MLB
– A massive blockbuster is set to go down within the next few days. Here’s how it breaks down:
To Dodgers: 1B Adrian Gonzalez, RHP Josh Beckett, OF Carl Crawford, INF Nick Punto
To Red Sox: RHP Allen Webster, RHP Rubby De La Rosa, 1B James Loney, OF Jerry Sands, INF Ivan De Jesus
Beckett and Crawford need to waive no-trade clauses and medicals still need to be reviewed. The trade would also need approval from the commissioner’s office because of the money changing hands. The Dodgers are expected to pick up more than $260M of the $271.5M coming their way.
Gonzalez is in the first full year of a 7-year/$154M deal. He is hitting .300 with a .343 OBP, .469 slugging mark, .812 OPS and 15 homers this year.
Crawford is in the second season of a 7-year/$142M deal. He underwent Tommy John surgery for his torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow after hitting .282/.306/.479/.795 in 31 games.
Beckett is in the second year of a 4-year/$68M deal. The 32-year-old Beckett has struggled to a 5-11 record and 5.23 ERA in 21 starts this year.
Punto is in the first year of a 2-year/3M deal signed this past offseason. In 65 games, he’s hitting .200/.301/.272/.573 as a role player who has served as a backup at all four infield positions.
Loney, 28, will be a free agent after this season. The 28-year-old is hitting .254 with a .302 OBP, .344 slugging mark and .646 OPS along with four homers in 114 games.
Webster, 22, ranked the No. 95 prospect in the game by Baseball America entering this year, is 6-8 with a 3.55 ERA, 8.7 strikeouts and 4.2 walks per nine with Double-A Chattanooga, and has drawn comparisons to Yankees’ RHP Derek Lowe.
De La Rosa has had recent health issues but possesses considerable upside. In 13 games (10 starts) last year, he was 4-5 with a 3.71 ERA, 8.9 strikeouts and 4.6 walks per nine innings. He’s been clocked at over 100 mph in the past, but is coming back off of Tommy John surgery.
DeJesus has hit .231/.282/.277/.559 in 40 big league games over the last two years. The 2005 second-rounder is a career .297/.369/.389/.758 hitter in the minors.
Sands, 24, is hitting .244/.325/.376/.701 in 70 big league games over the last two years. He was hitting .303/.380/.531/.911 with 24 homers in the hitter-friendly Triple-A Pacific Coast League this year.
– According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals’ OF Lance Berkman (left knee) believes he will likely retire following the season. Berkman began a minor league rehab assignment Friday with Triple-A Memphis. The 36-year-old has been slowed by his knee all season and isn’t expected to want to do it again next season. The Big Puma owns a .296 career batting average to go along with 1,842 career hits and 360 home runs.
– Twins’ LHP Scott Diamond has been suspended 6 games and fined an undisclosed amount “throwing a pitch in the head area” of Rangers’ OF Josh Hamilton on Thursday. He will appeal the suspension. Diamond appeared to be defending his teammate Joe Mauer, who was hit in the back by RHP Roy Oswalt in the previous inning, and was immediately ejected from Thursday’s contest. Even if Diamond loses the appeal, he’ll simply get an extra day off in the rotation.
– Nationals’ SS Ian Desmond (knee, hamstring) is expected to miss the rest of the weekend series against the Phillies. Desmond was out for Friday’s lineup with a right knee injury.
WWE
– Vince McMahon, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WWE, Inc. (WWE), turns 67-years-old Friday. The WWE head has no intention to ever retire. He told Bloomberg last year,
“This is not a job. I love what I do…It would only be then that I would decide to go to a beach somewhere and sit back and discover that they’re right, I am senile. Other than that, I intend to be, as they say, die in the chair. That’s the way I would like to go.”
– WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch claims she is now sober after checking out of her WWE-sponsored rehabilitation program on Thursday. The legendary Diva was admitted to an emergency room on the evening of July 13 for consuming a large amount of vodka, and her boyfriend, independent wrestler Damien Darling, insisted that she seek professional help. She wrote on Facebook Thursday evening,
“FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, FREE AND SOBER AT LAST!…….DONT WORRY, I HAVENT TURNED INTO A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN!”
– Mercedes KV (Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado), a 20-year-old New England-based women’s wrestler who recently signed a WWE developmental contract, is the first cousin of rapper Snoop Lion (formerly known as Snoop Dogg).
NHL
– The Red Wings have offered D Carlo Colaiacovo a 2-year/$5M contract worth $2.5M annually, according to MLive.com. According to the report, the Wings initially pitched a 1-year pact back on July 3, but Colaiacovo wanted a 3-year deal. Detroit is still searching for defensive depth.
NFL
– Giants’ RCB Prince Amukamara (right ankle sprain) is expected to be sidelined for one month, making him doubtful for Opening Night on September 5. Amukamara was limited to seven games by a foot injury as a rookie.
– The Cardinals have placed LT Levi Brown (torn right triceps) on the IR, ending his season. Brown, 28, signed a contract in March containing $8M guaranteed, all of which will be paid in 2012. His 2013 base salary will be $4.75M, but he may be cut in the offseason.
– The NFL says that Titans’ WR Kenny Britt’s situation is “still under review.” Adam Schefter previously reported that Britt is likely to end up with a “short suspension.” Stay tuned.
– According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs believe RG Davin Joseph’s (left knee) injury is season-ending. It’s a big blow to Tampa’s defence, as Joseph is considered one of the league’s strongest interior linemen. He was named to last season’s Pro Bowl.
TNA
– Thursday’s TNA Impact Wrestling show drew a 1.15 rating, up from 1.06 the previous week. The show averaged 1.717 million viewers, the largest audience for Impact since February 23.
– According to the PWInsider, TNA Wrestling concluded the Claire Lynch storyline last night on Impact Wrestling with her legal representative revealing that she never was pregnant and had agreed to blackmail AJ Styles after being approached by Daniels and Kazarian—she drugged Styles and took scandalous photos suggesting he was the father of her fake baby. Lynch did not appear during the segment since she quit the promotion. Multiple TNA sources have confirmed that Lynch, whose real name is Julia Reilly, immediately quit the company after her identity was discovered online and wrestling fans began bombarding her professional website, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts with “derogatory and hateful messages about her acting, her character’s actions and her character’s appearance.” As a working actor, Reilly didn’t want potential employers and casting directors researching her to come across the hateful scorn, which was described as “some of the most classless garbage you’d expect to see, just low rent message board loser stuff.” As a result, she quit TNA and immediately closed her professional accounts in an attempt to deflect the vitriol.
– Former five-time TNA Knockouts Champion Angel Williams (Angelina Love) was the featured guest on Monday Night Mayhem. Angel joined The Big Mosh & “The Chairman of the Board” Todd Vincent for her first (and only) post-TNA interview, a Monday Night Mayhem worldwide exclusive interview, which is now available for download on the WrestleView Radio Network: Interview highlights courtesy of Paterson, MNM’s associate producer & official correspondent:
Why she felt the time was right to leave TNA/iMPACT Wrestling and start a new chapter in her career: “There’s no big fancy story, there’s no scandal. It’s nothing too big. I spoke to all the appropriate people. It was just my time. It was just my time to go. I was there for five years, was a five-time Knockouts Champion and one-time (Knockouts) Tag Team Champ, and did a lot with a lot of people storyline-wise. I guess I accomplished everything you could. Of course, I was always coming up with ideas, and wanting to do more, and trying to be creative, and get myself into this storyline and that storyline. Some things were being talked about, but mutually and completely amicably, we just decided it was my time, and that was it.”
Whether or not there was a noticeable difference in the direction of the Knockouts division after Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff joined the company: “I don’t know really. I find (Hulk) Hogan to be very, very cool. He was super supportive of the Knockouts division, and would always watch our matches, and give feedback, and was like ‘You girls kick ass.’ I think they know that the Knockouts division is a big part TNA, and it really helps out the show, but they are pretty supportive of it.”
How the idea for the upcoming Beautiful People reunion (featuring herself and Velvet Sky) came about: “We wanted to get The Beautiful People back together. The fans really wanted to see it too, and we really wanted to give that to the fans. We both get tweeted that numerous times every day from fans wondering when we were going to get back together in TNA and how they wanted to see it. We both still wanted to do it, because it was just so fun. With me leaving and with Velvet leaving, we kind of just said we could do whatever we want now, so it was just a given. For at least the next two and a half months, we have a lot of stuff coming up together.”
The level of interest on her end to sign with the WWE if the opportunity presented itself: “Yeah absolutely, I would love to. I think that would be awesome. It would be really, really fun. I really haven’t worked with many of the girls there, so it would be all new possibilities, and that’s fun.”
– Radio host Mike Jones of Washington DC’s DC101 spoke to TNA star Jeff Hardy this week to promote TNA’s upcoming BaseBrawl show from the Prince George Stadium next Saturday night, September 1st. Jeff talks about his part in the Bound for Glory Series, learning something new everyday at TNA and how he loves his lawn. Here’s audio of the interview: