And They're Off!

The clock has struck 12 and two years of planning and cap clearing are done. Now it's time to remake the Knicks! Coach D is out in California and is meeting with Joe Johnson firts. Amar'e is probably second. Go Knicks!!!!!!!!!!!!


UPDATE: Coach D'Antoni along with Jim Dolan, the owner, have been in a conference room in the Fairmont Hotel out here for nearly three ours. They just ordered food about 40 minutes ago. I didn't realize Dolan had made the trip to Cali. They must be trying to work out the money or if it's a sign and trade. There's no other reason for them to still be at it, with an early flight to Akron that's probably leaving here no later than 4 this morning. Dolan is the money supply, and I'm sure he has his cap people and accountants there, so something could actually get done, and signed on the 8th. Amar'e is not meeting them tonight, though they may have teleconferenced him at one point. He'll fly to New York to meet them over the weekend or on Monday. This could be headed in the right direction. I'll see how long I can stay up and update you.


FINAL UPDATE: According to a Marc Berman tweet, the meeting ended up at 11:45pm pst. and Coach D'Antoni said, "We're just trying to do the best we can." They have a flight to Akron pretty soon. By the time I wake back up, you'll know more about what happened than I know now.

Yanks Lose

Bad luck with the few lindrives they produced and King Felix pitching for the Mariners equalled a two hit shutout. Not good. CC goes tomorrow. He'll right the ship!

Joe Johnson and Amar'e First Up

In about 2 hours and 15 minutes, a Knicks party lead by Mike D'Antoni will begin meeting with free agents in Los Angeles. They're first meeting is actually with Mike Miller, who may not even be in their plans, but shares an agent with Joe Johnson and may serve as a warm-up session for the next two big meetings: Joe Johnson and Amar'e Stoudemire.

There seem to be some shenanigans at work in the Joe Johnson negotiations. Supposedle, Atlanta is offering Joe a max deal worth 119M. It's odd because the offer just came up, and because the Hawks as a team are only worth 305M. In other words, it looks like a phony offer designed to extract Danilo Gallinari from the Knicks in a sign and trade. The Knicks can't let that happen and hopefully they will call the Hawks bluff and cooler heads will prevail. If Johnson wants to be a Knick he probably will be.

The second meeting is with Amar'e, and he seems to be more straightforward about wanting to rejoin his old coach. He may be the second best option to Bosh, but a bird in the hand that can be brought to LeBron is just that. The Knicks will have to have a formula or a sign and trade, that doesn't involve Gallo, in place in order to get JJ, Amar'e and LeBron under contract. Hopefully these options are in place and they haven't been twiddling their thumbs for the last two years.

A take of JJ, Amar'e and LeBron would give the Knicks a championship nucleus. Of course, it's a waste of time and cap if it doesn't, indeed, come with LeBron. Go Knicks! Make us proud!

NB

This kid, here, should not be part of any sign and trade agreements. If Walsh can't get rid of Curry without adding the kid, he needs to sit on the deal and let the contract expire or trade it at the deadline. Trading Gallo would be failure, and I don't know if I could stick with the Knicks through that. Fortunately, I don't think they'll trade him, though I do think that's what Atlanta is after with their cockamamie max offer to Joe Johnson. Go Knicks!

Get Ilya!

Seems like the Yanks and Knicks will be eating up the evening, so while I have a moment here is my simple free agent plan for the Rangers: Get Ilya Kovalchuk. For the past several years, the Rangers have been looked from offense at the deadline. Last offseason, they took a major step in correcting that by signing Marian Gaborik. Gaborik was plenty productive (particularly before the Olympics where he got hurt), but they still found themselves rooting around for goals at the deadline, before settling on Olli Jokinen, it had been Nantropov at the deadline back in the `08-`09 season.


Now that the Rangers have a lot of good prospects that look like they'd be quality Rangers, they shouldn't engage in trade ideas that will cost prospects. So to protect those prospects both now and at the deadline, sign Ilya Kovalchuk. He would join with Gaborik to give us two elite offensive talents, and those would help in getting back to the playoffs as well as in the playoffs. He's a legit 40 goal a year guy, in his prime, who doesn't require a loss of prospects and is absolutely worth a Gaborik type deal. What's more, Anisimov, Grachev, Pashnin and Valentenko as well as all the young scorers in the system could probably learn a lot from him.

Beyond IK, the Rangers do need a back-up goalie making back-up bucks. There's been some noise about them wanting defense, but why block the kids? McDonagh might be ready, Valentenko might be ready and so on and so forth. The Rangers have two defenders choking their cap as it is. Get Ilya, get the goalie, then fill in the blanks with kids and bargains. Go Rangers!

LeBron Plus Two

The Knicks Free Agent plan is being floated and not only do I think it is a good one, but I think it will work.

Essentially, what the Knicks are going to try to do is sign LeBron (which I think has been a given for years), sign Joe Johnson and sign one of Chris Bosh or Amar's Stoudemire. Under one scenario whey would ask the three stars to take less than max deals with bonus structures and outside income ideas that would more than make up the difference. Other scenarios involve using Eddy Curry in a sign and trade for Johnson, Bosh, or Amar'e. Toward that end the Knicks are meeting with Joe Johnson at 9:01 pm pst tonight to try to get the ball rolling. It's also possible that they will meet with with Amar'e and/or Bosh, too, and get them on board, before taking those options to LeBron on Thursday proper.

So, why is the Knicks offer preferable to the ones being cooked up by the Heat and the Bulls? I think that's simple, with the Knicks, LeBron gets to pick his own wing man, and it appears that that's Joe Johnson. The problem with him going to the Heat is that he and Wade both like to control the ball. It's the old Spencer Heywood, Bob McAdo, thing - not enough basketballs. What's more, Wade owns Miami and LeBron would be a guest. With Chicago, the problem is Rose bringing the ball up, and their inability to give LeBron both Johnson and one of the bigs. And Michael Jordan does now and will always own Chicago.

As I've always believed, the fix is in for the Knicks, and the story is starting to emerge. He will go to the Knicks because they can give him two big time teammates, because he gets to control the ball, because he would have his own city, and because the financial opportunities are unparalleled. Don't worry about how they'll fit the trio under the cap. They will. LeBron will be a Knick. Of course, it will take awhile for all of this to play out and become self-evident. Go Knicks!

Moving Day?

Since I'm on the West Coast, and it's already Wednesday back East, I wanted to get this post up, because, frankly, things could happen before I wake up in LA tomorrow. With Free Agency starting for the NBA at Midnight, and for the NHL at noon on Thursday teams will be trying like crazy to get under their leaguewide caps in the hours leading up to free agency.

For the Knicks this means unloading Eddy Curry and his 11M dollar expiring contract. It's funny that there is this random sentiment that Curry's contract should be hard to move, because he doesn't play a lot. People don't seem to realize expiring contracts get moved all of the time, and it has almost nothing to do with the players under contract. It's a guarantee of future cap space. And since the Knicks are now under the cap, they are not tied to that dollar for dollar match trade formula that they were slaves to for about a decade. They can do all sorts of things, including using Eddy's deal in a sign and trade for one of the better players they do want. Now you hear people saying they'd have to add Gallo to trade Curry. Nonsense. Unless a really premiere player like LeBron himself or Chris Paul or someone is coming back, trading Gallo cannot be justified. Trading Wilson Chandler can be. So we'll see if Curry goes today (Wednesday) to create cap room going into FA, or is used in a sign and trade to get a third player to go along with LeBron and the Bosh or Amar'e or Dirk, or if they hold onto him until the trade deadline, or just let him expire. It's sort of all good, but their preference seems to be to move him now.

For the Rangers, the man marked for movement is Michal Rozsival. Rozsival has two years left at 5 per, and moving him would would create an even greater cushion for their pursuit of Kovalchuk and others. I'm sure they'd also like to move Chris Drury, who makes even more, but he has a no movement clause, and has fallen off a cliff skillswise since signing with the Rangers. They'd also like to move Wade Redden, but it looks like they'll be biting the bullet and waiving him. Last June 30th the Rangers traded Scott Gomez, this June 30th will it be Michal Rozsival?

It's a big day for both teams and many teams around the league before the real (but mostly staged) craziness begins on Thursday. I have to think that will all of time the Knicks and Rangers have had to put into their respective plans and trades, they will both have come up with nice options. Go Knicks and Rangers!

Cliff Lee

I think it's pretty much a fait accompli that Cliff Lee will become a Yankee some time next November. I say this because the Yankees have always had a bunch of lefties in their rotation, and Lee is exactly the kind of lefty bulldog who can come to New York, throw 200 innings and not beat himself on a regular basis. He also appears to be very good friends with CC Sabathia, and that's a character mark in his favor.


But is it absolutely crazy to trade for him now? Maybe not. If he were to join the rotation, it could very well guarantee the Yanks #28. The post season rotation would be deadly. Obviously, he's going to cost a lot. And of course, it would depend on the prospects. The Yanks have enough prospects to get it done without using Montero, Betances, Heathcott or Gary Sanchez. So, if they could find some common ground among the other prospects (Romine, Brackman, and Laird or Adams - very hefty sum), it might make sense. If those players are to be traded, Cliff Lee is a justifiable target.

There are other conditions. First, he'd have to come with an extension, basically, you should never pay twice for anyone, but if you are planning to get him anyway and prospects can be agreed upon, you have to do the pay twice thing and get him extended.

Second, the Yanks would have to find rotation room for him. They would probably be able to trade Javy Vazquez for good prospects, as the summer progresses. In fact, with Lee off the market and so many teams searching for pitching, Vazquez would become the best pitcher on the market and bring back most of the prospect value the Yanks would be sacrificing in the Lee deal.


Ultimately, getting Lee now scotchguards another title this year and hopefully brings back some good prospects in the subsequent Javy deal. It still probably makes more sense to try to win with what the Yanks have now as far as pitchers go, then lose their pick in `11 for Lee while gaining 2 picks for Javy Vazquez. The `11 draft is supposedly stacked, if there were any way to get 3 first rounders, short of trading Phil Hughes instead of Javy, I'd do it. Just an interesting possibility.

Yanks Lose

Phil Hughes was bad. Cliff Lee was good. And I'll have more on Cliff Lee later and why it might not be such a bad idea to trade for him now. Phil needs to mix his pitches more effectively, and he will. It's his next little ajustments. The Yanks need to grind more, though they did almost come back at the end of this one. Swish had two jacks, so maybe he's coming back out of it. We face the King tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Whither Wade?

Apparently, the Rangers are going to waive Wade Redden. This will save them 6.5M on the cap for years to come, but won't start doing so till the season begins. That's okay, because the offseason cap will accomadate whatever it is the Rangers want to do. I think it's Ilya Kovalchuk. There's speculation that Redden might refuse a demotion rather than report to the AHL. In other news, the Rangers have waived Voros, Rismiller and Brashear for relatively minor cap savings. And they are rocking and rolling at a Prospects Camp scrimmage. According to trusted tweets, Pashnin, the KHL kid, is really hitting people out there. There could be more Ranger stuff later as FA approaches. Go Rangers!

Yankees This Week

The Yanks return home and get Dave Eiland back for starters. And then there matter of MLB IFA's Signing Period, which will beging Friday, June 2nd. The Yanks will be active as usual, but I've been assured it's a down year for premium talent in the DR. Also, even if the Yanks don't announce a Gary Sanchez level signing on Friday, don't forget that they have been cleaning up after the opening of the 7/2 market over the last few years and will be signing IFA's all the way through December, once they start. Also, Heredia, the big pitcher from Mexico doesn't turn 16 till August, so they can't sign him till then. Should be interesting to see what they do. Go Yanks!

Knicks This Week

Though there is a cloyingly ridiculous NBA trade and freeagency freeze on until July 8th, the Knicks begin acting without tampering on Thursday. And it's as simple as this: get LeBron. Failing to get LeBron would constitute absolute failure. Fortunately, I believe the LeBron situation has been in the bag for 2 years. Would you wait till the last minute to decide your future or would you plan for it? Of course not. I think all the stories in the media are contrived drama, designed to sell Media and the NBA for as long as the "stories" play out. To me, the interesting moves will be what they do for the second max guy, and if they're able to make any trades. But that is secondary. Get LeBron, succeed, get Joe Johnson, fail. And it's as simple as that.

Rangers This Week

Hockey Free Agency starts on Thursday. The Rangers are currently about 15M under the cap and have the ability to be about 5.6M more over the cap until the season starts. Last June 30th, the Rangers surprised everyone by making a very good Scott Gomez trade to create cap room. They did that because they knew they were going to need to room for Marian Gaborik. This year, they have to lock up some RFA's including Marc Staal, who should get a good deal, Jody Shelley, who deserves a raise, Dan Girardi, who'll get a raise, and Vinnie Prospal. Those guys can all be taken care of with the room the Rangers currently possess.


However; if in the next two days or so, we see a Rozsival trade, or miracle of miracles a Drury or Redden trade, I expect the Rangers will then go big game hunting on Thursday. There is a great player out there who is worthy of a good deal and his name is Ilya Kovalchuk. The Rangers need goals, and he's got them. Sather is currently saying that he will go slow in FA and see how the market develops, but, I sort of don't believe that. Kovalchuck is a player the Rangers have coveted for years, and he's free. We'll see if they can actually resist that.

Even if they don't make a deal before FA to create cap room, they could sign IK and then just send Redden to the minors to star the season. They wouldn't be able to get that cap room now, or else every team would to it, but they can go over till they need it. Should be interesting.

In other exciting Ranger news, this year's weeklong Prospect Camp opens today. All of the kids who they just drafted will be there, along with the kids from last year's draft, and the `08 draft, excluding Del Zotto who has placed out. We'll get our first look at Pashnin, the KHL dman the Rangers took a flyer on late in the `09 draft. It should be interesting and they always have some clips up on NewYorkRangers.com. It's a big week indeed for the Broadway Blueshirts.

Cano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! Maybe the 2010 Yanks are finally tired of taking punches. After their lategame heroics in AZ, who knew they'd outdo themselves so quickly? Down 6-2 going into the 9th, Broxton got Teixeira, then the Yanks rallied to put 4 runs on their big closer. Tie game. Mo pitches a 1-2-3 9th. Tex gets a hit to start the tenth, and ARod erases him when Furcal makes an insane play. With ARod on first, Torre calls in Sherrill to face Cano. Cano had been 0-11 against him. That was then. Now he hit a two run BOMB to left center. Mo pitched the scoreless tenth for the win. ARod had hit a two-run jack in the 6th which was the first sign of a pulse we had. Andy started and had a tough outing, especially feilding bunts where he made two terrible throws to create a three run rally for the Dodgers in the third. He gave up two more in the 4th. Joba gave up a run in the 8th, making it 6-2. What a comeback! Offday tomorrow and we could all use it! Go Yanks!

Rangers Draft Review

Today the Rangers wrapped up their 2010 draft. At first, it shocked me, but after research it's really rather similar to their 2008 and 2009 drafts. Something really changed in their prospecting process in 2008, and I think it was the elevation of Gordie Clark from scout to Director, Player Personnel and the people he's brought with him. Once again, they went for a mix of scoring, character and heart. Readers of the blog know I used the term "ringers" for players that the team will take based on special knowledge of those players. They took a few in this draft and we'll get into it.

In the first, the Rangers shocked the world and took Dylan McIlRath. At first blush seemed tremoundously out of character for Clark and crew who had spent previous ones on skillsy teens like MDZ and Kreider, but the info that has come out since the pick, shows that he fit their pattern and was their guy for good reason. This was a red chip draft, and they took not only the toughest kid in this draft, but a kid who has been improving by leaps and bounds. Smart teams go for the red chippers who show no signs of being maxed out, and Dylan is far from that. It turns out he's a bright and selfpossessed kid with hockey smarts, a huge heart, high character and rapidly improving skills. It's been learned that teams were trying to trade up to get a shot at him, so he wasn't exactly the Rangers little secret. Other NHL teams put the same value on him and it will be fun to watch him develop.


In the second, the Rangers took a ringer. Christian Thomas is only 5'9" but he was a point a game player for a team with very few decent players, so he was also a marked man. He plays hard, he's very fast, he gets loose pucks, and has a laser shot. He fell because of his size, but the Rangers had special knowledge. Adam Graves happens to be part of the ownership group for Christian's junior team. He's the son of Stumpy Thomas, so they know the height won't be a problem for the kid, either, and they know the kid very, very well. In interviews, he seemed quieter than Dylan, but he did admit that he likes to score.


The Rangers had no third and were unable to pick up an extra one because of last year's disaster Boyle deal.


In the fourth, the Rangers took Andrew Yogan, a good sized C at 6'3" who was originally expected to go in the second. Apparently he fell on consistency concerns, though some of those may have been injury related. He still managed to collect 55 points in 63 games and the Rangers think if the consistency comes, he'll eventually be a top six forward for them. Great value in the 4th. Though the player isn't reminiscent, getting him at pick 100 was reminiscent of getting Grachev at 75 two years ago.


In the fifth, they took a late bloomer named Jason Wilson, who gives them more size at 6'2 and 205 and is a former teammate of Michael Del Zotto. He's already 20 but showed a lot of the character and qualities that have made Dale Weise such a nice surprise for the Rangers. Another value pick.


In the sixth, the Rangers took Jesper Fasth, who may be another ringer. Clark compared Fasth with Christian in that he is a speedy, undersized scorer. Kid scored 48 points in 37 games. His size doesn't seem to bother him. And apparently it was former Ranger Anders Hedberg who delivered the special info. Fasth was gotten with the first pick received for Bobby Sanguinetti. The Rangers original 6th rounder was traded for Finish defender Jyri Niemi a few weeks before the draft. Niemi and Fasth will both be at the Prospect Camp that starts Monday.


With their 7th and final pick, the Rangers took 6'5" 225 pound, bruising forward Randy McNaught. McNaught was another late bloomer in the eyes of the organization, and, like McIlRath he was one of the best fighters in the WHL. Destined for the checking line, McNaught and McIlRath add a whole lot of toughness to this year's class.


It seems like a pretty good class and we'll get the first look at them on skates at this week's prospect which will feature all of this year's class, as well as last year's class, plus Niemi, some other minor leaguers and some undrafted invitees.

It almost seems like Gordie and the scouts are casting a whole new core for the Rangers. Let's keep an eye on this situation.

Yanks Lose

Attack of the memories today: Bad AJ; Manny; Bad Second Inning from Park; Girardi using Logan in high leverage situation; Jeff Weaver; Torre using his closer for 5 outs in a 5 run game. Blech and pitooey to it all! We lost a game in the standings, but we're still in first by two and Andy will set things right tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Rangers Take a Bruiser in the 7th

With their final pick, the Rangers went for a huge RW from the rough and tumble Western Hockey League. He's listed several places as being 6'5" and 222. He doesn't score much, but has some fight videos available around the `net. Fine spot for such a pick. Fine draft from the Rangers. I'll be back later or tomorrow with some thoughts on it. Go Rangers!

Rangers Tab Fasht

With the 6th they acquired in the Sangs trade, the Rangers picked up Jesper Fasht, from the Swedish Junior Elite League. He scored 49 points in 36games. Nice value! The Rangers haven't used any picks on college players so far, which is a little unusual for them. Go Rangers.

Rangers Take Wilson in the 5th

The Rangers just picked big left wing Jason Wilson from the Owen Sound Attack. This is the third OHLer they have picked in row. Jason is 6'3 and 215 and this was his overage year as he is already 20. He scored 35 points in 46 games, and seems to have missed some time somewhere. I guess this is what you get in the 5th. Go Rangers.

Rangers Trade Sanguinetti

The Rangers have traded Bobby Sanguinetti for picks. The picks haven't been announced yet, but if they're for this year, we didn't get value because we're already past pick 100. With pick 100 the Rangers selected OHL Erie's C Andrew Yogan, a 6'3" 200 pounder who scored 55 points in 63 games this year. He was more highly rated than his draft position. Good pick.

Now, back to the Sanguinetti trade. The picks have not been anounced, and we seem to be selling on a prospect who had been our first rounder in 2006 but who has been passed by our 2008 pick MDZ and others. Let's see what they got. Go Rangers.

UPDATE: Sangs was traded for a 6th this year and a 2nd (Washington's) next year. That's actually pretty good value over a guy who's been stuck in the AHL.

BOOM!

With pick 40, the Rangers went for better than point a game OHLer Christian Thomas. Christian is the son of Stumpy Thomas, and so we already know his 5'9" stature won't be a problem. He's short, but not small and possesses a lethal shot. Like McIlrath, he was also named most improved player on his team this past season. He fits in very well with the fleet of forwards the Rangers are assembling and gives them another scorer. Great pick. Go Rangers!

Rangers Draft Day 2

I broke a bunch of my own rules earlier, and I can't apologize enough. This morning, I explained how this was a red chip draft, then, this afternoon, I objected to the fact that the Rangers drafted a red chip player. And as I further researched Dylan McIlrath, I discovered he has big upside, and a story that makes sense of his development. Needless to say, he only committed to hockey at 15 and has since been voted most improved player on his major junior hockey team two years in a row, and been drafted 10th overall by the New York Rangers. And he's just turned 18. He's been constantly improving, and is not the one dimensional thug I portrayed him as earlier. He's a responsible defender, who plays angles well, and chipped in better than .3 ppg this year for his team. Now, that's not Brad Park or Brian Leetch scoring, but it's a nice contribution from your stay at home defenseman and enforcer.


Apparently, the Rangers had been really tracking Dylan since December, and were seeing him develop before their very eyes. My problem was I had not researched him thoroughly enough while getting ready for the draft, and didn't acknowledge the value of a big defenseman with helium who was rising in the draft. His scouting reports are sort of like those of Cito Culver, if you read one from last year, you were behind the player's development and likely to missproject him. Anyway, the Rangers have been putting off getting a policeman since Jeff Beukeboom's career was suddenly ended. Now we have one for the future.


The Rangers head into day to with 4 picks, a 2, 4, 5, and 7, so job one is to get another pick or two. Job two is to pick up some some scoring. They should be able to get a very good player at 40. And then they have to find ways to get another pick or two before our 4th rounder, because there will be value in the second and third after they use the #40. They've been collecting good prospects over the past few drafts, and they have to continue to do it tomorrow. I'll post the picks, but not until I have a fair understanding of them. Go Rangers!

Our Guy

CC Sabathia was brilliant tonight pitching 8 innings of 1 run ball at Dodger Stadium and winning a 2-1 game for the Yanks. And he was hip, too. After Padilla hit Cano with a pitch, CC hit Padilla with a pitch. Both sides were warned. Then CC retired Padilla and Furcal by inducing the comebacker and starting the double play. That's how these Championship Yankees roll, Mr. T. Oh and ARod, batting 4th instead of 8th, had a double and the game winning homer tonight. Mo loves you, Mr. T but he needed to strike out the side in the 9th just to button things up. AJ goes tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Rangers Pick McIlrath

The Rangers just spent the 10th overall pick in the draft on a thug who can't skate and has no hockey skill. These are the kind of guys you take late. With the 10th pick you take the players the thug, should he ever make it to the NHL, is supposed to protect. Looks like a disaster from this perspective. Thug's name is Dylan McIlrath. Unbelievable. They need to get more picks. Do better, Rangers.


UPDATE: As so often, when we do a little more research things make a little more sense. For example, since I blasted the Rangers above, I learned that Dylan didn't start playing hockey fulltime till he was 15. He's 17 now. And the reason he didn't play more hockey was that until he was 15 he was splitting time with volleyball. So what we have is not some kid who's been living a normal hockey life and is just a lousy skater. We're looking at a player who went from a -22 as a 16 year old to a +20 as a 17 year old, with the same team. That's pretty impressive development given his backstory. He's also shown a 92 mph slap shot that was good for second in an all-star skills competition.


In all, I can't constantly complain about Hank getting run, or Gaborik getting pummelled without, I guess, calling for a move like this. I promise to give Dylan a chance, and still hope Gordie impresses me going forward. Go Rangers.

Rangers Draft Day 1

On the heels of what was perhaps the most boring NBA draft ever, we have the NHL draft starting tonight. The Rangers have picks 10, 40, 100, 130 and 190. I think they made try to acquire a few more. This draft, like the recent NFL and MLB drafts is what I'd consider a red chip draft. That means there are an unusually low number of blue chip players and a larger concentration than normal of red chip players. That makes these kind of drafts deeper than usual.


Most NHL players started out as red chippers. Red chippers are also where you find the greatest value. Blue chippers have already been evaluated as having skyhigh upsides before the draft, thus, those upsides must be paid for. With red chippers, you're getting players who may, in fact, be underrated but possessing significant upsides -- and they cost less. In red chip drafts, the teams with the best scouts have a real advantage because there's dissonance on each player and the smartest teams will have their boards stacked correctly, and therefore gain an advantage.


The draft is being held in Los Angeles and if I had realized it sooner, I might have gone. In any event, the first round will be held tonight, and rounds two through seven will occur tomorrow. Tonight, the Rangers have the 10th pick. And judging from an unscientific perusal of several mocks, it looks like some very productive offensive players might be available.

Vlad Tarasenko played in the KHL this past season, and if the Rangers have information that he wants to play in the NHL, he could be the pick. He's an explosive and physical scorer who doesn't shy away from contact. Like Artem Anisimov he hails from Yaraslov, so there may even be a Ranger connection there. If it weren't for the signability issue, he would not be lasting till 10 and he might not.


Ryan Johansen is a player who really came on playing with other possibilty Nino Niederreiter. Johansen seems blessed with great vision and really bodes well for his future in the NHL. He's 6'3" and 190 and would need to pack on a little more weight, but vision in hockey and hoops can often be underrated, he has it in spades. His teammate, Nino, is a power forward prospect, and I'm little leery of taking power forward prospects this high. I want production. Though, to their credit playing together Johansen and Nino both averaged nearly a point per game.

Let me sidetrack for a moment. One of my draft standards for offensive players is they must score 1 ppg in preps or juniors. Especially in the first two rounds, I am looking for guys who can eventually come in and play on the first line for the Rangers, and they're just not likely to be NHL first liners if they're not dominating their teen peers at a point per game or better. So unless a teen is in a numbers game in a collegiate program, or playing against men in the KHL, I want to see that production, and don't want to hear any of the draft "experts" telling me how an uproductive teen scorer is going to turn into a great NHL scorer. I mean, it can happen, but it probably won't. That's why I loved the Kreider, Werek and Stepan picks. Those kids were productive first, then validated it through combine work. So, that's my little rant.

Now one guy who I think could be the Ranger Ringer tonight is Emerson Etem. Emerson is a gifted scorer who played at Medicine Hat in the juniors this year, but had previously gone to Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota, the same hockey school that produced Derek Stepan, and some weirdo from the Pens. He also played juniors this year with Ranger prospect Tomas Kundratek, so they've seen him a lot. He scored 37 goals and had 28 assists as 17 year old rookie in juniors and that's close enough to PPG. He's a fast skater with great hands, work ethic, character, and hockey sense, who sounds just like the guys we've been picking lately. So, if Tarasenko isn't the pick, I wouldn't be surprised if Etem is.

Anyway, that's a few of the guys we could be looking at at 10. We'll talk about the pick as soon as it's made. I'm in a phase where I really trust the Yanks, Giants and Rangers when it comes to picking players. Though I don't trust Glen Sather with trading picks. Go Rangers!


NOTE: Just because I didn't name all of the teens who were .9 PPG or better, doesn't mean I won't like the pick of any of them, including Watson, Skinner or whomever. I trust the scouts and that standard.


UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more I think Nick Bjugstad, a prep out of a non Shattuck-St. Mary's HS in Minny could be another Rangers' Ringer. Like Kreider last year he has destroyed his level and it's a pretty good level in Minnesota. They seem to have some belief in American preps, and this kid has massive upside. Wouldn't surpise me if he is the pick.


UPDATE: And Here We Go! I'll make a new post when the Rangers pick or trade.

Knicks Buy Jerome Jordan

The Knicks have apparently bought pick#44 Jerome Jordan from the Bucks. He's 23, slightly over 7 feet tall, and comes with 2.3 blocks and 9.1 rebounds thanks to his nearly 7'6" wingsspan. He weighs 244 and may be able to move around a bit. Why not? We thinks the Knicks should always buy picks. Reasonable expenditure. Go Knicks.

NOTE: Should he go undrafted, I think the Knicks should brind in St. Mary's Omar Samhan for their Summer League team.

Knicks Take a Couple of D'Antoni Types

With picks 38 and 39 tonight, the Knicks took Andy Routins from Syracuse and Landry Feilds from Stanford. Routins is a great shooter and passer, and Fields is a terrific scorer. Both have have pretty good length for guards. There were absolutely no fireworks tonight from anyone, let alone the Knicks. But the Knicks did finally draft additional D'Antoni players, so, hopefully, the system if finally going in. On a TV note, the NBA draft has become a non-event. They should consider doing away with their draft. Nothing else is expected out of the Knicks tonight. It's onward and upward to July.

Brackman Promoted to AA

The good news kept coming out the Yankee organization today as Andrew Brackman, their 6'11" starter/reliever was promoted to AA. If he continues to improve there, he could repeat the `07 Joba role with the big club down the stretch. Go Brack!

Signing Updates

The Yanks today pushed through the signings of two more preps and a college pitcher. Taylor "Jake" Anderson is a 2B/OF prospect who hits a lot like Corban Joseph. He's got a sweet lefty swing, but doesn't show much power yet. He's a prep and he has time. Defensively he's moved around and not really established a position, the Yanks will help him there. They also signed Tyler "Chris" Austin, a C/OF whom they intend to make into a rightfielder. Now, Chris does have power and power potential. In fact, he was thought by some to be one of the Yanks tougher signs. They didn't count on the facts that he was a huge Yankee fan and that he just wanted to start his career. This one should be an interesting follow. The third signing was Dustin Hobbs, the college RHP they took in the 21st round who suddenly announced he was sign for slot last weekend. He's got a high 80s-low 90s fastball, a curve and a change. His change is supposed to be his best pitch. We'll see if he's got the pitchability to make it with that kind of stuff. It was a nice day for the Yanks. They now have 3 preps signed and 15 college players. Prep Ben Gamel should be next unless the commish allows them to announce Morton or one of the other pitchers first. Go Yanks!

Draft Day

I'm sensing that this will be the calm before the FA storm for the Knicks. D'Antoni said on the radio yesterday that he's been more focused on the FA recruiting than on the draft, though he likes some guys. As it stands right now, the Knicks have picks 38 and 39 in the second round and nothing else. They may buy a first if a player they like is available, but otherwise, it looks like they'll make picks 38 and 39 and there'll be no fireworks.

I hope they take players instead of athletes. I talked about his a bit in the draft article, but teams very often take athletes instead of players feeling that they can teach them to be players later on. That's just a collosal waste of picks and time. It is far better for teams to establish athetic minimums and find productive players who meet them, than it is to find the best athlete and assume you can teach him to play your sport. We see this in basketball all the time, with teams taking big bodied leapers and believing they can turn them into players. Or taking bigs over smalls regardless of skill level. We saw this microcosmically when Portland, who had previously taken Sam Bowie, a quality big who was hurt all the time, over Michael Jordan, did it again by taking Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. We're seeing how that's working out.

But every year we see NFL teams that go by 40 times, MLB teams that pick pitchers who throw hard, but don't throw strikes, or have a pretty swing but don't get on base, and NHL teams who pick fast or "rugged" forwards who never make a mark on the scoring sheet.


One of the funniest things that people used to say about Brett Hull and Reggie Miller was "all they do is score!" Really? Well, all they keep is SCORE. Draft productive players who can be developed into more productive pros, not players who already look like pros but don't yet know how to play or fill up a score sheet.


Go Knicks!

Mo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Yanks just won a wild one in Arizona. Curtis Granderson smacked a game winning homer in the top of the 10th, but man, it took a miracle from Mo to get the win. The Yanks had played terribly all night, squandering opportunities and making outs on the basepaths With the game tied on a sac fly from ARod in the ninth, Mo pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th. Then Curtis lead off the 10th with his homer. Gardy singled. Huffman walked, and then Jeter hit into a DP. With just a 1 run lead, Mo batted and made the 3rd out. Mo came out to pitch the 10th and gave up a bloop hit. Then he gave up a double and it was second and third with no outs. They elected to walk the bases loaded. Unbelievably, Mo then got pop-up, pop-up, K for the win! It was amazing! He hadn't given up anything to the 24 previous hitters he had faced until the single and the double. Wow! The Yanks are off tomorrow and all of us could probably use the rest. Go Yanks!

Drafts

As readers of this blog have known for years now, I'm into drafts. I'm not sure why, but I've been interested in drafts, trades and free agency since the Knicks made the Monroe and Jerry Lucas moves when I was a little kid. I started keeping a wary eye on the Yankees's "hot stove" season when they traded my hero, Bobby Murcer for Bobby Bonds, at these things called the Winter Meetings. My dad and I had to go out to Sal Anthony's Italian Restaurant to talk about it once he broke the Murcer news to me. Anyway, as we progress in life and as fans we understand, or try to understand what our teams are doing to try to get better in the present and for the future.


Sports drafts are pretty big these days. The NFL Draft, which used to be a Christmas in April weekend for hardcore football fans, has been turned into a multi-night prime time affair for the more casual but hoping to "get it" fans. The baseball draft, which is 50 rounds, now separates out its first round as a prime time event the night before the following 49 rounds play out during the next two days. Which brings us to the NBA and NHL Drafts that kick off tomorrow with the traditional NBA two rounder.


The NBA used to have longer drafts like the NFL, and NHL, but through their labor negotiations over the years the NBA draft shrunk to only 2 rounds, allowing all of the non-drafteds to be free agents, and ideally get better deals through bidding processes. That's not what really happens, though. The kids who don't get drafted now try to hook on with a Summer League team and hope to impress an NBA team enough for a spot on the end of the bench, or look for work overseas.



The NBA two rounder, is only the latest is a series of somewhat provincial convolutions that have taken place over the years. In the old days, teams had special rights to regional players (this was to build local popularity for the fledgling franchises in the years after WWII, NFL did the same thing). They've also progressed through a period where college underclassmen could declare "hardship" status and enter the draft as sophmores or juniors. This eventually turned into High School players entering the draft and teams spending salary cap fortunes on unskilled players. Remember, the NBA does not have a the player development leagues the MLB and the NHL does for their youngest prospects. In the past few years, the NBA instituted a policy forcing kids to have 1 year of college experience, or 1 year of post high school, non-NBA experience before entering the draft. Neither colleges nor teenagers seem very happy about this one. And judging from NBA history, it is likely to change again before too long. One progressive thing that the NBA allows is the buying and selling of picks. Now this may be crass to some, but it allows the rich teams to give the poor teams the money they need in return for something without the league having to get all draconion with the rich teams wealth. The Knicks should use this strategy more than they have.



The NHL draft is sort of a cross between the NFL draft and the Baseball draft and is pretty fascinating in it's own right. These days it lasts seven or eight rounds, and like the baseball draft offers a variety of different kinds of prospects: Canadian Junior League Players; American High School Players; College Players; and International Players. Like the NBA draft and NFL draft, picks can be traded for other picks, players or even other considerations. They air it on TSN in Canada and it's much more of a family affair than the other drafts. Team execs and scouts go up to the podium en masse to announce their picks and present their jerseys (I refuse to call them sweaters, I have sweaters and I have Rangers jerseys and they're different!). Then they have the option of signing them right away and putting them in their system, or just hanging onto their rights and sending them back to juniors, school or Europe for more seasoning.


Those are the two final drafts of the years and the ones that start tomorrow.


This brings us to the Knicks and Rangers. For as long as I can remember and probably for their entire existence both clubs have been owned by MSG and it's predecessors, and basically, both clubs have been pretty spotty drafters. Whereas the Giants and Yanks have both had high and low periods of drafting, the Knicks and Rangers have gone long periods with absolutely no rhyme or reason to their drafts. And what I'm getting to is essential to following drafts. There's got to be rhyme and reason. When your team is in a good drafting phase, there will be demonstrable logic to their picks and each pick should present at least close to maximum value, relative to round and pick number, to the system your team runs. Drafting for "need" is generally foolish, because the players you will actually get won't, in most cases, have the experience necessary to fill the need they've been chosen to address right away. It can happen at the top of some drafts, other than the baseball draft, but in general, it's not the smart way to go. Value is. Use trades and free agency for your team needs.



Now the Knicks used to draft fairly well, a long time ago when Red Holtzman seemed to be involved in all phases. He picked Reed, Frazier, Cazzie, Bradley, Jackson and later, Lonnie Shelton, Bill Cartwright, Toby Knight, Ray Williams and Michael Ray Richardson (who, but for drugs, was destined for greatness). But since Red left, between being handed Patrick Ewing in 1985 and picking Mark Jackson and one or two others, they blew an awful lot of picks before taking David Lee. I thought they were really turning a corner when Walsh and D'Antoni came aboard and I reallly liked the Gallinari pick, but could not make sense of last year's draft. And that's what I find annoying. I no longer get too attached to one player or another for my teams, but the player taken has to make sense for what they like to do and what works for them. I thought we were putting in a system with D'Antoni when we took Gallo, then last year, we took a non-D'Antoni type player in the first, then bought another first rounder and took another non-D'Antoni pick. Ponderous.



This year, the Knicks will start the draft with only 2 second rounders. Those should be good enough to find something useful for the "find the open man" system that D'Antoni likes. As a rule, the NBA teams pick athletes over players more than any of the other leagues. So many times, NBA teams take guys who can't shoot, pass or dribble because of how high they can jump. Guys who can actually play basketball, therefore fall in the draft, and guys who can't are routinely overdrafted. This should create opportunities for a team with a sytem like the one the Knicks are supposed to have to find some value - even picking late. There's also a possibility that the Knicks might buy a first rounder if the player they want is available. If that's the case, I hope it's a D'Antoni type who knows how to play rather than an athlete who doesn't. I don't think there will be any other fireworks.



The Rangers on the other hand, have been getting better at drafting lately. They had a good streak back when they were getting guys like Leetch and Richter, and earlier when they were getting Ratelle and Park, but they went a long time in between without getting much useful at all. The low point came when they picked Hugh Jessiman several years ago, when everyone left was better, hoping to turn him into a power forward. The good moves started with their European scouts finding guys like Hank and Prucha, but recently as Gordie Clark's role has grown in the organization, they've become better and better drafters in all regions. They take productive players with good measurables, which is essentially the same formula the Giants have used to build a consistent winner under Jerry Reese.


The Rangers should be in great shape with the 10th pick in every round but for the constant fly in their ointment: Glenn Sather. And Glenn has already struck trading away this year's third during last year's draft for Brian Boyle. Yes, that Brian Boyle, one of the reasons we're picking 10th! Still the Rangers will get some players. Picking lower, in the last two drafts in 2008 they got Michael Del Zotto, who just made the all-rookie team, in the first, and Derek Stepan, who just signed his first Ranger contract after dazzling at Wisconsin, in the second. In 2009, the Rangers took, super high upside prep C/F Chris Kreider in the first, who has already distinguished himself in international competition, and junior C/F Ethan Werek who's coming off a terrific MCL shortened season in the juniors. Those are 4 really great value picks. So I have high hopes for the the Rangers first two picks this year, because these are the highest picks they've had in awhile and they've been doing well with less lately.


Hopefully, the Rangers will find a way to add another third rounder, or more picks early to let Gordie and their scouts really help them this year.

So, over the next three days, as we exhort the Knicks and Rangers to draft success, forget need, remember value, and go Knicks and Rangers!

Thursday Night Fireworks?

Is this the face of a man who could pull off some draft night fireworks? I didn't think so, either. I think they may end up buying a first round pick if the player they want is still there, like they did last year. It doesn't seem like much else is going on. But if you hear anything, post it. I'll do the same. Be smart, Knicks!

Yanks Crush DBacks

Andy continued his age 38 season of brilliance going 7 innings of 2 run ball, and chipping in with a hit. The Yanks started grinding again and Tex and ARod were right in the thick of things. ARod had a homer and 3 RBIs. Tex had three hits. The Yanks blew the game open in the 8th with a grind em out 6 run conga line that was highlighted by Colin Curtis's first big league hit. Pinch hitting for Andy, Colin rocked a two run double over the CF's head. Now, the amazing thing was Joba. Joba came in with a 9-2 lead and walked the first batter. While most Yankee Universe started muttering, Joba got mad and started throwing 98 again. And K, pop-out, K - and there was literally nothing Arizona could do about it. Remember that guy? He can still do it. Hopefully he's back. DRob gave up a run in the 9th, but he as just pouring them in there as you should in a blow out. Yanks win 9-3. Javy Vazquez pitches for the series win tomorrow. Go Yanks!

The Best

Behold Dellin Betances, the best pitching prospect in the Yankees system. He just got done pitching 6 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk, 8K ball in his third rehab start after coming off of the same ligament reinforcement surgery that Mo Rivera had many years ago. His FSL ERA is .50. In his 18 innings of work since returning, he has given up 6 hits, walked 2 and K'd 21. He's 6'8" and has already touched 98 on the gun several times in his return. He works around 95 and features a knuckle curve and a plus changeup as his other offerings. He's a terrific kid whose personality will remind you a bit of CC Sabathia's. He's the kind of kid that if he struck out 26 in a nine inning game, he'd give all the credit to the teammate who caught the pop-up.


The Yanks originally took Dellin in the 8th round of the 2006 draft as an overslot Prep pick out of Brooklyn, NY. And this is why you sign the Preps. If even one of them turns out like Dellin is turning out, it pays for the whole draft over and over. Because of his injuries a lot of the pundits had written him off. The Yankees didn't. And given the fact that most pitchers get injured, if it comes to surgery in the minors, you'll have the prep back at a still young age. Some of the college guys who unfortunely go through surgery end up coming back at 24,25, 26 or even 27. It's tough when that happens and it happens frequently.

The Yanks have another giant pitching prospect named Andrew Brackman, who's even taller than Dellin, but was an older college pick. He too has caught fire recently and is probably our second best pitching prospect as he is finally showing excellent control and keeps adding velocity. We got him as a junior who immediately needed TJS. He's 24 or 25 already and in High A ball Patience has been a virtue for the Yankees with both giant pitchers. But sign those Preps!

GCL 3

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2010_06_22_yanrok_pirrok_1 As you can see the GCL Yanks thumped the GCL Pirates in their second game. I'm starting to think they could thump the MLB Pirates. Gary Sanchez catching his second game in a row was just 1-5 with a double and walk, and if you're going to make some outs, please make your other stuff XBH's and walks. Rey Nunez, who I had trumpeted to no avail yesterday went off, going 3-5with a homer, 4 RBIs and 2 RS. Ramon Flores went off going 3-4 with a triple, two walks, 1 RBI and 4 RS. Also, a few of our big name pitchers, like Nik Turley, Evan DeLuca, and recent pick Conor Mullee made their 2010 debuts. And Harold Garce managed to pitch a scoreless inning where he K'd one and only walked 1. Well done, Harold!


In more annoying GCL related news, both it's been learned that both Victor Reynoso and Melvin Rosario, two of last year's big DSL stars, are serving suspensions for falsifying their identities. The Yanks will still control their rights after the suspensions end, but they'll have different names and most likely new ages. It's getting convoluted in the GCL and MLB will no doubt use these incidents as impetus for an international draft which would be very bad for the New York Yankees.

The College Pitcher Picks

As much as the 2010 Yankee draft was Prep heavy, it was even heavier in college pitchers. In all, the Yanks took 21 college pitchers in the draft, and several of them have already signed as we can see from the list at Yankees.com thttp://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=nyy . Unfortunately, that list doesn't include the picks' schools, so as a rule of thumb, those born in the `80s are the college picks, those born in the `90s are the prep picks.

Of the unsigned college pitcher picks, probably 8 have signability issues that will have to be resolved this summer. There are a few that are thus far unsigned, who are just hoping to get a slot deal from the Yanks. RHP Dustin Hobbs is one of those guys.

The signability guys are: RHP Thomas Kahnle; RHP Daniel Burawa; RHP Kevin Jacob; RHP Martin Viramondes (pictured); RHP Zach Nuding; RHP Michael Hachadorian; and LHP's Hobson and Hunter whom we discussed in the DES article. Other than, Viramondes and the two lefties, all of these other guys are high velocity college relievers.

Let's talk about college relievers for a minute. In general, I am against trading for relievers or paying lots of money to FA relievers. Of course, I'm into paying Mo whatever he asks for, but he's a rather exceptional exception. The thing with all non-Mo relievers is that they are funginble. Their value to a team constantly fluctuates throughout their careers.

Ideally, I'd prefer it if the Yanks get all of their relievers from their own farm because the dollar costs are minimal and we don't have to trade good prospects for relievers. I'm sure many of you remember certain sports radio jocks wanting to trade "Jobber" for "Gagne" a few years ago. It's just bad business.

How do we get those relievers into the system? We can either convert some of our starters to relief roles or draft some relievers. As a note, we never give a big bonus to a reliever in the international free agent market, and that makes tremendous sense. They're not worth it.

Why are starters worth so much more than relievers? Basically because they can start and give you starters innings, and failing that they can still be turned into relievers, as we saw with Phil Hughes last year, Joba from time to time, and we've seen the Red Sox do with their closer. Mo was a starter before he was a closer. When you buy a reliever, in most cases, he can only be a reliever, so if he fails, you're out of luck.

In the recent past, the Yanks have drafted three sort of high profile college relievers, they are: JB Cox, who is currently trying to make his way back from surgery and a brief retirement; Mark Melancon, who has dominated the minors then failed in the majors, then struggled a bit; and David Robertson; who helped pitch us to a championship and is once again a major part of our pen. So, we're about 1-3 so far, but Melancon could still succeed.

Knowing all of this, the Yanks are going to summer follow Kahnle, Burawa, Jacob, Nuding, and Hachadorian, to see who's volatile velocity best fits their needs. All of them throw very hard. Kahnle's an interesting case. They've seen him up to 98, but he also has problems with walks. I have a feeling they wanted to sign him for 5th round money, but he's opting to try to make more in summer league. I would bet against that happening and because of his wildness, I'll bet the Yanks either get him for around slot, or end up not signing him.

Burawa is the St. John's closer. He has a live arm and was a late riser as the draft approached. You have to wonder if the local connection will mean anything with this guy. If he does well in summer league, that could tip things one way or the other.

Kevin Jacob, from Georgia Tech, may be the hardest thrower of all, but was shut down with some arm trouble for part of the season. Red Flag! He's also a Boras client, so he will want extra money for having the balky arm earlier this Spring. I'm kidding about that, but if he does pitch well and shows plus velocity, Boras might be inclined to be a little reasonable, especially since that arm is now suspect. If he proves to be healthy and the best of the bunch, I think the Yanks will sign him.

Zach Nuding is another hard thrower, and I think he might be a ringer. He's a beast at 6'4" 250 and he's from Weatherford in Texas. That's Yankee super scout Mark Batchko's turf. If he does well this summer, I'd think the Yanks would go for him, even if they are already signing one of the others. Melancon and Robertson were from the signability rounds of the 2006 draft, and I think they will once again make room for 2.

Michael Hachadorian feels like a longshot, but he'll get his chance if he pitches well this summer.

In all, with the college relievers, I think we'll hit is twice, if we find 2 are worth it, and the signees with have to overwhelming stuff and K's for them to be worth it. I hope we have the conviction to let them all go if none of them pitches at a projectable Yankee level.

This brings us back to Martin Viramontes. He's a starter and, thus, worth more. He's also a picture perfect righty who's been as high as 96 on the gun this season and was throwing an easy 94 in the first inning of his first summer league start. Now, he's a Boras client with the nonsensical DES draft designation, and should be laughed at, but, still, he seems to be really good. He's 6'5" (like Phil Hughes), but just 190 now, so there's even some physical projection left. The more I learn about this prospect, the more I feel he could be a Yankee, and that the Yanks should make it happen.

Cameron Hobson and Kyler Hunter are the 2 DES lefties. Both are from that seemingly vast group of lefties who throw 87-92 but always seem to be around 89 when you see them on TV. Besides the 91-93 RHP's this has got to be the largest group of pitching prospects there are. It must be absolute murder to try sorting out which ones are going to have future value. This whole model of pitcher became popular when Tom Glavine was at his peak in Atlanta. Guys like this were even being drafted in the high rounds for several years, as it took organizations ten or twelve years to sort out the fact that the extra ten inches Glavine got on either side of the plate, didn't come with all the clones.

We've looked at the signability college pitchers and Viramontes is the only really intriguing guy in my opinion. If some of the relievers are super dominant over the summer, great, sign them up. If not, don't sweat it.

Meanwhile, as noted above, the Yanks have already signed a bunch of college pitcher, and just because they signed quickly does not make them fodder. Under Damon Oppenheimer, the Yanks don't really waste picks, so, many, if not most, of the college signings have something to recommend them, usually velo, or movement, or an out pitch, or intriguing pitchability. Two of the big success stories for the Yanks this year are David Phelps and Adam Warren. Both were somewhat lightly regarded when they were drafted and people were even mad over the Warren pick. But the Yanks saw something in both of them, and both have seen their stuff improve as they've buzzed through their minor league opponents.

So, this year, don't sleep on guys like Varce, Whitley, Claiborne or Mullee, though a completely different group could prove to be the scout specials. We will see some value in the early signings and even if they're not Yankees, it's great to have tradeable players that other teams want.

If you're keeping score at home, I still want to sign 6 prep pitchers, a bunch of prep OF's, and this Martin Viramontes guy. Make it happen, Yanks!

Yanks Lose

As bad as we've seen AJ be in the past he was a little worse tonight. He gave up 3 homers and 5 runs after he had gotten the first two batters out in the first. Now that's inexcusable, but a phenomenon that seems to accompany AJ's struggles are his teammates' losses of plate discipline when trying to get it all back with one swing. It's the strangest thing. When your starter digs a hole, the hitters have to go to work, and you do that by grinding out at bats, not hitting a bunch of pop-ups because you're swinging too hard. This approach or lack of one by our hitters allowed Rodrigo Lopez to go 8 solid innings against them tonight. Rodrigo Lopez! We own him. It was ridiculous and it has to stop.

Chad Gaudin came in after AJ gave up 7 and stopped the bleeding for two innings, and it even looked like the Yanks would catch up, but Arizona made some amazing catches and it was not to be.

Chan Ho Park was once again good for one inning before giving up a three run jack in his second inning of work.

This was an all around bad game, and the team needs to talk about how they are going to approach things when the other team gets a sudden lead. They can't stop grinding. It won't work.

And AJ, who at the beginning of the season looked like he had learned to limit the damage earlier in the season, but now he's back to his traditional Bad AJ alter ego. He needs to find Good AJ and get him out there. He's not giving the Yankees a chance lately.

Andy goes tomorrow and we should be crushing this team. Go Yanks.

UPDATE: You all know by now that Phil Hughes is having his next start skipped to accomodate his innings limit for the years, but did you know that this Phil would be taking a look at the College Pitchers the Yanks recently drafted tomorrow? Well, he will so stay tuned.

Colin Curtis Gets the Call

The Yanks today finally called up Colin Curtis. They would have done so earlier this year, but he was hurt after a hot start at AAA. Colin's a lefty bat, whose numbers were suppressed as he made his way through the guantlet of pitchers' parks that stretches from Charleston through Trenton in the Yankee system. He's sort of similar to Brett Gardner, though not quite as fast. He has more pop, though. He was actually starting to show nice pop down the stretch last year, through the AZ fall league and until his injury this year, so he could surprise a bit. He's a good defensive OF who can play all 3 spots. I felt he should have gotten the job they handed to Winn this Spring, but I guess they didn't quite trust Gardner enough at that point to do it. It makes tons of sense now.

The corresponding move will involve either Moeller, Russo, or Huffman. They'll have to add him to the 40, so it could be Moeller, unless they still have an open spot. Anyway, the Yanks should always exhaust their in-house solutions before considering a trade. Good luck to Colin, he's paid his dues.

UPDATE: Moeller was DFA'd. So there is still an open spot on the 40.

Knicks and Rangers Draft Week

This week will end with the NBA draft on Thursday, then the NHL draft on Friday and Saturday.

As of right now, the Knicks have tons of cap room, and only 2 2nd round picks going into the draft. The second round players don't count against the cap right away, so unless they really blow the picks, they can't hurt themselves there. It should be a mellow night, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks got the fireworks going early, with either a trade, or by buying a first rounder and getting a PG or C they have targeted. I still believe LeBron is in the bag, but I feel they are excited to get things going, so we might see some fireworks Thursday night.


The Rangers would be in great draft shape had they not foolishly traded this year's 3rd for a big scrub. Still, they have the 10th pick in each of the first two rounds, and they have really turned the corner with their drafting over the past few years. They've done a really good job of scouting as we saw when they picked up Kreider,Werek and Bourque with their first two picks last year, and Del Zotto, Stepan, Grachev with their top three two years ago. That's how you build in the NHL. They have higher picks this year, but fewer of them. There's been some buzz that they are trying to acquire a third or more picks, and we'll just have to wait to see what happens with that during the draft. Sometimes, Sather has been able to get good picks for garbage, and other times he's spent good picks on garbage.

Regardless, the Rangers need to get offensive impact players in rounds one and two. Guys who can score the puck. And there should be guys available. Now, if the scouting advantage I believe they are developing really exists, we should be very excited by both picks.

There's been some speculation that MSG will be putting all of their time into fixing the Knicks this summer. I don't that's true. I think some of what the Knicks plan to do is already in the bag, and that they will be eager to get the Rangers back in the playoffs next year.

Should be an interesting and enteraining end of the week.

GCL 2

The GCL roster is finally up http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=475 but it's missing Culver and others, and currently features guest stars like Manny Banuelos, Brett Marshall, Matt Richardson and Nik Turley, so let's call it the "provisional" roster, or the roster pro temps, whichever you prefer. The four pitchers I've listed will be off to other assignments once their rehabs have been completed.

Needless to say, there's a lot of talent on the provisional roster. All of last year's prep pitchers; Mitchell, Gerritse, DeLuca and Checo (pictured) are on there and will probably be there most of the season. Mitchell was considered an advanced righty so, he too, may be headed elsewhere at some point. DeLuca is an advanced power lefty, but he may be stuck there because he signed so late last year. Gerritse and Checo were a little more developmental, though both project to have big stuff. Harold Garce throws HARD, and has made nice progress in cutting his insane walks totals down. Conor Mullee was a college senior the Yanks just drafted. Normally a senior pitcher would start in SI, but Mulle is a recent convert who found he can throw 95, so they're starting him with the kids. There are also a bunch of interesting international arms, like Erik Tapia, a throw hard lefty, and Charlyn Garcia. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the signability kids get some innings in toward the end of the 60 game schedule.

Catcher is loaded. Gary Sanchez was last year's big ticket FA, and has been described as being a combination of Montero at the plate and Romine behind it. The Yanks gave him 3M last year, which is more than Montero got in a more flush 2006 economy. He's the big follow this summer along with Culver. Now, Damian Taveras may just be a guest star. He's a bit older and hit around .398 over in the DSL last year. That's sick in any league. He just got his visa and he could just be there to get acclimated before heading up the chain. Kyle Perkins is an Australian prospect, who so impressed them two years ago, that they let him finish school in Auz, before coming over now. He doesn't have the thump of a Montero, Romine or Sanchez, but he's a good athlete. Jhorge Liccien is a good prospect, like Francisco Arcia, who keeps getting caught in numbers crunches.

Until Culver arrives, the big names in the infield are Rey Nunez and Fu Lin Kuo. Nunez is a 1B with big power - you know the kind 1b's are supposed to have but we haven't developed in ages - two years ago he was overweight, but he has worked like a mad man to get himself in great shape and he's one of the most exciting players that's come over this year. Fu Lin Kuo is a 3B we signed in the aftermarket last summer. He's a 3b from Taiwan who's a good hitter. Felix and Rosario are both lean guys who get on base but haven't shown any power. Toussen was from the 2006 signing class and has yet to put it all together. He played in the GCL last year and looks like he'll be there all season this year.

The outfield is incomplete. Kelvin Duran is a sweet swinging lefty CF who has already homered to start the season. Duran was a guy who had a big number a few years ago, and no one signed him. He was a Boras client. On his own, he came to the Yanks and asked to tryout. He did and they signed him. And it's looking good so far. Ramon Flores and Henry Pena are both LF's who get on base. Ramon was really impressive two years ago and will look to get that going again. Pena was coming around last year and could still turn into something. Nathan Aron is from Australia and may just be on the roster to keep Perkins company. So that's the provisional OF, but Victor Reynoso should be showing up soon. He's a 5 tool prospect who broke out in the DSL last year.

So that's a look at the GCLYanks that start the season today. We'll have more news on them as players breakout and players are added. Go GCL Yanks!

UPDATE: GCL Yanks just won 10-8 after being down 8-6 in the bottom of the 8th. Kelvin Duran scored three runs and hit a homer today. Gary Sanchez was 2-4 with a GRAND SLAM and a walk. Jose Rosario, who I implied had no pop earlier, homered and was 2-5 with a steal. Believe it or not, the pitching was pretty good. The fielding was atrocious as they combined for 5 errors, included 2 from Kuo, 1 from Gary and 2 from Felix. They need to clean that up, obviously, but, overall, a nice day at the empty park. Go GCLYanks!