Westbrook, An Eagle For Life

52 pages is what it took to get the deal done, but Brian Westbrook is now a member of the Philadelphia Eagles for what he says will be the remainder of his career. The new contract inks Westbrook with the Eagles through the 2013 season. The important piece of the contract, by NFL standards, is the $13 million in guaranteed money that Westbrook will receive over the next two years.

This is a good move for the Eagles, inking a player who is considered by most to be one of the top running backs in the game. The 29 year old Westbrook led the NFL with 2104 all purpose yards from scrimmage last season.

Giles Says "No" To Boston

The 48 hour window for the the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres to complete a trade for Brian Giles has past with Giles remaining a Padre. Giles had a limited no trade clause in his contract with the Red Sox being one of the teams he had to give his consent to going to. While no side will say publicly that Giles nixed a potential deal to Boston, speculation around the league is that that was just what happened.

It was a surprise to me from the start that the Red Sox even claimed Giles off waivers. With Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, JD Drew, and Coco Crisp already on the roster there was no room for another outfielder. I have a feeling that this move was done more to block other teams than to add a player. Rumor has it that the Rays had interest in Giles.

Eyre To Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired left handed reliever Scott Eyre from the Chicago Cubs for minor league pitcher Brian Schlitter. Eyre, who was put on waivers by the Cubs earlier this week to make room for Kerry Wood's return from the DL, was claimed by the Phillies who then had 48 hours to complete a trade for him.

The Phillies have added a good piece to their bullpen for the division stretch. They Phillies are in a fight for the top spot in the NL East with the New York Mets and Florida Marlins. The Marlins defeated the first place Phillies to move to within a game and a half of the NL East lead on Thursday.

News From The Waver Wire

The Tampa Bay Rays have claimed Chad Bradford off the waver wires from the Baltimore Orioles. In 47 appearances, the 33 year old right hander is 3-3 with a 2.34 ERA. The Rays will send a player to be named later to the O's.

The Boston Red Sox have placed a waiver claim on Padres right fielder Brian Giles, and are reportedly working on a deal that will send the 14 year vet to Fenway. The 37 year old Giles has a .296 average and 61 walks to go along with 44 k's. He also sports a .391 OBP. The only snag seems to be Giles' limited no-trade clause, Boston being one team to which he can't be traded without his approval.

Other names to keep an eye on are Paul Byrd and Greg Maddux, both of whom cleared wavers and could be on the move.

Pennington Out In New York

"Chad Pennington has played his last game with the New York Jets."

Those are the words of Jets GM Mike Tannenbaun in an early morning conference call Thursday. The addition of Brett Favre and his $12 million dollar contract have made little room for Pennington on a roster that also includes former 2nd round draft pick Kellen Clemens. It is believed that the Jets will either trade for release Pennington within the next 48 hours.

One possible destination for Pennington is Minnesota, the team Favre originally wanted to play for. Another possibility could be the Chicago Bears who announced Wednesday that it would be Kyle Orton starting their first pre-season game, not Rex Grossman, who they had said going into camp would be the starter.

USA Gets First W In Beijing

Stuart Holden's goal in the 47th minute gave team USA men's soccer a 1-0 victory over Japan in the first game of the group B men's division Thursday. So far so good for Team USA who will take on Netherlands on Sunday.

On the lady's side, Team USA suffered a 2-0 loss on Wednesday to Norway. Team USA next plays against Japan on Saturday.

Favre Frenzy Finally Over

Brett Favre is now a member of the New York Jets. According to ESPN's Chris Mortenson the Jets have acquired the future hall-of-famer for a conditional draft pick.

The contingency goes as follows:
The initial draft dick is a 2009 fourth rounder.
If Favre takes 50% of the snaps it becomes a third round pick.
If Favre takes 70% of the snaps and the Jets make the playoffs it becomes a second rounder.
If Favre takes 80% of the snaps and the Jets make it to the Superbowl it becomes a first rounder.

This puts the finishing touches on a very active off season for the Jets who have also added Alan Faneca, Damien Woody, Calvin Pace, and Bubba Franks via free agency.

The addition of Favre, as well as the others, would have to put the Jets in the playoff discussion. The biggest question is how well the 38 year old will hold up throughout the season. If he stays healthy the Jets are certainly a strong contender for a wild card spot. They still do not have quite the firepower to push the Patriots for the division, but stranger things have happened.

For the Packers, particularly Aaron Rodgers, this has to be a sigh of relief. They can now move on in the post Favre-era. Now they can focus on what is most important: winning football games.

Rays Win...Again

The Tampa Bay Rays scored six runs in the ninth inning, including a walk-off three run homer from Carlos Pena, to defeat the Cleveland Indians in dramatic fashion Wednesday afternoon. The win, Tampa's eighth in their last eleven games brings the Rays' total home wins to 45, tops by far in all of Major League Baseball.

Well, I will be the first to admit that I figured the Rays would be starting to roll over at this point and become the "Devil Rays" of old. Surprisingly, that has not been the case. Their lead over the Boston Red Sox in the AL East is now three games. That is about five more than anyone would have given credit for, even as recently as the All-Star game, if asked for a prediction.

The young guys have apparently bought into themselves being "a team of destiny. Pena, in his post game interview, had the following to say about what they think of this "team of destiny" title...

"That's something that we definitely think about it and envision. We actually see it in reality at the same time. It's very important for us that we also put it in perspective. We know it's great, we're enjoy it, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We never lose focus in the fact, 'Hey, let's play the game today.' It's most important for us."

It will remain to be seen if they can live up to the billing, but they are certainly starting to make believers out of a lot of people.

Yankees Suffer Big Blow

For the second time this season the New York Yankees have lost their "ace" for what appears to be a significant amount of time. News broke out on Wednesday that the Yankees have placed young pitching thug, I mean stud, Joba Chamberlain on the DL. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) No word yet officially as to how long he will be out. After being removed from last night's game due to injury, Joba was immediately sent for an MRI and then today met with Dr. Andrews, considered by many to be the foremost shoulder expert when it comes to sports related injuries. The Yankees, as of Wednesday night, are calling it "rotator-cuff tendinitis." Given the process over the last 24 hours they might as well have just called it an upper body injury (ah-la Belichick) as they clearly do not want to spread any major news about a possible serious injury to their best pitcher.

First the loss of Chien-Ming Wang now the loss of Joba. That is another huge blow to the Yankees and their hopes of a run at the AL East or wild card. They will now be forced to rely on Ian Kennedy, who they are expected to recall to take his place in the rotation. If in fact this injury is one that will cause him to miss significant time the Yankees will need the likes of Kennedy, Philip Hughes, and perhaps even Carl Pavano (GASP) to step up if they are to make the playoffs. Hughes and Pavano are both in the process of coming back from injuries themselves.

This injury makes the addition of another arm such as Mariners' Jared Washburn even more likely. Any move they do make will have to be done through the waiver wire.

Brett Favre Won't Go Away

Brett Favre is back in Green Bay, but now the new question is how long will he stay there for? Head coach Mike McCarthy said that Favre "didn't arrive in the "proper mindset", meaning that the Packers QB job still belongs to Aaron Rodgers, and if Brett Favre wants to play in the NFL this year, he won't be doing it in Packers green and gold. Favre himself said that "best thing for this team is for us to part ways."

So where will he go? The Bucs and Vikings appear to be the early favorites, but as we now know with Mr. Favre, we're just going to need to wait and see.


-quotes from espn.com