Q: The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 26-game losing streak, though it was quickly followed by a hilarious 104-99 defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers, was a true testament to how terrible a team can be when an owner builds around a single player… and then loses that player to free agency. Still, though, the 2010-11 Cavaliers have nothing on the 1972-73 iteration of what team, which started the season 0-15 and finished the season with a ridiculous 9-73 record?
A: The Philadelphia ‘76ers. Behind the 20 points per game of “star” Fred Carter, the ‘Sixers managed to finish their February with a shocking 5-2 run — that run would provide more than half of their wins for the season.
Q: As of writing, the St. Louis Cardinals have somehow managed to avoid signing perennial MVP candidate Albert Pujols to a new deal — a fact that means that the best player in the league will likely turn to free agency under the guidance of super-agent Dan Lozano. Lozano’s fellow super-agent, Scott Boras, is famous for landing his client Alex Rodriguez a contract with the New York Yankees that could eventually be worth more than $300 million, but it’s less widely known that in 2003, Boras nearly negotiated the Texas Rangers’ trade of Rodriguez to what team?
A: The Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had effectively agreed to a trade for Rodriguez, but the MLB Players’ Association killed the deal when it was discovered that Rodriguez had agreed to renegotiate some benefits that had been guaranteed in his previous contract with the Rangers.