CarterHud

      

The Los Angeles Kings have signed winger Tanner Pearson to a 4 year, $15 million extension. The AAV is $3.75 million.

       Pearson, 24, was drafted by the Kings 30th overall (first round) of the 2012 NHL draft. In 2014, Pearson won the Stanley Cup with the Kings. In 2016-17, Pearson set career highs in goals (24, also his first 20+ goal season), points (44) and games (80). That\’s also 20 assists, one below his career high. In his career, Pearson has 103 points (54 goals and 49 assists) in 226 games, all with the Kings. He led the Kings in shorthanded points this season, and tied for first for shorthanded goals.

        Pearson was an upcoming RFA this year. He\’s known most for being part of the Kings 70s line (All 3 forwards have a number in the 70s), along with Tyler Toffoli (another upcoming RFA) and Jeff Carter.

     

The Dallas Stars have acquired the rights to goalie Ben Bishop from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 4th round pick in the 2017 NHL draft. Let\’s get into details.

       The Stars two goalies, Kari Lehtonen and Antii Niemi, were both awful in 2016-17. Lehtonen had a 2.85 GAA and a SV% of .902. Niemi\’s GAA and SV% were 3.30 and .892. They missed the playoffs. They badly need a goalie. Bishop has been elite in his career. He can be a free agent on July 1st, but Dallas should sign him. The only problem is that they owe Lehtonen $5.9 mil next year and Niemi $4.5 mil next year, before they both hit free agency. They can\’t trade those players, and they both have a modified NTC. I expect they\’ll sign Bishop, and buy out Niemi, and have Lehtonen back Bishop up. Bishop, 30, had a .910 SV% and a 2.54 GAA with the Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning last year, after a trade deadline deal. He has a career GAA of 2.32 and a SV% of .919 in 270 games for the Kings, Lightning, Ottawa Senators and St. Louis Blues. \”Ben has proven that he is one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL,\” Stars GM Jim Nill said in a statement. \”This offers us the opportunity to negotiate with him before the free agency period begins.\”

        The Kings didn\’t need Bishop, with all-star Jonathan Quick on the team. So, to just get value out of him, even just a 4th rounder was a good job by GM Rob Blake. The 4th rounder originally belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, but was acquired by the Stars in a deadline trade for defenseman Jordie Benn.

  

Cancer is very tough to deal with, and everybody has to deal with it. Recently, the Pittsburgh Pirates have received tough news on one of their best pitchers.

       On Monday, 25 year old starter Jameson Taillon underwent surgery for suspected testicular cancer. The surgery was performed at Alleghany General Hospital. \”Jameson has again proven to us what a strong person he is by the way in which he has reacted to this development,\” Pirates GM Neal Huntington said in a statement. \”We are appreciative of Dr. Lynne and the staff at Alleghany General Hospital for their invaluable expertise and efforts in caring for Jameson. We have told Jameson that our only priority is his health and well-being. His teammates, our coaches, baseball staff and entire organization will support him in his recovery in every possible way and we will keep him in our thoughts and prayers.\”

        Taillon was drafted 2nd overall in 2010, behind Nats slugger Bryce Harper and one ahead of Orioles star Manny Machado. Even though both have been dominating the league since 2012, Taillon got his first call-up to the MLB last year, with a 3.38 ERA in 104 innings. This year, he has a 3.31 ERA in 35.1 innings. That\’s a career ERA of 3.36 in 139.1 innings, punching out 115 batters.

        Taillon\’s surgery is similar to the one Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis underwent in December. But Bettis\’ cancer remained, and had chemotherapy. He\’s expected to miss the entire 2017 season.

         After his last start, the Pirates placed Taillon on the 10 day DL, with a groin injury.

         Taillon is used to bad injuries. He had Tommy John surgery in 2014, surgery to replace a sports hernia in 2015. In the minors, he was hit in the head by a 105 miles per hour line drive.

          After the surgery, Taillon posted the following on his twitter account (@JTaillon19):

         

      The San Diego Padres have acquired OF Matt Szczur from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for RHP Justin Hancock. Let\’s get into details.

       To make room for LHP Rob Zastryzny on their roster, the Cubs DFA\’d Szczur. That means he\’s likely to be traded, or acquired via waivers. So, they\’ll take the extra player in Hancock. The 26 year old pitcher has never played in the MLB, after being drafted by the Padres in the 9th round of the 2011 draft. The highest he\’s played is for the El Paso Chihuahuas (AAA), in 2016 and 2015. This year, he\’s only played for the San Antonio Missions (AA). He has a 6.23 ERA in 13 innings this year.

        The Padres and GM A.J. Preller saw that Szczur was available. He traded a farm pitcher for an MLB quality outfielder. Szczur isn\’t the strongest hitter. In 4 seasons (all with the Cubs), Szczur hit just .243 in 338 ABs, hitting 8 homers and 40 RBIs, plus 4 steals. He was also a part of the Cubs team last year that won the first World Series in franchise history in 108 years. Szczur\’s mainly in the MLB because of his fielding. He\’s played all 3 outfield positions, with 161 putouts, one outfield assist, and exactly 0 errors in 666.1 innings in the field. According to baseball reference, Szczur has a career WAR of -0.6.

        To make room for Szczur on their 40 man roster, the Cubs transferred LHP Buddy Baumann to the 60 day DL, after a bike accident in March.

         In other Cubs news, they placed OF Jason Heyward on the 10 day DL. He has a .253 BA, 3 HRs, 17 RBIs and a SB in 99 ABs this year.

      Setting the record books is (normally) a fun thing to do. Your name – or your team\’s name will go down forever, until someone breaks the record.

       On Sunday, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees set a record for most combined strikeouts in a game, with 48. That\’s 144 strikes alone! The most strikeouts one team can have in a 9 inning game is 27. That would be 54 in all. The Yanks and Cubs got some help, as the game went to 18 innings.

        To make it more weird, of the 15 pitchers who pitched at least 0.1 inning, all of them struck out at least a batter. Also, 25 different batters struck out (because the game was played at Wrigley Field, a national league park, pitchers hit. So, there was many pinch hitters).

         The only hitters to not strike out (minimum 1 AB) where Ronald Torreyes, Gary Sanchez and Chasen Shreve of the Yanks, and Miguel Montero and Tommy La Stella of the Cubs. Each of them had just one at-bat.

           Here\’s some stats from last night:
Pitchers with strikeouts:
Luis Severino, Yankees, 9
Jon Lester, Cubs, 9
Chasen Shreve, Yankees, 5
Tyler Clippard, Yankees, 3
Wade Davis, Cubs, 3
Carl Edwards, Cubs, 3
Jonathan Holder, Yankees, 3
Aroldis Chapman, Yankees, 2
Dellin Betances, Yankees, 2
Mike Montgomery, Cubs, 2
Brian Duensing, Cubs, 2
Adam Warren, Yankees, 2
Koji Uehara, Cubs, 1
Justin Grimm, Cubs, 1
Pedro Strop, Cubs, 1

Batters who struck out:
Aaron Hicks, Yankees, 4
Chase Headley, Yankees, 4
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs, 3
Addison Russell, Cubs, 3
Kris Bryant, Cubs, 3
Kyle Schwarber, Cubs, 3
Willson Contreras, Cubs, 3
Chris Carter, Yankees, 2
Matt Holliday, Yankees, 2
Albert Almora, Cubs, 2
Austin Romine, Yankees, 2
Starlin Castro, Yankees, 2
Javier Baez, Cubs, 2
Rob Refsnyder, Yankees, 1
Jake Arrieta, Cubs, 1
John Lackey, Cubs, 1
Kyle Hendricks, Cubs, 1
Luis Severino, Yankees, 1
Jon Lester, Cubs, 1
Aaron Judge, Yankees, 1
Ben Zobrist, Cubs, 1
Brett Gardner, Yankees, 1
Jacoby Ellsbury, Yankees, 1
Didi Gregorius, Yankees, 1