Manny

Today saw Manny Ramirez turn down a contract offer that would have made him the second highest paid player next season, at $25 million. The offer was a one year $25 million contract from the Dodgers, he had already turned down a two year deal worth $45 million. It is believed that Ramirez is seeking a 4+ year contract that would pay upwards of $25 million a year, but at 37 years old this wish looks less likely than a one or two year deal. The Dodgers have said they are still interested in retaining Ramirez, but not at the length that he is looking for, the Giants have said that they have interest as well, but they also won't go to the length that he is seeking. There is some speculation that he may want to join the Mets in New York, where he went to high school, and there is a fit seeing as they could use a left fielder and his bat would take pressure off the entire team. But as of now the front runner seems to be the Dodgers.

The most evident thing though is that regardless of where he signs he better be happy, or the team that gets him may get the Manny that was in Boston last season. And an unhappy Manny is not something that you want on your team. Just stay tuned, to see where he ends up.




-Daemon

Super Sunday

We have now seen a franchise win six Super Bowls, with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. It was a well played game, especially the second half, and ended up being a high scoring game. Arizona nearly pulled off the upset, if it wasn't for a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to, Super Bowl MVP, Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left. After trailing the whole game the Cardinals took the lead with 2:37 left on a 64 yard pass from Kurt Warner to, postseason star, Larry Fitzgerald, which immediately followed a safety by Arizona's defense due to an offensive hold in the end zone. All in all the game moved fairly quickly, even though there were plenty of penalty calls 18 in all. A lot of the calls could have easily been no calls, and in the biggest game of the year should have been, with Arizona feeling the burn more so to the tune of 11 penalties for 106 yards. Both teams witnessed strong play from their passing games, but lackluster performances out of the running attack gaining a combined 91 yards on the ground with the edge going to Pittsburgh with 58 yards. All that remains in the football season is the Pro Bowl next weekend.

Congratulations to the Steelers, and Cardinals.



-Daemon

New Hire

The St. Louis Rams have hired their next head coach, Giants Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. As Defensive coordinator, the 49 year old, turned the Giants defense into a force to be reckoned with, amassing 53 sacks in his first season plus a strong Super Bowl sacking Tom Brady five times. This season, even after losing two of his defense's stars (Micheal Strahan, retirement, and Osi Umenyiora, injury), he had his defense ranked 5Th over all. Spagnuolo has his work cut out for him, as the Rams are 5-27 over the past two seasons and have struggled on both sides of the ball, with the defense being ranked 28Th over all and the offense tied for 30Th scoring just 14.5 points a game. The Rams signed him to a four year deal, reportedly worth $12 million, in hopes that he can turn them back into the perennial playoff team they were not too long ago.



-Daemon

Bye Bye Chucky

Today the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired John Gruden. The high profile Gruden suffered a late season collapse to lose a playoff spot by being beat by his former team, the Raiders, in the season finale. Aside from winning the Super Bowl in 2003, he led the Bucs to the playoffs once. Giving him a 60-57, making him the winningest coach in franchise history, and to postseason appearances in seven season. Joining Gruden in the unemployment line is the General Manager Bruce Allen.

Set to replace Gruden is new defensive coordinator, 32 year old, Raheem Morris. Morris was set to take over the coordinator's job for the departing Marty Kiffin, serving as the Defensive Backs coach for the last two years, but after Gruden's dismissal moved right into the head coach's possession. The Bucs are hoping that Morris will turn out to be a whiz kid and turn the team into a perennial playoff team. Mark Dominik will take over the General Manager's possession, having served as the Director of pro personnel and been a part of the franchise for 14 years.

Good luck to all four men.



-Daemon

Stadium News

Baseball's great commissioner, Bud Selig, would like the city of Fremont to OK the building of a new stadium for the the Oakland A's. The stadium, primarily private financing, would cost close to $500 million and would replace the A's long time home in Oakland. Having already unveiled their plan in 2006, the A's have been waiting for the Fremont officials to okay the stadium. A plan of the A's, in partnership with Cisco Systems, came to an agreement to purchase 143-acres, that belongs to Cisco, in Fremont as the location for the new stadium. The A's hope to have their new stadium built and ready for the open of the 2011 season. In the case that Fremont doesn't approve the stadium, soon, Selig has given the A's permission to talk with neighboring cities in an attempt to find an accommodating city.



-Daemon

MLB

After losing John Smoltz to the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves have signed Derek Lowe to a 4 year $60 million contract. Lowe, most recently of the Los Angeles Dodgers also, played with Boston prior to the Dodgers. In four years with the Dodgers Lowe went 54-48, with sub 3.90 eras every year and averaged 200 innings. He was considered widely at the lowest the third best pitcher on the market. At 35 this may be Lowe's final contract, although pitchers have been throwing into their 40's in recent years. And on top of recent trends, Lowe is not your typical power pitcher who loses stuff as he gets older rather he is a ground ball pitcher who relys more movement and location. Although at $15 million a year it shows how deals,such as the Sabathia deal, affect the rest of the market.

Joining Lowe in Atlanta is Japanese import, the first Japanese-born player in franchise history, Kenshin Kawakami who signed a three year contract. A successful pitcher in Japan, winning the Central League MVP in 2004, he accumulated 112 wins in 11 seasons, he was widely regarded as one of the top Japanese free-agents on the market. In recent years there has been an in flux of Japanese pitchers, that tend to start strong but then fizzle out after the league adjusts seemingly unable to adjust to the teams new approach. Part of this may be because of the language barrier, but another may be the fact that by the time players come to the Majors they are already approaching or into their 30's and are already set in their way, not wanting to change their habits, plus they have already reached their peak and in some cases are already declining.

Smoltz finalized a one year $5.5 million contract with the Red Sox, and expects to start for them. Coming off of a shoulder surgery, like new team mate Brad Penny, it's unclear how he will preform. After 22 seasons with the Atlanta Braves this will be his first time playing for a different Major League team. This may be Smoltz's final season, but with a competitor like him it's hard to tell, only he truly knows, and at this point he may not yet either.



-Daemon

New NFL Hirings

The Kansas City Chiefs have made a move in an effort to turn around their downward spiral, by hiring Scott Pioli. The former New England Patriots vice president of player personnel, will occupy the recently vacated General Managers position. While with the Patriots he teamed with Bill Belichick to build a team that annually competes for the Lombardi trophy. He has been involved in drafting multiple Pro Bowlers. With Kansas City he will have his work cut out for him, but as the credentials to turn it around, with just a few smart moves and a good draft, holding the third overall pick, it could be turned around very quickly, just look to Miami and Atlanta this season.

Former 49er's head coach Mike Nolan was hired on to Josh McDaniels staff, as the Denver Broncos new defensive coordinator. Before accepting his first head coaching job, with the 49er's, he served in the same post with the Ravens, Jets, Redskins and Giants. His first coaching job in the NFL was with the Broncos as a special teams and linebackers coach in 1987. Under Nolan the Broncos may switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, although that isn't clear at this point. With Nolan added to the staff it gives the Broncos their fourth defensive coordinator in four years.

The Houston Texans have brought in Frank Bush to be their defensive coordinator, replacing the fired Richard Smith. Bush has been in league, in some facet, for 25 season and has been with the Texans for the past two seasons as a special defensive assistant.



-Daemon