Moving Madness

Earlier in the week Jose Reyes made a crazy-expensive deal with the Marlins. As a New York Mets fan, it was sad to see Reyes go, but something I had been preparing for. On a bigger-picture scale, it was the type of signing all sports fans today have to get accustomed to. Players don't stay with the same team for their entire careers anymore; Michael Jordan and Brett Favre made sure we understood that. And teams are often more interested in moving a hot commodity who they think they can get good rebuilding value for. Sometimes, teams just don't have the money to make a move for a top-tier athlete. Whatever the reasons are, the fact remains: the professional sports landscape today is one of big business in which everybody is looking to make a move.

Still, knowing that about sports couldn't have prepared you for last night's whirlwind. December 8, 2011 is an afternoon and night I'll remember for a long time, as I read about Albert Pujols signing with the Angels in baseball, enjoyed Bill Simmons' unrest about the Celtics pursuing Chris Paul, scratched my head over Tyson Chandler likely heading to the New York Knicks, watched one of the best comedy episodes of TV I've ever seen in Community's "Regional Holiday Music" (probably the show's last shot at getting renewed for a fourth season), read that the Angels had also managed to grab pitcher CJ Wilson, heard Chris Paul was heading to the LA Lakers, and finally, found out the deal had been put on hold by the NBA because supposedly some owners thought the NBA was up to no good making another superpower team.

Not to mention there was an NFL game going on (luckily not an especially important one), college football awards being handed out, and the best hour of TV happening on FX from 10-11 p.m. Whoa.

First, take a look at the Angels. They went 86-76 last year, lost the AL West by 10 games and the AL Wildcard by 5. Signing the best position player and pitcher this offseason has got to improve their team by at five games you would think. I would figure it puts them into the discussion of the best teams in baseball. Their pitching rotation will now boast Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Wilson, while their lineup will now boast Albert Pujols (whoever else is there doesn't really matter. They could bring up an entire Triple A roster and so long as those guys got on base every once in awhile, Pujols would make sure they came home). It is insane how much the Angels would appear to have improved with the addition of two men. What's more, is how (relatively) inexpensive it was for them. Pujols' $250 million is of course through the roof, but everyone knew that would be the case. Take a look at Wilson's deal though: 5 years, $77.5 million. AJ Burnett and John Lackey each signed deals for 5 years, $82.5 million, with the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively. Read that again. The Angels managed to sign Wilson for $5 million less than two pitchers he is better (significantly better?) than. Well done.

On the other hand, the St. Louis Cardinals are done. They lost their manager (one of the best in baseball history) to retirement, and then the best player in baseball during the offseason. Even with Adam Wainwright back in the rotation, counting on Lance Berkman and Matt Holliday to drive home at least 220 runs does not strike me as a sustainable model. But hey, St. Louis fans, you guys have enjoyed a pretty good run for awhile. Two World Series titles and seven NL Central titles since 2000 is a lot to be proud of. But it might be a bit to have anything more to cheer about.

As for the moves (or lack thereof) in the NBA, I was really surprised to hear about Tyson Chandler going to the Knicks, because signing Chandler would definitely knock the Knicks out of the running for Chris Paul. They wouldn't have the cap space or the trade fodder to make a deal for Paul happen. Perhaps the Knicks had heard through the grapevine that they were no longer in the running the for Paul, and went for the best they could get. Whatever the Knicks' reasoning, as I thought more about the signing, the more I thought it was a decent move, simply because having Tyson Chandler in the paint will make things way easier on Amare Stoudemire. Chandler will now be the guy guarding opponents' big men, and he will likely be the guy who is guarded by the opponents' center. This mean's (a)Stoudemire will be able to focus more of his efforts on offense (b) his won't have to bruise in the paint as much at either end, and (c) he'll be taking it much easier on his weak knees. That makes for a competitive Knicks team this year. Maybe not a title contender, but top 3 in the East? I could see it, especially if Dwight Howard moves and the Celtics get even older with a pissed off Rondo.

Then came the most wild news of the night. Chris Paul was traded to the Lakers, while Pau Gasol was going to the Rockets, while Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round pick were the Hornets' prize. It seemed like a fair enough trade. The Lakers get the player they wanted, the Rockets get a player they like a lot to replace Yao Ming and clear some cap space, while the Hornets get about as good a deal as they are going to get for Paul, who will be leaving at some point during or after this season.

But then the unthinkable happened. David Stern did his best Foghorn Leghorn impression and nixed the deal. "Now, hold on, I say hold on just one cotton pickin' moment!" The NBA technically owns the New Orleans Hornets right now, but was planning on allowing them to take care of themselves. Not so fast, evidently. The initial reports were that several owners had complained that the league was trying to create another superpower team at one of its signature franchises. Stern has since said "All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade." Whatever reason is true, they're both moronic. First, if owners can really hold that much sway in what's going on, then the NBA is the most corrupt organization in sports. And Stern's quote is correct, but it is short-sighted. Of course the Hornets will be better with Chris Paul as their point guard. That's not the reason for this trade, though. The reason for the trade is that Chris Paul does not plan on resigning in New Orleans, so the Hornets understand it is better to move him now and get as much as possible than to have him sign elsewhere after this season and get absolutely nothing. Does Stern not get that? What the hell is going on here? What is really going on behind the scenes, because it doesn't make any sense.

Now, the news has come today that Dwight Howard is looking to go the Nets, but he had an illegal meeting with the Nets that his current team, the Orlando Magic, is protesting. Gaaaaaaahhh! But Howard says there was no meeting. Gaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Whatever the case is, it sounds like Superman is going to end up in New Jersey. And Mikhail Prokhorov will have the NBA's best center and second best point guard on his team's roster. Does this make the Nets an Eastern contender? Probably not? But I'd say it makes them a playoff sleeper. Howard carried the Magic to the NBA Championship series with nobody close to as good as Deron Williams as a teammate. You can't underestimate how good those two guys are.

A whooooooole lot happened yesterday. But also, a whole lot didn't happen. Whatever ends up happening, if the NBA season is half as exciting as December 8, I won't be able to stop watching.