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Why The Philadelphia Phillies Should Trade Ken Giles

November 7, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aaron Watson-Sharer

Photo from Eric Hartline. USA Today Sports.

The Phillies are in their rebuilding stage, where we currently are representing the motto “Out with the old and in with the new.”

That has been the case. The first trade the Phillies made was the Jimmy Rollins trade, where the Phillies sent Rollins to the Los Angeles Dodgers and acquired pitchers Tom Windle and Zach Eflin in return. Then with the trade of the season perhaps, where Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman were flown to the Texas Rangers in return for five prospects and a pitcher. Jerad Eickhoff, the first player from the trade to play in the majors has been nothing short of dominant.

Ben Revere, despite being a young player, was flipped to the Toronto Blue Jays and the Phillies received even more talent. The infamous $50 million dollar man, Jonathan Papelbon was traded and his reputation in the league has decreased since. Lastly, this past week the Phillies declined Cliff Lee’s $27.5 million option. Another veteran from the glory days who is going to have to find a new team.

The Phillies can only dream of tossing the contracts of Carlos Ruiz and Ryan Howard, but luckily they have one guy who can make an impact for them in the near and distant future, Ken Giles who would have tremendous value.

Ken Giles, 25, has been with the Phillies for two seasons and he has been one of the few guys that fans can justifiably cheer for. He was never a top prospect, but he blossomed into a legitimate closer for the Phillies after the trade of former closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Ken Giles has three pitches, a nasty slider which clocks in the high 80’s, a changeup in the mid 80’s and also a scary fastball that has tops out around 101 mph. Any fastball that fast is elite and very few pitchers have the ability to do this.

His most valuable pitch may be his slider, which has made him very hard to figure out. His slider has the movement of a 12-6 curveball and a splitter along with a slider. When pitchers can throw offspeed pitches like this they can be amongst the game’s finest.

His stats make him sound like our new Brad Lidge, or the world series winning closer of 2008, but he has struggled. He had 20 save opportunities this year and blew five saves. Those are not quality numbers. Elite closers blow far less than five when they’ve had 50 opportunities. Giles possesses a 9-4 record with a 1.56 earned run average (ERA), a 1.037 walks and hits per innings pitched rate (WHIP). His fielding independent pitching (FIP) raised this year to 2.13 raised from his 2014 1.34 FIP . This is a statistic that records pitching consistency where you won’t walk batters, give up home runs and your ability to strike a batter out.

His most valuable trait may be his ability to strike batters out. He has struck out 11.7 batters over nine innings in his career which puts him nearly the league’s best. A personal favorite is that he has faced 464 batters and only three have hit a homerun on him. This number proves that it’s hard to compete with Ken Giles.

Teams are looking for a guy like this. The most valuable asset in baseball is young and controllable talent. At 25 he is set to make near the league’s minimum for 2016, teams will send some offers that will have to be considered. Ken Giles also is not eligible for arbitration until 2018. Most teams would see him as a closer who can push them through october.

Plenty of teams could make a play at Ken Giles. A stacked bullpen wins, the Royals proved that. The most likely candidate would be Boston. They have the need and talent to acquire him. Two trades to look back to for the value of Ken Giles are the Andrew Bailey and Craig Kimbrel trades. These are great blueprints to what we could get.
With the talent and youth of Ken Giles, the closing experience and his consistency the potential return for him is too great to pass up. The Phillies could easily score a top 50 prospect for his services along with others. The Phillies shouldn’t waste his prime closing for a losing team. He won’t have enough opportunities to shine with the Phillies. This team is in full rebuild and a trading Giles will make us greater in the long run.

Why The USMNT Will Never Win A World Cup

November 6, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Courtesy of www.rantsports.com

Micah Henry

The USMNT are one of the most popular soccer teams in the world. In terms of utter consistency in World Cup appearances , since 1990, the USMNT are elite. For they have made every single World Cup since then, 1900, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. Their only other appearances came in 1930, 1934 and 1950. However, it is clear now that America is an established and consistent soccer country. Although reaching the World Cup is nothing in comparison to being successful in the tournament. In all the US showings in the tournament, they have, in chronological order, got third overall in the tournament, lost in round one, lost in group stage, lost in group stage, lost in round of 16, lost in group stage, lost in the quarter-finals, lost in the group stage, lost in round of 16 and last year lost in the round of 16 once again. So as one can see, not much success.

Regarding overall rankings, at the end of 2014, the USMNT ranked 27th in FIFA rankings and right now rank 29th. So this team is not horrible, but this is not the issue at hand. The USMNT have proven they can beat world class teams, for this summer they beat the defending World Cup Champion, Germany, by a score of 2-1 in a friendly. Of course a friendly does not mean much but this caught the eyes of many and earned the USMNT some deserved respect. So why, after all these good things being said, do the USMNT still have no chance of ever winning the World Cup? One reason, there are too many teams that are better.

In an interview with Tomy Fleurine, a die-hard Brazil National Men’s Soccer Team fanatic, he put his own intake on the USMNT chances.

“The USMNT winning a World Cup? Is that a trick question?” Mr. Fleurine said with a sly grin on his face, then added his reasoning.

“The USMNT will always be a good team, they will always make the World Cup or come very close, but they will never win the whole tournament. This simply being because there are too many better teams. You have Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, Wales, England, Chile. All top class soccer teams who could each win a World Cup. The USMNT would lose in a laugher to any of these teams. A good team is the USMNT, but they will never be good enough.”

There is just too much competition. It starts with rankings. Ranked 29th, which isn’t bad, but isn’t top class. There are 28 statistically better teams in the world, that is a lot of competition. Many of these teams the USMNT can indeed beat, however many will destroy the USMNT in a joke match.

Nevertheless the USMNT and the United States soccer world is filled with talented players. Players such as Gedion Zelalem, Deandre Yedlin, Gyasi Zardes, and Jordan Morris. All these prospects, along with numerous others, have potential to shine in the 2018 World Cup. With these great prospects, however come even better ones around the world. With Martin Odegaard, Hachim Mastour, Ulises Torres, Bilal Boutobba, and Tomas Conechny to name only a very few all are amazing players and will be great one day. The competition is too rough for America. The USMNT will always be a good team, they will most likely always make the World Cup, but they will never win the World Cup. The USMNT will never be good enough to win the World Cup.

Autumn Fashion: From the Runway to the Hallway

November 5, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Arielle Moore

Staff Writer

The leaves are changing, the days are shorter, and candy corns are now their own food group: Fall is here! Go take a nice stroll outside and take it all in…but, before you do that, you’re going to need to figure out what to wear. A t-shirt and shorts? No; It’s not summer camp anymore! It’s a new season which means on top of unpacking every jack-o-lantern you’ve had stuffed in your garage for the past nine months, you’ve gotta update your wardrobe.

Now let’s start with the basics: colors, patterns, and textures. In autumn, it’s quite common to see pieces that capture the colors and feelings of the season. Fall typically has a warm color palette, made up of mostly oranges, reds, olives, creams, browns, and mustards. Bright colors like cobalt and deep purple are also incorporated.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. Since these colors are mainly neutrals and can be effortlessly paired with each other it’s not uncommon to pull a cute fall-appropriate right out of a hat. One thing to keep in mind though, is to pair a bright color with a neutral to balance out its intensity. Remember when summer was the lovely time when you could wear a tie-dye shirt with lime green shorts and silver flip flops from that little shack on the boardwalk? It’s time to put those days behind you, because now it’s imperative to be mindful of the hues you pair together.

Of course black and white are given, but this isn’t Cruella DeVil’s closet. Let’s dig a little deeper. Some neutrals that have really come onto the scene this year are nude, blush, gray, taupe, and khaki. These are all such simple colors but can be paired either together, or with brighter tones in order to create a really fashionable statement.

Layering is definitely a huge trend right now. Sweaters, cardigans, jackets and scarves are all included to create an effortless, yet comfy look.

Now, with all those pieced together it may so I’m trying to get you to look like this:

But I assure you, layering can be done chicly and successfully. You can even mix prints and fabrics to concoct a stunning fall ensemble. One piece that’s really great to layer with is a nice jacket. Jackets that are really great for this time of year are bombers, denim jackets, leather, varsity, and everyone’s personal favorite: hoodies. I mean seriously, it’s like a portable sleeping bag with pockets. These are all great items to keep in your wardrobe to look great and keep warm, but also add a special flair to a certain outfit.

Don’t forget to accessorize! Of course supply the necessities such as gloves and scarves on those blistery autumn days, but you could also jazz it up with a small piece from your wardrobe, such as a beanie or cute pair of socks.

You can pull inspiration from just about anywhere! Here I have some examples of different fall looks that you can try. They mainly stick to a neutral palette, but feel free to incorporate whatever hues you desire. Remember, fashion is all about self-expression!

SLA Pitchers Chime In On the NL Cy Young Award

November 5, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aaron Watson-Sharer

SLA Staff Wrtier

(Image provided by CBS Sports)

Baseball is a game where players are always recognized for their performances. There are countless awards. Gold gloves, silver sluggers and many more awards. One particular award is known as the Cy Young award, an award given to the best pitcher in their own league. The Cy young award debuted in 1956 and has remained one of the more exclusive and highly coveted awards since. In 2014, Corey Kluber was awarded the American League Cy Young award while Clayton Kershaw was awarded the National League Cy Young award. This year the National League has three major candidates, Jake Arrieta of the Cubs, and Zack Greinke of the Dodgers. This award could go either way and there should be a major stir after a winner has been chosen.

We all have an opinion on pitching and who has earned the rights to be the Cy Young award winner but we asked our own pitchers for their intriguing insight. We interviewed two of our own pitchers Juniors Benjamin Simon and Lukas Aznar and they told us a lot about their pitching.

Aznar does not love the award. “I feel like in the MLB they’re like curse, because there’s been a lot of Cy Young winners who don’t repeat.”

When it came to who should win, our very own SLA pitchers disagreed, where Simon chose Jake Arrieta and Aznar chose Zack Greinke. “I would give it to Greinke because of his ERA.”

A favorite is the Cubs Jake Arrieta. Arrieta has had perhaps the most dominant second half pitching in the history of baseball. Arrieta possessed 29 quality starts in 33 total starts. Only a few pitcher acclimate to that. Jake Arrieta pitched to the tune of a 1.77 ERA that lowered after each in every start during the second half of the season. Since the start of august Arrieta has a 0.41 ERA. That would be less than a run in two complete games. That also stands as an MLB record. His final 12 starts he only allowed 16 hard hit balls which would signify that the best players in the world could hardly hit his ball. Opposing batters had a single home run on him since august and he finished with a 22-6 record. The most wins in baseball.

The favorite for the Cy Young award is the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke. Zack Greinke has reestablished himself as one of baseball’s elite with a dominant 2015 campaign. In 2015 he had elite numbers; posting a 19-3 win loss record to the tune of a 1.66 earned run average (ERA). That is the best ERA since 1995 and one of the best in the modern era. He had 30 quality starts in 32 starts this season. He possesses 9.3 wins above replacement (WAR) which led all pitchers along with the best walks and hits per inning pitched rate (WHIP) in baseball at .844. Zack Greinke had a spectacular year worthy of being the Cy Young winner.

Most critiques recently have sided with Arrieta. Simon said “I gotta go with Jake Arrieta, he had a fantastic second half to the season and was unhittable.” It will be very interesting to see who will use this award to take an even further step in 2016.

Most pitchers have strategies or unique behaviors prior to a start. At least here at SLA, that is the case. Two of our own say they have to approach a game differently than if they were on the field. Aznar approaches a game with peace and quiet. “I don’t talk to anybody, listen to some music and get pumped up.” “Silent and in my zone.” Simon has a different method. “I like to get goofy before games, I get loose and try to stay locked in.” To stay focused during a game Ben “Always tries to forget about the last play focuses on the next.”

Simon said: “ I like to relax myself, compose myself and take a deep breath for the next pitch.” Aznar has a similar way of tackling the mound. “If you get into a bad swing of pitches it’s important to reset yourself and keep your composure.

At SLA, pitchers like Benjamin and Lukas know that for the team, it’s important to stay in the game no matter what’s in the way.

Zack Greinke was made a top 10 pick in the 2002 MLB First Year Player Draft. Greinke has been on four clubs, beginning with the Royals. He requested a trade and Kansas City sent him to Milwaukee and received a king’s ransom for him, including Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, two of the best players on perhaps baseball’s best team. After a year in Wisconsin, Greinke was sent packing to the Angels and the catch of that trade was Jean Segura, an MLB All star. He didn’t carry the success with the Angels he had with the Dodgers, with a very average year. He then had a money dispute in Anaheim and decided to sign with the Dodgers and hasn’t looked back.

Jake Arrieta, unlike his counterpart has only been on two teams. The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs. Arrieta has had a tougher road to success, being a fifth round pick in 2007. He was going up and down between in the minors and majors in Baltimore, with a losing record and a 5.46 ERA. He had performances unworthy of remaining in the MLB. In 2013, he was sent to Chicago and was immediately places on the Iowa Cubs (AAA). Until mid-2014, he never really had a safe spot on a major league team. He dominated in 2014 and continued that in 2015.

Neither pitcher has had a career of dominance. Zack Greinke’s lifetime ERA is more than double his ERA in his 2015 campaign. That is also the case for Jake Arrieta, he threw to a 1.77 ERA in 2015 and career ERA is 3.70. This year has been their defining moment in this league to the extent to where you can’t be ignored.

In baseball, you never know what’s possible. And for two pitchers who nearly walked out on the game due to lack of success at times have shown that they earned an award like the Cy Young through adversity. But only one many be the winner, who will it be? That is what we can’t wait to find out.

Damages: The Most Ruthless Woman on Television aka your next Netflix binge

November 5, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

Before Francis Underwood killed a dog in cold blood, before Annalise Keating manipulated law trainees, before Walter White did illegal acts in the name of a good cause there was one woman who did all of this, and more, but never with quite the cold heartedness and grace that exists inside of Glenn Close’s Multi-Wmmy winning and critically acclaimed role as Patricia “Patty” Hewes.

The series first begins with the young lawyer Ellen Parsons (played by Rose Byrne- who was nominated for the series multiple times). We find her wandering the streets of Manhattan covered in blood. The show then cuts back to a few months earlier as she first gets a job at Patty Hewes prestigious law firm, where Patty is trying a case against ruthless billionaire Arthur Frobisher (played Ted Danson- who was twice nominated for an Emmy in the series) and his secretive lawyer Ray Fiske (Željko Ivanek- who won an Wmmy for his role). Ellen soon realizes that this case is more closely connected to her than she thought and gets pulled into Patty’s web of lies, secrets and murder.

Each season tackles a new case for Patty and her firm, and each one with layers of intrigue, deception and even personal connections to Patty and Ellen. Many of the cases reference real life events like the Iraq war and the Bernie Madoff scam. Throughout the series one, of the most interesting dynamics to see is the complex relationship between Ellen and Patty. Together they’ve been teacher and student, enemies, friends, and more, but what cannot be denied is that they bring out the best, and worst in each other and for Ellen she see’s a glimpse into her potential future and for Patty she see’s a younger version of herself- and neither of them are certain if that’s a good or bad thing.

Glenn Close is consistently stellar in the series. and she alone makes it worth watching In bringing to life Patty Hewes, she brought to life one of the most formidable characters to, in my opinion, ever come onto any media format: whose craving for victory and power over all aspects seemingly holds no bounds and has resorted acts that are just shy of eating her own children.

But another great piece of acting comes from Rose Byrne, whose character goes through some of the most interesting developments of Walter White/ Peggy Olson type character evolution I’ve ever seen. She and Close bounce off each other like rubber to cement and are electric in every scene.

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the stellar co-stars, most noticeably Ted Danson’s corrupt CEO manages to be the complete antithesis of what one would imagine a corrupt CEO- hardly wears a suit, seems to have some genuine feelings of remorse and care for his employees, sort of buffoonish- but manages to make you feel both hatred and sympathy for him, thought mostly the former. The Show also has a stellar supporting cast which includes several A-listers lending their talent: : Tate Donovan, who plays Patty’s right hand man, John Goodman, John Doman, Ryan Phillippe, Timothy Plyphant, Noah bean, Zachary Booth, Martin Short, Marcia Grey Holden, Lily Tomlin, William Hurt, Tom Noonan M, John Hannah, Campbell Scott, Clarke Peters, Glenn Fleshler and many more.

The show’s nonlinear storylines and compelling characters make Damages exactly like the kind of show that many people at SLA enjoy, but done much better than a lot of them. All episodes are on Netflix and thus should be your Thanksgiving viewing pleasure!