Comeback Kids

Every season a new player will come along and break your heart.Perhaps this player was a perennial all-star who has a bad year. Maybe it’s the young up-and-comer who can’t quite match his previous season. It could be the aging veteran who was being counted on for a stellar year, but just couldn’t produce.

Each year, teams hopes are dashed due to a number of factors. However, a down year by a key cog could spell the end of your season before it begins.

So comes a new year with new aspirations. Who might come back to life after a painful 2007 season? Let’s take a look at players who need a big turnaround for their teams to have a chance.

Carlos Delgado, New York Mets:
Part of the Mets' epic collapse in ’07 was due to a rash of injuries and a terribly timed slump at the end of the year. But a major force behind the fall of the Mets was Carlos Delgado’s poor excuse for a season.

24 home runs and 87 RBI is nothing to shake a stick at. But when you look at the overall body of work from Delgado’s career, it goes down as possibly his worst.

You can blame his performance on a failed recovery from elbow surgery. However, Delgado has missed 18 or more games in five of the last six seasons. Sadly, his time as a prolific slugger may be coming to an end. He ranks 37th on the all-time home run list. While he should hit 30 homers this year, he is quite obviously on the downside of his amazing career. The Mets need him this year, so can he deliver?

Richie Sexson, Seattle Mariners:
For a guy who has five 30-homer seasons under his belt, last year was a sickening season for Sexson.

Hitting .209 with only 21 home runs is terrible on any level, but the frustrating season for Sexson who endured hamstring and hip issues throughout the year.

Seattle is in need of a middle-of-the-order bat to produce big power. Adrian Beltre has not lived up to the hype following his 48 home run season with the Dodgers a few years back, and Raul Ibanez is not a masher, but will knock in runs.

To be a contender, the weight will be on Sexson’s cortinzone-injected shoulder to carry the offensive load. Anything less that 30 bombs will be a disappointment again, and will probably mean the end of the run for this once incredible slugger.


Adam Eaton, Philadelphia Phillies:
Some, including myself, scratched their heads after the Phils gave Eaton a $24 million contract before last season.

Somehow reaching 10 wins in first season with the Phillies, Eaton struggled mightly, yes with injuries, but also with allowing anyone and everyone to hit off of him.

His 6.29 ERA was the worst of any starting pitcher in the big leagues, a sure sign that the Phillies have wasted money.This is a new season, but will Eaton be the same man? A comeback year is one where a player reaches a level he was previously at before his decline. Eaton’s best year came in an abbreviated season where he went 11-5 with a 4.27 ERA, which isn’t anything special.

Even so, the Phillies will gladly take that. They need just about anything they can get from Eaton, realizing that they are short on arms.


Dontrelle Willis, Detroit Tigers:
When you win 22 games in a season and blow people away with unhittable stuff at just 24-years old, people expect you to be the next big thing.

Things went the other direction for Willis the last two seasons after that memorable 2005 campaign when he came in second for the NL Cy Young Award.

Florida cleaned house as they seem to do every few seasons, and Willis was sent to Detroit who believe he still has the tools to become a top-tier starter. After a rough spring, questions are again surfacing on whether or not Willis still has it.

His lack of control and loss of velocity has worried some, and this could be a telling year not only for the Detroit Tigers, but in the career of Dontrelle Willis.

The D-Train needs to get on the track again, and if he does, it could mean huge things for the Tigers.

Changing of the Season

As winter turns to spring, the season changes and the sun shines a little brighter and the days become a little warmer.

When we look back on this NBA season a month, a year, a decade from now, a few things will pop out at us. Who are the players responsible for changing this season?

The New Orleans Hornets amazing turnaround. The Houston Rockets 22-game winning streak. The resurgence of the Boston Celtics organization thanks to the “Big 3”.

The season has been shifted and shaped by so many different storylines. Here are a few of the players who have stood out at the forefront of the great NBA season.

Chris Paul:
He has blossomed before our eyes, becoming perhaps the premier point guard in the league.

What’s more, Paul has single-handedly led the turnaround of the Hornets franchise from bottom feeder to Western Conference elite. He simply makes everyone around him better.

Watching him play is special, and he should be at worst third in the MVP voting this year.

At over 21 points and 11 assists per game, he has the Hornets within grasp of the all-important number one seed in the tough West.

This year has become the year of Chris Paul, and after a special regular season, we can only hope he keeps it up well into the playoffs.

Shane Battier:
Don’t laugh. Yes, Battier only averages a measly nine points and five rebounds per game this year for the Houston Rockets. But his defensive game is one that speaks volumes.

Every night, Battier has to focus all of his attention to the other teams best player. That means guys Kobe, Ginobili, and Nowitzki in the stacked West.

You might say guys like Tracy McGrady and Rafer Alston have been more important to the Rockets during their impressive run here in the second half, but you would be wrong.

Battier puts it all out on the line on D, and then leaves himself a little bit to knock down some big three pointers. Thirty-Eight percent from downtown is nothing to shake a stick at, especially after exerting so much guarding the elite players in the league.

If you want an unsung hero, Battier is your guy.

Pau Gasol:
After his trade from Memphis, everyone declared the Lakers the winners of the trade deadline, and crowned them champions before playing a postseason game.
His move to LA is critical to the shape and tone of the upcoming playoffs, as he has turned the Lakers an formidable championship contender.

People say Memphis was robbed, and it might be true, but the fact is, this trade shaped the NBA for the next few months.

The Lake Show is scary good, and Gasol has played without Andrew Bynum since he arrived on the West Coast.

When the three-headed monster of Bryant, Gasol and Bynum reassembles for the playoffs (if Bynum’s knee should allow), we could be looking at the cream of the crop in the Association.

Hedo Turkoglu:
You were expecting someone else?

Turk’s numbers go something like this: 20 ppg, 6 rpg, 5 apg.

Only two other players in the entire NBA go for 20,6,5. They would be LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Just how important is Hedo to the success of the Orlando Magic? Besides opening up the middle for Dwight Howard with his 40 percent from three, he can penetrate and kick to Rashard Lewis, helping Lewis shoot his 40 percent from three and average over 18 points per game.

Rashard may make the max-dollars, but it’s evident that Hedo has been the leader of the Magic this season.

Rajon Rondo:
Sure, the Celtics have three perennial all-stars on their team in Allen, Garnett, and Pierce. But Rondo is the man that makes this machine move.

If Rajon Rondo hadn’t grown up in just one season, we may not be talking about the Celtics as having the leagues best record. He has been the floor general that the Celtics needed, dishing the ball to the right players and the right time, and more importantly keeping everyone happy.

Rondo is in the top 25 in assist to turnover ratio, better than counterparts Andre Miller, Rafer Alston, and Tony Parker.

If he can keep this stellar play up in the postseason, we may be looking at yet another banner for the Celts.

Is the Sun Setting on Steve Nash?

In the great history of the National Basketball Association, there may never have been a more unlikely Most Valuable Player winner than Steve Nash.
And the man won twice.

Now 34, and without a ring on the finger, Steve Nash might be looking at the end being nearer than he likes.

Perhaps Nash will not be undone by his own physical limitations, having age and a chronically bad back working against him, but possibly by a roster that will drive him to the end.

The Suns have been accepted as a fun team and nothing more. They have not garnered respect over the past few seasons for their up-tempo, run-and-gun style, predicated by the smooth, fierce Nash.

Sure, people love the style, but the critics frown upon it because defense wins championships. It is not playoff type basketball, which is usually when the game slows down and the boring half court set takes over.

Maybe you’ve heard that the Suns brought in Shaquille O’Neal? Maybe you’ve also heard that it hasn’t worked so well in the early going.

With all of the negatives on his side, Nash has persevered through it all.

Even though he has not won a championship, he has brought the Suns back to an elite level, along with mastermind Mike D’Antoni.

This year, he has kept the team afloat with his dynamic leadership skills.

Even still, something always seems to go wrong at the worst time for Nash and his team.

In the 2005 playoffs, the Suns were the number one seed in the West and lost to the Spurs after sharpshooter Joe Johnson went down with an untimely injury, and the Suns went down.

In 2006, Amare Stoudemire missed the entire season due to Microfracture surgery on his knee. The Suns went on to have an incredible regular season, yet their demise came at the hands of the Mavericks in the conference finals. They ran out of gas.

In 2007, the Suns were once again a team poised to make noise. But when Robert Horry leveled Steve Nash into the scorers table in game 4, leading to suspensions for Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw being suspended the following game for leaving the bench, it changed the complexion of the series. The Suns were eliminated in six.

Will this year be different? If their track record is any indication of how things will go in the next few months, then it doesn’t look good.

Nash is having himself another stellar campaign, averaging over 17 points and 11 assists per game. But it may not be enough to get over the proverbial hump.

It seems that the fun is over.

Currently, the Suns sit as the 6th seed out West, which is stacked with playoff contenders this season.

They have had internal turmoil all season, culminating with the trade of Shawn Marion, who was thought of to be a cancer to the locker room for his me-first attitude and unwillingness to be thought of as the third wheel to Nash and Stoudemire.

In comes O’Neal, on the downturn of an illustrious career, poised to be another cog in the fast-paced Phoenix Suns game plan.

The project has yet to work for the Suns as they have gone 3-6 with Shaq in the lineup.

The playoffs aren’t even a certainty.

The Suns are a cap strapped team and Nash is only getting older. The window for a title with this team is becoming extremely tight, unless they have something up their sleeve for the postseason.

We all know Phoenix can be a force to be reckoned with on any night, but the flair and passion seems to have been sucked out of the team due to countless “almosts” and “could haves”. They almost beat the Spurs in ’05, had Joe Johnson not been badly injured. If Amare is not sidelined the entire ’06 season, maybe they get through on the back of their big man. If Robert Horry doesn’t give Nash a check into the boards last year, all of these may be moot points.

But the fact remains; the Suns have not gotten it done. And all of these almosts and could haves can start to wear on a player like Nash.

He has given it his all during these great Phoenix years, but with that comes a toll. The body begins to crumble, and the psyche can be worn out.

Hopefully the Suns surprise a lot of folks and get to the title this year. Steve Nash deserves it. If not for his great skill and tireless work ethic, than for his work off the court. Because he has given his all, not just to the game, but to the world.

Nash has played recently in shoes made of recycled garbage, as way to promote environmental consciousness.

The Steve Nash foundation has helped children all over the world that are affected by poverty, illness or abuse.

Steve Nash is a good guy. He also deserves better on the court.

So maybe the end is nearing, the sun setting on an incredible career that many said wouldn’t happen. One of the great ambassadors of the game of basketball is playing at a high level for now, and we can only hope that it stays this way for many more years.

However, what happens around him is out of his hands.

The trades, the injuries, the shortcomings and the “almosts” and “could haves” are beyond his power, on and off the court.

So, will this year be the year that the Suns silence the critics?

If Steve Nash has anything to say about it, then yes.

But the rest is out of his control.

Whine and Cheese

Cry me a river, boys.

Over the last few weeks, and even the past few seasons, more and more major leaguers have been complaining about one thing.

Money.

In baseball, salary arbitration allows a team to hold on to its youngsters at a low salary level for a few years so that skyrocketing contracts don’t get out of hand. What they don’t want is a player who has been in the league for 100 days asking for A-rod type money.

But here they go.

In the past few days, two of the great young players in the game, Cole Hamels of the Phillies, and Jeff Francouer of the Braves have both cried foul after being re-upped by their teams. The Brewers Prince Fielder was also upset at the notion of making just six figures.

Cole Hamels went 15-5 last season with a 3.39 ERA and made what could be the first of many all-star teams. As a player with less than three years of service, the Phillies can give Hamels whatever they want; he is under their control. So what they gave him was $500,000 for the upcoming season.

The following words were uttered from Mr. Hamels: “Low blow”, “not fairly compensated”, and “I want what’s fair”.

What Hamels failed to realize, however, is that his new contract is on par with the rest of the players with his service time and numbers.

And before he makes more of a fool of himself, he should shut his mouth.

Baseball of course is a business and should be treated as such. Yet, when we have near-rookies complaining about compensation, but barely have been out on the field, they need to slow it down.

Granted, Hamels had a sensational 2007 campaign. But the players union agreed to system where this will happen to young players.

Why blame the organization if it’s the players themselves that have incorporated this into the game?

Jeff Francouer and Prince Fielder voiced similar opinions when asked of their new deals.

The Brew crew gave Fielder, one of the best young power hitters in the game, $670,000 for ’08. He went on to say:

“I'm not happy about it at all. The fact I've had to be renewed two years in a row, I'm not happy about it because there's a lot of guys who have the same amount of time that I do who have done a lot less and are getting paid a lot more. But my time is going to come. It's going to come quick too."

Oh, we know Prince. People are starving all over the world, but $670,000 for one more season is a shame. An outrage, even.

Young stars need to get one thing through their minds. Nothing will be handed to them.

Right now, Major League Baseball has rules in place. Players will abide by them, and like it.

Players like Hamels and Fielder, after just one or two seasons, are now among the elite in their profession. But as the old adage goes, good things come to those who wait. And wait patiently.

Hamels and the rest could have went about this gracefully and taken it on the chin, collected their measly salaries now, and cashed in a year from now. With any job, there are uncertainties. But one thing remains true; if you do your job, you will be rewarded.

Last season, Ryan Howard whimpered the same sentiment, while making $900,000. A year later, he turned that into $10 million tears. I mean dollars.

Everyone knows the youngsters will be compensated a year from now, and compensated handsomely. However, they have put a sour taste into a lot of fans mouths with their shameless comments.

It’s quite understandable to be upset after seeing budding stars like Grady Sizemore and Troy Tulowitzki handed multi-year contracts. They are all basically in the same boat.

But again, the team has the control in this situation.

By acting like children, they have put a negative spin on what can be the most cheerful and spirited time of the year; Spring Training.

As we release from the doldrums of winter, we expect to be ushered into spring by the sweet sounds of the diamond.

Not the harsh cries of the stubborn and the spoiled.

Sorry fellas, but you shouldn’t get off easy for this one.