I don't mean to rub this in, just to give you ammo to complain about management or whatever.

Back in December, when the O's got Bynum from the Cubs, the Cubs eventually got single A pitcher Kevin Hart. No one thought Kevin Hart would be anything. Heck, I didn't think he'd be anything.

Today, he was announced as Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He's on the Cubs roster, pitching out of the bullpen for stretch, and has a decent chance of making the playoff roster, should the Cubs be lucky enough to make it.

It's such an out of nowhere leap, I don't think you can hold the management responsible - if anyone knew he was this good, people would've been trading more than Freddie Bynum for him, and you can't tell if he's going to stay at this level or bounce back a bit next year. It sure looks bad, though.

The NBA announced today the NBDL affilations. As part of the new CBA, each NBDL is aligned with 3-4 NBA teams, and NBA teams can send players down for the first two years of their career. (Mario Austin wishes they had this a few years ago, I'm sure.)

The Bulls are hooked up with Tulsa's 66ers, named for the famous route that used take you from Oklahoma (and California) all the way to Chicago.

The Bulls share this team with three others. One of the teams is the Hornets - I wonder if they were planned to be part of Tulsa before they decided to play in Oklahoma City for the year. The other two teams selected to pool talent for this team are kinda weird: the Pacers and the Bucks.

It's not going to be the same with the Pacers with Reggie retired, but they're still the Pacers. And, same as with the Cubs/Brewers, you'd think there's a geographic rivalarly about to burst out between the Bucks and the Bulls if they were ever good at the same time.

They were careful to split up the New York and Los Angeles teams, so it's weird they'd put these three regional opponents together. Or it's weird to me, at least.

Well, not as much as the Red Sox or the Yankees, but compared to all the other AL teams, they come out pretty nice, with the best shot at stealing the wild card away.

Continue reading this post »