Judge "Wins" RF Job

This morning we found out that Aaron Judge has Babe Ruth's old job.  I don't know what all the Hicks nonsense was, other than that the Yanks might have been trying to showcase and market him, because he is not part of the solution.

In other news, Severino has been named 4th starter and it's a welcome relief that they are seemingly not going to Joba him.  Interestingly, they also sent down Chad Green to keep him as a starter, so they really are walking the walk as far as keeping their best arms in the rotation as long as they possibly can. I don't know what that means for Brian Mitchell who appears to be starting the season in the pen.  He's a guy who has hit 100 in starts, so he could be pretty lethal out of the pen.

They seem to want to keep Pete Kozma, though he doesn't have a spot on the 40, and would you really want to DFA anyone you could sign Pete Kozma?  I just looked it over, and there's no one I'd cut for Kozma.  Maybe they're working on a trade.  They made a mistake when they took Romine over Higgy for backup catcher.  Higgy's two years younger and just better.

Just three more days.

Rangers Land F Vinni Lettieri

The only upside, and it's a pretty decent one, of dealing so many picks over the last several years, is that that Rangers have been at the top of most collegiate free agent lists.  They did it again today when they landed F Vinni Lettieri, who was coming off a breakout year at Minnesota.  Unlike Hayes and Vesey who couldn't come to terms with the teams that drafted them, Vinni was undrafted, but went on to attend a top program and continue to develop.  He'll play the last 8 games of the season for Harford, then compete for a spot next season.  I don't think he'll be exposed in the expansion draft.

Ty Ronning also signed at ATO with Hartford and has an assist and a goal over his first two games. They also recently signed Sean Day and Tim Gettinger who I think are still appearing in their junior playoffs.

Much as I question the coaching staff at the NHL level, I do still really admire the Ranger scouts, who are finding a way, even without the picks.  And picking players was their strength before the FO started trading off all the picks.

UPDATE: They have also signed Penn State Sophomore  D Vince Pedrie.   So they keep cleaning up on the college scene.  I'd assume he's a 3rd year Sophomore and is 21.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Little more research and he's 23.   Had a 8 goals in both of his PSU seasons, and 14 then 22 assists in those years. In 32 and 39 game seasons respectively.  So he's an offensive D.

This Week on the Blog

This week saw the Giants add some roster guys, the Yanks give Greg Bird the first base job, the Rangers blow some games, and the Knicks move closer to the lottery.  This week should be interesting.  Let's take a look.

Yanks: In 8 days the Yanks will start their 2017 season. It will be the most exciting start to a season since we got Matsui and Contreras, for a variety or reasons. However; before the season gets going, they have some roster decisions to make.  They headed off prolonged controversy by sending down Gleyber Torres the other day, but either Kozma or Torreys or Wade could start the season at SS while DiDi is down.  What's more, Montgomery has looked the best of the 4th/5th starter candidates, but he's not on the 40.  So they might have to make a move, but maybe not right away because they don't need a 5th starter for the first two series.  Warren was not good today, Cessa was sent down, and Cash just said Severino will be a starter with the Yanks or in AAA. There could also be a trade coming.

Of course, the most excitement is probably over Bird, Gary and Judge.  And it should be,  Bird hit his 7th bomb of the Spring and his OBP is over .500.  Judge and Sanchez have also been impressive.  And interestingly, Cash did say he expects to see Gleyber Torres up with the big team some time this summer.

Giants: The Giants are in a protracted stalemate with Hankins.  They did move some money around, reducing the bases of both Dwayne Harris and Shane Vereen, so maybe they will get Hankins locked up this week and then  focus on the Draft.  They've had some kids come in and visit already and they've been at all the pro-days.

Rangers: The reason why I didn't want to extend AV was that he has a habit of playing the Tanner Glasses of the world over good young players, like Pavel Buchnevich, and it inarguably has cost him games. He did it this week, and they just didn't score enough without Buch. I'm not sure they will make it out of the first round this year, with their challenged Defense and the coaches unwillingness to play all of his best players.

Knicks: The Knicks continue their march to the lottery. Today, Noah, was suspended for the first 20 games of next year for taking an over the counter supplement.  I always liked him, but he hasn't been the guy he was in awhile and certainly not with the Knicks.  Looks like they'll be picking 4th or 5th in June.

So there it is, interesting week for the Yanks, business as usual for everyone else.  Have a great week!

This Week on the Blog

This past week was interesting for the Giants and Yanks and sort of crummy for the Rangers and Knicks.  Let's take a look at how next week could be better.

Yanks: Yesterday, Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery and Chasen Shreve combined to no-hit the Detroit Tigers.  That's not just cool cause it was a no-no, but greart news because Tanaka has been absolutely lights out this Spring, complete with what maybe the best splitter in baseball, and Montgomery has continued to impove and put himself on the map. It's also good that Shreve, who looked good for part of a season a few years ago, is looking good again.  Depending on his health, the Yanks might want to just extend Tanaka now, since he's not only an ACE, but he's also all about helping the kids.  He's encouraged Severino to be patient, and wrote it on his hat, and has been. They say Montgomery will get a start this coming week, and that could be big.  He's stretched out enough to join the rotation and if it's he and Severino at 4 and 5, we'll have nice diversity of stuff across the staff.  In other news, someone (probably CC) is just keeping a spot warm for Kaprielian who is the real deal and will roll through the minors this year.  Also, Greg Bird is looking like an all-star, and Cash should sell high on Didi or take on money to move Starlin, because Gleyber Torres is better than both of them.

Giants: This week the Giants re-signed JPP, making him the first Jerry Reese first rounder to earn a second deal.  And that just shows you how bad the injury luck was with Phillips, Nicks, Wilson, Prince and others.  Right now, the Giants need to move more cap around if they want to retain Hankins.  If they don't they would probably have to spend a high pick on a DT, although, Robert Thomas was impressive when he got in there last year, and they may not want to tie up another 8 per year or whatever Hankins will cost, on the DL.  Beyond that, the Giant scouts are all over the country this week attending pro-days.

Rangers: Tanner Glass is one of the reasons I didn't want to extend AV.  At the time, several weeks ago, I was assured that that era was over.  Now we are losing games and AV is sitting Buchnevich, the most talented guy on the team, for Tanner fricking glass.  AV has been lucky, not bright, in his career, and it's hard to watch them give away games like they have through his decision making.  This could have been a special year.  In other news, the Rangers have signed Sean Day and Tim Gettinger to their entry level deals.  They'll probably join Hartford when their seasons are over.  Day could eventually be the offensive defenseman we've been looking for since Leetch was sent away.

Knicks: Three years into the Jackson reign, the questions are becoming louder and more fequent. They should end up in the lottery and a good draft and FA period could maybe turn things around.  But they have to get rid of Melo and Rose.

So there we are.  And as always, have a great week!

Giants Lock Up JPP

Earlier today, the Giants reached a four year deal with JPP (40/62-66).  His first year cap hit is around 7M so that's 10M less that it was under the cap, and should open up an additional 10M. They will need about 5 of that for the rookie class, so if they want to re-sign Hankins, or do anything else big, they'll have to find more room. They paid Vereen's roster bonus earlier this week, so it probably won't come from cutting him.

They also reportedly came to terms with Josh Johnson and Geno Smith to compete for the backup QB role. Wouldn't be surprised if they draft one, too.

Giants Sign G/T D.J. Fluker

Four years later, the Giants have signed their first round target from 2013.   That's the draft where he get picked by the Chargers and the Giants settled for Justin Pugh, who is having the better career.  Flowers has better feet than Fluker, but otherwise they are similar behemoths.  If they are our two tackles, or if Fluker is the RG and Flowers the RT because we've drafted Boles or Ramczyk to play LT.  Of course, if we draft Cam Robinson from Alabama, it will be anyone's guess which of he or Flowers will play LT.

This Week on the Blog

It was announced this morning that Henrik Lundqvist will miss the next two or three weeks with a lower body injury.  Ugh.  Otherwise it's been a sort of interesting week, with more on the way  Let's take a look.

Giants:  The Giants grabbed WR Brandon Marshall from the cap casuality pool on Wednesday before the start of FA on Thursday.  Then Thursday they grabbed Rhett Ellison, who is one of the best blocking TE's in football.  Marshall is also a big time blocker for a WR in the run game. It's unclear if they are going to cut or keep or replace Will Johnson at FB, but they still need one of those and two OL's.  They might be adding another G/T type this weekend as D.J. Fluker is visiting.  Fluker was a guy they loved in the '13 Draft only to see him go 8 picks ahead of them. They took Pugh, who's been having the better career.  But Fluker should be okay at RG or RT and he is a force in the run game. They also have QB Geno Smith coming in for a visit, though I have a feeling they will draft one this year and whoever they sign now probably won't make the team.

Rangers: The injury bug has bitten them again.  Hank will be missed, but Raanta has been pretty good and we might even get a look at Halvorsen.  That said, if the Rangers don't stop blowing winnable games it won't matter.  It will be intersting to see if Kreider reaches the 30 goal plateau this season.  I think he has 26 now.

Yankees: the Yanks have been a force in Spring Training.  I would totally discard their performance, but it's being done by kids, and I believe that where there is "beginner's luck" there will also be longterm success. Looks like Kap will make his game debut today.  Also, Jose Quintana was dominant in his Baseball Classic appearance against the US last night, and the White Sox are still rumored to be scouting the Yanks.  So watch out for that.

Knicks: Let's see if they can tank properly this year.

Have a great week everyone!

Giants Sign Brandon Marshall

Ahead of the opening of this year's UFA period, the Giants, today, added big WR Brandon Marshall. It's a goog deal for 2/12 and it seems like Marshall wanted to stay in the area.  He's about to turn 33, but he does buy the Giants time to find a younger big WR in the next draft or so. Should be another red zone threat.  He had a big year in 2015, and a sort of Cruz-ish year last year, but teams will still be forced to make hard coverage decisions when he''s out there with OBJ and Sterling. People say he's matured, so let's hope.

The Giants might sign JPP later today to open up more cap room.  We'll see.

This Week on the Blog

Aright. so NYT is now reporting the Yanks are shopping Rob Refsnyder.  So we can talk about that, as well as how bad the Rangers and the Knicks now look, and the Giants annual free agent shopping spree that will start Thursday. So let's go.

Yanks: While I think Refs' value has been depressed while playinf for Girardi, it's also clear that the younger kids are playing so well that he's the extra man. I don't think Girardi was ever going to give him a long leash, and there's just too much talent available if anyone else gets injured right now. Plus, they've been making good trades lately, so let's see what they can get.  Btw, Bird, Judge and Sanchez could combine to for 75 or more homers this year between the three of them and possibly even 100.

Giants: The will hit free angency this week with a surprising number of weaknesses for a 10 win team.  The past few days they seemed to be talking to a bunch of OT's and TE's.  So, their free agemt list could include veterans at RG, big WR, rotational back, LB and maybe DT if Hank doesn't get locked up. Of course, I've always advocating hitting all weak areas in both FA and the draft, but, this year, the weaknesses may make that impossible.  They really do have to fix the OL.  That is job one, as we are going into YEAR SIX of this nonsense.

Rangers: The Rangers spread a 3rd and a second over the next two drafts to pick up D Brendan Smith  from Detroit who will be FA this offseason.  He's a good player, and if we could have gotten him cheaper, younger, less injured (knee brace) and under some control, he would have been worth it.  As it is, it just seems sort of like a desperation move and they haven't played well, since.  Wish they had more picks.

Knicks: The Knicks need to start KP and Willie, and they should be the focus going forward.  Extending no-pass Rose is a nauseating idea, and we'll have to just pray Phil has a second great draft in him come June.  They shoild have cap room, but it's unclear if they can attract meaningful FA's who can still play at a hight level, and if they can get value in a Melo trade.  Having him has slowed down KP's development, and he's never going to get better at D.

So, we have a secondary baseball trade market to watch this week, and NFL free agency.  And I guess if we get bored, the Knicks and Rangers.