A Month of Fundays

A New York Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers and other stuff blog.


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Sunday, December 11, 2016

This Week on the Blog

Put this off most of the weekend because of the unusual scheduling that had our Giants, Rangers and Knicks all playing at roughly the same time this afternoon/evening my time.  Amazingly, the Giants, Rangers and Knicks all posted signature wins and this week is off to an amazing start.  And Mariano was at the Giant game and was their honorary captain, so all our teams were in on it today.  Also, this must be the start of an amazing week for all of us, because when else has this happened?  Let's get down to cases.

Giants: the Giants D is now playing better than it has since Spags 1.  Those of us who wondered if Spags could still coach D at an elite level have got our answer and it's a big fat hell yeah!   Janoris Jenkins was amazing tonight and has really made huge strides this year after seeming to breakout and earn the big contract last year.   Vernon was great, too, as we Landon, and Okwara may be our latest ringer.  They gave up some runs to the JPP side, but not enough to hurt them. Owa was out, too, but they still somehow held the Cowboys to 7 points.  Amazing.  Meanwhile, on O, Eli was again shakey and big drops from OBJ and Cruz held down the Giants' chances.  If they can clean up the drops, and Eli gets back to what he's been the past two years, the Giants might actually have a run in them.   Sounds crazy, but there are some similarities to past Giant teams that have gone on runs.

Rangers: The Rangers are down 4 top forwards: Buch, Mika, Nash and Pumpel.  That's more than most teams can handle, but the Rangers, with Raanta in net again, just won their third straight and second straight shutout by thrashing the Devils 5-0.  Kreider, Skjei, Miller (all Ranger first roung picks) then Pirri and Vesey (both for this past offseason) scored the goals.  The call ups, Hrivik and Jensen have been close, and playing so well the Rangers waived Jooris, who was picked up by Az.  We'll see how long they ride with the hot hand in Raanta, but they should start getting some of the missing forwards back.  They could still use help on D.

Knicks:  KP had been in the tank since the first Minny game.  This weekend it was learned that he had tweaked his knee at some point, but he wasn't using that as an excuse.  Tonight he didnt need one as he went for 26, 12, and 7 blocks against the Lakers.  KOQ was out, but Billy Hernangomez pitched in with 6, 12 and 2 blocks of his own.  Rose, who had missed the last two, was on fire and the Knicks were also helped by Jennings and Melo.  We've been calling them a work in progress, and this work is progressing!  They're on a little run now, and if KP is over his knee, this could be the most fun we've had since Linsanity.  Good times.   They still need to consistently pick up their D.

Yanks: Pretty sure the Yanks are going to trade Gardy.  Don't know when, but I think they will.  I also think there's about a 20 per cent of a big surprise trade.  Don't know why I think this, but I do.  We'll see.

So those of you who can, head to the track this week!  Our luck is finally back!  Have a great one!

24 Comments:

At 10:44 PM, Blogger Mike in Mississippi said...

This guy supposedly had a hand in the Yankees losing out on Moncada: https://sports.yahoo.com/news/estranged-husband-of-yankees-co-owner-selling-several-championship-rings-204200655.html

 
At 5:37 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

The D was terrific. OBJ is amazing. The OL is still putting Eli's health at risk on every passing play.

 
At 5:38 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Rose is playing great right now.

 
At 11:44 AM, Blogger Kalel9 said...

Mike, he was the idiot who screwed it up, after my contacts believed he was ours.

 
At 1:38 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Never hire your in-laws.

 
At 7:58 PM, Blogger TB said...

So it looks like the Yanks will likely stay at pick #16 in the next MLB draft.

 
At 6:54 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

RAB:
4. I’m really curious to see how Shohei Otani affects the 2017-18 international signing period. MLB insists they won’t create an exemption for him, probably because they don’t want to set any kind of precedent, which means he will count against the international hard cap and have his earning potential severely limited. Teams have been scouting Latin America and lining up deals for years now. That’s not an exaggeration. Do those deals suddenly get put on hold because Otani may be posted? Or do teams follow through and forget about Otani? Teams are allowed to trade for an additional 75% of cap space, which means the maximum pool for the Yankees is $8.3125M. The problem? You can only trade cap space after the signing period opens July 2nd. It’s not something the Yankees could do right now to get their ducks in a row. It’s risky, man. Do you sign those Latin American kids in July and punt on Otani, or wait and hope to get Otani, knowing full well there’s a chance you won’t get him or any Latin American players? All the top kids will still sign in July. They’re not going to wait to get paid. Intrigue!

 
At 7:43 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

From Gov. Debt Downgrade:

"Let me tell you this," Christie said. "You want to talk about wasted funds? Get ready for year three of that Aroldis Chapman contract. You remember the way he looked in Game 7 of the Word Series? Let me tell you something: Year three--that will be every day. Every day. What a stupid deal! Five years for $86M for Aroldis Chapman. Are you getting me? You kidding me?"

 
At 11:25 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

The Week 15 NFL Power Rankings (via @ESPNNFL)

1. Patriots
2. Cowboys
3. Chiefs
4. Raiders
5. Giants

bit.ly/2hr9PF0

 
At 12:19 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

So they couldn't have dumped Headley or Gardy to make roster space?

Here's what Padres general manager A.J. Preller said to MLB.com after the deal:

"You want to be able to bring in as many catching options as possible," said Padres general manager A.J. Preller. "It's really hard to find catching prospects, so we felt like this was a creative way to try to add one into the system."

Also from the report:

"He's a guy that, overall, has a chance to be a quality receiver, throwing out runners," Preller said. "He can control the strike zone and has a good swing. You're always looking for catching."

 
At 4:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

The padres are carrying the first 3 rule 5 picks. It's an extreme roster pinch. I don't think they can do this over the long haul. It could also screw with Torrens' development. I expect him back.

 
At 7:33 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

There's a bizarre fringe that thinks he's done, but they are different team without Rose.

 
At 8:22 AM, Blogger Billy Martin said...

I am a Knicks season ticket holder and watch every single minute of every game. It's quite clear that Melo is killing us. He is shooting terrible, is a bad defender and has no explosiveness what so ever. Lets just cherry pick and look at the last 2 games:

7-31, which includes 0-6 from 3pt range for 26 total points. His ISO ball late last night crushed us too. He's getting shut down by avg defenders in PJ Tucker & Roberson. No kidding we went on a huge run last night in the 4th when he didn't play.

KP last 2 games has 60 points on only 38 FGA. This kid is going to be a superstar if you didn't already know.

Kyle O'Quinn has been a godsend. Noah looks terrible. Rose has been playign well but is so fragile. Jennings is a good spark plug but is very wild at times.

I'm all for moving Noah/Melo at any cost. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE to sign George Hill in the offseason as well.

 
At 9:42 AM, Blogger Kalel9 said...

I've been wanting to trade Melo for a long time. Love the guy, but KP, KOQ(!), Billy, and Kuz are the future. Need to get rid of Lance Thomas, too, if possible, he should not be playing over anybody. Last night was a brutal loss. And why do refs never protect Knicks stars?????

 
At 10:36 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Giving those contracts to Noah and Thomas was kind of nuts. I can't see them being moved. Maybe they can move Melo, but will have to take back salary probably and he has a no trade which limits options.

 
At 11:09 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Another point. Dwayne Wade looks like he has been the beneficiary of a new workout regimen. Since Melo is his bff, he needs to consult.

 
At 12:47 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Oh and I loved Porzingis's toughness when that punk pushed him and it seemed to inspire his play.

 
At 1:25 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

According to Matt Eddy, the Yankees have signed three players to minor league contracts within the last few days. The players: infielder Donovan Solano, left-hander Jason Gurka, and catcher Kellin Deglan. (RAB)

 
At 2:00 PM, Blogger Mike in Mississippi said...

Triple-A depth in all likelihood.

They really need to trade Gardner, if for no other reason than they're hellbent on getting Hicks at-bats, and that cannot come at the expense of Judge.

 
At 6:38 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

What really needs to happen if they are going to take the next step is to start developing starting pictchers except for the occasional back-end ones. They are so in love with hard throwers, but they never seem to be able to develop pitchability

 
At 11:31 AM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

Chapman on Maddon:

“Personally the way he used me during the playoffs I believe there were a couple times where maybe I shouldn't have been put in the game and he put me in, so personally I don't agree with the way he used me,” Chapman, who returned to the Yankees on a five-year, $86 million deal, told reporters on a conference call Friday.

 
At 6:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brad Ziegler just signed for 2/$16M, which was apparently too expensive for Hal.

Hal seriously needs to pick a lane. Either rebuild and get under the luxury tax threshold, or say to hell with the threshold and not cap his team from signing good players. He should have learned by now that playing both sides neither got him under the threshold the last time nor got him a title.

-Mike K. at work

 
At 7:21 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

At least you didn't sign Noah and Thomas...

 
At 7:21 PM, Blogger Lawyer in NJ said...

*he*

And mellow

 

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