Heatley Booms The Oilers

So, Ottowa wouldn't go for whatever the Rangers were offering for disgruntled sniper Dany Heatley and traded him to Edmonton, only to have him boom the deal as was his right under his no trade clause. The Senators now have 24 hours to deal Heatley and their 4 million dollar obligation to him. The problem is, the Rangers and every team in the league now see that Heatley controls who get him and not the Senators So, it's time to lowball the Sens! Tomorrow should be a very interesting day. Go Rangers!

NBA Free Agency Begins

In about 27 minutes the NBA will begin it's annual tradition of calling free agents at 12:01am to start deals that can't be made official till July 9th. What will the Knicks do? Probably get a good night's sleep then see if any sign and trade options come up with David Lee or Nate Robinson. It's also possible that they could surprise us all and move Curry or JJ, but that would be a little much to expect. There was some noise about Jason Kidd coming in cheap, but the Mavs seem to want him more.



And let's not forget, just 12 hours after the NBA opens FA, the NHL will do the same. Then 12 hours after that, MLB teams can start announcing the IFA's they have signed. Big next 24 hours for those interested in team building. Go Knicks, Ranger and Yanks!

6 Straight!

Melky Cabrera did it again, today with the score tied in the bottom of the 8th, Melky stroked a two run double into the gap setting up Mo for his 501st save. Melky is Mr. Close and Late. Meanwhile, Joba was just okay, Hughes was great, Bruney was bad and ARod hit a two run jack to give the Yanks a lead that Bruney would blow. Another fun one at the stadium. Andy goes tomorrow. Go Yanks1

Gomez Gone!

Breaking News: The Rangers have apparently traded their worst deal, Scott Gomez to the Montreal Canadiens for winger Chris Higgins. I'm sure we'll be learning more on this, but that's a big move.

UPDATE: This is a much better deal than it even appeared at first blush. The Rangers not only got rid of Gomez's brutal deal and picked up RFA Higgins who is coming off a down year, but they also go Montreal to cough up Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Vilatenko, two for Montreal's best defensive prospects. McDonagh especially has a nice upside and was the 12th overall pick in the 2007 draft. This is really looking like the first great deal of the Sather era. Now, dump more contracts! Go Rangers!

Yanks Pick-Up Hinske

The Yanks trade minor leaguer P Casey Ericson and OF/C Eric Fryer for 1B/3B/OF Eric Hinske, lately of the Pittsburgh Pirates. This move will probably send Pena to AAA, though it should send Ransom. The Yanks will have to make a move to add him to the 40 man roster, as well. This is a fine move, considering they gave up no real prospects, and still have time to trade for someone better if Hinske tanks. Go Cash!

Heatley?

With 4 million due to disgruntled goal machine Dany Heatley on Wednesday, his trade request is likely to be honored over the next 24 hours or so. Thus far, the Rangers have refused to part with any core youth to get Heatley and it's important that they maintain that stance. The 4M is gonna push the Sens, and the Rangers are one of the few teams that has it lying around in these tough times. So he's going somewhere. Now, if the Rangers can make something happen here, the question is, will Heatley be able to accept a team concept, or will he be demanding another trade next summer?


RANGER UPDATE: The Rangers have extended qualifying offers to Dubinsky, Callahan, Korposki, Potter and Boyle. Of these players, I only see Potter being part of a trade for Heatley, should one be made.

Camp Tort

Ranger Coach John Tortorella was clearly still mad about the way the Rangers ended their season as he took charge of his first development camp today. Torts essentially punished the young prospects and ten non-Ranger invitees for the failures of Drury, Gomez, Redden and Co. First he put broke them up into groups for skates. Then had a 1:15 minute skate for all 26 players in attendance and in about 45 minutes he's making them all run 3 miles. Torts told the press that the Rangers were "soft" mentally, and it seems he is aiming to toughen them up, starting with the new kids. Structurally, Torts stayed above the ice with Shoeny and Madden, and Adam Graves, Ken Gernander and the rest of the `Pack coaches ran the drills. It should be a really interesting week, cause guys like Michael Del Zotto and Evgeny Grachev can start making their cases for making this year's team.

Of course, later this week NHL FA opens but with the Rangers as tight against the cap as they currently are it will be interesting to see what they can do, if anything, to create cap room and add scoring. Go Rangers!

500!

Mariano not only recorded his 500th save tonight to complete the Yanks sweep of the Mets, but he picked up his first career RBI as worked a bases loaded walk in the top of the 9th. The Yanks got out to a quick 3-0 lead, but weren't really able to pull away even though they walked a bunch, primarily because Robinson Cano hit into two double plays, and two more inning ending outs with men on base. Robby needs to start walking again and having better ab's, it's that simple. If he doesn't, he's Juan Samuel. Maybe he'll consider it during tomorrow's off day for the Yanks. 5 in a row is good, but they have to keep it going. Go Yanks!

Yanks Win

AJ Burnett was dominant as he pitched 7 innings of 10K 1H 3BB ball to beat the Mets tonight. Bruney and Robertson also pitched in with no-hit innings, and Swisher and Po homered to give the Yanks their 5-0 final. ARod also contributed an RBI single. Things are starting to come together. Wang goes tomorrow. Let's go Yanks!

Rickey Rubio

According to the latest reports, last week, Donnie Walsh turned down a deal that would have sent Larry Hughes and Wilson Chandler to the Bullets for Etan Thomas and the #5 pick in the draft. As it turned out, Walsh could have gotten Rickey Rubio OR Stephan Curry with the #5 pick. Instead, he didn't make the deal and ended up with NEITHER. This is looking like a catastrophic mistake at this point. Yes, the entire goal is to make cap room, but the deal would have been cap neutral and we would have gotten much better in the meantime had we taken either guard - and I think we would have also been more attractive to free agents like LeBron James next summer. The only possible fix here is for Walsh to trade for Rickey Rubio who seems unwilling to play for Minnesota but willing to play for the Knicks. He really shouldn't get a break here if he doesn't. Wilson Chandler is an okay player, but he's not very effecient and there are no signs that he will ever become more than a chucker and bad passer on offense. That kind of player, which we have several versions of, should never hold up a trade for a talent like Rubio or Curry. You have to make it happen, Donnie.

Nice Draft!

The Rangers ended up having a really nice draft. As you know, they took super skater Chris Kreider in the first, then today, they followed that pick up with more young, high upside talent. They took F Ethan Werek, a power forward with great hands and room to grow in the second. In the third they grabbed F Ryan Bourque, who's the undersized son of Ray but comes equipped with terrrific talent and a top hockey IQ. Lacking a 4th rounder, the Rangers took teen Czech F Roman Horak with their first of 3 5th rounders, then took teen OHL Goalie Scott Stajcer with their second 5th rounder, then traded their 3rd 5th for Chad Johnson, a college goalie from the 2006 draft. In the 6th the Rangers took D Daniel Maggio, and I don't have to tell you about the luck we've had with D.Maggio's. With their last pick, the Rangers went D again, taking Mihail Pashnin, a 20 year old from Russia 2. In all, they got good, try hard players with considerable upside, and that's about as good as it gets for a team without any high picks.



In other Ranger news, we traded a 2010 3rd for jumbo sized Brian Boyle of the Kings, and qualified Zherdev while not making an offer to Freddie Sjostrom.


No news on Heatley.

Best Brett

Brett Gardner, batting first in place of an ill Derek Jeter, came up with 5 hits including a homer as CC Sabathia and the Yanks cruised to a 9-1 win against the Mets. ARod also homered and the O is clearly out of its slumber. Meanwhile, Gardner has become an above average player for the Yanks and they have to find more ab's for him. He's controlling the strikezone and as long as he does that, and doesn't try to do too much, he's a nice weapon for the Yanks. I think AJ Burnett goes tomorrow. BTW, Citifield seems really nice. Go Yanks!

Rangers Grab Kreider

The Rangers stayed at 19 and took "the best skater in the draft" Chris Kreider from Phillips Andover. Kreider is big and fast and is considered to be the best prospect to come out of New England since Brian Leetch. He had the highest speed and skate grades in the draft and was way up there in most physical rankings. He projects as a power forward. Go Rangers!

Rangers Turn

Tonight the Rangers begin drafting. Their top pick as it stands now is #19, so expectations for them to be able to get an impact player are not the same as they were for the Knicks last night. The Rangers might move up a little if one of the top players on their board falls, but that's about it. Though it's widely known they need scoring, they would be wise to go BPA and at some point, pick up a goalie, because the organizational depth there is weak. Go Rangers!

Yanks Win

ARod had a homer and 4RBI as the Knicks clobbered Atlanta 11-7. The offense grinded out their AB's for a change and everything fell into place, except for poor performances by Pettitte and Coke. CC start tomorrow against the Mets. Go Yanks!

Knicks Take Toney Douglas at 20

The Knicks had the Lakers take combo guard Toney Douglas from FSU at #29. He's supposed to be a pretty good defender. Thus far this seems much more like a Walsh draft than like a D'Antoni draft. Not a good sign. However; there are rumors that the Knicks are working on getting Rubio and if they do, that would change everything.

Darko is a Knick!

Knicks traded QRich's expiring contract for Darko's. This gives the Knicks a D'Antoni type C for a year.

Knicks Blow It

In what was a two player draft for the Knicks, Donnie Walsh managed to get neither because he wouldn't give up the extremely limited Wilson Chandler. Instead, the Knicks end up with a 6'10" tweener project named Jordan Hill who loves to party and seems to be an utter moron.

Knicks Add Pick #29

The Knicks have apparently bought Pick #29 from the Lakers. Perhaps they can get a player like Patty Mills or Josh Heytvelt there. Apparently, they're still looking for another pick or two.

Big Week!

Tonight begins a seven day phase that will see the Knicks, Rangers and Yanks all try to improve their futures by adding young talent to their respective systems. Tonight, the Knicks will try to land a point guard of the future and one or two other D'Antoni pieces to their roster. Tomorrow and Saturday, the Rangers will be trying to add even more talent to their improving system. And next Wednesday (my time), Thursday EST, the Yanks will announce their 2009 class of International Free Agents. Now, it won't be their entire class, as they tend to add IFA's all year round, but it could be an historically significant group of players. It's been predicted that the Yanks haul will be bigger and better than any we've seen before in IFA. Let's hope the teams can get what they want, and that there is intelligence behind all of their decisions. Go Teams!

Yanks Win!

Joba pitched 6.1 innings of pretty good ball but undid himself in the 7th with a throwing error. Still he got the win as homers by Frankie Cervelli and Nick Swisher, and hits by most of the other guys got the Yanks an 8-4 win. Girardi got tossed for arguing after Gardner was "picked off" though replays proved he was safe. Thereafter the Yanks started scoring and didn't stop till the 9th. Bruney who hadn't worked in a week gave up two walks and a run in the 8th, before Mo came in for the 4 out, 4K save. Huge win. Go Yanks!

The Knicks Get #28?

The Knicks have purchased the #28 pick in tomorrow night's draft from Minnesota for 3M. There could be some shooters or big guys who can run there. So right now, the Knicks hold the 8 and 28 picks in the first round, but nothing in the second round. There also seems to be no plan to move up and get either Curry or Rubio. I dreamt last night that we took Derozan. The Knicks should look into buying more picks. If they can't get what they want at the top of the draft, they should, by all means look into improving their depth. This may not be a done deal yet and may involve the Renaldon Balkman trade exception rather than or with the 3M.

Well

What's the plan? Is there one?

Yanks Lose

Yanks got shutout again. The Braves' pitcher wanted to walk them all, but they weren't having any of it. It seems some changes are needed.

Leetch Skates Into HoF!

The greatest Ranger of them all, Brian Leetch just skated into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Never forget what he did for the Rangers or for Team USA, people. Yeah, Leetchie!

Two More Days

There are two more days till the NBA draft and rumors are flying that the Knicks are working on a blockbuster with the Bullets that would leave the Knicks with a #5 and #8 picks when the smoke clears. In that case they could either take Curry at 5 and Jordan Hill or a 2 guard at 8, or package both picks and go up to the 2 and take Rubio. I still think the Knicks will end up acquiring another pick or two later in the draft, but the top of the draft could be pretty dramatic on Thursday night. Go Knicks.

UPDATE: The Bullets ended up trading the #5 pick to the TWolves, and now the TWolves have the 5 and 6 picks, and that might be bad news for the Knicks. The wonder here is, what were the Knicks doing while this was going on?

Yanks Lose

The Yanks lost their and game their 3rd out of the past 4 series today. They are now 4 games out of first. Tomorrow is an off day. The team could use some shaking up.

Yanks Lose

They had their chances. Sorry.

Yanks Win!

Andy Pettitte was back on his game tonight; pitching seven innings of 3H, 1R, 7K ball, as well as helping his cause with an RBI double as the Yanks beat the Marlins 5-1. Melky Cabrera had a monster homer, as well as two walks. Cano also had a walk, so these were all good signs, as was Brian Bruney's 1-2-3 8th. AJ pitches tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks Lose

Game and Series to the Nats. I'm Sorry. They start a series against Florida tomorrow.

Yanks Lose

To the Nats. I'm sorry.

Cano Rules

Robby went 4-4 including the game winning hit, and made some great plays in the field as the Yanks came back to beat the Nats 5-3. The Yanks once again didn't do much against a starter they hadn't seen, and CC had one bad inning against the bottom third of the Nat order. But, CC gave us 7-2 before Brian Bruney who retired the only hitter he faced. Mo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, aided by great plays from Cano and Pena. Jeter tweaked an ankle, and new dad CM Wang pitches tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Jennings Gets His Day on Court

After already having been blown away by Steph Curry's tryout last week the Knicks will take a look at High School to European League PG Brandon Jennings tomorrow. Jennings is sort of a wild card that I cannot take off my list, because I haven't seen anything of him besides high school highlights, and don't know what the year in Europe did to or for him. I trust the Knicks to decide if he can be their engine should Rubio and Curry be gone on draft day. That said, I still think the Knicks will trade up for Rubio or Curry, and then buy another pick or two later in the draft. I think we're gonna see a major makeover this offseason. Go Knicks!

Trawling For Talent

With the Rule IV draft over, the Yanks will now begin finalizing their class for 7/2/09. As you know, every year July 2nd is the first day teams can sign or announce the signings of Internation Free Agents who have turned 16 by 7/2. After 7/2 teams are free to sign 16 years olds as soon as they turn 16 up until New Years. As IFA has evolved the Yanks have opened the business up to sign kids all year long. Some have been passed over in previous years, like Kelvin Duran, and some have birthday's after 7/2, like Victor Reynoso, both of who are tearing it up for Yankees DSL2 through the first 12 games.

Last year the Yanks also added Alfredo Aceves, Manny Banuelos and two other pitchers from the Mexican League in February and Jorge Vazquez who was also from the Mexican League in November or December. So it's a full year process though the media, such as it exists for IFA, focuses on 7/2 signees.

This 7/2 could be a big one for the Yanks as it looks like they are the front runners for uber prospect C Gary Sanchez, and have an appointment with uber prospect SS/3B Migel Angel Sano this Thursday at the Academy. They're looking at other kids as well, but it could be an historically significant class if they were to say land Sanchez, Sano, and VZL SS Sardina. We'll see what happens, but it should be pretty exciting. Go Yanks!

POW!

The Yanks finally laid the smack down on the Mets, trouncing them 15-0 behind AJ Burnett. AJ pitched seven scoreless innings and got out of a bases loaded no outs jam in the 3rd. Robertson got 2 K's and a pop-up in his inning of work, and Phil Hughes got 2K's and a pop-up around two cheap hits in his scoreless 9th. Santana just had no answerd for the Yanks today, giving up 9 earned, highlighted by a two run shot from Matsui, for the first time in his career. Cano also had a big day going 3-4 with two doubles, a homer and an RBI sac fly. Melky had a couple of doubles and a walk. Jeter had 4 hits. Cervelli had three or four hits. Swisher had some walks. They were grinding from the get go and it paid dividends. It's the approach they should use every game. Big win. Tomorrow is a day off, then they host the Nationals. Go Yanks!

Yanks Lose

The Yanks once again failed to get a decent start from there starter and once again failed to grind out their at bats. They can't win just by showing up and I have no idea what the source of these issues are, but I'm sorry. Go Yanks.

Wow

The Yanks just won because Castillo dropped an Alex Rodriguez pop-up in shallow right. As a result of the error, Jeter and Teixeira scored and the Yanks stole one. Yankee pitching tonight was pretty miserable, but the O was pretty good as Cano, Jeter, Teixeira and Matsui all homered. But those homers were not enough against a Met team that kept grinding out their ab's and coming up with walks and hits. Mo was once again brought into a tie game, this time with 2 out and bases empty in the 8th and couldn't get the final out before allowing Beltran to walk and David Wright to double him home. So, in a game where we didn't get what we expect from Joba and Mo, we got something we never expect: a break. Hopefully this bit of luck wakes them up. Go Yanks!

Joba Done Early

The Mets were patient with a Joba who was just missing and got him out of the game after 4 innings and 100 pitches. This is what you get with young starters. Starts that are alternately brilliant and poor. As we are currently constructed, Brett Tomko came in for the 5th and proceeded to give up the lead and dig a hole. The Yanks can still win this one, but Joba needs to throw strikes as he moves forward. Go Yanks!

Swept Again

Wow. This is simply unacceptable. Sorry.

Yanks Collect More Talent on Day 3

The Yanks took a pair of HS CF's and some more HS pitchers as well as some intriguing college players and West Virginia's Pat White on Day 3 of the draft. It will be interesting to see who the Yanks do indeed sign.

In other news, Slade Heathcott and his team won the Texas State championship today, which is damn impressive.

Now, the draft is over, and it's onto July 2, and let's win there!

Yanks Lose Again

Once again the Yanks didn't get an adequate performance from their starter, then couldn't keep any rallies going. There's really nothing more to say about this. The starters haven't given the Yanks a chance in the first two games of the series. Tomorrow is a must win for CC Sabathia. Go Yanks.

Yanks Add Pitching and Power on Day 2

Between picks 4 and 30, the Yanks added power hitting, lefty pitching, more righty pitching and some interesting preps to their draft haul. Pictured is Sean Black of Seton Hall, a 6'5" rhp and former second rounder who the Yanks popped in the 7th. Although they didn't take a lot of guys that screamed "signability" they actually did tag a number of juniors, DES players and high school picks. Lane Meyer over at the NoMaasBlogSpot is doing a terrific job of looking at the draft http://www.nomaas.org/draft/ and will be taking a close look at the signability picks the Yanks did make today. In general, it's developing into another typical high quality Damon Oppenheimer/Yankee draft. The closer the picks are examined, the more their value will be revealed. I hope to have more on the draft as the week goes on. Go Yanks.

UPDATE: Here's a summary http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090610&content_id=5253392&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Yanks Take Another Catcher

As I warned you all they would, the Yanks took yet another catcher, John Murphy of Bradenton, FLA in the second round of the draft. Like Romine and Higiashioka before him, Murphy is a toolsy catcher with a good bat who lit up a wood bat league last summer before hitting over .600 with 11 jacks and 66 RBI's for his 31-1 HS team this year. Very typical Yankee pick. I'm sure we'll find out more about him as the draft moves on. Here's a video: http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=4961152&content_id=4751349

Yanks Get a Lefty Power Bat

With their first round pick the Yanks selected 5-tool OF prospect Slade Heatcott, a Texas High School kid who has been destroying the playoffs down there. Slade was a top ten talent who fell on some family concerns. He could have also been chosen in the first round as a pitcher and has thrown 95 from the mound and 93 from the OF. This is a terrific, high upside pick for the Yanks and should not be too hard a signing. They have one more pick tonight. Go Yanks!


UPDATE: Here's a scouting report on Slade http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/reports.jsp?content=heathcott

Calling All Short Guys!

The Knicks will be hosting UNC's Ty Lawson and the Cuse's Johnny Flynn among others tomorrow for tryouts. Lawson and Flynn could be considerations at 8 if Rubio, Curry and Holiday are gone. There was a rumor today that the Knicks would be acquring Sergio Rodriguez is a draft night deal. It's unclear what the Knicks would be giving up, but it wouldn't be the #8 pick, and Nate is thought to be interested in joining the Blazers. We'll see. I like SF, but I'd rather get one of Rubio, Curry or Holiday to play the point.

Yanks Win!

The Yanks got all 5 of their runs tonight as the result of four homers. Damon's proved the gamewinner, as Tex, Swisher, and Jeter also homered. Andy struggled to give the Yanks a quality start, but he did manage to do it. Phil Hughes came in and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, but was surprisingly replaced with Phil Coke, who pitched a scoreless 8th. Mo got the save with a 1-2-3 9th. AJ goes tomorrow in Boston. The Yanks will also make their first two draft picks tomorrow night. Go Yanks! Go Scouts! Go FO!