Rangers Trying to Bring Buchnevich Over Now?

Wow.  Now this is interesting.  Pavel's KHL team didn't make the playoffs, so his contract may be over.  Thus, the Rangers are trying to bring him over now on either a PTO or an entry level deal.   Like Duclair, this kid can fly and play, but the question is, would AV play him?   The situation bears watching.

Btw, both Duclair and Brady Skjei could be available this year if the Rangers get deep enough in the playoffs.

This Week on the Blog

This past week sucked for us.  The Yanks let us down catastrophically, and there was really no good news for any of our teams -- though the Rangers did keep winning, thank goodness.

Whether we like it or not, this week will be more eventful, starting with the Giants.

Giants:  On Monday, the Giants have to either sign JPP, franchise him, or get ready to lose him in free agency.   That's the deadline for tagging players.  What's more they still have to find more cap room, and could start looking at cut players from around the league like Anthony Fasano, Barry Cofield and Reggie Bush to start addressing their plethora of needs before the regular free agency period starts.

Rangers:  The NHL trade deadline passes at 5PM on Monday.  Since the Rangers ALWAYS make trades, my hope is simply that they are a better team Monday night than they are right now.  I'm handing it over to the hockey gods for there with one proviso: if MZA is traded it has to be for or part of a BIG IMPROVEMENT.

Knicks:  The Knicks and all of us will continue to mourn Anthony Mason -- the last Knick who wasn't on some level -- a pussy.   Phil Jackson either will or won't continue his scouting trip with an eye on getting more picks (which a genius should be able to do).

Yanks: The Yankees, such as they are, will continue working against their own best long term baseball needs and putting brand first.   Also, they will start playing preseason games, so it's a good time to see th kids before they get sent down -- if you can even stomach watching the Yanks for awhile.

So it will be an eventful week, whether or not those events will please us is anyone's guess.   I hope it's a great one for each of you.

MZA on the Way Out?

Katie Strang is reporting that the Rangers have now made MZA available for trade.  Depending on the take back, I like this more than extending him, and if the John Moore rumors are also true, I am glad the Rangers are looking to trade roster players instead of more picks or prospects.   About 54 hours till the deadline.

Rest in Peace, Anthony Mason, Knick

Anthony Mason, the former Knick, died over night from heart problems.  He was just 48 years old.  Mase was probably my favorite Knick during the Riley Era.  I prattle on about the team nature of basketball, and the effort nature of playing D out there.  Anthony Mason embodied both concepts and would have been a good and effective Knick on the Holzman Knicks or any Knick team, ever, because he got it and had the understanding and want to to make any team better.  He had probably surpassed the physically compromised version of Larry Johnson that we traded him for at the time of the trade, and thus I was pretty unhappy about it when the deal was made, not that I don't like Larry Johnson - I do - it's just that Anthony Mason was a KNICK and we can always use more and not less of them.  We still need more Knicks, and we lost this one way too soon - and twice.

Yadier Alvarez Seeks Waiver

According to RealGM, representatives for Cuban RHP Yadier Alvarez are seeking a waiver wich would allow Yadier to sign right away and not wait for 2/7.  Apparently, such waivers are available if the player can show reason.   We'll see if he can get it, and if he does we'll see if the price is right or the race is wrong.

Yanks: A House Divided?

The Yanks' failure to behave intelligently and sign Moncada early this week made apparent a schism between the baseball people and the ownership group that has created and powerfully threatens to keep creating their seasonal rate of championship success.

We've talked about his continually, but, under Hal, we have continually seen two plans at work.  There's the good one that has worked to add the best scouts in baseball, reorganize their minor league system, rely on analytics, and finally got the owner to agree to a July 2 splurge.   All of that stuff is really good.

Then we've seen the other plan -- which seems to want to just overpay for over 30's, and make excuses for not being more agressive with amateurs and Cubans when they've been able to.

The other day Hal whined about the payroll that was made necessary by this pennywise and pound foolish stewardship of the Yanks. We have a huge payroll because Hank wouldn't spend big on amateurs.  That's it. We have few to no entry level deals.  So no young salary savers.   And that's the only reason why its as high it is.  Meanwhile, in the period that the Yanks have achieved salaray stasis above 200M, MLB revenues have nearly doubled.   So cry us a river about your payroll, Hal.  It's bullshit.

The problem with the Yanks is the involvement of the non-baseball people.  Folks like Levine, Trost and Hal.  Until Hal stops listening to those guys and commits to his baseball people, the Yanks will continue to be at odds with themselves and take self-destructive actions, like, not signing Moncada and passing on all of those other Cubans over the past few years.

Rangers Stuff

I don't really think there's much on the trade market that should do anything to move the Rangers to move assetts.  Hell, Hayes outplayed and even won a faceoff from Vermette last night  -- and that's who the pundits are expecting the Rangers to get?  A rental who shouldn't play above and emerging kid?  No thanks.

In general, though, I think the Rangers should keep growing their big and fast brand, and I think they should probably do it through the draft, and with really carefully thought out trades for or signings of big, fast kids.  I think betwen Nash, Kreider and Hayes the Rangers are moving into a poward forward driven team with speed that will really rock in the playoffs.

I don't know if they're going to tradee MZA or not, but I don't think they should re-sign MZA or MSL this offseason.  Instead, I think those slots should go to Duke and Buch, who both has size, speed and skill.

Btw, it's time to stop playing Glass, now.  People don't fight in the playoffs, so he won't play in the  playoffs.  AV should be using these final 20 games or so to get the kids ready.

Knicks: Phil Scouts D'Angelo

Phil Jackson was on the road scouting Ohio St. PG D'Angelo Russell this week.   I would not mind it one bit if he were the Knicks first rounder.  He's clearly the best guard in the draft -- and his three's and shooting make him perfect for the Triangle.  What's more, he's a very good passer and rebounder.   In what he can produce he's somewhere on the Oscar Robertson/Walt Frazier axis, and thus would be a great get.  I'm not sure if they'd pick him over Okefor (who has an incredible array of moves and can pass, for a big man) or Karl Anthong Towns, who's an improving two way C.  In any event the Knicks should finally get a great player in the draft -- for the first time in decades.

UPDATE:  The NBA is apparently going to fine Phil Jackson for commenting on a draft ineligible player.  All the NBA fricking does is draft freshmen.  I wish I could create some hypocritical and arbitrary revenue streams.

UPDATE:  Phil is now spending 2 days scouting but probably not talking about the Kentucky team.

Rangers Win Another Wild One

Wow.  What a game.  Talbot was shaky in the first and gave up a quick goal.  Then Hayes, who is really coming on, gave Kreider a perfct pass across the goal mouth for Kreider's first goal of the night and Hayes's first assist.   Then Marty St. Louis took the first of two really idiotic offensive zone penalties which lead to an AZ power play, which lead to 2 goals agains when Klein also went off for knocking the puck out of play.   Bad, bad stuff.  The two first pick player would later commit his second offensive zone penalty with under 2 minutes left and the Rangers protecting a 1 goal lead.  Ponderous.

Anyway, it was 3-1 after one and Talbot was probably in danger of being pulled.   He came out for the second and so did the Ranger.  Stempniak scored his first goal of the night redirecting a John Moore shot.    Then Kreider scored his second of the game to tie it up.

The Rangers were swarming in the third, but didn't break through till Stempniak scored his second goal on a nice effort play after the AZ goalie had lost his stick.  And that was Hayes's second assist.   The Rangers then held on to win, yet another thriller.   Sheesh.  Lots more scouts in the house, but they just need to work with who they have and who's in the system.

Yanks Draft and IFA Pools

BA has updated the Yanks draft and IFA spending pools for 2015.

The Yanks have the 6th highest draft pool as of right now at  7,885,000, adding the allowable 5% overage, that gives them 8,279, 500.  I think it will go up if they can trade for a competitive balance pick or two, which I really hope they do.  They can also choose to go bigger, but it will cost them their `16 first.

Their IFA budget is and immovable 2,262,800 with a max figure of 300K for anyone player.  They can also sign as many 10K players as they want -- if they can find any.

They had till June 15 to find any IFA worth more than 300K, otherwise, we're out of luck for 2 years.

Let's hope the Yanks also have good luck after the draft and with Indy league standouts.

Yanks Name GCL2 Staff

Marc Bombard is the manager as we learned last week.  Interestingly, they have not namd a pitching coach yet.  I sort of wonder if that's because they don't have enough GCL aged pitchers:)  Kidding, they probably have a couple of guys with EST who could do it depending on what comes over or gets drafted.  Jason Brown is the hitting coach,  you mighy remember from his days as an org catcher with the Yanks system.  Lino Diaz is the defensive coach and he previously worked with the White Sox where he had some cultural responsibilities - just a guess but this could be the IFA squad for the Super `14s.

Meanwhile, we'll have to see where Drew Henson has landed.  He was one of the GCL hitting coaches last year and was well regarded.  He's either moved up or has gotten a bigger job in the organization side.

UDATE:  Drew Henson has indeed joined the Pro Scouting side for the Yanks.   So best wishes for Drew in his new job!

The Yanks Announce the GCL1 Staff

We talked a bit about this the other day.  But Julio Mosquera will officialy coach GCL 1.  His pitching coach will be former Yankee farmhand Elvis Quezada.  Caonabe Cosme will be the hitting coach.  He's 35 and it's his second year as the GCL1 hitting coach, but his 5th year with the organization.  They may have some hopes for him.  Almost hilariously, the "team coach"is a 50 year old named  Antonio Pacheco who spent the bulk of his playing and coaching career in Cuba.  He not going to know anyone!  I guess Omar Luis may still be around.   And the defensive coach will be Luis Figueroa.  He did that job for SI last year.

The GCL will be interesting this year because the Yanks didn't draft sign any preps last year and it looks like they might start this year's college picks in the Appy league.  So they're going to have so fill up 2 full teams with IFA's, 2015 prep picks and rehab guys.   I hope they have enough pitchers.

Yanks: More Hal Stuff

Hal's "We're not cheap," media blitz is getting a lot of run today, and some others are picking up on the fact that he's just been catastrophically dumb in his role as Yankee owner.    One thing, I and everyone else forgot in rightfully crucifying him for passing on Moncada -- and that is by rule, the Yanks cannot got after another high value young IFA starting in June, for 2 more years.   So it's not like he would have been setting a market he was going to re-visit any time soon.  That makes his decision to pass even more stupendously stupid.

Btw, the Yanks can and probably will grab more 23 and over IFA's from places like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Cuba in the near to mid term, but it's fairly unlikely any of them will have the upside of Moncada.

As long time readers of the blog recall, we were begging the Yanks to spend big in the draft and IFA before MLB changed the rules and imposed limits where they had not existed.

Being willing to spend 10-15M in each market every year would have rebuilt the farm a few times over by now and gotten the payroll under 200M and thrilled the fan base.  

Instead, Hal wouldn't spend there and he wouldn't spend on Cubans.  So we are where we are - hoping old stars, pitching and D can get us back in the post season.

Rangers Should Stand Pat at the Deadline

There's really nothing on the Market that will put the Rangers over the top on their cup quest.  In fact,  their system probably holds more answers for them.  What's they can't do is repeat the errors of `93 and `94 when they traded a bunch of young talent - that could have lead to multiple cups for 1 cup and years of suffering.

Guys like JT Miller and Carl Hagelin are important young pieces and both look like core.  Miller is a tough playmaker, and Hagelin's world class speed threatens everyone.   Trading them now would cost a ton in the long term.  Likewise, the kids on the farm and KHL should be non-starters in any trade talks.

You can't keep trading #1's then tradeprospects on top of that.  You'll collapse like you did in the `90s.  They've already traded the ones and they can't trade the prospects and young players without creating massive problems.

Yankees: Pitching and Defense

So, everyone's at camp now and everyone seems healthy.  There was  even some tape of Pineda bouncing around.  They desperately need him if their `82 vision of winning with pitching and defense is to  come to pass.   From a winning perspective, this might feel like a really bad bet - but objectively, if you realize that as of a result of some terrible decisions on amateurs and Cubans over the Hal era some bad years were going to happen - it will be an interesting experiment.

They're essentially betting that Tanaka, Pineda, and CC will make their starts and that their BP will be lights out - and that plus D around the diamond will limit suppress the other teams' o's.  

Now, the BP should be great, but betting on Tanaka, Pineda and CC seems like a long shot.  What's more if they're all healthy and dominant could the Yanks have over done it on D?  That's what will be interesting.  Will having Gregorious playing SS stop enough balls and turn enough unturned DP's to create wins on the field?  Can they consistenly win on the margins without the traditional Yankee O?

It's possible that they will, especially if we have health luck, and get something out of Eovaldi and Nova/Severino as the season moves along, but, man, oh, man would better hitters help.

Yankees: Hal Speaks

Two days after screwing the pooch on a future Yankee middle of the order bat, Hal Steinbrenner spoke to Joel Sherman.  He seemed to take umbrage at the fact that some have called him cheap.  He defended himself against that charge by discussing his payroll (he added in the luxury tax -- which btw, if it had really hurt the Yanks in a cashflow sense over all these years would have caused them to cut payroll or sue baseball).  I don't think anyone really thinks Hal is cheap, especially after the way he hands out hundreds for millions to older declining ball players on an annual basis.

So Hal is not cheap.  What Hal is, is stupid.  What Hal doesn't understand is how his payroll got so high, and what remains the only way to fix it.  Cheap young talent from strong drafts and strong IFA classes who can play for the Yanks on introductory deals.

Okay, so Moncada was going to cost a lot. Even with the penalty he was going to cost less than McCann got for 5 years and they were going to be getting more than 6 years of control.   It would not have counted against the payroll.   What Moncada would have allowed them to do is replace ARod or what ARod used to be, and do if for minimal money over the first few years.

Every year the Yanks spend a ton on luxury tax and revenue sharing.  And they get absolutley nothing in return for those millions.  They would have gotten a chance at a great player for fewer millions with Moncada, but they were too stupid to see it that way and make the right move.

Hal did bring up their IFA splurge from last July, and that was a really great thing.  Unfortunately, it was the only great thing Hal has okayed for the Yankee system on his watch.    He refused to go big in the drafts after he took over and before MLB changed the rules.  And, that, along with the corruption that was going on in our Dominican operation for years, is why the Yanks don't have great young talent in the bigs right now.

So, what Hal did tonight was not recognize the fact that they needed the July infusions of IFA talent, because Hal had blown off spending on the and in IFA up till then.  And he also failed to recognize than Yoan Moncada is three years older and closer to the majors than the other IFA kids.   He had a chance to really set the Yanks up for the short and long term and he balked at it.

He made a collosal mistake, tantamount to when his dad let Reggie walk in `82, but his father always owned that, and never let one of his guys get away again.

Hal doesn't have guys yet, but Moncada could have been that, too.

When Hal took over, he said the Yanks would still be the Yanks.  They weren't the Yanks on Monday, and, other than last July, they haven't been the Yanks in amateur spending at all on his watch.

Giants Draft pt.6: Running Backs

The release of Peyton Hillis earlier, which was completely expected, reminded me to talk about this year's RB's -- because the Giants need another one.  What the Giants really need is a speed back who can catch the ball and create another threat to score on any touch.  Unfortunately, no one in this draft seems to be that David Wilson type of guy.  But there are three guys I like for the Giants who can catch the ball and they are David Johnson, Duke Johnson and Ameer Abdullah.   Of these three I like David and Duke the most.  Ameer's got great tape and quickness but small hands, and we don't need another ball security problem.   He'd have to really prove that he can consistently catch and not fumble with those paws.  David is a fullsize back who had a dynamite combine and we'd be lucky to grab him in the third.   Duke was great on a poorly coached Miami team and seems very much like a Giant pick.

Btw, the Giants could go a whole nother way at RB and take one of the plethora of all purpose backs, like Tevon Coleman or even Gurley if he falls to 40.  A healthy Gurley could be the best player in this draft so the Giants should be willing to grab him and red shirt him if he falls to 40.  There are more like David Cobb, who could also work for the Giants in a pure three headed running attack.

In any event, it's a great draft for backs, and the Giants should grab one.

Yankee Fact

Before Randy Levine became Yankee President in 2000, the Yankees won 25 World Series.  Since he became president the Yanks have won 2, if you count 2000, 1 if you don't.   Not sure why more blame doesn't land at his feet, but going from 1 championship every 3-4 years to 2 in 16 is terrible.  What's more, some of the pundits were hinting at the fact that it was Levine who discouraged the signing of Moncada.  Now, Hal is a freaking nitwit for listening to this non-evaluator on a scouting and future of the franchise -- but aside that, the Yanks record under Levine's presidency has been pretty terrible.  Why isn't he the focus of more criticism?

Giants Release Hillis

Today, the Giants soldiered on with their cap work, cutting RB Peyton Hillis.  The Giants took a chance on Hillis and he had some good games for them, and was evrything they'd hoped he could be. We would have been more useful if they were a better team when he was there, but he gave a good effort and leaves redeemed.

Oscar Lindbrg Raises Rangers Floor and Gets Sent Down

Oscar Lindberg looked good last night.   If you were watching him, he came as advrtised and looked like a real playmaker withi his passes.  Unbelievably, AV sat him for strtetches of the third and then sent him down for specious "cap reasons" after the game.

This is the flaw that will undo AV: he is willing to let vets like Glass and Stempniak struggle (and man was Glass bad last night), but he won't let more than a few kids learn and grow.  He's yo-yo'd JT Miller, who's been one of the Rangers best lately, and now he's likely to do it to Lindberg.

Btw, there are no cap reasons that are preventing Oscar from being up.  Just a crappy bottom of the roster.  Let's hope they hang onto him.

Yanks Now Have 6 Teams Below Full Season A

With the addition of Pulaski, and the maintenance of the two GCL teams, the Yanks, for the first time in a long time, have 6 teams below A ball. Broken down, the Yanks have 2 DSL teams, 2 GCL teams, Pulaski in the Appy league, and Staten Island in the NYPL.  So that's six rosters of kids and inexperienced players vs on 4 from A to AAA.  Thus, at any given time of summer - because most of the players on these team are either in EST or aren't Yanks yet in the Spring - the Yanks will have more players way down in the low minors than they do in A and up.

This represents a sea change from the days when Lin Garrett was running the drafts and they were using them, almost primarily, to stock the Staten Island team for the exciting NYPL season.  I'm not kidding you.  They used to go for prospects with fewer picks and go for more organizational guys with the balance of picks.  That clearly wasn't a tack that was going to produce a lot of major leaguers, let alone guys who could make it to AA, and it didn't.

Fortunately, over the past several drafts they have moved away from trying to stock SI and have moved more toward taking guys for "reasons." Ulitimately this will produce a lot more major leaguers.

Back in the old days, the Yanks also used to have a VZL team, but they got rid of that because of the political strife in VZ, so now the bulk of IFA's start out on one of the two DSL teams.

Also, good kids and IFA's used to make the move from the GCL one year to Charleston the next.  Now Charleston is only one of three places they can go after GCL.  Speaking of which, the Pulaski team should alleviate the need to throw college picks who are 21 or 22 into the GCL  because they're not ready for SI.  Instead they can send those guys to Pulaski and get back to using the GCL for teens and first year stateside IFA's.

In any event, they're gonna need more catchers.

So Who's Your Favorite Yankee These Days?

Mine's Dealin' Dellin Betances?  Who's your's?  You can only name 1 and not supply any people you almost named.   I like Dellin best because he never gave up and when he finally got a chance, he dominated, like Yankee kids should always do.  Used to be harder to pick one.  Now it's easy and that probably says something.  I've gone through periods of not having a favorite Giant, Knick or even Ranger, and they've never coincided with winning.  

Rangers Win a Wild One 1-0

Wow.  Without Nash or Hank, the Rangers just beat the Flames on a goal by Kevin Hayes.  He was assisted by Brassard, who set a new high in points for a season with a quarter of the season to go.  That Flames goalie was insane and robbed JT Miller twice.  JT also got in a a fight.  So why do we have to play Tanner Glass, who had more turnovers tonight.  Talbot was excellent as he made a bunch of tough saves, even though the Rangers limited shot attempts.

It was wild because the refs weren't calling anything other than icing.  Sheesh.  By the way the kids, meaning Hayes, Hags, Kreider and Miller played with great energy which created a lot of the Flames need to ice.   When they can combine good puck possession with their speed they can gas anyone.  They just have to keep doing it.

Big win.

Lots of Scouts at the Ranger Game Tonight

Including some GM's.   Really glad JT Miller has the flu tonight as the way he's been playing would create great demand.   We'll see what happens.

UPDATE: Now it looks like Rick Nash is out.   They said he was taking a maintenance day yesterday and now he's out?  yikes.

NEW UPDATE:  It's neck spasms. Hopefully that's all it is and nothing else.

FURTHER UPDATE:  JT is playing.   I'm not liking this pregame period AT ALL.

Yanks Announce Their GCL Managers

The Yanks have finally announced their GCL managers, and, as we suspected there will still be 2 teams there.  One will be Julio Mosquera, was the long term catching supervisor for the system, the other will be Marc Bombard, who comes to the organization after years up and down the NL.  He'll be 66 this year, so he brings a wealth of experience and fits my opinion that the Yanks should have their best teachers at the lowest levels.

Depending on the visa situation, the Yanks could be really loaded in the GCL this year, featuring a lot of those IFA's from last year.   We'll see.

Yankee Camp: Scott Rolen Tutoring Eric Jagielo

New farm head, Gary Denbo has left the Yankee gene Michael pool to get help for struggling 3B Eric Jagielo.  You'd think new Yankee hire Eric Chavez might be given the responsibility, or Graig Nettles or Wade Boggs, but nope, Denbo has left the pool and gotten Rolen.

Jagielo was the Yanks first first rounder back in `13 which was the last time the Yanks kept their picks.   While Judge and Ian Clarkin, the other two picks have hit the ground dominating, Jagielo has struggled between injuries, both with his contact, and in the field.

Jags has shown power, but that's been about it.  Some pundits have projected a move to first or left for him in the future, but I am glad they are going to help him battle to stay at third.  Wade Boggs was a bad 3b and so was George Brett, but they both worked through it and became better than average to very good.  I'm not saying Jags can be anything like them, but those are both big names who overcame his current challenge.

Jags is a bit of an odd prospect.  Usually, you can look at a picks tool box and find an historical counterpart.   But Jags is lefty power, some walks, and bad D at third.  Not sure who that projects him to be like.  Anyway, he has to win the battle with third for us and have a full healthy season before we can project him.  But it's interesting that Denbo is going outside of the organization for help.

UPDATE:  The Yanks have hired former Yank Matt Daly as a special assignment scout.  Nice job for Matt.

Rangers Call Up Lindberg

The Rangers have called up Oscar Lindberg.  Unfortunately, it's because JT Miller has the flu, and not because they've seen enough of Tanner Glass.  That said, he's an elite faceoff guy who is defensively responsible, can scate and make plays of O.  In other words, a better player than Glass and Stemp already.  Let's hope he shines and forces their hands.

Giants Release Kiwi

The Giants have released Matthias Kiwanuka, the star crossed DE who helped them to two rings - even though he was injured for SB 42.   Kiwi had declined over the past few years owing to injuries and constant positional switches.  It's fair to say he would have had a better prime if he'd just stuck to one position.  That said, he was a good Giant and he deserves our respect and gratitude.  He gave his heart, soul and body to big blue.

Trading MZA?

The Rangers and Mats Zuccarello are said to be far apart on a new deal.   Though they don't HAVE to get it done now, this is following a familiar script.  Last year the Rangers were less than 1M apart from Captain Cally, and they ended up trading him.  I think there's a pretty good chance that happens again with MZA.  Even if the cap goes up, it will be hard for the Rangers to extend guys like Stepan and Kreider if they give big extensions to MZA and MSL.

Yanks Draft Stuff: Preps Vs. Collegians

The Yanks are in for a bit of a draft bonanza this year - though not as franchise altering as the Knicks draft will be - but because they kept their picks, they will be in position to kick ass like we expect the New York Football Giants to do in their draft.  However; decisions they have made in the past could force their hands and they'd lose value.

To wit, under the new draft rules teams are always choosing between college players and preps.  For the years leading up to the draft the Yanks were taking more and more preps as a percentage of the whole.  Last year, they went mostly collegian because they gave away their top three picks, and thus had very low pool money.  And guess what?  They still had a good draft that added talent to the system and looks like it will provide major league help in the near and long terms.

This year they will have one of the biggest draft pools, and thus could go back to their preppy preference, unless the success of their college guys like Refsnyder, Judge and Lindgren, encourages them to go heavy on the college side yet again.

There might be more, to it, though.  And this is SPECULATION.   After the 13 season there was big but specious issue that the farm didn't have players ready to help the big league team, when they needed.   The upshot was that the Yanks had a big talk with the scouts, and Hal said words to the effect that the scouts will be looking at other kinds of players.

At the time, that chilled me.  It was quite clear that the Yanks for the past several years had been taking hitters with patience and pop, and pitchers with swing and miss stuff.  So I wondered what he could be talking about -- also I was disgusted that he was hanging the underfunded scouts out to dry.  It's the amatateur spending policies of the Yanks under Hal and NOT the scouts who have created the current mess.

Anyway, looking back at what happened thereafter, it's possible that they just told the scouts to pick more college players because they get ready faster.  I think that was most likely the message because a) that's what they've done, and b) Even Hal must understand that OBP and swing and miss are good things.

So, even with the increased pool, the Yanks could still lean heavily toward collegians if that was the `13 edict.

Btw, I think they can have a good draft either way.  Afterall, Lou Gehrig went to college.  Of course, Mickey didn't.  But, because the scouts are good at finding patience and pop, as well as swing and miss, they'll have a strong draft.

The one issue that could arise if they go heavily collegian again is that they could end up with a three tiered farm with a hug group of 21 and older, a relatively small group of 18-20 year olds that are almost exclusively foreign, and another big group of 16 anf 17 year old IFA's.   That's another reason why Moncada was important to the conga line - he's 19 going on 20 and would throw a huge talent in that window for us.    Anyway, the talent distribution per age will get a big screwed up if the Yanks go too heavily collegian again.

Stuff to think about, as it's our next good opportunity to grab amateur talent.

For Yanks Diminished Opportunities Will Mean Diminished Returns

Because of the new draft rules, the IFA rules and all that Yankee money going to other teams, the Yanks are in trouble.  Couple that with the fact that they have been unwilling to seize every opportunity that's presented itself in the untarrifed or once tarrifed markets and they are in really deep trouble as far as being to get great amateurs or great foreign pros either before or at the beginning of their prime years.

Because of the big market revenue sharing teams can keep their homegrown stars for second contracts.   So the Yanks aren't getting as many shots at 27 or 28 year olds as they use.  Of course, one of the Yanks' old advantages is they never had to see Bernie, Jeter, Mo or Po in other uniforms.  Now they're seeing Cano and DRob in them because they weren't smart enough to lock them up sooner.   So that's a big problem on the MLB level, they just can't wait for players to becom FA's like they did when they passed on a Santana trade and waited for CC.  Okay so their opportunities to hire top notch 27 year olds is gone - and that's a problem

Further, the new IFA rules are a problem.   2014 started out great in IFA when the Yanks grabbed Tanaka, then when after an historically great batch of July 2 kids.   Still a great plan.  But, with two year of heavy sanctions and a possible International Draft on the way -- the Yanks left powder dry by now signing Moncada, mainly, but also by passing on Yoan Lopez.  They literally may never get a shot at teenage players of the Yoan level again - unless they pick first which is probably closer to happening than they can admit to themselves.

Unfortunately, the Yankee solution for missing out on kids and age 27 has been trading their draft picks to sign over 30 MLB FA's.  You can see how this not only makes them an older team, with a bunch of contracts that are already bad or could go bad at any given moment -- but it blocks the way of younger players who might actually make it through the system and give them 6 years of salary relief.

So, by trading draft picks for old players, and by turning down one Cuban after another, and by leaving powder dry during their 2014 IFA attack, the Yanks have screwed themselves unless they get almost singularly lucky over the next few drafts.  I believe they have the Scouts to do just that -- but can the Yanks resist their propensity to trade those picks for 30 and over FA's?

They are really in a bit of a crisis and there ways out have been exhausted by passing on every life saver they've been offered.

Again, they really have to work the next few drafts and find more hits, like Severino was, in the cheap end of IFA if they want to avoid a protracted period of futility like the one that followed `65 or started in `82.   This could get ugly.  And there could be little kids starting to follow th team in the next few years who will have a hard time believing they used to be GREAT.

Yanks Pimping That It Wasn't Hal's Call

This is ridiculous.  Hal Steinbrenner is the decision maker on the Yanks -- he is who Cash goes to when he needs to ask ownership.   There's no question about that.  So it is comical that after Hal said NO to about his 11th Cuban today, the Yanks are trying to tell us through their press shills. that Hal really wanted him but was talked out of it.   Who has that power?  His brother Hank said years ago that they would sign EVERYONE.  So who was it?

And how stupid was it for them to say they'd rather spend 60-70M of an established hitter.   But there are no #3 hitters at that price point - they're either under control or getting over 100M.


So the Yanks were picturing two fictional scenarios today, first, that Hal doesn't call the shots, and second that there are no 60-70M dollar hitters available with Moncado's middle of the order upside.    It's too bad that the Yankee press takes what they're fed at face value with nary a thought or question.  Yankee fans deserve better.

There's no such thing as a coincidence, and the Yankees passing on all of these Cubans in a row was no coincidence.  It was costly plan that will stretch this period of mediocrity for years.  And now they're trying to absolve the owner  of the plan from his ownership of the plan.   What a load of crap.

Yankee fans deserve much better.

As Cuban Market Dries Up, Yanks Will Turn to AARP

As the Yanks would rather spend 60-70M dollars on an established MLB bat than on Yoan Moncada, and the Cuban market couldn't offer anything else at  their price point the Yanks will turn their attention to AARP.    Let's face it, those people have a LOT of experience, and remain the biggest unexploited market on the baseball map.  Heck, there are great players with MLB experience in AARP and most would be glad to take 60 or 70 Million from the Yanks.  How could it go wrong?

Introducing The Small Market Yanks!

Under Hal Steinbrenner the Yanks have shown themselves to only be "Big Game Hunters" every 5 years or so (2009 and 2014), when big money comes off their books.  Of course, this freakishly stupid stance has come at the expensive of several great players (all Cubans, Yu Darvish, etc) who could have been Yankees but for their moment of availability.  It's also cost them a raft of draft picks every time they go for a big free agent class.

You'll also recall that Hal stalled a few offseasons with his "goal" of getting the payroll down to 160M.  Of course, the way to do that would have been to spend in the draft and IFA before the rule changes and have a new, cheap core ready to roll a couple of years ago.  Now, because of their pound foolish and penny wise past, we're going to have to sit through the next few years watching old players decline further before young players can get chances because of the sunk costs.

And we are where we are because of Hal's peculiar policies that not only set him against the fans, but set him against Yankee history.   And for 4 out of every 5 years will render the Yanks a small market team that can't contend for big players, and lose their own homegrowns like Cano and Roberston to bigger spenders.  So now we know how the Royals fans have felt most of the time since the `80s.

More Yankee Draft Stuff

This June will mark a rare occasion when the Yanks have 4 top 100 picks.  They could have had more situations like this -- including last year, but the Yanks have been too in love with paying over 30 FA's to decline, than they have been in securing a new young core or compiling assets that can be traded for young stars.   Before the rules changes the Yanks, particularly once Hal took over, did a bad job of spending on the draft or playing the arbitration game.  Simlilarly, they did a bad job of gaming IFA before this past year.  Also under Hal.

Back to this years draft.  The Yanks pick 16th, 30th, 57th and 92nd -- and if the pool looks right, perhaps they can trade for a competitive balance pick or two.   As it stands 2 or three of those picks could be college seniors in order to move budget out of the top 10 rounds.

Needless to say, the Yanks need to rock this draft, and have enough scouting talent to do just that, so keep your fingers crossed.

Giants Draft pt.5: The #9 Pick

The draft has pretty much wrapped up, and the Giant window at 9 is no more encouraging now than it was when I wrote about trading down a few weeks ago.  I think there are only 3 or 4 guys who might be both there when we pick, and worthy of the #9 pick.  They are OT Brendon Scherff, WR Amari Cooper, DT Danny Shelton - and whichever pass rusher, other than Gregory, who distinguishes himself after some strong showings at the combine.   Don't want the second best WR there or a linebacker who doesn't fit what Spags would want from his linebackers.

So we're looking at the top OL, the top WR, the top DT or Pass rusher, or a trade down. I don't think the DB value is there at 9 at all.  

Yanks: Severino Throws

Twitter just had a poignant picture of a lot of Yankee personnel watching Luis Severino throw a bullpen.  Young talent electrifies organizations.   The Yanks are now in a position where guys like Severino, Clarkin, Judge, Bird, Hensley and others have to hit their absolute ceilings.   What's more their crop of recent IFA's must produce some all-stars.   That's a tall order for their re-jiggered development team - but it is what it is.

Fortunately, Hal's Wheel of Spending allowed the Yanks to keep the 16th and 30th picks in June's draft.  The Yanks have to crush both of these picks, and really have another good draft to go with the last few.  But that's about all they can do, having missed the Cuban market completely.

The Yankees are the Mets

Wow.  The MLB Yankee site is floating the headline that the Yanks made a significant offer for Moncada.  No, what they made was a losing offer.  Anyway, and I don't want to remind Met fans of any of the crap they've had to go through with bad owners, but floating the idea that "we tried" is disgustingly Met ownership-like.  

And the Yanks, after all this half-assedry, actually had to nerve to jack ticket prices again.  The ghosts of the Boss and the Colonels must be rolling in their graves.  

Yanks Lose

The Yankees today passed on Yoan Moncada for less than the pocket change they throw at crap like Drew and Capuano.  They really don't get it anymore, and that's on ownership.  They had a chance to add an elite talent to their collection of good but not yet and perhaps never great prospects and not only did they pass - they let the Red Sox get him.

It seems that every time they do something right - like sign Tanaka, or take the top off the market in IFA - they do a bunch of things wrong - like blowing 3 first rounders on Beltran, McCann, and Ellsbury, or passing on all the Cubans, or passing on Yu Darvish.   There are times when they seem to have a plan, an other times when they seem to be rudderless

It will be another 2 years before the Yanks can go after the top of the market IFA's.  In the meantime, they'd better keep all of their draft picks and hope they get lucky.

The Yanks were tested today, and they failed.

Rangers Win Via The Shootout

Boy, can the Rangers turn it off.  They started out flying through first first period and change, taking a 3-0 lead on goals by Hayes and 2 by MSL.  Then they played prevent or something - particularly when they were up 3-2 in the third and gave up the whole thing.  Talbot was good early, but bad, like the rest of them, late.  The Blue Jackets did a lot of clutching, holding and interfering and probably only got away with it because the Rangers became so passive.

It was unbelievable.   This is a team that is on the verge of bankrupting Papa John's because they score so often, but they shut it down with a lead and stop shooting and trying to score -- which is what they do best.  Ponderous.  Truly ponderous.  But, they got the two points, and it was another two they got while Hank is healing.

Trade deadline is one week from tomorrow.

NYT Alleges That Betances and Miller are "Competing" For Closer Spot

Good, sweet Jesus, the New York Times is pimping the idea that Miller and Betances are competing to be the new closer.  Well, I hope they both lose -- it will be better for the Yanks.  We cannot go over this enough but saving your best reliever for 3 outs when you're already winning is suboptimal.  Instead, teams should keep their best reliever available for the toughest situations.  With Miller and Betances the Yanks have two outstanding relievers who can got 2 innings with some frequency. They should use the two innings guys in rotation.  Lindgren could be another.  They should make Warren or someone else the one inning closer.  We've been over this again and again.

Btw, since I'm on the West Coast, I wonder if Moncada will be a Yankee by the time I wake up tomorrow.

Yanks Eovaldi Learning a Split

New Yankee Nate Eovaldi met with reporters today and revealed his new third pitch will be a splitter!    I think this is always a great idea for guys with big enough hands but are having trouble learning the change.  A split will not only change eye level from Nate's fastball and slider, but it will act as a change too, as it probably won't be in the same velo range.   Back in the old days, guys who couldn't manage a circle change, would pick up a forkball.  This is the same concept and the fork and split are basically the same pitch.   I'm glad that they've abandoned his change rather than break their necks trying to improve it.  Let him deal in filth.

Yankee Stuff

Tanaka threw his second BP session today and was up to 35 pitches, while mixing in more offspeed stuff.  So far so good.

CC threw yesterday and was back over 300 pounds.  We'll see if that brings his fastball back or if it's just harder on his knees.

Eovaldi was also throwing today and all the reports said he was working on his secondary offerings.  This could be a really interesting story.

Giradi said he hadn't seen any of the Moncada workouts but had heard good things.  I still think he'll become a Yankee in the next few days.

Giants Draft pt.4: Wide Receivers

Jerry Reese spoke at the combine yesterday and would not rule out taking another WR in the upcoming draft.  With the injury to Cruz, the inconsistency and pending free agency of Randle, as well as the plethora of good WR's in the draft, he really couldn't look at it any other way.

The only WR that I see as worthy of the #9 overall pick, is Amari Cooper.   He put on a show yesterday with a 4.42 40, a 6.71 3 cone (OBJ's was 6.69) and a 3.98 in the short shuttle.  He had the only sub 4 short shuttle among the receivers.   His standing jumps were more on the average but I really don't want my WR's standing around.  I've seen Cooper consistently high point the ball in gams and win balls with his big 10 inch hands.

In short, Cooper validated his tape, including all that "make you miss" we've seen from him over the years.  The 3 cone and short shuttle explain his outstanding route running, and like Beckham and Cruz, he can beat defenders with his routes.   He's an excellent football player and the on WR worth the #9 pick.

There are a few other WR's I like later like Strong, Dorsett and D.Smith, but Cooper's the only one at 9, and he'll probably be gone.

I like White just okay.  He ran a great 40 and had a 3 cone that was just under 7.0 so - that was good, too.  His shuttles were fine and his jumps were very good.  And his tape from his senior year was terrific.  That said, he's 2 years older than Cooper and not as explosive in his cuts.  So I don't really want him at 9.   He'd be a good player for us, no doubt, but I'm looking for great, and his hands are 9.25 when I really prefer 10 inch hands for WR's and TE's and basically everyone on the Giants.

This Week on the Blog

This past week was sort of interesting as Yankee camp began to open, the Giants went to the combine, the Rangers debuted another goalie, and the Knicks got two more 2's for Pablo.  Nothing spectacular, but that could change this week. Let's look.

Yankees - This is it for Moncada.  Are the Yanks still big game hunters or now just a distorted echo of their glorious past.  Also, this week the rest of the Yanks are expected at camp.  Should be interesting either way.

Giants - The  GMen are wrapping up at the combine, and this week will continue the work of creating cap room, and re-signing/extending some of their own.   They'll also continue to stack their draft and free agent boards.

Rangers -  Rangers have to keep going without Hank.  The deadline is approaching on 3/2 and we'll see if they make any moves - or any mistakes.

Knicks - The Knicks will probably bring in some more players from the CBA or FA to see if any of them can pick up the triangle over the remaining weeks.

So there it is.  The Yanks are at an important moment.  The Giants and Rangers need to act intelligently.  Ans the Knicks need to keep losing.

Hope you all have a great week!

Skapski Wins His Debut

MacKenzie Skapski was scored on in the 13th second of the first period - off a terrible turnover by the Rangers - then was not scored on again as the Rangers won 3-1 and stretched their road win streak to 5.  Hagelin tied the game, Nash scored the game winner with his 37th, and Zucc scored the third goal on a Nash rebound.   The Rangers were swarming all night in the Buffalo zone and should have scored more.  Skapski did make three or four good saves during penalty kills and off a defensive lapse or two.  Skapski did show talent and poise, do maybe he'll get another start.  They've got to be pleased that he didn't crumble after the quick goal in the first.

Rangers Skapski to Start

The Rangers will start their 20 year old prospect MacKenzie Skapski in goal tonight about Buffalo.  This should make the other Rangers a little more aware of their defensive responsibilities than they have been over Talbot's last few starts.  This is a great chance for Skapski to start making his way.  He's been a little underrated as he's gone through the system and been young at every stop.

Yanks Did Have Moncada In for a 3rd Workout Yesterday

This is getting really interesting.   It's now being confirmed that the Yanks did have Moncada in for a second day in a row yesterday, and that Hal Steinbrenner was in attendance.  The buzz out of the Wednesday workout was great, though.  The kid has big tools. So a decision must be close or already made.

I pretty strongly believe they are getting him.  If you follow the Yankees draft and IFA you realize a lot of the kids they end up taking have spent a relatively high amount of their amateur time at the Yankee complex in Tampa or the DR.  They are sort of doing that with Moncada now - wrapping their organizational arms around him - so to speak, and I would really expect something to get done in the next few days.

Tanaka Declares Himself Healed

In his first meeting with the press today, Yankee Ace Masahiro Tanaka declared himself healed.   If he is, that changes quite a bit of the prognosis for the 2015 Yanks.   What's more, if Pineda and CC are similarly well, we'll get to see just how much a team can do with pitching and defense.  The offense will remain a question till they prove they can consistently score.  But Tanaka's news is great for the first day -- and with the Yankee pen, they should never consider pushing him again.

Yanks: Pitchers and Catchers Report

Finally, pitchers and catchers - those that aren't already there - will report to Tampa on Friday to be checked out and get to work.   Thus starts another season for baseball's greatest franchise and its system.   It should be relatively businesslike as the Yanks didn't add any other big personalities and will be used to ARod being back around.   Btw, the position guys who aren't already there are scheduled to report on the 25th.

As you know, Tanaka has already taken a short bp session, and the rest of the presumptive starters will start taking turns with him in the coming days.  A big story will be Tanaka's health, Eovaldi's third pitch, Pineda's health and velo and CC's health and velo.

Feels like JR Murphy will be the backup catcher, so Austin Romine will probably have to beat him out or face a trade.

Next week, if he's not there already, Rob Refsnyder will need to start staking his claim to second base.  I think his bat is a little more electric than he's gotten credit for and I expect him to make the team.

But, it will be good to have the Yanks back, even if it's just is little camp blurbs.  It's a very big year for the system, especially if they can add some more IFA's before the ban begins, to go along with the full supply of draft picks they finally kept.

Let's go, Yanks.