Eagles Sign Nnamdi Asomugha; Phillies Trade For Hunter Pence

The Philadelphia Eagles signed Nnamdi Asomugha to a fair and reasonable 5-year deal. He will join Doninique Rodgers-Cromartie and presumably Asante Samuel in making sure opposing teams never complete a pass against the Eagles again. Unless of course Samuel is traded. Even if the value is good, that would be poop pants, considering Joselio Hanson would then be the nickel corner behind DRC and Asomugha. But signing Asomugha is seriously, seriously awesome.

The Philadelphia Phillies traded Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Josh Zeid, and one low A ball player to be named later in exchange for Hunter Pence and enough cash to prevent the Phillies from crossing the luxury tax threshold. While no A prospect is can't miss, it is sucky that Cosart and Singleton are traded, as they have potentially very high ceilings. Josh Zeid is in AA now and could be in the majors as a middle reliever next year. Unfortunately, Hunter Pence is largely overrated and represents at best a marginal upgrade over the man in the outfield he will likely be taking time from, Domonic Brown. At this stage, the wise thing would be to send Brown back to AAA and let him practice left field until the September 1 call-ups. Brown's only played 8 total games in LF in his time in the Phillies system. Pence appears like a lock to slot into right field. Get Brown reps in left now. The only thing that makes me relieved about this Pence deal is that contrary to what was reported earlier, Brown was not traded. Pence's BABIP is 5th highest in the majors thus far this year. Regression can be a bitch. Pence is good, but he is not great. But at least Domonic Brown is still on the Phillies. At the start of the day, that is basically all I asked for to be true by the end of the day. And sure enough, it is.

The Eagles Front Office are the top Front Office in Philadelphia. And that has never been more clearer than today. Amaro has his moments of glory (Lee trade #1, Halladay, Oswalt, Lee signing), but when he fucks up, he sure know how to go for the jugular (selling low on Lee trade #2, Howard's contract, Ibanez signing and contract, selling low on Cosart and Singleton for the 25th best outfielder in MLB). Eagles are shrewd. Amaro is a gambling addict. Nowak blames fans. Holmgren can't do math . Stefanski does not have a clue.

The Butterfly Effect: How One Decision Two Years Ago Continues To Shape The Philadelphia Eagles Today

The Butterfly Effect (noun): The phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

Think about this. Sometime in the summer of 2009, the Philadelphia Eagles made a very crucial decision, that as small in the grand scheme of things as it may have seemed then, has impacted the roster more than anyone could have ever fathomed back then.

The Philadelphia Eagles decided they wanted to take a flyer on Michael Vick upon his release from prison. The Eagles followed their decision to sign him by actually landing him. As controversial as the move was, no one could have predicted what happened next.

Signing Michael Vick led to the Eagles having three quarterbacks on their team. Someone had to go.

Having no more use to them, the Eagles traded one of those QBs, Donovan McNabb, to Washington for a 2010 2nd round pick (Nate Allen) and a 2011 4th round pick (The Eagles traded this pick to Tampa in exchange for Tampa's 2011 4th rounder (Casey Matthews) and a 2012 4th rounder.)

Then after Kevin Kolb got injured in the first game of the season, Michael Vick came in and never looked back. He took the job away from Kolb, and that allowed Kolb to be expandable.

The Eagles traded Kevin Kolb, another QB no longer of any use to them, to Arizona for a former first round draft pick and Pro Bowl CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 2nd round pick.

To summarize, the decision to sign Michael Vick has given the Eagles the following things:

Michael Vick
Nate Allen (2nd round pick)
Casey Matthews (4th round pick)
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
2012 2nd round pick
2012 4th round pick.

All of those guys are penciled in to be starters on this year's team, with the exception of Casey Matthews, who may yet win a starting job in training camp.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is The Butterfly Effect.

Best. Minute Of Transactions. Ever.

Two amazing things happened in the exact same minute.

The Eagles traded Kevin Kolb to Arizona for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2nd round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. I've always been a fan of Kolb, but this is without a doubt a good deal for the Eagles and I will have more on that later.

Bob Bradley was relieved of his duties on the U.S. Men's National Team. Bob Bradley was never any good, but the last three years were miserable, painful, and embarrassing beyond belief. It is about time Sunil Gulati grew a sack of balls and got rid of Bradley. As long as it is not an American or MLS Coach, I don't care who the new guy is to replace Bradley's spot. Anyone, including many monkeys, are better suited for that job than Bob Bradley was.

Now attention turns to the Phillies, as they debate whether or not to make a franchise-altering blunder by shipping Domonic Brown to Houston for Hunter Pence. Don't Trade Dom!

7/25 Padres Vs. Phillies Live Blog

It is a Monday day game and I've got nothing to do today, so enjoy this live blog! Because this is a local only telecast and I do not know who else would even be able to watch it, let alone be able to chat, I am not sending any email invitations out. If you want to chat, just hop into the comments section and I'll add you.

AFL Playoffs Conference Semifinal Schedule

Well, the Arena Football League Playoffs are back! And this year, I will be offering insane, unprecedented coverage of them. For reasons that I can only describe as pure insanity, I have decided to live blog this entire thing. Even the games that will only be available online at niftytv.com. Eight teams are entering, and only one will emerge as ArenaBowl XXIV champion on August 12, 2011. I will have a more in-depth preview of this later in the week, but for now, here is your schedule for the first round of the 2011 AFL Playoffs, the Conference Semifinals! (all times ET)

American Conference Semifinals

July 29: #4 Orlando Predators vs. #1 Jacksonville Sharks 8:00 (NFL Network)
July 31: #3 Georgia Force vs. #2 Cleveland Gladiators 3:00 (niftytv.com)

National Conference Semifinals

July 29: #3 Dallas Vigilantes vs. #2 Chicago Rush 8:30 (niftytv.com)
July 29: #4 Spokane Shock vs. #1 Arizona Rattlers 10:00 (niftytv.com)

Philadelphia Fans Cheer A Catch That Robs Raul Ibanez Of A Home Run. Wait, What?!?!?!?

But please, GQ, keep telling us how Philadelphia Phillies fans are the worst fans in the country.

Because It's Been A While Since I Poked Fun At Keith Olbermann

Check out his beginning of the season prediction for the Philadelphia Philies:

Philadelphia: If everybody had been healthy, they still would’ve been overrated. Win all the divisions you want – eventually an unreliable closer will cost you too much to survive it. Now he’s hurt, and his heir presumptive is so incapable of stepping up that his manager and general manager have publicly expressed their doubts about him. There’s the outfield, already a problem spot before Domonic Brown was hurt (Raul Ibanez is its power – he hit 16 homers last year). And most disastrous of all, deranging everything from the infield defense to the entire batting order, is the combination injury/enigma of Chase Utley. I’ll repeat what I wrote here in my Fantasy Notes last week: everything I heard from everybody I know connected to the Phillies says that Utley’s options are season-ending knee surgery, or virtually-season-ending rehab. Either way, offensively the Phillies are reduced to Ryan Howard with very little line-up protection, the hustle and skill of Shane Victorino, and lord-knows-what from Jimmy Rollins. The Phillies are not contenders. Oh yeah – nice rotation. Unfortunately it’s like living in a mansion with no furniture.

As of the games played on July 23, 2011, the Phillies are five games ahead of the Braves for 1st place in the NL East, 10 games ahead of Arizona for a playoff spot, and are on pace to end the season with over 100 wins.

The Phillies offense may not be the world-beating offense it was in 2007, but baseball is as much about preventing runs as it is scoring runs. The Phillies have been excellent at preventing runs, and are not completely terrible at scoring them. Thus, you have the best team in baseball through July 23.

I wonder if Keith Olbermann believes the Phillies are contenders now.......

(h/t to Tug Haines on Twitter)