Knicks Battle But Lose

Carmelo was just short on a last second bid for the win, but the Knicks after battling back couldn't quite pull it off.  Still they showed some nice moxie in coming  back, and many of their best players still haven't played together enough to jell.   Tough game to lose, but not terribly discouraging.   Go Knicks!

Rangers Win!

The Rangers had another good effort tonight as they beat the too young to drive Sabers 2-0 at the re-fangled Garden.    Hank was back and recorded the shutout.  Miller was great for Buffalo or it would have been worse.   He'll net the Sabers a ton when they trade him.   Brassard scored the first Ranger goal, which was a good sign.  He and Step really have to get back to where they were at their best last season.    And Chris Kreider scored the second goal and his second in the last two days.  This time it was a slap shot after a neutral zone takeaway.    I think he's finally here to stay.  Let's go, Rangers!

Knicks Tonight

The Knicks are going to have to play better if they want to win in Chicago.   Rose is back and even with that additional  headache the Bulls have been a tough match up for the Knicks.  What's more, Felton tweaked his hammy last night, and that could be limiting.  Also, if I am understanding Woodson correctly, Stat will play tonight, but Kenyon Martin will not.   He said last night that he's going with a system where they alternate games.  So that will hurt our D and size.  Hopefully Shump can lock up or limit Rose.   Should be a tough one.  Go Knicks!

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers play Buffalo tonight, and they've also been off to a tough start.   Hank will get the start, or  that was the plan last night.   They need to keep playing hard as they have been platting and keeping it simple.   MDZ looks like the only one who's still struggling (other than the bad players like Pyatt), and he just has to make better decisions.  We all know he can play better.  But let's win this one and get some momentum.   Go Rangers!

Knicks Win

The Knicks jumped out to a big lead, then gave it up, then won anyway.     I mean it!  They won!  One of our teams actually won their opener!  Bless you, Knicks!   Bless you!   Chandler was good and the rest of the team was good enough for the W!   Should we be worried about their tendency to to coast with a big lead?   Not yet, but I wish they would stop allowing these comebacks, which they did a few times in the preseason, too.  Still they held the Bucks to 83, and that's pretty good D.   Go Knicks!

Knicks Tonight

The Knicks finally start their regular season tonight.   They'll be taking on the Bucks, who spent much of the preseason handling them.    I don't think that's gonna matter much as the Knicks are a veteran team and there is no try in team in the NBA preseason, except for kids. I think, thought I haven't seen it mentioned in a while, the JR Smith has to begin his suspension tonight.  That will hurt, especially if it's the good JR that's sitting out.  But, Shumpert has really looked like he's coming on a Tim Hardaway Jr. has looked promising.    

For the Knicks it will be all about playing D and figuring out how to rotate all of those old players.  Amazing, Amare says he's ready and could play tonight.   Kenyon Martin has had "an ankle" but he's set to play, too.    Bargnani has looked awful in the preseason and Meta World Peace could start for him at the 4.    It will be interesting to see if Bargnani has any sort of role on this team.   Anwyway, should be fun.

One more thing on D, all the switching doesn't really play to the strength of the Knicks best defenders:Shump, Chandler and Meta.    Woodson should probably figure out something else.   We'll see if he does.  Go Knicks!

2 Points!

Ah, the Rangers just beat the Islanders.   The world is right.   Chris Kreider finally got a goal in his latest go round, this time a PP goal where he was positioned in front and converted a Richards shot/pass.    The Rangers would then fall behind (the second Isles goal was off Girardi)before coming back on a PP goal by McDonagh, and another goal from Poulliot on a nifty feed from Hagelin.   Step had an assist or two as well.   Talbot was solid and seems more competitive than any backup we've had since Hank.   Nice job by the kid.   Great win for the Rangers.  

Rangers Tonight

Tonight, the Rangers play the Islanders.  Let's hope the refs don't have a bet on this one.   Jesper Fast has been sent down to make room for Carl Hagelin.     Pyatt lives to screw up another game.   Hags should bring energy and hopefully some points.   Fast will go down to the Wolf Pack and join his buddy Oscar Lindberg who has been going off lately.   Good things are happening down there.   Now we need good things to start happening in the NHL, staring with tonight against the Islanders.   We still don't have a "first" Ranger goal in the re-built Garden.

Rangers Get Reffed in Home Opener

Sheesh.  That was like watching a 1970's game against the Habs.   How much beer or the Molson's still sending NHL refs?   As much as we love hockey, this is why it's still a mid-major sport.    Lopsided officiating in favor of the team the refs grew up loving.  If you can't skate for the Canadiens grow up and help them any way you can.  Pathetic.   Montreal goalie was good, though.

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers will finally play a home game tonight.   Fan response to the improved Garden has seemed terrific and let's see if the excitement can keep fueling the Rangers.   Hank is playing and the Rangers will need him at his best.  The Canadiens have been a tough opponent for the Rangers lately, and somewhat surprisingly.   They can't screw around.   Because of their horrific 6/18 start to the season, they have to become a dominant home team, and that's just to make up for the opportunities they've missed so far.   Kreider looked really good the other night, now let's see if he can start converting his shots again.     This could be fun if he and Miller start doing their thing, and force the Rangers to demote someone else when Carl Hagelin is ready later this week or early next.

This Week On The Blog

Okay, this week on the blog could be a little busier because the Giants and Rangers are starting to play better and win.   But there are other reasons, too.

Knicks:  The Knicks will finally start their regular season.  And kudos to them for staying in the news for the entire offseason without really making any huge news.  In fact there only big move, the Bargs trade, looked horrible in the preseason.

Yankees:  We should get a better idea of what happened in Tampa.   They might even be able to bid on Tanaka around Friday.

Giants:  We'll see if they can gather momentum and keep things going, or whether they're ready to fall apart again.   That fourth quarter td the Eagles scored on the bad snap is the sort of thing that happens to bad teams, so they could still be bad.

Rangers:  Tomorrow they finally play a home game!  Hank should be back and the effort has been much better these past two or three games.    Let's hope we get some good news on Nash, too.  Btw, I think they play 4 times this we and Hagelin could even be back.

So, interesting week indeed!

Giants Win Again

The Giants looked a little bit like their old selves today as they went down to Philly and kicked 5 field goals for a win.   The final score was 15-7, and the Eagle touchdown cam on a rare bad snap from Zach DeOssie to Wetherford when the Giants were on their on side of the field.    Weird.  Fortunately, when they couldn't run the clock out with 4 minute O, Will Hill came through with an interception to win the game.    He's looking more and more like a ringer in this season for mostly bad news.   They could win again next week against the Raiders.   At this point, I have to insist that they win out or stop winning altogether and take the pick bonanza that comes with sucking.    Go Giants!

Rangers Win in OT!

Derrick Brassard came through in the clutch as he scored the game winner in OT to give the Rangers their third win of the season.    So they'll head into the Garden having played a little better of late.    MZA and Poulliot had to regulation goals.   Both players had come up earlier in the week because of MZA's scratch and Poulliot's elbow, but tonight it was more positive (though MZA did have a giveaway on Detroit's first goal).   Kreider looks like he belongs, and so does Cam.    Nice job, Rangers!  Big win!

Giants Tomorrow

Peyton Hillis probably became the most celebrated 2ypc back in Giant history as he scored a TD in his first Giant game and their first win of the season.    Tomorrow the Giants will play the equally bad Eagles, who shellacked them in the second half a few weeks ago.   The Giants are still rife with injuries, but if they take care of the ball, they might be able to win down in Philly.   We'll see.   I hate watching them lose, but in terms of the pick bonanza that comes with losing I have more mixed feelings.    I can't physically root against them during games, though.   Go Giants!

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers have travelled to Detroit to face the Red Wings tonight.   Once again, Cam Talbot is starting for a"minorly" injured Henrik Lundqvist.    This could be a disaster.  On the other hand, it is the last of the season starting road games that were forced by Phase 3 of the MSG re-model.   Now, the only question regards how big the hole will be.  3 and 6 would be the best case scenario.   But we're more likely looking at 2-7.   We better be a great home team from here on out,

Daily News: Damon Oppenheimer Retains Job

In what has been a slow week for news coming out of the Yankee meetings in Tampa, the fact that Damon Oppenheimer will keep his job and remain in charge of amateur scouting is at least somewhat re-assuring.   I have argued all along that the problems have not been scout related as much as they have been pick position, draft budget and player development related.   In keeping Damon, ownership is hopefully acknowledging the damaging effects of their budgets as well as how poorly they played the QO game before the rules were changed.    We'll see what else happens to address those other areas.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been on for several weeks now and though it's okay, and in some ways getting better, it's been underwhelming so far.   Clark Gregg has been fantastic in the movies as agent Phil Colson, but we're used to seeing him in bigger settings with seemingly hundreds or more agents under his command.   Here he has about 5, an while that might work as a core group, they need to volumize the series, in general, with more agents and more activity.

It's also quite a drag that they haven't introduced either in dialog or in character.   There are scores of Marvel heroes who are not going to get their own movies, so why not use some of them or knowledge of some of them here.   They need to Marvel this out more.   And where the hell is Hydra?   I know they're discovering an organization called Centipede on the show, but Hydra has always been the anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. and don't tell me it got wiped out in WWII.   For that matter, where's the Secret Empire.

The way the under staffed show is currently going, they're handling a case a week, with some character (Sky traitor or not?) and plot (Centipede) runners.  That's pretty much the formula for every 1 hour good guy/bad guy show on TV.   This should be much bigger and much more special  And they should be in a race against time against something huge.   It now appears that they will be in a race to stop Centipede from producing Super Soldiers, but it should be even bigger.  And more fun.

So, in short, they should make SHIELD bigger, throw in some non-Avenger super heroes, bring back Hydra and put them in a race against Hydra to save the world.   That's what Jack Kirby would do, and I'm sure it's what Jim Steranko would do, too.

Knicks Make Their Cuts

The Knicks have made their cuts, and while most make a bit of sense, one that wasn't made stands out like a sore thumb.    Chris Smith is a Knick.    Tyler is not.   Diogu and Powell getting cut are not surprising, nor is Leslie who showed almost nothing.   But Tyler is a big with talent, and though he's banged up would have been a much better keep than Chris Smith, who couldn't get run in Central Park if he wanted to.  I hope they have an agreement to pick Tyler when he's healthy.    Meanwhile, Toure Murray, who does look talented and Cole Aldrich who remains big also made the team.

Sounds like JR, Kenyon and possibly even Stat will make their pre-season debuts tonight.

Arrow Season 2

It's been awhile since I wrote about pop culture here.  Originally. I would write about TV, movies and music as well as the Yanks, Giants, Knicks and Rangers.  So I thought I might do it a bit again, if I ever have anything to say about a show, a movie or some music.   I realized I had things to say about Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, so I figured I'd do it here.

Arrow's been a pretty good show so far, but about as different from the Smallville version of Green Arrow as can be.   Last night's episode made that abundantly clear.  Smallville was Superman's world, so superpowers were established and accepted.   In this new version of Arrow, we are clearly in Christopher Nolan's world and I am a little disappointed.  This became undeniably clear last night when Black Canary used a sound box rather than a mutation to create her high pitched wail, and later when it was learned she had come from Ra's Al Ghul's Legion of Shadows.

So clearly they are shooting for Nolan's non super powered fraction of the DC Universe rather than the fully super powered larger universe.   That's a drag.    Though I still like the show and "like" Nolan's Dark Knight stuff, I thought they could use this show speed up their Justice League project.   But, nope.   I'll keep watching, but it's a procedural with a guy in a suit and not a superhero show.  Btw, get a mask, it's impossible not to recognize Oliver Queen in the hood.

Rangers Tonight

Talbot is starting.  Kreider is back.  Mashinter is up and MZA is scratched.  So disregard your programs.   For some reason I like our chances tonight.

Bringing up Mashinter isn't exactly the same as when we used to call up Frank "Seldom"  Beaton and Ed "Boxcar" Hospidar against the Flyers, but it's that kind of move, and hopefully Mashinter brought his fists.  Speaking of fists,  Dylan McIlrath continues to hold his own down in the AHL, and we could see him soon.

No word on the injury to Hank, except that is happened in game 2, and is "minor."   No word at all about Rich Nash and that's a bit disconcerting.    Let's hope Kreider, Miller and Mashinter can spark things tonight, and let's see if Stepan and Brassard can wake up.  LGR!

What's With Choo?

So, the Yanks finally may be interested in Sin Soo Choo.    For years, I have wanted them to trade for Choo.   He gets on base and his lefty swing in perfect for Yankee Stadium.    However; now's just not the right time; unless he doesn't get a QO from the Reds; which seems bloody unlikely.   Choo will be 32 and you just can't trade the 18th pick in the draft for a 32 year old who could begin his decline phase at any minute.   It's a shame they didn't get him earlier, but like Beltran and McCann, now's not the time.   Instead, they should figure out how to develop hitters that get on base and have some pop again.

Hank Scratched

Throw another top Ranger on the injury pile.   Hank's been scratched for tomorrow night, and Cam Talbot will make his regular season debut.   He's a bit hot and cold, but a competitor and there have been plenty of late blooming NHL goalies in league history.   In other news, Brad Richards says that Chris Kreider had been pressing in his previous call ups.  That makes sense, and is the one of the best ways we have of suppressing our own abilities.  Let's hope he has some fun this time around.

Trey Hillman?

The Dodgers have fired bench coach Trey Hillman and in doing so might have done the Yanks a favor.   The Yanks were big fans of Hillman when he was working in their minor league system and could very well want to bring him back in some big role now that they're refocused on player development.    We'll see what happens.    But the Yanks do think he's one of their's.

Giants Roar to 1 and 6

Wow.   They really did it. and even looked like the Giants at times.    Let's not make a habit of this (unless you're willing to run the table Giants) I want those high picks in each round.   Still that was a ridiculous wait for a first good week during the football season.

Giants: Hankins Out

The Giants have scratched Hankins tonight.  Don't know if he's hurt, but if he isn't that's a bad decision considering the best player on the Vikes is a punishing RB.    Sheesh.   0-7?

Giants Tonight

Not that anyone is too amped anyway, but it looks like Brandon Jacobs will have to sit this one out.   That leaves the Giants with Michael Cox, who's had one carry, and Peyton Hillis who joined the team during the bye and has looked shot lately.    Bet we see an end around or two.  Hope we don't lose too much yardage.  And it's a shame that our offense has never featured a short passing game, that would have fluffed Eli's stats. and kept the chains moving on days when we're down to no backs.   Sheesh.

Yankee Begins Their Meetings

Brian Cashman and the New York execs are down in Tampa meeting with the Steinbrenners and and their former brother-in-law.   Subjects on the table are: the farm system; player development; the draft; scouting in general; the offseason plan; trade targets and free agency;  what to give Cano; and budgets.     That's a lot and there seems to be no timetable for announcements and if they decide to reassign any execs, they may not announce it.   Whatever happened to Gordon Blakely. anyway?    We'll have to see if anything productive or clever happens.   Clever seems needed.

This Week on the Blog

Could be another interesting week on the blog.  

We've already seen the Rangers continue their roster moves.   Now we'll see if they can win some games.   They are a ridiculous 2 and 5 to start and sort of really need the next two, to begin this home stand on decent footing.   I wouldn't be surprised to see more moves.

The Giants will try to get their first win tomorrow night.   It's unclear who has practiced and who we'll see, but more roster moves could be coming here.

The Knicks will try to limit injuries (Bargnani is now hurt) and steady themselves as the season opener draws near.

The Yanks will have their executive meetings down in Tampa and who knows what will come of those, and if there will be any news at all coming out of them?

So, interesting stuff.

Giants Tomorrow

Our 0-6 Giants will play Minnesota tomorrow night.  Both teams are banged up, but it's unclear who was even healthy and practicing this week for the Giants.    Peyton Hillis may even get in the game.   The Giants are that thin at RB.     If they are to win, Eli has to finally play a good game against the Vikings.   Early in his career they tortured him.   Let's see if we can get the passing attack going.    And hopefully the D will figure out how to stop Peterson, cause if they do the Giants can win.

Kreider Returns

After Biron's retirement, the Rangers sent down Powe and recalled Mashinter and Cam Talbot.   I assume we'll see more physical play from Mashinter and Kreider this time.   It would also be nice to see Mashinter kick some asses, and Kreider score some goals.   Of course, for Kreider to do that he needs to play with guys other than Boyle and Pyatt.    Let's see if AV has figured that out, yet.

Yankees Meetings

The Yankee execs are all in Tampa to meet with Hal and Hank and perhaps make some moves intended to fix the farm.   Some articles are speculating that Mark Newman and Damon Oppenheimer could be on the way out.   Now I have long argued that player development has been the bigger problem than player acquisition.  

However; player acquisition has still been a problem, but I don't think that's Damon Oppenheimer's fault.     Until the draft caps of the last two years, the Yankees were free to spend whatever they wanted to in the MLB draft.   But Hal insisted on budgets.  Damon only spent what he was allowed to spend, and only drafted players he was allowed to draft.  Meanwhile, under Damon, the Yanks have been impressive with their picks outside the top 100.

Now, the Yankees also didn't play the QO game as well as teams like the Red Sox did, and thus didn't have as many top 100 picks as the Sox and others.   That's not Damon's fault either.

During the past several years, the Yanks have spent bucks adding more and more accomplished scouts, but really charged them with finding lottery tickets, rather than giving them free reign to commit Yankee dollars.

So, while I think there is a development problem that goes all the way up the chain (Hughes and Joba were ruined at the Major League level), I think the scouting issue is really more a Hal and his budgets issue, than a problem with the scouts.

We'll see what the Yankees conclude about this.   I hope they make good decisions this week, but that's not a given.

Biron Retires

Today, Marty Biron announced his retirement.    It's great when a player realizes he just doesn't have it anymore, and I guess Biron felt what we saw.     I'm sure he'll end up in an announcers booth at some point as all talkative goalies do.    Good luck to him always.

Capwise, I think it would have been better if he retired this past offseason.

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers stay on the road and play the Devils tonight.   Curiously, Vigneault has added Pyatt to the first line.     This was after the Rangers recalled Powe, instead of anyone with talent, after Callahan went down.    It's hard to imagine what the point is.   Meanwhile, down in the AHL, the kids who can't help have scored 9 out of a possible 10 points this year and are playing their butts off.

The Rangers and Devils have been playing close games for several years now.   It will be interesting if tonight's tilt turns out any other way.   It would be good to see Brassard, MZA and some of the other "talented" guys start making some plays and scoring.   Let's Go, Rangers.

The Yank Must Keep Their First

I've written quite a bit about the draft here over the years.  Some of the names being bandied about for the Yanks this offseason are great ideas: Tanaka; good ideas: Cano; and non starters if they get QO's: Beltran and McCann.

The Yanks can't give up their draft pick.  It's as simple as that, and McCann and Beltran at 37 are not the sort of players the Yanks should be tempted to do that for.  Instead, the Yanks have to steadfastly hold onto pick 18 and see if they can add more first round picks by offering QO's to Cano,  Granderson and Kuroda.

Losing the first round pick would not only hurt the Yanks ability to add a top 20 player to their system, but it would cost them the slot, making it more difficult to sign other draft pick.  Conversely, adding 1,, 2 or 3 more first rounders would increase their draft pool allotment, and allow the Yanks a shot at 1-3 more top prospects.  

The most important FA for the Yanks to get is Tanaka, because he's only 24 and patches the pipeline till some of the other high upside kids are ready.   And he doesn't cost a pick.  Cano, regardless of what people thing of his efforts down to first, deserves to finish his career as a Yankee.  

I'd rather have picks than Granderson and Kuroda, and really take lumps next year, but having them both back on one year deals, wouldn't be terrible.    Anyway, no more wasting picks on middling free agents.  It's supposed to be a deep draft...

Cally Has a Thumb

Ugh.   After just returning for a shoulder problem, Ranger Captain Ryan Callahan is now going to be out another 3-4 weeks with a broken thumb.    And oddly, the Rangers have called up Darrol Powe, so this could hurt even more.   Oh well.    Let's go, Rangers.

Rangers Win But Stepan Gets His Bell Rung

The Rangers looked much better last night as Hank recorded his first shutout of the season against the Caps.  John Moore and Cally got the goals.  Would have been a great night, but Brouwer hit Stepan in the head, and now they Rangers have observe the concussion protocol with Step.  

Everyone talks about the concussions in football, but they have been taking their toll on the Rangers these past few years between, Stall, Sauer, Nash and now Stepan.     The Rangers really need an enforcer type to discourage the kind of hits Brouwer laid on Step, and the league needs to step in and do a better job of protecting the players.   You'd think losing Crosby for all that time would have had them making new rules.   But, they haven't done enough yet and this has gotten ridiculous.

Giants Sign Peyton Hillis

So the Giants have picked Peyton Hillis off the scrap heap to give themselves a little more depth at RB while everyone's recovering.   Hillis had some good years, so years ago, then became sort of a head case and stopped performing well.    I guess he's considered locker room poison.  Of course, he literally cannot make the Giants any worse, and there are still a few guys in that locker room who can put him back in line if he acts up.   We'll see.

Rangers Tonight

Tonight marks the return of JT Miller.   Let's hope they don't play him with Boyle or Pyatt.   Yesterday, AV threatened the top six saying they could be replaced by Miller if they didn't start performing.  Let's hope he means that and doesn't give Poulliot many more chances.   The Rangers are used to playing the Caps, unlike the start of the road trip when they were seeing teams they hadn't played in over a season. This could tell us a little more.    The new system is supposed to create goals, but it really isn't doing that yet.  Hopefully, that will happen suddenly and as soon as tonight.   I haven't heard anything about a promotion to take Nash's place, but Kreider would make the most sense.  Let's go, Rangers!

Yanks and Carlos Beltran

Rumors are flying that there is mutual interest between the Yanks and Carlos Beltran.    This is unusual since Carlos is still playing baseball in the NLCS.    Of course, the Yanks are generally wise about tampering, but there are always backchannels going on with agents providing the deniability.   It wouldn't surprise me at all if Beltran finally becomes a Yankee this offseason.  He certainly fits their preference for old outfielders.    I guess the only thing that could stop it would be the money.  But with all of their room, even under 189, they should be able to work something out.  Like they should have all those years ago.

Rangers Bring Up Miller and Talbot

Asham and Biron cleared waivers and are headed to Connecticut.   To replace them the Rangers have called up JT Miller, who had 4 goals in 3 games for the Pack, and Cam Talbot, who had been their starting goalie.   Miller we know about and he adds skill, youth and some needed toughness    Talbot is on the way up, and could benefit from being around Hank.    

Nash was put on IR, and it's unclear who they will call up to take his place, but it should be Kreider.

David Wilson Out 3-4 Weeks

So the news seems good.   David Wilson will not, apparently need surgery for his spinal stenosis.   But he will need another 3-4 weeks off.    That's great news, because he was starting to look great again when he went down.   Tiki took some time, too, you'll remember or not.   Looks like it will be mostly Cox till then, though.

Yanks Shouldn't Sign Brian McCann

A lot of people like the idea of a left power hitting catcher playing in the new YS.    Sure, that would be great, if we developed one.   But the Yanks should not overpay for anyone anymore (unless it's in a non-taxable posting move) and McCann, who will also cost the 18th pick in this year's draft, will be overpaid.    He's limited defensively, which Girardi abhors. Not that I care what Girardi thinks, but he's had vision problems ever since someone screwed up his Lasik surgery years ago.  I'm not sure if that's part of the problem with his defense, but he no longer looks like the good OBP guy he seemed destined to be earlier in his career.  He might crack a lot of homers in the stadium if Girardi lets him play, but the money will be too much, and the pick will be way too much.   And Murphy and Sanchez just ain't that far off.     Heck, I'm not a Romine fan, but he even had some moments of clarity this past season.   And there's even more behind them.

Pass on McCann.

Breaking: Rangers Put Biron and Asham on Waivers

So the Rangers have opted for some roster moves.   Waiving Biron and Asham probably does nothing more than open up cap room room for call ups like Miller and Talbot.    We'll see, perhaps someone will claim them.   That would be best.  A number of us wanted to cut bait on Biron for awhile.   He's a great guy, but a sieve.   Let's see what else they do.

Trading Nicks?

There's been a lot of talk all season about trading Hakeem Nicks, who will become a free agent if we don't re-sign him or franchise him.    Obviously, the take would have to be a first rounder plus, but I'm not really in favor of moving him.   I think he's been playing careful all year, waiting for a new deal, and though I'm not sure they should reward him, I think they should franchise him and let him play for a new deal next year.

Also, Ruben Randle is still too inconsistent to replace what Nicks can give us.

It's tough to go 0-6 but I'm not sure breaking up the core is the way to remedy it.   Trading Nicks hurts the over O in general and Eli and Cruz specifically.   And I think he's younger than Cruz.  

If they do decide to trade Nicks, they should also consider trading JPP.  He'd command a major ransom, and may not be worth the big dollars he'd command based on what he looked like two years ago.  

It's important, though, that the Giants look at the schemes really carefully before they start chopping up the core.

This Week on The Blog

Could be pretty interesting.

Rangers:  We'll see if they make any roster moves, and gain a pulse.

Giants:  We'll see if they make any roster moves, and gain a pulse.

Yanks:  we'll see if there are any immediate results from the meeting between Hal Steinbrenner and the Yankee brass.

Knicks: We'll see if they handle being the best team in New York.

Rangers Lose By Less

The Rangers lost again tonight, but it was by less, and the biggest factor was back up goalie Marty Biron.  At least two of the goals he allowed, he shouldn't have, and they only lost by two.   They showed some signs on O and Falk showed some signs he should be on the team.  I don't know if he refuses to move his feet or he can't.   It's amazing they haven't called up JT Miller to pick up some Nash slack.  He's been on fire in the AHL.  Oh well, we knew this was a process.   The Rangers probably should have upgraded the back up Goalie over the last offseason.  His his number is ridiculous for a sieve.

Yankees and Qualifying Offers

The Yankees could end up with anywhere from 1-4 first rounders this year, depending how they work their qualifying offers.    The number has been set a 14.1    Obviously, that excludes making an offer to Phil Hughes,  but demands offers be made to Cano, Granderson and Kuroda.    Now, it's possible that they all come back, but losing 1-3 of them would bring first round picks and the Yanks sort of desperately need those.

They will be picking around #18 in this year's first round, which is sort of way up there for them.  Next year, if things go as planned they'll have an even higher pick, but meanwhile they have to keep doing what they can to add talent, so they should scotchguard those three players with QO's.

Meanwhile, Phil Hughes will go down as one of the reasons the dynasty stalled.   Same with Joba.   Tragic.

Rangers Tonight

Tonight, Marty Biron will be in the net for the reeling Rangers.    That seems to be their only adjustment as they head into St. Louis and try to get back on the winning track.  Interestingly, Kreider, Miller, Kristo and Yogan are all playing pretty well down in the AHL, but the Rangers seem to never have to much of Pyatt and Boyle.   They have to take better care of the puck through the neutral zone, and they have get a little tougher all over the ice.   I'm not talking about blocking shots at an insane rate, but they need to have each other's backs.   Let's see if they take a step forward tonight.

Yanks Offseason: Yanks Interested in Masahiro Tanaka?

The buzz is that the Yanks are interested in Japanese RHP Masahiro Tanaka.  I hope this is true for a couple of reasons.  First, we don't have to trade anyone to get him.   Second, he's only 24 and you usually have to give up quite a player ransom to get such a young star.  Third, we have spots open in our rotation.   And fourth, but really first, I like his stuff.

Tanaka throws a 4 seamer, 2 seamer, slider and split.   He works in the 90-94 range with his fastballs but can dial up a little more when he wants to.  The slider and split are filthy.   The Yanks don't teach kids the split, so it's missing from most of our pitchers, but can be a great pitch and give the Yanks rotation a different look.

So, what we'd be buying is a 24 year old with great stuff delivered 4 different ways.  Hopefully he can or will learn to change speeds, which would give him even more pitches.   So let's hope they get him.

Knicks Tonight: Exciting Young Talent?

I know I told you about the Eddie Lee Wilkins Postulate the other night, but Tim Hardaway Jr. is not an undrafted big.  He's a scoring 2 guard, and he looked just like that out of the gate the other night.   He even hit the game winning shot.  That was impressive.  In fact, both he and Iman Shumpert give the team a different pulse when they are out there, and it should give us all hope for this season and the coming turnover.    Fun to see young guys who can play.

Tonight should be interesting as Bargnani returns to Toronto.   He wasn't very effective in game one, but he did grab some boards.   Let's see if he can hit some threes.    Should be more fun that watching the Giants or Rangers so far.