“I think everyone understands that with the [broadcasting] role I have now, I don’t mind saying the chances [of pitching] are pretty slim. I don’t know what slim means. Maybe I make that announcement in 10 days. Maybe in 30 days. Just let me get through this week. I can’t imagine it will go on that long. But there are a lot of things swimming through my head right now.”

For those that don’t know, the broadcasting role that Smoltz is talking about is the deal he just signed with TBS. He’ll be a regular season and playoff analyst for the station. He’ll also be working alongside Bob Costas in the booth for games to be aired on MLB Network.

But back to the retirement issue. In the interview, Smoltz said “I would say 50-1.” in reference to the odds of him playing again. Those aren’t good odds at all.

When you look at the quote above and those odds, it looks like Smoltz has made his decision and just can’t bring himself to making the announcement. Can you blame him? He’s not that old, only 42, and still having mild success in the big leagues. He’s also had such a great career that it’s got to be hard to walk away from that, especially when you consider he still has some gas left in the tank.

Working with TBS and MLB Network should help in him moving on as he’ll still be very close to the game he’s dedicated to his life too. His knowledge should also be entertaining in the booth with the walking encyclopedia Costas.

I was never a Braves fan but I’ve always respected what the trio of Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Smoltz did in there time. Smoltz is a sure fire Hall-Of-Famer for the numbers he put up during baseballs “Steroid Era” and will be a great ambassador for the game.

The one thing that would I like to see is Smoltz sign a one-day contract with the Atlanta Braves so he can retire in the uniform he belongs in.

I would say head over to the Atlanta-Journal and read Schultz’s interview it’s pretty good. There were some other quotes in there that really tell you John is ready to move on to the next phase of his life.

Is it his attitude? Is it the possibility of clubhouse turmoil? Is it his declining skill set? I’d have to say they all play a role but the main issue being his salary demands.

John Czarnecki of FOX Sports reports agent Drew Rosenhaus is still asking for a team to give Terrell Owens $5 million for the 2010 season. That’s an extremely large amount for any player this off season, let alone one that comes with the type of baggage Owens does.

In 2009 with the Buffalo Bills, Owens made $6.5 million and didn’t even come close to earning his money. Owens only caught 55 passes, which equates too $118,181 a catch. Yea, over 100k a catch, insanity!!! Let’s look into this even more, Owens only gained 829 yards, that’s $7,840 per yard. The guy was stealing Buffalo’s money last season.

In past years the main knock on signing or trading for Owens has been his diva type history but this year I really feel its different. I think teams are really scared at signing Terrell at the $5 million price tag, especially when you add in that declining skill set.

Let’s look at his last 3 seasons.

2007 – Dallas Cowboys – 81 catches, 1355 yards and 15 touchdowns
2008 – Dallas Cowboys – 69 catches, 1052 yards and 10 touchdowns
2009 – Buffalo Bills – 55 catches, 829 yards and 5 touchdowns.

First, I’ll completely discount the touchdown decline, last year he did play on the Bills atrocious offense. He definitely did not have as many opportunities as in previous years. But you can’t discount the decline in receptions and yardage from.

His 55 catches in 2009 was T.O.’s lowest total since 1999, that’s ten years! (I’m ignoring his 2005 season with the Philadelphia Eagles as he only played in seven games). Can I discount this to playing for the Bills? Yes and no. His 2008 total of 69 catches was also his lowest total since 1999 and there is no way you can say the Cowboys offense was just as bad.

Let’s look at yardage. His 829 yards in 2009 was his first season under 1,000 since 1999, again ten years. I bring up the same point I made about the receptions. You again can’t say its because he played for the Bills. In 2008 he gained 1052 yards, also his lowest total since 1999.

While Owens may think he is still one of the best receivers in the NFL the numbers don’t lie. His numbers have been in a steady decline for a few years and he can’t blame it on his quarterbacks anymore. He’ll turn 37 during the 2010 season maybe its just father time finally catching up with him.

So is there a team out there that might be willing to give Owens what he’s looking for??? Czarnecki thinks there is, the Chicago Bears.

Because the Chicago Bears have pushed all their chips into the middle of the poker table in order to win now, they look like a good team to land Owens, even if his style doesn’t suit the Mike Martz offense. He remains a name and still has enough speed that Jay Cutler can’t overthrow him.

In theory it makes sense, the Bears are light on draft picks and have gone on a free agent spending spree. They’re playing for now and adding Owens could be another piece to the puzzle as they try to catch the Minnesota Vikings. It would also give quarterback Jay Cutler a big target to throw too, even if he does drop about ten of those passes a year.

I’m thinking it won’t happen thou, cause when does anything make sense with Terrell Owens??? I say Owens is still on the market after Draft Day.

Adam_Schefter: RB LaDainian Tomlinson is talking with Vikings, but he also is talking with others (don’t know who) and no deal is imminent.

Here’s the main reason I think that the two sides won’t come to an agreement, Adrian Peterson. AP is one of the premier running backs in the league and will be without a doubt the starter next season. He’s talented and durable enough where the Vikings don’t need a running back to take ten or so carries a game to spell the starter.

So can LT handle a minor role after the career he’s had? I seriously doubt it, it’s part of the reason he’s no longer in San Diego. Yea, money played a major part but there is no doubt he couldn’t handle Darren Sproles eating into his carries.

Personally thou I’d like to see LT team up with AP. They’d be a pretty dynamic duo and probably fun to watch, especially if both wound up in a backfield at the same time. Yea, I know highly unlikely they ever do that. More importantly thou I believe Tomlinson could be a HUGGGGEEEE mentor for Peterson, maybe even help teach him how to hold on to a football.

Again highly unlikely we see the two pair up, but I’d love to see it.

ESPN1320: Leon Washington rumors tied to the 49ers are heating up. They would have to give up a second rounder to get him. Injuries make it risky.

Profootballtalk.com also talks about the rumor saying the two sides have talked but no official visits have been setup. What that tells me is that the rumors aren’t exactly heating up. Agents and players are talking plenty right now, till an official visit is set up I wouldn’t necessarily call it a rumor that’s heating up.

Now my question is why would the 49ers be interested in Washington? I know they’re looking for a change of back, especially a third down back. During Leon’s career he’s filled that roll quite well, as he caught 47 passes in the 2008 season. He had 15 in the first seven games of 2009 before he suffered a season ending injury. So yea, he can provide the Niners what they want, if he returns healthy.

Washington will be 28 before the season started, not old but also not too young. Being a leg fracture he should be able to fully heal, but how effective will he be in his first season back? Matter fact, how healthy is he now?

His health his my main concern with making this move, especially when you consider the Niners would have to give up their second round pick. Granted they do have two first rounders, which could lessen the loss of a pick, but still they’ve got some major picks to help in the turn around of this franchise.

If I was the Niners and willing to give up a draft pick in a free agent signing, I’d revisit the possibility of Darren Sproles. He’s healthy, a change of pace back and you know what you’ll be getting. He’ll come at a steeper price but he can help the team more. Another option would be to use one of those first round draft picks on a running back like C.J. Spiller.

But yea if it was me I’d stay of Washington till he proves he’s healthy, especially at what he’ll cost a team. The ‘Niners can easily take the NFC West and they need to add pieces that they know will contribute. With Washington who knows what you’ll get.

Sports Illustrated writer Don Banks made his predictions of where the top ten free agents should go, one of which was Mr. Jones. Banks predicts that Jones will sign with the Detroit Lions. Yea, you read that right the Detroit Lions.

Jones would actually be a VERY good fit for the Lions. Banks sights Jones tough style of play and his reliability, but more importantly that he can help take some pressure off young QB Matthew Stafford. He also mentions that Jones could fit in well in a lot of places (no shit) but this is where he predicts Jones will sign.

Now do I think this prediction will come true?? Not a chance. Why would Jones who just played in the AFC Championship Game go to a team that is perennially one of the worst in the league. I truly believe they’ll be some contenders calling and offering money, and now that Jones has a taste of winning he’s going to want more.

So what contenders would possible want a player like Jones? I’m thinking the New England Patriots.

While Banks predicts Jones will sign with Detroit, he also suggested that Jones should sign with the New England Patriots instead. That makes much more sense to me. He’d bring even more of a veteran presence to that offense but more importantly finally give the Patriots a legitimate running back to balance out the passing attack.

And you know what? It would add another wrinkle to the Jets / Patriots rivalry.

While I totally disagree with where Banks predicts Jones will wind up, I do like where he suggests the player should go. But you know what they’ll be even more options. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has his own opinion of where Jones could wind up.

Adam_Schefter: Best I can tell, there are four potential landing spots for former Jets RB Thomas Jones: Cleveland, Seattle, San Diego and Houston.

And you know what, his options also make a lot of sense. All those teams could use a solid running back and three of them are contenders.

Where Jones signs I don’t know but I think its clear to me what will happen. Jones will sign with a contender, not the Lions. Jones will want to get paid well, evident by refusing to restructure his contract for the Jets.

So my prediction is that Jones will sign with the contender that offers him the most money. So who ponies up?

St. Louis Dispatch reporter Bryan Burwell is the one saying that the Rams have had discussions with the Eagles. Burwell is reporting that the Rams are interested in Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford but if he doesn’t check out medically they’ll look to deal for a veteran quarterback. He also says that a well informed source has told him that the QB they’re targeting is McNabb. Which makes sense.

Former Eagles QB coach Pat Shurmur is the Rams offensive coordinator, while Steve Spagnuolo is obviously the teams head coach. So basically there are two men in charge that have ties with the Eagles organization and McNabb, which could help in facilitating a trade.

What also makes a trade likely is the Rams draft position. Now there is no chance for the Eagles to acquire the Rams #1 overall pick, but the #1 overall pick in the second round is definitely a possibility. That won’t be enough to entice the Eagles to make a deal but I’m sure it will be a huge start as that is a very popular pick. The Rams are also looking to make some trades next week to possibly stockpile some picks, which could always be used as additional trade bait.

In my eyes this is all purely speculative too as Burwell doesn’t even have a quote from his well informed source. This could be someone in the Rams organization trying to drive up trade value for the number one pick.

—

Now to the other side of the argument, Burwell’s colleague Bernie Miklasz is thinking the total opposite. He thinks there is very minimal chance of the Eagles and Rams completing a deal.

His thinking is that the Eagles, especially Andy Reid, have to much respect for McNabb and if they do trade him it would be to a contender. McNabb’s now 34 and with a potential lockout looming he thinks Reid would want to give him a chance to win.

It’s a noble thought but this is business. If Reid trades McNabb its going to be in the best interest of the Eagles, in terms of return and potential competitors. The Eagles aren’t going to just send him to someone who can knock them out of the playoffs, its just like in baseball where the Toronto Blue Jays wouldn’t trade Roy Halladay within their division. You’re not going to trade a star player to someone who can keep you from winning a championship, sorry Miklasz it’s just not going to happen.

Now I do agree with Miklasz where he says the Rams are going to have to overpay for McNabb is there is truly a deal in the works. The main piece will be the #1 pick in the second round, that’s a given.

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A little while after his post, Miklasz shared a quote from Coach Spags on his twitter page.

miklasz: Steve Spagnuolo on the Bernie Show: no talks between Rams & Eagles over QB Donovan McNabb.

While that could be true its what every NFL coach must say, they don’t want to jeopardize any deal that could be out there. What’s interesting to me thou is the Eagles haven’t said anything about this yet. Normally by now Reid would be telling someone that McNabb is his guy and will be his guy next season. We haven’t heard that yet, we’ll see if it happens during the five pm news hour here in Philly.

Like I said earlier, I feel this is one of those crazy combine rumors but at the same time it does bear some watching. Everyone knows the Eagles have to do something with one of their three quarterbacks. So just keep an eye on this.

One question I have is how will the Eagles fan base react to losing Brian Dawkins, Brian Westbrook and McNabb in a span of a year and a half??? Eagles fans let me know, what do you think?

“Obviously we’re thrilled to add Rocco and his experience and what he can bring to our young players,” Vice President Andrew Friedman said. “We think he’ll be a tremendous asset for us. And he looks better in blue.”

While Baldelli is taking a role as an assistant he doesn’t plan on retiring from the game just yet. There was rumored to plenty of interest in the outfielder this offseason but no deal materialized. It’s most likely because of his injury history and his current shoulder issue which he suffered in the second half of the 2009 season. “”I do have a shoulder issue that I’m dealing with right now,” he said. “It’s something … I need to address it, just because I don’t want to walk around in pain any more. It’s something that affects my ability to play, so it’s something that I have to take care.”

It’s really unfortunate that this once promising prospects career has been hampered by injury after injury but at least he’s not running away from the game, as we’ve seen to many players just disappear after injuries shortened their careers. It’s great to see Baldelli want to stay in baseball and give back to the younger players in the organization, while he attempts to work his way back.

“I’m going to have fun with it,” Baldelli said. “I think I’m going to have fun being out on the field again and having the Rays jersey on and going out and trying to do anything I can to help the young players in the organization. I don’t think I’d want to do it in any other organization than this. I feel this is my second home.”

I really hope Baldelli can get his shoulder issue taken care of and make his way back to the bigs once again. He’ll never be the .300 hitter with blazing speed that he once was but he could still be a productive fourth outfielder if he can get healthy.

In the meantime, hopefully the youngsters take his advice as he was once a very productive major league starter.

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Jason Reid of the Washington Post reported today that the ‘Skins are very high on Peppers as the team is looking to move to a 3-4 defense. Peppers is the best defensive end on the market and also a perfect fit for such a defense. Peppers knows he is such a fit that he earlier expressed his desire to join a team that plays the 3-4. Makes sense as we know he’s all about the dollar dollar bill. The question with such a signing is what happens with Albert Haynesworth, but we’ll get into that a little later in the post.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune says that the San Diego Chargers are hoping to bring back Sproles but that the team knows they’ll be bidding against the “deep-pocketed” Redskins. Just like in adding Peppers, adding Sproles would make a ton of sense for the team.

Sproles for one could take over punt returning duties from Antwaan Randle-El and pretty much be a big improvement. But more importantly he could help spell an aging Clinton Portis. I’d assume Sproles would become the teams third down back and even their back in clear second and long passing situations. Adding a player like Sproles could help in keeping Portis on the field and effective for an entire season, something that hasn’t happened in a while. Just like Haynesworth thou, the question would be how does Portis take such a signing?

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Signing Peppers and Sproles would be huge for the Redskins on paper, but how would it actually affect the team? Mainly, Haynesworth and Portis, both would be asked to change their game significantly.

Haynesworth is making $100 million to be a terror on the defensive side of the ball. He’s asked to get to the quarterback and be as disruptive as he can. While his sack numbers have never been high he’s excellent at collapsing the pocket and even stuffing the run. With the Redskins switching to a 3-4 defense they are thinking about asking him to move inside and be the clogging the middle type nose tackle as he’s the closest player they have to play that role.

That could do one of two things. One, it could make him a highly over paid nose tackle who struggles against the slightly larger interior lineman. Or two, it could make the Redskins geniuses. Haynesworth could consistently blow up the middle of the offensive line and let his linebackers blow right through.

In my eyes, that move could either be a huge boom or bust type. I think what it winds up will depend on Haynesworth’s attitude. If he’s OK with becoming second fiddle on the defense then this could work.

The situation at running back thou is where I’m worried. Portis has always been known for his ego, how will he feel about a younger player coming in and taking some of his carries??? Personally, I think he needs to swallow that ego because he’s not the player he once was. Honestly, he’s lucky the Redskins don’t cut him and just go with Sproles as their featured back. I mean really he only played in eight games last season, and even faltered down the stretch of the 2008-9 season. He’s not the guy he once was.

Can Portis accept it? I doubt it. The key for the offense growing with Portis and Sproles (if it happens) would be Portis showing maturity and accepting his new role.

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S0 now that that’s all said and done is anyone really surprised that Dan Snyder is going to go hog wild in free agency this year? He’s always loved to throw his money round, he’s done it time and time again over the past decade. This year will be no different.

The key for the Redskins will be does Snyder finally listen to his football people and throw it at the right “stars” cause we know that’s what he’ll go after. He’s got to go for the names. If he does then the uncapped year will make the ‘Skins some serious players in the NFC next season. If he doesn’t well then they’ll just be your usual Washington Redskins.

McCoy completed only 23 reps at 225 pounds, not good at all especially when compared to others. Out of the 50 defensive lineman who participated, McCoy finished 35th. Jeff Owens of Georgia finished first with a whopping 44, almost double the total of someone considered to be one of the best players in the draft. Even worse, was that his main competitor Suh finished with 32 reps himself.

McCoy’s biggest supporter the last few months has been NFL Networks’ Mike Mayock and his results even “stunned” Mayock.

“When you start comparing numbers, which is what this combine is all about, in the weight room yesterday Suh did 32 and McCoy did 23,” Mayock said Monday on NFL Network. “I was stunned that McCoy only did 23 reps. That tells me he hasn’t been in the weight room the way he should have been over the last three years.”

While this performance could hurt him its not the end of his chances at being drafted number one overall. Sure the combine may of showed a flaw in McCoy but he still has his pro day coming up and his in game performances will still hold a lot of weight.

Mayock may be stunned and many of us probably are. This without a doubt shows McCoy may not be as strong as believed but what does that say about his potential???? If an NFL team gets him to commit to a weight program on their level he could quickly catch and surpass Suh when it comes to strength. And if that happens, I’d say it definitely jumps him ahead of Suh.

But the question is will the St. Louis Rams look at the potential of a player or a finished project with the number one pick??