This Week on the Blog

This was a weird week as the Yankee starting pitching came on strong and the bullpen collapsed, as well as some Giants skipping OTA's, no progress between KP and the Knicks and the Rangers not firing AV. Let's hope for a better week ahead.

Yanks: Joe Girardi is not a very good manager, to wit, he has never figured out what he has in Dellin Betances, or how leverage works in ballgame.  He prefers inning roles, rather than situational roles for his relievers, with the perfunctory "save" rules ruling him. This week we saw high leverage situation after high level situation blow up because he wouldn't use Betances and was saving him for a possible save situation. It cost them two games.  And it's curious that the Yanks have not figured this out yet as an organization. Sparky Lyle was used in high level situations, regardless of save rules, and that's how Betances should be used, when necessart and not if necessary.  He's been underused this season.

In the minors, everyone named Domingo is breaking out, and Clint Frazier is stating his case.

Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. is one of the two most talented Giants I've ever seeen.  But his catastrophically bad playoff game, probably called for a more serious commitment from him this year: but he's skipping OTA's.  That could be meaningless, but the optics suck, and it looks like a repudiation of the coaching he feels he's getting from the Giants.  This is really weird since the Giants brought in OBJ's position coach from LSU.  He says he'll be there for the perfunctory MiniCamp, but the bare minnimum is not what was being called for - a burning desire to make it back to the playoffs and win was.   Oh, and Olivier Vernon is also a no show, though no one seems to be worried about where he is or what he is up to.

Knicks: the Knicks's version of OBJ, Kristaps Porzingis is boxing in Latvia. Though this seems really dysfunctional, I think it will clear up once the Knicks trade or buyout Carmelo and add a bunch of young ball-sharing guys who realize D is part of it. Whether, he's currently cheery or not, he's about to get built around, and then he's going to have to stand up and lead. I'm still hoping they can gather more picks before or during next months draft.

Rangers: Doesn't look like the Rangers are going to dump AV, and I don't really expect any action from them until it's closer to the draft and the expansion draft.  They'll probably hold off re-signing Smith or anyone else until they are clear of the expansion draft, and they'll have to make some tough decisions on whom they should expose.

So that's about it.  Let's hope the Yanks BP improves through usage, performance or promotion.   Let's hope OBJ shows up before MiniCamp.  Let's hope the Knicks have a GREAT PLAN, and the Rangers do, too.   Mostly I hope you all have a great week.