This Week on the Blog

The Rangers had a pretty good week, the Knicks did not.  The Yankees added IFA money, the Giants wasted their bye and failed to improve. I really looks like the Giants and Knicks are trying to tank - and that's fine as long as they both get new coaching staffs. Now, let's take a look at this week.

Yankees: The Yanks don't seem to be doing anything, which probably means they are up to plenty.  One thing that has served Cashman over his long tenure has GM is his great patience, and special stealth abilities. The Winter Meetings are still a week away, and if he's patterning the pursuit of Gerrit Cole after his 2009 pursuit of Sabathia, it will get hot and heavy at the Winter Meetings. It seems the longer things go without Gardner the less likely his return becomes.  Of course, they could have a secret deal, but this is unlike what they did last year. And it's also going to be interesting to see what the Briend Effect looks like over a shopping season.  Could get interesting any day now,

Giants: The Giants lost yet another game a better coaching staff might have pulled out, and literally, there've been several of them over the Shurmur era.  I like the guy, but not as a head coach.  When he's a coordinator, he's a creative, aggressive play caller. As a head coach, he's a timid and foolish play caller. I'd like the see the Giants hire Matt Rhule. They know him, and since he left, he's made a name for himself.  He is the CEO type HC that they really need. He was a PSU LB, but has also assistant coached the OL for the Giants. People yammer about college coaches coming up, but Parcells, Fassel and Coughlin were all college head coaches before taking over the Giants, and all of them won at least one NFC Championship.  Rhule follows a successful Giant model.

Rangers: The Rangers beat the Devils 4-0 today.  Georgiev got his first shut out this season and Kaapo Kakko, who was promoted to play with Panarin and Strome, had the first assist of the game and was energetic throughout.  On the second game of back to backs, they spent much of the second two periods in the box.  That was okay, as they got a shorty from Mika Z for Lemieux, and another from Fast from Mika Z.  Fox had the first goal on that great set-up for Kakko, and Skjei added an empty netter.  The Rangers played 4 games in 6 days and got 7 points.  Not bad at all, and something really could be building here.  The team is better when Kakko plays with better line mates.  It's just true and the chemistry between he had Fox and he and Bread is already amazing.

Knicks: The Knicks can start "selling" their 2019 free agent class on December 15th.   Let's see of Fizdale lasts that long.  They blew another lead last night. Tick tock,

So there we are. the Yanks are or are not poised to strike, the Giants play like they're on strike, the Rangers are having a fun rebuild, the Knicks are having a miserable rebuild,  Wishing all you well in the week to come.

Yankees Trade Nestor Cortes for International Dough

The Yanks have traded LHP Nestor Cortes to Seattle for international pool money.  So they're probably going to sign more players this year.  I believe it has to be used for this class and cannot be stockpiled for future use.

This Week on the Blog

Wow, the Rangers just completed their biggest comeback in 28 years with a win over the Habs in Montreal.  Whoa.  That was the most exciting thing that happened this week, as the Giants were off, the Yanks had to make some hard decisions and the Knicks were the Knicks. So let's take a look at what may be coming up.

Yankees: With their tough 40 man decisions, the Yanks looked nowhere near a trade. Now, reports are they will try to avoid paying Ellsbury because, by the terms of the CBA, he violated his contract by not consulting the Yankees when he used an outside rehab facility.  The rule seems clear, but we'll see what happens. In other news, the Yanks have hired a woman as a minor league batting instructor.  Here's hoping she's great.  Beyond that, they probably will make an attempt at adding an ace type starter in the coming weeks, but who knows when.  

Giants: the Giants will play the Bears tomorrow, and we won't know till then if they were able to improve at all over the bye.  They had a ten day break earlier in the season, but just kept finding new ways to lose on the other side of it.  Of course, they are flirting seriously with another high draft pick and that's the quickest way to a rebuild, so do we really want them winning?  So, let's allow Jones and Barkley to be amazing, and Slayton keep scoring, but everyone else on O do just enough to lose.  On D, we probably don't have much to worry about because the players don't seem to know the D and the Defensive Coordinator is not the teacher we were hoping for when the Giants hired.

Rangers: This season the Rangers have not been able to put together 3 impressive performances in a row. But they have generally bounced back the next time they played. Coach Quinn had even talked about how they had to learn how to bounce back in games, as opposed to between them.   After losing to the Sens last night, they fell behind 4-0 to the Canadiens. Then suddenly the Rangers learned how to bounce back in a game, and Chytil scored.  Then Buchnevich scored.  Then Lemieux scored.  Making it 4-3.  Then Montreal scored again. And it looked like it wasn't going to happen.  Then Panarin scored, Lemieux scored gain, and Trouba scored.  And the Rangers held on to win 6-5. They'd had an impressive 4-1 win over the Caps earlier in the week, but the loss to Ottawa erased it's meaning.  Tonight's win, which showed them bouncing back in a game, might be meaningful.  We'l see.  Amazing that they scored 6 goals without Kaapo getting a point.  Howden had a pair of assists as did Strome and Skjei.

Knicks: The Knicks just almost had a comeback of their own against San Antonio.  But just as in game 1, they couldn't complete it for a big win.  The Knicks have seemed a little better lately, but it hasn't amounted to wins.  Knox has really improved, but he's playing less. Alonzo Trier seems to be out of the rotation,  Iggy Brazdeikis got sent down to the G League, where he exploded for 36 or 37, then got called back up.  And was out of tonight's rotation. Marcus Morris has been building his trade value and that should create more opportunities for Knox and Iggy, but who knows what is up with Trier, who looked like instant offense last year and earlier this season.

So there you have it, the Rangers got an historic win, the Yanks made an historic hire, the and the Giants had Knicks still have years of bad history to overcome.  Have a great one!

Yanks Make Their 40 Moves

The Yanks had to protect 40 players today, and apparently couldn't find any trades that made sense. So, they bit the bullet and released Jacoby Ellsbury and DFA'd Greg Bird and Nestor Cortes Jr.   Ouch. Not on Ellsbury which we warned them not to sign, but Greg Bird had the makings of the great hitter, but couldn't get his feet right. We'll see what happens now.

The Yanks chose to protect: Estevan Florial, RHP's Nick Nelson, Deivi Garcia, Luis Gil, Luis Medina, Brooks Kriske and Miguel Yajure.  Presumably, the new pitching braintrust had some input on these decisions.

So, the first big offseason hurdle has now been passed.  Let's see how the rest of the plan comes together.

UPDATE: Chris Gittens, Kyle Holder and Alex Vizcaino were not protected and should get grabbed.

Yankee Stuff

The Yanks have to set their 40 man roster by Wednesday.  Thus, it is likely that we see some player movement, as they decide who they want to keep and who they can move. This is approximately when they got Paxton has year, so, stay alert.

Rangers Waive Michael Haley

In the wake of their 0-2 trip to through Florida, the Rangers this morning have waived penalty machine Michael Haley. This is good news, even if they don't replace him right away - though they probably will. Haley kept taking penalties - often first period penalties - and putting the Rangers behind the 8 ball.  Nice to see consequences. They'll probably call up Vinny Lettieri or Stevan Fogarty. Let's hope Kaapo Kakko at the very least, is back Wednesday.

UPDATE: Lias Andersson has been sent down to Hartford, presumably to get his game together.  Tim Gettinger is coming up.  They still have anotehr move to make, and I'd assume it's going to be Fogarty or Boo.

This Week on the Blog

This week started with another Giant loss in a game they should have won and also featured a Kaapo Kakko break out, then a massive Ranger flop, the Knicks won another game, and the Yanks don't appear to have gotten anything done at the GM Meetings. Let's see what could be coming up.

The Yankees: the Yanks are, once again, marketing their interest in pitching.  Given the new breed of pitching coaches and coordinators they are brining in, we could see some surprises. In the past, we might think they favored era's and k-rate.  Now it's all about spin rate and the new metrics.  We'll see how they match up with the new Yankee system.

By the way, MLB needs to come down hard on the Astros. We now know about the camera and the tv monitor, but how else have they been cheating?  If they were willing to do that for their hitters, what did they figure out for their pitchers?


Giants: The bye week couldn't have come sooner?  Losing to the Jets was pretty unforgivable. Shurmur seemed befuddled and uncreative.  Saquon has looked like a shell of his rookie self, and that's probably a combination of his injured ankle and suboptimal usage.  But there could be some sunlight on the horizon. Nick Gates had to play for Remmers last week and he looks like a keeper.  If he can be one of the 5 going forward, he'd be the Giants first undrafted starter since Rich Suebert, whom Mouse McNally found nearly 20 years ago. It was time.  So if he can hold down a spot, they only need to draft or sign one more tackle and a center. Go Gates!

Rangers: the Rangers have a weird propensity to play well for 3 or 4 games, then get blown out, like they did in Tampa on Thursday Night.  That was as bad as it has been, and not just because Kakko was out with the flu and some of the guys were trying to play through it.  It might have something to do with their youth.  Anyway, when Quinn see's it start to happen, he should call a time out and do some coaching.  He talks about how the Rangers bounce back in the following game, but can't bounce back in games.  Isn't some of that coaching?   They'll have a chance to bounce back again in a few hours, but Kaapo is a game time decision, so he could be out again.

Knicks: The Knicks can beat the Mavs. and have now done it twice.  They play the Hornets later today, and we'll see if they can add another W.  Fizdale is supposedly on the hot seat. It is Mills who should have already have been fired.  He's a fraud and the Knicks will go nowhere while he's making decisions.

So there it is, the Yanks could start making moves any minute now, the Giants are off, the Rangers need a bounce back, and the Knicks are the Knicks.  Have a great one!

Kaapo Kakko Wins One in OT

Wow, Kaapo Kakko just had his first 2 goal game in the NHL.  His first was the first score of the game, and came from Lemieux and DeAngelo.  The second goal of the Ranger game was scored by Fox from Panarin.  Then the Penguins scored two, the second of which was a power play goal scored after a phantom trip by Fox created a power play for the Pens. The third period was back and forth with the goalie standing on their heads. Then in OT, the Rangers first group got trapped on ice for about 2 minutes before finally being able to change, then moments later Fox weaved through three, fired and Kakko tipped it in for the game winner.  So the the two rookies, Kakko and Fox each had 2 points and made all the difference.

When was the last time the Giants, Knicks and Rangers all had rather special rookies?  This is fun - other than all the losing for the Giants and Knicks.

Yanks Name Carlos Mendoza Bench Coach

The Yankees have replaced Josh Bard with Carlos Mendoza as the new bench coach.  Mendoza is seen as being more analytically adept and willing to learn. We seem to be seeing a quiet but very real revolution.  Throughout the Yankee Universe old baseball guys are being replaced by forward thinkers.  We're already starting to see it up and down the pitching side.  Last year they brought in a hitting coordinator who was actually a pitcher that can teach pitch recognition. It's all changing at Yankee Central.

It would probably be unwise to try to guess what players and pitchers they might be interested in going forward.  At least till we get the hang of the new school and perhaps get access to the new data they use.

The Knicks Are Melting Down

Last night, after another blow out loss that left the Knicks 2-8 (Same as the Giants) on the season, James Dolan made David Mills and Scott Perry address the press. Mills, the master of deflection, admitted they were frustrated. Try being a Knick fan.  But, he said said they still believed in "Coach." Forgot his name, though, apparently. It's unclear how Mills survives. He's the guy that signed back Tim Hardaway Jr., then had to bundle Kristaps Porzingis in along with THJ to get his contract off the cap. The first insanity lead to the bigger insanity and Mills and Perry should have been traded as soon as the deal was made. They got back nothing of value in the current rebuild, and lost the one piece they had that might have attracted big UFA's, as well as a guy who could have crushed it with Barrett.

So the noise, right now, is that they want to get rid of Fizdale.  But they shouldn't do that before they get rid of the two imbeciles who - traded KP - lead the fanbase to believe Durant was coming - and ended up having to settle for a passel of second and third tier free agents when real players wanted nothing to do with them.

The thought around the net is that James Dolan will move heaven and earth to bring in Masai Ujiri from Toronto to run the Knicks.  He needs someone.  It's not Mills or Perry.

This Week on the Blog

The Yanks hired a pitching coach, the Giants lost again, the Rangers started winning again and the Knicks beat the Mavs. Let's take a look at what might be up this week.

Yankees: The other day, the Yanks hired Matt Blake to be there "progressive" new pitching coach.  Then last night, the Yanks hired Brett DeGagne, another young, forward thinking PC from Northern Iowa Community College for an unspecified pitching position in the organization.  They need new PC's for most of their minor league teams and it's unclear if he'll be one of those or fill a vacant or newly created post.

In other Yankees news, the GM Meetings start later this week, and the Yanks have either done some business at them or around them these past few years. They also have a bunch of decisions to make about the 40 man roster, and so, we might see a trade or two go down.

Giants: the Giants play the Jets tomorrow, and there can really be no winners. The winner could forfeit draft positon and the loser's fan base will further toxify the the internet.  It's going to be gross.  And both Shepard and Engram will be out again. Should be a big Saquon game, but it always does and yet we haven't seen one yet this year. When a team has two mobile athletes like Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, it would pay to really move them around.  The Giants don't.  Jones is always in the same pocket and Saquon too often runs rignt smack into the line. They have do better than that, or there's no use keeping the coaches. There are creative minds out there that would know what to do with DJ and Saquon and whatever else they can add with lots of cap room and high round picks coming up.

Rangers: Monday Night the Rangers came out like a house of fire  - Kakko scored from Fox - then they fell back on their skates and lost to the lowly Senators. It was discouraging and made the previous wins into distant memories.  Then they bounced back on Wednesday and Thursday by winning both ends of back to back games.  First, they took care of the rebuilding Redwings at the Garden, then travelled to Carolina and took care of the Hurricanes.  That was impressive. And the kids have really been coming on.

Today, it was learned that Marc Staal will be out for awhile following surgery to relieve an infection in his ankle.  It's unclear whether or not they'll use another call up and or just go with six and Smith.

Knicks: Last night, Frank Ntilikina sprung to life and keyed a victory over the Kristaps Porzingis and Luca Doncic led Mavs. The Knicks are now 2 and 7 and both wins have been keyed by huge games by Bobby Portis and Frank, respectively.  Portis didn't seem to elevate after his game, we'll see if Frank can. Meanwhile, Mitchell Robinson is now out with a concussion - and that's a little scary.

So there it is, Yanks getting busy, the Giants in a precarious position in another November, the Rangers perhaps improving and the Knicks still figuring things out,  Have a great one, peeps.

Yanks Hire Matt Blake as Pitching Coach

The Yanks have apparently hired former Indian Pitching Coordinator and former Yankee Area Scout Matt Blake as their New PC.  Blake does fit the forward thinking model of pitching that the Yanks seemed to be after, and he also seems to have past muster with Sam Briend.  Before working with Cleveland, Blake had started his own player development business and reputation. So this could be interesting, as will the other pitching hires they have to make of the organizational level.

Yanks Add Tanner Swanson to the Major League Staff

The Yanks today hired well travelled Catcher Whisperer Tanner Swanson to the major staff and catching coach and quality control coach. I think he was most recently with the Twins, but was also, clearly with the Mariners and also with the University of Washington at some point.  The college game again. Anyway, he'll tutor the Kraken and whoever the new back up is. Would love to see Higgy get a chance, since he's out of options and have no interest in retaining Romine, who will get a big raise.

Yanks: We've got a Briend

During the season, the Yanks hired Driveline's Sam Briend to do something for them.  It was unclear at the time, but it's growing clearer and clearer everyday since the season ended: he's with them to revolutionize their systemic pitching approach.  Thus we have seen Rothschile bagged, Aldred and Norton dismissed and who know what other minor league pitching and bullpen coaches have been marked for extinction - and which ones might be retrained. Briend has been the variable in all of this, and, most likely the engine behind their interest in college pitching coaches - presumably not just for the big league job, but throughout the system.

It's assumed that the Yanks will be big game hunters for Strasborg and Cole, but given their new approach - who knows who they'll be looking for - we could be surprised.  Hopefully, the staffing issues will be resolved before the Winter Meetings and the real hot stove season.

Rangers: The Goalie Situation

Yesterday, Georgiev won his second consecutive start for the Rangers.  He'll start again Monday.  Also, yesterday, Ygor Shesterkin was named best goalie of the month in the AHL.  Ygor went down there to get adjusted to the smaller ice sheet and how shots would look. Seems like he's adjusted.  Hank is scheduled to start Wednesday.  And he's probably the Rangers' third best option at G right now.

It would be crazy for the Rangers to trade either Georgie or Shesterkin. And according to the beats, Hank is impossible to move at this point, because of his NMC and his contract.  So here's what they should do. Sometime in the next few weeks or at least by the deadline, they should call up Ygor and go with 3 goalies.  Rotate the Runssian kids and throw Hank an occasional start or let him sit. He's no longer their best option and when he refused to be traded two years ago, he wrote this story.

Anyway, the Rangers have kept their roster one or two players short all year, so they do have room.

Aroldis Chapman Opts In

Apparently, Chapman got the Yanks to add another year to his deal, so he's opting stay rather than opting out.  This only makes sense as long as it doesn't limit their ability to make other deals that add salary while the Chapman deal is active. It has seemed as if the Ellsbury deal has hamstrung them a bit over the past few years, but we'll see.

Thiis Week on the Blog

It was a weird week.  Though the Knicks and Rangers both won a game, they also lost. The Yankees finally fired their pitching coach, and the Giants became buyers at a trade deadline where most expected a fire sale. Interesting times.  So let's take a look at the coming week.

Yankees: The Yanks have lost people since they were eliminated. CC made his retirement official.  Jay Bell quit the AAA managing job, and Carlos Beltran took the Mets job. Of their own volition, the Yanks got rid of Rothschild and most of their long term minor league pitching gurus. This is a situation that get tricky.  Thus far, the Yankees have been meeting with college pitching coaches, though, not all of the ones they'd like to, because some have refused to meet with them. That's weird. College baseball is fun, but in terms of exposure it's nowhere near as popular as college basketball and college football are, relative to the the NBA and NFL, and those coaches rarely turn down pro jobs. So it seems odd that college coaches would turn down an opportunity to meet with the Yankees. And yesterday, the Arkansas baseball coach - whoever the hell that is - told reporters that his pitching coach, Matt Hobbs, wasn't going anywhere.  Wow.  You'd think that the Yanks could get their first choices. We'll see what happens, but this is odd.

Giants: The press seems to have a learning disability.  This week Dave Gettleman sent a 3 and a 5 to the Jets for DL Leonard Williams.  As a result the media went backinto it's "Daniel Jones at 6!" idiocy.  If the Giants re-sign Williams before the new League Year starts on March first, the Giants will owe the Jets a 4 instead of the 5.  If they delay the signing for a day or two, can they keep it a 5? We'll see, but that's true of the deal en toto.  Williams was pretty great before the Jets changed coaches and Bettcher's system is very similar to the one in which Williams had flourished.  So he could be better in the Giants D (which would make exactly one guy who is). He's also just 25 but enough of a veteran to provide leadership to Big Dex, Dlalvin, BJ and the rest of the Giants young DL.  So he's a guy who adds talent, and possibly positive leadership for kids.  Not bad.  We'll see how it plays out.

In other news, CB Sam Beal is eligible to be activated from the DL.  It's unclear if he'll be activated for Monday's game, but he has to be activated after it if he isn't.

Rangers: The Rangers just won their second game in a row, and for the second game in a row Fil Chytil scored a goal.  This one was a toe drag wrister off an end to end rush that was started when Libor Hajek chipped a puck to him in defensive end.  It was spectacular and broke a scoreless tie toward the end of the first.  In the second Strome tipped one in from Panarin and both of them now have 6 game scoring streaks. That was all the Rangers needed as Georgiev was terrific again over the course of the 2-1 win. Chytil was absolutely robbed of a goal in the third or he would have had 2.

The Rangers had all sorts of jump today, just like last game.  And if this is the way they keep playing, the rebuild really looks good.  The past two games have been reminiscent of when Torts took over a mostly young team and taught them to play hard.  This version of the Rangers is even younger, but has more fire power. In other Ranger news, Vitali Kravstov just scored his first KHL goal

Knicks: The Knicks need to learn how to win.  Also, like last year, the rotations or pretty puzzling - like why is Alonzo Trier on the shelf?  And how can RJ Barrett, who's good at everything bad at free throw shooting?  Hopefully, he'll find the touch. They are easy shots. And in the last two games, his jumper's been off.  Hopefully it's not snowballing.  Kevin Knox looks better, but still has to stop playing like he's worried about getting hit in the face down low. The special guest Knicks have been as inconsistent as the kids so far, and each of them has been trying to play "hero ball" down the stretch in 4th quarters. That's really how they've lost of few of these. The Defense has been much improved, empty possessions caused by vets going iso and missing are what have cost them.

So there are.  The Yanks will continue their coaching search. Any Giant win down the stretch will hurt their draft position, although if Daniel Jones steals a game or two they will be acceptable.  The Rangers may have turned a corner and expecting wins beats the opposite. The Knicks are still a work in progress, but the best players have been the real Knicks and not the guest stars. Have a great one.