This Week on the Blog
Rangers: The Rangers took 3 out of 6 points on this West Coast swing. Vigneault still won't let big acquisitions play in the crunch, and it hasn't helped. The Rangers may well have a run in them this year, but with their D, it will have to be a hell of show by Hank and the O if they want to get out of the second round. They have a lot of thinking, and roster fixing to do whenever this season ends. And they should look long and hard at their coach.
Yanks: The top 4 Yankee starters, Severino, Tanaka, Pineda and Eovaldi are all coming along nicely. So's Nova, but not so much CC. Let's see if they're capable of an honest decision if the time comes. Starling Castro has continued to look like a right handed Cano, and who knows? Maybe he'll have the same kind of age 27 year Robbie had. Refsnyder is handling the 3B challenge marvelously and looks like he'll make the team - of course that remains to be seen. Sanchez still isn't hitting, and it's looking more and more like Romine to start the season. The bullpen still needs to be figured out, too.
Giants: Ugh. After the first wave of FA, the Giants basically sat on their hands. Right now, their heading toward the dregs of free agency, and the draft with major needs at RT, RG, S, NCB, WR, LB, TE and K. They could also use another passrusher. They have about 25 million left to spend, and no one to really spend it on. The OL situation is ludicrous. I liked the Penn option, but was more enthusiastic at Massie, Schwartz, Allen, and others who came off the board in week one of UFA, and all of whom could have fit under the current cap and taken pressure off of Eli and the draft. As it is now, the Giants have about 5 options left to fix the OL:
1) Sign RFA Schraeder and give up the #40 pick in the draft. This would solve things, but the upcoming draft is deep in right tackles and guards, and they might miss a better player than Schraeder at 40.
2) Pray really hard that Stanley drops to number 10 in the draft.
3) If Stanley doesn't fall, pray really hard for a trade down that let's them pick Conklin, as well as hit two homeruns in the second round.
4) Go BPA at 10, and then take whomever from the group of Ifedi, Decker, and Spriggs is still on the board at 40. They should probably be prepared to trade up if two of them are already gone.
5) Keep the 10th pick and take Conklin. He won't be a playmaker, but he could be an 8-10 year solution for one of the 5 spots, and we really only have 3 of them currently filled.
So, you see, the Giants are in a tight spot and it's one they could have avoided in week one of UFA. OL has to be job one, but those other needs would be in any year where we had a set OL.
Knicks: The Knicks signed G Tony Wroten this week. That would have been fine and good in a ten day deal situation, but they're saying he wont play till Summer League. It's sort of mistifying that they would commit future dollars when they'll need all the space they can get going forward. Also, Melo's starting to make noise.
So there they are. I hope all of you have great weeks. I'm planning to.
posted by Kalel9 @ 8:07 PM
38 Comments:
Stot, in reply to your last post in the previous thread, I doubt Refs gets enough playing time to really make a difference, even though I do think he makes the team out of camp. The fact they almost signed Tejada tells me they don't truly trust him in any significant capacity.
Ironically, if not unexpectedly, I don't trust them. $200m covers over a lot of ineptitude.
Mike K -- He may or may not. A lot will depend on how healthy Headley is. I'd be happy if Refs got 60 games played, translating to 15 games off for Did I and Castro and 30 for Headley. That might be high, but he can show a lot with 150 or so ABs.
Offering Tejada a minor league deal would be a nobrainer, but it's also worth noting that they didn't offer him a major league deal.
Hope your Dad is doing well.
Stot,
If it were up to me, assuming his defense is at least adequate, I'd actually prefer he start at third over Headley. But they won't do that due to Headley's contract and their hope he will return to form. If Refs shows something in what's likely to be limited at-bats at first, I hope they expand his role.
Thanks for the well wishes!
Mitchell is having a good outing. He has the kind of stuff that can enable him to be a #2 with improved, not perfect, command.
If they endured his development in the rotation, would he really be worse than CC or Nova?
Almost certainly, the answer is no.
But no, we have to listen to the outright bullshit from Hal, Levine, and Cashman that they aren't the Mets, not being sufficiently aware of how insulting that is to their declining fanbase, at least in terms of ratings and attendance.
The same best wishes from me, Mike.
Thanks Lawyer.
I just hope Mitchell is in AAA if he's not in the rotation. Given the inevitable injuries there, I suspect he gets a shot sometime this season.
No Tejada. He got a major league deal from the Cardinals; the Yankees offered a minor-league deal. In the abstract, it would've made sense. But given their veteran-ness psychosis, I don't want any of these types of players to have any chance to block younger players.
LINJ -- I think the Yanks didn't discount your line of thinking re Tejada. That's why they only offered him a minor league deal. He would be insurance if Didi went down with a serious injury or the like, but wouldn't block a prospect just by being signed. Cheers!
Could be, Stot.
Axisa:
So how many teams do you think called the White Sox about Chris Sale since last week?... I hope the Yankees placed a call out of due diligence. I don’t think they have the pieces to get Sale — Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Jorge Mateo, and Gary Sanchez maybe piques Hahn’s interest — but you’ve got to at least make the call. And by the way, the White Sox have every right to ask LaRoche to not bring his kid to the clubhouse every day and LaRoche has every right to retire. That’s pretty much all that needs to be said about that.
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No not the part about why anyone should expect to bring their kid everywhere they go, the part about the Yankees, an aging team with an underwhelming offense, just needing that one ace even if it means blowing up the system. He's not alone, it's a fucking disease afflicting the mediots.
I'm a member of the media myself so I often refrain from making these sorts of statements, but the meme of "just need that one ace" has been around for years, and it's increasingly grown tiresome.
Sorry for overgeneralizing, Mike!!!
Welp, I'm not a member of the NY media, so no harm done, haha.
I saw this comment online:
There’s a nominal battle for the 5th spot (both pitchers suck), the last BUI spot and the guy keeping Chapman’s spot in the BP warm.
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That's exactly why Mitchell should be the fifth starter. Stop selling this bullshit and construct the roster so you could actually be really good again, not just barely able to make the playoffs.
Randle to the Eagles.
The NYG should have had interest in Morris.
If Tanaka would benefit from extended spring training, that's what they should do. CC probably could benefit as well, but I can't see both those guys staying in Florida.
The only two players GM Jerry Reese drafted between 2007 and 2012 who are on the Giants' roster now are Zak DeOssie and Jason Pierre-Paul.
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That Reese has a job is laughable.
The average NFL career is about 4 years. 2012 was 4 years ago. Between 2007 and 20112, the Giants draft positions weren't high. Many players, starting with Smith, Alford and Koets from the 2007 class had their career shortened by injuries. Many of the players from the `07-'10 classes contributed to 2 rings. Plus players like Kenny Phillips, Terrell Thomas and David Wilson and others had their careers ended. Linval Joseph wasn't resigned but got us an extra pick.
Hakeem Nicks is another guy who got hurt and lost his career momentum, but we do not win 46 without him.
Even taking into account everything you listed, it is still awful, and it's not like he has been lights out drafting since. That's why they have to overpay free agents and still have a ton of roster holes.
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General manager Brian Cashman recently said that 23-year-old Gary Sanchez came into spring training with the job as Brian McCann's backup his to lose
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I don't see how such a small sample size can be determinative.
It's not awful, Drawing the line 4 years after an average 4 year career ends maes no sense. Zak and JPP have beaten career lengh epectations but you're alking about careers than 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 years ago. I ticked off a list that included impact players from that timeframe that had their careers compromised in your parameter. The standard in football cannot be "who's still here?" It's "How good were they when they were?"
They do have some holes because some guys, and some recent guys like Ruben Randle, didn't develop. But they lost a lot of impact players to injury in that window and windows since. They went from being outstanding drafters when Jerry was running the draft, to star crossed drafters since. They're still doing it the same way.
Btw, I just saw the news about Sanchez. He would have made the team if he had hit. Lets give him 30 games or whatever it is, to get his mojo back and delay his free agency clock from starting. Maybe they can trade Romine.
The OL was showing signs of impending decline and he completely whiffed.
The LB have been an embarrassment.
Those two position have been critical to the success of most great Giant teams.
He doesn't stack the board anymore, not since 2007. I've shown here before that they whiffed on exactly one Giant type OL in their various windows over the years, and it was when they picked Sintim, who was both a bad LB and blocked a good OL. The OL would look better right now if Will Beatty hadn't gotten hurt. That said, they still have to fix it now, and I won't sleep well till they do.
They've preferred to buy linebackers since the TC era started, Emmons, Pierce, etc. There were some they were interested in, but they didn't make it to them in the first and second rounds.
"Fan favorite Rob Refsnyder, a Yankee prospect fighting for the 25th spot on the team, suffered from a bloody lip Friday and not exactly a ringing endorsement from his manager, Joe Girardi. The good news is that Refsnyder's lip was fine after taking a grounder off his glove at third. The bad news? When asked if Refsnyder -- a college outfielder who has been converted to second base -- can add third to his repertoire, Girardi unenthusiastically said Refsnyder has done "OK" at the hot corner. It would not be shocking if the Yankees looked in other camps to add a 25th man as a utility guy."
That was from Marchand. Hasn't he been getting pretty good reviews for his defense at third? At this point, I'm wondering if Girardi just personally doesn't like the kid...
Mike K -- I hope that's not the case. Much depends on whether "unenthusiastically" was just Marchand's gloss on what Girardi said or reflected Girardi's actual tone of voice, and Girardi usually speaks in a deadpan anyway. Two errors in one inning wasn't exactly Refs's finest hour, so I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't earned Girardi's full confidence. On the other hand, he probably hasn't lost Girardi's confidence either. I wonder if he gets a bit tensed up at times -- such as last year's spring training -- and if that's happening now that he has a good shot at making the 25.
One point in his favor tactically is that Sanchez was sent down. Refs gives you a second RH PH off the bench or even a first if Hicks is in the lineup.
Happy Easter to all!
He is responsible for hiring the person who stacked the board and has kept his incompetent butt for years. And the LB they have bought are largely bad.
Vets can suck for extended periods while Yankee kids have to be nearly perfect. The Yankees' path to perpetual mediocrity in a nutshell.
It's so frustrating and it's why I am skeptical of a youth movement. Playing kids is hard, and because Stick and Buck did it years ago is the only reason Hal, Levine and Cashman make the money they do.
Yet they keep telling us that the mindset of the dumbest short-sighted fans is now the guiding management principle because real fans, at lest in their warped thinking, don't have patience or more than a season to season viewpoint.
The problem is most of those vets are owed significant money, which means they're going to get almost an endless leash. As much as the Yankees' brass claims winning is the top priority, in reality, the top priority is whatever makes the most fiscal sense to ownership.
Of course, none of that explains the team's weird fascination with Drew and Capuano last year.
But dues it make fiscal sense if their primary contribution is to increase losing?
Mitchell may have trouble staying sharp used irregularly long relief. I really want him in the rotation.
Mitchell will take Warren's swingman role. Warren will be missed but getting someone like Castro will be worth it.
Yeah, that's dumb.
Mitchell is a waste in the pen. If he isn't starting, send him to AAA.
Their primary impediment to achieving sustained high level success again is themselves. Dare to be great.
Refs optioned, proving my point.
What a shame.
*sigh* They really are gonna stick Mitchell in the pen aren't they?
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