Phightins

First big-ish trade of the offseason. Royals trade David DeJesus to the Athletics for Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks. Win for the Royals, IMO. DeJesus seems to be a good fit for Oakland, but they overpaid. I expected them to trade one of their starting pitchers, but I also expected them to get a bit more. Oh well, I still view the A's as next season's Reds/Rangers.

Who cares. Can't believe people are getting so upset about this. The Gold Glove has been a joke for 10 years now. Does it really surprise anybody that the 8th or 9th most deserving shortstop won?

Even the homer Heat announcers said it was clearly a foul.

Yes. Most overdo it.

Posted about this in general hockey thread, but now that this is official I figured it deserves it's own thread. I personally think this is awesome. The NHL realizes that the All Star Game is nothing more than a money-making gimmick. And gimmicks need to be shaken up every once in a while to stay interesting. This probably will have a short shelf life, and when it is dried up they can try something new. Unlike MLB, they are not trying to make the All Star Game a bigger deal than it is. This should be fun. Anyway, the "draft" will be on January 28th, according to TSN.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=340505 Well, this would certainly be new...

Haha yeah you have to keep an eye on them and make sure they do it right.

BaseballReference.com FTW http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g96/philsphan1210/Picture1-22.png

Paul Bissonnette is [expletive]in hilarious. He is on NHL Live right now. I wish there were more professional athletes like him. Also, if you are on Twitter, I highly recommend following him. @biznasty2point0

Move to New Jersey. The gas station attendants pump your gas for you here!

Thank god.

Also...the Athletics won the negotiating rights for Hisashi Iwakuma. Probably the top foreign import of the winter.

Per Bob McKenzie, Claude Giroux has signed a 3 year, $11.25 million extension.

I like him, happy he is back. Most happy that his time slot does not interfere with Craig Ferguson.

Desean is quite stupid. And he may be about to have a pretty big controversy on his hands...he just called somebody "gay" on his Twitter account. Dude is a hell of a player so as long as he is an Eagle, he has my support...but you are correct, he is quite silly.

FYI....NFL said today that the hit was not a penalty, but the officials will not be penalized because they are always told to err on side of player safety. Whatever.

I have jumped on the Magglio Ordonez bandwagon. I would really dig seeing him as a Phillie next year. Obviously a lot of factors though. Scott Boras is his agent, so that always has the potential to get ugly. He would not be guaranteed an every day gig here, since he is a 37 year old outfielder with declining defensive skills. If an AL team is willing to give him an every day DH role, then I am guessing he would probably prefer that. If he is willing to give LF a shot, then he could very reasonably find his way into the lineup 2 out of every 3 games here, if not more. I am very big on defense, but the loss of Jayson Werth in the lineup has the chance to cripple them. So I am willing to put up with Ordonez in the field to get his bat in the lineup. The two biggest plusses....he destroys LHP, and although he is a type-A free agent, the Tigers are not offering him arbitration, so no first round pick will need to be given up.

There is some talk around these parts that the Eagles are considering him.

To me, that rule is in place to guard against guys leading with their helmet, hitting with malicious intent. This hit doesn't really fall into that though. It's pretty clear that the helmet to helmet contact was unintentional, since Coleman was clearly leading with his shoulder. There was no unnecessary, violent spearing, butting, etc. Totally unfortunate that the result of the hit was what it was, but it was legal. No malicious intent. As for Kolb/Vick...don't feel like touching that one again, I've explained my stance time and time again, and Fish pretty much nailed it in his post. If the Eagles had a Super Bowl caliber team around the quarterback, then perhaps I'd feel a bit differently. Then I would be OK with using the "win now" guy in attempt to make a run for the championship. Don't see it with this team. As a fan of this team, I am trying to be realistic. I have their future in mind, 3-4 years down the line. Playing Vick right now is doing nothing to help that future. Give the kid a shot. If he is given a fair shot to prove himself and he fails, then we know that they need to find a new "QB of the future". Won't find out either way with him on the bench.

He is, but unless Vick leads them to a Super Bowl, playing Vick over Kolb is still a stupid decision.

And a bull[expletive] boarding call gives the Flyers the L. Lucky to get at least a point out of that, though, so I am satisfied. Still frustrating. Officials making their presence known in several games I am emotionally invested in today.

Andy Reid challenge fail. Someone really needs to hide his red flags before the games.

That is fantastic to hear.

And as expected, those TD-less trips to the red zone are doing the Eagles in.

Lay off, Fish. I have lived in this town for twenty years, I am well informed about the reputation, don't need to be filled in by a New York/Dallas fan.