An Early Christmas for Todd Frazier

First a thank you to all of those who reached out to me with such a favorable reaction to yesterdays “Hometown View” in which I said we not only need a little Christmas right this very minute but we should not be afraid to say “Merry Christmas.” As Facebook friend Tom Slater said in quoting Kris Kringle from Miracle on 34th Street,”Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind.”

Only time will tell if getting traded from the Reds to the White Sox was an early Christmas present for Toms River’s Todd Frazier but my gut feeling is it was. The 29-year old Home Run Derby champ was part of a three-team deal Wednesday that featured all prospects except him as he goes from Cincinnati to Chicago.

The Reds are basically giving up on the next year or two to try and develop young players and they’ll likely be among the worst teams in baseball. As popular as Frazier was in the Queen City he now gets to play in Chicago and the White Sox believe they’re not far away from contending for at least a playoff spot.

They were 76-86 last year and finished 19 games behind the AL Central champion Royals who would go on to win the World Series. Frazier, a two-time All-Star is eligible for salary arbitration at the end of the upcoming season and can before a free agent after the 2017 season.

I’ll say it again. The time is now to jump on the Monmouth University basketball bandwagon because if things continue in the direction they are now heading that bandwagon is going to fill up in a hurry.

For those that missed it the Hawks handled Georgetown Tuesday night for their first-ever win over a Big East team and are now 7-3. Coach King Rice has become a darling of the national media and Sunday afternoon Monmouth will visit Rutgers as the favorite. All Hawks road games are broadcast on the Shore Sports Network’s 1160 & 1310AM and stream live at shoresportsnetwork.com.

If you’re a Jets fan check out the great photo gallery from Mark Brown of B51 photography from last Sunday’s win over the Titans. Brown is a regular contributor to the Shore Sports Network website.