Now for anyone who listens to the show, they know I am the furthest thing from a sabermetrics geek. I'm just not that interested in some of those crazy numbers. I prefer the eye test and your basic average, home runs, runs batted in, doubles and steals numbers. I was intrigued by the facts in the article that Goldschmidt was the 11th first baseman selected in that 2009 draft, the 246th player and the 13th D-back selected.

So I decided to do some homework as to why Goldschmidt wasn't picked higher, why there were so many players at his position picked ahead of him. I picked the brain of former D-backs skipper and director of Minor League operations A.J. Hinch, who now is in San Diego with the Padres. In a nutshell, he said the report on Goldschmidt at the time they drafted him was that he was a pretty good offensive player with legitimate power, plus make up who was solid defensively. The concerns on Goldy were competition in college (Texas State) and questions as to whether he could hit enough to get to his power.

It was D-backs' scout Tom Allison who was big on drafting Goldschmidt and thought he would be a good Major Leaguer. But no one in the organization could have seen this coming.

Goldschmidt is an MVP candidate and a Triple Crown threat. Goldy is second in the National League in home runs with 12, third in runs batted in with 36 and seventh in batting at .323. He has become a player that can carry a team. And his defense, while not at the Keith Hernandez/Don Mattingly level, is awfully good.

Just for fun here are the players Arizona drafted before Goldschmidt that year.

By now the Justin Upton trade has been evaluated every which way possible. And unfortunately for Martin Prado, he will always be compared to the former D-backs' top overall pick, and there is not much he can do about it.

But while I am a big believer that in every trade there is a winner and loser, I do think there is an angle to this trade that hasn't been discussed but needs to be. And that is that Prado, while traded for Upton, did not replace him. Prado, in essence, replaced Chris Johnson. It's Cody Ross who actually replaced Upton.

So it's a better indicator to look at how Prado compares to Diamondback third basemen from last year and how Ross compares to Upton. Now Ross missed the first 10 games of the season with a bum calf, but since coming off the disabled list, he is hitting .290 with a homer and 10 RBIs. Not comparable to Upton's 13 homers, 23 runs batted in and .285 average, but numbers that aren't bad.

It's easier to compare player for player when they play the same position, ala Jarrod Parker for Trevor Cahill.

Now history shows that the team that gets the best player almost always wins the trade, so I do expect history when all is said and done will show the Braves got the better of the deal.

But if you compare Prado to D-backs third basemen and Ross to Upton, it's a more fair comparison.

I'm sure at some point Hunter was promised an interview with the new general manager and that is why he is still a candidate. And I'm sure newly-hired GM Ryan McDonough was asked to keep an open mind about Hunter when he took the job. So at some point, McDonough and Hunter will actually meet and talk, and I don't expect the Suns' interim coach to be able to blow away the kid from Boston during the interview process. So with that being said, here are the four candidates who have a legitimate shot at being the next head coach of the Phoenix Suns.

1) Kelvin Sampson - The former college head coach at Washington State, Oklahoma and Indiana is going to get a gig running a show in the NBA. He has NBA experience in recent years as an assistant in Milwaukee and San Antonio. He is a hot candidate, with Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Charlotte all interested in interviewing him.

2) Quin Snyder - The former Missouri head coach has resurrected his career by working his tail off. He has worked as an assistant with the 76ers, coached in the D-League with the Austin Toros, worked in Los Angeles with the Lakers as an assistant and in Russia with CSKA Moscow.

3) Brian Shaw - After 15 years as a player in the NBA, which included being a part of five championship teams, Shaw spent seven years as an assistant coach of the Lakers and has been with Indiana as an associate head coach since 2011.

4) Mike Budenholzer - The Arizona native played professionally in Europe. He has been a San Antonio Spurs assistant since 1996.

Everyone wants answers. They want changes. They want demotions, call-ups, whatever it takes to fix this mess. But the truth is the Diamondbacks have no choice but to ride this out and hope their three struggling relievers that are being counted on to close the door on opponents late in games will work this out.

Time will tell, but all three guys -- J.J. Putz, David Hernandez and Heath Bell -- are proven in this league. This isn't like the D-backs' bullpen of 2010 which had a 5.74 ERA, the seventh-worst ever, with clowns like Chad Qualls, Esmerling Vasquez, Blaine Boyer and Juan Gutierrez among others. I know the stats may seem similar, but the talent level is not. The current Diamondback trio has 359 saves. Putz has a career ERA of 3.07, Bell 3.35 and Hernandez 4.07. The way they are pitching now is not indicative of the way they have pitched in their careers.

Putz is better than a 4.26 ERA with four blown saves. Hernandez is better than a 4.61 ERA and three blown saves. And Bell, despite his struggles last year in Miami, is better than a 5.91 ERA and one blown save. The hard part about all of this is that all three relievers are struggling at the same time. That usually doesn't happen. None of these guys are able to pick the other one up. And it hasn't helped that the starters can't finish a game to give the bullpen a blow.

So no, you can't send any of these guys down. Matt Reynolds is not going to be the closer and they are not trading for anyone in May. They will hand the ball to these guys, show trust in them and believe they will get the job done. It's not the answer everyone wants right now but patience is their only option. They have too much time and money invested in those three players and aren't about to kick them to the curb just yet.

Those who want to criticize Upton will point to his .200 batting average with runners in scoring position or his .179 batting average with men on base. To them I say "SHUT UP." Seriously! Upton has 11 home runs; that trumps anything else he is doing and ends the discussion. No other argument needed!

I had a fun rant with my radio partner Dave Burns on Upton's numbers with men on base and in scoring position. I think I said something like Atlanta should trade him now and maybe he needs to take a seat for a while or maybe he should be part of a platoon. Basically my point was made. Who cares about those numbers when he has 11 dongs?

Upton's 11 home runs are the most in baseball. There is a really good chance he will hit 40, maybe 50 homers this year, which hasn't been done in the National League since Prince Fielder hit 50 in 2007. It's not easy to hit 50 home runs anymore, but Upton has a legitimate chance.

You can make the argument that the change of scenery was necessary for him and I agree with that. It wasn't going to work here, not with all the trade talk over the last two years wearing on him. He needed a fresh start and that's unfortunate, because he is a tremendously talented player that is still only 25. He had six years and around 2,500 at bats to prove himself here and establish himself as a star and it didn't happen. He was a good player in Arizona, just not great. So maybe it was never going to happen here.

Now I'm not comparing Upton to Hank Aaron, but don't you think the old-time baseball fans in Atlanta are telling their grandchildren about how Upton reminds them of Hammerin Hank? I mean come on -- 11 bombs already! How can that not remind those fans of Aaron?

It's a long season, I know Upton is going to cool off. There is going to be a slump. He's not going to hit 100 home runs.

But damn, what he has done so far is impressive.

In three starts, Corbin is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.42. This after he broke into the major leagues last year and went 6-8 with a 4.54 ERA over 17 starts. That Corbin is off to a great start and contributing this early in his D-backs career is no surprise; then-interim general manager Jerry DiPoto expected such when he pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Dan Haren to the Angels for Joe Saunders, Tyler Skaggs, Rafael Rodriguez and Corbin.

"We believed he had the ceiling to develop into a mid-rotation three,four type starter," Dipoto said.

And while Saunders was the major league-ready pitcher they wanted back, and Skaggs the top prospect in the deal, Corbin wasn't a throw in.

"No, he was in the discussion from the very beginning," he added.

This year, Corbin is pitching ahead in the count and has better command of his secondary pitches, and that is allowing him to flat out dominate early in the season. Just how good Corbin can be is still unknown, but clearly the start he is off to this year further cements that trade as a great one of Arizona and gives the D-backs another young player with a bright future.

In the case of Johnson, he has obviously benefited from the coaching change and got his career on track by averaging 10.5 points and shooting 42% from the field and 32% from three-point range since the switch from Alvin Gentry to Lindsey Hunter. Before the coaching change, he averaged just 2.4 points on 31% shooting in 7.4 minutes per game. He is a talented wing player, long and athletic, with the knocks on him being he doesn't play defense, is an inconsistent shooter and lacks toughness. In reality he is a dime-a-dozen player and when it comes to re-signing him, it should only be at the right price. And that price is the NBA veteran's minimum or maybe a tad more. At the very most, the Suns should keep Johnson at around $2 million per season. But if somebody wants to pay him more, then the Suns shouldn't care and should let him go.

Trust me, nobody will miss Johnson if he is gone and he can be easily replaced and you don't pay good money to players like that. There are tons of decent players in the league making the veteran's minimum and dozens of players in the D-League just waiting for the chance to prove they can average 10 points a game. If Johnson wants to stay and continue to develop, then Phoenix could be the place for him and he would be welcomed back. But if he is looking to cash in, then cash in somewhere else.

If this week is any indication, that answer will be 'no.'

I believe this week has sealed Hunter's fate and it has nothing to do with the recent 10-game losing streak, the franchise-record home losing streak or the fact they hadn't won a game since March 18 before beating the Mavericks Wednesday night.

It has everything to do with what players are saying. Michael Beasley started it off by saying he doesn't listen to anyone anymore, including his coaches. Now anything Beasley says, you take with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, when your $18 million project says he is tuning out the coaching, it's not good.

But more importantly, it's what Luis Scola said that makes it perfectly clear that change is needed.

"We just don't know how to play well," Scola said. "We don't know how to play basketball and that's why we lose. We saw the problem pretty much the first week and we couldn't fix it."

Now Beasley is one thing, but Scola is one of the most respected players in the game. And if he is saying the Suns don't know how to play basketball then they don't know how to play basketball.

Hunter is 10-27 for a .270 winning percentage as the Suns coach. That's not bad, it's downright awful, embarrassing and pathetic. He doesn't have a lot to work with as Lance Blanks hasn't exactly built a team worth the price of admission.

But Hunter and his message are clearly not working. The Suns haven't gotten better under him, they've gotten worse! So it's time for a new voice, a coach who can teach this team how to play basketball.

And after watching Trey Burke throughout the NCAA Tournament and during the season when he was National Player of the Year, there is no doubt the Suns have to consider him with their first-round pick. Burke is a complete player. He can shoot, handle the ball and has great court vision. At 6-feet, 190 pounds, what Burke lacks is size.

Now I'm not saying the Suns should draft Burke, but they must consider it and do their due diligence on him. There are bigger point guards in this draft like Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State (6-4, 220) and Michael-Carter Williams of Syracuse (6-6, 185), but Burke has better skills. The problem with drafting a point guard is the Suns have a good one in Goran Dragic, and having Dragic and Burke on the same team is not ideal. Sure, they could play some together, but again it's not ideal. The Suns have other bigger needs than point guard, so unless Burke absolutely blows them away, I lean to go get a small forward, shooting guard or possibly a center.

I still like Kansas freshman Ben McLemore if he is there -- he has star potential as well. Georgetown's Otto Porter, UNLV's Anthony Bennett and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel will all be in the mix as top five picks. Also while there are no sure things in this draft, Burke does have All-Star potential, and there aren't many players in this draft you can say that about.

If McLemore and Noel are both gone, then Burke should at the very least be an option for the Suns.

After a week of talking about coaching abuse, failed drug tests, cheating and bounties in the world of college sports, I am ready for some Peyton Siva, Trey Burke, zone defense and the Shockers!

When Louisville and Wichita State tip off Saturday we can finally, even for a few brief hours, turn our attention away from the negatives of college sports and focus on what we really care about most -- the games.

We can all debate whether Ed Rush should have been fired, Auburn should be stripped of its National Championship or if the coach, athletic director and president at Rutgers should all be gone. And to a certain extent, we do care about those topics and yes, we enjoy controversy. But we can't watch those issues outside of a minute video of Mike Rice throwing basketballs at his players.

So let the games begin so we can allow sports to do what they are supposed to do, entertain us

How Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott can back an investigation that said Rush's bounty comments about Arizona coach Sean Miller were made with no ill will intended is ludicrous.

Scott has done a nice job as commissioner, but this one is going to backfire on him. And the problem now is that he has backed himself into a corner and can't fire Rush. His investigation said that Rush was just kidding when he told a group of referees that he would give them five grand or a trip to Cancun if they ran Miller or rang him up during the Pac-12 Tournament. He said in a radio interview that he determined that what Rush said was not a fireable offense.

So now with all the media backlash on Rush, how can Scott change his mind and fire him? It is the right thing to do, but I doubt Scott can admit he was wrong. He has an ego just like Rush did -- and trust me, Rush's ego is enormous. What Rush said was just plain stupid and serious enough that someone in that room felt strong enough about it that he informed Arizona officials of what was going on.

I am also hearing from someone with ties to referees in that room that when the technical came down on Miller, some officials that were in that room "freaked out" knowing that there was a good chance this was going to blow up. And blow up it has.

You have to wonder just how much Rush hates Miller in order to say those things. Sure, Miller can get fired up on the sideline and maybe Rush is sick of his antics, but come on. Putting a bounty on him is ridiculous. Why say it if you don't mean it?

I'm not buying that it was a joke and neither is anyone else. Scott should admit his mistake and fire Rush, but his ego may be too big to do it.

It was easily one of the worst injuries I have ever seen in sports. Others like Marcus Lattimore, Napoleon Kaufman, Stephen Drew and Joe Theismann come to mind. But this one was different -- not because of the severity of the injury, but because of the reaction. On such a big stage with all those camera angles and in high definition, we got to see up close how that injury affected so many people. I did watch the play back several times on Sunday but not to watch the actual injury, but to watch the reaction. Teammates on the court, on the bench, Duke players, both coaches and the fans all had visible reactions to the injury.

It was that reaction that made this a little different because in all the other injuries that I can recall seeing, I have never seen coaches crying, players on the verge of fainting and vomiting. I wonder -- if the injury had happened in the second half and Coach Pitino didn't have a halftime to rally the troops and give his "Win One for the Gipper" speech -- could Louisville still have won?

Those players were distraught and I believe needed that halftime to regroup. And regroup they did.

The Arizona Cardinals should just say 'no' to another retread quarterback in Carson Palmer and try something very foreign to them -- draft and develop a signal caller. And I'm not talking about taking someone in the later rounds that rarely works, I'm talking about someone in rounds one through three.

But let's get back to Palmer. He will likely be cut by the Raiders and available. But do you really want another old, unhappy quarterback?

Somehow I see Boomer Esiason all over again. Sorry, but it's just not worth the stop-gap time. Palmer's okay -- he's better than what they have, but that's not saying much.

I'd rather win 4-5 games with Drew Stanton or Brian Hoyer than win 6-7 with Palmer. That way you get a better pick in 2014 and have a better chance of drafting a QB if you don't grab one this year. Palmer can't get Arizona to the playoffs -- not in this division -- so why bother?

Arizona is notorious for the retread and while it worked with Kurt Warner, it failed with Esiason, Kent Graham, Dave Brown and Derek Anderson just to name a few.

So draft Glennon in the second round or go with Stanton or Hoyer, but pass on the 33-year-old guy who never seems to be happy where he is and never seems to win!

The top five picks in this draft will likely be Nerlens Noel of Kentucky, Ben McLemore of Kansas, Anthony Bennett of UNLV, Cody Zeller of Indiana and Otto Porter of Georgetown. Others in contention for top-10 status are Victor Oladipo of Indiana, Shabazz Muhammad of UCLA and Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State.

The NCAA Tournament provides fans a great look at these prospects in pressure situations. But so far none -- and I mean none -- of these top prospects has wowed anyone. The best showing we had by any of these players was Oladipo in the win over Temple.

Let's eliminate Noel, who had a serious knee injury this season and didn't play when Kentucky got bounced in the first round of the NIT. And we will break down each of the others' performances thus far.

Anthony Bennett: In a loss to Cal in first round he was 4-11 from the field, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Marcus Smart: In the first round loss to Oregon he shot 5-13 from the field while scoring 14 points. He grabbed 9 rebounds, had 5 turnovers and tallied 4 assists.

Otto Porter: In the first round loss to Cinderella Florida Gulf Coast, he shot 5-17 from the field, scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Shabazz Muhammad: In the first round loss to Minnesota he shot 6-18 from the field, 0-6 on three pointers, scored 20 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

Ben McLemore: In first round win over Western Kentucky he shot 2-5 from the field for 11 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. In the second round win over North Carolina he was 0-9 from the field for 2 points and 5 rebounds.

Cody Zeller: In the first round win over James Madison he shot 4-5 from field for 11 points with 4 rebounds, and in the second round win over Temple was 4-10 from the field 15 points and 6 rebounds.

Victor Oladipo: In the first round win over James Madison was 3-7 from the field for 11 points and 6 rebounds, and in the second round win over Temple was 7-12 from the field 16 points, 8 rebounds and the huge 3-pointer that won the game. But -- and the big but -- on his performance was the guy he was guarding, Khalif Wyatt, went for 31 and went by him like he was a turnstile in the first half.

So with that being said, there are some good players in this draft, but the reality is there are no stars. This is a pitiful draft, plain and simple. And none of the guys playing in this tournament have had a shining moment.

In that time they have had 225 draft picks, but none more important than the third round pick they used in 2001 on a safety out of North Carolina State named Adrian Wilson.

At the time, the Cardinals were coming off of a 3-13 season and had put up just one winning season in their time in the desert. They were easily considered one of the worst organizations in professional sports.

Wilson could have easily bid his time in Arizona, accepted all the losing, and bid Arizona farewell when his rookie contract ended. But he wasn't wired that way. He wanted to win and he wanted to win here.

Wilson believed he could change the perception of this organization, and he did. Not singlehandedly, he had plenty of help from future draft picks like Darnell Dockett, Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, Karlos Dansby, Antrel Rolle and a few others. But Wilson was here first.

He had the greatest impact. He was the leader when those other players got here and because he was OK being here, they were OK being here. They changed the culture, they changed the perception, they changed the mentality. And in a five-year span from 2007-11, the Arizona Cardinals had only one losing season.

Many had a hand in making the Arizona Cardinals relevant, but none more so than #24.

Training camp in Flagstaff at the campus of Northern Arizona University has been a great Arizona tradition, just like Camp Tontozona is for Arizona State. The Cardinals have held training camp in Flagstaff every year since 1988 except one, when they moved to Prescott.

Having training camp in Flagstaff creates $10 million in economic revenue, but the reason this is not a great idea has little to do with money.

Having training camp in Flagstaff is a great bonding experience for families. Over the 16 years I have been to Flagstaff to cover training camp, I have encountered hundreds of fathers taking their sons and/or daughters out for a week or a weekend. For a father it's a great way to spend time with your children, allow them to meet the players up close and personal, spend precious time going out to breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Maybe going on a hike, hitting a movie etc…

Those are experiences of a lifetime for young children, and I just don't see heading over to Glendale for a couple of hours being comparable.

It is the culmination of a lot of hard work, dedication, sweat, tears, late nights practicing and even later nights doing homework, long car rides, long plane rides, long bus rides, long weekends away from home, lots of ice baths, lots of cleats, lost balls, one day in a New Mexico hospital with a concussion, lost toe nails, lots of scars, even more raspberries from slide tackles, plenty of missed school events, dances, parties, football games and the list goes on and on and on. Needless to say there were a lot of sacrifices, including some friends who had different priorities in high school.

But it got her to where she is at now and she will get to fulfill her dream of playing college soccer at the highest level, and in the process become the first Gambadoro to go to college. Hard to believe, especially when you hear how intelligent I sound, I know, but it's true. And more importantly than the soccer, she will get an outstanding education at one of the top colleges in the country.

Kaylee started playing soccer for the Gilbert Arsenal when she was 7, moved over to the Ladybugs when she was 11 and then to Sereno when she was 14 where she was a part of a great run by the Sereno 95 Girls that saw them win five state championships. In her final year of club soccer after her Sereno team disbanded, she is playing for the defending state champion Tucson Soccer Academy and making the three-hour round trip commute for practice three times per week.

In the span of a weekend the Phoenix Suns fired the wrong guy and then they hired the wrong guy.

The whirlwind 48-hour so-called interview process that followed the surprising firing of head coach Alvin Gentry and subsequent hiring of Lindsey Hunter on an interim basis was nothing more than a charade. And make no mistake about it, Gentry was fired, it wasn't a mutual decision to part ways.

Neither Elston Turner and his 14 years of coaching experience or Dan Majerle and his five-plus years had a snowball's chance in hell of getting the job.

Not as long as general manager Lance Blanks, who has ruined this team with bad move after bad move, was still employed.

Blanks was always hiring his no-experienced buddy Hunter, whom he brought in not as a coach, but as a player development guy, who somehow was allowed to bark out instructions from behind the bench even though he wasn't on the coaching staff.

Blanks even told people at the time he hired Hunter not to be threatened by Hunter because he wasn't going to be coaching.

How loyal, experienced coaches who were next in line could be passed over by someone who has been here for just a few months tells you everything you need to know about Blanks.

The same Blanks who inked Michael Beasley to a three-year deal, but didn't want O.J. Mayo.

The same Blanks who traded Goran Dragic and a first round pick to Houston for Aaron Brooks.

The same Blanks who signed Eric Gordon to a max contract offer sheet with no chance of actually being able to land him.

Yes, that Blanks who appears to be in way over his head as a general manager just as president of basketball operations Lon Babby is at his position.

The reality is that Hunter would have been hard-pressed to get a job as a head coach in the D League but somehow was good enough, with no experience, to get the head job here.

Look, this is the worst hiring since Michael Jordan pegged Sam Vincent to coach the Charlotte Bobcats. It's downright ridiculous and proves that the Lance/Lon duo doesn't have a clue.

The players were asked there opinion and the majority wanted Majerle. Neither Majerle or Turner were at Sunday's practice and you can bet your bottom dollar they both will want out after witnessing this joke of a process. And that's a shame as both are qualified good basketball men.

The sad part is that the owner Robert Sarver, who at times gets a bad rep but desperately wants to win and has spent the money to win, has been snowed by the duo he now has in charge.

Hopefully by the off-season Sarver comes to his senses and will find the right people to run his organization.

The boys he has in charge now are running it into the ground.

But the time had come. Every coach has a message, a plan, a belief in his system and Whisenhunt was no different. He also had a track record of success here, albeit just two years of success, but that still qualifies.

Whisenhunt's message was no longer getting through, it wasn't working. Coaches tell players to "do it my way, do everything I am telling you to do, bust it for me every day in practice and the rewards will be there on the field."

Only there weren't very many rewards for Arizona over the last three years. The system that the players were asked to believe in had failed miserably on one side of the ball and belief in the head coach and what he was selling had waned.

Such is life in the NFL where coaches have to win to keep their jobs. Whisenhunt ended up a casualty like so many other coaches Monday because he didn't win enough games. Credit goes to Michael Bidwill and the Cardinals organization for recognizing that this wasn't working anymore and for being committed to winning in Arizona. Because it was a Bidwill making the decision -- and the Bidwill family is notorious for being cheap -- no one knew for sure if they were willing to eat the $5.75 million remaining on Whisenhunt's contract. They could have easily just fired Rod Graves, brought in a new general manager and allowed the head coach to stay for the final year of his deal. Instead they proved something to a lot of people Monday; three consecutive non-winning seasons wasn't cutting it anymore, and that the expiration date on the good will from the Super Bowl run had come.

Whisenhunt led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl after a 9-7 season in 2008 and back to the playoffs again with a 10-6 mark the next year. Because of that, his job wasn't on the line with that 5-11 season in 2010 or the 8-8 last year. Not winning this season, coupled with some incredibly poor personnel decisions (especially at the quarterback spot) over the last few years, was too much to overcome.

The decision to fire Whisenhunt was the correct one. It's time to start over. Time for a new voice, a new message, a new leader. But let's not forget what Whisenhunt did as the Cardinals head coach. Let's not forget how amazing those two seasons were and let's thank the man that took the Cardinals where they had never gone before.

He gave us a few years of "In Whiz we trust" and made us forget "Same old Cardinals". For that Cardinals fans should be very appreciative. I respect how he went out on his terms -- sitting that whiner Beanie Wells in the final game.

Whiz isn't leaving on bad terms, no one is throwing him under the first train out of town or telling him not to let the door hit him on the ass on the way out.

He was too good for all of that. It's just time for a change.

You see, after your comments regarding your future -- or lack of future -- in Arizona, I think it is best to cut ties with you now and I can only hope that Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt agrees and sits your ass as an inactive for Sunday's game against the 49ers. You see if all you really want to do is showcase yourself, then you are a selfish player who has no business putting on that Cardinals uniform this weekend.

I would've much rather you taken the blame for your ridiculous fumble that gave Chicago seven points on Sunday, took the blame for another lousy year and that awful 2.7 yards per carry average.

Maybe you should have said how you are looking forward to ending the season on a good note with a win against your division rival. Maybe you should have just taken the high road. But what we get out of your comments is that you really don't care about winning the football game or helping the offense get out of this season-long slump. Nothing about taking some of the load off of Brian Hoyer making his first start as a Cardinal. Nothing about having some pride. No, your comments display just how selfish you really are.

I wish the Cardinals could have been more selfish and asked for some of the money back that you stole from them since you were their first-round pick in 2009. So what did the Cardinals get out of the four years of Beanie Wells -- a lousy 2,471 yards rushing, 24 touchdowns, 10 fumbles and one season in which you were able to play 16 games.

You were so good, Beanie, that the Cardinals had to use a second round pick just two years after drafting you on another running back because you weren't panning out. If you were any good they could have used that pick on other needs -- and trust me, they have plenty of them.

So go take your ball and go home, but be careful not to drop it like you did Sunday.

Oh, and one more thing...don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Good riddance.

What we know about Gregorius is that he is very good defensively, has great range and can hit a little. Not a lot of power but could be a .260 to .275 hitter in the big leagues with 10 to 15 home runs. He is considered Major League-ready right now, so he could break camp as the starting shortstop.

I like the addition of Tony Sipp, a good left-handed reliever with a solid breaking ball. The third player in the trade, Lars Andrson, was a Boston prospect stuck behind Anthony Rizzo and Adrian Gonzalez. He is just OK -- not a key component of the trade. He put up gaudy minor league numbers but is a Josh Whitesell-type player.

The key to the trade, of course, is what Bauer will become. The third overall pick in the 2011 draft was on the fast track to the Major Leagues, dominating in Double-A and Triple-A before struggling in a brief stint with the Diamondbacks. The issues with Bauer were attitude, velocity, control and program.

He had a bad attitude when he first arrived in the big leagues, punctuated by constant battles with Miguel Montero and management. When he struggled and the organization suggested changes to his routine, he resisted.

His velocity in college had his fastball sitting at 93 to 94 and topping out at 97. He never touched that in the Majors, topping out at 92. That led to questions on his arm endurance, which is much different than arm strength. His high walk total (13 in 16 innings) was an alarm. He didn't want to pitch to contact; he wanted to strike everyone out. That philosophy leads to a five-inning pitcher. And his unconventional program of warming up and throwing on the side, something that had never been done at the Major League-level before, caused problems.

Now, even with those questions Bauer is still a top pitching prospect in baseball and has the potential to be an ace of a staff. Opinions on Bauer vary. Some believe he will be a star, some believe he'll be a bust.

It's quite possible this trade ends up helping both teams. Gregorius could become a dominant player at the most important defensive position on the field and Bauer could end up becoming a solid number-two pitcher on the Indians' staff.

Only time will tell.

Somehow, someway this organization has found a way to throw $18 million right out the window.

Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Michael Beasley is a joke. Are you kidding me with that 3-for-13 performance for 6 points and 2 rebounds in 30 minutes against Memphis?

I can make the argument that through 19 games this master under-performer has played two or three decent games -- not great games mind you, just decent. I never thought he could help this team, but even I thought that he would tease Suns fans once every eight to ten games with a 30-point performance. That's what he has done throughout his career -- tease everyone with a great game here and there that makes you question why he doesn't do it on a regular basis.

Beasley was a waste of money and Phoenix should be regretting that decision by now. Too bad they couldn't get a money back guarantee on him the way the fans are for the game on Thursday.

Look, in a nutshell he is not a smart basketball player, no basketball IQ whatsoever. He wastes possessions. He can't defend. He is not a small forward and he is not a power forward.

There is a reason that guys like Rick Adelman, Pat Riley, Kurt Rambis and Eric Spoelstra didn't want him. He was the #2 pick in the 2008 draft and he is on his third team already. Miami drafted him and gave him away for a second round pick. Um RED FLAG! Then Minnesota got him and couldn't give him away all last year. NBA teams rarely rid themselves of good players, but two teams gave up on Beasley in a heartbeat. That should have told the Suns everything they needed to know.

It is so frustrating watching him play. Why is he playing? Is it to justify the waste of a contract they gave him? I don't get it. Put him on the bench and give him 15 minutes a game. Jared Dudley is a better player, yes he is! A much better player. Unfortunately you can't trade Beasley because the rest of the NBA knew what the Suns didn't.

Most fans want the heads of head coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves on a silver platter. And Cardinals management would be well-justified in making a change at the end of the season and starting over.

It might be time for a new voice, for new leadership. Maybe the message is no longer getting through. Sure, the team still plays hard and that is one thing in Whisenhunt's favor -- that his team has not quit on him -- not yet anyway. But you get the feeling that this team is about to implode at anytime. Poor decisions in the draft and free agency and the inability to properly evaluate the quarterback position have set this team back a few years.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but most of it lies with Whisenhunt. He is the Captain of this ship. His success in getting Arizona to the Super Bowl five years ago gave him leverage for a new contract and authority and final say that he never should have had.

It's not difficult to see where Arizona has failed. The first being quarterback play. Whisenhunt handpicked Derek Anderson and Kevin Kolb and those decisions have flopped. He ignored quarterbacks early in the draft and took John Skelton and Ryan Lindley with late-round picks. He gave a chance to undrafted free agent Max Hall. He has flip-flopped on his quarterbacks all year.

There is no way Lindley, a sixth-round pick, is ready to play at this level. I used an analogy on the radio Monday to make a point on Lindley. It's like the father that takes his 14-year-old son to the church parking lot and teaches him how to drive even though he doesn't have his license yet. But he doesn't let him drive home or take the car for a spin on a real road. Lindley is that quarterback that isn't ready to drive on the road. He needs to spend some serious time in the parking lot (practice) learning how to play.

I can spend countless hours talking about how they ignored the offensive line, failed to address the injury situations at O-line and running back when guys went down, botched draft picks and free agency. But by now everyone knows the Cardinals' shortcomings and who is to blame for them.

The real question for the Cardinals is are they committed to winning? Yes simple question. Is ownership committed to winning at all costs? Because if they are firing Whisenhunt (who has one year and $5.75 million left on his contract) and Graves (who is also in the final year of his deal) will be a decision based on what is in the best interest of the football team going forward. It won't be about money and not wanting to eat all that cash. And I do have some concerns that ownership is afraid to eat that much money.

The main factor they need to consider is defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Is it worth losing him to keep Whisenhunt and hope that he can work some magic in the final year of his contract? Horton is the key here -- his defense is very, very good. He is well-respected by his players and he will be a hot candidate for head coaching vacancies around the league. It might be wise to keep him and elevate him to head coach and let Whisenhunt go.

Either way, Graves has to go. It's time for a new voice at the top, a new direction and leader. Someone who can take control of the organization back from the coach and have full say on the draft and free agency.

A lot depends on what happens in these final four games. There is no excuse for an eight-game losing streak, but can you imagine 12? It's very possible.

And if that happens, there really is no choice but to make a change. If the team can find a way to dig deep and pull out a couple of wins in the next four weeks maybe, just maybe, Whiz can survive but he will need to make some changes on his coaching staff and answer to a new GM.

Time will tell, but things have been heading south here for a few months and I'm not sure they can right this ship with the people they currently have in place.

The former Suns coach is now the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and contrary to those who object, this is an absolutely great hire for the purple and gold. Mike D'Antoni and his system are a better fit than Phil Jackson and his triangle offense with the personnel the Lakers have.

There are no if ands or buts about it. You don't trade for Steve Nash and give him a three-year contract and have him run a Princeton or Triangle offense. Nash is good enough to fit in any offense, but for him to be special, for him to be dominant, he needs to play in his offense, the one created by D'Antoni. Look, it was simple to see in the preseason when the Lakers went 0-8 that Steve was not Steve.

Now Nash gets to be himself, to run the show, to get everyone involved and to win. Nash is the only player in the history of the NBA to play his best basketball beyond the age of 32. And why did that happen? Mike D'Antoni.

With Dwight Howard and the pick-and-roll game, the shooting of Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest this is going to work. Is it a perfect system for Bryant? No. But while Kobe is used to being the whole show, at 34 years old and with 220 playoff games under his belt, he is no longer capable of being the show night in and night out. He needs help and he knows it. And with this system Bryant, who is good without the ball will get open looks, knock down a ton of three-pointers and at times when the offense is stagnant, will get to run his isolation plays and get to the free throw line. So this will work for Bryant.

As for the defense -- or the lack of it in D'Antoni's system -- he now has Dwight Howard, a three-time Defensive MVP. which is something he never had in Phoenix. He also has Ron Artest, who is a good on-the-ball defender. And the Lakers have size, which is something Phoenix never had. So the Lakers will be fine defensively.

And for the LA Times columnist worried about the Lakers' age, seriously? You're worried about finely-tuned athletes running up and down the court? That is the easy part. The hard part is physical half-court defense. That wears players down, not easy transition baskets. I'm sure a bunch of 30-something-year-old guys have no issues running.

So to think this won't work is foolish. The Lakers may not win the championship, but hiring D'Antoni gives them the best chance to win it all.

Brown and the Princeton offense that he had Eddie Jordan bring in was the worst possible fit for a Lakers team that has Steve Nash.

Brown deserved to be fired. He is a good guy, been around the game a long time. But he is not a smart basketball coach, not a born leader, and he doesn't have the respect of his players. The nickname the Laker players had for him was "Bubba", as in Bubba Gump, and they had it for a reason.

There is nothing wrong with the Princeton offense, but you don't run it when you have Steve Nash, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant. You run the Nash offense. You spread the floor and you pick and roll, it benefits everyone.

Which brings us to Mike D'Antoni, the former Suns coach.

The Lakers would be wise to let D'Antoni captain this ship and allow him to bring "Showtime" back to L.A. Not just for Nash, but Howard would excel in that system because of the one he had in Orlando.

The other thought process is to bring Phil Jackson back. This would be a perfect scenario for Phil to ride in on a white horse and save the day, just like he did when Rudy Tomjanovich was let go. The Lakers are a disaster now but they have talent, and Jackson may relish the chance to add to his legacy.

No matter which direction the Lakers choose, Mike Brown had to go.