Wire Check - 3/11/09

Basketball

MT-II says Nellie plans to go big down the stretch. I'll believe it when I see it.

From MT-II's blog, "Should He Stay or Go" starts off with Monta Ellis. I say go, but with conditions. See if you can move another GSW contract(Crawford, Maggette, Jackson, please somebody) with Monta and get back an expiring contract and a real point guard. There’s no way I would have said “Go” before the season started, but Randolph seems like the real deal and Monta is pissed at the organization for their actions after his dumb ass innjury. Monta has speed and quickness, but lacks size and maturity. He's expendable. Build around Randolph/Jackson/Biedrins. Biedrins is super solid with a value contract. Meanwhile, the W’s are stuck with the contracts of Maggette, Stack Jack and Crawford.

I agree with Steimnetz, the Warriors havea power forward. They NEED a point guard.

Janny Hu's back!!!! Marcus Williams? He won't be back.

Warriors Fast Break breaks down Ellis as a point guard and what the starting lineup "should" be.

Gwen Knapp checks in on the Ellis-PG fiasco.

Bruce Jenkins says it's cirsis time.

Football

Ratto says Alex Smith is out to prove himself.

Cam Inman thinks is a bad call for Smith.

Ann Killion says it's a fresh start for Smith.

Matt Maiocco wants to know if we'll see the "real" Alex Smith.

Dan Brown has the Q&A with Smith from his press conference.

Jason Jones says the Raiders might pick up the Pace.

Jerry Mac poses the questions that must be answered before the Raiders sign Pace.

Baseball

Now that Buster Posey is in the big leagues, he's got to learn how to call a game.

Surprise, surprise. Lew Wolff is sticking up for Bud Selig and he's blaming the MLBPA for the Steroid Era. To make things clear, one of the 30 MLB owners who pays Selig's salary is defending him while blaming the union. Excuse me while I roll my eyes.

Henry Schulman needs more WBC like Bruce Dickinson needs more cowbell. If anybody else watched the Domincan Republuic this WBC, did they have a horrible defensive performance, or what? OVER-RATED!!!!!

McCovey Chronicles has even ventured into WBC territory.

Apparently, Lew Wolff wants to win and he told Billy Beane to get 'er done. The cynic in me says that Lew Wolff is concerned with winning now, so he can sell the team. The Fremont deal fell through and now he's stuck in the Black Hole at Mount Davis for the forseable future. Portland A's?

Buster Olney looks at the young A's pitchers. Olney's blog is behind the ESPN Insider pay-wall, but here's a taste of what he said:

The Athletics could contend for the AL West title, if their rotation can be effective. Justin Duchscherer had a strong start to his 2008 season, but he's had some arm trouble this spring. Sean Gallagher is talented, but needs to be more consistent. Dana Eveland had a nice season in 2008, but has to show he can back it up. The 23-year-old Gio Gonzalez worked in 10 games for Oakland last season.

The most talented guys on the staff, however, might be Cahill and Anderson -- both 21 years old -- or the 22-year-old Mazzaro; all three have thrown well this spring. Anderson has allowed a couple of runs in 5 2/3 innings; Mazzaro has thrown five innings with seven strikeouts and no walks; and Cahill has allowed just three hits and a couple of runs in eight innings. Here's a link to the Athletics' spring stats.

Bonus

Tim Kawakami's Top Ten sports figures in the Bay Area.