Saturday, February 18, 2012

The Rundown: February 18th

AJ Burnett Deal to Pirates


Lets flashback a couple of years ago. AJ Burnett signed with the Yankees, along with CC Sabathia, to what could have been one of the greatest rotations in baseball in the last decade. The first year was a successful one, as the Yankees won their 27th World Series title. But the last two years have been disastrous. One of the problems with Burnett is his fastball, which opponent batters teed off of last year, hitting .300 off of the fastball alone. Burnett struggled getting ahead early, which made him rely on the fastball, but to hitters it looked like a 70 mph beach ball instead of a 95 mph fastball. Hitters struggled more on his off-speed, batting a combined .167 off his curveball, changeup, and slider. Another thing Burnett struggled with was trusting his offspeed when he got behind, like I said previously, where he threw his fastball 85% of the time when he was behind in the count.

Why would the Pirates want him then? There's still something left in that tank of Burnett. His mind was lost in The Big Apple, and it can be found again in the Steel City, where he can be a major contributor to get them back into October.


NCAA Title Frontrunner?

Answering the question, there is none. Look at the top two teams currently on the AP Poll. Number one is Kentucky, yes they've had one hell of a run through the SEC. Let me remind you that football has no effect on the basketball part of this conference. The only team worth a damn besides UK in the coveted football conference is Florida, who have not impressed me by any standard in the conference. UK is mainly led by Freshmen and Sophomores, how are you supposed to trust them in front of possibly 100,000 people in the Final Four? Or even the Sweet 16?

Number two: Syracuse. Right now, they're the team I'm putting my money on. I didn't say they didn't have flaws, however. Fab Melo being absent really hurt the Orangemen at first, but bonded them together more after they found out how to win without him.What if Melo is going to be ineligible again right before the tourney? Cuse will be in trouble.

I love March Madness.The greatness in it is the unexpected will always occur, even though we know it might not occur. My two favorite times of year are March and October. The fun always resides in those two months. 

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