On Jimmy Rollins And Hustle

Jimmy Rollins did not run full speed on an infield fly that did not even reach the pitcher's mound.  Niese dropped it.  Because Jimmy did not run full speed on what is normally a routine out, he could not make it to second base after the drop.  That Jimmy later stole second is irrelevant.  That that's the farthest Jimmy could go because Kyle Kendrick was on 3rd is also irrelevant.

Jimmy did not hustle out of the batter's box.  Charlie Manuel benched him.  Jimmy Rollins did not hustle.  Again.  It is written.

Only that above paragraph about hustling is complete bullshit.

Trivia question.  Who does not run full speed on routine outs?
Answer:  Everyone!

Why?

Because if it is a routine play, there is no need to exert yourself or risk injury on a play where there is a 98% you are out.  And if the runner drops it, the cost of an out (or in this case just one stupid fucking base that would later be repaid) is so minute that risking pulling a hamstring on a play where you are out 98% of the time really is not worth it.  It's common sense.  Jimmy Rollins is right.  Charlie Manuel, and you who criticize him for it are wrong.  There is no middle ground here.  This is explored farther here in this TGP post based on a similar incident a couple weeks ago in Miami.

But wait.  I'll go farther.

Why is Jimmy Rollins get criticized for hustle but Chase Utley is praised for it?  Watch Chase Utley the next time he hits an infield fly.  He absolutely does not run full speed on routine infield fly balls and groundball outs, yet, Utley will get praised for hustle.  So why the discrepancy?

The answer is hidden in plain view.

I Am Not Telling You There Is A Chance

A prevailing thought after the Phillies sweep of the Nationals this weekend* seems to be there is a chance after all of the Phillies making the playoffs.  After all they are on a winning streak, they swept the best team in the NL East with authority, and they got rid of soon to be noted clubhouse cancer Shane Victorino.**  So as it stands, the Phillies are 9.5 games out of the wild card with over 30 games left.  This can be done, right?  This is possible.  After all, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays did it, right?

*LOLNats
**The media would never make Hunter Pence a clubhouse cancer because he is white and he hustles.  Poor Shane.  He does not deserve this. :(

Unfortunately, that is not the way that it works.

Let's Talk About Kyle Scott Of CrossingBroad.com's Half-Assed Blogging

I probably should not be writing this.  Kyle Scott is an attention whore who thrives on pageviews, and this is giving him attention and a pageview as I need to reference the post in order to write this piece.  But no matter, thousands of people flock to his site everyday.  My one pageview that I use to eviscerate him here won't be the difference in his life.   But I do hope some perspective readers stumble upon this before stumbling upon him, and avoid him all together.  That's probably a bit of an idealistic approach to things, but if the ideal becomes reality, it will be worth it.

So with that being said, here is an FJM-style takedown of one of the worst independent bloggers in Philadelphia with a large following that I can't even begin to explain.

The focus of Kyle Scott's piece is Jimmy Rollins.  You can read it at this link, although I'll be blockquoting everything here.  I won't embed the video, but what happened on the play was Rollins hit a routine groundball, Jose Reyes struggled to field it, Rollins slowly jogged to first, and Reyes threw Rollins out.

The 76ers Have Become Relevant Again

Now that it is officially official, here are all the parts that moved in the Dwight Howard trade.

Denver Nuggets trade
Arron Afflalo
Al Harrington
2014 first-round pick
2013 second-round pick

Denver Nuggets receive
Andre Iguodala

Los Angeles Lakers trade
Andrew Bynum
Josh McRoberts
Christian Eyenga
2017 conditional first-round draft pick
2015 conditional second-round draft pick

Los Angeles Lakers receive
Dwight Howard
Chris Duhon
Earl Clark

Orlando Magic trade
Dwight Howard
Chris Duhon
Earl Clark
Jason Richardson

Orlando Magic receive
Arron Afflalo
Al Harrington
Nikola Vucevic
Moe Harkless
Josh McRoberts
Christian Eyenga
2014 first-round pick from Denver
2017 Conditional first-round pick from Los Angeles Lakers
Conditional first-round pick from Philadelphia
2013 second-round pick from Denver
2015 conditional second-round pick from Los Angeles Lakers

Philadelphia 76ers trade
Andre Iguodala
Nikola Vucevic
Moe Harkless
Conditional first-round pick

Philadelphia 76ers receive
Andrew Bynum
Jason Richardson

Phew.  Got all that?  All in all, 12 players and five draft picks changed hands in the Dwight Howard blockbuster that will change the landscape of the NBA for years to come.

There are so many angles to cover with this trade.  For starters, every team did well in this trade except the team who traded Dwight Howard.  The Magic wanted draft picks, and they got them, but none of them are lottery picks.  The Magic wanted cap flexibility, but retained Hedo Turkoglu while taking on the contracts of Harrington and Afflalo leaving them not much flexibility for next summer. The Magic did get young players, though, although there are certainly questions as to their quality. Of the players the Magic got, the most interesting is Moe Harkless.  I'm not sure if his season is that high, but he is a project, and he does have upside, although I think the Magic were probably better off dealing with Houston if they wanted the best young players they could get for Howard.

As for the Sixers, I mentioned Moe Harkless earlier as an interesting prospect that I would have liked to have seen develop, but acquiring Bynum is so worth it that I don't care.

Nik Vucevic is a back-up center on a good team with a low ceiling.  In other words, he's a slightly better version of Spencer Hawes.

Andre Iguodala is an elite perimeter defender and a fantastic transition player, but the Sixers absolutely needed to trade him to get his salary off the books in order to institute a re-build.  During his eight years in Philadelphia, he managed to join the Bobby Abreu Club of Criminally Under-appreciated Philadelphia Sports Athletes, an honor that is not as rare as you would think.  Over the past year, it seems that the tide had finally begun to turn in favor of Iguodala in terms of the "Iggy sux he thinks he's Kobe!" narrative.  He finally made the All-Star game, he hit "clutch" free throws to eliminate Chicago, and he will walk away from London as proud owner of an Olympic medal.  The color of said medal is to be determined.  Iggy's first game as a Nugget will be in the Wells Fargo Center against the 76ers.  If he does not receive a standing ovation, a murdery feeling may come over me.

With Andrew Bynum, the Sixers now have easily the best center in the Eastern Conference and arguably the second best center in the NBA, behind only Dwight Howard.  Elite NBA centers are rare.  Elite NBA centers playing in Philadelphia are even rarer.  With Andrew Bynum, the Sixers have an elite NBA center.

For the past decade, the 76ers have treaded water at a mediocre level, being nowhere near an NBA Championship and nowhere near bad enough to find a franchise altering player in the draft.  With this one trade, though, that has changed.   They won't contend for a championship, but the foundation is there.  They may not be contenders now, but they are contenders to be contenders in the future, and that is a whole hell of a lot more than anyone could say for the Sixers since the peak of the Iverson era.  The Sixers have the flexibility to offer Bynum a max contract, will finally be giving Jrue Holiday an athletic big to work with, and are perhaps a 2013 Paul Millsap signing away from being a legitimate championship contender in the Eastern Conference.

This is such a weird and unusual feeling.  After years and years of pessimism and mediocrity, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally given me a reason to be optimistic.

Welcome to Philadelphia, Andrew Bynum.  Here's to a return to relevancy for Sixers basketball.