In the papers, Vick said he has debts of $10 million to $50 million and assets of $10 million to $50 million. Vick's debts include $3.75 million to the Falcons for a pro rated portion of his signing bonus, $4.5 million to Joel Enterprises for breach of contract, and $2.5 million to Royal Bank of Canada for a real-estate loan.
Vick's lawyers said in the filing that they hope Vick "can, after the conclusion of the bankruptcy case, rebuild his life on a personal and spiritual level, resurrect his image as a public figure, and resolve matters with the NFL such that he can resume his career."
Here's hoping that Jeff Francoeur didn't have his mail forwarded to Mississippi. Three days after the Braves made the decision to send the rightfielder to AA in an attempt to rediscover his swing, they've brought him back up to Atlanta.
Ostensibly, the rash of injuries that struck the Braves over the weekend are the reason why Frenchy is back in the big leagues. Manny Acosta, Omar Infante and Jeff Bennett were all placed on the disabled list after last night's marathon with the Astros. GM Frank Wren says that isn't the reason for the move, interesting since the move would be illegal without players going on the DL.
"It had everything to do with the four hits he had yesterday and seven hits he had in three days and starting to relax. It was not until we had our call with the coaches this morning we had made the decision. It was not predicated on injuries at all. When we felt like he was comfortable swinging the bat and looking like his old self, we wanted to bring him back."
That doesn't say much for Wren's decision-making. Francoeur pounded AA pitching for three days and that was enough to change your mind after 362 major league plate appearances? It's hard to understand why you'd bother sending him down at all, pissing him off in the process, if the only reassurance you needed was that he's better than guys two levels away from the Show.
When I checked the Braves record and realized that they were an insane 4-21 in games decided by one run, I was pretty shocked. But after the super-smart people at Baseball-Reference pointed me in the direction of just how historically bad it was, I was even more surprised.
If you sort by one run games for every team since 1901, the Braves rank dead last (#2212) in terms of one run game winning percentage. Yes, over the past 108 years, there has not been a team with a worse relative record in one run games in baseball. Which is pretty astounding.
It's also oddly uplifting, if you're a Braves fan though. See, one run games are primarily luck. Certainly not all luck, but certain "breaks" in the game often dictate how a one run game will shape out, and a 4-21 record is not indicative of the overall talent on Atlanta this year.
Also, the poor record in one run games would seem to indicate a shift in luck for the Braves -- despite the "losing mentality" that you hear about, Atlanta should see a reversal of fortune in some of these close games during the second half of the season.
Given the state of the National League East where Philly is kind-of-sort-of surging, but no one is dominant, that could actually bear out pretty well for the ATL. The downside, of course, is that Braves players are dropping like flies to injury. Of course, not every baseball season is chock full of good luck. This might still be one of them that stays without.
The Fightins' put together a pretty nice little mini-montage of action from the Phillies - Mets game on Thursday night. First you will see awkward descriptions of bat shaving and sexual innuendo. Then you will see Yunel Escobar foul a ball that hits the ground and then hits him in the man-regions. The announcers (admittedly not "doctors") give the wrong diagnosis at first.
Is it just me or have the amount of nutshots we've seen lately just been a little too out of hand? There are always people getting tagged in the groin, sure, but it seems like there's a rash right now. Of shots.
Contrary to what the Braves impressed upon everyone yesterday, they have decided to ship Jeff Francoeur to the minor leagues in AA Mississippi (do not pass AAA, do not collect $200). He, unsurprisingly, is not thrilled with the decision.
"This has really put a damper on my relationship with the Atlanta Braves," Francoeur told the AJC.
"I love playing for the city, I love playing for the fans and always have," said Francoeur, a graduate of Parkview High School in Lilburn. "But I'm disappointed with the decision and how the whole process went down."
[...]"I do not agree with this, but I have to do what I have to do," Francoeur said.
Francoeur said he was given the option of going to AAA Richmond and AA Mississippi and chose Mississippi because of his relationship with manager Phillip Wellman, who was his hitting coach when he was last in the minors in Mississippi in 2005.
Well, honestly, you can't blame him. Getting shipped to the minors by a team that's under .500 is pretty daggum embarrassing. It's not as if Frenchy has never struggled either; he's pretty notorious for having an OBP that registers F-A-I-L on most standard measuring devices.
Ziller has already covered the fact that Josh Smith's visit to Philadelphia was very impressive. They rolled out the red carpet, they wooed him with limos and they introduced him to the Mayor. Fortunately for us, the media is quite nosy when it comes to things like this, so Comcast got a camera all up in J-Smoove's face to find out what he thought about the Iladelph.
If I were in charge of the Hawks, or were the lone remaining fan that held onto the 07-08 playoffs bandwagon, I would be freaking out right now. Smith did, after all, seem pretty impressed with Philly's spread. And it's not like Atlanta is known for making really great front office decisions.
With the Pacific Coast continues to deal with its arms race, Philadelphia has loudly addressed its desire for a top-drawer power forward of the future. As expected, the 76ers charged vigorously into a wooing of Atlanta's Josh Smith, a restricted free agent. The early indications look pretty good, according to Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We had a great meeting and a great time visiting with everyone here [Wednesday], and we'll continue to talk tomorrow," Brian Dyke, one of Smith's agents, said late Wednesday night. "What I can tell you is that we're very impressed with 76ers organization and the city of the Philadelphia."
The AJ-C's Smith also reveals the offer Atlanta made last summer: $45 million over five years. That's a painfully small offer when you consider it will likely take at least $67 million to keep him this year. The Hawks could probably have locked him up for $50 or $55 million. Billy Knight, still haunting the Hawks in exile!
Meanwhile, on the Sixer side, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Phil Anastastia gets a few NBA scouts to agree Smith would be a good match for the team. Yep. He sure would be.
It seems like Jeff Francoeur has been in the majors longer than three years. And it also seems like he was supposed to find his swing and really break out this year. While the first one is still technically true, there's no guarantee for how long, as apparently the Braves confirmed Wednesday that they have debated sending Frenchy to the minors to work on his swing.
One primary reason that the Braves haven't shipped Francoeur back to the Minors is the potential backlash they might receive from their fans, who have remained faithful to No. 7, despite the fact that he entered Wednesday night's game against the Phillies hitting just .239 with a .294 on-base percentage and .383 slugging percentage.
[...]Even before he homered in his Major League debut on July 7, 2005, Francoeur was a favorite among Braves fans. Growing up in suburban Atlanta, he was named the high school Player of the Year for Georgia in both football and baseball.
"This is really the first time he's ever struggled," said Braves All-Star catcher Brian McCann, who has been Francouer's best friend since they were 12 years old.
Francoeur has struggled mightily this season, hitting .234/.291/.379 with only eight homers and 20 walks. But, as Philly proved by sending Brett Myers down to AAA, sometimes the most awkward move is the one necessary to jumpstart a player.
But do I actually think they'll send Frenchy down there? No way. Popularity aside, the guy's confidence won't be helped by a demotion, and the Braves need his gascan arm sitting out in right field. Of course, I might be delusional, since I think the freeswinger will turn it around and have a monster second half too.
Everyone knows that this year's Falcons team isn't a threat to go undefeated, or to go .500 for that matter.
But as Mark Bradley points out, the Sporting News has picked the Falcons to go 1-15 this year, which would rank them among the worst teams of all time--right up there with last year's Dolphins.
It's easy to say this year's Falcons team will be bad, but it's hard to see how they will be that bad. It's hard to imagine a season worse than last year (star quarterback ends up in jail, coach angers most of the team, cuts one of the team's best defensive lineman, then quits on them in the middle of the season, and the team ends season with almost no defensive tackles). Even with all that, what arguably was the worst season in Falcons history, Atlanta still won four games.
Even if Matt Ryan struggles as a rookie, Michael Turner should ensure that the offense is a tick better than last years. The defense may not be much better, but they also will have to work hard to be much worse. And last year's team had no luck at all. They may not be luckier in 2008, but it would take a run of monumental bad luck to go 1-15.
In the long run, it really doesn't matter how bad the 2008 Falcons are. As bad as it is to say, the reality is that this team is already focuses on 2009 and beyond--the offseason additions and releases have been geared that way. But even with that, 1-15 seems pretty ludicrous.
Bobby Cox has seen the entire career of John Smoltz up close and personal, and he has seen very many great outings by Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Let's not discount some of the starts that Steve Avery had back in the day either, when we compute just how many amazing pitching performances he has seen over the years.
So when he throws a compliment to a young pitcher -- or any pitcher for that matter - then you would think that compliment has a lot of merit to it. If that's the case, Jair Jurrjens should be beeming after his eight inning win tonight, because Cox dropped all kinds of hyperbole on him.
"I don't think you can pitch better than that," Cox said. "That was one of the best games I've seen pitched, ever."
This success didn't exactly come as a total surprise. Since turning his ankle while leaving Wrigley Field on June 10 and missing his start the next night, Jurrjens has made three starts and worked 21 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run.
I mean, dang. Ever? That is a stout compliment to the youngster. Of course, he's in the zone right now, as evidenced by above, and he certainly has the pedigree to be a great pitcher.
Fantasy Spin: It's tough to make Jurrjens any sort of sell high/buy low right now, because he's a legit talent. Still, it's hard to see him keeping this up for the rest of the season; if I was in a single season league, I would be looking to move him assuming I got good value back. Keeper league? Hold, please.
Michael Vick, the former Falcons quarterback who is serving a 23-month prison sentence, filed Chapter 11 papers yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Bloomberg News Service is reporting.
Here's hoping that 
When I checked the Braves record and realized that they were an insane 4-21 in games decided by one run, I was pretty shocked. But after the super-smart people at 
With the Pacific Coast continues to deal with 
It seems like Jeff Francoeur has been in the majors longer than three years. And it also seems like he was supposed to find his swing and really break out this year. While the first one is still technically true, there's no guarantee for how long, as apparently the Braves confirmed Wednesday that they have 
Everyone knows that this year's Falcons team isn't a threat to go undefeated, or to go .500 for that matter. 
