This Week on the Blog

Alright, more rain left the Yanks with even more makeup games.  The Giants have continued their OTA's.  The Knicks started scheduling workouts, and the Rangers were at the NHL Combine.  So let's take a look at this week.

Yankees:  The Yanks can go 20 over with a win today. Not bad for June 2, and it was always one of Torre's big bench marks during the last dynasty. So, sweet.

But the big deal this week starts Monday with the Rule 4 MLB Draft.  They played it a little fast and loose with their prospects over the past 12 months, and the Draft gives them a chance to restock the shelves. Hopefully, they're not thinking of trading anything that can't be replaced in this draft.  In other words, the crown jewels must become Yankees, not ransom for the Pitcher of the month.  Meanwhile, in the draft, I expect them to maybe put a greater focus on the position side than we've scene lately, but still expect them to take another 20 pitchers or so. In the past couple of days the Yanks have been associated all over the place with lefty behemoth Grant Lavigne, a 1B from New Hampshire.  This kid is already 6'4" and 230, and though he is destined to be a 1B/DH only he could be a lefty Judge or Stanton at the plate when he stops growing.  Kiley thinks they could make an underslot deal with him in the first round if their tip top targets are gone.

Giants: The Giants are going through OTA's and optimism abounds.  Eli looks great.  Evan Engram is making plays and everyone is blown away by Saquon. Nice and Gianty.  They have about 4 more OTA's, then the mandatory mini-camp, then 6 weeks of nothing, then Training Camp.

Knicks: the Knicks have not announced any assistant coaches yet, but the players remain psyched about their new coach.  Frank Ntilikina is back in the USA, psyched and has apparently grown an inch since last year's draft, and is now 6'6".  He's also added more muscle in surprisingly short order (5 weeks), though he still is a growing kid and I doubt he's done anything stupid.

Rangers: the Rangers have spent the week at the combine, but there's been no Ranger media out of there.  Like the Knicks,  they also haven't named any assistant coaches, and their players seem psyched about Coach Quinn.  I hope the Rangers are using the Combine to disqualify slow skaters and check to make sure that guys like Brady Tkachuck aren't bad skaters. I think it's clear that the Rangers are going to trade up and it better not be for Tkachuck, he's fine if they stay at 9, but not worth a trade up.  Yesterday, it was announced that both the Canes' #2 pick and Wings' #6 pick are "up for sale."  I'm hoping the Rangers move up to 2 and take Filip Zadina.  Quinn is going to install a ruthless defensive system, but the Rangers will still need goals.  Zadina is an elite scorer. Rangers are crying out for those.  They might also tartget D Adam Boqvist, the second best Swede in the draft, or D Quinn Hughes, who is the best college player in the draft, and probably the best skater among D's.  If they stay at 9 we'll have have to hope RW Olive Wahlstrom falls.

So there it is.  Yankee draft coming right up. The Knicks and Rangers will continue plannif their Drafts, and the Giants will finish up Phase 2 or 3 of their offseason program.  Meantime, keep winning, Bombers!