The A’s saw one of their former players sign elsewhere this weekend, as pitcher Justin Duchscherer signed a one-year major league contract this weekend with the Baltimore Orioles. According to ESPN.com, the Orioles have given Duchscherer a guaranteed $700,000 with another $400,000 coming his way if he manages to make the 25-man roster. The deal according to ESPN’s report, however, could reach up to $4.5 million due to the fact that it’s filled with incentives. Duchscherer, 33, went 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA in five starts last season with Oakland. He battled with a hip-injury last season, but the Orioles [...]

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Despite what happened in the summer, I am still a Cavaliers fan, yet it is becoming increasingly hard to be open with it. Tonight the Heat ran rampant on Cleveland, sending the Cavs who were first to 40 wins last year, to be the first team to 40 losses this year. This is highlighted by 21 consecutive losses, 23 consecutive on the road. James was up to his old tricks again, scoring 24 points and adding 8 assists, highlighted by a vicious dunk on his former teammate and fellow high flier JJ Hickson. Wade was ridiculous totalling 26 points in [...]

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James was interviewed before tonight’s game against the Cavaliers upon the titanic struggles the Cavaliers have faced this season en-route to the worst record in the NBA, 20 consecutive losses and Cleveland have already matched the loss total for their past two seasons combined. “It didn’t matter for me if the Cavs were going to have a successful season or not,” James said. “I felt like I was making the right choice for me as an individual and for my career. Like I said, I have nothing bad to say about the players that I left and the team. I [...]

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Since the prospect chatter and requisite rankings are starting to fly fast and furious I went ahead and created a new page on the site which I oh-so cleverly titled “Prospects.” Sheer genius right? Yeah, yeah whatever … So the plan is to keep this list updated as new rankings and lists come out. I will also do my best to try and track down any Twins lists I may have missed in the last couple of months and get ‘em linked up for reference. Anyway, in addition to pointing out a few Twins prospect lists that came out in [...]

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At PirateFest this past weekend everyone had an opinion on the man who wasn’t in attendance.  Pedro Alvarez.  During an interview this past weekend, this was the reaction we received from Paul Maholm when we asked him to express his thoughts on Pedro’s reported weight gain: Fast forward to the 1:09 mark to listen to Maholm’s reaction on Alvarez. The immediate reaction by Maholm after we asked the question is our favorite part: Two things seem certain in the Pirates organization: the players have Pedro’s back.  The front office is sending some type of message.  And the bottom line is it certainly is a [...]

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This week’s jersey tweaks are a submission from a reader named Greg Skaljac. He’s taken a very interesting approach to the Browns jerseys, especially with the helmet. Fans of the Brownie elf will be happy to see how Greg incorporated it int…

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***** There is nothing like a quickie KO over a gurneyman from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, to get a mediocre club fighter celebrating as if he had just won the Powerball lottery. Chris Arreola scored a predictable first-round whack-out over Joey Abell in t…

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With all the recent discussion about Albert Pujols’ contract negotiations, things can get quite redundant and boring–especially since neither side of these negotiations has leaked any new info as of late. One of the great things about Pujols being with the Cardinals over the years is the national attention that he has brought to the team. Year after year the slugger consistently puts up outstanding numbers–numbers that have given him the title the “Best player in baseball.” For these two reasons, I have decided to take more of a casual route in writing this post. Rather than dissect the current situation to [...]

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Today Northwestern announced that Indiana RB coach Dennis Springer accepted a job as the WR coach of Northwestern. He is the 2nd former Assistant to find a new job, the other being Matt Canada accepting an offensive coordinator position at Northern Illinois University. I know it is still early but I am kind of surprised that Bill Lynch as well as his son Billy haven’t landed a new job yet. Billy did a great job with the Hoosier wide receivers and Bill could end up as either a head coach at a smaller school or a coordinator at another BCS [...]

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Geoff Hobson is reporting that the Bengals new search for an offensive coordinator could end this week. Even more interesting is that Hobson is hearing it will be someone outside of the Bengals organization.
Indications are the Bengals are going to go …

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I really didn’t think he would do it. It was just too silly for words really; the idea we would sign a pitcher – even to a minor league contract – with worse numbers than Kenshin Kawakami. Yet Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link) reports that Braves announced that they signed Rodrigo Lopez to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training. As I said two days ago when Lopez said he was considering such an offer, there is just no good reason to add another failed arm to the system. For those who missed Saturday’s post, Lopez [...]

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The early version of a piece I wrote for Tuesday’s Daily Trojan. Be sure to check out their website for extensive coverage of all USC sports and follow them on twitter @DT_sports Championships are won on the field in football, but the roster that achieves the feat is built through recruiting. Wednesday, the courting of prep stars culminates with National Signing Day as prospects from around the country sign their letters of intent and fax them in to their future schools. By signing the letter, student athletes are bound to attend the university they sign with. In return, the athletes are [...]

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Sidney Crosby has been cleared for rehab and is currently doing light exercise. While that can be construed as good news, it isn’t good enough to get Sid back on the ice this week, meaning he’ll miss at least the next four games. To make matters worse, Evgeni Malkin, despite practicing Monday, will not play Tuesday at the Rangers. The hope was both players might be ready to go following the All-Star break. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It looks like Malkin will be back soon. The knee is apparently good to go; it’s the sinus infection that’s keeping him [...]

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Last week I wrote about Jay Cutler and his injury in the NFC Conference Championship game. Well, Broncos right tackle Ryan Harris has come to Cutler’s defense. “I know him [Cutler] from my experience with him, and my experience was that he was always tough and always focused on the game,” Harris said of Cutler, who suffered a Grade 2 sprain of the MCL in his left knee that kept him from continuing in the NFC title game. “I’m sure it was tough for him to come out of that game, especially with how hard the Bears played as a team all year [...]

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The NHL tried something new for this year’s All-Star game – a live draft where the players chose the teams. The televised event was not only fresh and intriguing, it was (arguably) successful. The skills competition the following night also had its moments. (Zdeno Chara’s winning 105.9 mph slapper, to name one.) The game itself, however, was just the same old crap. I understand that the All-Star game is a glorified exhibition played for one reason and one reason only – to entertain. But for a fan like me, who actually appreciates defense and physical play, it’s the opposite of [...]

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