To Star or Not to Star

It's July, the slowest of the slowest days in American sports. Still, there are enough topics for debate to go around in the sports world. One such topic is that of rookie super sensation outfielder Yasiel Puig (.414, 8 HR, 19 RBI, 1.109 OPS) of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

PUIG-MANIA

The Dodgers have seen a bevy of stars over the years. Duke Snyder, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, Mike Piazza, Hideo Nomo, Manny Ramirez...there has been an endless supply of stardust in Dodger Blue and at Chavez Ravine.

However, just a month into his major league career, I've never seen anything quite like Yasiel Puig. His story of how he simply made it to the majors is compelling. He defected from Cuba and (I am loosely paraphrasing what has been reported) floated into United States waters in a dinghy or a small motor boat. He and the passengers were rescued by the United States Coast Guard and processed. Upon processing, the officials were able to make the connection that he was a coveted baseball prospect trying to reach the promised land in America.

That in and of itself is a fascinating story about the human spirit and the American dream. But Yasiel Puig is not just any other foreign prospect. Oh no! No! No! This guy, so far, has been out of this world.

Puig mania! 1

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

Before we discuss his performance, let's take a step back at the physical specimen Puig is. Puig is 6'3", 245 pounds. He is only 22 years old. His arm is like a cannon. He is fleet of foot, playing in right field and having stolen 5 bases in just 34 games played. In contrast, San Francisco 49ers All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis, a superior physical specimen in his own right, is 6'1", 240 pounds. Puig has the body type to light suckers up and knock chumps out on the gridiron.

Puig has gunned down opponents three times from the outfield in the last month. As mentioned, he is a base stealing threat. His current batting average? A paltry .414. He has hit eight home runs since being called up with 19 RBIs. Did I mention he has only played 34 games?!? Arm, speed, power, hitting for average. Puig has demonstrated four of the five tools of a Major League player at an eye-popping level (the jury is still out on his glove, with two errors committed in the outfield).

I just hope the young man realizes what a cesspool L.A. can be. Just keep Lindsay Lohan away from him, no matter what! 4

HEY NOW! (MAYBE) YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR

With the Midsummer Classic approaching in the next two weeks, the sports world has been abuzz with whether or not Puig has earned a spot on the National League All-Star roster. The traditionalists think he hasn't "earned" a spot and John Q. Fan doesn't give a damn. He wants to be entertained. He wants to see Puig play!

Personally, I am of the opinion that the All-Star break and its festivities are for the fans. Major League Baseball would be doing those fans a disservice by not giving them what they want. Postseason awards are about the players. The All-Star Game is an exhibition game with a caveat (deciding which league is awarded home field advantage in the World Series) that only affects two teams out of 30 in MLB.

Major League Baseball made the right choice by putting the decision to the fans for a vote. Puig is among the five National League candidates for the Final Vote, determining the last spot on each team. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the fans will put Puig in that spot.

Bryce Harper: The fans wanted him in the 2012 All-Star Game and they got it. It should be no different with Puig. 2

SHOW ME

Last season, rookie Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals made the All-Star cut in spite of being called up well after the start of the season. The traditionalist argument has been that Harper had played 63 games by the All-Star break, much more than the 40 games or so Puig will have played by the same time this season.

While Puig still has six games remaining before the All-Star break, he currently has 55 hits, 17 extra base hits, 8 of which are home runs. Puig has 19 RBIs. Harper had just 15 more hits, the same number of homers,  and only six more RBI while having played more than 20 additional games. The point being that Puig has comparable production numbers in spite of playing far fewer games.

Harper is a rookie phenom. There are veterans on the All-Star roster who pale in comparison to Puig. Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon has not missed a game this season and only has 27 extra base hits (nine home runs). He has played nearly three times as many games as Puig yet does not even have double the base hits.

Puig is a rookie. Puig is new. Puig is inexperienced. Puig...is...a...STAR! Major League Baseball made the right decision by putting Puig in the final vote. The fans, as I anticipate, will make the right decision by putting Puig on the roster for baseball's signature single game event.

How many players have hit a grand slam this year? How many did it in the first month of their careers? 3

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1, 2) Images from www.usatoday.com
3) Image from www.elitedaily.com
4) Image from www.bubblews.com

Drew Dat? Boo Dat!

The 2012 New Orleans Saints season began yesterday. It is the first glimpse that we got of the impact of the Bountygate suspensions of Head Coach Sean Payton, Assistant Head Coach Joe Vitt, General Manager Mickey Loomis, and middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma (whose suspension was overturned on Friday but missed all of training camp) on the team. What we saw was what we got: a team with limitless offensive talent but a rebuilding but injured defense under a new defensive coordinator operating without the head coach who led them to a Super Bowl championship three seasons ago.


FAILED TO MEET LOW EXPECTATIONS

I did not expect my beloved Saints to look crisp. I did not expect the Saints to blow the Redskins out of the Superdome. However, I did not expect the Saints to lose.

The Redskins have been one of the least successful and most dysfunctional NFL teams in recent years. The game was played in the Superdome, where the Saints did not lose a single game last season. They started a rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin, III, whom I expected to play well “for a rookie”. There isn’t a Hall of Fame quarterback who would throw Griffin’s performance back (19/26, 320 yds. 2 TD, 0 INT, 139.9 rtg.), reach back into the grab bag of QB stat lines, and hope for better.


THE GOOD

Saints: In spite of mistake after mistake after mistake on defense, an invisible and abandoned running attack, and the most inaccurate passing performance of Drew Brees’ career that I can recall, the Saints still had a longshot chance to tie the score on the final play of the game. When everything went wrong, this team was still in the game. That is talent. It is not reflected on the stat sheet. It means this team can look forward to brighter outcomes.

Redskins: Forget “the good”, Robert Griffin, III was unbelievable. I compared Griffin to Cam Newton in our QB evaluation piece back in late July. In some manners, Griffin’s performance was better than Newton’s rookie debut record shattering performance last year, including the fact that his team won on the road.

Robert Griffin: "Uh oh! You got me. PSYCHE!" 1

THE BAD

Saints: The defense did not look ready to play an NFL game. There were some mitigating factors. The Saints were pained by several preseason injuries on defense plus the loss of their defensive leader, Jonathan Vilma. In addition, they are in a new system under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo which, by all accounts, is more complicated than the scheme of former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. However, there is no excuse for the ineptitude, particularly on third down, shown by the defense yesterday.

Redskins: The Redskins’ “bad” is, by-and-large, the opposite of the Saints’ “good”. The Redskins racked up 40 points, faced an opposing quarterback with a stat line that Tim Tebow may have looked down upon, and still could have lost. Granted, when Drew Brees has a bad game, his team is still never dead as long as Brees has a pulse. The Skins will not face a QB of his caliber in most weeks. Still, when your opponent is down, you go for the jugular; you don’t wait to be saved by the bell (or the final gun).

Jimmy Graham still got to say, "YOU GOT DUNKED ON," to Redskins defenders. 3

THE UGLY

Saints: Drew Brees…. There is a TON of fault to go around and, actually, Brees is quite low on the list of people to blame. However, Brees is the $40 million man in 2012 because under the Saints’ difficult circumstances, the team has all eyes on Brees to lead.

In all fairness, Brees failure was in execution, not leadership. The Saints had a chance to win a game that 28 of the other 31 teams would have had no chance to win down 16 points in the 4th quarter. But completing 46% of his passes is unacceptable under any circumstances. That cannot happen again any time soon. I doubt it will.

Redskins: Absolutely nothing. Head coach Mike Shanahan’s game plan was beautiful. Robert Griffin, III had a debut that was beautiful. The Redskins coverage schemes were beautiful. Redskins Fan saw nothing ugly about their team yesterday. Congratulations.

This picture says a thousand words. 2

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.

1) Image from http://cnn.sportsillustrated.com

2) Image from www.cbssports.com
3) Image from http://espn.go.com

Yes We Cam!

Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton, from Auburn University, took significant steps toward silencing critics of his selection with the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Newton has a record setting performance for passing yards in his Opening Day debut, with 422 yards, two touchdowns passing, one touchdown rushing, and one interception. His QB rating of 110.4 places him in the Top 10 of NFL QBs after week 1.

If there were any questions about whether or not the rookie, Newton, should be the Opening Day starter over the second year veteran, Jimmy Clausen, a second round pick in 2010, they were quickly answered. Besides the fact that the Panthers had the top pick and significantly more money invested in Newton, Clausen had an entire season of rookie hard knocks. There was only one direction for the team to go: up. That often starts with a change at the quarterback position.

If I am Jimmy Clausen, I would start coming up with a price to sell the #2 jersey to Newton (Newton wore the number at Auburn and offered to purchase it) while Clausen still owns it. To own the number, one needs to be on the team. That clock is ticking! 2

JUST ONE GAME

Former Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, in 2006, said of quarterback Tony Romo, “Let’s not put him in (home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame) Canton (Ohio) just yet,”

Romo had his first ever career start, ironically against the Panthers, in a crisp performance and a win, replacing the aging and inconsistently effective veteran Drew Bledsoe. The sports world was abuzz with unrestrained enthusiasm over the new Cowboys signal caller. Parcells, correctly, helped curb the enthusiasm.

I think we, as fans and media members, would be wise to do the same, though Newton, who often appears wise beyond his 22 years, helped quell some possibly over-heightened expectations. Newton pointed out that, in fact, his team lost and that his goal is to win. Some other members of the media also pointed out that Newton did rack up his record setting yards against an Arizona Cardinals team with some challenges in its secondary. Newton had as great a rookie debut as anyone could expect, but it will be the exception, not the rule.

SLOW DOWN! 1

2011 AND BEYOND

What we can expect from Newton and the Panthers, right away, is a quarterback and a team that will have to be taken seriously every week. No NFL team gives up 400 yards passing per game, so Newton has demonstrated the ability to perform at a high level in an NFL game. With that capability in mind, we can expect the Panthers to be competitive every week. That, in and of itself, is a quantum leap from the Panthers of 2010.

Newton will experience rookie hard knocks. Dan Marino, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, and John Elway were all in the playoffs in their rookie seasons. However, all of those teams were loaded with talent on the defensive side of the ball (Marino’s Dolphins were the defending AFC Champions in his rookie year).

There are several individual standouts on the Panthers’ roster, but the team is still in a rebuilding mode. However, if Newton experiences a rapid rookie progression, it is not out of the realm of possibility for the Panthers to beat some quality opponents next season and factor into the playoff race in 2012. In other words, the time remaining for teams and fans to get excited about seeing the Panthers on their schedule is running very short, if not already expired.

I guess Newton's QB Camp with former NFL head coach Jon Gruden, with highlights shown on ESPN, paid off. In one session, Gruden threw out a play called “...flip right, double-X, Jet, 36 counter, naked waggle, X-7, X-quarter.” When asked for the name of a play a play at Auburn, Newton, looking shocked and amazed, replied, "Thirty-six." Clearly, the kid is a quick study! 3

DON’T PUT HIM IN CANTON, YET, BUT….

What cannot be ignored are three important things. First is that Newton got his career off to a great start, with a single game performance that many NFL starting quarterbacks never experience in their entire careers. Second, Newton’s expectations were high, entering week one, and he exceeded them by any reasonable measure. Third, overachieving is nothing new to Newton, and I am sure the Panthers and their fans couldn’t be happier.

Right now, this kid has the world in the palm of his hand. Sunday was one indicator that he plans to keep it that way. Well done, young man; well done. 4

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.

The Daily Hat Trick is sponsored by Sports N Stuff. For great deals on jerseys, shirts, cologne, and other guy stuff, visit http://www.sportsnstuff.biz/.


1) Image from tree.com
2) image from salon.com
3) Image from grantland.com; source of Gruden play call quote: profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
4) Image from jamtechnique.wordpress.com