Sports shorts Busy trade deadline sees all-stars move

Max Scherzer and Trea Turner wearing Dodger blue, Kris Bryant heading to the Golden Gate. Javier Báez joining the Mets, Craig Kimbrel crossing town to the White Sox, José Berríos moving north of the border.

Now this truly was an All-Star trade deadline day.

After a run-up that saw the likes of Nelson Cruz, Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo and Adam Frazier swapped, even more big names changed teams during a whirlwind Friday.

From contenders boosting their roster to the alsoran Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals gutting theirs, this was a monster day for moves.

“They all feel busy, but today was nonstop,” said Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, who made three trades.

“We executed a number of trades but there were probably at least another dozen other ones that we contemplated seriously at different points in time and exchanged different ideas,” he said.

Several playoff chasers pursued arms, with Toronto landing Berríos, Philadelphia getting Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy, Boston adding relievers Hansel Robles and Austin Davis, and St. Louis acquiring starters Jon Lester and J.A. Happ.

NFL

LAST YEAR OPT-OUTS NOT ON ROSTERS » More than half of the 67 NFL players who opted out of the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer with the same team. Almost two dozen aren’t on anyone’s roster.

Thirty-three of the players who opted out have returned to open 2021 training camp with their same team. Twentynine were waived or released before camps opened, four retired and one was traded.

That represents a whopping 50.7% turnover rate for this subset of players, far outdistancing the average annual NFL roster turnover rate of 36.2%.

FANECA CROSSES FINAL GOAL OFF » Alan Faneca cracked open a fresh notebook at the start of each of his 13 NFL seasons and diligently filled it throughout the year with anything he thought might help him.

Page after page, the sixtime All-Pro guard would scribble goals, game plans, tips, achievements and things he needed to improve on and off the field. He’d also include things that ticked him off so much, he wanted to be sure to not forget — or repeat — that feeling.

“I was a goal setter my whole life and never really realized that about myself, I never thought about it,” Faneca said. “But I was always putting things out there and reaching as far as I can go instead of just, you know, reaching for the next rung on the ladder. Just reaching as far as you can reach.”

Written on the inside cover of one of those notebooks from early in his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers is the now-prophetic message: “Make The H.O.F.” Faneca can finally put a checkmark next to that once incredibly lofty goal.

In his sixth year of eligibility, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was a wait that was admittedly frustrating for him at times, but one he believed would eventually end with his bronze bust — and that special notebook — on display in Canton, Ohio.