The Tragic End of Three 2012 Futures

On July 8th 2012, the future stars of Major League Baseball descended upon Kaufmann stadium in Kansas City. Both rosters were packed full of big names, bright futures, and dreams of changing some team's fortunes. The USA roster included the likes of Gerrit Cole (Pirates), Nolan Arenado (Rockies), Manny Machado (Orioles), Kolten Wong (Cardinals), Wil Myers (Royals); among many other hopeful names. The World roster consisted of Oscar Taveras (Cardinals), Yordano Ventura (Royals), Jose Fernandez (Marlins), Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox), Francisco Lindor (Indians); just to name a few. The final score was 17-5 in favor of the USA however the score was as relevant as the storyline of a Jason Statham movie. The main takeaway of the game was the future of the MLB was extremely bright. Three of those futures were ended much to soon in three different accidents.

Oscar Taveras was killed at the age of 22 in a car accident in his home country of the Dominican Republic. This accident also took the life of his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo. Taveras' blood alcohol content was five times the legal limit at the time of the accident. Jose Fernandez was killed at the age of 24 in a boating accident in Florida along with two of his friends. Fernandez was legally drunk and cocaine was found in his system at the time of the accident. This past week another tragedy struck in the Dominican; Yordano Ventura was killed in a car accident at the age of 25. 

In the short time these three played in the Futures Game, you could tell all three had star potential. Yordano was the starting pitcher for the World Team in what would become his home stadium in Kansas City. He only pitched one inning but it was a clean inning; he then gave way for Fernandez to pitch. Jose also only had one inning but got two of his three outs by way of the strikeout; which would become a major part in his short pitching career. 

After the Futures Game all three players eventually made it up to the big leagues; Jose and Yordano in 2013, and Oscar in 2014. When Oscar was called up he was the second ranked prospect in baseball. He played in 80 games for the Cardinals with three homeruns and a .239 average; the numbers seem pedestrian but there were many flashes of his brilliance. In his first game Oscar hit a towering home run against the San Francisco Giants. In one of his final at bats, Taveras hit a game tying home run in the 7th inning of Game Two of the NLCS, once again against the Giants. When Jose Fernandez was brought up to the big leagues he immediately dominated batters and made it look easy while doing it. He was the 2013 Rookie of the Year and made two All-Star Game appearances in his young career. He was 38-17 in his career with a 2.58 ERA and that came with two seasons where he made a combined 19 appearances. He was always smiling, loved the game, and never let a moment pass him by. Yordano Ventura only made 3 appearances in 2013, however he started leaving his mark on the league in 2014. He was a starter for the Royals in 2014 and brought his fiery personality every time he took the mound. His career numbers were 38-31 with a 3.89 ERA but he will be remembered for a few other moments. In only his second start he threw one of the hardest pitches every recorded for a starting pitcher when he struck out David Freese with a 102.9 mph fastball. He was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 2014 World Series while honoring Taveras on his hat and cleats. While the Royals would lose that World Series they would get another chance in 2015 and Yordano would become a World Champ. 

All three of these young players had extremely bright futures and their lives were tragically cut short. When something like this happens with athletes or Hollywood stars it brings awareness around to these issues for a little while. However these tragic moments should remind all of us just how fragile life is and that these accidents occur everyday. It should make us take a step back and be sure everyone is reminded how important life is and that nothing is guaranteed. These three young men have also shown us to love what you do and to live your life to the fullest. All three of them showed an inspiring love for the game and for life. R.I.P Oscar, Jose, and Yordano; thank you for sharing your passion with us. 

The BIG3 and the Brilliance of Ice Cube

This week on F.Y.E. I am going to talk about the BIG 3 Basketball league that was just created and started it's season about a month ago. If you do not know what the BIG3 is I will give a little run down on that and then my opinion on the league and what I have seen thus far.

The BIG3 is a basketball league that was created by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz that is meant to separate itself from other professional leagues. It is a 3-on-3 half court league with it's own rules that are meant to cater to it's players. In the BIG3 you will find a 4 point shot, no players fouling out, no time limits, and other rules that separate it from the NBA and NCAA. You will also find some of your favorite ex-NBA and NCAA players and that is the major draw of the BIG3. Players like Allen Iverson, Rashad McCants, Jason Williams, Brian Scalabrine, Kareem Rush, and Kenyon Martin, to name a few, are seen on some of the Big3 teams. You will also notice the teams are coached by some of the greatest players of all time, among them are Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Gary "The Glove" Payton, George "The Iceman" Gervin. It's like a 3-on-3 game at your local gym or playground court but it has some of your favorite players and Hall of Fame coaches in the mix. The league is meant to give these players and coaches the chance to play the game they love and still put on a show for the fans who miss seeing them play. These guys get to a certain age and end up retiring but to say they can't play the game anymore is incredibly inaccurate. That is the main objective of the BIG3.

This is the first season of the BIG3 and it began with a pool of players that were drafted onto 8 teams and those teams were pitted against each other as the league traveled from city to city. The regular season is 8 games played around the country with the top 4 teams making the playoffs in Seattle then a championship game in Las Vegas. The first and second place teams get to keep the same teams but the other 6 teams are all reset and they hold a draft before the next season starts. The games have seen celebrities along with current and past NBA players coming to see the action of the BIG3. The games are not on live TV yet but are aired the following day on Fox Sports 1. I expect to see this change next season seeing how big the first season has been already. The games have been extremely competitive with the players going all out and wanting to not only win but to prove they still have what it takes to play the game at a high level. From the game on the court to the announcing from Gus Johnson, Kenny Albert, and Jim Jackson to the sideline interviews with Michael Rapaport this league is legit and an incredible success in my opinion. Johnson uses all sorts of one-lines to keep the crowd engaged while Rapaport is interviewing players during timeouts.

I think Ice Cube hit a goldmine here and I believe this league will be extremely successful and go on for many seasons. He said after week 1 they received calls from a lot of ex-players who want to get in and play next year, so we could see an expansion of the 8 teams already in the league. Of course there is a list of names that fans want to see: Kobe, Paul Pierce, Jerry Stackhouse, Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury, Nick Van Exel, and many many more. There are trades and a fantasy league was just created. The rules and court are what really make this league successful as they set it apart from other leagues. If you have not watched any of the BIG3 make sure to check it out on Fox Sports 1 next Monday.

Game of Thrones: Recapping Season 6 & Looking Forward to Season 7

WARNING THIS POST HAS SPOILERS FROM SEASON 6! We have our first non-sports post of the blog this week. With Game of Thrones season 7 starting next week I thought it would be fun to cover the new season and recap what happened in season 6. We will start with the season 7 ultimate trailer:

With Game of Thrones season 6 ending over a year ago on June 26th, 2016 and season 7 starting next week on July 16 there is a lot to recap and a lot I hope to see starting next week. At the end of season 6 we saw Cersei Lannister sitting on the Iron Throne and beginning her reign of terror after her son Tommen commits suicide. Cersei is possibly the worst remaining character of Game of Thrones, taking that spot after Joffrey was poisoned and Ramsay was devoured by his own hounds. The beginning of season 7 will see Cersei on the Throne, however there are many other characters who are coming to rule The Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys Targaryen is finally on her way, she has her dragons, of course, and now has the support of the Greyjoy's, her army of the Unsullied, and the Dothraki. That following is going to be hard to take down and she is a big time favorite to finish season 7 on the Iron Throne. Tyrion Lannister is one of the best characters in the show. His line, "I drink and I know things" really explains him the best. The last time we saw him he became an advisor for Daenerys and was standing at the front of her ship sailing to Westeros. He is a dark horse to take over the Iron Throne, but while Dany is still alive that probably will not happen.

Jon Snow has had quite the interesting run as a character on Game of Thrones. He went from being the bastard son of Ned Stark, to joining the Knight's Watch, to becoming the Lord Commander of the Watch, to seeing his Brothers of the Watch stab him in the back... literally. He was then brought back to life by Melisandre and joined his sister Sansa to become King of the North. After this, his brother, Bran, sees in a vision that he is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen making Dany his aunt. This weakens his claim on the North since he is not a Stark but Bran is the only one who knows Jon's true identity. He has possibly had the most crazy and interesting story of the show so far and could very well become the one who sits on the Iron Throne. Speaking of Bran, at the end of season 6 he touches the Weirwood and becomes the "Three-Eyed Raven" after the Wights attack and kill Hodor and the original Three-Eyed Raven. After becoming the Three-Eyed Raven Bran sees the vision of Jon Snow's birth which proves he is a Targaryen.

All of this is happening while the White Walker Army is about to attack and possibly destroy everything and everyone in their path. I really hope we get to see more of the Army because they are some bad ass dudes and there are only a few ways to kill them. They are slowly making their way to the Wall and the main question is will the Wall hold up against their attack? The tagline for the season is "Winter is Here" which hopefully talks about the attack of the Walkers. Looking at the trailer for season 7, it looks like it is going to be a blood bath with battles everywhere and the possibility of a major war.

There are multiple characters I did not write about: Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Gendry Petyr Baelish, Jaime Lannister, ect. But this post is already longer than I anticipated. So, here is it, my prediction for who sits on the Iron Throne at the end of season 7 is.......TYRION LANNISTER

Cardinals at the Break

As promised here is my take on the Cardinals at the MLB All-Star Break:

My take on the Cardinals changes every 2 weeks; they win 5 or 6 games in a row then go on a terrible losing streak and lose 7 or 8 in a row. They are an extremely tough team to gauge and I have flipped flopped on what I think they should do in the second half after a weird first half of the season. Part of me wants to say blow the team up except for a few core guys and go into a rebuild mode, while the other part of me says we are 41-44 and only 5.5 games back of the NL Central lead. The NL Central has been extremely bad this year, but I still believe the Cubs are the team to beat even with how bad they have played lately. They have dealt with a lot of injuries and a lot of guys not playing the way they should, which usually evens out in the course of 162 games.

I really like what the Cardinals have done lately however, they called up a few of the players from Memphis who have been dominating in AAA. Now I am not sure if these call-ups had to do with guys like Dexter Fowler, Kolten Wong, and Kevin Siegrist getting hurt and going to the disabled list. This opens up a roster spot for Luke Voit, Alex Mejia, John Brebbia, and Tommy Pham but all of these players have had solid contributions for the big league club. The Cardinals finally got rid of Jhonny Peralta and sent Aledmys Diaz down to the minors after his struggles which opened the door for some of this younger talent to emerge. The real question is what happens when Wong, Fowler, and Siegrist all get healthy? Or when Diaz starts hitting again in the minors? The front office is going to have some extremely tough decisions to make regarding who gets sent back down until rosters expand in September.

I am not a fan of the Cardinals coaching staff and believe this is some of the reason for the up and down season we are having. Our hitters and pitchers have struggled with a few exceptions but when they get sent down they start excelling again. We bring them back up they do well for a few weeks then they fall right back in the same problems they had before. For me this falls on the coaching staff not being properly prepared and willing to work with some of the younger talent the Cardinals have. In my opinion the Cards need to shop some of their guys around and see what they can get from other teams looking to bolster their roster. We have always been a team of aging, proven players that does not like to give roster spots to some of our younger talent. In  my opinion, the Cardinals have a decent farm system but nothing that jumps off the screen. Why not see what guys like Jedd Gyorko, Lance Lynn, or even Matt Carpenter are worth? If you can get a haul of some decent prospects for these guys it would definitely intrigue me. However I am sure the Cardinals will stand pat at the deadline and try to make the playoffs with the team they have and see what happens. Once you get in the playoffs anything is possible.

Royals at the Break from James Schneider

We have our first outside contribution this week on "For Your Entertainment" it comes from a good friend of mine and an expert on anything Kansas City related. The one and only James Schneider joins us to give us his take on the Kansas City Royals at the MLB All-Star break. He will break down what he has seen from the Royals in the first half of the season and where he sees them going in the second half; tomorrow you will all see my take on the Cardinals at the break in a separate post. So without further ado James Schneider's take on the Royals:

It’s the midway point of the season and as a Royals fan it has been a crazy ride.  After opening the season 7-7, the Royals promptly went on a 9-game losing streak. The team seemed disinterested, with our biggest stars focused on free agency and possible big paydays. This set off all the alarms in Kansas City, fans calling for trades, questions about management and direction, and most importantly what the hell was Rex Hudler going to spin it to the fans. As we inch closer to the All-Star break, the Royals find themselves back in the thick of things for the AL Central Division.

 I was one of the many calling for trades and a re-stocking of a farm system devoid of all-star material. There were rumblings of a trade with the Nationals and their coveted prospect Victor Robles. The cost, Lorenzo Cain and Kelvin Herrera. This seemed like a fantastic opportunity to pick up one of baseball’s top prospects. As, a fan it would and will be hard to see players go, especially ones that have been part of an extraordinary turnaround for a franchise that had no direction. I felt they needed to pull the trigger and if we are going to be losers again, lets field a young team and watch them learn how to win. I mean we’ve done it before, right? These rumblings turned out to be speculative at best.

Then, to make matters worse, Danny Duffy went down for six weeks and we also lost Nate Karns. Duffy had picked up where he left off last year and Karns was pitching lights out. When they went down and we were forced to watch Chris Young take the mound, I thought surely this is when the wheeling and dealing would start. Through all of this, Yost and Moore preached patience and caution, no moves would be made without giving the squad a chance. The lineup was shuffled placing Escobar at the top of the order, in hopes of grabbing some of that 2014-2015 magic that he seemed to possess. For a brief time, it appeared to be a spark. However, the Royals could not get closer than 5 games below .500.  

Then, the switch was flipped and the team took off. A road trip out west proved to be just what they needed. They rattled off 6 in a row and came back home 33-35. What awaited them was the AL East leading Red Sox, and the Royals took 2 of 3. Game three ended with a grand slam by Salvador Perez, and for someone who was there to see it, that felt like the moment you could believe in this team again.

Since then, the Royals have gone 6-4 and sit at 41-40, 3 games back of the division leading Indians. There is now talk amongst fans of going after bigger trades to make a real push and give this core one last chance to get a title together. The odds of retaining any of the big four, Hosmer, Cain, Moustakas or Escobar are slim. Escobar is the most likely to be retained and has the least amount of trade value of the four. If anything, the Royals will likely make small moves to bolster the bullpen. They lack the prospects, it appears, to make a big splash like they did in 2015 for Cueto and Zobrist. But, Dayton Moore has an above average track record when it comes to deals and seems to have an eye for diamonds in the rough. This team is hard to read but they have a winning pedigree and to this point, seem to have found their stride.