Jose Fernandez Is The New Favorite For Rookie Of The Year

After his 2 starts this week, Jose Fernandez has become the front runner for National League Rookie of the year. For a Marlins team that has been horrendous this season, Fernandez has been a model of consistency. At the age of 21, Jose Fernandez has already put his name in the same sentence of elite pitchers in the game today.

Strength In Numbers

In his rookie season, after only pitching 1 year of class A-ball, Jose Fernandez is 3^rd in ERA (MLB) with an ERA of (2.30), behind only fellow rookie Matt Harvey (2.27) and Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw (1.72). With a 10-5 win/loss record, the Marlins ace has a higher winning percentage of (.667) than Kershaw (.650). KJ In the category of strikeouts per 9 innings. Fernandez at (9.73) strikeouts per 9 innings is higher than Adam Wainwright (8.24) and Felix Hernandez (9.36). To go along with all of that his opponent batting average of (.188) is better than MLB strikeout leader Yu Darvish (.191).

Those stats would be impressive for anybody but for a rookie playing on a very offensively challenged ball club they look even greater. To appreciate how great Fernandez has been this season you have to really know how bad the Marlins offense is. So like I stated earlier, the rookie phenom has a 10-5 record, which is impressive playing for the Marlins. As a collective offense, the Marlins don't strike fear into the hearts of many opponents, ranking dead last in runs scored (415) and hits (997). We are in late August, heading into the last month of the season, and the Marlins still are the only team that doesn’t have 1,000 hits as a team yet. So the fact the Jose Fernandez has so little to work with from his offense and is posting the numbers he has, speaks volumes to what he is accomplishing in his rookie season.

Puig Who?

Last Monday against the red hot fellow Cuban rookie sensation Yasiel Puig and the LA Dodgers Jose Fernandez validated himself to the baseball world as the 2013 National League rookie of the year. Marlins Park was more filled than usual with both Cuban rookie phenoms facing off against each other, Miami's large Cuban community came to see which one would shine the most. Like most of the baseball world they came to see Puig but were left impressed with Fernandez as he shut down the Dodger order going 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits, 1 earned run and collecting 8 strikeouts in a 6-2 Marlins victory over the Dodgers. Puig went 0-4 against Fernandez with a strikeout, looking very uncomfortable. At times Puig didn't even look like a big league hitter. He even had more hits then Yasiel hitting a single to center field in the 3^rd inning. So against baseball's hottest name Fernandez dominated and proved against the media's favorite rookie why he is the real rookie of the year.

No Contest

Barring a massive meltdown in September, Jose Fernandez will be the National League rookie of the year. If he maintains this kind of consistency through the whole entire month of September, he may even get some Cy Young consideration. One series that could really do a lot for Fernandez as far as Cy Young consideration goes is the September 27-29 series vs Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers. If he gets the start, he will be taking on baseball's best offense in Detroit, which leads the league in runs scored at (615). Not to mention the best hitter on the whole planet Miguel Cabrera, who won the triple crown last season. If he has a start against them like he did against the Dodgers, then it will be tough to not get Cy Young consideration. As far as the rookie of the year award goes, he has already won it, he's been the most consistent rookie from start to finish. Plus I think it would be incredibly hypocritical of baseball to give Puig the rookie of the year award, when they didn't let him participate in the all-star game. As well as giving it to him over a guy who made the all-star team and has been here all year long. So it will be interesting to see if baseball can stay consistent as far as what they believe in. If Jose Fernandez doesn’t win rookie of the year then I believe that all this is fixed and they are Puig lovers.

The Curious Case Of Tyreke Evans

This season is all about fresh starts in New Orleans. New logo, new team name, new colors and most importantly new talent with guys like Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans. There is no denying the talent on the Pelicans roster but the real question is how will it all mesh together with them being so guard heavy. The biggest question comes in the form of former Rookie of the year Tyreke Evans. The 6-6 versatile ballplayer has disappointed the basketball world majorly over the last few years seeing his points decrease and a whole lot of inconsistency. Now there isn’t any denying the talent of Evans but will the move from the Kings to the Pelicans wake him up and reenergize his career.

Tyreke as many of you know set the basketball world on fire in 2009 during his rookie of the year campaign where he joined the likes of  Michael Jordan,Oscar Robertson and Lebron James to average 20 points 5  rebounds and 5 assists. That is some pretty elite company and it only makes sense that people would have expectations of him being an elite player. Over the past few seasons he has looked disengaged playing on losing Kings teams but that in part is due to him not improving as a basketball player. This is the NBA coaches and players make adjustments after they have film of you so while the league adjusted to Tyreke the adjustment was never made for Tyreke to adjust to the league.

Hopefully his move to the Pelicans re energizes his career because when he is playing at a high level he is as fun to watch as anybody in the NBA. The Pelicans are very guard heavy and Evans has already made it clear that he will come off the bench and play anywhere from point guard to small forward. I think playing on a team as the 6^th man not only gives the Pelicans great line up flexibility but puts him in a position to show his versatility while staying on the floor for a team that has playoff potential which is all Evans really wants which is to win.

So when the Reke show makes its debut in the big easy its put up or shut up, this is year 5 and you are now playing with talented players at every position. I nor are most basketball asking for the return of 2009-10 Tyreke Evans (Although it would be cool to see) but what we are asking is for Evans to be a factor for the Pelicans playing basketball at a high level. All I know is that the curious case of Tyreke Evans will be a fun thing to watch this season in the NBA.

Kidds Off The Hill: Grant Hill and Jason Kidd Retire

Everything in life has a transitional period and in the game of basketball it's no different. Over the last few seasons fans like myself have seen guys they grew up watching play retire from the game such as Shaq, Rasheed Wallace and Baron Davis. In the last few days 2 players who I grew up with and have been in the league for as long as I can remember retired from pro basketball. I am speaking about Grant Hill and Jason Kidd of course, who both shared rookie of the year honors in 1994.

Both of these talented players careers take on a different meaning. For Grant Hill it was a bunch of “What if's” due to injuries throughout the course of his career he was never ever able to hit his peak as a basketball player. For Jason Kidd he was a game changer who reinvented himself several times and took the perennial cellar dwelling New Jersey Nets to new heights taking them to the finals twice. Regardless of what happened though both had their fair share of great moments on the basketball court.

Grant Hill had all the hype coming in from Duke capturing 2 national championships garnering hype from many of the biggest names in basketball at that time. “He is simply a marvelous player who can do it all” Larry Brown said. He at one point was heralded as “The next Michael Jordan” and had the explosiveness to prove it just go on youtube. In fact Michael Jordan back in an interview stated the following about Grant Hill”I think Grant Hill's skills are unbelievable, he is definitely the type of player that can take over a game, he's probably top 4 players in the game today”. To actually get that praise from the guy you are being compared is a big deal.

For all the praise Grant received he also was unable to show the NBA world what his ceiling was due to many injuries. From 1999- 2008 Grant had problems staying on the court and never played 75+ games in that time frame. It makes you wonder what a healthy Grant Hill and Tracy Mcgrady could have done in Orlando with the Magic. They most likely wold of been contenders in the east year in year out.

There are many ways we can look at the career of Grant Hill. We can say “Here is Grant Hill who couldn't stay healthy, who let the fans down, Fila down and never maximized his potential”. Or we can say “Here is Grant Hill who didn't live up to the hype but was still a 7 time All-Star who fought his injuries to the very end to still become a productive role player in the league". If you want to know how great Grant Hill was at one point look at the tweet from ESPN's stats twitter account down below and you will see how great Grant was.

Grant Hill retires. He's 1 of 6 players to average 20-5-5 in his first 6 NBA seasons.It's an impressive list twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/…
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 2, 2013

Jason Kidd is different then Grant though he had hype but was more durable to prove it to be true. He came into the league as a guy who could do a little of everything Score,pass, rebound and was a bit bigger and stronger then most point guards which allowed him to get 107 Triple-Doubles over the course of his career.

Jason Kidd will always be known to most basketball fans as the guy who elevated the then New Jersey Nets franchise to new heights taking them to the finals 2 times. The only problem is the Nets ran into the 2 biggest dynasty’s of this era in the Lakers and Spurs but make no mistake about it Kidd was a game changer. Whether with Vince Carter, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson or Kerry Kittles Kidd made the Nets a must watch team in the NBA and played some of the most exciting basketball of the 2000's leading the league in assists 5 times in his tenure with the Nets. So to the Brooklyn Nets Organization retire #5 at the Barclay’s center.

Of course all the accolades with Nets were great but the legacy of Kidd was cemented in 2011 when as a member of the Dallas Mavericks where he earned his 1^st and only championship ring beating Lebron James and the Miami Heat. From that part of his career to now he had to transition his game from a guy who liked to get to the basket to a guy who became a shooter and worked tirelessly to improve his perimeter J. As he leaves the league he is the 3^rd greatest shooter in NBA History which is a testament to how hard he worked as a player.

So to the careers of Jason Kidd and Grant Hill I on behalf of many basketball fans say so long, It was a joy to watch you play.