NFL Preview

It's been a long, painful baseball season here in New England, but nothing can re-energize this region like the start of a fresh football season.  With the first kick-off of the regular season just around the corner, it's time to make some predictions for this upcoming season.

I'll break down the standings for each division, throw in some bold predictions for what we might expect to see this season and cap it off with my predictions for some end of the season awards.

AFC East
1. New England Patriots (13-3)
2. Buffalo Bills (9-7)
3. New York Jets (7-9)
4. Miami Dolphins (3-13)

The Patriots look ready to win their 10th division title in the past 12 years.  After falling just short of another Super Bowl victory last February, the Patriots have reloaded with an even more dangerous core.  Brandon Lloyd led the league in receiving two years ago while playing for Josh McDaniels in Denver.  That was with Kyle Orton throwing him the ball.  Imagine what he can do with Tom Brady throwing to him!  Lloyd gives the Pats the deep threat that can play outside the numbers which this team has missed since the days of Randy Moss.  The Patriots also loaded up on defensive players in the draft, using 6 of their 7 picks on that side of the ball. First round picks Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower look ready to make an immediate impact to improve a defense that ranked 31st in the league last year. 

Buffalo won't pose much of a threat to the Patriots reign, but they are poised to make a jump this year.  The addition of Mario Williams to their defensive line will solidify a fearsome pass rush.  Ryan Fitzpatrick has been inconsistent in his career, but played very well in the first half of last season before injuring his ribs and watching his performance drop steeply.  If he and Fred Jackson can stay healthy, they could be a Wild Card team.  Meanwhile, the Jets are sure to be a circus show this year with a brewing QB controversy thanks to Tim Tebow's popularity.  Things got ugly at the end of last season and they very well could get worse.  Speaking of ugly, Miami finds themselves in the basement of this division.  Maybe throwing rookie QB Ryan Tannehill in as the starter from Day 1 will prove to be beneficial for his development, but it sure isn't likely to help the Dolphins chances to win this year.  It doesn't help that they've left him without any weapons to throw to either.

Red Sox hit the reset button

A Red Sox team that is staggering to the finish line of a horrifically disappointing season broke out the dynamite this weekend by blowing up a huge part of their core.  In one of the biggest blockbuster deals of all time, Boston dealt Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to the LA Dodgers.  The group included Boston's three highest paid players this season and sheds more than $250 million in long term contracts, even after factoring the cash they will send to LA as part of the deal.

The fact that this is the first time in league history that two players with over $100 million left on their contracts have been traded in the same deal goes to show how enormous the impact of this shocking deal has on both teams.  After the Red Sox epic collapse last September was followed by a frustrating season this year that currently has them 9.5 games out of one of the Wild Card spots, it was clear this team was in desperate need of a make over.

The Red Sox clubhouse has been called toxic by many people close to the organization.  Team chemistry is an underrated aspect of the game that this team severely lacks.  The rumor mill has torn the team apart as accusations of a "snitch" in the clubhouse created a witch hunt for the culprit responsible for airing the team's dirty laundry to the media.  The path toward restoring order in the clubhouse began last month when Kevin Youkilis was shipped to Chicago.  That trade was as much about removing an outspoken player who had clashed with several teammates over the years as it was about unloading an expensive veteran to pave way for a spot for Will Middelbrooks in the lineup.

Lakers strike gold in trade for Howard

As a Celtics fan, one of the worst things that could happen is when something good happens to the Lakers.  So as you can imagine, this has been a nightmare.

The long, drawn out saga of Dwight Howard's trade demands finally came to an end with a four team deal that sends the disgruntled super star center to Los Angeles.  Howard can finally be happy now that he's finally gotten his wish to be shipped out of Orlando, while all the teams involved should also be thrilled with their involvement in the deal.  Well, almost everyone.

Let's see how the deal breaks down for each team.

Los Angeles Lakers
Acquired: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, Chris Duhon
Traded: Andrew Bynum, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, 2017 lottery protected 1st round pick

Laker Land must be ecstatic with this deal.  They basically upgraded from Bynum to Howard for the low cost of a future lottery protected draft pick and two throw ins from the end of their bench.  Bynum is a great player, but Howard is on another level.  He's the most dominant big man of this generation and arguably the league's second best player, after LeBron.  He's an elite defender that will protect the rim and help mask the issues of Steve Nash trying to stop quick point guards from getting into the paint.

Best of all, they manged to do the deal without having to give up Pau Gasol.  Earlier this week, when rumors of this proposed trade began to swirl, Gasol was included in the package going to Orlando.  Sacrificing both of their talented big men would be a steep price to pay, but still worth it to acquire Howard.  When all was said and done, Gasol ended up staying put.  The Lakers will now roll out a Big Four of Howard, Kobe, Gasol and Nash.  Try stopping that!  It's an expensive team, with the payroll expected to climb over $100 million this season, but their deep pockets can afford it.  Picking up the contracts of Duhon (owed $7.25 million over the next two seasons) and Clark (expiring deal for about $1.2 million) will just add to their outrageous luxury tax bill, but if Howard helps bring a couple more titles, he'll be well worth the price.

Patriots first glimpse

The Patriots kicked off the pre-season Thursday night with a narrow victory over the Saints.  What would typically be expected to be an old fashioned shoot out between two elite passing offenses, turned out to be a low scoring affair.  That may have been partly due to the fact that the two future Hall of Fame QBs didn't last through the first quarter before relaxing on the bench to become spectators the rest of the way, but when these two teams meet, you tend to expect a score higher than 7-6.

Here are a few things I noticed from our first glimpse of the Patriots this year.

• The first team offense looked a bit sluggish in their limited action.  Tom Brady and his top receivers played less than the full first quarter, completing two drives that failed to put points on the scoreboard. New acquisition Brandon Lloyd is still looking to develop his timing with Brady, as he just missed hauling in catches on his two targets.  They need some work before they become comfortable enough with each other to routinely hit on those routes, but they aren't far off.  Lloyd is clearly comfortable in Josh McDaniels' offense, so it's only a matter of time before they get it right.
• The Tight Ends continue to be a heavy focus in the offense.  Rob Gronkowski appeared to be a half step slow on his first target, but it was great to see him haul in a couple of passes as he continues to work his way back from the ankle injury suffered in last year's postseason.

The Legend of Mike Trout

Every year we hear about hyped prospects that are expected to take the league by storm and become the next big thing.  Often times young players struggle after making their major league debuts, whether it be from failure to make adjustments to big league opponents or from being crushed under the heavy pressure unfairly put upon them.  Other times these youngsters produce just fine, yet fail to live up to people's unrealistic expectations.

Then there are those that exceed even our wildest expectations and become legitimate superstars right from the start.  Mike Trout is one of those players.

Since Trout received his call up to the majors to join the LA Angels on April 28th he has arguably been the best player in baseball.  Think about that for a moment.  A 20 year old rookie may already have become the best hitter in the game!  Check out his insane hitting stats so far this season: .347/.409/.599.  That batting average leads the American League.  He leads the majors in Runs (83) and Steals (33) by fairly comfortable margins and his 6.5 WAR (per FanGraphs) also leads all major league players.  All this despite not even getting called up to the majors until the end of April!  He essentially missed a month of the season and still has managed to lead the league in several major categories. 

MLB Trade Deadline Buyers & Sellers

The MLB trade deadline passed yesterday afternoon with a flurry of last minute deals.  The addition of an extra Wild Card team in each league has kept playoff hopes alive for several teams that in previous years would have been considered out of the race at this point, which may have limited the pool of potential sellers as the deadline approached.  With more of a demand for impact talent than there was to supply, some teams were left without a partner at the trade table.  Those that were able to swing deals for a difference maker for the home stretch may have added the missing pieces to put their team over the top.

Now that the deadline dust has settled, let's look at the teams that were buyers and sellers.

Buyers

LA Angels:

The biggest prize on the trade market this season was Zack Greinke.  He gives the Angels a legitimate ace to join an already loaded rotation, which also includes Jared Weaver, CJ Wilson and Dan Haren.  As a former Cy Young award winner, Greinke is an elite pitcher capable of dominating hitters.  While his current 3.39 ERA may not appear to be anything special in today's pitcher friendly era, his advanced statistics show he is a much better pitcher than that number suggests.  He averages a strikeout per inning and has a FIP of 2.45.  Blame an above average BABIP and poor infield defense from the Brewers for the discrepancy in his ERA and what should be expected based on how well he's pitched.  Greinke is an ace.  With questions about Haren's health and the disappointing season for Ervin Santana, the Angels went out and shored up their rotation with a front line starter that should be worth an extra couple of wins over the remainder of the season.  If Haren can get healthy and pitch to his ability, the Angels should enter the postseason with the most imposing starting rotation in the majors.