News. Sports. Arts & Entertainment. Politics
Brendon Little has the best curveball in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft, says Peter Gammons. Well, you could call that a $2,373,000 million curveball now, as the Chicago Cubs just announced the signing of their 2017 first round pick. Little was taken with the 27th overall pick on June 12th. Major League Baseball refuses to release monetary amounts, but it’s being widely reported that Little is getting $2.2 million, with $2,373,000 slotted.
Follow paulmbanks
Melisa Russell, will soon be Melisa Reidy again, as she’s filed for divorce from husband and Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell. The couple is breaking up after just one year of marriage. The law firm representing Melisa Reidy issued a statement Wednesday announcing that divorce proceedings between the two parties had begun.
Reidy said she won’t meet with Major League Baseball to discuss the domestic abuse allegations against Addison Russell. There are no legal charges facing Russell, but there is an ongoing investigation being conducted by MLB.
Follow paulmbanks
Kris Bryant followed up his National League Rookie of the Year Award winning 2015 with a NL Most Valuable Player clinching 2016. He was an All-Star both years and won (along with the rest of his Chicago Cubs teammates) the World Series in his second season. You may have heard a thing or to two about the Cubs winning the World Series, it was on all the home pages.
All this success had led to Kris Bryant and company dominating the ESPY nominees list, which just came out today.
Follow paulmbanks
There’s a shelter pet out there who would love to meet you. With rescue cats and dogs, it’s really hard to say whether it’s the human being who truly saves the animal, or vice versa.
Tomorrow will see Chicago Cubs centerfielder Albert Almora, along with his wife Krystal, participate in an event entitled “Intentional Walk” with PAWS Chicago. The event’s goal is to raise awareness about the need to walk dogs at local animal shelters.
Follow paulmbanks
The Major League Baseball Draft isn’t like the NBA Draft or NFL Draft when it comes to the level of excitement that it generates. It’s really more on par with stamp collecting in that regard.
As Nelson Muntz would say, “stamp collection! Haw-Haw!”
Follow paulmbanks
Welcome to 2017 MLB mock draft
The Sports Bank is the only independently owned, mom and pop shop on the internet with a mock draft for the top four American professional sports leagues. Be sure to check out our 2018 NFL mock draft, 2017 NBA mock draft, (NBA mock round two). and 2017 NHL mock draft (coming soon).
The Major League Baseball Draft is Monday June 12th in Secaucus, New Jersey, live on MLB Network.
Follow paulmbanks
The accusations being leveled against Chicago Cubs shorts stop Addison Russell are quite serious. We must all approach this topic in the mature manner that it requires. At the risk of being Donald Rumsfieldian, we have some unknown knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns to cover.
Let’s get started as we try to make the listicle format high-brow and informative; an endeavor that is on par with attempting to make a hot dog haute cuisine or jorts haute couture.
Addison Russell investigation: Five Things We Don’t Know
1. Whether he’s innocent or guilty, and what potentially criminal behavior that he could be innocent or guilty of
Russell’s wife Melisa at least implied, if not blatantly claimed that the Cubs Shortstop was unfaithful, via her Instagram post. Then a commentator, which some claim is Melissa’s close friend, accuse him of mentally and physically abusing her. Literally, it’s a case of he said-she said right now.
2. When Addison Russell will return to action
After being told to stay away from the park last night, Russell is back at Clark & Addison today. However, it was made clear that he would not be in the line-up tonight against the Colorado Rockies.
3. Whether he will face domestic abuse charges or not
Currently, there is a Major League Baseball investigation of the situation, but there is no legal/criminal investigation.
Some of the Cubs’ shills in the media industry that pretend to be news organizations have spun the “investigation” into a more malleable sounding “fact-finding mission,” but you’re just playing politics with euphemisms at this point.
A source close to Addison Russell tells @CSNMooney, "there is no investigation to speak of now" — https://t.co/yHFndMzemb#CubsTalk pic.twitter.com/TuZpSaBcyv
— CSN Chicago (@CSNChicago) June 8, 2017
4. How this affects his future with the Cubs, and in baseball in general
At the end of the season, will he still be with the Cubs? What’s his trade value going to be if they are shopping him? Can he recover from all this, and get his career back on the right track? We’ll just have to wait and see.
5. Most Importantly, how will Russell the person handle this current rough patch and then move on with his life.
Addison Russell is just 23 years old, married (although currently estranged) with two little kids. Right now his family life is much more important than his professional life. Whether or not he recovers in baseball is much less important than how he recovers as a person.
Addison Russell Investigation: Five Things We Know
1. The messy personal life of Addison Russell is probably having a significant, if not serious impact on his on-field performances this season.
How could it not? He’s hitting just .209 with an on base percentage of .291, slugging of .335, for an OPS of just .626 These are all very subpar numbers that well below what we’ve come to expect from the 23-year-old thus far.
2. Private lives should be kept that way, but once someone airs dirty laundry in public, all bets are off.
No matter what happened or what didn’t happen behind closed doors, it is a shame that it now must all play out in public. If social media wasn’t around yet, then perhaps Melisa and Addison Russell would be handling this internally. However, once you let that cat of the bag, it will never go back in.
3. The Cubs have seen the warning signs with Addison Russell Coming for some time.
Evan Altman of Cubs Insider penned a must read column that gone a ton of traffic yesterday. It was written in February of 2016, but is more relevant today than ever. Here’s a very striking and important sentence:
“At the same time the rising sophomore is toning up in order to be in the best shape of his life, I’m told the Cubs have spoken with their young star about toning down when it comes to his participation in the nightlife scene and the so-called bro culture.”
4. The 2016 World Series Championship is a classic example of “don’t learn how the sausage the made.”
You know the classic phrase, “if you like the taste of sausage, DO NOT learn how it is made.” Because of Aroldis Chapman last year, you were already aware that this epigram (or maxim if you will) applies to the Cubs World Series title. Building a big time winner evokes another food proverb, “if you want to make an omelette, you got to break a few eggs.”
With the potential tampering in the acquisition of Manager Joe Maddon, the issues Starlin Castro had, the aforementioned Chapman and now Russell, the Cubs rebuild and thus crowning glory could not have been achieved without spending a lot of time in the proverbial “grey areas.”
Of course, everyone who succeeds does it. Major League Baseball is just like search engine optimization, “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”
That's what's known in the business as "The Sports https://t.co/nUiWm7nYYD Principle" https://t.co/4KwNadiuUr
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) June 8, 2017
5. Most importantly, all of us on the outside must handle this in a grown-up, serious manner.
Eric B. and Rakim would tell you “don’t sweat the technique,” but we will. There is a professional, grown-up manner to cover this story, and then there is the blogger hiding behind a pseudonym and cartoon avatar kind of way. Fans, take your cues from the mainstream media on this one.
If you’re a White Sox, Cardinals, Brewers, Indians etc. supporter, don’t use the Addison Russell material to rib the Cubs. That’s just low-class and wrong. Please stay above board at all times.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Follow paulmbanks
Get ready to feel old.
Seriously, you’re about to be reminded of just how much you have aged in life when you see the roster for the 71st edition of the New York Yankees Old-Timers Game. According to the club release, legendary Yankees catcher Jorge Posada make his Old-Timers’ Day debut.
He’s only 45.
As of now, there are no official charges of domestic violence against Chicago Cubs Shortstop Addison Russell. He is however, being formally investigated by Major League Baseball. Russell, via the Cubs Media Relations Department, issued the following statement today:
“Any allegation I have abused my wife is false and hurtful. For the well-being of my family, I’ll have no further comment.”
Follow paulmbanks
“As long as it’s legal, and in good taste, we’re going to do it,” proclaimed Shawn Hunter, co-owner of the not yet named minor league Rosemont baseball team.
Another minor league baseball team, the Ogden Raptors went the opposite route. They came up with something called “Hourglass Appreciation Night,” which was as sexist, objectifying and socially regressive as a sports promotion can get.
Yet, it’s actually not all that much worse than what the supposed leaders of the sports industry have been doing for many years.
Follow paulmbanks
The Ogden Raptors, a Rookie League affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, realize that when you’re a minor league baseball franchise, you have to get creative with your promotions.
With over 200 minor league baseball franchises in the United States, you’ve got to be original in order to get attention from the media and publicity industries.
For some bizarre reason, the Ogden Raptors went the sexist objectification route. They came up with something called “Hourglass Appreciation Night,” a promotion that has less-than-optimal optics. It actually looks like the product of a stuck-in-the-1950s marketing focus group which was led by Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly.
Follow paulmbanks
By David Morgan
Being best on the field isn’t going to happen if you don’t have a bat that is good enough for the job. Since pure talent alone won’t make the cut, why don’t you try looking for the right softball bat to evaluate yourself?
Follow paulmbanks