"The Stack" 7-31-17
The Stack is back after a nice few days off on Lake Superior in the Bayfield, Wisconsin, area. While we were gone it doesn’t look like a whole lot of big news happened. NFL training camps are in full swing. We have some baseball news to get to. LaVar Ball made an ass of himself again. Here’s a link to the officiating controversy which makes Adidas look very bad. Let’s see what else is in “the stack” for today, Monday, July 31st:
Baseball news
The trade deadline is today. Let’s see what deals are made. Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is aware that he could be traded even though he has a no trade clause. He sounds prepared though and says it’s a win-win. We shall see. The Jaime Garcia Minnesota Twins era came and went in a blink of an eye. Garcia who won his only start with the Twins was traded to the New York Yankees for a couple of minor league pitchers. The Twins appear to be waiving the red flag.
The Colorado Rockies acquired catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the Texas Rangers for a player to be named. This is the second time in two years that Lucroy was traded at the deadline. You may recall he was traded to the Rangers from the Milwaukee Brewers last year after he declined a trade to the Cleveland Indians. It’s been somewhat of a down year for Lucroy who is batting just .242 with four homeruns and 27 RBIs.
Congrats to Adrian Beltre who became the 31st member of the 3000 hit club in MLB history. He got the hit in the 4th inning in the Texas Rangers 10-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Hopefully a teammate or five rubbed his head since Beltre loves that so much. He really doesn’t. He hates it. Beltre has been the model of consistency for many years. He’s been an outstanding player. Congrats on the accomplishment.
Finally, the MLB Hall-of-Fame welcomed three new members to Cooperstown yesterday. Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez were all inducted. The speeches were good and included many “thank yous” to their families. Nice day in Cooperstown.
Ravens looking at Kaepernick
When it was announced last week that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco would miss some time (anywhere from week to three or four) with an injury, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said the team may take a look at Colin Kaepernick. His brother Jim coached Kaepernick when he was the San Francisco 49ers head coach and has voiced his support for him on numerous occasions. Still, the anti-Kaepernick crowd has jumped up saying that signing Kaepernick would hurt the Ravens’ “brand”. That is a silly argument, but one that appears to be a major reason why Kaepernick remains unsigned. This all stems from Kaepernick not standing for the national anthem last year. He has already said he will stand for the anthem this year. Yet people still don’t want their team to sign him threatening not to go to games and stop supporting the team. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said that off the field issues are a factor in choosing to signing Kaepernick. This is asinine reasoning. You can support Ray Rice until video came out of him punching his then fiancée at the time. Teams support guys accused of domestic violence, drunk driving, etc, etc, etc., but a guy does a non-violent demonstration of kneeling for the national anthem and he becomes the most hated and poisonous person in football. It does not make sense! If Greg Hardy gets a second chance, if Adrian Peterson, gets a second chance, why can’t Kaepernick? This whole situation and train of thought is silly and quite sad. I wish people would realize this. The Ravens signed a former Arena Football League quarterback for crying out loud instead of Kaepernick! They still may sign Kaepernick, but until its done, this is blackballing and teams are not making a football related decision in signing Kaepernick. They’re not signing him because it will hurt their bottom line. Hopefully NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wakes up to this reality and does something about it. He doesn’t appear to be close to doing that anytime soon.
Coming up later this week: Reaction to top stories in the sports world
