Duclair Scores YET AGAIN in Ranger Loss

Holy Frijoles, this kid is amazing.   The Rangers sent kids and dregs to Philly tonight, and the dregs basically prevented the kids from winning.   That said, the Rangers were down 3-1 in the third when Duclair used his speed to beat his man around the net and pot a perfect pass from Dom Moore.  Moore had earlier assisted on Hagelin's shorty in the first period, when Duclair was in the box for spinning some guy by his shoulders.  Later in the third, Duclair drew a penalty, when they had to hold for fear he's score again.  On the power play that followed, the Philly announcers were catching their breath every time he had the puck.  It was reminiscent of announcers' reactions to Pavel Bure.

The Rangers will be a better, faster, and scarier team this year if Duclair is a member.  He's proven it. Give him a better number.

Yanks Farm Review: Things That Went Right Pt. 3

College hitters really started to hit.   Aaron Judge had a fantastic year, and so did Rob Refsnyder and Kyle Roller.   This is sort of a complete sea change for the organization, and represents much better work by the scouts.  See, the problem with college hitters, other than that they're older and need to advance more quickly, is that they spend so much time with aluminum bats, it's hard to project their permanent adjustment to wood -- even if they've had a good summer in a wood bat league.  A summer league like that just isn't going to be a big enough sample size to make any conclusive decisions.    So the Yankee scouts have somehow gotten better at figuring out which guys were really going to be able to hit with wood, and that's a big deal.

The other problem with collegiate bats was that the Yanks never had a shot at the top guys, and spent a lot of years just trying to fill out the SI roster.   That changed a few years ago, and we're really starting to see the results now.  The advent of the college bat in the system was delayed a bit by the injuries to David Adams and a few others, but it looks like it's here to stay, as guys like Mark Payton hit the ground hitting this year after they were drafted.

So, College Bats were a big improvement and no longer need to be thought of as low ceiling organizational players.

Various: Cashman and Yanks Working on New Deal

Well, this probably will not be too popular around here, but it looks like Brian Cashman is staying with the Yanks.  It will be interesting to see if this is just a re-up of his current job, or whether they're giving him a promotion, or a new position or if they plan on building a new constellation of executive talent around him.  I was pretty sure this was a foregone conclusion, so I'm neither intrigued or depressed about it.   We'll have to see what else they do.

The key to this offseason is not to lose draft picks for FA's and not to trade the good prospects for old stars.  It's that simple.  The one this I was worried about with the possibility of a new GM was that he'd come in and trade the good kids to make a splash on the MLB field next year.

Apparently, Knicks Camp Has Opened

Who knew?  The Knicks are up at West Point, learning the triangle and feeling out their new coach and staff. I think I would have been more excited about this season if we had more young players, or had had more cap room during this offseason.   As it is, I am interested, but realize the next two years are probably where it's at, and not so much this year.   Still, they're not doing anything wrong right now, and we can keep talking about them.

Rangers Tonight

Rangers are in Philly tonight, for the second of their home and home series with the Flyers.  If things are going to get ugly, it'll be tonight.

Some of the kids, including Duclair, Haggerty and Hayes will play again tonight.   This leads me to hope that the jobs are really open and that the Rangers don't plan on starting the season with retreads. It also leads me to talk about how underrated the Ranger system has been lately.  

There's a tendency in hockey to sanctify draft position.   In other words, a first rounder will get more attention and more chances as time goes by because he was a first rounder.  So even when a team makes a first round mistake, that player will still get more chances than say a third or fourth rounder who can skate circles around him.   I think the Rangers dearth of first rounders has lead to the pundits underrating them.

But, the Rangers have been getting bang for their bucks in the draft whether they've had first rounders or not, and are really making hay, or Hayes, with these college players they are signing.   Haggerty and Hayes remind me a bit of when the system finally started bouncing back, several years ago now, and produced Callahn and Dubinsky.

Hockey's different than say baseball because it's so team intensive, i.e., you play offense and defense together and share the puck at all time.  Still, Bill James said something about baseball players that make as much sense for hockey players.   He said that the majority of a player's value was in his being average.   That can be easily understood by looking at a stat like OPS+ .  Saying a guy has an OPS+ of 120.  He's then 20% above average, but most of his value is in being league average.

If you think about hockey players, it's much the same.  Gretzky might have had a couple of season when he was 2 x average, but the greatest part of even the great one was his being average.

Okay, so what's this got to do with the Rangers?  When the Ranger farm is productive, like it is now and has been for awhile, they are producing players who can be better than average, and those are the kind of guys that teams win with.

Prospect rankings generally focus too much on presumptive value above average without accounting for the average part enough, which is deficient in most players who bust.   Thus, the Rangers' system of above average prospects will always be underrated, until the players start helping the Rangers win at the NHL level.

Having said all of that, Duclair is the goods, and so is Buchnevich.    They're only underrated because they were third rounders, and they were only third rounders because of league wide mistakes.

We'll see if Duclair scores again tonight, but one thing that's worth watching while he's out there is his aggressive defense.  He is alway trying to steal the puck back, and usually getting very good position.

Rangers: The Good Hands People

Wow.  The Ranger prospects continued to put on a show as they crushed the Flyers 6-3 tonight.  Hank did not have a very good game, partly due to costly turnovers by Miller and Staal which lead to 2 Flyer goals.   Anyway, Duclair started the scoring with a laser from the circle.  Man, can he skate and shoot, as well as pass.     Haggerty, playing on the same 4th line with him then had 2 goals, both the kind you associate with scoring power forwards, one where he swept across the front of the net then parked it, the other where he flew down the wing and won short side.    Both Duclair and Haggerty also had assists and also almost scored even more goals.

Mueller, who was playing 4th line C, scored and had an assist as well, but he scored by potting a loose puck on the PP.

Jesper Fast had the other two goals.  His first was the redirection of a Dan Boyle shot and went in off his body.  His second goal came on a beautiful backhand pass from Kevin Hayes, who was behind the net, but fed Fast right in the slot.   Goal!  Hayes had two assists.

Dylan McIlrath played a really smart game, and, surprisingly none of the Flyers wanted to fight him.   He didn't press the matter too much as he was busy using his body to buy space, check people, screen people and make smart passes.   He did turn it over once, but instead of letting it turn into a scoring opportunity for the Flyers, he skated after the pass and separated the Flyer from it.  Hayes made a play like that, too.  Staal and Miller didn't.

Btw, other than the turnover, Miller again looked really good.  He, Nash and St.Louis came created a bunch of good chances, but Mason saved his best saves for them.

McDonagh got into a fight.   That was weird.   Later, he ran into an elbow, and we're lucky he didn't seem to be concussed.

The Rangers are going to have some easy decisions to make, but let's see if they have the guts to make them.   The kids are better than the re-treads.  Let's go, Rangers!

Rangers Tonight

Tonight, the Rangers begin a pair of back to back  home and homes against the Flyers.    Most likely, we will see the marginal vets (who are healthy enough to play) heavy in the first game, while the kids have to make the trip tomorrow.    By the time these games are done, the Rangers will only have 2 games left to get ready for the season.   They'll likely make their next cuts on Wednesday, and then we should get a good idea of how fair it has or hasn't been.   The kids are outplaying the free agents by a mile or two, so far.

This Week on the Blog

Okay, could be a really interesting week on the blog and three out of four of the teams have to make decisions.

Yanks:  Their season is over, but a rather crucial offseason has begun.   They may start moving front offices pieces now, or they could wait until the contracts are up after the World Series.    We might start hearing some buzz about what their overall plans are, or at least start reading some reporters ideas of what they should be.

Giants:  The Giants have to decide what to do with Jayron Hosley by tomorrow, so a roster move could happen, there, unless cutting him is the roster move.  Seems like Beckham is finally full go, so we'll have to hope that there are no other setbacks before his debut.   Perhaps Beason will be back.

Rangers:  The Rangers will continue with their preseason schedule and are expected to make more cuts after the Tuesday game this week.  It will be interesting to see if they really are running a camp where the best players win the jobs, because, so far, the prospects have been outplaying the pros.   So we'll see if that's allowed to happen with the roster decisions.

Knicks:  They've got to start camp at some point, don't they?  Oh, and we'll probably see more articles about JR Smith.

Duclair Scores a Goal and an Assist as Rangers Win 4-1

The kid is making it hard on the Rangers!   First he scored on a beautiful feed from Rick Nash (who looked alive and may actually be over his various concussions) in the first, then in the third he had a secondary assist on the goal by JT Miller.   Miller looks great.  Meanwhile, Lindberg also had a goal in the first off a transition turnover.  I think we're going to see a much stronger transition game in year 2 under AV.    Hrivik had the final goal on a diving effort play.   So it was an all prospect night of scoring against Chicago in Chicago!

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers are playing their second preseason game tonight and their using an almost completely different lineup.   Miller and Lundqvist are the only holdovers.  And our camp longshot Anthony Duclair is playing on the first line with Brassard and Nash.   Let's hope he doesn't make the same young Ranger mistake Kreider and Stepan were making last year and hand off his best scoring chances to try to set up Nash, who should have been traded already.    Let's hope he impresses.

It will also be the preseason debut of McD and McI, let's really hope Dylan impresses.  We knew it would be a wait when we drafted him, but we really need him to come through in his appointed role.

LGR!

Yankees Farm Review: Things That Went Right Pt. 2

People like to complain about the Yankees drafting relievers.  But the truth is, one of the best ways for them to keep payroll down so they can fill needs, is by becoming completely self-reliant when it comes relievers.   In other words, no more money spent on other people's FA's, just a pure pipeline of prospects, and the Yanks have the horses to do that now.

Guys like Lindgren, who was the Yanks first pick in the 2014 draft and is a potential lefty relief ace, and Nick Rumbelow the big righty from LSU made huge strides toward the major league pen this year.  And there are still more guys on the way, as well as guys like Jose Ramirez who was converted to relief and could stabilize as suddenly as Betances did.

The games will keep getting shorter, and because most of these guys can throw two innings, even if Girardi stays manager for a few more years, they won't have to carry 12 or thirteen pitchers, which Joe would do if he was allowed.

Eli Money!

Wow.  Do the Giants ever hate racism. They just took the Washington franchise out behind the national woodshed and let them have it.   Eli threw for 4 TD's and ran for another 1 for exactly 300 yds passing.   He'll be charged with an INT but it was actually another TD pass, where Randle caught the ball, got both feet down in the end zone and the skins punched it out.  It was a terrible call, and since all scoring plays are reviewed and the Giants were already in pound mode, the NFL office decided it was an interception and not a touchdown.  Pathetic.

The Giant D's was a little up and down, but came up with two forced fumbles and recoveries and 4 interceptions.

Btw, Larry Donnell caught 3 TD's and Daniel Fells caught the other.  Andre Williams later scored on the ground.

People will soon start wondering what Eli's numbers would have looked like if he'd always been in the WCO like so many QB's with better numbers.

But whatever,  Eli is Money.

Yanks Win!

Thanks, Cap.

Yankees Farm Review: Things That Went Right, Part 1

The first thing we're going to talk about on plus side of the farm rebound, is the work of the Yankees overseas scouts.   Of course, most scouts would come up with some hits if they were given a 30M payroll, and the Yankee scouts used their's to lop the top off of this year's 7/2 market.   But more importantly, for this year, some of those same scouts' bargains from summers past started to really kick ass, lead by Luis Severino.   In 2014, Severino emerged as the latest in an intermittent line of undersized Yankee aces, that includes Ford and Guidry.    Parcells would call Severino short, rather than small, as he has massively strong legs that generate a lot of his power with somewhat subtle movements.

On the player side, Luis Torrens and a few of the other recent era signings popped, most notably SS Jorge Mateo.   Dig this, Mateo was in the GCL and getting on base, then stealing bases for the first few weeks of the season, then he got hurt and missed most of the season.   He was still basically in rehab when he played in the playoffs.  Still, he was so impressive that BA listed him as the #4 prospect in the GCL.  Imagine if he'd played the whole season.

Other guys, like Miguel Andujar had at least breakout parts of their seasons.   There were also a bunch of 19 and 20 years olds in the GCL who looked impressive, but we'll have to see them against older comp to know if they're real or not.

But the performances of so many of the recent, Hal Era IFA's in short season and full season ball, speaks well of the scouts.  And those same scouts are the guys that signed Dermis Garcia and all those other hitters in July.   You can bet some will eventually impress.   So, that part of the program is going right.

Giants Tonight

The Giants have rolled South to play the team that shall not be named tonight on the NFL's concocted Thursday Night Football.   Hopefully the Giants can keep it going from Sunday, and limit the big mistakes.   To that end, they have replaced Stevie Brown at S.    We'll see if doing it with  Demps instead of Berhe was a good idea, but either will probably play a bit better than Brown did.   Beason is out again, so the Giants will need to really swarm the ball carrier, since Herzlich can't do anything, It will be interesting to see if the OL can continue jelling, that can only make them better.

I think Andre Williams will finally break one tonight.   Just a hunch.  

One more week we get Beckham back.   Let's go, Giants!

Yanks at a Crossroads

So the Yanks didn't make the playoffs for the second year in a row, for the first time since they began their latest streak of relative dominance and flat out dominance in 1994.   That's 20 years.   They needed a breather, and should have taken one.

Instead, after not making the playoffs last year, they wisely chose not to match or surpass Seattle's offer to Robinson Cano, their last great homegrown hitter.  But instead of saving the first rounders they gained from that decision and others,  they went out and bought 3 over 30 MLB veterans who came with draft pick compensation.   So there went the 2014 draft pool, as well as the chance to get three more premium players for the system they had given lip service to rebuilding, and the chance to get creative with the allotment and add some preps outside of the first round.

Then they did something smart, and grabbed Masahiro Tanaka.   This was a great move and if he hadn't gotten hurt, the Yanks might not have been eliminated by now.

That turned out to be a masterstroke, because Tanaka is an ACE, and he's still young enough that,  even if he ends up needing TJ surgery, he will still be in his 20's when the really high upside kids start showing up from the farm. If he doesn't need it he will provide continuity at the top of the rotation going forward, in place of the declining CC Sabathia, who never should have been re-signed after he opted out the last time.

The Yankee pitching this year was pretty uniformly good, even with the in season injuries to so many starters, and some dead periods for the bullpen.  What's more, there was good news on the pitching side of the farm, with the breakout year by Severino, the impressive debut of Clarkin, and some more velo added during the draft.

The big problems this year were the offense, and for part of the year, the defense.

The weirdness was that the Yanks did not turn to the farm for help with the O and even D.  Instead, they traded crap for steadier gloved crap, and kept trying to get by with more and more veterans.

It still doesn't make any sense.

So, in the next 8 weeks or so we will get a pretty good idea of what their plan is to fix this disaster they've created.  First, we'll see if there will be new people making the decision, a mix of old and new, a reshuffling of the deck, or status quo more or less.   Then we'll see if they are still eager to play fast and loose with their picks.   If they are we're in for a repeat of this year.   But if their plan includes only hiring vets who don't cost picks on one year contracts, then things might change just a bit faster.

We'll see.  But this, my friends, was brutal and that's more about what was wasted than about what was lost.

Yanks Officially Eliminated

More on this in the months to come, but never has this team made so little of so much.  Things have to change or it will be the same script for years to come.

Duclair Survives the First Round of Cuts

As all of the other junior players were sent down today, Anthony Duclair stayed with the big club.  Though things are still squarely rigged against him making the team, it is encouraging that he is apparently separating himself from the other junior prospects.

In a bit of a surprise, Chris McCarthy was among the first cuts, while the other college aged prospects were all kept.   Not very good news for Chris.   The other big gets from the offseason, Hayes, Haggerty and Bodie all made it through this round.

But the big news so far is Duclair.   And this is only the beginning of the big news for this kid as a Ranger.

Stepan: Fractured Fibula

This is really bad news.   We're probably talking months and not weeks, but the hockey gods have once again conspired to screw up the beginning of a Derek Stepan season.     When he gets back, we'll probably see Stepan-lite as we always do in after these weird beginnings.  Hopefully, we're still in position to make the playoffs and he can be the real Stepan again by then, but it's going to be tough.

This probably does create another opening for a kid, so 2 of Miller, Lindberg and Hayes, could make the team, unless they go for an outside solution or stick with Lombardi, who looked slow and weak on Monday.

Just terrible news for the Rangers.

Odell Beckham Jr. Returns to Practice

No, Odell won't play against the Skins on Thursday, but he could play against the Falcons in week 5.   This is, of course, great news and should revolutionize both the offense, and our return games.  Go watch his highlights again on youtube if you think I'm kidding.  The minute he is active he will be one of the best players on the team.  

Pirela Stuff

So Jose Pirela finally got his shot last night and he delivered.   The fact is, they knew this kid could hit when they signed him several years ago.   They specifically compared his ability to barrel the ball to Cano's.

Of course, as soon as he spanked his RBI triple last night, everyone had to be wondering why he wasn't up sooner.   Why he, Roller, Refsnyder and others weren't up at the deadline is ponderous.  The Yanks have become bad at scouting their own system.  And I'm wondering if Gene Michael has finally lost it or something.   Over they years I got the feeling that he was identifying the ones to keep and not trade.   I should have been more suspicious when Nunez was kept around for so long, but something is definitely broken in the Yankee evaluations of their own inventory.

The Yanks won't make the playoffs this year, and it won't be because of the pitching injuries, nor will it even be because of their free agent foolishness last winter, it will because they didn't call up the players they already had who could have helped.

Perturbing.

Yanks Win

Michael Pineda was Ace-like, Jeter had three more hits, and Pirela looked like he could have been helping all summer.   If Pineda and Tanaka are both still healthy next year, and Greene keeps pitching like a late blooming stud, the Yanks will have the makings of a strong rotation.  They should think about offering arbitration to McCarthy, though he will probably get a multi-year offer somewhere.   Let's see if they let Pirela play more.  There's really no reason to play any of the veterans other than Jeter at this point.

Rangers Tonight

The Rangers are about to play the Devils in their first preseason game of the season.  It's a mix n match lineup, but Hank is starting in net.   We'll get our first look at Kevin Hayes as he's skating with Kreider and Kristo.   Also, Ryan Malone will get his first look.   AV said Malone was limited in the scrimmage, since so much of his game is physical and he doesn't want to do that to teammates.   I believe JT Miller is also playing tonight.    Should be fun.   LGR!

Tanaka Triumphs in Return

Masahiro Tanaka pitched 5.1 innings of 1 run ball, with 4 K's in his return.  It was good enough for the win as McCann homered two more times, Jeter had 4 hits and Brett Gardner his the 15000th home run in Yankee history.   It should have come a few years ago, but poor planning meant it came today.   We'll see how Masahiro feels over the next few days.   But if the prehab really worked, we may have a full time ace next year. By all rights, this Yankee team probably would have made the playoffs if not for the injuries to Tanaka and some of the others.   Great return win.

Giants Win a Game in September!

Rashad Jenning just ran for 170 or more yards agains the Houstan Texans, and Eli Manning was money and threw for 2 TD's to Cruz and Fells and the Giants ended up winning 30-17 to make them 1-2 and give them their first September win in a few years.

They got off to a scary start.   Donnell fumbled in the green zone as it looked like the Giants were going to march in for a first quarter TD.   Next drive they got a bad snap on an FGA and also came up pointless.  Next drive Parker dropped the third down pass.  It was impossible to know at that point if they'd have any more good drives, but they did.  They scored three TD's and three FG's after the early miscues.

Cruz had a huge 61 yard reception early, where he was surprisingly caught from behind.  He did; however, score a TD on a great YAC move later, and was able to make all of his catches.  We need him.  We need Beckham, too, because this offense looks like it might be pretty good after all.

The D had an up and down game, giving up three big plays of over 40 yards - one run, 2 passes - they have to clean that up.  They also need to get some guys back, and they are really missing the safety play of Will Hill.   Berhe had to replace Brown late after he was torched for one of the big plays.

They still have a bunch of stuff to clean up, and it will be easier after a win, even with the short week.  In the main, though, I'd rather see them let the young players make their mistakes, then let old players continue the same ones they have always made.

Big win.  Big Thursday nighter coming up.

This Week On the Blog

This might not be such an interesting week on the blog, but then again it might.   It all depends on the Giants.

Giants: It's as simple as this: they win tomorrow or we stop talking about them till changes are made. They idiotically cut Eric Herman yesterday and kept Charles Brown.   They've grown beyond stupid when it comes to the OL since the decline and demise of the Snee crew. Not only can they not draft a good one outside of the first two rounds of the draft, they don't even know who their best 5 are.  So win tomorrow, or get the Knicks treatment around here.

Yanks:  The Yanks will continue their slow fade.  Tanaka pitches tomorrow and if he can build from there, that augers well for next year.  I don't expect them or particularly want them to sign Tomas if he has no control of the strike zone.  Not when instructs start, but I do know I owe you some more thoughts on the Farm.  Been working on a movie and it's curtailing my some of my longer pieces here.

Rangers:  The Rangers will begin playing preseason games this week.   We'll see how true the competition is between youth and age and whether AV will let the younger guys win if they win.  they could still use a trade to get under the 50 contract rule.

Knicks:  They'll start training camp soon.  And there'll be more articles about JR Smith.

So, it's all about the Giants tomorrow, though the Rangers will be interesting when they start.  Have a great week, readers.

Yanks To Look at Yasmani Tomas This Weekend

The Yanks are going to the showcase of Cuban corner OF, Yasmani Tomas this weekend.  It's impossible to know what they're thinking about any of the big ticket Cubans, because they've stayed out of the market.  Of course, that's been a big reason for the dip since 2009, but they don't seem to see it that way.  We'll see if this guy moves them to spend.

Rangers Open Camp

Here we go!   Today they are just taking physicals.   Tomorrow, on ice testing.  Then, I guess Saturday, they'll start doing hockey stuff.  

And I guess at some point, they will finally name their new captain.   AV has really made a meal out of this.

Rangers Training Camp Opens Tomorrow

The Rangers will open their training camp tomorrow, and thankfully there are no holdouts, and everyone will be there.   They do have a few issues to work out with the roster, as all of the contested positions, like third line C, some of the wings, and 7th D will all feature competition between retreads and prospects.   Ultimately, we'd want the prospects to win all the jobs, but AV sure seems to like his veterans, so that will be interesting.  How much better will a kid have to be to get a job?

Also, the Rangers have to make a decision about Marc Staal.  He was 6 for 6 or North thereof, they seem inclined to give him a deal like they gave Girardi.   At this point this could play out like Girardi's deal did or he could end up getting traded like Cally did.

Giants G Eric Herman Unsuspended

Because of the new drug deal between the NFL and its players, some guys who were suspended to start the season under the old deal are no longer suspended under the new deal.  The Giants G Eric Herman is one such player, and this is a huge break for the Giants.   Herman spent the offseason working out with Pugh and Snee, and really looked worlds better in camp this year.  He looked better than both Jerry and Mosley, and could be part of the solution going forward.  He could do wonders for this year's line and take some pressure off of next year's draft.

Tanaka to Pitch Sunday

The Yankee Ace,  Masahiro Tanaka, will return to the mound and start for the Yankees on Sunday.  He'll probably be on a restrictive pitch count, but this start and any others should help the Yankees and Tanaka make a decision about surgery or more rehab.   He's one of the keys to any possible rebuild.

Giants: Jernigan Has a Lis Franc, Talley Called Up

Jerrel Jernigan, our on again off again shower of something, is done for the year with a Lis Franc foot injury.   You might recall those have ruined some Giant receivers in the past.    The good news, is that they are calling up Julian Talley.   Now Talley has flashed a bit in games, and is a bigger receiver than JJ.   So between Washington, Randle and Talley we've got some size again, and both Cruz and Beckham are damn sturdy.    I'm happy about that, because once we got Beckham, assuming he ever plays, we didn't really need Jernigan.

Btw, between the call ups for Talley and Fox, and the release of Jordan Stanton yesterday, the Giants are now three guys down on the PSquad.   So, we'll be adding three more players there, probably soon.

UPDATE:  WR's Travis Harvey (who flashed a bit in pre) and L'Damian Washington have been added to the PSquad.  Both of those cats are FAST.  There's 1 space left.

Giants Activate Dan Fox From The PSquad

The Giants today added LB Dan Fox from the PSquad.  This is probably because Beason and Kennard are hurt and they don't want to overexpose Herzlich.   Hopefully if Fox plays as well as he can, he'll be kept and Herzlich will finally be off the team whey Kennard or Beason gets back.

Yanks: Prado Out; Pirela Up

Martin Prado had an emergency appendectomy, so he's done for the year.    First of all, our best wishes to Martin Prado and  thank goodness they were able get him taken care of.    Secondly, this finally pushed the Yanks to call up one of their kids who can hit: Jose Pirela.   He can sort of play a bunch of positions, too, but the brother can hit.  Let's see if Girardi plays him.

JT Miller's Big Chance

Bunch of media today about how JT Miller is going to be competing for Third Line Center duties once camp opens.    For the ecology of the system, it's sort of important that either Miller or Hayes or McCarthy or Oscar is the third line C, while the others, compete for some of the open wing spots.   By bringing in low dollar replacements for the FA's the team lost in July, the Rangers have created a time and place where kids will be ALLOWED to step up and beat them out for jobs.   JT, who was great in the AHL and never got it going in the NHL last year, is said to be in his best shape ever and has reported weeks earlier than he did last year.    That's great news for the Rangers because he is talented, and the youth movement that brought us the young core of the team must continue.

Giants Thurmond Done For the Year

Signing Walter Thurmond, one of football's top slot corners, appeared to be on of the Giants savvier moves this past offseason.  However; now Thurmond is out for the year withy a torn pec and will have to have surgery.  This is a reasonably tragic development for anyone believing the offense will turn the corner and the D will figure it out enough to allow the offense to win.  As a result the Giants may activate one of the kid kid corners from the practice squad, or may hire someone off the street.

Btw, I do think the Giant O will turn the corner, perhaps as soon as game 3.

Giants DROP Another One

Victor Cruz wanted the ball more.  Too bad he couldn't catch it.   This big mouth hasn't had a good game in our last 12.   Anyway, today, the Giants had taken a lead and Cruz just had to catch a third down pass to prolong a drive.  Instead he dropped it.    The Giants had to punt, then Ted Ginn pulled returned it for a TD.   There went the lead.  On the next series, Cruz had beaten his man and had open real estate.  Eli put it in his hands and he dropped it.   Later Ruben Randle, who had looked good, earlier in the game, dropped a key pass.  In between that there were fumbles by Demps, on a kick return, and Jennings in the green zone.

I have no idea what Mike Quinn does or why he still has a job.  He's had literally nothing to do with the Giants success, while guys like Gilbride and Pope, who did, were shown the door.   He, like Fewell doesn't give us a scheme advantage.

Btw, Beason got hurt, again, which meant Herzlich had to play.  That's the problem with mascots, and the small rosters. sometimes you have to play them.   We have better LB's on the PSquad and the Giants need to make a move there.   Nice story, but it's gone on years too long.

Eli played well, and this O might really turn into something if they can get Beckham back, catch the ball and stop fumbling.

Giants are getting pretty close to Knick probation on the blog.

Giants Today

Frankly, I expect the Giants to play better today, if not win.  Monday night was an unmitigated disaster and there's really nowhere else for them to go but up.  They still won't have Beckham, and Kennard is now out with a hamstring, too.  But they can't forget to play the kids like DaMontre Moore and Corey Washington.  They need IMPACT and haven't been getting from the stiffs they've been playing.  Oh, and this would be a good game for Victor Cruz to turn into Victor Cruz again.   Monday was ridiculous.   Go Giants!

This Week on the Blog

Could be some interesting movement for our teams this week.   Here's why:

Yankees:  Thought it's unlikely they're going to make the post season, they will keep playing games and we might get to see more of the kids play.   Maybe not, though.  We might also start to get a better idea of their offseason plan, now that we know Mark Newman is retiring and Billy Eppler seems to want to stay.

Giants:  Ready or not, they're going to play another game tomorrow.   We'll see if they can gain some cohesion on O, and stop making so many mistakes on D.  And let's see if Fewell can remember to use DaMontre Moore.   Otherwise, it will be another long day and long week.

Rangers:  The Rangers will wrap up their Traverse Tournament experience (they are 1-1 so far, both OT games).  And training camp will open!   I still think they will make a trade as they are at 50 contracts and up against the cap right now.

Knicks:  They might invite some more guys to camp, and there will probably be more articles about JR Smith.  Phil's been quiet for awhile.

So, who knows about the Yanks, Giants and Knicks, but Rangers camp is opening and that is exciting.   Have a great week, my peeps!

Yanks Win

Shane Greene did it again, and should be figuring into the Yanks future.    In fact, before they jettison too many of their minor league execs, they better make sure they haven't just been victims of park illusions throughout the system.  They are certainly producing some pitching, and it looks like they'd be producing some hitting, too and if the GM didn't keep stalling them in AAA so they can add more age to the 40 man roster.

Btw, it was announced today that Billy Eppler would not interview for the DBacks GM job, and I'm starting to think he has a promise from the Yankees.   Wonder what it is.

Yanks Lose Both Ends of a Double Header

Brandon McCarthy was good, and Bryan Mitchell had an encouraging first start minus his best stuff.   But the offense was off again for both games, and the only run they got all day was Chris Young homer that should have won game 1, but Warren was not up to the task in extras.    This has been a rough season, and it does look like changes are coming.

Yankee VP Mark Newman to Retire

So Mark Newman's decision to retire is getting some attention today.  Mark Newman had been the pitching coach at Old Dominion when the Yanks first hired him.  He was head of instruction while Bernie, Jeter, Andy, Mo and Posada were coming up.  As he got promoted, his jobs had less and less to do with hands on player instruction and more to do with administration and trouble shooting.   He has done yeoman's work for all 6 titles teams of the last 20 years, and really helped develop the homegrown players who won them.   As a Yankee fan, I am grateful for his service.

Moving forward, the Post was speculating that Trey Hillman will be moved into a more meaningful role.  Trey returned to the organization last year, and was also a big deal minor league manager back when the Yanks were churning out players -- which they are getting ready to do again. I like Hillman a lot, and was hoping he'd be the next Yankee Manager.    But in the meantime, it looks like he'll be filling Newman's roll.   Color me intrigued.

Of course, it wouldn't matter if they could revive Ed Barrow, if they won't keep their picks and won't spend money, they won't get good results.  So ownership has to spend, or people will start blaming the new hires, too.

Yankees Win!

Ex-Met Chris Young, who I won't even get a picture of, just hit a 3 run walk off jack in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Blue Jays 5-4.   This was after he broke up a no-hitter against the Yanks in the bottom of the 8th with a double.    That was just an old school Yankee win, thanks to an old school Met.  This is hilarious.  Shades of Claudell Washington.  Huge win!

Traverse City Tourney

For the knocks the Rangers take on the prospect sites, they're sending a really intriguing team on Traverse City tonight.  It's a shame that the games aren't getting streamed, but we will see highlights. One of the highlights will be the first Ranger appearances of the collegiate FA's they've signed over the past 6 months to supplement their missing draft picks, as well as the Ranger debut of G Brandon Halverson in goal.   Though the Rangers haven't won the thing since 2007, it's becoming a great unofficial start to the NHL preseason.   Let's see if any of the guys explode, and hope that if they do, there'll be room for them on the roster.

Rangers Sign Ryan Malone

As expected, the Rangers have signed Ryan Malone.  They're getting him on a two way deal for less than a million, so, unless he turns all of the kids into coke fiends, I don't think there's much downside here.  Either the Rangers or the Whale are going to get a lot tougher.

I've talked before about how the Rangers have been able to find value in unusual places during their reemergent period, and if Malone can still play, and keep his nose clean, this would be another example.  The Rangers wouldn't get a shot at a guy like Malone if he didn't have that "life event" last Spring.   But now they have him and he potentially solves a big problem for them.   So, this could work out really well - or not so well, but the money is negligible, so why not?

Yanks Win

Yanks felt like grinding AB's after falling behind 4-0 in the first.   And guess what?  They ended up winning.    They're championship teams have all been full of grinders.  This year's team isn't and even features some ex-grinders.  Weird, but the manager should take some heat for that.   Anyway, big win, and McCann has continued to be an effective hitter every other game or so.

Rangers Sign John Moore To His Qualifying Offer

The Rangers today announced the signing of John Moore.  Moore, like MZA took less than he might have gotten, even though he had no leverage.   You have to think that the Rangers and Moore have a make good and we'll reward you understanding with the talented defender.  This, and the carping Stralman has done out the door, is reminder of how much players want to be Rangers.   But Moore is definitely taking one for the team to one degree or another, just like MZA is.  Interesting.  They still have to make more contract room and the way to do that is with a trade for picks.

Rangers Stuff

Today, all of the youngest Rangers are arriving for camp.   They'll get 1 practice tomorrow, then 24 of them will head off to the Traverse City Tournament, where they will play their first game Friday.   The Russians are already playing in their pro-leagues, so they're not coming.  What we will be seeing is most of the rest of the recent picks, plus all of those college FA's like Hayes, McCarthy, Haggerty and Bodie playing for the Ranger squad.   It's not going to be televised or streamed, but Blueshirts United will have highlights.

This will be a sort of new look for the Rangers in Traverse, the line that went from Stepan, Mc, Kreider, McIlrath , Miller, Fast and Oscar, are no longer on the Traverse roster, it's mostly kids from the last two pick light drafts, and the stars of the team are yet to be determined, though Duclair, and those college forwards could all shine.

Yanks Adding Appy League Team

The Yanks today did what I was told they'd do last year and added and Appalachian League team for summer of `15.    I'm not sure if this means they will go back to 1 GCL team, or whether it means they are just adding a team.  Developmentally, it will supposedly be 1/2 step up from the GCL.  That will probably mean drafted college players as well as preps from past drafts who haven't advanced to the GCL yet.   Chris Breen types, etc.  Of course, they'll need really good teaching coaches, so let's hope they get the right people in there.

This will be especially good if they are keeping two GCL teams, because they're going to have a sea of players coming over in the next year or so, and the GCL teams were becoming the landing spot for too many collegiate players.    So good move, especially if if allows the GCL to be for teens going forward.

Giants Lose: Offense Still Broken and Defense is Too

What an awful showing.   Apparently having a game plan didn't help the new offense at all.   Eli still looked jumpy and turnover prone.   Will Beatty looked awful as did John Jerry.    Receivers didn't know what to do or when they were hot.  We couldn't run and didn't commit too much to trying.   This will be the 4th year in a row where we have lost the opener.

And the Defense gave up 35 points.  And that was even though they were pretty good against the run.   They had no pass rush to speak of and no coverage.   DRC kept handing receivers off to safeties that weren't there.   And we're paying him what?   I've felt that Fewell should be gone for a long time.   Still do.

Nothing encouraging about this one.