Derrick Rose Could Miss All Next Season

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose will be out approximately eight to 12 months after undergoing surgery to repair his left ACL, said Dr. Brian Cole, who performed the surgery on Saturday.

That means at minimum Rose will miss the first 2 months of the regular season, and could be out all of the regular season if it does take him 12 months. Rose was banged up all year, and you have to worry about basketball players when it has anything to do with knees or ankles. Look at what happened to Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Brandon Roy. Not to mention all the problems Rose has already had with his back.

The good news for Rose is that he is just 23 years old, and players have bounced back in the past, and hopefully this long layoff will also be able to get him back fixed too.

Reason Why Rivera's Surgery Was Delayed

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who suffered a torn ACL shagging fly balls last week, also has a blood clot in his right calf and has been placed on blood-thinning medication.

“I was more concerned about the blood clot than the knee,” Rivera said at a press conference Wednesday. “For a minute I thought, ‘What else is going to happen?’ … I was scared. I never hear good things about blood clots (WEEI).”

We were wondering the reason, and this seems to be it. Makes sense since when you have a blood clot they put you on blood thinners, and that's not something you want to be on when they cut you open.

Rivera says that if he comes back next year he is going to continue to sag fly balls...

"It happened doing something I love," he said of the injury. "After 22 years of shagging, it happened."

Which is one of the funniest statements I have heard in awhile.

Rivera Surgery Delayed

"Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera (knee) "ran into complications" during his visit with doctors on Monday, his agent told the New York Post. Rivera is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL while shagging fly balls during batting practice last Thursday at Kansas City. However, according to ESPN.com, the issues are not considered serious, but the team was unable to set a date for surgery."

This is a huge blow for the Yankees as it makes a bullpen that looked to be pretty good a lot weaker, and with a weak starting rotation the Yankees look vulnerable. I hate the Yankees more than anything, but I do hope Rivera comes back next year. He is the greatest closer of all-time and I don't want to see his career come to an end while shagging fly falls for some journeyman call up.

Rivera, for his part, has said he is coming back. I believe him. You have to question how good he will be after missing the rest of the season, and being yet another year older, but if anyone can do it it's probably Rivera.

Terrell Suggs To Miss 2012 Season

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs tore his Achilles tendon and likely will miss the 2012 season, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Thursday.

What a blow for the Ravens, reports suggest that he did it while playing basketball and that surgery is scheduled for later this week. Suggs is going to be tough to replace, he was voted NFL's Defensive Player of the Year after last season, in which he had 70 tackles, and 14 sacks. It makes the 2nd round pick of Upshaw even more important, but this is still a very big blow to an aging defense.

Dwight Howard To Demand Trade At Seasons End

According to ESPN, Dwight Howard will request a trade as soon as the Magic are eliminated from the postseason. Here's what Stephen A. Smith said on SportsCenter:

"The minute this season is over, according to what I am hearing from his camp, you can expect Dwight Howard to tell Orlando. 'Get me out of here. I don't want to be here any longer. Not to mention the fact, there's one other little Cliff Note that you might find interesting. When he had his back surgery, they were talking about giving him a flight on AirTran or something like that. This is the kind of stuff that I've been told in the last 24 hours in terms of how they've treated him. He feels as a superstar, he's been treated as a scrub (Sportsline)."

I am so sick of Dwight Howard. Everyday it's something different with him. One day he is staying, the next day he wants his coach fired, the day after that he wants to be traded. There is no denying his talent. He is either the best or 2nd best big man in the game, BUT he has been a douchebag and handled this situation so poorly that you have to question how many teams feel like dealing with him.

Yet, this is in the NBA and that last part won't matter. What may matter is him coming off back surgery. A bad back for a big man, can turn into a serious long term problem.

I get that a superstar would be pissed that he is being put on some shitty flight after back surgery. I mean he is the central piece of your organizations, and they are acting like the Bengals, but after everything Howard has done I just don't care anymore. I can't stand him and hope nothing but the worst for him from this point forward. Even if he came to the Celtics I would have a hard time rooting for him.

Andrew Bailey Could Be Out 3 Months (2 UPDATES)

By now you have heard that Andrew Bailey has an injured thumb, and is most likely going to hit the DL. What you might not know is that this could require surgery, and if he has surgery he could be out 3 months (according to Lou Merloni on WEEI).

That gives the Red Sox serious problems. Mark Melancon is the obvious choice to take over, but how confident are you in him? He has had a terrible spring (not that it means much), and even if he is OK you are left with Aceves as your setup man, and he might be needed as a starter if Beckett is out.

So, the question is if Bailey is really going to be out for an extended period of time (over a month) would you move Bard back to the bullpen? You have Dice-K coming back sometime around the end of May, and you have Cook pitching pretty well right now. Would you make the switch? If you do, that's it Bard can't go back to starting this year, so you'd have to commit. There are rumors Bobby V isn't very sold on Bard as a starter anyways, so maybe he wouldn't mind this. I actually don't think Bard will mind either as he said earlier he either wants to be a starter or a closer.

It is a very interesting choice, but it is obvious already that the Red Sox depth is going to be tested early with Crawford and Bailey out for at least a month, Lackey out for the year, Dice-K out about 2 months, and Beckett getting a 2nd opinion.

***UPDATE***

Wow, it's even worse than I thought it would be. Andrew Bailey come out and said that the reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb is likely to sideline him for approximately 4 months, and that it could even be 5. This is horrible news, yet I guess we can't be shocked because this guy never plays baseball. Now comes the question of who will close. Lots of people think it's Aceves, but I question that because I feel there might be more value from him as that long reliever. He bailed the Red Sox so much in that role, especially since Lester/Beckett/Buchholz have never proved to be inning eaters, which makes a guy like him that much more valuable.

Tough spot for the Sox since their closer is out till at least August.



***UPDATE 2***

Aceves has been named the Red Sox closer while Bailey is out. I really don't know if I like this choice, but maybe he can be was Joe Nathan was a couple years back and get a lot of 2 inning saves.