MLB All-Star Weekend Recap: Great few days for New York's Derek Jeter

The 2014 All-Star break (or Derek Jeter weekend) was a pretty good one. I kid around with saying it was Derek Jeter weekend, because he was very deserving of all the attention he got from the media. He did great things for baseball in his illustrious 19 year career, with 3,000+ hits, 5 World Series titles, and having all his other great and clutch achievements come in the steroid era, with him being clean. So yes, we know Jeter is great, and we know that this was his last All-Star game. Now lets move on to the actual All-Star break and everything that happened there. (Don't worry, we're not done with Jeter just yet)

The Futures Game was fun to watch. I didn't know many players, only a few top prospects, but I have always been a huge fan of having a little bit of knowledge about the up and comers, and what they possess. There were some great talents out there, including Chicago Cubs farm system member Kris Bryant. The well rounded 3B is a marvelous hitter for average (.322 in minors) and is a great fielder. We should see him in a year or two helping out the Cubs chase the World Series they have been going for since 1908, in their 100+ year championship drought. On the field at the futures game was also Joey Gallo, another great 3B prospect who has not been drafted yet, but will be great in a couple of years. More of a power hitter, and is also superb defensively. Guys like Bryant and Gallo are only a couple of the many great prospects I saw. The future looks bright from watching the Futures Game. (See what I did there)

Anyway, lets move along. The following day came the Gillette (new sponsor) Home Run Derby. No longer the State Farm Home Run Derby, I was not a fan of the event. the new AL NL teams thing with captains didn't work for me. What was wrong with 8 guys who really wanted to be there and didn't have to be selected by a team captain like 4th grade recess football? I also am not a fan of 7 outs instead of 10 for each batter. The hitters can't find any sort of groove or mojo, and find themselves finished before the the at bat started. Sure, it speeds things up, but having less hitters also speeds it up. 10 is too many. I didn't see anything wrong with eight batters, 10 outs, and no AL and NL teams. I just don't understand why MLB feels the need to change things that are just fine. From a famous world known expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That expression applies to the Home Run Derby. Another flaw I saw was the commercials. Like come on, get some more sponsors. I saw that same Gillette ad at least 20 times. The Derby this year was also painfully boring. I found myself switching to the NHL network to watch encore games that I knew the outcome to. I am not sure what was missing, it was just very boring and not to enjoyable to watch. The Home Runs just weren't as good. With the new outs limit at seven, there weren't as many either. This years Home Run Derby was pretty bad, but one good thing that came out of it was now two time Derby champion Yoenis Cespedes. The guy is ridiculous. He had some great home runs and was really fun to watch. I don't see anyone beating him any time soon.

Lastly, we have the All-Star game itself. I thought it was outstanding. Great players chosen and great things happened. Especially the Derek Jeter tribute in the 4th inning. Two standing ovations for the captain, and they were well deserved. New York's shortstop has been seemingly perfect on and off the diamond, and is one of the best role models to kids in all of sports. Off the field Jeter has done nothing wrong, and on the field it seems like that too. (Except for all those double plays he hits into) Just kidding. He is great. On the field he has been one of the most consistent Yankees of all time. He always says the right thing in press conferences and is pretty much perfect. Now, back to the game. The one thing I didn't understand was Mike Matheny starting Adam Wainwright for the NL. Yes, he is the Cardinals manager, Wainwright is his ace, and yes, Wainwright is a beast. So what is there not to like? Well, the problem is Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw's insane month of June should have given him the NL starting pitcher nod he deserved. What else could the guy have done? 41 straight scoreless innings, gem after gem, and throw a zero walk, 1 error no-hitter in there. But, its Matheny's ultimate decision. It didn't work out well. The first inning for the AL was a strong one. King Felix was King Felix getting out of a jam, then Waino was destroyed. Jeter leadoff double, that Wainwright "grooved" him. Then Twitter blew up after him saying he did that, and he apoligized. (A lot more happened but we won't get into all of that right now. After all, this is about the game. Bottom line is you guys know what happened.) Anyway, Trout had a great piece of hitting driving in Jeter, followed up by a Miguel Cabrera bomb. This strong first inning drove the AL to yet another All-Star victory, a 5-3 win. And a seemingly perfect night for Jeter. You could say that Cardinal pitching blew this game for them, Wainwright giving up 3 and Pat Neshek giving up two. Nevertheless, it was a pretty successful All-Star break in Minnesota.

Carmelo stays in NY, does he deserve his contract?

Carmelo Anthony has officially resigned with the New York Knicks. He received a 5 year $129 

million deal. But was he deserving of this? 

Yes, he scores a lot, averaging 27.4 points per game. But his teams always fail at some point, and he doesn't seem like a #1 guy to rely championships on. He was ridiculous in college, leading Syracuse to the '03 title, but in his pro days he hasn't been able to win. He talks about how he wants to win, but also talks about how he wants to be a Knick for life. Well Carmelo, if you really wanted to win now, you would have left the Knicks for more of a contender, and not put yourself through a rebuild process. Last season the New York Knicks were a disaster, missing the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference at a 37-45 record. Carmelo opted out of his contract and was expected to leave New York to go win like he said he wanted to. But, he came back to a rebuild process and a boatload of money. My point here is that Melo doesn't REALLY care about winning, and his main pursuit as a basketball player is to get all the money he can. With this mentality of money and not winning, his legacy may be hindered by him not having a ring. If Carmelo absolutely needed a ring and wanted to win, he would take less money to go to a big time contender such as Houston, Chicago, etc. Anthony scores, and scores, and scores. But what else? His defensive ability lacks, and he never passes the ball. Almost like a poor mans Kobe Bryant. He is a complementary player to a superstar like Durant or LeBron. He will aid those stars in scoring points and absolutely can help teams win, if he has others around him. He is a great player, but not a franchise player. He can definitely make his scoring impact and help teams do well, but doesn't deserve his max contract and doesn't deserve to be the face of a franchise. I can guarantee that Carmelo Anthony doesn't win with the Knicks unless they brought in a superstar for a max deal. (which won't happen due to his contract) He can't carry a team like he did in his college days, simply because the NBA is a different beast. The bottom line is, if Carmelo really cared about winning, he would have left NY for a contender. Instead, he stayed for a contract that he wasn't deserving of. He scores a lot of points and is a great, non max contract player. He just can't lead a franchise to a title.