Tulo Heads to Toronto

When Troy Tulowitzki signed a 6 year extension worth roughly $120 million with the Colorado Rockies in November of 2010 he likely thought he would stay a Rockie until the deals expiration in 2020. However, with the Rockies sitting fifth in the NL West at 42-55, it looked to be time to sell off one of their best assets. The Rockies have finished with 66, 74, 64, 73, and 83 wins in each of the last 5 seasons. Those win totals won’t compete for championships and so rather than continue to pay who was the face of their franchise in Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies dealt him to the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Tulowitzki is heading to Toronto

The Blue Jays receive one of the best shortstops in the game. Tulo is currently hitting .300 with 12 home runs and 53 runs batted in. While he has had his fair share of injuries, Tulo has one of the best bats in the game from the shortstop position. With the Blue Jays at 50-50, they look to be all-in in their hunt for a postseason berth. They’re 7 games back of the New York Yankees in the AL East and just 3 back in the Wildcard race. The addition of Tulowitzki to a lineup that already features power in Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Josh Donaldson should make for some tough nights for opposing pitchers.

Tulowitzki felt “blindsided” by the move. Here’s what he had to say, “I felt like I got blindsided a bit. I thought I was in the loop, in the conversation.” This comes after Troy had been told the Rockies would keep him or if a trade arose, they would inform him of the possibility of moving him.

The Rockies in return received shortstop Jose Reyes and pitching prospects Jeff Hoffman and Miguel Castro. Reyes like Tulowitzski is going through some strange times. In December of 2011, Reyes signed a free agency deal with the Miami Marlins for 6 years $106 million. Expecting to spend the duration of the contract in Miami, Reyes was shipped in a salary dump to Toronto in just the second year of his deal. Reyes felt betrayed by Marlins President Jeffrey Loria. He now is moving onto Colorado, another destination he probably thought he wouldn’t be playing out his current contract in. Jose should not get too comfortable though. It’s extremely likely that the Rockies as sellers at the deadline will look to move Reyes again.

Tailgating Ideas For This Season!

This season, loyal fans and tailgaters are taking to the parking lots and outskirts of college and NFL stadiums across the country. The smell of grilled burgers and baked brownies extends east to west, proving that tailgating traditions are rooted in American culture. A few of these tips from avid tailgaters include:

Get to the game early. It’s important to arrive early to secure the location where you’d like to set up and begin unpacking your food/ utensils/ decorations, etc.

Study a map to beforehand to pinpoint which location you want. A map of the stadium and the surrounding area will inform you of the best areas to set up your tailgate. Most likely, you’ll choose a spot based on where you need to enter the stadium or where there’s room left for parking. Hopefully not somewhere too faraway!

Stick to the essentials. Avoid overpacking, but to make sure you need the necessities to ensure a great tailgating experience for all.

Keep track of your supplies (label them if need be). With many tailgaters in the same place, supplies can get lost or misplaced. Make sure to keep track of what you bring with you. Resort to labeling the supplies if you need to.

Bring a variety of food options for guests. Ensure your guests have an assortment of foods in case some have allergies or preferences.

Fore additional tips check out this presentation:

Machado Deserves MLB Wrath

Bat-tossing may become an obscure Olympic sport sometime, but it’s frowned upon in baseball, especially if there’s intent to do harm, which brings us to Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and what he did Sunday versus the A’s. One gander at the video and you can clearly see the bat didn’t just slip out of his hands. He flung the piece of lumber in the hopes that it landed on a player’s dome.

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Immediately after the game, Machado, who was ejected said the “bat slipped out of my hands. I was trying to make contact.” Yeah, riiiight. I don’t think so and you can bet Major League Baseball will agree with me. He deserves a hefty fine and a long unpaid vacation for pulling that off. There’s no place in baseball for it. He’s 21 going on 12. It appears Machado took severe umbradge with getting pitched inside by Fernando Abad because, ya know, that never happens in the sport.

He also didn’t like the routine tag A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson placed on him Friday night. That’s right, FRIDAY NIGHT. With the latter point, Machado never really said why the tag was a problem: “Donaldson made the right play, but I just didn’t agree on the tag that he made on me, and I just had to get up and confront him.” Uh, so explain to me why you are angry again? Manager Buck Showalter wasn’t sure what set off Machado but added, “Until you’ve walked a mile in a man’s shoes, you really don’t know what goes on, but it’s a pretty easy call for me what side of the fence I’m going to sit on.” C’mon, really? It was dangerous. It was dumb. There must be something about the name Manny that brings out this kind of kooky, head-scratching behavior because I don’t know how else you can explain away what Machado did on Sunday.

Final Days of Fernando Torres

The final, loose grains of salt are mercifully trickling down the hourglass that is the Fernando Torres’ era at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho metaphorically tipped the timepiece over after the Champions League quarterfinal first leg tie at PSG, when he gave a blistering rebuke on his striking options, namely Torres. The Blues boss said he wanted real strikers, but days later, Mourinho struck a more restrained, almost regretful tone saying the 30 year-old Spaniard did indeed have a future with Chelsea. He’s fooling absolutely no one. Just look back at tape of the 3-0 victory over Stoke.

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When Torres’ shot went wide, the cutaway of Mourinho showed a face almost framed with lines of contempt. He could barely contain his true feelings. Chelsea has spent the past 3 years desperately trying to make it work with Torres. Whether its the system or his teammates, he has not found the form that made him the best striker in the world when he left Liverpool and there was hardly any trust that he ever would find it. Mourinho’s scathing criticism at the Parc des Princes may very well have been an indictment on Roman Abramovich for originally writing the $82 million check made out to the name of Torres. However, the Special One is partly to blame.

He had a chance to rectify his striker quandary way back in June when he took over the club. He pushed hard to get Wayne Rooney, but Rooney decided to stay at Manchester United, thus forcing Chelsea to sign Samuel Eto’o and allowing young Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku to go out on loan to Everton. It’s a shame what happened to Torres. Maybe it was the enormity of the 82 million that felt like an albatross to him. Any move Chelsea makes this summer to unload Torres would have potentially steep financial ramifications. A nice landing spot for Torres, if it worked out, would be Atletico Madrid. The man once dubbed El Nino would undoubtedly feel at home there, a sensation he never really felt at Chelsea, where the last remaining grains of salt continue to drop slowly on his tenure.

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