SABATHIA TRADE WILL WORK OUT FOR BREWERS

Before the 2008 MLB Spring Training games started, Johan Santana – the marvelous lefty of the Twins – was dealt to the New York Mets. The hype immersed Santana…and he drowned in it. The Mets were the NL East favorite and a World Series favorite. Santana was supposed to give the Mets the best pitching rotation in the league, and the Mets were gonna be great!!! But, it didn’t work out that way. As Johan has floundered in the Big Apple, along with his teammates.

But, this shall not be the case for C.C. Sabathia, the 2007 AL Cy Young Winner – who is also a lefty – who was dealt after a 6-8 record before the All Star break to the Brewers for four prospects. Sabathia responded by winning his first start in ‘waukee 7-3. The reason he lost in Cleveland was he had no run support. He pitched some games where he only allowed one run or two runs, but he still lost because the batting of the Tribe sucked.

“I had mixed emotions.” said Sabathia in an interview with ESPN when asked about the way he felt about leaving Cleveland. By this, he meant he liked the city but he thought the Indians sucked and weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But, thanks to Prince Fielder and others, there’s going to be run support in Milwaukee for C.C. Milwaukee averages around four runs per game. The Indians averaged about two.

I once thought that Matt Forte would be just one running back of three to make up the Bears ground attack. But, he is quickly becoming the L.T of the Bears organization. Because – in all likelihood – Turnover-saurus-Rex [Grossman] and the extremely shallow wideout corps will not make a Patriots-esque passing attack this year.

Forte is one of two very successful Conference USA running backs (Himself, Kevin Smith) that declared for the NFL Draft early this year that should be successful pro backs. Last year – his senior year – he was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award (for best running back) and had 2127 yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground.

And, since the release of Cedric Benson, he is the main man on the depth chart for Chicago. Not the Adrian Peterson and Garret Wolfe will get their slightly unfair share of carries while Matt Forte carries the load. Expect him to get a 1000+ yard season with 12+ touchdowns on the ground if he stays healthy.

Please visit The I-Form at www.iform.wordpress.com

www.iform.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/cadillac-ronnie/

Teammates in college, Ronnie Brown (left) and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams (right) have not obtained the success in the pros as they did when they were a 1-2 Punch at Auburn; despite the fact that they are not splitting carries in the pros.

Ronnie was the bruiser back; Cadillac was the fast, quick back. And even though Carnell won the 2005 AP NFL Rookie of the Year, he hasn’t had the same measure of success as he did in college when he was splitting carries with Ronnie at Auburn.

Last year, both their seasons were cut short with injuries. Turns out they have much more in common than just being Top 5 Picks in ’05 – Brown went second overall, Williams went fifth – to Florida teams (Miami, Tampa Bay respectively) So, what would it take for them to join forces in the pros. Tampa Bay needs help at DE. Miami needs help at QB, and at RB depth. Miami supposedly wants to unload Jason Taylor. So, here’s what would have to go down for Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams to rejoin forces in the pros…

This is an excerpt from the I-Form article “Miami Should Buy a Cadilac” You can read the full article at…

www.iform.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/cadillac-ronnie/

Veteran power forward Elton Brand is headed to Philly. Let’s run the numbers. 5-year, $82M. Wow. That’s a slam dunk deal. People thought he would make a great return in LA with would-be-Clipper Baron Davis. But, it ain’t so. He isn’t formally signed yet. But, it’s as good as done.

This will surely have a ripple effect amongst the hot FA market in the NBA (Corey Maggette, Josh Smith, Ben Gordon, others) as the Celtics will probably make a push on Maggette, who was also a Clipper with Brand last year; or rush to re-sign James Posey.

And it’s not that dumb to go east for Brand – who is a former #1 pick who had MVP talks in the 1st half of the season in 2005 but has never made an All-Star game – as it’s easier to get into the playoffs. Unlike the tough Western Conference (which is often a ten horse race) and the talent at the power forward position isn’t as deep.

Brand, who averaged…

I went to check his stats, and it says that he actually has agreed to terms with the Sixers, so he actually is a Philadelph’a player.

Brand who averaged 17.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 1.9 BPG last year, and 20.3 PPG and 10.2 RPG, is now a Sixer. Along with Andre Iguodala, the Sixers now have the second best PF-SF combo in the east (Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce of the Celtics) and should make the playoffs next year.

I also consider Brand to be the most underrated player in the NBA today. So, the 76ers nabbed a good one in the 29-year-old Brand, who probably has three really good years left.

http://spreadoffense.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/pre-season-top-25/

National Signing Day is long past, and Mini-Camps are way past, so I’m giving my pre-season Top 25.

 
#1 Georgia Bulldogs (SEC)

#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten)

#3 USC Trojans (Pac-10)

#4 Florida Gators (SEC)

#5 Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12)

#6 Missouri Tigers (Big 12)

#7 Texas Longhorns (Big 12)

#8 West Virginia Mountaineers (Big East)

#9 Clemson Tigers (ACC)

#10 Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12)

This is an excerpt from “The Spread” at spreadoffense.wordpress.com. See the entire article at…

http://spreadoffense.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/pre-season-top-25/