to do were pitching intensive. If you look at championship teams, it comes down to pitching. This is a bona fide Major League starter, innings eater and a guy who's won in the World Series."
-The Rangers, Pirates, and Brewers appear to be the teams that might take Jon Leiber from the Phils.
-With 6 starting pitchers What are the chances you'll have six starters by Christmas? Mike Arbuckle replied, "Probably not great. If we were to send out Christmas presents, we probably would only need to send five to starting pitchers. I don't know about this week, but probably sometime over the next 10 days to two weeks [a move will be made]."
-Most of the Phillies quotes have been taken from the newest Phillies.com post.
-This is my own speculation, but hopefully the Phils can move Jon Leiber straight up for a decent reliever. Maybe a Leiber and Rowand for a reliever and right handed bat kind of deal. I know I'm being a bit optimistic.

Some U.S. Soccer News - Klinsmann says No to US Job

After embarresing themselves in the World Cup this year U.S. soccer is looking to turn things around. The first thing they did was fire coach, Bruce Arena. Speculation was that they would bring the ex-German coach, Klinsmann, who lead the German team to an impressive finish this summer. Everyone in America (that cared) was really hoping the US team could get Klinsmann to pick this team up. That's not going to happen though, at least not yet. The U.S. team still needs to find a coach and the next World Cup may be a ways away, but I think they need to start preparing now. Stop the embarresment, let Americans root for their own country, give our team a chance. I'd like to see American soccer gain some ground and become popular, but I'm pretty sure our team needs to make it out of the group stage a few times for that to happen.

Klinsmann withdraws candidacy as U.S. coach

Freddy Garcia Will Be A Phillie

The Inquirer is reporting that the Phillies have traded for Freddy Garcia. The reported deal brings in Garcia from the White Sox in exchange for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez.

Here's the story. Apparently the Phils have gotten him without giving up Aaron Rowand.

Here is Freddy Garcia's ESPN.com Player Profile.

This now currently makes the pitching rotation:

Brett Myers, Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels, and Adam Eaton

edit: Here is a Chicago Tribune article saying the trade happened late tonight, but they use the above Philly Inquirer article as their source.

edit 2: Here is a Seattle Post-Intelligencer that says the trade is the biggest of the winter meetings is the biggest of the winter meetings so far, that seems to be pretty right. They don't give their source at all. Probably posted there because Seattle is Freddy's ex-team.

edit 3: Ken Rosenthal is reporting this trade as well now, which all but makes it official. Now we just have to see the Phillies website say so.

I'm a fan of this trade. Many people had given up on Floyd and I think Gio is worth getting a solid starter in return for. We didn't give up Rowand and now we can get rid of Jon Lieber to get a nice bat for Ryan Howard.
Well enough for the news blitz, I'm pretty sure this trade has gone through, even though ESPN or Phillies.com hasn't reported it yet.

edit 4: I lied. Here's the ESPN article.

Also just like at the end of Darren Daulton's career, Mike Leiberthal has been signed by the Dodgers as a backup. It's sad to see him go because I loved him so much, but his time has come. I wish him luck with the Dodgers and I'll probably give him his own post at some point in the next few days if I have time.

Kevin Mench to Philly?

A number of rumors are circulating about a trade that would bring corner infielder Kevin Mench to Philadelphia. The sources on the rumors aren't that great so I won't even bother.
First rumor is that after the Phils get Garcia they will be willing to give up Leiber for Mench straight up in a trade. One source says that the Brewers would trade Mench and Jose Capellan for Leiber. It seems unlikely that anyone would give up 2 players for Jon Leiber, but hey we can hope.


I think the Phillies should make a deal for a starting pitcher relatively soon if they plan on doing so this offseason. As soon as Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt sign every other team is going to get pretty desperate in their attempts to get a starter. I have feeling that a lot of teams are already out of the running in the Zito-Scott Boras bidding war.

Aaron Rowand Might be Heading Back to Chicago

AL Buzz: Rowand return to White Sox still possible
The Phillies did have too many outfielders this season, but Delluci now gone and people wanting to get rid of Burrell that is now not the case. Rowand is a great and would be greatly missed, unless of course we got someone great in return.

According to multiple reports out of Philadelphia, Phillies GM Pat Gillick would be willing to deal Rowand and a pitcher - either reliever Ryan Madson or starter Gavin Floyd - to the White Sox in exchange for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia.

Garcia is a 30 year old Venezualan who 17-9 in 33 games with a 4.53 ERA for the White Sox last season. This year he made $9 million.
Ryan Madson would be a nice reliever to have to let go and Rowand is a very valuable outfielder. If they go do it for Floyd I'd be very happy. Garcia would be a nice starter to have in the rotation.

Ex-Eagle Violates Drug Policy

I really wanted to say 'Used Steroids.' But apparently defensive tackle Hollis Thomas currently of the Saints is suspended because of his asthma medicine. That's a low blow to the Saints for a seemingly important medicine that Thomas has to take. "Thomas is a 335-pound defensive tackle who has struggled to keep his weight down and doesn't have the body that normally would be linked to steroids." I guess Thomas is going to serve his suspension because it's obvious that he has taken a drug that is banned by the NFL. His fight is in saying that the drug shouldn't be banned when used in a case like his. Good luck to Thomas getting back on the field. Another reason he should start serving the suspension now would be because if for some reason his appeal doesn't go through he would end up missing a playoff game. Now he'll only miss the rest of the regular reason.

Saints' Thomas suspended four games for steroids

Dallas Green Backs Pat Burrell

"Dallas Green Backs Pat Burrell." When I say that I don't me like he doesn't think we shouldn't trade him, rather Burrell definately has the potential to become a great player. There is a nice article posted today on the Inquirer website, I don't know if that means the article was in the paper today or it will be in tomorrow's. Either way it seems that Green has come out to pump Burrell up. Give Burrell some confidnce. He says that Burrell may be a bit too much of a party animal and not concentrating on baseball. There have been rumors to this and he also said, "I've been out with him a couple times in Florida. We have a secret [watering] hole every now and then." The Philly fans would definately take Burrell back in if he started playing well and I think the article says that basically so that Burrell will hear it. We don't Pat Burrell out specifically. We just want bad players, who don't try hard, who look at lots of called 3rd strikes, and miss a lot of clutch off the team. Not you specifically Pat.

I did say some things along this line about a month ago in this post.

Jim Salisbury | Green challenges Burrell

P.S. In trying to find a picture for this article I have now learned there some emo singer named Dallas Green, so no that link you see when you search for Dallas Green isn't the myspace profile of the Philly Dallas Green.

LITO!

The Eagles did it, it was a great game, it came down to the wire and Lito came through with the big interception to end the game. Brian Westbrook is a god and Jeff Garcia played better than anyone expected him to. I didn't realize he had that kind of mobility. The defense was still kind of iffy, but at least they got the final turnover thanks to the Dawkins blitz and Lito catch. I know there will be plenty of analyzing by other blogs and by ESPN and by other newspapers, but I just wanted to say that this game was fun to watch and the Eagles aren't done.


I'd just like to thank Steve Young for believing in the Eagles, Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson both suck and won't admit they were wrong, but who cares. Irvin would obviously pick against the Eagles.

Fly, Eagles, fly, on the road to victory!
Fight, Eagles, fight, score a touchdown one-two-three!

Hit 'em low, hit 'em high, and watch our Eagles fly!
Fly, Eagles, fly, on the road to victory!

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

Don't Call Pujols Bonds Yet

Pujols wants to apologize specifically to Ryan Howard, saying what was in the newspapers is not what he meant.

"I feel so bad because I love Ryan Howard," Pujols told USA Today. "I never said he didn't deserve the MVP. He is deserving of that award. He earned it. That's why he got it. I'm not trying to defend myself; I just want to tell him that I'm sorry for all of this because he earned the MVP. The last thing I want to do is spoil this for him."

Regardless of that statement he still did say "I see it this way: Someone who doesn't take his team to the playoffs doesn't deserve to win the MVP."

Pujols told USA Today he was hurt at how his comments were portrayed in the media.

Maybe it's a thing with spanish translation, if so someone please explain it for me. Otherwise I wouldn't call it a misunderstanding, I'd more call it Pujols realized everyone thought he was an asshole and he realized that he was an asshole. Is he sincere in his apology, not sure. Just thought I'd pass this story along in case it goes unnoticed.


Also, on a side note Sammy Sosa is 100% sure that a Major League team is going to want him for next season, let's see how that plays out.