Rangers Foil the Lightning

Dominic Moore scored a big third period goal when the score was knotted 2-2 and the Rangers were back on their heels a bit.  They went on to win 5-2 as Stalberg and Nash both hit emtpy netters.   MZA had another goal and so did Boyle - it was his disambiguation goal.  If the season now jumps back onto the right rails, that Moore goal may end up being the turning point.  Huge.  Needed win.

Yanks Farm Stuff

Yesterday, the Yanks' DEEP farm system gave up a classic power pitching starter, as well as grinding professional hitter with positiona uncertainty and not name Rob Refnsyder.   Both Rookie Davis and Eric Jagielo appeared in most of the Yankee Top 10's that have been circulating this offseason, and though it's a deep farm, they were at the upper levels, and both will play in the majors (unless Jagielo's health augers otherwise, and let's hope he's blessed with the opportunity).

So where is the Yankee farm now?   It's still DEEP.  Another sign of that is how regularly their getting plundered in the Rule 5. Happened again this year.  But while the Yankee farm is almost 1950's level deep, it doesn't, just now appear to have a ton of future all stars waiting in the wings.   That's partly because they wouldn't spend what they could have in the draft or IFA, haven't had a ton of first round picks like some other teams, and have refused to get into young Cuban speculation.

Still the Yanks, through sound, and I think, insightful scouting, in both the  draft and IFA, do control a lot of guys who will play in the bigs. and Given their draft positions, and weird ownership decisions,  that's impressive.

Last year they reconfigured their system, replacing Mark Newman with Gary Tuck (in a seemingly smaller job) and moving coaches or dismissing coaches throughout the chain.   They also elevated their Analytics team into a full department and fired up a sports science division. This offseason, Gil Patterson went back to the A's, while Danny Borrell and Scott Aldred were pugged into his job.  And there were probably some other moves as well, for example, I don't know who the AAA staff is right now.

It also seems like they're letting guys move up a little faster, than they had been.  Sure, some like Judge and Wade struggled after promotion, they still earned the chances and will adjust.   It's far better to continually make them adapt than to let them dominate lesser players for full seasons.  So that's probably a better strategy, if it is indeed a strategy and not just based on what a few prospects showed they could do.

A couple of things I would still like to see are a super focus on grinding AB's, serious offseason (instructs, January sessions) bunting program for the fast guys,  and some sort of revolution in the way they teach defense.

Btw, I think there is a pretty good focus on grinding, as we saw when Bird and Refsnyder got AB's, but they both have the walk gene, anyway.  It's guys like Jorge Mateo, who aren't grinding enough.  I'd like him a lot more if he took his walks.   Right now, I'm leaning toward Wilkerman Garcia, who at 17 came over to the GCL and grinded, as the SS of th future.  Though that could change as the Yanks have a ton of SS prospects who can stay at the position or move to second right now.

Also, it's guys like Jorge Mateo who need the bunting program.  Look, I hate sacs bunts as much as the next guy, but guys like Mateo have to learn to make bunts a weapon, like Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, and Brett fricking Butler used to do.   They're a great tool for for fast guys, and can really add to their times on base, as well as destabilize opposing defenses.

And Mateo could also use more work on his D.  Now,  he's not who I was thinking about when I said they should revolutionize their defensive schooling, guys like Refs and Jags were, but Mateo's still not a finished product at SS, either.   Though no one is saying he'll have to be a 2B, he is a little wild on D.  Guys shouldn't be reaching the higher levels with positional uncertainty, playing D in any sport is about "want to" and reps.

So, where are the super impact prospects going to come from?   Barring a last minute free agent splurge, the Yanks should once again have a top 20 first round draft pick, and a workable bonus pool. That will help, like this past year's draft where the Yanks added Kaprielian, Degano, and a bunch of other arms, and even some advanced, toolsy hitters.

This is the second year of their IFA punishment, but remember guys like Mateo, Acevedo and Severino were low dollar signings, so, gold might still be found in a punishment year.

Also, the Yanks may already have some super impact guys. Remembr the 30 or so they signed in July of 14? Some of them could start popping at any time. Wilkerman already has and he wasn't the most highly regarded.

So, given the penalties, yesterday's trade and and no last minute free agent signings, the Farm is in good shape and should keep trending up.

Yanks Swap Prospects for Possible Scum

The Yanks just traded two top 10 prospects - Rookie Davis and Eric Jagielo, plus two sort of non prospects in Caleb Cotham and Tony Renda to the Reds for possible scum Aroldis Chapman.   The deal as it is creates an extra spot on the 40, as both Rookie and Caleb were on it.  Now, no charges have been filed against Chapman, but the details of the alleged event were pretty specific, choking his girlfriend and firing 8 shots.  I guess the Yanks are betting no charges will be filed and that it will die down once he hits 105 for the first time on the stadium gun.

What's also strange is that the Yanks were supposedly favored to sign Chapman as an IFA but Hal or someone soured on making an offer when he refused to throw a bullpen for them at Yankee Stadium when he visited.

If you can separate out the allegations, I'm still not a fan of this deal.  I feel like the Yanks are in position to build their bullpen from within.  And I'm never in favor or dealing young starters like Rookie for relievers.  Likewise, I don't like dealing advanced bats like Jagielo.   Finally, after the allegations, and the collapse of the original Dodger deal, wouldn't you think Chapman could be had for less?

Meanwhile, this also leaves the Yanks with possibly the two best left handed closers in baseball.   Which doesn't make a lot of sense, so perhaps Miller to the Dodgers or some other deal is still on the way.  We'll see.  I find this ponderous, and have no idea how they expect to need an all world bullpen with their gimpy starters and anemic offense.

This Week on The Blog

Ugh, that was another brutal one for our teams.  Seriously, wtf?  Okay, this week the Rangers will start back up after their break, the Knicks will continue to struggle, the Giants will close another losing season, and the Yanks are pretty unlikely to do anything before the New Year starts.  Let's take a look.

Rangers:  The Rangers got off to a strong start, but have now been in the tank for about a month.   This shouldn't happen to elite teams.  What's more, their cap situation is so currently screwed up, they couldn't keep Skjei up once Ranta got hurt because of cap issues -- not play issues.  That's ridiculous,, and they should have traded a D in the offseason to relieve them of those sorts of decisions.  Injuries to Stepan, especially, have also been damaging.  And of course now that some of the guys are coming back, Etem and McIlrath will sit -- even though they were establishing themselves and far from the problems.

Knicks: Fisher is not a good coach.  His decisions cost games. And so far, it's looking like Phil Jackson made a bad call here.  By now we should see a guy with better control of his team and with a winning formula.   Fisher doesn't have that.  In fact, it just occured to him recently that the team should look to Porzingis more.  Yikes.  And yest, I think Luke Walton is probably a better answer for where they are now.   Also, the Knicks will have cap room again this year - though no picks so far - an having a good coach will probably be more attractive than having Fisher.

Giants: What a gut wrenching season. But the Giants have to be really careful going forward.  You can look at them at 6-10 or 7-9 or whatever they finish up at and think -- they're a million miles away, let's blow it up.  Or you could look at the fact that they were about 4 minutes away from going into last night's debacle as a 12-2 team.  They'll be heading into the offseason picking about where they did last year and with a ton of cap room.  If handled correctly this could be a really quick turnaround,

Yanks: So far we haven't seen any of the other moves that have been alluded to by Cashman and Girardi.  I'm fine with that.  And as soon as I get one or two more things taken care of, I will write something about the farm.

I hope you all have great last weeks of `15 and absolutely rockin' New Years!

This Week on the Blog

Well, this one just started off on the wrong foot, so let's hope it finishes off a lot better.

Giants:  The Giants just lost a heartbreaker for the 6th time this year and it would behoove them at this point to keep losing and take the picks, and probable new FO and Coaching stuff.  The Giants probably would have won today if not for drops by Odell and DRC, as well as fumble from Jennings. They all redeemed themselves but it was not enough.

Knicks: The Knicks are back at .500, though Kristaps hasn't had a double double in awhile and Grant isn't playing.  There's been noise about them wanting a shooting guard, though Alfalo has been one of their best players since his late start.

Rangers:  The Rangers are still in the tank, and will stay there until they start making some plays.

Yanks:  The Yankees have been quiet.  Perhaps too quiet, or perhaps they're just being super patient.  Let's hope that we end up liking whatever they do.  What they've done so far has been unimpressive.

I hope you all have a phenomenal Holiday week.

Rangers Win

Dylan McIlrath scored his first career goal and the Rangers beat Edmonton, who'd made them look bad on the road trip, 4-2.  Fast scored and empty netter and MZA and Nash scored the other goals.  Yandle had two assists.  So, basically Ranger hockey.  Still need Hayes and Kreider, but Mr. Skjei was much quicker and faster than the D's we've been used to, and was pretty impressive.    Good stuff.  Finally.

Rangers Summon Skjei

Because Dan Girardi is day to day with a knee, the Rangers called up Skjei to take his place.  This is a potentially big night for the franchise as their last first rounder will make his debut.  This will also shine a light on the idiocy of the Giradi and Staal deals.   And they're going to have to figure something out in the short term for the long term because sitting or sending down Skjei and or McIlrath could be off the table very soon.  Skjei and McIlrath were first pair for Hartford last year when they went on their playoff run.  Skjei is a great skater, like McDonagh, and I think he's even a bit bigger.  This is it for first rounders for awhile, unless the Rangers acquire some.

Eli Dooms The Dolphins

It was just one of those games where Eli was too much.   He just went 27-31, 4 TD's and 340 yards as the Giants finally finished one.  Odell was also pretty spectacular 2 TD's and 166 yards.   Jennings also had some good runs, as did Darkwa in very limited use.  The defense was bad again, and dropped two or three picks that could have made this a laugher.  Cooper Taylor was flying around on ST's and D and that was a pleasant surprise.   Of course, the Giants are only interesting if they win next week, and the two after that.  This win will flex the Giants game against the Vikings.

Rangers Waive Jarret Stoll

In a move that is now more foreboding than it would have been two weeks ago, the Rangers, today, put Jarret Stoll on waivers.    The reason that it would have been better news two weeks ago was that Tanner Glass had not been re-called yet, and we could see this as a move to get Etem a regular roll and maybe call up a kid with upside for the extra forward sign.  Instead, Glass came up and wonder of wonders he scored a goal.   Thus, we're probable looking at less PT for Etem and if it comes, it will be for Stalberg or one of the kids.   Not groovy.  Between moves like this and the sudden  decline of their big three defenders, the Ranger roster has become a problem.

This Week on the Blog

This week was another bad one.   The Giants lost in the final two minutes of their game, the Rangers lost a bunch, the Knicks lost a bunch and the Yanks may not have a plan, and continued to trade talent for questionable talents.   Oh and the Knicks just won one and the Rangers just lost in OT.

Yankees:  The Yanks so far this offseason have traded useful players like Murphy, Warren and Wilson for players with questions like Hicks, Castro and the two AAA pitchers they got for Wilson.  I have no idea why they settled for Cessa and Green for Wilson given what's being handed over for proven relievers this year, and I have no idea what the rest of the plan is, but it had better be more impressive than this has been.

Giants:  The Giants should be 10 and 2.  They're 5-7.  That's massively problematic.

Rangers:  The Rangers are in a tailspin, and most of it can be tied to the play of Dan Girardi and Marc  Staal.  In fact, at one point this past week Dan Girardi had been on the ice for 8 straight goals against.    He gave one away too Johnny Gadreau tonight, too.  It's time to sit Girardi or send him on a conidtioning assignment.  And they have to call up Skjei and see if he can provide some stability, like McIlrath is doing.    This has been ridiculous.

Knicks: I think Porzingis was 0/6 tonight and didn't play down the stretch.  Way to develop him, Fisher.   I don't care if the Knicks win or lose this year, I care about how they develop the pieces that might be worth keeping.   Zinger got screwed tonight, but O'Quinn finally got some burn again and was 14 and 7 last time I checked.  I don't like how Fisher is handling this, and though I don't care about the record, I hate watching them blow games, and they, like the Giants, have a knack for that.    Oh well.

So this week, let's hope the Rangers can start winning, the Knicks can start developing, the Yanks can make smart moves and the Giants start playing out their streak,

I hope everyone has a better week than our teams are likely to.

Yanks Still Inefficient With The 40

All those big, immovable contracts, combined with a bit of an attitude of allowable waste bit the Yanks where they live twice in a row during the Rule 5 draft earlier today.  With overall picks 2 and 3, the Yanks lost CF Jake Cave, and LHP Evan Rutckyj.   Even if you consider all of the OF's currently ahead of Jake in the organizational depth chart, he had to be added to the 40 or traded.  You cannot lose a guy who can play CF and usually hit and get on base  for the 50K price of the rule 5.  Likewise, Rutckyj is a lefty who throws 97 out of the pen.  That's about what Wilson throws, and though they didn't seem to get much for Wilson, lefties who throw 97 are worth something.  Thus Rutckyj had to added or traded, but not lost in the Rule 5. It was both mismanagement of the 40 and some carelessness in both cases that cost the Yanks two actual prospects today.

Yanks Trade Wilson for Two RHP's

Yanks today traded LHRP Justin Wilson to Detroit for RHP Luis Cessa, 23 and RHP Chad Green 24. Not sure what it was about Cessa that made him part of the Cespedes trade for the Mets, but there seems to be nothing to get excited about accordin to scouting reports.  Of course, the Yanks might have different reports, so who knows.  In theory, selling high on Wilson is a good idea, whether they got enough is the question.  Of course, Lindgren, Pazos, Webb and Shreve still give them plenty of options.  What's more, Cash says he's, "Not Done."  

So what other first round or IFA under achievers are out there?;)

Yanks Acquire Starlin Castro

In their latest move the Yanks have picked up yet another player who does not GRIND.  What's more, though he's not yet had a negative war year all together, most years he's be - on dwar.  They gave up effective Adam Warren (remember, it was his removal from the rotation for Nova that really screwed up the season), and the craptastical Brendan Ryan, to add roughly over 5M to the payroll next year. And this will be another case of a prospect not getting a shot because the Yanks have a guy ahead of him with a CONTRACT.   This is more or less of nightmare scenario.  The Yanks could have easily gotten by with Refsnyder and Ackley at 2B, but, instead, they're pretended it's still a problem and acquired this overrated trash. The guy's most recent OPS+ is 83 and he's under 100 for his career as he heads into his age 26 season.   I don't think he could beat out Rob Refsnyder in a fair competition, and now, because of Castro's contract, he won't have to.  Girardi will just keep writing in his fellow Cub crud till his hand falls off.  Now watch Refs get pacakaged for even more pitching.   This is a big fail, and it allowed the Cubs to pick up Zobrist.

Rangers Win

Rangers played marginally better, or it's probably better to say they played about the same and had much better results as they just beat the Sens 4-1.   Ryan McDonagh, who had received some criticism this past week, had a goal and two assists. Brassard had two goals, and Fast had an empty netter.  Kreider was active but only managed an assist.   Hank was great, and had to be, because, once again they allowed elaborate chances because they couldn't clear the puck without icing it.  We'll take the two points, though.

This Week On The Blog

Okay, this past week saw a lot of the same crap we've seen all fall.  The Rangers underperformed, the Giants lost yet another game they should have won,  Zinger won rookie of the month, the Rangers continued to slump, and the Yanks sat on their hands.  

This week should be a bit more interesting around here.

Yankees:  The Yanks didn't do anything other than non-tender Domingo German, who''s apparently still injured and whom they hope to get back, like they did with Campos last year.   But while they were not doing much, they crawled up two draft spots when Shark and Grienke signed.  And believe it or not, that's great.  Now as long as they keep the pick and other teams keep signing the compensatory free agents, the Yanks will keep moving up and adding money to their draft pool.  Neato, isnt it?

Possibly bigger still, the Yanks will head to the Winter Meettings this week and that seems to be where they like to finalize trades these days.   Gardner, Nova and Miller have all had their names mentioned, and hopefully if they do complete trades, they are for young talent -- and don't entice the Yanks to go out and spend on a free agent because "money became available after we traded Gardy and Miller," or some nonsense like that.   They have to make good trades and keep the picks to have a successful  hot stove season.   Let's hope they do.

Giants:  The Giants have sickened me this season. I just `15 version of the team.   They literally could be 10-1 if they could have finished 4 games and started one other.    They're pathetic.  And I don't now what will happen from here on out.  They could win out and go all th way, or they could pack it in and go home.  What I hope they don't do is to win enough to create false hope, or jeopardize their draft position.

Knicks: The Knicks are fun to watch, but only when Porzingis is in. They play again tonight and have a chance to get another game over .500.  Unlike the Yanks and Giants, the Knicks have no picks to jeopardize by winning games.  So even though they are a few pieces away, they should learn to win and win as much as possible now.   And the way to do that is to feature Porzingis.  The other night they lost an overtime game, that Melo missed, and where Porzingis only took 13 shots and that's ridiculous.   They need to feature their best players, not just one of them, and never Lance Thomas, which the second unit has been doing as their level of play has declined.

Rangers:  The Rangers should bounce back once Kreider, Hayes and Miller start finishing.  Also, they are in the processing of Posada'ing some prospects, like Brady Skjei, and interestingly enough, a player named Girardi was the roadblock in both cases.  Still, if the Ranger D's continue having problems moving the puck out of their own zone, it should be Skjei time and not at the expense of McIlrath.

Have a great week everyone!

Knicks Pummel Nets

Kristaps had a mellow 19 and 10 with credits for 2 blocks and only one assist.  I think he's getting short changed on both fouls and assists.  Anyway, Alfalo was hot early and Carmelo was hot mostly and the Knicks just ran away with it.  I don't know if O'Quinn is nursing an injury or nursing a bad coach, but I didn't see him in there.  Galloway and Grant have continued to come along, with neither taking the next step, but both played pretty well tonight.  The Knicks are now back at .500, but they have another game tomorrow night in Milwaukee,  so they won't stay there.  But either way, they are more fun to watch than they've been since the brief window of Linsanity, and they still have room to improve and a need to upgrade.