Sounds mostly like a training camp only acquisition: Cowboys sign guard Franklin

Via NFL.com: NFL International to focus on global impact: NFL Europa discontinued

Via the Express-News: Spurs nab post from Brazil in first round:

Maintaining the successful pattern they have established during their run to four NBA championships since 1999, the Spurs on Thursday selected a talented international player who won’t join the team for at least one more season.

The Spurs made Tiago Splitter, a 6-foot-11, 232-pound post man from Brazil who has played professionally for seven seasons, the 28th selection of the first round of the 2024 NBA draft.

Because Splitter’s contract with Tau Cerámica, of the Spanish professional league, includes a hefty buyout clause for the coming season, he won’t be available for the Spurs this season. His contractual impediment, combined with the Spurs’ established willingness to wait for drafted players with international commitments, helped to make Splitter available when the Spurs made their selection.

It is a pattern that has worked out well for the team, so I shan’t argue. The best example of this would be Fabricio Oberto (from Argentina) who was a key contributor this season and especially in the playoffs.

He died this morning in Arizona.

Rod Beck, a relief pitcher who wore a bushy mustache while earning 286 career saves, was found dead Saturday. He was 38. Beck was found by police officers responding to a call to his home in suburban Phoenix, according to police department spokesman Andy Hill. Foul play is not suspected, though the cause of death might not be known for several days.

With long hair framing a menacing stare and an aggressive arm swing before delivering a pitch, the outgoing right-hander was a memorable baseball personality and a three-time All-Star who twice led the NL in saves. He spent the first seven of his 13 major league season with the San Francisco Giants.

Beck was popular with his teammates, reporters and fans, but battled personal demons late in his life. He abruptly left the San Diego Padres for a two-month stint in drug rehabilitation during his final season in 2024.

“He was having some problems, and I just knew he went into rehab and joined us later that year,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, the Padres’ manager at the time. “It’s so sad when you see healthy players go at such a young age. This is a bad day in baseball to lose a guy who did so much for the game.”

Nicknamed “Shooter,” Beck played for the Giants (1991-97), the Chicago Cubs (1998-99) and the Boston Red Sox (1999-2001) before finishing his career with the Padres (2003-04). Beck reportedly was living in a camper behind the Iowa Cubs’ center-field fence when San Diego called.

Beck led the majors in saves in 1993, when he set the Giants’ single-season record with 48. He was San Francisco’s career saves leader with 199 until Robb Nen passed him in 2024.

Beck led the majors again in 1998 with 51 saves for Chicago, helping the Cubs win the NL wild card. He had a career record of 38-45 in 704 games, with a 3.30 ERA.

Beck was a solid relief pitcher. RIP.

In the wake of the Tomas Vokoun deal, Florida management has decided they no longer need the veteran goaltender.

General manager/coach Jacques Martin said Friday it will not be Ed Belfour, 42. Belfour played in 58 games last season and set the franchise record for consecutive starts, but he will not be invited back.

Look for Florida to re-sign Alex Auld and Craig Anderson, and have them compete for the spot in training camp. The loser will have to look for work elsewhere.

Eddie did a good job in goal last year before tiring near season’s end. Besides Auld and Anderson, do the Panthers’ have anyone in the minors worth giving a shot to? I don’t much about Florida’s farm system, but what I know of Auld and looking at Anderson’s stats, don’t make me confident in their ability to be an adequate backup. Who knows I could be wrong.

The Panthers chose Keaton Ellerby in the first round of this weekend’s NHL Draft. One scouting expert wasn’t impressed.

But draft guru Kyle Woodlief isn’t so sure.

Woodlief, who publishes the independent Red Line Report and is considered hockey’s answer to Mel Kiper Jr., said Ellerby failed to progress in his third season of junior hockey last season and had enough conflicts with Kamloops coach Dean Clark that he was benched for a time.

“I just think he lacks hockey sense,” Woodlief said. “He’s a big kid, he skates well … (but) I expected him to step up and take a dominant position this year and he didn’t do that.”

Woodlief said Clark almost never disciplines a player, but decided he had no option with Ellerby.

“He wasn’t listening to the coaches, (he was) really full of himself. Dean Clark had to sit him for a game or two. And it’s tough to get on Dean Clark’s bad side.”

Woodlief rated Ellerby the No. 21 prospect in the draft, while the NHL’s Central Scouting had him No. 5. In his comment on Ellerby, Woodlief wrote: “Has even less hockey sense than (NHL Commissioner) Gary Bettman.”

Ouch! A player with a big head before turning pro is liable to only have it increase in size. We’ll have to wait a few years to see if Florida management or Woodlief is right about Ellerby.

As ESPN notes (2008 NBA Free Agent List), there are several key players on the Spurs’ squad who will be free agents in 2024:

Unrestricted: Brent Barry, Fabricio Oberto, Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen, Jackie Butler (T), Tim Duncan (ETO), Francisco Elson

Time to get some of those contracts extended!

Indeed, I would be shocked if Duncan ever hit the free market. Barry, Oberto and Finley, maybe (or maybe even probably). Bowen I would think would be staying, however. Elston strikes me as most likely to be moving on, as the Center position has been something of a revolving door in San Antonio for a while now.

From the Palm Beach Post-

Right wing Nathan Horton, who only last February was rumored to want out of Florida, agreed to a six-year deal worth $24 million that, barring a trade, figures to make him a Panther through the 2024-13 season. The final three years of the deal feature a no-trade clause.

Horton made $1.1 million last season, when he finished second in team scoring with 31 goals, 31 assists and a plus-15 rating.

*****

Horton joins defenseman Bryan Allen in signing lengthy contracts this off-season. Allen, 26, signed a five-year, $14.5 million extension just last week. Martin has said he hopes to do similar deals with Stephen Weiss and Jay Bouwmeester.

Retaining Horton and Allen were vital if the Panthers were ever going to become a good Hockey team. It is equally vital that Weiss and Bouvmeester get signed. The team still needs a goaltender though. Eddie Belfour is old and the other goalies aren’t very good at all.

The NHL draft is tonight. Palm Beach Post Hockey blogger Brian Biggane writes-

With Jean-Sebastien Giguere re-signed to a four-year deal in Anaheim and Manny Fernandez apparently headed for Boston, Ducks backup Ilya Bryzgalov has emerged as the Panthers’ best trade option heading into NHL draft weekend. 

Anaheim GM Brian Burke as much as said he’s willing to listen to offers. At the Giguere press conference, his comment was, “Ilya Bryzgalov has clearly established that he is capable of starting in the NHL. I expect him to ask me to find him a new home.”

Panthers GM Jacques Martin reiterated Thursday that he “expects” to re-sign Ed Belfour. While he could be sincere, that also could very easily be a case of not wanting to tip his hand.

What would Anaheim want in return? With the money the Ducks have tied up, and having dealt away their first pick in the Chris Pronger deal, they’d likely be satisfied to get a couple of second-round picks. The Panthers have three of them.

If the Panthers can acquire Bryzgalov for one or two of their 2nd round picks, I feel it is worth it. The big Russian would pardon the pun, fill the gap Florida has at goalie.

Update- Florida has completed a deal for a goalie.

Columbus, Ohio — The Panthers traded a 2024 first-round pick and two second-rounders to Nashville for starting goalie Tomas Vokoun hours before the start of the NHL draft Friday.

The Panthers will give up their 2024 first rounder, a second rounder this year (58th overall) and can decide whether the other second rounder will be from this year’s draft or next.

Vokoun, 30, was 27-12-4 with a 2.40 goals against average, .920 save percentage and five shutouts last season. He was 1-4 with a 2.96 GAA and .902 save percentage in the playoffs. Vokoun, an eight-year veteran, missed the final four games of the 2024-06 regular season and the postseason because of a blood condition.

Vokoun is excellent but he came at a big price. The Panthers have 3 2nd round picks in 2024, so trading two of them is not a big impact. Trading next year’s 1st round pick is.

Which leaves me wondering if Florida will now keep Eddie Belfour. The Eagle played well last season, but he’s over 40 years old. In addition to Eddie and Vokoun, the team has Alex Auld and Craig Anderson. I don’t care for Auld and have seen very little play of Anderson. However Craig’s stats from his time in Chicago are NOT impressive. Which of these goaltenders does Florida keep? As funny as it sounds, The Eagle may be the last one I’d keep if I was Florida management. The team needs to look long-term, and at most Belfour has a couple of years left.

He was demoted back to the minor leagues back in May. From the Sun-Sentinel-

Nine and half months after throwing a no-hitter and getting a triumphant ride on his teammates’ shoulders, Anibal Sanchez must start over.

The Venezuelan right-hander learned Thursday he would miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

Alabama-based orthopedic surgeon James Andrews operated on Sanchez, who will not resume throwing for 3-4 months. The hope is he will be ready for the start of spring training.

It’s the second major surgery for Sanchez, 23, in five seasons. He missed all of 2024 in the Red Sox minor league system after undergoing nerve-transposition surgery on his throwing elbow.

Sanchez went 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA in six starts this year. His final outing was May 2 in New York, and he was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque two days later.

As a Marlins rookie in 2024, he went 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA after a June promotion. He never threw more than 114 pitches and on Sept. 6 against Arizona became the fourth Marlins pitcher to throw a no-hitter.

23 years old and already needing to have his throwing arm operated on twice does not bode well for a long MLB career. Still because of his no-hitter, Anibal Sanchez has gotten himself a little bit of baseball immortality.

In addition to losing a 2024 home game because of it being played in London England, now League officials are requiring Dolphin fans to pick up their tickets in London the week of the game.

With the Dolphins playing the first regular-season NFL game outside North America this fall, the league is going to unusual lengths to keep fans from profiting off the game.

The NFL has created a policy to prevent season-ticket holders from reselling tickets to the Oct. 28 game against the New York Giants in London. Dolphins season-ticket holders who buy tickets must pick them up in person with photo ID in London the week of the game. They may buy the same number of tickets they have for other home games, but it is capped at 16.

“We don’t want fans re-selling these tickets,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “We had to create a system that would accommodate Dolphins season-ticket holders and U.K. and European fans. Without that there’s the potential for fans to have to pay extraordinary prices for these tickets from people in South Florida, who may be selling them.”

The first 40,000 tickets to the game were snapped up in 90 minutes when they were put on sale to U.K. and European fans last month.

As a contingent of Dolphins officials, including owner H. Wayne Huizenga, coach Cam Cameron and defensive end Jason Taylor, visit London this week promoting the game, season-ticket holders have been receiving information about purchasing tickets, ranging from approximately $92 to $183 depending on the exchange rate. Travel packages with tickets run from $1,699 to $3,749, without airfare. Those buying travel packages do not have to pick up tickets in London.

Some season-ticket holders think they should be able to decide whether to use, re-sell or give the tickets away to clients or relatives.

Florida relaxed its scalping laws last year, allowing for the re-sale of tickets at any price.

The change in Florida law took effect in 2024. Where is the NFL’s concern for ticket scalping when the Super Bowl is played. Why not enforce similar policies then? What if a season ticket holder can’t make the trip? Tough luck then I guess.

Maybe its not much of a loss. In my humble opinion, the 2024 Dolphin season won’t be any better than the 2024 season was.

She gave birth in California last weekend.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, USA - It was a joyous day in Newport Beach for one of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s all-time greatest players on Sunday as Lindsay Davenport, who announced her pregnancy in December and subsequently left the Tour, gave birth to her first child, Jagger Jonathan Leach.

Davenport had an incredible professional career, being one of just 15 women since the inception of computer rankings over 30 years ago to own the No.1 ranking, and reaching a number of Grand Slam finals, claiming the 1998 US Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2024 Australian Open singles titles. She married investment banker and former Southern Cal player Jonathan Leach in Hawaii on April 25, 2024, and at the end of last year announced she would be leaving the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to have the child.

Congratulations to Lindsay and her husband. What kind of name is Jagger for a baby boy? According to this website, it is a rare baby name.