Giants Roster Review: WR's

Let's get WR's out of the way, since they're probably the most confusing right now.    The Soup Harris injury, as well, as, I guess, the IR'ing of Manningham and Holliday, as well as the injury to Odell Beckham Jr.,  and the slow development pace of Jernigan and Randle has left things a jumble.

Right now we have Cruz, Beckham, Randle, Jernigan, Parker and Washington on the 53, plist Julian Talley on the Practice Squad.   I frankly think Parker is just insurance in case Beckham can't go against the Lions and think he'll be cut as soon as Beckham can play.

Randle and Jernigan have both flashed, but both, and Randle especially, have been involved in some really bad plays.   Jernigan with the ball in his hands can be explosive, but the problem has been getting the ball into his hands.   Eli doesn't look for him much, and it seems like he throws him a lot of grounders when they try to get it to him in the short passing game.

Randle is more problematic.   On any play where he and Eli have to be on the same page, he just doesn't seem to be.  His mistakes have lead to drive killing incompletions and, worse still, interceptions.  He's been a liability.  It's strange because he looked like a real Giant-type receiver who could run the whole tree,  when he was in the draft.   Of course, some times it does take some time, but he hasn't had bad injuries, and so this year should see big growth, or it will be time to cut losses.

Cruz is Cruz, and Eli will get him his catches in any O. There's some speculation that he'll explode in the new one, but we haven't seen enough of it to know just how much he will.   But he still needs help.

Corey Washington could be that help, but it could take awhile before the coaches are willing to use him that way.    Still, the Giants have gotten really lucky with Washington.  As I said during draft season, the Giants really needed a power receiver.    Washington is just that kind of guy with the additional ability to run a sub 7 3-cone.     Sure he needs work on route running, but remember Herman Moore only used to run 3 routes, so maybe he won't have to learn the whole tree.

And if he ever gets healthy Odell Beckham Jr. is the most talented WR on the team.   He's just incredible football talent, who can play the X,  and has the potential to score any time he touches it, whether on offense or one specials.    And even though he's only practiced a few times, no less a Giant than Victor Cruz says the O is better when he's in it.   Special player.   So let's get him healthy.

Once we do, we can either dump Parker and promote Talley who seems more solid, or find someone else.     But until Beckham is healthy, and a third guy steps up to got with Beckham and Cruz, it'll be tricky.   And if Randle busts, we'll have to pick another one next year.

Having said all of that, this is bad luck and not bad management by the Giants.  Losing Harris, Manningham and Holliday, and the injury to Beckham has not been their fault.   And finding Washington could turn out to be a home run.

Giants Name 7 Players to the Practice Squad

The Giants have had a curious cutdown period, but in the midst of it, they brought back some high potential players for their practice squad.   Most important, I think, was bringing back the tall corners Bennett Jackson, and Chandler Ferren.  It's been shown that the bigger corners, Terrell Thomas notwithstanding, can take some extra time to develop fully.  This is especially true for Jackson, who was a wide receiver when he started at ND.

They were also able to bring back DE Jordan Stanton, who flashed in the preseason games.   LB Dan Fox was another guy I like who is back.   And WR Julian Talley is back.

They also brought back Michael Cox, showing me a lack of effort in their search for RB help.

They also brought in Nick Becton a `13 UDFA from VaTech who had been with the Chargers.    They have three spaces remaining.

Yanks Acquire Chaz Roe

Yanks have acquired Chaz Roe from the minors.    He's been around but is only 27.   God knows what they gave up for him and why they think more pitching will help them hit.

Yanks Lose

Bautista is the new Ortiz and they won't throw at him.  Unacceptable. Weak sauce.   Bad effort.   Gardy can't do it alone.

Giants Lose Quarles on Waivers to Pats, Make No Claims of Their Own

The Giants might be vacationing this holiday weekend, as apparently no one is at the wheel.   They just lost Kelcy Quarles on waivers to the Pats as they tried to sneak him through to the practice squad.  And yes, though we always beat the Pats when it matters, Belichick has been able to pluck too freely from our talent base whenever we've tried to be clever.   Keeping Marcus Kuhn and waving Kelcy Quarles is not how you run a good program.

Also, phenomenally, the Giants made no waiver claims for this round of cuts.  In other words, they didn't see anything better than the crap they kept, like Kuhn, Brewer, Brown and others.   I guess they're be looking at veterans this week,

In the meantime, they've been signing guys they cut to their PSquad, including Fox, Fenner, Stanton, Talley and, thankfully, Bennnett Jackson.

They should have been more proactive this weekend, starting with saving Quarles and jettisoning Kuhn.

This Week on the Blog

Okay, should see some interesting stuff this week from our teams.  

Yankees:  Tomorrow they can expand their roster by calling up people on the 40.   Let's see if they're willing to make a commitment to any prospects who haven't been up yet.   They need to start winning again if they want a chance.  And tomorrow is also the last day they can make a waiver trade that would allow the acquired player to play in the postseason this year.

Giants; The Giants have a lot of roster tinkering and practicing to do.  They also have to name their first 10 man practice squad.

Rangers:  The prospects will be getting ready for Traverse city in mid-September, and I still think the Rangers will be making a trade, and also think they'll get John Moore re-signed any day now.

Knicks:  Who knows?   In Phil we trust.

So the Yanks and Giants will both be adding talent.   The Rangers might be, and the Knicks, who knows?

Giants Roster Analysis Pt.1: Placeholders

A quick glance over the current 53 shows some players who shouldn't really be there and are most likely just placeholders till an outside player can be added, or, in the case of Preston Parker and, perhaps Jerrel Jernigan, until Beckham is finally full go.

Charles Brown and James Brewer are two such players on the OL.  The Giants will be grabbing between 1 and three fresh bodies over the next few days to fix their OL depth, and Brown and Brewer will probably be out the door when that happens.

Marcus Kuhn is in the same situation on the DL.  Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane and did not do anything impressive in the preseason.  Plus, he's already 28 so he is what he's gonna be.

Herzlich especially and Paysinger possibly look upgradeable among the LB's.

And, I don't know if it's in the cards, but dumping Hillis and picking up Lache Seastrunk on waivers could perfect our new Earth, Wind and Fire.

Oh yeah, and all the tight ends.

Should be an interesting next few days.

Giants Get Down To 53 With More Moves Probable

As the deadline approached today, the Giants activated Jon Beason from the PUP list.    They also cut RB Michael Cox, WR Julian Talley, CB Chandler Fenner, DE Jordan Stanton, S Thomas Gordon, RB Kendall Gaskins, LB Terrell Manning, and  OL Mark Asper.  They waived/injured Rogers Gaines, who had actually been one of the young OL's who looked good.

And that's the 53 for now, but it will probably change some in the next 24 hours, and even more before the first game on September 8th.   I might take a look at what they kept a little later, unless things change fast.

Yanks Waste Pineda and Lose

The Yanks got 1 hit today.   This happens to teams that don't grind.  Pineda threw about 2 bad pitches all day, and one of the was to Bautista, and that was your ballgame.    Horrendous.  This team hits like Girardi used to.

Giants Begin Making Final Cuts

So far they have move Manningham and Holliday to short term IR (or will be injury settling them); Hosley and Herman have begun their suspensions; and they have cut CB Bennett Jackson, DE Israel Idonije, DT Kelcy Quarles, LB Dan Fox, QB Curtis Painter, OL Jamal Johnson-Webb, OL Adam Gress, FB John Connor,  and TE Kellen Davis, and they still have to make more cuts.

I'm a little shocked that they cut Bennett Jackson.  He was a a promising big corner, and we can only cross our fingers that that he makes it through waivers.  It would also be good to get Quarles and Fox through,

On the positive side, Corey Washington tweeted that he has made the team.   I'll have more comments about these and other cuts as they come.  I won't be surprised if they re-sign Idonije if he is available after game 1.

Yanks Win

The Yanks just won 6-3 and Girardi only used 4 pitchers to get it done.   Outman made his debut and gave up a hit in the 8th, so Joe brought in DRob for a 4 out save.   I might have to get an updated picture of Ellsbury because he had a homer and a triple tonight.  Of course, he became the latest Yankee to be thrown out at home on the "contact play" but that's part of a larger theme.   Chase Headley also homered.    Good win.   They have 2 more days to do something crazy.

Tanaka Shut Down, Again

Masahiro Tanaka has been shut down again over what they are calling general arm soreness.   Though it doesn't sound serious, any such delay also delays the Yankees pitching plans for obviously this season, which is sort of neither here nor there, but next.   Doesn't sound like they're giving him an MRI, but knowing them, they'll restart his entire protocol.   It's tricky.  I wonder if McCarthy would take a one year extension?    Muddlesome.

Yanks Outman Activated/Rich Hill DFA'd

The Yanks activated their new loogy, Josh Outman and DFA'd Rich Hill today.   So it's still an open question as to why they released Corben Joseph yesterday.  They weren't making the move over Outman, because that move was Hill.  So what's going on?

Btw, the minor league seasons are all ending, and, perhaps, over the weekend I'll have some comments on what was a bounce back year for the farm.

A Couple of Reasons Why The Giants Won't be Bad

People are rightfully concerned that the pre-season did nothing to give us confidence in the new offense.    However; I think that even in that disappointment there is cause for solid optimism, and that's because the running game is back.    Now, we only got small doses of Jennings and Williams, but holy fricking crap.   They're not Thunder and Lightning or Earth, Wind and Fire, but they're either Thunder and Thunder or Earth and Earth.   These are two big boys who can run the rock.   And over four quarters, that's loosen up some mouth guards on the other side.

Jennings looks like an all around guy, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't throw the ball to Williams in and of the endless preseason games.  But he's been working on it.  

We still need third back, and right now it looks like Hillis, which would sort of be a shame.   You want your third back to be faster than the first two, and now slow, which Hillis is at this point.   That said, we'll still be fine on the running game.  Can't wait to see 60 minutes of Jennings and Williams.

Meanwhile, and this is a big ingredient.   We can stop the run again, and that ability will only solidify when Beason returns and elevates the D as he does.

So running and stopping the run are two big things.   And the Giants will have those going for them.

Giants Win Their Finale

The Giants just won 16-13 to complete their 5-0 preseason.  Some jobs were probably won and lost over the course of the game and we probably will have to go outside the organization for a TE.   I think we've seen the last of Painter, though Nasib didn't get much going, either.  Though it did feel like they were forcing balls to certain guys like Preston and Talley to the detriment of the QB's.  Rueben Randle was awful again while the ones were in.  And he made Eli look bad.  Then Eli did look bad, but he shouldn't have been in.   Brady didn't play.   We'll get the final cuts Saturday then see what's cooking.  

Yanks Acquire LHP Outman for Cash

Yanks have acquired Josh Outman from the Indians for cash considerations.  So now we know the space on the 40 that was opened up earlier today isn't going to a kid.    Whatever.

Yanks Can't Hit, Thus They Lose

The horse's head is dead, and, today Shawn Kelley pitched like a horse's ass.   That said, if the Yanks didn't stink on offense, maybe they could score more than two runs.   And today, like last night, they scored all of their runs in the third.  Kuroda was good and didn't deserve to lose when giving up only 2 runs.   Betances pitched a scoreless 8th, and Kelley was in for the 9th.  I don't know Girardi goes from his A+ reliever in the 8th to a B-/C+ in the 9th.   I don't know why he does a lot of things, frankly, but I'm tired of all of them.

UPDATE:  They released Corban Joseph today, so that opens a spot on the 40.

Giants Tonight: Pt. 1

Tonight the Giants will finally end their preseason schedule with their traditional game against the Patriots.   You know how this one goes, Brady probably won't play at all, and Eli will play 1 or two series.  I think we're going to get a big dose of Jimmy G. from the Pats, and the Giants will probably answer with another big dose of Nassib.    We can afford no more injuries, but it would be a good time for some guys to turn both for the guys themselves and for the team.   Looks like Beckham is out again.   Yeesh.  Hillis is back and he'll probably get a lot of work.   It would be nice if two of the TE's distinguished themselves and if some of the young front 7 defenders not named DaMonster could make some plays.    But the key is no more injuries.

Yanks Greene is Great Again

The Yankees rookie starter Shane Greene was back to being great tonight.   In a game they sort of had to win, Greene held them to 2 runs off 5 hits and a walk, and K'd 8 of them over 7 innings.     The offense was, once again strange as they scored 8 runs in the third, without the benefit of a homer-- but by getting 9 straight hits off of Price!   Then they didn't score again.   Warren gave up a run in the 8th, then they used Betances for the 9th with a 5 run lead.    Ponderous.   Weird sequencing and a bit of squeezing  by the ump cost Betances a run with two outs, and lead to him facing Cabrera with one on.  He K'd Cabrera on 4 pitches, getting him with 98 out of the zone away.     Shouldn't have given up a run, though.   Big win.

Yanks: Next Cuban On The Block?

So the next Cuban up is not Yoan Moncada or Yasmani Tomas.  It's short LHP Misael Siverio.   He's said to throw 92 with a couple of breaking pitches and a splitter.   He's 24 so he won't be IFA punishable.   He threw in June and will throw again Friday.  The Yanks were there in June.   The Yanks have had some dynamite little lefties over the years, and if this cat can get out righties and lefties and shows swing an miss even with his average velo, let's pick him up and break the embargo.

Rangers To Give Ryan Malone a Tryout?

Word's around that the Rangers are interested in bringing legally challenged Ryan Malone in for a tryout.   There are sort of three interesting issues around their slow pursuit of Malone.

First, is that the Rangers have a horrible habit of doubling down on their young player signings by signing a corresponding old player.  Last week they secured RW Kevin Hayes, this week we hear they are interested in 34 year old Ryan Malone.  They can't keep blocking prospects with vets, it's bad for morale and it's bad for the salary cap.  

Second,  the Rangers have been pretty darn good at exploiting market inefficiencies.  For example, signing MZA,  getting all of those undrafted kids.  It's possible that they see Malone as an inefficiency.  He's available because he was a compliance buyout, and that happened because he drove under the influence with a pocketful of cocaine, and ended up clipping a curb.     As far as I know that's the extent of his trouble, going backwards and forwards.    If you know about more, let me know.   But, he was pretty recently a good big man, and also a teammate of Marty St. Louis, so the Rangers might have some insight there.   So, on that level it's kind of intriguing.

Third, the Rangers are tight against the contract limit, so they can't really take flyers, or in this case, Penguins, on old players with out damn good reasons.  I would expect that's why it's a tryout.

And I still think they need to make a trade to alleviate some contract space and maybe, just maybe get more future picks.

Yanks Name 7 For the AFL

The Yanks are sending some brand name hitters and some interesting pitchers to the AFL.  The hitters include; Aaron Judge, Eric Jagielo, Greg Bird and Tyler Austin.   All four have been coming on lately, with only Judge having a really consistent health year.    The pitchers are Alex Smith, Brandon Pinder and Caleb Cotham (who always seems to be in rehab mode).   Smith and Pinder are relievers, and it will be interesting to see if they try to stretch out one or both of them.

Anyway, we have reason to follow whatever team they are on, guys can make headway with this AFL opportunities.

Giants Make Some Cuts

The Giants had a get down to 75 guys today.   They did it by making some cuts, the most surprising of which were WR Travis Harvey and LB Spencer Adkins, both of whom had looked good in the games.  Charles James II was also cut.   He was a great camp story, but it wasn't showing up in games.  Brandon McManus was cut, leaving us with Brown at Kicker.   I wonder if they'll try to upgrade that.   TE Xavier Grimble was cut.   He could never get healthy and practice.    TE Jerome Cunningham was also cut.   DT Everett Dawkins was cut.   OL John Sullen was cut, so now he has a better reason to be sullen.

The Giants also cut three other DB's including CB Ross Weaver and Safeties CJ Wilson and Kyle Sebetic.

A few of these guys could end up on the Psquad, if they're still available.

UPDATE:  There were even more moves.  So much for my NFL Cuts tracker.   Marcus Harris and Cooper Taylor were both IR'd.  And LB Justin Anderson and Emmanuel Dieke were both waived/injured and can be added to IF if they clear waivers.    

Pineda Wins Again

I think it's fair to say that had Pineda and Tanaka not missed so much time, the Yanks would be in much better postseason position right now.   Tonight they also got homers from Drew, Prado and Ellsbury.  If those guys (other than Prado, who has hit for some power as a Yankee) had hit a few more homers, we also might be in better shape.   Same with some other guys.   Pineda doesn't throw 98, but something is difficult to pick up.   He pitched 6.1 of one run ball, and the run was a homer.  The fact that someone squared him up so well was surprising, as was the second good appearance in a row by Huff.   I think that's 5 in a row.

Yanks Get An Expensive Homer in Extras and Win

I believe that's four in a row, and a sweep of the White Sox.  I also believe this win probably prevents us from being sellers at the waiver trade deadline that's coming up next Sunday.   This will especially be true if Tanaka makes a successful minor league start between now and then.   I will never root against the Yanks, but I still think they should be sellers unless they have the horses to win it all, and they don't.  What we might be on the lookout for is a waiver trade that brings us a middle of the order hitter.  Unfortunately, most of our best prospects wouldn't have to go through waivers to make that happen.

Yanks Win

Special guest Yankee Carlos Beltran homered, and the pitching staff was good enough to hold the White Sox to three runs.    It was mostly the B bullpen of Kelley/Warren creating the bridge to the A closer Robertson, but after Kelley gave up run, relief ace Dellin Betances has to come in to get the final out of the 7th. Argh!  Kuroda got his ninth win.  Now trade him.

There was a disturbing report earlier that the Yanks wouldn't go higher than 40M to Rusney Castillo because they had added Martin Prado at the deadline.  In a nutshell, that's just what's wrong with this team and why they'll continue to be hard to watch for the next several years.

This Week On The Blog

This should be another interesting week on the blog.   All of the teams could or should be in buy or sell mode, so we'll see what happens.

Giants: The Giants will start cutting players any minute now, and have to have their first cuts in by tomorrow.   Some teams have already cut guys.   The Giants will also play the last of their endless preseason games on Friday, and the first O will have a drive or two before sitting out.

Yankees:  The Yankees should be sellers, unless something comes up for next year, and I don't Prado level.   They're sort of in it, and they're sort of not, but this team isn't winning a World Series this year, so they might as well start selling.

Rangers:  The Rangers landed a good player in Kevin Hayes this past week, and now they gave to lock up John Moore.   What's more, they are tight against the 50 contract rule, so I still think they're have to make a trade to alleviate the overcrowding.  What's more, if they can free up some slots, there are still some good college players out there.

Knicks:  They're sort of doing a slow rollout of a substantial rebuild.  They haven't made a trade in a few weeks, and last week they added another coach.   Who knows what's coming this week?  A new exec?  Another trade?  They're using Phil's calculus now.  So maybe they'll do something and maybe they won't.

Should be a fun week.  Let's hope for great news for all 4 teams, and for all of you.

Giants Post Game pt. 1: Nassib Scorches the Jets

The Giants just won their 4th preseason game in the row, as Ryan Nassib decimatd the Jets starters and backups to throw 3 TD's and hand the ball to Andre Williams for another one.   The TD passes were to Hynoski, Parker and good old Corey Washington.   Nassib is just getting better and better, and tonight he probably banished Painter for good.   He finished the game on his knee in the victory formation.

Btw, Rex Ryan had his starters in well into the third quarter, both on O, when they had Vick in and on D.   They even put Babin back in in the 4th quarter to try to stop Nassib.   I wonder if Rob even likes him?

Yanks Win on Prado Walk Off Single

It was another big game for Martin Prado who had a 2 run shot and a bases loaded single to win the game in the 9th.  The Yanks had fallen behind  3-0 in the first on an Abreu karmic homer, but then Greene and the other Yankee pitchers held them scoreless for 8 innings, and managed to catch up and finally beat them in the 9th.   Good Friday Night Win for the Yanks.

Giants Down at the Half

The Giants are down 10-7 to the Jets at halftime.   It was another frustrating first half for the 1's.   The Giants looked good on their first drive until a Jernigan dropped stopped it.  Later, poor OL play bogged them down.     Something weird happened at the end of the first half, though, Geoff Schwartz who had been playing LG hurt his toe and had to be carted off.  Weston Richburg then came in at LG and the line play was terrific as they drove for a TD to Randle in the two minute O.  

We've always though Schwartz should be back at RG now that Snee is retired, and this may convince them that this is the way to go with these OL's.  

Soup Harris also got hurt, as did Bowman.   Rashad Jennings also looked good.

Penalties are still killing them.

Very good chance that Mike Vick will shred our young D depth in the second half.

Yanks: Yasmani Tomas And Yoan Moncada

Okay, the didn't go for Rusney Castillo, and, as such, have not yet gotten back into the deep end of the Cuban talent pool.   Now, was this because they're are salary maxed?  Was it because they were done spending on this year's team?  Or was it because they didn't value him at 7 year 72.7?  I don't know.   But that make all in a row that the Yanks have passé on since Contreras years and years ago.

That said, they'll have two more chances in the next several months.  The players are RF Yasmani Tomas, a 23 year old right handed power bat, and  switch hitting Yoan Moncada, a 19 year old 2B who may be able to play SS.  Both are younger than Castillo.  In fact, if the Yanks want Moncada, they have to do it before the IFA year ends and pay the fines, because next year, they can't bid more than 350K on any teenager.  So Moncada is a more urgent issue to come to market.   But Tomas has the bigger  bat.

We'll see what they do here, but as the team has swooned, it's made more and more sense to hold off and wait on Tomas and Moncada, who are both years shy of their primes and both would fill immediate needs for they 2015 Yankees.

UPDATE:  Jose Abreu, another Cuban the Yanks could have had for just money, as if to underline the massive error the Yanks have been making in talent collection, has hit a three run bomb already tonight.

Rangers: Hayes Added to Traverse City Roster

The Rangers have added recently signed Kevin Hayes to their Traverse City team.  Having done that, I don't know if the Rangers will have the best team in the tournament, but with Hayes, Haggerty and McCarthy, they would have had the makings of a hell of a college team last year.    Feels like the farm is bouncing back, even with the dearth of picks over the past few years.

Giants Tonight Pt 2: The WR's.

I was all set to post a picture of Corey Washington after another game winning catch tonight, but he may not get the chance.   And that's because Corey and Soup Harris are getting some reps with the 1's tonight, and may not be playing in the 4th Quarter.   This is good news, because regardless of how good they both look, they haven't played against 1's yet, and this will be their chance.

Btw, the Jets take this game more seriously than we do every year, so again, the most important thing is no injuries.   Better play from the 1's is second.

Giants Tonight Pt. 1

The Giants will play the jets tonight in their fourth of five exhibition games.   The key remains that they get no more injuries, and that some players step up to fill the holes that appear to remain.    On the exhibition level, I expect the Giants to play a little better than they did last week, when the threes outplayed the ones.  This is usually the game where the starters play the whole first half and into the third quarter, so we won't see as much of Painter and Nassib as we did  last week.   It will be interesting to see if they open up the playbook tonight.  They were embarrassed last week when the Colts rolled out their exotic schemes against the vanilla the Giants were running.   Time to play better.  But avoiding injuries is the key.

Yanks Lose

After Girardi typically tried to push a recovering starter into the 7th only to take him out after a walk, then call in the C bullpen and blow the game in the 7th,  Jacoby Ellsbury came up with the Yanks down 5-2, with two on in the 7th and 9th, and didn't so much as move a runner.   153M.  Didn't like the deal when they made it, and still don't.   What an embarrassing group of free agent flops.  Welcome back to 1982.

Giants: Surgery For Cooper Taylor

Giant second year safety Cooper Taylor will require surgery for his foot injury.  It's unclear if this will mean the full year IR or partial year IR for him, but the Giants do need the roster space and can use it on a guy in a cast.    Best wishes to Cooper for a speedy recovery.

Rangers Land Kevin Hayes

The media are now reporting that the Rangers have won the Kevin Hayes sweepstakes.  This is very good news, and Hayes has grown into an excellent power forward type player over his 4 years at BC. It's a bit of a coup for the Rangers because Hayes had former teammates and even a brother already in the league.  Of course, the Rangers had his ex-teammate Kreider, and Kreider can jump out of a pool.

The signing of Hayes, as well as the deals for Haggerty, McCarthy and really any of no pick guys has been vitally important to the Rangers who have traded so many prime picks and prospects over the past few years.   Because of all of those moves moves, the Rangers had a gap between their prospects who had graduated, like Kreider, Talbot, and most likely JT Miller, and the kids like Duclair and Buchnevich.    That's not to say Lindberg, Fast and some of of the others won't play in the NHL because they will, a few might even be really good, it's just too soon to tell and there haven't been enough indications.   So the Rangers need as many of these sort of floor guys as they can get their hands on.

But Hayes may be more than a floor guy, as he really came into his own and looked like a future star this past year.   Just an outstanding pick up for the Rangers.  He's definitely the best value they've gotten since UFA began, and we must wonder if he'll be added to the Traverse City Roster.

There was some concern that signing him would put them over the limit, but they still have some junior players who can slide, and I still think they will make a trade.  Let's go, Rangers.

Yanks: Severino Rusty In Return

Luis Severino pitched three innings in his return to action tonight.    He K'd three through the first two perfect innings.  Things bogged down in the third when he gave up a walk, and a homer, for two runs.  He was replaced by Lindgren in the 4th.   The homer jumped his AA ERA over 2, telling you just how good he had been before he was shutdown.

Ramon Flores Homered for GCL 2 Today

The forgotten man of Yankee OF prospects, Ramon Flores, started his rehab today and homered.   This man has the walk gene and still has time to work his way onto next year's team.  Along with Severino returning today, this is great news.

Giants: Beckham is Sore and Will Not Play Against the Jets

Better safe than sorry, but you have start wondering how much missing the first four preseason games will curtail his rookie season.   This is getting a little frustrating.

NFL Practice Squads to be Expanded to 10

Word came out today that the NFL will increase each teams allowable practice squad number to 10.   This is great for teams with good scouts, but you have to wonder why the NFL doesn't just consider a minor league.    That could be accomplished by expanding the game day and regular season rosters, of NFL teams and giving teams an allowable number of players to send to the minors, that can get experience there and be called up when needed.    Not everyone is ready to play in the NFL when they are done with school, and a new league could help them transition and the NFL teams have access to more players.   That's sort of what NFLE was supposed to be, but if it's done during the regular season, perhaps in Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it could be done here, and wouldn't have to include international non-prospects.

Caldera:Yanks Not Getting Rusney Castillo

Peter Caldera has quoted an industry source as saying the Yanks will not sign Rusney Castillo, who they were reported to like as a 2B.   This would seem like another Hal call on a Cuban player.   He was going to cost money, and he might have blocked Refsnyder if they kept him at 2nd next year, but holy frijoles do the Yanks even need the offense he could add.   We'll see what happens over the offseason with the other Cubans, but so far, the Yanks have not been able to get back into the deep end of the pool since Contreras.   Wonder if he banged Hal's chick or something.

Ryan Graves Traded to Duclair's Team in the Q

Ryan Graves, the big D we drafted last year has been traded to the Q.   What's interesting is that he's been traded to Anthony Duclair's team in the Q.  They'll probably be on the ice in most situations together.   Graves is coming off a good season and a shoulder injury.   It will be fun to follow how they do together.    Outside of international play, we haven't really had two of our guys on the same team since Stepan and McD were at Wisconsin.   Should be interesting.

Knicks Add Jim Cleamons to Their Staff

So the Knicks have added former Knick Jim Cleamons to fill out Derek Fisher's coaching staff.  This adds more experience to be bench as well as another guy who had played for Holzman.  He was, of course, the man we got back in the painful Walt Frazier trade.   Let's hope we win something this time around.

Giants Postgame: The Bottom of the Roster

As bad as the Giant starters have looked during this preseason, the reserves and remnants have had some outstanding performers and the Giants will have hard decisions to make come cut time.

We've already talked a lot about Washington and Harris, but Austin, Talley and Parker have also been making plays.  I don't think Washington or Harris can make it to the PSquad, and I wonder if the other three still have any PSquad eligibility.   It would be good to keep any of them around.

It's hard to judge if any of the reserve OL's have looked good without seeing more tape, but Richburg, who played all three interior spots last night, does look like he belongs in the top 5.

The  DL and LB's also look deep.   Kelcy Quarles had a dumb penalty last night, but he's been game and playing well.   Stanton has also looked good at End.   Wynn as looked good, so have Anderson, Adkins and Manning.   When was the last time we had depth at LB?  With the development of Williams and the surprise that Kennard has been, the Giants LB's could finally be a strength again.  And hopefully one or two of the extras will make it to the PSQuad.

They're also looking really good at Safety, even with with injury to Taylor.

Some of the guys who came and won the game last night will migrate up the depth chart and make the team.

Yanks Win Another One

Kuroda had his best start in awhile, and after a slow start by the O, they mustered enough runs to get him a win.    To their credit the Yanks were being no-hit early, but they started grinding and got Helickson out of there in 5.   They were up 3-2 late when Tex hit his 20th to I've them a slight cushion.  Betances and Robertson were strong again.  Big win.

This Week on the Blog

Could be another interesting week on the blog.   Let's take a look.

Yankees:  Yanks have to keep trying to get back into the wc race.  And we should also find out if they are getting Rusney Castillo or not.   Severino is supposed to be back at AA, too.   They have 2 weeks left to trade their guys to playoff contenders or even add guys.

Giants:  Giants have to get better.  They also have to start making roster decisions.   And they really have to get the OL figured out.  Right now, they have their best RG playing LG, and their best C playing backup RG.  That's no way to run an OL.

Rangers:  Rangers will try to sign Kevin Hayes.   And I still think they have a trade coming.

Knicks:  The Knicks will continue to be talked about, even though they seem to have nothing cooking.

So, it could be pretty interesting.   Have fun!

Giants Postgame Pt.1: Corey Washington Does it Again!

Holy crap.   What was for three quarters a somewhat alarming first three quarter of a boring preseason game that saw the Giants trailing 26-0, turned into the most exciting 4th quarter of a preseason game I've ever seen.    The Giants scored 27 straight points in the 4th to remain undefeated in the pre, and Corey Washington scored his third game winner in a row!

Painter looked like pre-last week Painter for most of the night, but did connect on a fade to Davis to score our first TD.  After the ensuing kick, our D scored.   I think it was Adkins who recovered the fumble.

Then Nassib came in and started finding Harris, Washington and Harvey.  And then Cox ran one in from the 2.   They got the ball back, and overcame a 4th and 16 on a 26 yard pass to Adrien Robinson, then followed it up with a 28 yard play to Robinson.  And all of a sudden they were in scoring range.    Washington was interfered with on their first try, which placed the ball at the four.   Then Nassib hit him for the game winner.

Nassib looked very good again.  So did Harris and Washington. Robinson may even have awakened.   Anyway, it was a rousing 4th quarter, and a great win.  But they have a ton of work to do to get ready for the season.

Giants Down 20-0 at the Half

I don't know if it appropriate to feel embarrassed over a half of preseason football, but I, and I'm sure many of you are being tested.   Kennard has played well.  And that's about it.   Eli was 1-7 and had an int. called back by penalty.   This is awful stuff.   Curtis Painter looked like the version from before last week in relief of Eli.    This is awful, have I mentioned that?

Yanks Win a Game!

The Yanks finally won a game, but it wasn't easy, and Joe Girardi cost Shane Greene a win.    Greene started the seventh by giving up a hit and a walk and was removed, with the Yanks leading 2-1.  Then, with reasons known only to Girardi, Kelley was used, instead of Betances.    And, of course, Kelley gave up one of the runs, and the game was tied.   Then Girardi used Betances for a clean 8th.  The Yanks then decided to score another run, courtesy of Gardy and Jete.    Then Robertson pitched the 9th for save.   Greene's great start became a no decision because Kelley pitched the 7th and Betances didn't.   Weird.