CarterHud

 

  Every league has a Hart trophy, but the NHL is the only league that calls it the Hart trophy. The other leagues call it MVP. The Hart trophy is awarded to the best NHL player. This year\’s Hart finalists are Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

     Crosby has been the best player in the world about his entire career. This year, he played like a star, with 89 points (44 goals and 45 assists) in 75 games. His 44 goals won the Maurice \”Rocket\” Richard trophy. \”Sid the Kid\” has had a successful career, with a pair of Harts under his belt already.

     In just his second season, McDavid scored 100 points (30 goals and 70 assists) in 82 games. At 20 years old, McDavid is the youngest captain in NHL history. If he wins the Hart, he\’ll be the youngest to win the Hart since Crosby won it at 20 in 2007.

     Goalies aren\’t your average Hart winner, but Carey Price won the Hart 2 years ago. Bobrovsky should win the Vezina this year, with his GAA of 2.06 and SV% of .931. He led his Blue Jackets to the playoffs, and that\’s impressive, because they were a mess last year.

     I think McDavid will win. He had the more points than Crosby, so he\’s already better than him. You could argue that Bobrovsky was better, but even if they were the same age, would you trade Bobrovsky for McDavid? I would in a heartbeat.

     If I asked you which teams would be at the bottom of the standings in the 2017 MLB season, before the season, you might say the San Diego Padres, the Cincinnati Reds, or the Chicago White Sox. The Padres are 11-16, the Reds are 11-13, and the Sox 13-10, so they aren\’t that bad so far. But three teams that you would expect to be at the top of the standings are the 3 worst teams in baseball after a month. They are the San Francisco Giants (9-17), the Toronto Blue Jays (8-17) and the Kansas City Royals (7-16).

      San Francisco Giants

      The Bad
Giants ace Madison \”MadBum\” Bumgarner has been an all-star in each of the last 4 years, with ERAs under 3 in each of them. Things were off to an okay start in 2017, with a 3 ERA in 27 innings, striking out 28 batters. But then, during in off-day in Colorado, something bad happened for MadBum. He was in a dirt bike accident, and suffered a Grade 2 joint sprain. He\’s expected to be out for 3 months, missing the ASG. That\’s about 15 starts he\’ll miss.

      The Positive
Top prospect Christian Arroyo made his MLB debut, even though it wasn\’t the start he was hoping for it was okay. The 22 year old hit .207, hit 2 HRs and 4 RBIs in 29 ABs (7 games). He looks like he can really be star in the MLB, even though the early numbers don\’t prove it.

       Toronto Blue Jays

       The Bad
They have way too many injuries. Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki and Aaron Sanchez are all on the DL. Losing Edwin Encarnacion to Cleveland hurts too. Devon Travis is a career .300 hitter, but is hitting just .130 so far. Jose Bautista is hitting .178, with just 1 homer. Closer Roberto Osuna has a has a 5.53 ERA and just 3 saves. They need to get going.

       The Positive
They\’ve always been able to hit bombs. When Donaldson and Tulowitzki come back, they need to get hot. Same goes for the rest of the team. Luckily, they still have May, June, July, August and September to turn the season around.

      Kansas City Royals

      The Bad
They are last in the MLB. Their stars are in their walk years, and the Royals might want to ship them off. The passing of Yordano Ventura really hurt them. Their past 2 closers, Greg Holland and Wade Davis are perfect with their new teams. They aren\’t the same team that won the 2015 WS, but they can still finish above .500.

      The Positive
They haven\’t been that bad, if you look at the stats. New ace Danny Duffy
 has a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings. Good stuff. Like I said with Toronto, there is still 5 months left to play.

     Injuries are a big part of sports and life. Injuries can prevent you from doing your job. In baseball, and other sports, players miss seasons due to injuries. After players return from injury, they might not play as well as before, or might play like they never left. Even though it\’s only April, two MLB players are already done for 2017.

     In December of 2015, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Atlanta Braves made a very famous trade. The D-backs acquired then all-star pitcher Shelby Miller for big prospects Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair, plus solid outfielder Ender Inciarte. Miller was awful in his first year in Arizona, with a 6.15 ERA in 101 innings. He struck out just 70 batters. Blair wasn\’t great either, but Swanson and Inciarte were very good for Atlanta. Looking to turn things around in 2017, Miller pitched 22 innings, with a 4.09 ERA, with 20 Ks. Things were looking better for Miller, but he was diagnosed with right elbow inflammation. He decided to undergo Tommy John surgery, and will miss 1 and a half years. \”It\’s the best decision I think we can make,\” Miller said in a statement. \”[It\’s] a tough day for all [of] us. We fully believe in the process that he followed, we fully believe in everything he has learned, and we\’re just anxious to see how the surgery goes and start the strategy to get him back and get him working and see where he takes us next year,\” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said.

      This offseason, there was another big trade. The Chicago White Sox sent star CF Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals for pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning. The gave up a big haul for Eaton, but they believed Eaton would be the last piece needed to win a World Series. According to baseball reference, Eaton had a 6.1 WAR last season with Chicago. And he\’s a career .284 hitter, swiping 57 bags in 544 career games. But bad news happened quickly. Eaton started off the 2017 season with a .297 average and 3 steals. But during a game vs the New York Mets, Eaton tore his ACL. Eaton has the same injury as Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber did last year, and Schwarber missed the entire regular season.

     The Chicago Blackhawks have traded goalie Scott Darling to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a third round pick in the 2017 NHL draft. Let\’s get into details.

      On July 1, Darling can become a UFA. The Hawks made a good move to get value from him before he likely leaves. Expect the Hawks to go after a goalie to backup starter Corey Crawford this offseason. After trading Darling, GM Stan Bowman thanked Darling for his tenure in Chicago, including a Stanley Cup win. \”We could count on Scott in any situation as he was always reliable,\” Bowman told NHL.com. \”We appreciate his contributions to the Blackhawks organization, including a Stanley Cup championship team. We wish him well as he continues he career in Carolina.\” Darling, 28, was drafted 153rd overall (6th round) of the 2007 NHL draft by the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes. But he\’s only played in the NHL for the Hawks. This year, Darling had a 2.38 GAA and a .924 SV% in 32 games. He had a career 2.37 GAA and a SV% of .923 in 75 games.

       The Canes need goaltending. Their starter, Cam Ward had a 2.69 GAA and just a .905 SV% in 61 games this year. Their backup, Eddie Lack, had similar numbers this season, with a 2.64 GAA and a .902 SV% in 19 games. The only problem is that both Ward and Lack are under contract for next season. They owe Ward $3.3 million, and Lack $2.75 million. If the Canes sign Darling, then him and Ward will share the starting job. Lack would most likely be traded for late picks. Luckily for Carolina, both Lack and Ward will be free agents at the end of next season. That would make one of them easier to deal. Canes GM Ron Francis was happy to have Darling aboard. \”Scott had a very successful season in Chicago and was a big part of the Blackhawks finishing with the best record in the Western conference. He played a critical role on Chicago\’s 2015 championship team,\” Francis said in a statement. The third rounder originally belonged to the Ottawa Senators, but was acquired by the Canes in a trade that sent LW Viktor Stalberg to Ottawa.

      Raise your hand if you love the trade deadline, whether it\’s the MLB, NHL, NBA, NFL or something else. I just raised both of my hands. The trade deadline is always exciting. Guys are switching teams, changing franchises sometimes. So, why not predict who will be traded? So, I\’m predicting which MLB players are most likely to switch teams closer to – or at the deadline.

       Jay Bruce/Curtis Granderson, New York Mets
 Both Bruce and Granderson are upcoming free agents. They\’re occupying starting roles, but 24 year old Michael Conforto is trying to take one of their jobs. There\’s no way the Mets trade both of them, but there\’s a good chance one goes. In the offseason, Bruce almost went to Baltimore. The Mets would rather trade Bruce, but teams are interested in Granderson more. Bruce\’s numbers suggest he want to stay in the Big apple. He has 6 homers in 2017, 2nd out of all upcoming free agents (Mike Moustakas and Mark Reynolds). Granderson is hitting just .141 to start the season.

       Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals
Everybody on this list is an upcoming free agent, because those are the most common type of players who are traded. Along with Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, Cain is one of the Royals core players from the 2015 WS that is an upcoming free agent. Moustakas is starting the season well, and Hosmer is the face of the franchise. Cain is hitting a solid .278, but has no HRs. He\’s swiped 6 bags. It may be time for him to Loren-go.

        Todd Frazier, Chicago White Sox
After the Sox traded stars Chris Sale and Adam Eaton this offseason, it looked like Frazier was going to go, too. The Sox kept him, but he hasn\’t started out well. He\’s hitting .163. He only has 1 bomb, and hit 40 last year. He\’s on pace for just 8 homers this year. If he heats up, the Sox can get a big haul for him.

         Marco Estrada/Francisco Liriano, Toronto Blue Jays
The Jays are off to a horrible start, with a 6-16 record after 22 games. That\’s a .273 winning %. They\’re also on pace for just 42 wins. They have 2 starters they can sell if they continue to play poorly. Liriano has a 4.58 ERA in 17.2 IP. Estrada has a 2.70 ERA in 30 IP. Many teams need pitching, and they could use a guy like Estrada or Liriano.

         Francisco Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers
\”K-Rod\” is the Tigers\’ closer, but isn\’t starting off well. He has an ERA of 6.23 in 8.2 innings. Blowing a pair of saves. At 35, Rodriguez might be dropping off. But a team like the Nationals would probably be willing to take that risk.