Minor League Baseball Season Eliminated

     An announcement will be made concerning Minor League Baseball on Tuesday. The 2020 Minor League Baseball season will not be played later this year by all Major League Baseball affiliate teams. 

     There are several organizations locally that will be affected by this decision. There will be no baseball season for the Jupiter Hammerheads and Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. 

Matt Kemp Signing With Rockies

     The Colorado Rockies have signed outfielder Matt Kemp to a minor-league deal. He played just 20 games with the Cincinnati Reds last season. 

     Kemp had signed a deal with the Miami Marlins and participated in their spring training camp earlier this year prior to the coronavirus pandemic. He was not listed on the 60-player roster submitted by the Marlins to Major League Baseball on Monday which resulted in him becoming a free agent. 

Marlins Finalize List For Summer Training

     The Miami Marlins added three more players to reach their 60-player list for what Major League Baseball has designated as summer training. All players will be eligible to be involved during the regular season.
     The Marlins added infielder Sean Rodriguez, 2020 first-round pick pitcher Max Meyer and pitcher Nick Vincent. A big surprise was that outfielder Matt Kemp was not listed on the roster.

Miami Marlins Submit Training Roster

     The Miami Marlins have submitted their training roster to Major League Baseball. All 57 players on the roster will be eligible to play during training camp and the 2020 regular season.
     The Marlins outfielders include Corey Dickerson, Lewis Brinson, Garrett Cooper, Matt Joyce, Harold Ramirez, Magneuris Sierra, Jesus Sanchez, Jerar Encarnacion, J.J. Bleday and Monte Harrison.
     Marlins infielders are Jesus Aguilar, Jonathan Villar, Brian Anderson, Miguel Rojas, Jon Berti, Isan Diaz, Eddy Alvarez, Jose Devers, Lewin Diaz and Jazz Chisholm.
     Miami choose catchers Jorge Alfaro, Francisco Cervelli, Ryan Lavarnway, Chad Wallach, Will Banfield and Brain Navarreto.
     The organization decided to go with 31 pitchers. Left-handed pitchers will include Caleb Smith, Adam Conley, Trevor Rogers, Daniel Castano, Braxton Garrett, Stephen Tarpley and Alex Vesia.
     The 24 right-handed pitchers will be Jose Urena, Jordan Yamamoto, Sixto Sanchez, Ryan Cook, Drew Steckenrider, Brad Boxberger, Sandy Alcantara, Jeff Brigham, Edward Cabrera, Robert Dugger, Tommy Evald, Yimi Garcia, Jorge Guzman, Elieser Hernandez, Brandon Kintzler, Pablo Lopez, Jordan Holloway, Humberto Mejia, Nick Neidert, Aaron Northcraft, Sterling Sharp, Johan Quezada, Josh A. Smith and Ryan Stanek.

Miami Heat Television Schedule

     The Miami Heat have eight games remaining in the regular season to determine seedings in the Eastern Conference. The Heat, who have already clinched a playoff spot, will play several of their games on national television broadcasts and some on local television broadcasts.
      ESPN will have their contest against the Denver Nuggets on August 1 while TNT will have them on August 4 against the Boston Celtics and August 6 versus the Milwaukee Bucks. NBATV will carry their game against the Toronto Raptors on August 3.
     Other games of the Miami Heat will likely be exclusively covered by Sun Sports with Eric Reid as play-by-play announcer and John Crotty as game analyst. They would include the Phoenix Suns on August 8, Indiana Pacers on August 10 and Oklahoma City Thunder on August 12. It has not been determined who would broadcast their final contest of the regular season against the Pacers on August 14.

Miami Heat Remaining Schedule

     The National Basketball Association released the schedules of all 22 remaining teams that will play in Orlando to continue the 2019-20 regular season. These NBA clubs will participate in eight games each.
     The Miami Heat schedule was also issued by the league. South Florida Sports Coverage mentioned exactly which seven teams they would face back on June 9. The rundown for Heat contests includes the Denver Nuggets(August 1), Toronto Raptors(August 3), Boston Celtics(August 4), Milwaukee Bucks(August 6), Phoenix Suns(August 8), Indiana Pacers(August 10), Oklahoma City Thunder(August 12) and Pacers(August 14) again.

Florida Panthers Possible Number One Pick

     The 2020 NHL Draft Lottery was held in Secaucus, New Jersey on Friday night. The big shock in the Phase 1 lottery process was that an unknown participant in the upcoming qualifying round will be getting the first overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft.
     The yet-to-be determined club would have to lose in a best-of-five qualifying round. A Phase 2 part of the draft lottery will occur prior to the conference quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
     The Florida Panthers could possibly get that opportunity. They would unfortunately have to lose in the qualifying round against the New York Islanders. The Panthers would then have a 12.5% chance along with seven other teams to be named the club with the first overall selection.

Marc Hochman Remains At Entercom

     Marc Hochman has signed a multi-year contract extension to remain at Entercom Communications in Miami. He currently co-hosts the afternoon program with Channing Crowder on both 560 The Joe WQAM-AM and Sports Talk 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM.
     Hochman, a University of Miami grad, has been on the airwaves at WQAM since April 2014. He first co-hosted the afternoon show with Zach Krantz and then they added Crowder to the mix in August 2015. Krantz was shifted to the morning show alongside Joe Rose in May 2017. Hochman and Crowder began to have their show simulcast on The Ticket in August 2019.   
     He first began at 790 The Ticket when the radio station flipped to a sports talk format. Hochman was the executive producer of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz afternoon program from August 2004 to August 2012. He got the opportunity to co-host a morning show with Stugotz in May 2012 after Jorge Sedano departed for WQAM. Hochman added Jonathan Zaslow as a morning co-host in August 2012 and later Joy Taylor. Hochman left the program for WQAM in December 2013.
     Hochman also had some previous radio management experience. He worked as the program director at The Ticket from September 2009 until December 2011.

South Florida Connections Win Premier League Title

     Liverpool Football Club won the 2019-20 English Premier League title on Thursday. It was their first league championship in 30 years. They are currently the defending UEFA Champions League champions, UEFA Super Cup champions and FIFA Club World Cup champions.
     Several people that were part of the South Florida sports landscape have a connection with the team. Former Florida Marlins owner John Henry is the majority owner of Liverpool along with Fenway Sports Group. One-time Miami Heat player LeBron James has a minority ownership share of the team.

Aleksander Barkov Hockey Club Owner

     Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov is now a major shareholder of Tappara, the most successful hockey club in the Finnish Elite League. Tappara has won 17 national champions in their franchise history.
     Barkov is the third largest shareholder of the organization. He and his father played professional hockey with that team.
     He was drafted by the Florida Panthers second overall in the 2013 NHL Draft. Barkov has played the last seven seasons with Florida and was named captain of the team on September 17, 2018. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the 2018-19 season.
     Barkov is near the top of the all-time list in Florida Panthers franchise history for several categories. He is third with 155 goals, second with 252 assists, third in points with 407, second with 27 game-winning goals, second in plus/minus at +32 and fifth with 43 power-play goals.

MLS Tournament Adjusted For Inter Miami CF

     Major League Soccer announced on Wednesday that the MLS Tournament to be held next month in Orlando will be adjusted. A new system that is more fair would determine which teams would advance to the knockoff stage of the tournament.
     The top three clubs from Group A along with the top two teams from Group B through Group F would advance. Three clubs of the remaining 11 teams with the best point total would get out of the group stage.
     Inter Miami CF was in Group A and they were the only group to have more than four clubs involved. It was considered unfair that teams in that group had a disadvantage to advance with the prior tournament criteria.

Tony Marino Staying At WDBO

     Former local radio personality Tony Marino will be remaining at 580 WDBO-AM in Orlando. He is staying as a news anchor and evening host. Cox Media Group flipped that radio station from a sports talk format to a news talk format on Wednesday.
     Marino was a sports anchor at ESPN Orlando for several years. He has been an afternoon news anchor at WDBO-FM since May 2013 and later added duties as an evening host.
     He had several roles in South Florida radio prior to his move to Orlando. Marino had a long reign and hosted a syndicated business radio show that was broadcast on Money Talk 740 WSBR-AM in Boca Raton. He once had a short stint and co-hosted a sports show with Michael Irvin on WNNR-AM in Jacksonville back in 2005.
     Marino then worked as a traffic anchor at Metro Networks Miami and with Total Traffic Network Miami when both companies merged together. He landed at 560 WQAM-AM as a weekend sports anchor in 2012.
     He was the morning host on WNNR-AM from 2002 until 2005. Marino also worked as a news reporter/news anchor at KRLD-AM in Dallas.

Roster Guidelines Set For MLB Season

     The 2020 Major League Baseball season will begin on either July 23 or July 24 and all 30 MLB clubs will play 60 games instead of the usual 162 games. Guidelines have been set for team rosters during the campaign.
     All teams will begin the season with 30 players. It will be cut down to 28 players 15 days into the season and eventually placed at 26 at the 29-day mark. This will be the total amount of players for the rest of the regular season. The trading deadline will occur on August 31 instead of July 31 like it is during a full season of play.

Major League Baseball Season Approved

     There will be a Major League Baseball season in 2020. Both MLB team owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association have agreed to the final steps about the parameters of the regular season.
     Players are expected to arrive at their spring training camps by July 1. All 30 MLB spring training camps will start on July 3. The proposed date for the regular season opening games will be on July 23 or July 24. The season is slated to end on September 27. Contests can be moved to neutral sites during the season in case the coronavirus pandemic has a dramatic effect on any one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams local communities.
     All clubs will play 60 games in the regular season. It would consist of 40 games against their divisional opponents The other 20 games would be interleague games against regional opponents. 
     The Marlins won't travel outside of the Eastern time zone this season. They will compete in 40 games versus National League East teams on their schedule. The remaining 20 contests would be against clubs in the American League East.
     One other concept will also be added to the regular season. The designated hitter will be used in the National League for the first time. There has been talk that the designated hitter would likely be implemented in National League play sometime in the future once a new collective bargaining agreement was agreed between the owner and players.
     The designated hitter rule has been used in the American League since 1973 and American League World Series home games since 1976. It started for interleague regular season games in 1997 when the American League club was the host team.

NBA Calendar Year Set

     The National Basketball Association has set up their calendar year to begin on October 19 because league events have been moved back due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA calendar year had always started on July 1 during the last couple of decades.
     Other items around the starting point of the calendar year has also been switched. The free agent moratorium by the league has been moved from July 6 to October 23. All club option decisions, player option decisions and qualifying offers on restricted free agents will be decided between October 14 to October 17.

NHL Draft Lottery This Week

     Phase 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Friday. The bottom 15 teams that do not get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be selected. The Florida Panthers are uncertain when they will draft in the first round until their qualifying round series against the New York Islanders has been completed in August.
     There is an unusual procedure unlike previous NHL drafts. The seven clubs that were not placed in any upcoming qualifying series will get a specific spot in Phase 1. If the top three lottery draws for the top three overall selections fall among these teams, Phase 2 would not be necessary. The eventual losing teams in the qualifying round are to be slated into spots in Phase 1 of the lottery labeled Team A to Team H based on inverse point percentage at the end of the regular season.
     Phase 2 would occur if any of the knocked off qualifying clubs from Team A to Team H are picked in the three lottery draws. All these eight clubs would get the same odds for the slot. This part of the NHL Draft Lottery would be held between the end of the qualifying rounds and the conference quarterfinals.

Denard Robinson Back In NFL

     Former local high school football quarterback Denard Robinson is returning to the National Football League. He will work with the Jacksonville Jaguars as their offensive quality control coach. He was the offensive analyst for Jacksonville University in 2019.
     Robinson is best remembered locally as the starting quarterback for the Deerfield Beach Bucks. He went on and joined the University of Michigan Wolverines. Robinson played four seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a running back.

NHL Qualifying Round Begins July 30

     The National Hockey League has stated to all of their 31 NHL clubs that the qualifying round will begin on July 30. There will be eight qualifying best-of-five series. One of them will have the 10th seed Florida Panthers take on the seventh seed New York Islanders. The round-robin seedings between the top four clubs in each conference will also start on that day.
     There is still no mention of where the hub cities will be to conduct the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL is expected to make a decision by the end of the week.

Jim Kiick Passes Away

     Former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick passed away on Saturday at the age of 73. He was part of a powerful three-man backfield that included Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.
     Kiick, who was with the Miami Dolphins from 1968 to 1974, played 97 regular season games and compiled 3,644 rushing yards for them. He helped the franchise capture their only Super Bowl titles.
     They completed the first perfect season in National Football League history with a 17-0 record during 1972 and defeated the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins repeated again in 1973 and were victorious over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII. 
     Kiick left the team and joined the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League in 1975. His teammates Csonka and wide receiver Paul Warfield went with him to Memphis.

Tiz The Law Wins Belmont Stakes

     Tiz The Law won the 152nd Belmont Stakes in Belmont, New York on Saturday. The horse had captured the 2020 Florida Derby in Hallandale back on March 28. Tiz The Law, who won for the fifth time in six races, became the first New York-bred horse to win the Belmont Stakes since Forester in 1882.
     The Belmont Stakes for the first time ever was the initial race of the Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby and The Preakness were postponed to a later date because of the coronavirus pandemic.
     Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola had a horse compete in the Belmont Stakes. Dr. Post finished second in the race.

NBA Sets Draft And Free Agency

     The National Basketball Association continued to implement future events on the league calendar. They motioned when the annual NBA Draft and free agency period will occur. The latest the NBA Finals can go to is October 13.
     The NBA Draft will be held on October 16 and was to take place on June 25. The period of free agency has usually happened during the final week of June with no team announcements to be made until the second week of July. This offseason, NBA free agents can negotiate deals starting on October 18, followed by a time period of zero club announcements from October 19 to October 23 and allowed free agency signings announcements on October 24.

Kevin Rolston Extends Contract

     Former South Florida sports talk host Kevin Rolston has agreed to a new deal. He signed a three-year extension to continue morning co-hosting duties of the KVJ Show at WRMF-FM. He has been part of that program since 1999.

     Rolston once hosted a sports show on 640 WMEN-AM called Kevin's Other Show in mid-afternoons. His on-air sidekicks on the program were Steve Diener and Ricky Bobby. The first run of the show went from February 2018 until September 2018. It returned as a Monday afternoon show one month later in October 2018 and lasted until the end of December 2018. 

Gregory Rousseau On Street & Smith Magazine

     University of Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Gregory Rousseau appears on the Florida regional front cover of Street & Smith magazine. He also showed up on the Athlon Sports Florida regional magazine cover.
     Rousseau, who is in his redshirt sophomore year, made 15 1/2 sacks, 34 solo tackles and 19 1/2 tackles for loss in 2019. He played high school football with the Champagnat Catholic Lions and helped them capture the 2017 FHSAA Class 2A state championship.

Emil Djuse Leaves Florida Panthers

     Emil Djuse has left the Florida Panthers organization. He will sign a one-year deal with Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League.
     Djuse was acquired by the Panthers from the Dallas Stars back on February 24 for a 2020 sixth-round draft pick that belonged to the Buffalo Sabres. He got to play in five games for the Springfield Thunderbirds in the American Hockey League and put together one goal along with two assists.

Gorkys Hernandez Released By White Sox

     Former Miami Marlins player Gorkys Hernandez was released by the Chicago White Sox. He was in their minor league system trying to get back into the majors. He played for the Boston Red Sox in 2019.
     Rodriguez was with the Marlins as an outfielder during the 2012 season. He was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Gabby Sanchez on July 31, 2012. Hernandez played in 45 games for Miami that year and compiled three home runs, 11 runs batted in and a .212 batting average.

Marlins Ink Ashton Easley And Brett Norwood

     The Miami Marlins have signed two undrafted free agents. They agreed to deals with outfielder Ashton Easley and infielder Brett Norwood.
     Easley was with the Air Force Academy for four years. He compiled 17 home runs, .301 batting average, .364 on-base percentage and .512 slugging percentage while there.
     Norwood played college baseball with Vanderbilt University. He had a .303 batting average, .425 on-base percentage and seven home runs in two seasons with the Commodores.

Unfair MLS Tournament For Inter Miami CF

     Major League Soccer announced last week a tournament to restart the 2020 season. It would be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside of Orlando. It begins July 8 in a contest between Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC.
     The MLS Tournament would be contested by all 26 clubs in the league. The top two clubs in each group will move on along with four other third-place teams into the round-of-16.
     All the teams were be separated into six groups. Inter Miami CF was placed in the only group of six clubs with Orlando City SC, New York City FC, Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire FC and Nashville SC. The other 20 teams were placed in groups of four.
     The major problem for Inter Miami CF and other organizations in their group is that they have less than a 50% chance to advance into the knockout round. Teams in the other group will have at least a 66% chance to get past the group stage.

Marlins Sign Antonio Velez

     Relief pitcher Antonio Velez has signed a deal with the Miami Marlins. He was an undrafted free agent when he signed with the club.
     Velez took the mound for the last two seasons with the Florida State University Seminoles. He had a 6-2 record and a 3.16 earned-run-average in 28 games pitched.

Kevyn Adams New Sabres General Manager

     Former Florida Panthers center Kevyn Adams has been named the new general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. He was elevated from senior vice president of business operations with that team. The club also let go assistant general manager Randy Sexton, who was once the general manager of the Florida Panthers.
     Adams had a 11-year career in the National Hockey League and was known for his winning faceoff percentage. He was acquired by the Panthers from the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 13, 2001 for Ray Whitney.
     He stayed with Florida for the bulk of two seasons and compiled 21 points in 56 games. Adams was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes along with Brett Hedican in a five-player deal on January 16, 2002. He participated in two Stanley Cup Finals and won a Stanley Cup with the Canes in 2006.

Randy Sexton Out From Buffalo Sabres

     Former Florida Panthers hockey executive Randy Sexton is no longer with the Buffalo Sabres. He was the assistant general manager in that organization since 2017.
     Sexton was once employed by the Florida Panthers. He held the position of assistant general manager from January 2007 to October 2009. Sexton was elevated to the general manager spot and stayed at that position until May 2010. The Panthers replaced him with Dale Tallon.

Rob Morris At RadioAnimal Media Strategies

     Former local radio executive Rob Morris has joined RadioAnimal Media Strategies. He will consult on radio stations based in the United States.
     Morris was the vice president of programming for CBS Radio Miami. He also held the positions of program director at WKIS-FM and WPOW-FM. Morris coordinated the FM frequency simulcast at WKIS of Miami Dolphins game broadcasts along with then 560 WQAM-AM program director Ryan Maguire.

Zack Moss Signs With Buffalo Bills

     Former local high school running back Zack Moss has signed a four-year contract with the Buffalo Bills worth $4.6 million. He was taken by the Bills in the third round with the 86th overall selection of the 2020 NFL Draft.
     Moss spent the first three years of high school football at Mater Academy. He played his senior year in 2015 at Hallandale and helped the Chargers defeat the two-time defending FHSAA Class 5A state champions American Heritage in the regional semifinal.
     He moved on to the University of Utah along with his high school teammate quarterback Tyler Huntley. Moss helped the Utes make the Pac-12 Conference title game in 2018 and 2019.

Denny Hamlin Captures Dixie Vodka 400

     The NASCAR Cup Series presented the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday and Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag. It was the fourth NASCAR race held at that venue this weekend. The season finale of the NASCAR Cup Series, which is where the season championship trophy is presented, was not raced there for the first time since 2001.
     The initial start of the Dixie Vodka 400 was delayed due to a rain delay. There was a red-flag caution during the fifth lap to stop the race completely for over two hours.
     During the Stage 3 portion of the contest, Hamlin took the lead from Chase Elliott with 30 laps remaining in the race and held off the rest of the field. Elliott finished in second place while Ryan Blaney got third.

Chase Briscoe Gets Contender Boats 250

     Chase Briscoe won the NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. Briscoe got his fifth career victory and prevailed for the third time this year.
     It was the second NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series event held at that racetrack in the last two days. That circuit had never run on consecutive days at the same place.
     Ryan Sieg took Stage 1 while Noah Gragson captured Stage 2 of the event. Both race car drivers also won the same exact stages in the Xfinity Racing Series on Saturday. It was the fifth winning stage for Gragson in the 2020 season.
     For the second straight day, Gragson had a dominate hold in the third stage. He had a 5.93 second lead with 45 laps remaining. Briscoe was able to cut the lead down to 0.68 with three laps to go. Austin Cindric had car trouble to bring out a caution with almost one lap left and the race went into overtime.
     The race would go into double overtime after a another caution in overtime. Briscoe stayed on the inside lane and raced two laps to take the victory.

Kyle Busch Takes Baptist Health 200

     Kyle Busch won the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Baptist Health 200 on Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was the second of four NASCAR races to be held in Homestead this weekend.
     Busch won his 58th truck career race, which is the most all-time on the circuit, in 154 career starts. He has been victorious in 28 of his last 48 starts.
     He was leading the race with 24 laps to go. The caution flag showed up with 12 laps remaining. Busch still held the lead all the way to the final lap.

Harrison Burton Wins Hooters 250

     Harrison Burton captured the NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday. It was his second victory of the season. NASCAR will have three other races run there for the rest of the weekend.
     Ryan Sieg was able to finish in front after Stage 1. Noah Gragson landed in first place at the end of Stage 2.

     Gragson had a dominate ten-second lead with 11 laps remaining, however a caution flag came up with seven laps to go. The race was restarted for overtime with 20 drivers in the same pack. Burton passed Gragson on the inside lane at the start of the final lap. Austin Cindric was second and Gragson ended up in third place. 

     Dale Earnhardt Jr. participated in this race and finished in fifth place. He has not driven a race car in NASCAR since the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina last year. It was his 70th top five finish in the Xfinity Racing Series and his eighth top ten finish in his last nine starts. 

NBA Sets Remaining Season Schedule

     The National Basketball Association set the dates for the rest of the 2019-20 season. The league was suspended on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA season will resume at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside of Orlando.
     22 NBA clubs will play eight contests each from July 30 until August 14 to complete the regular season. It will determine where teams will be seeded in their conferences for the NBA Playoffs.
     Possible play-in rounds may be needed on August 15 and August 16. It would involve the eighth seed and the ninth seed in each conference. The eighth seed would need to be victorious once to advance into the postseason while the ninth seed would have to win two games.
     The official start of the postseason is on August 17. The conference semifinals would go from August 31 to September 13 and the conference finals from September 15 until September 28. The NBA Finals would occur from September 30 to October 13.

Coby Mayo Signing With Orioles

     Local standout high school player Coby Mayo will be signing a contract with the Baltimore Orioles. He was drafted by that club in the fourth round of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft with the 103rd overall pick on Thursday.
     Mayo was a third baseman with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Eagles. He already made a commitment to play college baseball for the University of Florida Gators.

Marlins Complete 2020 MLB Draft

     The Miami Marlins finished off the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft on Thursday. It consisted of players taken from the second round to the fifth round. The Fish agreed to a deal with first-round pick right-handed pitcher Max Meyer on Wednesday.
     In the second round, the Marlins went with left-handed pitcher Daxton Fulton from Mustang High School in Oklahoma for the 40th overall selection. He has not pitched since September 2019 and had Tommy John surgery. They followed that on the 61st pick with Ball State right-handed pitcher Kyle Nicolas.
     Miami choose Zach McCambley in the third round with the 75th overall pick. He is a right-handed pitcher from Coastal Carolina.
     The Fish decided on Vanderbilt left-handed pitcher Jake Eder with the 104th overall selection in the fourth round. He made a three-inning save to give the Commodores the 2019 College World Series championship. Eder played high school baseball with Atlantic for three seasons followed by Calvary Christian Academy in his senior year. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 34th round of the 2017 MLB Draft.
     The Marlins decided on right-handed pitcher Kyle Hurt in the fifth round with the 134th overall pick. He played college baseball with the University of Southern California. His grandfather was once with the Miami Dolphins and his father Kevin Hurt played college football with Ole Miss.

Miami Dolphins Sign Austin Jackson

     The Miami Dolphins have inked offensive lineman Austin Jackson to a contract. He became the second first-round pick the Dolphins selected in the 2020 NFL Draft to sign a deal. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa signed several weeks ago. Miami have agreed on contracts with nine of the 11 players that they drafted back in April.
     Jackson was with the University of Southern California Trojans. He played with the school for three seasons.

West Palm Beach Ratings May 2020

     Sports talk format radio ratings were released for the West Palm Beach market. It comprised of a time period between the third week of April and the third week of May.
     All local competitors continued to adjust with no live play-by-play broadcasts. ESPN West Palm 106.3 WUUB-FM, who is not registered with any ratings service, still relied on their block of weekday afternoon talk shows with Josh Cohen and Evan Cohen.
     Fox Sports 640 South Florida WMEN-AM rocketed up from a 0.2 to a 0.7 in the month. It was their highest ratings since they had a 0.7 in late December 2016. Andy Slater has given a different perspective on South Florida without sports being played on his mid-afternooon show. The station began to rebroadcast in the beginning of May previous Florida Atlantic University Owls football games held over the last couple of years. They were aired at noon on Saturday following the Chris Kokell Show.
     Sports Radio 1230 The Zone WBZT-AM remained at a 0.0 for the third straight time. They continued to pipe in Jeff DeForrest from Miami in the weekday morning shift and CBS Sports Radio Network for the remainder of the day. They have not been affected with no Miami Marlins broadcasts.

Alex Donno Back On Radio

     Alex Donno returned to the local radio airwaves on Thursday. It was the first time he was on the radio since March. He continues as a University of Miami Hurricanes podcast co-host with Larry Blustein on 5 Reasons Sports Network.
     Donno may co-host afternoons on 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM and 560 The Joe WQAM-AM with Marc Hochman on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the next couple of months.
     Channing Crowder will be taking some time off for paternity leave from his afternoon co-host position on both radio stations because his wife gave birth to a son on Thursday. Crowder will be heard on the program Mondays and Fridays.

Florida Panthers Opening Training Camp

     The National Hockey League announced that Phase 3 of the plan to start play again has been agreed to between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association. Teams will be able to begin their training camps on July 10. Phase 4 of when and where the 2019-20 season will continue has not been determined.
     The Florida Panthers will be one of 24 NHL clubs to open training camp on that day. They will prepare for their upcoming qualifying round best-of-five series against the New York Islanders. The Panthers likely will practice at their facility in Coral Springs or at the BB&T Center in Sunrise.

Miami Marlins Draft And Sign Max Meyer

     The 2020 Major League Baseball Draft began on Wednesday with the first round. There will be only five rounds in the draft this year instead of 41 rounds that were held in 2019.
     The Miami Marlins selected University of Minnesota right-handed pitcher Max Meyer in the first round with the third overall pick in the MLB Draft. He immdiately agreed to a contract with the Marlins.
     Meyer pitched 27 2/3 innings in four games in his junior year, had a 1.95 earned-run-average and a Big Ten Conference-high 46 strikeouts. That amount of strikeouts is tied for fifth place in the nation. He was taken in the 34th round of the 2017 draft by the Minnesota Twins, however he choose and went to college.

Miami Marlins Future Salary Player Payroll

     The Miami Marlins have one of the lowest player payrolls in the majors. They are currently 27th overall in Major League Baseball and 14th in the National League, just ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a $75 million payroll in 2020.
     The Marlins have very low numbers in the next couple of years. There are just three Marlins players under contract for the 2021 season. Corey Dickenson will get $8.5 million while Miguel Rojas will collect $5 million. Brandon Kintzler has either a $4 million club option or a $250,000 buyout clause. The eventual payroll could range between $13.75 million to $17.5 million.
     Miami is slated at the moment to have a mininum $500,000 payroll for 2022. The amount is for a possible club buyout of Rojas and a $5.5 million club option should the Marlins keep him.

Inter Miami CF Restarts July 8

     Major League Soccer announced that their season will begin again on July 8 southwest of Orlando at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. MLS will be the first North American team sports organization to reopen up their campaign.All 26 MLS clubs will be involved in a tournament.
     They will be divided into six groups and all teams will participate in a minimum three games which will count toward the regular season. It will be followed by knockout rounds to determine a tournament champion. The winner would earn a spot in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League.
     Inter Miami CF was placed in a group consisting of Orlando City SC, New York City FC, Chicago Fire FC, Philadelphia Union and Nashville SC. They will play the first game of the entire MLS tournament against the hometown Orlando City SC.
     The team has played two games so far in the 2020 season just like the other 25 Major League Soccer teams. They lost their inaugural first game at Los Angeles against LAFC and fell to D.C. United in their second contest. Inter Miami CF was to have their home opener on March 14, however the league was suspended on March 12.

Miami Ratings May 2020

     The ratings were issued for Miami/Fort Lauderdale sports talk format radio stations. The time span for the ratings went from the third week of April until the third week of May.
     560 The Joe WQAM-AM moved up from a 0.8 to a 1.0 during the period to be on top for the 10th straight month. They continued with rebroadcasts of Florida Panthers contests from earlier in the 2019-20 season. The station also added and aired previous University of Miami Hurricanes football broadcasts.
     Sports Talk 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM rose from a 0.4 to a 0.5 in the month. They were able to rebroadcast Miami Heat games from over the past decade.
     Miami Sports 940 WINZ-AM held their ratings at a 0.2 for the fourth month in a row and finished in third place for the first time in four monthly periods. Miami Marlins broadcasts from the 2019 season was put over their airwaves on weeknights. They were the first South Florida radio station that broadcast a live sporting event since the coronavirus pandemic stopped sports in mid-March with a NASCAR race on May 17.
     Fox Sports 640 South Florida WMEN-AM dropped to a 0.0 after having a 0.3 for four consecutive months. The station went with Saturday midday rebroadcasts of Florida Atlantic University Owls football contests from the last couple of years.

Noel Acciari Nominated

     Florida Panthers center Noel Acciari was nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The Professional Hockey Writers Association made the announcement on Tuesday. Jaromir Jagr won the trophy representing the Panthers in 2016.
     Acciari joined Florida as a free agent on July 1, 2019. He had a career-high 20 goals. seven assists and a team-high five game-winning goals in 66 games with the Panthers this season.
     Other former Florida Panthers are also up for the honor. They include Jay Bouwmeester of the St. Louis Blues and James Reimer of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Miami Heat Possbile Remaining Schedule

     The Miami Heat will have to play eight games to complete the regular season at the Walt Disney World complex southwest of Orlando. A possible proposal to complete the campaign is to continue the 2019-20 season schedule facing against any of the 22 NBA clubs invited to the area.
     The Heat could have a slate in the same order as they had during the regular season. The remaining regular season rundown for Miami may be the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, Pacers(again), Celtics(again) and possibly Toronto Raptors.
     It could also be a round-robin of facing all the other eight Eastern Conference teams in attendance just once. That scenario would include the Bucks, Pacers, Celtics, Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards. It would be competitive and there would be a better chance for teams to change their seedings for the upcoming NBA Playoffs.

George Richards Forms Panthers Press Box

     George Richards has created the Panthers Press Box website. He will be covering the Florida Panthers hockey team, the National Hockey League and hosting a podcast.
     Richards was recently with The Athletic Miami until June 5 when they made job cuts due to coronavirus pandemic. He had been with that organization since September 2018.
     He was the Florida Panthers beat writer for the Miami Herald from 2005 until September 2017. Richards then joined the Columbus Dispatch as the Columbus Blue Jackets reporter from October 2017 to September 2018.

Miami Marlins Broadcasters Staying Home

     Major League Baseball has stated that team broadcasters will not be traveling and announcing road games in person for the upcoming 2020 regular season. Baseball has been suspended since the middle of March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
     The Miami Marlins broadcasting crew will be staying in South Florida. Fox Sports Florida will likely have television play-by-play announcer Paul Severino, game analyst Todd Hollandsworth, studio host/sideline reporter Craig Minervini. sideline reporter/studio host Jessica Blaylock and studio analyst Jeff Nelson announce games from their studios in Fort Lauderdale.
     The Marlins radio announcers will also stay locally. Play-by-play announcers Dave Van Horne and Glenn Geffner alongside with studio host Kyle Sielaff could work their broadcasts from iHeartMedia studios in Miramar or Marlins Park in Miami. Another possibility is that the play-by-play voices work in different locations with Van Horne based at his home in Palm Beach Gardens.

Dan Le Batard Show Back In Studio

     The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz is back in their studios at the Clevelander Hotel on South Beach as of Monday. They have not been broadcasting from the studio since March 13. The midday program is on 560 The Joe WQAM-AM and is syndicated nationally on ESPN Radio.
     Executive Producer Mike Ryan will also be at the broadcast location with Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner. The rest of the Shipping Container production crew that includes Roy Bellamy, Chris Cote and Ant Calatayud will still work from their homes.

NBA Restarting Season In July

     The National Basketball Association is expected to restart the regular season on July 30. All regular season games will be held on the grounds of Walt Disney World outside of Orlando. The 2019-20 season was suspended on March 11 by NBA commissioner Adam Silver because of the coronavirus pandemic.
     22 clubs will play eight games each for the seeding of the NBA Playoffs to be determined. The Miami Heat have clinched a playoff spot based on the change of the regular season.

NBA Schedules Annual Draft

     The National Basketball Association has scheduled the 2020 NBA Draft for October 15. It would land just three days after the NBA Finals is proposed to end.
     The draft was to be held on June 25 before the coronavirus pandemic pushed back the league schedule. The NBA Draft has been held in June since 1976.
     The NBA Draft Lottery was moved to August 25. It was to occur back on May 19 in Chicago.

George Richards Out At The Athletic Miami

     The Athletic has decided to make job cuts in their organization. The Athletic Miami was affected as Florida Panthers beat reporter George Richards, Miami Dolphins beat writer Chris Perkins and Miami Heat beat reporter Andre Fernandez were let go.
     Richards has covered the Florida Panthers for a very long time. He took over the Miami Herald hockey beat from original writer David J. Neal while the National Hockey League was in a lockout in 2005. Richards held the position until the newspaper decided not to report the Panthers on a daily basis in September 2017.
     He left the Miami Herald and joined the Columbus Dispatch in October 2017 and became the Columbus Blue Jackets beat writer along with former South Florida Sun-Sentinel Florida Panthers writer Steve Gorten. Richards returned to South Florida and became the Panthers beat writer for The Athletic Miami in September 2018.
     Richards, a Cooper City High School and University of Miami grad, started as an aget clerk at the Miami Herald in 1989. He became a sports writer with the newspaper in 1992.

Chris Perkins No Longer At The Athletic Miami

     The Athletic Miami released Miami Dolphins beat reporter Chris Perkins. He was one of several local writers that were eliminated by the parent company The Athletic. Perkins was the first local South Florida writer to join The Athletic Miami in August 2018.
     Perkins was the Miami Heat beat writer for the Palm Beach Post until the middle of the 2009-10 season when the position was completely eliminated by the newspaper. He also contributed as a Miami Dolphins writer with them.
     He was employed by NBA.com as a basketball writer and then by Fox Sports Florida.com as a Miami Heat reporter. Perkins landed at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as a sports columnist and Miami Dolphins beat reporter.
     Perkins, who was once a Texas Rangers beat writer for the Dallas Morning News prior to arriving in South Florida, has also announced on the radio airwaves. He was a morning co-host on 640 Sports WMEN-AM alongside Armando Salguero and Larry Milian from August 2011 until August 2012. Perkins also was an afternoon co-host with Ethan J. Skolnick and later Curtis Stevenson on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM from late 2016 to August 2019.

Andre Fernandez Gone From The Athletic Miami

     Andre Fernandez is no longer with the The Athletic Miami. He was one of several local writers who were let go by the organization.
     Fernandez was the Miami Heat beat writer for The Athletic Miami. He was employed by them since September 2018.
     He previously worked for the Miami Herald. Fernandez was their lead high school sports writer until early 2018. He was then shifted to cover the Miami Marlins.

Scott Ferrall Adds SB Nation Radio Overnights

     Former South Florida sports host Scott Ferrall has added duties at SB Nation Radio. He will host a two-hour late night program Ferrall On The Bench weekdays from 1AM to 3 AM as of June 8. Ferrall started at that organization as an afternoon host on April 14.
     Ferrall once hosted a show in Miami on Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM back in 2003 and 2004. He was sandwiched in the mid-morning slot between Howard David and Neil Rogers.
     He has hosted a nationally syndicated late night sports show at several different companies. Ferrall first hosted Ferrall On The Bench with Westwood One from 1995 to 1999. He had stints at Sportsfan Radio Network from 2000 to April 2001, SiriusXM Radio from 2006 to 2012 and CBS Sports Radio Network from January 2013 to January 2020.

NBA Season Resumes And Heat Make Playoffs

     The National Basketball Association announced on Friday that the 2019-20 regular season will continue as of July 31. It will be held exclusively at Walt Disney World just southwest of Orlando. The entire postseason will also be held there.
     22 NBA clubs will participate for the remainder of the regular season. These teams will each play eight games to finish off the campaign. The regular season was suspended by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
     The Miami Heat have clinched a playoff sport based on the new criteria being used. They are currently in fourth place among Eastern Conference teams. The Heat make the NBA Playoffs for the second time in three years and 13th time in the last 17 seasons.

NHL Announce Qualifying Round Details

     The National Hockey League detailed information about the qualifying round. It will consist of teams from the fifth seed to the 12h seed in each conference. No venue and date were announced on the situation.
     The 10th seed Florida Panthers will play the seventh seed New York Islanders in a best-of-five qualifying series. The Islanders will host Game 1,2 and 5 while the Panthers host Game 3 and 4. One main advantage of being the home team is that they will have the final change prior to any faceoff to match up against their opponent.
     The conferences will be reseeded after each round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. All four rounds of the postseason are best-of-seven series.

Arizona Cardinals Waive Sojourn Shelton

     The Arizona Cardinals waived defensive back Sojourn Shelton. He was on the practice squad with that organization over the past two years.
     Shelton played high school football with the Plantation Colonels. They were defeated by their district rivals the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders in the second round of the 2012 FHSAA Class 7A playoffs. He attended college at the University of Wisconsin and helped the Badgers win the Big Ten West title in 2014 and 2016.

Jonathan Vilma Joins Fox Sports

     Former linebacker Jonathan Vilma has joined Fox Sports as an NFL game analyst. No word on which play-by-play announcer he will be paired with in the broadcast booth.
     He became a part of ESPN in 2016 as a college football studio analyst. He added duties as a Saturday college football studio analyst on ABC Sports in July 2018.
     Vilma played high school football with the Coral Springs Colts. He moved on to college and helped the University of Miami Hurricanes capture the 2001 BCS National Championship over Nebraska.
     He was drafted by the New York Jets in 2004 and was with them for four seasons. Vilma was traded to the New Orleans Saints in February 2008 and delivered them a title in Super Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

Inter Miami CF Returning To Action

     Inter Miami CF will be returning to the field in 2020. They will first be involved in a Major League Soccer tournament involving all 26 MLS teams to be held in Orlando later this year.
     The MLS season was suspended on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Inter Miami CF had played two road games to begin the 2020 regular season and were about to hold their inaugural home opener on March 14.

Miami Dolphins Ink Malcolm Perry

     The Miami Dolphins have signed quarterback Malcolm Perry. The Dolphins have now completed signing all 11 players that they picked in the 2020 NFL Draft.
     Perry played college football with Navy. He ran for 2,017 yards and passed for 1,084 yards last season with the Midshipmen.

Gregory Rousseau On Magazine Cover

     University of Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Gregory Rousseau is on the Florida region front cover of the Athlon Sports college football magazine. Rousseau made 15 1/2 sacks, 34 solo tackles and 19 1/2 tackles for loss last year. He is entering his redshirt sophomore season in 2020.
     Rousseau played high school football with the Champagnat Catholic Lions. He helped the school win the FHSAA Class 2A state championship in 2017 and make the state title game in 2016.

Chris Wideman Joins KHL

     Former Florida Panthers defenseman Chris Wideman has signed a contract with Torpedo of the Kontinental Hockey League. He played with the San Diego Gulls in the American Hockey League during the 2019-20 season.
     Wideman was last in the National Hockey League with the Florida Panthers during the 2018-19 season. He participated in just one game in that campaign with Florida. Wideman was acquired by the Panthers along with a 2019 third-round pick from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Alex Petrovic on December 30, 2018.