26-year old righty starting pitcher Matt Garza tossed the fifth no-hitter in the major leagues last night against the Detroit Tigers.  He threw 80 of 120 pitches for strikes as he was very efficient.  I know that baseball fans tend to like offense but myself I enjoy a 2-1 game just as much.  This was high drama last night and it doesn’t seem to matter who is pitching this season……they have a chance to do what Garza did last night.  After all, Garza has pitched in 109 games (106 starts) in his five years in the majors and he is 38-39 with a 4.01 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.  Although his career numbers don’t jump off the stat sheet they are still better than Edwin Jackson and Dallas Braden’s and they have both tossed no-hitters this season against Garza’s team…the Tampa Bay Rays.  Jackson has pitched in 159 games (130 starts) in his 8 years in the majors and he is 44-48 with a 4.72 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.  Braden has pitched in 78 games (63 starts) in his four years in the majors and he is 19-28 with a 4.43 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.  Technically, Armando Galarraga didn’t throw a no-hitter against the Indians this year (because of umpire Jim Joyce’s pathetic call) but he also has been a so-so pitcher in his major league career.  Galarraga has pitched in 74 games (65 starts) in his four years in the majors and he is 22-20 with a 4.59 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP.  This just goes to show that you can’t just look at a pitching matchup and predict seeing major league history.  Of the five no-hitters only two of them didn’t surprise me.  Ubaldo Jimenez and Roy Halladay (both N.L. All-Stars) each tossed one.  Jimenez has pitched in 104 games (103 starts) in his major league career and he is 46-30 with a 3.58 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP.  Halladay has pitched in 334 games (308 starts) in his 13 years in the majors and he is 159-84 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.  These five no-hitters are a great example as to the fact that any major league ballplayer can achieve greatness on any given day.

25-year old Chris Paul might have the perception that LeBron James is his friend.  But make no mistake “The Prince” is looking out for only himself.  James’ marketing company has Chris Paul as a client now and they have been advising him to seek a trade out of New Orleans.  That would be a real asshole move by Chris Paul who has meant a lot to the city of New Orleans.  Paul only played in 45 games (all starts) last season for the Hornets and he averaged 38.0 minutes, 18.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game.  You would have to think the Hornets would have been a lot better basketball team if he hadn’t got injured last year.  So all of his sobbing about making the team better is hollow as his return alone makes it better.  Paul has played in 345 games (all starts) in his five years with the Hornets and he is averaging 37.3 minutes, 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 10.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game.  Paul is #9 all-time in games played (345) in Hornets’ history.  He is also #7 in three pointers made (308), #2 in assists (3,446), #2 in steals (822) and he’s #5 in points (6,668) in Hornets’ history.  Paul needs to back off on his trade demands and realize that the Hornets organization and the city of New Orleans care for him way more than LeBron James who’s only looking out for his own best interests.

On December 4th, 2007 the Florida Marlins traded 1B Miguel Cabrera and lefty starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers.  In return the Marlins got outfielder Cameron Maybin, lefty starting pitcher Andrew Miller, righty reliever Burke Badenhop,  switch hitting catcher Mike Rabelo, righty starting pitcher Dallas Trahern and righty reliever/starter Eulogio de la Cruz.  This trade seemed to resemble the one that sent Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett to the Red Sox for Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez.  But the results have definitely been in the Tigers’ favor.  27-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera isn’t even in his prime yet and he’s competing for a MVP and Triple Crown in the A.L.  Cabrera has played in 89 games for the Tigers this year and he is 115 of 336 (.342 avg, 1.064 OPS) with 67 runs scored, 24 homers and 82 RBIs.  In his three years with the Tigers so far he has played in 409 games in which he is 493 of 1,563 (.315 avg, .947 OPS) with 248 runs scored, 95 homers and 312 RBIs.  Miguel Cabrera is definitely on pace to be a Hall of Famer and he won’t be going in as a Florida Marlin.  Dontrelle Willis was a fan favorite in Miami just like Cabrera was.  For that reason it was hard to see him leave.  But he was pathetic for the Tigers.  He pitched in 24 games (22 starts) in three years with the Tigers and he was 2-8 with a 6.86 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP.  He walked an amazing 92 batters in 101 innings for the Tigers before they gave up on him.  He’s now pitching in the minors with the Giants.

What about the Marlins’ bounty for Cabrera & Willis?  Here we go.  23-year old righty swinging Cameron Maybin has the best chance of making this trade not look as awful as it does right now.  Maybin has played in 113 games in his first three years with the Marlins and he is 101 of 390 (.259 avg, .713 OPS) with 70 runs scored, 9 homers, 34 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.  He has also whiffed a absolutely stunning 115 times already for the Fish.  He’s currently in AAA and that’s where he belongs for now.  25-year old lefty starting pitcher Andrew Miller was supposed to be the other prize of this deal for the Fish.  That has not been the case so far.  Miller pitched in 49 games (34 starts) in 2008+2009 for the Marlins and he was 9-15 with a 5.43 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP.  His biggest issue was his control as he walked 99 batters in only 187 1/3 innings.  The Marlins have not given up on him quite yet but he has been in the minors the whole 2010 season.  27-year old righty reliever Burke Badenhop is a middle reliever and that’s about it.  He has pitched in 68 games (10 starts) in his three years with the Marlins and he is 10-12 with 1 save, a 4.84 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.  30-year old switch hitting catcher Mike Rabelo played in 34 games in 2008 for the Marlins and he was 22 of 109 (.202 avg, .550 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBIs.  He didn’t last long in Miami.  Neither did 26-year old righty reliever/starter Eulogio de la Cruz.  de la Cruz pitched in 6 games (1 start) for the Marlins in 2008 and he was 0-0 with a 18.00 ERA and a 2.89 WHIP.  He gave up 15 hits (2 homers) and he also walked 11 batters in only 9 innings.  24-year old righty starting pitcher Dallas Trahern has been awful in the minors for the Marlins.  He has pitched in 28 games (all starts) in A+AAA-ball in the minors for the Fish and he is 6-14 with a 6.03 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP!

You can bet that the Tigers will answer any and all calls placed to them from the Marlins as they wouldn’t mind going to the Candy Store again some time.  Getting a future Hall of Famer not even in his prime yet for a big bag of junk always looks good on the bottom line.

24-year old righty reliever Joba Chamberlain is having a rough time this season so far.  His velocity is certainly back as he’s again throwing in the high 90’s but something seems off about him.  Chamberlain has pitched in 40 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this year and he is 1-4 with 2 saves, a 5.77 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.  He has whiffed 43 batters in only 39 innings this season but he has been hittable giving up 45 hits already.  The Yankees need to develop a plan for Chamberlain and stick to it.  He was a starter in the minors but his first two years with the Yanks he mostly worked in relief setting up Mariano Rivera.  In his first two years with the Yankees, Chamberlain pitched in 61 games (12 starts) in which he was 6-3 with 1 save, a 2.17 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.  Chamberlain was flat out nasty his first two years in pinstripes.  He only gave up 99 hits (only 6 homers) in 124 1/3 innings in his first two years with an amazing 152 whiffs.  The Yankees decided to use Chamberlain as a starter last season and he just isn’t cut out for that role in the majors.  He’s better off attacking batters in short stints with his overpowering fastball instead of trying to trick batters with his off-speed stuff as a starter.  Chamberlain flopped in 2009 pitching in 32 games (31 starts) in which he was 9-6 with a 4.75 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP.  He gave up 167 hits (21 homers), walked 76 hitters and he hit 12 batters in only 157 1/3 innings in 2009 for the Yankees.  Chamberlain whiffed 133 batters last year but he was not nearly as intimidating as a starting pitcher.  The Yankees did the right thing in moving Chamberlain back to the pen this season but it appears as if he’s still shell shocked from 2009.  Chamberlain is the poster boy for the fact that even the Yankees sometimes screw up players.

The Southwest Division of the NBA must really like the teams they have right now because not many of them are adding veterans this off-season.  Here’s a close look at what they have done so far:

1. Houston Rockets:  The Rockets waited a while before getting Brad Miller to come to town as a free agent.  He was a great addition for the Rockets as he gives them a legit backup center in case anything happens to Yao.  They flirted with the idea of landing Chris Bosh for a while before he chose Miami.  Despite only making one move I give the Rockets a “B” because it was a good one.

2. Memphis Grizzlies:  The Grizzlies made their big move when they signed Rudy Gay to a max deal.  But they also needed bench help and that’s exactly what they got when they signed SG/SF Tony Allen.  He is a winner to having played with the Celtics his whole career.  The Grizzlies hope Allen’s winning attitude rubs off on the rest of the team.  I give the Grizzlies a “B” so far this off-season.

3. Dallas Mavericks:  The Mavericks really wanted to land Al Jefferson from the T-Wolves.  When he got traded to the Jazz, the Mavericks quickly worked out a deal with the Bobcats landing them Tyson Chandler and Alex Ajinca.  Chandler will back up Dirk Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood this year.  I have to give the Mavericks a “C+” so far this off-season.

4. San Antonio Spurs:  The Spurs have just been biding their time this off-season.  They were pleased that Tiago Splitter finally signed with them giving them another big man who can play the game.  Still, he’s the only player the Spurs have brought in this off-season so I give them a “C”.

5. New Orleans Hornets:  The Hornets have not added any veteran players this off-season.  They had a deal in place with Luther Head but they nixed it due to “physical issues”.  The Hornets did jettison Morris Peterson to the Thunder on draft day but they still earn a very solid “F” so far this off-season.