Source: Discover: Monday Around the Horn
All posts by Wayne Cavadi
Aramis Ramirez, Torii Hunter and 2021 MLB Hall of Fame eligibles
When Aramis Ramirez announced his retirement from Major League Baseball last week, it brought the total to five of some of the bigger stars of the 2000s who decided to hang up the ol’ cleats. He joins Torii Hunter, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Dan Haren as the current list of candidates that are eligible for Hall of Fame induction in 2021. Do any stand a chance?
Are any 2021 MLB HOF candidates Cooperstown ready? Keep reading to find out!
NFL Sundays with SBJ: I’m kind of a big deal… people know me
8 weeks are in the books in the NFL. That means this is SBJ’s first official midterms as NFL odds guru with Wayniac Nation. 30-21 in his free picks for you thus far, not too shabby. Since SBJ is the self-proclaimed professor of his Sunday classes, how would The Wayniac – a former teacher myself — grade SBJ’s midterm performance? Being a mere one win behind the oddsmakers in Vegas, I would give him an A-. We don’t want him to get complacent. Keep thickening those wallets, SBJ, my readers need holiday presents by the time the end of the semester rolls around.
2015 SNF/MNF OVERALL RECORD
Public: 20-31 (2-4)
The House: 31-20 (4-2)
Sportsbook Jesus: 30-21 (3-3)
The NFL Rundown with SBJ: Anybody who wants out… can get out
Our very own SBJ is back, providing full disclosure on where he went right and where he went wrong with last week’s primetime picks. Sit back and get prepared for tomorrow’s lesson.
A quick rundown of the MLB madness in store!
A lot of fun is about to go down in the MLB. It is Hot Stove season and while we are still a little bit away from the Winter Meetings, this free agent class is sure to build excitement.
Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns in today’s random thoughts
I won’t — and haven’t really ever — hide the fact that I have never been a huge fan of Johnny Manziel. It started way back to when my Houston Texans had the first draft pick, and he started — well, being Johnny Football. This little quarterback with the big ego that could never stop running his mouth and was seemingly always hamming it up in the spotlight.
I was hoping he would fall flat on his face last night. I was hoping that I would be able to wake up this morning and tell you he was simply the worst quarterback I had ever seen. Once again, Johnny Football did the unexpected.
The WN Fantasy Football Report: Week 9 Starts and Sits
Chris Johnson, Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald.
Justin Forsett, Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford.
DeAndre Hopkins, Marshawn Lynch, Jimmy Graham.
Matt Forte, Le’Veon Bell, Keenan Allen.
That is just a partial list of fantasy starters who are on the pine due to bye or injury this week. To say we have our hands full getting you the right picks is an understatement.
Keep reading for the best starts and sits in fantasy football for Week 9!
The Atlanta Braves future is not far away
Between my work as editor at Grading on the Curve and now with John Sickels over at SB Nation’s minorleagueball.com, I have done a lot of work on the Atlanta Braves farm system. I’d like to think I have become pretty familiarized with their farm system, which was no easy task as it completely revamped itself under John Hart last season.
Hart and the Braves went pitcher happy in the offseason, trading away big time contracts for Manny Banuelos, Max Fried, Tyrell Jenkins, Matt Wisler, and Mike Foltynewicz and now seemed primed with an exciting arsenal of young arms heading up the pipeline. When you add 2012 Braves first round draft pick Lucas Sims and Touki Toussaint into the mix — whom they acquired for Phil Gosselin — they have an endless supply of cannons.
The scary thing is that they added even more to that arsenal in this year’s MLB draft. In the first round alone, the Braves were able to nab two highly regarded pitchers. One was Mike Soroka. The other was Kolby Allard.
Over at minorleagueball.com, I have been compiling a series of prospects that I am excited to watch in this coming 2016 season. Allard was my most recent installment. Only 18-years old, Allard is far away from the Majors, but hopefully I get to see him and meet with him in Rome this coming season.
Allard could easily be the steal of the draft. He was widely considered the best prep school pitcher in America, but because of a senior season spent on the shelf due to stress issues in his back, Allard’s draft stock fell. Some even felt the Braves gambled too much taking him at 14th overall, but by season’s end, Allard looked like everything advertised in is MiLB debut.
I know you want to know why I am excited about Allard, and you know you are as well. It’s all provided in the link below, so take a read.
The WN Fantasy Football Report: Help! My entire team is injured!!!
If you are anything like myself, your entire fantasy football season may seem like it fell off of a cliff. Two weeks ago, I was the number one team in my league with the best record, most points and the scary backfield of Matt Forte and Arian Foster. Now, I am currently heading into this Sunday with Giovani Bernard and Charles Sims as my current backfield. If you didn’t laugh out loud after reading that sentence the first time, go ahead and do it now.
It may look bleak as fantasy starters like Forte, Foster, Steve Smith, Keenan Allen and Le’Veon Bell have hit the IR. But there are pieces out there that can save your season. I’ll spare you the obvious pick up DeAngelo Williams “advice”, and get to some guys that may be on the waiver wire or easily obtainable through trade.
Is there anyone out there to help the injury bug in fantasy football?
Are Steve Smith and Arian Foster headed to Canton?
The past two weeks in the NFL have seen a rash of injuries to some of football’s biggest stars. Le’Veon Bell is done for the year, and Matt Forte is out for extended periods of time. Now, Keenan Allen looks like he will be out for the season.
Two big Achilles burst over the past two weeks, and with them, possibly the careers of two of the more exciting players over the past few years.
Saucy T asked the other day:
If Steve Smith and Arian Foster never step on the field again, are they Hall of Famers?
It’s a great question. Let’s find out.
Keep reading to find out if Smith and Foster are Canton bound!
Wayne Cavadi's Online Portfolio 