This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yanks finished the week in the tank, but guys are breaking out down on the farm. The Giants are off for another 4+ weeks so the beats are recycling OBJ holdout stories.  The Knicks and Rangers went unicorn hunting and may have found some. Let's take a look at this week.

Yankees: At the very end of this week, 7/2, the Yanks will announce their initial 2018 IFA class.  There could be pitchers at the top of it.  Last year's kids like Everson Pereira are already homering.  So it's always an interesting day. I know we are all bracing for a trade, and it wouldn't surprise me if it came sooner than later, the roster is a little problematic because, for example, Drury should be up, but there's no place to play him.  And I don't know what the plan is for Clint Frazier, but the Yanks O has been awful over the last 2 games and 8 innings and they're not letting Clint get in there. Anyway, I thought the Jays moving Snell from today to tomorrow might have implied that that's the trade we're close on. Who knows?  Just brace yourselves.

Giants: The Giants were at the pro-day for VaTech CB Adonis Alexander and are presumably also interested in Sam Beal. Beyond that, they may be working on OBJ's extension or they might let that go until camp.  So no real news, but I'm sure we all continue to wish Dave G a speedy and full recovery.

Knicks: The Knicks are getting interesting. They absolutely made the right move passing on Porter for Knox. Porter might not even play this year, and Knox is improving in the same ways that KAT did when he got out of Kentucky.  And the Knicks might have also gotten a second Lottery type talent when they took star crossed C Mitchell Robinson in the second round. If these guys hit their ceilings, the Knicks will be vastly improved. Oh, and KP called them.

Something interesting that is going on, that I didn't know the players union even allowed, is that a bunch of the Knicks are already practicing with Coach Fizdale in Westchester, and Knox and Robinson are expected to join them right away.  Oh, and while we weren't looking the Knicks hired all of their assistant coaches.  They are Keith Smart, Pat Sullivan, Jud Beuchler and Royal Ivey. So they're probable up in Westchester, too. Fizdale talking about how they now had good player development people, I don't know who those people are, but it would be a very good thing if it's true. Interesting time for the Knicks,

And free agency and trading all starts this week.

Rangers:  The Rangers perplexed both fans and pundits over this weekends draft. But if you watched their pre-draft videos, they talked about skating, skil and character, and they took iterations of all three of those values, throughout their nine non goalie picks. They weren't looking for McIlrath type, nor even an Andersson type necessarily.  They took a lot of kids who'd played against men. Now, I don't know if that was just happenstance of where the picks were, or if that, like International Play is something they now seek.

Just as the Knicks surprised people by taking taking Kevin Knox over injured Michael Porter Jr.,  the Ranger challenged the orthodoxt by taking Vitali Kravtsov over big time scorer Oliver Wahlstrom whom the Islanders grabbed a few picks later - the Islanders. Kravstov seems more freakishly talented on tape, and his highlights are all against men. Wahlstrom has great tape, too, and tons of production, but that was all against other kids. I don't know how they squared this, but the Rangers apparently squared in Kravstov's favor months ago. He was playing in the KHL as a 16 or 17 year old, which I don't think Buch or any of our other Russian players have done. He might end up being like OBJ or Aaron Judge, where people will wonder how he fell to nine. I hope they don't start him out on the third or fourth line.  Btw, let's call him VK.

Also, I think their annual Prospect Camp is starting any day now, and Chytil will be there, so I'd like to see them play together to see if it's a thing.

Also the Rangers will either start signing their RFA's or trading them this week. A couple of years ago they traded Brassard on the eve of free agency.  We'll see if something like that happens again.

Also, on June 30 assistants with other teams will be free to move to the Rangers and that seems like something they've been waiting on.

So there it is, a player development and player acquisition week.  No bad trades please, and enjoy it people.