This Week on the Blog
Yanks: The Yanks concluded a year or more's worth of scouting by picking 40 players. In fact, Blake Rutherford mentioned the Yanks have been scouting him since 8th grade. Now it's time to start signing them. On the big team, they've been winning a little more and that's largely becaue CC Sabathia has reinvented himself into something different that also, so far, is producing ace-like results. We saw Frank Tannana go from power lefty to tricky lefty after his injuries, so it can be done. We'll have to see if the league catches up. I'm hoping he continues to dominate.
Giants: The Giants wrapped up their OTA's on Friday, and the mandatory mini-camp starts will take place this week. Victor Cruz wants to practice. If he can, that will be a great sign. Beckham, Shepard and Cruz truly is checkmate.
Knicks: The Knicks to mass consternation re-hired Kurt Rambis as a Hornacek assistant. Well, Horny still has to hire the rest of his staff, and the Knicks have reportedly been working out draftable players with the idea that they will get into the draft by June 23. Oh and their could be a free agent or two, and the rumors should start flying as soon as the finals end.
Rangers: The NHL finals could end today. And as soon as that happens, the Rangers will start showing us their plans, they are currently caught between a cap place and an expansion draft place. So this will be a very tricky offseason, and a lot could go wrong if they're not careful.
Have a great week!
posted by Kalel9 @ 8:04 AM
22 Comments:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/refsnyder-deserves-lot-credit-move-1b-girardi-article-1.2670296
I like Isiah Whitehead for the Knicks.
Whitehead is a sub 40% shooter from everywhere, thus, he scares me.
With more talented teammates, and no need to carry the load, his shot selection would probably improve.
He is a work in progress, who should have stayed in school, but that's what you get with a late 1 or early 2.
I want to get Juan Hernangomez. He can back up both forwards, and, perhaps be Melo's replacement when we finally trade him.
Ike Davis. Cashman can't get enogh terrible veterans
Montero, by the way, is doing pretty well at AAA. How could any smart GM not think he was preferable to Swisher and Davis types?
Nice bend but don't break by Pineda.
How are they gonna fit Ike on the 40?
Worry about that when/if they are called up.
I saw it as he signed an MLB deal, not an MiLB deal.
Great AB by Gardy
It's an MLB deal. Personally, I would be fine with that if I thought he was going to be treated as a true backup player. We all know Girardi's obsession with handedness is going to make him a platoon player, however, which will stunt Refsnyder's growth as a big-league hitter.
I think it's absurd. But typical by this GM, who is predictably mediocre.
You can also see it in the catching situation. They could have Sanchez, Cervelli, and/or Romine getting the majority of time behind the plate yet they gave huge money to McCann who hits HR at home but that's about it.
They don't trust their own unless there's no other alternative.
Right. Compounding the matter is they're winning just enough to make management think this team has a playoff chance. Reality is going to come crashing down on them when the calendar hits August and they start playing some teams with a pulse, but by then, they will have passed the trade deadline and a chance to shed some of these deals. So things like giving Refsnyder every big-league at-bat possible is secondary to platooning with Davis to give the team "the best chance to win" on that day.
Sanchez should be playing every day on the big-league squad now that he's healthy, but they won't do that.
Maybe in a perfect environment, Cashman could be good, but this situation will always be challenging and he has never demonstrated the ability to adequately develop kids in an incremental way to offset aging veterans.
That's why they have become mediocre for so long.
When I first saw this name I thought it was a joke but nope:
https://newrepublic.com/authors/jeet-heer
If someone makes a good offer for Pineda, they should be all over it.
Source: Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel has been declared a free agent & is free to sign with a team. He's considered ready for @mlb.
Wish this would have happened five years ago. Now, he's 32, and the Yankees aren't built to win now, so I'm not sure signing him makes sense unless they really like his soon-to-be 23-year-old brother and want an in. (In reality, they love Headley too much to sign him anyway.)
If they actually love Headley in the face of overwhelming facts that he is vastly overpaid and not very good, then every negative thing I have said about the Yankees from Hal to utterly contemptible Harpo Marx to Cashman to Girardi, is not NEARLY strong enough to describe their abject incompetence.
btw, I just saw a headline on Pinstripe Alley or some such that signing Headley was the right decision. So I deleted it from favorites and will never visit that whatever it is again.
Thanks for all the info and analysis on the draft. FWIW, my gut reaction to the emphasis on HS players is that either the Yanks were very unimpressed with the available college players or that they feel that their lower minor league and short season teams are already well stocked with players they haven't given up on. In either case, it might be worthwhile to see if they could get lucky on a couple of high-ceiling HS prospects.
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