This Week on the Blog

Okay, this week saw the Yanks hold steady, the Giants win behind huge games from Jones and Barkley, the Rangers finish strong, and the Knicks beat the Nets. Not horrible. Let's take a look at what could be coming up.

Yankees: The Yanks don't seem to be in any rush, and may actually be enjoying their holidays.  They lost Betances to the Mets.  So they might want to add another bullpen arm, which could be Josh Hader. They just don't seem to have a match, yet. They also don't seem overly interested in adding any bats. But that could just be regular quiet before a storm - or no storm at all. It does seem like they'll make a trade or two.

Giants: The Giants hope to build on what they did to Washington last week, but tomorrow's result should be immaterial to Monday's needed decisions. Shurmur must go.  The question is should they can Gettleman as well. Opinion on that is, unless someone like Matt Ruhl or Nick Saban refuses to work with Gettleman, they should keep him. The reason to fire Shurmur and his staff is their failure to maximize the talent on the roster or to develop young players. To wit, most of last year's exciting rookies are having down second years, when they should be improving.  So it's possible to look at Jones and Saquon and some of the others as big gets who haven't been coached yet, And that's the case Gettleman should make if they're trying to get rid of him.  Another model is to hire Ruhle, give him lots of control and finally make Kevin Abrams the new GM, and let him just hand cap and contract stuff. We'll see what happens, but this could be another tumultuous week for the Giants.

Rangers: The Rangers beat the Canes again last night, but they lost Brendan Lemieux with a broken hand. To replace him they have called up Steven Fogarty, who I think should have been a key 4th liner for the past few years. He may be out of options and might have to go through waivers before being sent down,  So let's hope he can supplant Haley or someone and become part of the rebuild.  He was the captain of Hartford.

Knicks: with trade season now open, we are seeing all sorts of crazy trade ideas. Most of them center around getting another team's disgruntled star. There's a truth here that needs looking at: if you're disgruntled in one place, you will be so again in the next.  People need to change themselves, because changes of locales will bring all their same problems. So it may not be wise to trade for unhappy guys.  Also, if I were Dolan, and thank god daily that I am not, I wouldn't let Mills make another trade.

So there we are. Yanks in repose, the Giants on the verge of big decisions, the Rangers still getting after it, and the Knicks still the Knicks.  Have a great one!

Btw, I'm sure we'll speak again Sunday Night or Monday, but if we don't the happiest and greatest new years to you all.