Jorge Cantu traded to the Rangers? Confirmed

**The Jorge Cantu Trade has been confirmed.**

It looks like the Jorge Cantu rumor is getting closer to being true. If  Jorge Cantu is coming, you can forget about Prince Fielder. I like this deal better, because we don’t have to give up the farm to get Cantu. In the Cantu deal the Texas Rangers are supposedly giving up to AA minor league pitchers for Jorge Cantu, at this point it is not confirmed. Rumor is that the Rangers will only be picking up very little if any of his salary. However Jorge Cantu is still in the game for the Marlins so this might be some BS, however this post will be updated as more information is available.

UPDATES:

Ken Rosenthal’s Tweet
• #Marlins’ return for Cantu will be Double A RHP Evan Reed & Double A RHP Omar Poveda, who is on DL recovering from TJ surgery. #Rangers #MLB

Other Tweets

• “The Marlins will obtain AA righties Evan Reed and Omar Poveda from the Rangers for Jorge Cantu” Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports @560wqam

Image Source: http://www.exposay.com/

Busy Offseasons For Texas NBA Teams

The NBA season has been finished for about and you would think people would be more interested in Wimbledon odds, since tennis’ preeminent Grand Slam is underway or Super Bowl odds, since the season is rapidly approaching, but all of the water cooler chatter has been regarding the NBA offseason.

The Texas teams are right in the thick of things, including the San Antonio Spurs, who pulled off a blockbuster trade on Tuesday.

The San Antonio Spurs shipped off some spare parts in the form of Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen to the Milwaukee Bucks to get Richard Jefferson.

Jefferson fills a huge void for the Spurs in so many ways, which should make them a real threat once again in the Western Conference. I’m betting management was thrilled with the deal considering they didn’t have to trade away any of their core.

For starters, the Spurs do get a starter in return for three bench players. Jefferson will add a legit 20-point scorer to go with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who is off a career year.

While the Spurs first moves have made their Southwest Division cohorts kind of nervous, the other teams don’t figure to stand pat.

The Dallas Mavericks have been linked to Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Anderson Varejao, are in the thick of a lot of rumors. Reports indicate that they tried to ship out Josh Howard for the fifth pick overall but the Washington Wizards were not interested. The Mavs have also been linked to Shaquille O’Neal, although he isn’t exactly a team priority. A player the Mavericks are more likely to move is Jerry Stackhouse.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks have already made before the start of the draft, shipping off the 22nd pick in the draft to Portland. The Trail Blazers traded three picks to move up two spots and now own the Mavs 22nd pick. Meanwhile, the Mavs moved back two spots to No. 24 and received Portland No. 56 pick and another second-rounder in 2010.

Apparently the Trail Blazers are interesting in international player Omri Casspi and were worried that the Sacramento Kings might take him with the 23rd pick in the draft.

As sports wagering experts know, the draft is a hectic time when teams reshape themselves. Keep an eye on Thursday to see what else the three Texas teams pull off.

Dallas Sports Offseason Update

Stars hire new head coach, Mavs trade rumors blowing

While many sports fans prepare their Stanley Cup betting picks for the big Game 7 in Detroit Friday night and the Magic try to draw even with the Lakers tonight, the offseason rages on for the city of Dallas in the NHL, NBA and NFL. Let’s catch up with our favorite teams and see how their offseasons are going.

The Dallas Stars

For the second straight week, the Dallas Stars are the top newsmaker in the Offseason Update. Last week, they hired Joe Nieuwendyk as their new general manager; this week it was time for a coaching change. Dave Tippett, who coached the Stars to a 271-162-59 record over six seasons but never got the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final, got the axe this week and Dallas wasted no time in hiring their new head coach. They chose veteran bench boss Marc Crawford today and many Dallas fans, not to mention anyone hoping to bet on Stars’ Stanley Cup futures at their sportsbook, are not too pleased.

Crawford made a name for himself when he coached the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup in 1996 but has struggled since then. Coaching Vancouver and Los Angeles for nine total seasons, Crawford missed the playoffs five times and advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once. Only time will tell if he can shake that funk; he does arguably have a better roster to start with than inherited in Vancouver and L.A.

The Dallas Mavericks

Are the Mavs trying to trade for the Wizards’ fifth overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft? That’s the rumor, though most of the buzz is coming from blogs and forums rather than major media sources. Most fans are betting management in Dallas wants center Jordan Hill, though it remains to be seen what the Mavs would give up to get him?

Jason Kidd becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and all indications are that Dallas will try to re-sign him. If they don’t, they’ll have virtually nothing to show for the trade that sent Devin Harris to New Jersey and they’ll risk alienating their fans with a situation paralleling Steve Nash’s departure to Phoenix. The circumstances obviously aren’t totally the same, as Kidd likely has much less left in the tank than Nash did when he blew town. Read more