grantpaulsen.com » 2009

Red Wings @ Capitals - Pregame

January 31st, 2009

Good afternoon to you from a raucus Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Detroit Red Wings (31-10-7) are in town for a tussle with the Washington Capitals (30-15-4). Detroit comes in to today’s road contest boasting the second best record in hockey. The Capitals, thanks largely to their success at home, are ranked third in the East.

The lineups were just announced. Defenders Tom Poti and Shaone Morrisonn will be on the ice to begin the game. Nicklas Backstrom will center the first line out this afternoon. Tomas Feischmann and Eric Fehr will work alongside him. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General

25 Random Tidbit’s

January 30th, 2009

So here is the deal … I am on Facebook all the time. I rarely (and by rarely I mean never before this week) actually fill out the things that people send each other to fill out. You know the kinds of things I’m talking about. Surveys about your likes and dislikes and stuff. Those types of things.

This week, though, that all changed. I still don’t know why I decided to fill this particular facebook survey out, but I couldn’t help it. The bottom-line was that I had to list 25 random facts about myself. As somebody who doesn’t like to talk about myself, this was a challenge. But I dug deep and used the memory as best as I could to come up with enough things. Here was the reuslt … Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General

Dexter Fowler

January 30th, 2009

Every week on my baseball show, Minors and Majors, I chat with one of baseball’s top prospects. Dexter Fowler will be my guest tomorrow morning.

I’ll talk with Fowler about his offseason, his goals for 2009, and his chances at breaking spring training with an every-day job in the major leagues.

Fowler, a 22-year-old outfielder, is widely considered the Colorado Rockies top prospect. The five-tool talent had struggled to stay healthy in the minor leagues prior to last season, when Fowler hit .335 in over 400 at-bats in Double-A. A quality fielder with super speed on the base-paths, the Georgia native may well be the opening day center fielder in Colorado. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB

Zduriencik Adds Young Talent

January 28th, 2009

The Seattle Mariners traded Aaron Heilman to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, getting back young infielder Ronnie Cedeno and young left-hander Garrett Olson.

That’s one way of describing the trade. Another is: Jack Zduriencik - one, Jim Hendry zero. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB

Minors & Majors: January 24th

January 24th, 2009

Today on the show I talked with Kevin Pucetas and Collin Balester. Pucetas is a 24-year-old pitching prospect in the San Francisco Giants’ system. Balester finished last season in the Washington National rotation, which is where he’s expected to begin this season. Pucetas made his “Minors and Majors” debut. Balester joined the show for his “deep thoughts” segment.

I was impressed with Pucetas. He’s got a lively personality and he is as a good a story-teller as he is jovial. He told a story about a night when he and Tim Alderson, another of San Francisco’s top pitching prospects, were staying in at a place called the “lamp lighter inn” while playing A-ball last season. He described the motel/hotel as being almost 100 degrees and said that he tried to get some air moving by turning on a fan. The fan didn’t work, though. So Pucetas opened all of the room’s windows - one of which had a busted screen with large holes in it. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB

O’s Get Busy: Pie, Pauley, Markakis

January 19th, 2009

Yesterday the Orioles shipped Garrett Olson to the Chicago Cubs for hearlded outfield prospect Felix Pie. Today the team traded 24-year-old reliever Randor Bierd to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for young starting pitcher, David Pauley. At some point between the two trades Baltimore also apparently agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension with star outfielder Nick Markakis.

Pie is a 23-year-old outfielder who has spent parts of the past two seasons in the major leagues with the Cubs. A left-handed hitter who has already proven to be a plus defender in the majors, Pie had done everything in the big leagues but hit for average. In 2007 Pie hit just .215 in 87 games with the Cubbies. Last year he hit .241 in 43 games with the big club. Those numbers are rather curious when considering that the native of the Domincian Republic has stroked at .362 and .287 clips in his last two extended stays with AAA-Iowa. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB, Articles, Baltimore Orioles

Wanted: Defensive End Who Can Get to the Quarterback

January 17th, 2009

The Washington Redskins haven’t boasted a havoc-wreaking defensive end since the Dexter Manley and Charles Mann days. You have to go back to 1991 to find the last time a Redskins defensive end posted more than 11 sacks. Mann did it that year — on a team that won the Super Bowl. It’s probably not a coincidence that Washington hasn’t been back to the “big game” since the team last had a dominant defensive end.

Manley amassed 18.5 sack during a career year back in 1986. On a handful of occasions since, the Redskins haven’t had that many sacks as a team. The team’s two starting ends, Andre Carter and future hall-of-famer Jason Taylor, didn’t even combine to register a third of Manley’s 1986 total this past season. In 2007 Carter cracked double-digits in the sack column for the first time in his career. It was just the second time a Redskins end had posted at least 10-sacks this decade. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, NFL, Washington Redskins

Hazen Talks Red Sox Prospects

January 15th, 2009

I talked with Mike Hazen today. He is the third-year Director of Player Development with the Boston Redsox. A former minor leaguer who spent two seasons in the San Diego Padres system before a shoulder injury ended his career, Hazen got his first baseball job as an intern for the Cleveland Indians back in 2000. Six years later he was hired by Theo Epstein to run Boston’s Player Development department.

Hazen, a Princeton graduate, is extremely baseball smart. He is also a very good interview. The conversation I had with him will air on Sirius XM Radio this Saturday morning, during my baseball show “Minors and Majors.” It can be heard on Sirius’ channel 210 and on channel 175 on XM. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB

One more Ray of Sunshine for O’s

January 14th, 2009

While you are sipping on your coffee and looking at the newspaper this morning, no doubt agitated about the fact that you are reading about the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers continuing to stay active in Free Agency while the Orioles haven’t been of late, I figured I would throw an idea out there. Don’t forget that Chris Ray is expected to be back and to be 100% to start the season.

Ray, who missed all of last season after having ligament reconstruction surgery on his right elbow, turned 27 on Monday. He signed a one-year deal with the Orioles last night, thus avoiding arbitration. He’ll provide Baltimore with a complement to George Sherrill in the late innings, giving the team a righty and a lefty who can now both close. That depth is something the team didn’t have last season (not until Jim Johnson emerged as a top-end reliever anyway). Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB, Baltimore Orioles

NFL Final-Four is Set

January 12th, 2009

Either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Arizona Cardinals are going to be playing for the Vince Lombardy Trophy. Both teams have been left for dead at some point this season, and each has been considered nothing more than an average team at some point in the past five-weeks.

With impressive wins over the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers in the past two weeks, the Cardinals have stunned everybody who knows anything about playoff football. Teams that aren’t built to run the ball aren’t supposed to win in January. Somebody forgot to tell Arizona that. Teams that play poor defense aren’t supposed to win after Christmas either. Again though, the Cardinals didn’t get that e-mail. Read the rest »

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, NFL, Articles

Red Wings @ Capitals - Pregame

January 31st, 2009

25 Random Tidbit’s

January 30th, 2009

Dexter Fowler

January 30th, 2009

Zduriencik Adds Young Talent

January 28th, 2009

Minors & Majors: January 24th

January 24th, 2009

O’s Get Busy: Pie, Pauley, Markakis

January 19th, 2009

Wanted: Defensive End Who Can Get to the Quarterback

January 17th, 2009

Hazen Talks Red Sox Prospects

January 15th, 2009

One more Ray of Sunshine for O’s

January 14th, 2009

NFL Final-Four is Set

January 12th, 2009

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