NHL Salary Cap Issues For the Penguins?

Dave Molinari has an interesting little piece in the Post-Gazette today about the NHL Salary Cap and how the recession could end up dragging it downward. As he mentions, the person this most affects right now is none other than Mr. Jordan Staal, with whom the Penguins are continually negotiating an extension that would likely have to end up in the 3-4 million dollar per year range.

As Molinari puts it, it's unlikely that next year's cap will be affected too much by this. And while that certainly is true that the cap certainly won't go down, with potential hardship on the horizon, I find it hard to believe it will go up much, either. The cap is currently 56.7 million, and in my mind, I have trouble seeing it go much beyond 58 million or so next season, a relatively small increase given the jump this past offseason.

However, even though the NHLPA is basically on life support at this point after Gary Bettman broke them in half, I'd be more than a little surprised if the NHL's power was so vast over the union that they could bring the cap downward. I'd guess it'd be more likely to remain stable at 58 million for the following season (2010-11) instead of going down.

But even if that's the case, I don't see the Pens having any more or less difficulty handling the cap than most other teams. Granted, they may have more long-term deals than most, but most of these deals seem wildly favorable (Sid and Geno for anything less than the league max is a bargain, Talbot and TK have small deals, and Fleury's is very reasonable if he continues to mature). The one deal that probably isn't too favorable of course belongs to one Ryan Whitney. While everyone (myself included) is wildly excited to see the return of Whitters next Tuesday, his deal is a little unwieldy, and I fully expect that, given the emergence of Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski this season, this will be the final season we see Whitney in a Pens uniform. If he comes back and plays well, that deal suddenly becomes a bargain for many teams in need of a top-flight defender who can contribute offensively. For the Pens, those kind of defenders seem to grow on trees, which leads to me think that if the Pens can ink Staal this summer (and I think they will as too many teams will be afraid of the same coming doom that Molinari forecasts) to make an overly aggressive pitch for Jordan, then a Whitney trade will be the accompanying move with that deal. Of course, all this also means that the Pens will continue to have to shop at the bargain bin for some of their complementary pieces, but I think that just seems to be the way of the New NHL, and it's worked out well so far for us, so I see no reason to fret just yet.

A Good Old-Fashioned Notes Column

Lots of little things happening right now that have at least some relation to Pittsburgh sports, and since I didn't have any better ideas, I'm going to resort to the old-fashioned notes column, employed by lazy sportswriters the world over! And away we go...

-Not that I ever got to see him pitch, but it was surprising and certainly sad to see the passing of Dock Ellis in this morning's news. Of course, Ellis will always be known first and foremost as the guy who claimed to have thrown a no-hitter while on LSD, a truly zany sports story if there ever was one. Almost certainly because of moments like that, Ellis became a strong spokesman against drug use after his playing career ended, and certainly more than redeemed himself. Certainly the world lost a very powerful and positive presence yesterday.

-In other Pirates news, (YAWN) the team has shaken some things up in their minor league management. As always, the PBC Blog that Dejan Kovacevic runs on the Post-Gazette site has just about anything you could ask for if you really want the gory details. Typically I avoid reading too much background on these guys because it always make them sound like the second coming of Branch Rickey (if they are management) or Connie Mack (if they are field personnel), but if that's your kind of thing, go for it. The only thing that will matter to me is if these guys can get some tangible results out of the minors, and I don't mean seeing guys like Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, and Jose Tabata make it, because they are both talented enough to do it on their own. I want to see them turn Neil Walker back around, help Shelby Ford and Jim Negrych continue their surprising developments, and work to develop the recent, promising additions to the organization, guys like Robbie Grossman, Jordy Mercer, Bryan Morris, etc.

-A big congrats is due to Paul Rhoads for his somewhat surprising hiring as the new head coach for Iowa State football. It was a very weird development that Rhoads, the former Pitt defensive coordinator who left the Panthers to go to Auburn for the same position this past season, will replace the guy, Gene Chizk, who just became the new head coach at Rhoads' now former employer, Auburn. Anyway, I know Rhoads has long been rumored for head coaching jobs, but I'm a little surprised his first job is as a head coach in the Big 12. Yikes! Good luck stopping those offenses, Paul. As much as I would like to see a former Pitt guy do well, I can't see this ending well for Paul. He was a wildly inconsistent defensive coordinator, leading me to coin the term "The Paul Rhoads special" for those games when, just as the defense looks as though it is coming together....BAM! They give up 48 points to Navy. He drove me nuts. Anyway, I don't see him having the gusto to turn around an Iowa State program that, quite frankly, is in shambles. I do think his involvement with their defense will pay off in the form of at least 1 big upset that no one sees coming, as he can put together a wildly impressive defensive game plan when you least expect it. Good luck Paul, I think you're going to need it.

-It seems like everyone is all sorts of fired up about the Steelers these days, and as I think I mentioned the other day, nothing makes me more nervous than that. Being the favorite, for whatever reason, just doesn't sit quite right with me, especially when it comes to the Steelers. I've been burned by too many AFC Championship losses I suppose. I have seen far too many people picking the Steelers over the Titans tomorrow, and that makes me equally uneasy. This Titans team didn't get here by being a pushover, and even without Haynesworth tomorrow, I'm still highly skeptical. I think tomorrow's ball game tells us a whole lot about our boys. Of course, I'll have a more in-depth preview posted tomorrow, so you'll have to wait until then.

-Bowl season is kicking off today, and I'm on the board with a 1 for 1 start thanks to Wake's very exciting come-from-behind W over Navy. Today's slate gives us three more games to look forward to, and there are few things more strangely enjoyable than watching a college game in a half-empty stadium in mid-December between two randomly thrown together squads. The BYU-Arizona game tonight in Las Vegas is a perfect example of that, yet that will be a pretty good game I think.

-Unfortunately, it looks like our Pitt football squad may soon be looking for yet another new defensive coordinator. The Trib is reporting that Phil Bennett has been contacted by some other schools (notably LSU) about their DC positions. That's upsetting if its true, because I thought Bennett did a very nice job this season with the defense after a sorta rocky start against those MAC schools, and the Paul Rhoads Special against Rutgers. Defensive Coordinator is a tough position to fill in college football, and I don't know that Pitt will be able to find someone as good as Bennett yet again, and the guess here is that the job would probably fall to current Pitt assistant Greg Gattuso, who many thought would get it last year. If that's the case, I expect Wanny to take on a greater role in the defense, as Gattuso doesn't have the clout of a Bennett or a Rhoads.

-It's a very busy weekend for all of our sports teams. Not only do the Steelers have the game of the weekend in the NFL tomorrow when they take on the Titans, Pitt hoops travels outside of Western PA all the way down to Tallahassee to take on Florida State tomorrow evening, a very athletic team that should give us a bit of a challenge even if they are not highly regarded, and the Penguins welcome the Maple Leafs into the Igloo this evening.

-Looks like Ryan Whitney will return Tuesday night against the Penguins South...I mean the Tampa Bay Lightning, who overpaid for several former Pens and are now regretting it. I am all sorts of pumped over that news, as I will be in attendance, which is great luck considering this is just the fourth game I've had tickets to all season. I'll report in with how Whitters looked, of course, and it will be interesting to see how he is handled in the first few weeks back. Expect him to be scratched a few times in the early going, as that can't be easy to skate daily on a surgically repaired foot. He is scheduled to be in Wilkes-Barre tonight for a 1 game rehab stint. Will be interesting to hear the reports on that one.
-The Pirates are just about set to sign Ryan Doumit to a contract extension that will lock him up through his arbitration-eligible years. I haven't been able to find any details about just how much this contract is for, so I will be very curious to see what the final figures are, as catchers who can hit like Doumit usually get more than they probably should because of the complete lack of hitting at the position across the board. Strangely, it appears zero progress was made in getting a deal done with Nate McLouth. I wonder if the Bucs are hesitant because of how flukish McLouth's numbers this past season look in comparison to his career. I'm not saying I don't believe in McLouth, because I definitely do, but I would be surprised to see him go over 20 home runs again (that power REALLY came out of nowhere), and I'm not sure where he fits in a good big league lineup, not that this is a relevant question for the 09 Pirates, because they figure to have a terrible big league lineup. I just don't think his OBP will be good enough to have a 1-2 spot in a contender's order, and certainly he's no ideal 3-4-5 guy, so I'd say he's a 6 hitter. And lastly, maybe the Pirates are also hesitant because they have McCutchen and Tabata on the cusp (probably June 09 arrival for Cutch and Opening Day 2010 for Tabata) and there's also a chance Pedro Alvarez ends up an outfielder as well. Or, maybe McLouth just wanted to see how this first year's process would go.

-Back tomorrow with a Steelers-Titans preview. Until then...

An Early Christmas Present for Penguin Fans Everywhere

And to think, Christmas Eve is still 5 days away and yet the Pens, in all their generosity this holiday season gave Penguins fans everywhere a very much unexpected Christmas present. That's right folks, two more years of this guy:

You can't possibly be any more excited than me to hear about the Superstar Mad Max Talbot's 2 year extension that takes him through the 2010-2011 hockey season. This is good to hear for the Pens from a hockey standpoint as well, because Max is a very nice third-line player who occasionally can be called up to play on the top two lines, and is a great guy to have for the always important chemistry purposes.

Jack Wilson Drops a Bombshell on the Pirate Ship

For the first time since their annual appearance at the trading deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a front-page story on ESPN.com, and the guess here is they probably would have preferred not to have one this time. In case you somehow missed it, Jack Wilson sounded off about the mess that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The link to the PG's story is here, as well as a link to the Q&A coverage in the PBC Blog. It mostly seems like harmless, quite obvious stuff that Wilson says (though you wouldn't know it from my deceiving headline), and Frank Coonelly mostly confirms that in his response, though I'm sure it was a bit different behind closed doors than it was in his press release.

The most interesting thing I took from this was Wilson's quote, "The biggest thing stressed over the past year was accountability. That includes everybody in the organization, as far as having accountability for themselves and in wanting to win. It's not just the players." On the surface, this doesn't seem like much, and Coonelly more than accepts it because it is the team's mantra and claims that they have made sure that players and management is accountable, but to me, this is Wilson saying, "Yeah sure the players are held accountable, but have you seen the moves these guys are making? Have they brought in one piece at the major league level who has looked even serviceable so far? HELL NO! Where's the accountability for them? There isn't any!" Of course, this might just be me saying crazy things and overreacting, but I think Wilson, and who can blame him, is just tired of the same old crap from management. I also think, as he openly admits, that he got excited about playing for a contender in Minnesota or LA or Detroit or wherever, and now that its looking like he'll be back in the Burgh for another season, he's just flat out depressed.

Finally, one last thing I felt necessary to mention, is Frank Coonelly's laugh-out-loud hysterical (and clearly delusional) quote in which he had the gall to compare the Pirates roster to the Red Sox. It was quite innocent in all honesty, but there is no way you can seriously draw any sort of parallel between our Succos and the most successful team of the last 5 seasons. The quote was: "I am sure that Jack misses some of the players who were here when he signed his contract three years ago, but he is not alone in playing for a team that has experienced significant turnover. Indeed, only seven players who were on the Red Sox World Series team in 2004 were on the Series roster of the 2007 team." Yeah Frank, but the Red Sox holdovers were okay with that because the guys that the team brought in were guys like Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and JD Drew. Meanwhile, poor Jack watched the Pirates bring Jeff Karstens, Andy LaRoche, Chris Gomez, and Ramon Vazquez. I mean good lord. Clearly those are not equal situations.

But this is really just a case of people making a story when really, it's just a bunch of obvious quotes from a long-time, well-respected vet like Wilson. It's the off-season, so everyone's looking for even the smallest bit of info to talk about regarding our Pirates. I don't think this is anything worth worrying about if you are the Bucs, and certainly Wilson has never given even the slightest inclination he could be a locker room distraction.

Fleury Returns; Pens Post Impressive W

Even though Dany Sabourin has been excellent in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury, there was something very, very reassuring about seeing the Flower back between the pipes last night for the Thrashers game. And he didn't disappoint, either. Fleury put together a 28 save night, and on two of the three goals he allowed, the blame wasn't with him, but with deflected shots. Now, Fleury certainly had a few moments where you could tell it had been a few weeks since he'd been in net, but having a legit number 1 goalie in net again clearly got this time a bit fired up, as they unleashed a 6 goal night on the unsuspecting Thrashers.

It was also evident that they were in a lot better shape after 4 days rest than they were after getting whipped by the Flyers in their last game. Granted, the NHL schedule, by nature, will force teams to go through stretches like that one, but given the Pens' injury status at the time, it was just a case of bad timing for our favorite hockey club. The offense was very crisp last night, as Geno continued on his tear with a 4 point night, Sid chipped in with a pair of assists, and the offense's role players continued to chug along with solid productivity.

A big part of those role players has ben the minor league call-ups this season, and they continue to impress me (and obviously the Penguins as well) with their work. The elite-type prospects are basically gone from the Pens after a few years of either dealing them away or drafting players that were too talented to spend time in the minors, but guys like Jeff Taffe, Tim Wallace (who has been a very nice addition considering I had never heard of the guy until about a week before they called him up), Ryan Stone, John Curry, and Alex Goligoski (who has a ton of talent, but has been playing better than I think even the most optimistic people in the Pens organization could have imagined) have all proven they can be contributors on good teams like the Penguins, and while certainly some of these guys figure to lose playing time and in some cases even their roster spots as the Pens get healthy again, I feel infinitely better about the organizational depth than I did a few months ago.

The Pens are off today and return home to face the Maple Leafs tomorrow night and begin a stretch of 9 games in 16 days where they are confined to the northeast, including 5 home games. With the Flower in net, Whitters and Mad Max figuring to return in the very near future, this team figures to get a lot better in a hurry, and this stretch with no big trips could be a very productive one for the Pens.

Some Doubt About It: Pirates Pick Lanny's Replacement

The Bucs have themselves a new play-by-play guy, Tim Neverett, from the Colorado Rockies on FSN Rocky Mountain. Good to see we have some new blood to call our almost-sure-thing record-breaking 17th straight losing season.

I initially wondered why in the world he would leave a franchise like the Rockies, just a year removed from an NL pennant and in a bigger media market, to come to the Pirates, who are stuck in the the worst (or more accurately, tied for the worst) rut in MLB history. It turns out he was only a part-time play-by-play guy for the Rockies and was a pre-game and post-game studio host. This info was courtesy of the folks at the Trib. Hard to really have an opinion here until we actually get the chance to see how he fits in. But it's at least newsworthy, as the job of Pirates play-by-play has had some pretty popular figures in it over the years, and though Lanny may have been slipping in the last few years, he was a pretty well-known man in Pittsburgh sports.

Blair a Man Amongst Boys; The Zoo Strings Gottlieb Up From the Rafters

Although Pitt-Siena was slightly marred by refs who had apparently never seen a Big East basketball game before judging by their shock at the Panthers' style of play, and by Pitt's difficulty in going for the jugular, it was still a highly entertaining late night at the Pete for any number of reasons. What follows are some of those highlights:

-DeJuan Blair continues to be an absolute monster underneath the boards. Smaller, less physical teams are going to get absolutely obliterated by this guy. He was brilliant as a freshman, but rarely was he good enough to dominate and become the best player on the court. That has already happened several times this season, and it happened for the entirety of the 30 minutes of playing time he logged last night. He put together 21 points and 16 rebounds and was absolutely hosed by the freakin' refs in this one. He was given the Shaq treatment where, if he so much as breathed in the wrong direction the refs whistled him for a foul, yet down on the offensive end, Siena did everything to stop him short of using pitchforks and torches yet nothing was called because the refs continuously choked down their whistles. Ridiculous. The good news is, the Big East regular season typically gives us competent refs, except of course this guy:For those of you unaware, that's the Notorious T-I-M aka Tim Higgins. Anyway, Blair's progression has been eye-opening this season, and while the stats may not really show that much of a difference from last year, one look at this guy on the court and the difference is unbelievably obvious.

-If there have been any unknown government advances in cloning in recent years, I volunteer Levance Fields' cells be the first to be replicated, because the Panthers NEED to find a way to get him out there for 40 minutes a game come Big East time. I'm sorry but Ashton Gibbs had the complete deer-in-the-headlights look going tonight when Siena put the press on him. In case you weren't aware, the Big East coaches, to a man, are probably 16 of the best defensive coaches in basketball and are guaranteed to be licking their chops at the thought of sicking the dogs on him. If he's doing anything other than running the point in blowout home wins during Big East season, the Panthers are going to have some issues. And I'm not sure what happened with Tra Woodall tonight, though I'd guess he's a bit banged up, as he didn't play despite some promising efforts in recent games.

-I know he made 2 treys, but can someone please tell Tyrell Biggs it's not okay to launch threes and long-range jumpers? He does know he's a role player whose sole reason for being on the court is to grab rebounds and hustle back on defense right? The only way he should score is if Sammy or Levance clank one and he shoves the putback in.

-Jermaine Dixon may start every game this season, but mark my words, in close games he'll be popping a squat the same as Gary "The Koopa Troopa" McGhee, Gibbs, Woodall, Nas Robinson, and the white guy scrubs. That's because Gil Brown's energy, athleticism and versatility will make him the ultimate weapon late against their Big East foes and he'll be the guy playing the two spot instead of JD. Now, you may say, "Well why wouldn't Gil start then?" And my response is this: He's the perfect weapon off the bench. Around that first media timeout when Blair and/or Biggs and Dixon come out of the game and the Panthers have to work in a 2 or 3 new guys into the game for the first time that day, Gil is the ultimate spark plug to keep that lineup going and give them a bit of a different look. Then have Gil move down to the 3 (or even 4) spot when Sammy takes a quick breather and put JD back at the 2. I mean let's be honest, despite the fact that this Pitt team has as much talent as any Pitt team that I've ever seen, there is a definite hierarchy to this team. It really comes down to the Big 6 (the starters and Gil), the Small Big 1 (Gary McGhee whose enormous but small in court presence and ability), the Small Small 2 (Tra Woodall and Ashton Gibbs, who combined weigh roughly the same as the Koopa Troopa), and the Other 2 (Nas Robinson and Brad Wanamaker, both of whom have talent but are too similar to Gil to really merit serious crunch minutes). So the more minutes they get out of the Big 6, the better off this team will be.

-Although I knew Doug Gottlieb has snubbed our Panthers and the Big East as a whole in years past (though his idiocy really isn't confined to a single team or conference), I didn't anticipate the venom spewed his way tonight by the Oakland Zoo. As always I was sitting right smack dab in the middle of things, and was shocked, amused, and at times even a little uneasy over the rioting mob mentality that developed toward him. Good, clean, fun chants like "Where's my Visa?" (A reference to Gottlieb being given the boot from Notre Dame many years ago after, I think, stealing credit cards or some kind of credit card scandal) started the night off. From there, things got crazier in a hurry. Much like the Anchorman fight, "That escalated quickly, I mean that really got out of hand fast...Roc killed a guy..." After some of the self-proclaimed "leaders" of the Zoo put some inflammatory quotes on their little dry erase boards claiming that Gottlieb claimed the Zoo wasn't a tough place to play, a recurring "Gottlieb sucks" chant started and continued for much of the second half. This obviously isn't anywhere near as creative or fun as the Visa trade, and led to only more malicious stuff, such as a number of derogatory sexual slurs directed at himself, his mother, and other family members. Good times all around!

-Gary McGhee, if you can't even freakin' dunk the ball, why are we keeping you around? He was matched up against someone named Josh Duell tonight who was easily 40 lbs. overweight for most of his breathtaking 6 minutes of PT, and it's probably safe to say this clash of the titans wasn't quite what James Naismith had in mind. And the highlight (or more accurately, lowlight) came when Duell took McGhee off the dribble around the 3-point line. And by off the dribble, I mean he stared head down at the ball as he slammed it insanely hard into the ground while slowly moving forward. I'm pretty sure that was the quietest the crowd was all night long as all 12,000+ in attendance gawked in horror at what was taking place. The weirdest part of all was Duell draining two treys despite looking like he would lose to Casey Hampton in wind sprints.

-This Siena team may have been a frisky bunch that played with solid fundamentals and had a smart, if somewhat loathsome, head coach, but I can't figure out how in the hell they ever beat Vanderbilt last year if this was their team. Pitt, if this was a meaningful game, would have blown the doors off of Siena early in the second half instead of subbing in the backups, who allowed the Saints to stay within striking distance. Any half-decent squad could've beat them tonight, and I really didn't see much in the way of potential three-point ability for most of the game that so often characterizes those mid-major Cinderellas. They were 6-23 from downtown, and no one on that team, except for maybe the aforementioned fat guy, looked comfortable shooting it, either, so I don't think it was just an off night.

-Our Panthers are now 11-0, and there is no way rest for the weary, as they play an athletic Florida State team Sunday evening in Tallahassee in what figures to be a very interesting game to keep an eye on. The 'Noles may not be a powerhouse ACC program, but they know how to play with the big boys, and add that to the fact that it's outside of the 4-1-2 area code, and it's probably the toughest non-conference game the Panthers will play this season.

The Power of the Big East

I'm headed to the Pete tonight to watch our beloved Panthers take on a frisky mid-major in the Siena Saints, a game that, while certainly won't give us much of an indication of Big East play, should at least be something of a challenge for the Panthers, especially early on. I'll report back in tomorrow with my thoughts on the game, and hopefully they are nothing but upbeat and cheery.

On the national college b-ball scene, the red giant known as the Big East continues to make all other conferences look like white dwarves. And yes, that was an astronomy analogy. Deal with it. In the latest Top 25 polls, the Big East has 8 teams in both polls, 6 in the top 15 in the coaches' poll and an astounding 7 in the top 15 in the AP poll. And in all honesty, I think a few others besides those 8 could see time in the Top 25 before the end of the season. West Virginia, as much as I don't like to admit it, is a pretty good team with a fair amount of talent, but that's bound to happen when you have a coach who has consistently run shady programs. Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John's look like they are programs on the rise and have gotten off to strong starts this season and will be teams to reckon with in Big East play, and Cincinnati looks to be headed back up after a few down years. Really, the only teams in the Big East that have struggled thus far are South Florida and DePaul.

I mean that's 12 squads right there that in any other conference would figure to be favorites to earn NCAA bids, yet in the Big East, they will have to fight tooth-and-nail to earn a 7 or 8 seed for most. In my mind, though the Big East deserves double digit bids, they will only get 9, which would be a record. So here's how I break it down on percentage points for the Big East's 16 teams:

UConn 100%
Pitt 100%
Louisville 99%
Notre Dame 98%
Syracuse 95%
Georgetown 85%
Villanova 83%
Marquette 83%
West Virginia 60%
Cincinnati 24%
Seton Hall 23%
Rutgers 20%
Providence 15%
St. John's 12%
DePaul 2%
South Florida 1%

Anyway, all this leads me to my long-standing question: How long can this league really stay intact as is? Though nothing has been public about any trouble in the league, you've really got to wonder how long schools like Seton Hall, DePaul, Providence, and St. John's will really want to stay at the bottom tier of the conference. Big East football will keep bottom-feeding South Florida in-conference for good, but the rest worry me. Especially the three long-time Big Easters there who have exceptional tradition but have watched their success dry up in recent years. I also wonder about Notre Dame, too, even though they have enjoyed success. The latest capsizing football season really makes me wonder if they are edging closer toward coming to their senses and joining the Big Ten for all sports. Of course, there is a slim chance they could just join up with the Big East in football, but that seems unlikely.

I think the appointment of another Providence man as the new Big East commissioner will stave this off temporarily, but it can't be easy for the lesser Catholic schools, who at this point must feel like they are buried alive. I think this peace can only last for so long no matter what, and the bet here is that this Big East, unless we see some parity start to hit the league, is very different 5 years from now. But only time will tell.

The Pirates Lukewarm Stove

With moves highlighting their off-season like the following, I really can't actually continue the charade of calling the Pirates transactions part of The Baseball Hot Stove.
-Opting not to re-sign Jason Michaels
-Over-paying Ramon Vazquez for 2 years and 4 million dollars
-Spurning Chris Gomez even though he's still on the market and dirt cheap
-Pursuing the has-been Matt Clement and the never-was Daniel Cabrera
-Trading Fat Ronny for another useless catcher
-Non-tendering Denny Bautista
-Selecting someone named Veal in the Rule 5 Draft while not protecting Kyle Bloom

So instead, while everyone else deals on the Hot Stove and the Yankees deal on the Inferno Stove, the Pirates are relegated to the Lukewarm Stove until they actually do something that a real Pirate fan can pump their fist over.

But being that I'm a complete masochist, I still must follow this dreadful team as it swirls through the depths of yet another difficult rebuilding job. So, here are some of the things lurking for the Bucs:

-Yep, they're interested in Daniel "For some reason everyone thinks I'm going to be a good pitcher" Cabrera. Yeah sure he throws absolute heat, but he's essentially the real life version of this guy:
The only problem is that no one has yet realized that all they need to do is put glasses on Cabrera and...POOF! He's a superstar pitcher who is essentially the second coming. So they have that going for them. Of course, even if they do figure that part out, they should trade him after one year because he's going to get all soft after meeting some hot babe and want to learn to throw only off-speed stuff and fail miserably and then return to throwing only heat in the final game of the season because, you know, it's easy to make it in the Bigs if you only have one pitch and it's a fastball. Wait, did I take this movie thing too far?

-750K for Jason Michaels was apparently too rich for their blood even though they paid 2 million a year for this guy:
To be fair, Michaels' deal had incentives that could kick it to 1.5 million, but I mean even still, I'd rather have Nate McLouth's long lost twin brother than Vazquez. I mean LOOK AT THAT PICTURE! I know these guys may have forever given us the answer to the always pertinent question, "Which Pittsburgh athlete most looks like a sexual deviant?" But you've got to admit, Ramon Vazquez should come in second, right?

-The Buccos, in their usual infinite wisdom, waited until after the Rule 5 Draft to non-tender Denny Bautista, who had been taking up a spot on the 40-man roster that could have instead been occupied by Kyle Bloom, a young'n who was taken in the Rule 5 after an extremely promising showing in the Hawaiian Winter League.

-The Bucs may be kicking the tires on the immortal Ty Wigginton, but that seems unlikely given that, like thousands of others, he exploded into a promising player after he left the Burgh. Still I found it stunning he got non-tendered. They have also inquired about Jerry Hairston, but it's similarly unlikely anything actually happens here, too.

-It appears as though Rafael Furcal may be signing with the Braves. Or not. He might still be waiting around. Still, if he signs with ATL, then Jumpin Jack likely enters the cross hairs of the Dodgers. Also, a rumored trade with the Tomahawk Choppers that may net Yunel Escobar has been tossed about, as have rumors about Paul Maholm being involved in that kind of a deal, but that seems extremely unlikely.

-Donnie Veal, the Rule 5er that the Pirates took shortly before losing the more higher potential Kyle Bloom, struggled heavily in AA ball last season. He has a pretty fair amount of pop in his pitches, and that is something that is quite obviously pretty sacred to the new management squad. Still, that can only take you so far toward being a successful pitcher. He will also be converted, at least for this season, to a middle reliever from a starter, which could actually be something worth watching.

-And of course, I couldn't let the loss of one of the All-time great Pirates pass without at least a mention. That's right, the great John VanBenschoten has left the organization after being removed from the 40-man roster, thus ending the JVB error...I mean era. And what an era it was, as JVB and his partner-in-crime (and that crime was stealing first round money from the Pirates) Bryan Bullington have both been given the boot over the last few months. So long JVB, I hear you found employment as the batting practice pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. I'm sure your terrible soft tosses will be almost as good as whatever 90-year-old arthritic you are replacing.

Some Local Footballers Get National Attention

What an exciting day for useless fantasy teams! And no, I don't mean fantasy as in the sense you are all thinking of right now. I'm referring to the fantasy teams that the media types and the sports leagues put together at the end (or sometimes middle) of seasons to celebrate the best. In this case, I'm of course referring to the college football All-American squads and the NFL's Pro Bowl squads.

Even though there are roughly 2.4 million different All-American teams out there right now, the one that matters the most (at least in my book) is the AP's team. And that one was released today, and low and behold on the second team was Pitt's own Scott McKillop. And while I think an argument could be made for McKillop to be on the first team, I will take this and think it is probably about as good as can be expected for a player on the second-best Big East team. As for any Pitt snubs, I don't really see any huge beefs, and certainly didn't expect to have anyone else on the list. Of course Shady is as good as any back in the country on talent, but his yards didn't nearly match up with the others, even if his brilliance and his visits to the end zone did. I'd put Conor Lee up against anyone in the country for his expertise in the dreadful Heinz Field conditions, but that's a very subjective position. I also love the work CJ Davis did, but knew he wasn't going to get anywhere near an All-American spot.

And as for the professional fellas, our beloved Steelers, the team that many consider to be the best team in football and has indisputably the best defense in the league, landed just 3 players on the Pro Bowl squad. James Harrison and Troy Polamalu were no-doubt-about-it leadpipe locks, and the elder statesman of the team, James Farrior was a pleasant surprise as a reserve to the previous two's starting spots. But that's it folks. 3 players.

Now, I'm not about to get all riled up over the most useless All-Star game in sports, but I thought this team earned a little more than that. I thought after we all saw just how badly the Steelers need Aaron Smith last season his constant underrated status would vanish. But I guess not, as he was nowhere to be seen. And LaMarr Woodley has morphed into one tough outside 'backer in his first season as a starter, and I think he surpasses James Harrison as the most feared player on this D next season, but he was left off the ballot despite excellent numbers because of a shockingly great season for linebackers. Ike Taylor, because he inherited his hands from Dick Stuart, always gets a knock from scouts and doesn't have gaudy stats, but he has been a superb corner this season and I think deserved a spot. And I thought Ryan Clark was a very underrated guy. Now if these guys had performed in this way on teams that were currently 7-7, then they probably wouldn't deserve it, but when you are part of the best defense in the league that has torn through the toughest schedule in recent football history, you should earn these kinds of things.

Of course, that was before I looked up the roster to see who I thought these guys should replace, and was appalled to see that there are only 3 corners and 6 total defensive backs on the roster, only 5 linebackers, and just 6 defensive linemen. That's only 17 defenders. How is that enough? I mean they do run a 4-3-4 D, so why not have a backup spot at every position instead of like a half a backup at every position. 22 defenders so everyone can play about half the game. Whatever, that's the NFL for you, I guess this all just makes a bit too much sense.

Still, you know that in typical Pro Bowl fashion, probably 6 or 7 of those 17 defenders will end up begging out due to "injuries" like hangnails, splinters, tummy aches, and still-hungover-from-the-Super-Bowl. So, I'll be that 2 of the aforementioned Stiller defenders get the call, and the bet here is Aaron Smith and Ike Taylor.

Right about now you're probably wondering, "well what about the offense? Doesn't anyone there deserve consideration?" To which I respond: Well... if one or two of the wideouts beg out and then Randy Moss, Dwayne Bowe, and Derrick Mason all have their plane crash on the way over to Hawaii, maybe Hines Ward gets a spot, but other than that... No.

I mean I'd put Large Benjamin up against anyone and everyone as a total package QB and a winner, but the stats just aren't there this year, and that's what the Pro Bowl is all about in this day and age.