Nils Lundkvist Decides to Stay in Sweden

D Nils Lundkvist, one of the Rangers top prospects has decided to spend another year in Sweden. With K'Andre Miller already signed, and Zach Jones having also exploded this past partial season. It might also be a hedge against Anthony D'Angelo signing an extension and no one else being moved. In any even't it's crowded and Nils might as well stay in Sweden and grow his body and game.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yanks know who they are playing, the Giants moved more non-roster moves, the Rangers may still be alive for the first overall pick and Leon Rose hired World Wide Wes and finally spoke up for the Knicks. Let's see what's coming up next.

Yankees: The Yankees need to get their other two draft picks signed.  Also, they will be heading to Nationals park to start the season. Not sure why they get an inter-league world champion to start the season, but that's what they're getting.  Cole vs Scherzer. Hopefully, Judge, Stanton and Paxton will be ready to roll. A lot can go wrong in a 60 game season, so they can't afford a slow start. Training came should resume soon.

Giants: The Giants moved long time coaching assistant Chris Pridy to assistant equipment manager.  They also dumped David Tyree from Player Development.  What's more, the promoted their Blesto Scout, Marquis Pendleton to Area Scout and hired Blaise Bell as their new Blesto scout. With the way things have gone for the past several years, any changes should be viewed as improvements.

Rangers: The Rangers stilll have a chance to win the lottery, but only if they lose their play in series.  So, let's win it, instead and then pick around 9th or 12th or something. Of course if they blow it we must win the lottery. There are upsides in both directions.  Camp should start in the next week or so.

Knicks: Leon Rose spoke this week and seemed to be committed to due diligence on all fronts. He said the coaching search would probably go till mid or late July. He didn't indicate any favorite and said he would allow the coach to decide what style of basketball the Knicks will play. Of course, he could just hire the guy whose style most clearly minics his own. We'll see. Still rooting for the Hardy Boy, here.

Sort of a light week for our teams. Hope it's a great week for all of you.

Knicks Claim Theo Pinson

The Knicks have claimed Theo Pinson on waivers from the Nets. They'll be releasing Alonzo Trier, who somehow became the team goat in his second year after looking like a nice undrafted pickup as a rookie. Pinson is a 2 who started for UNC's last title team. So O for O.  Earlier they had swapped out Kadeem Allen and signed Jared Harper, a 5'10" PG formerly of Auburn. Allen had showed some promise before the season was halted.

Yanks Sign Austin Wells

The Yanks continued their streak of getting their first rounders signed - and let's remember - the one that didn't sign is currently the Yankee Ace. Anyway, we've talked about Wells a lot. He adds much needed lefty patience and pop to a system that might have been a little too right-handed. Le't hope they get Trevor Hauver and Beck Way signed. in short order.

Knicks Make World Wide Wes Official

The Knicks have hired William "World Wide Wes" Wesley as their executive VP for basketball operations. Wesley has been a major power broker - if not actually - a player broker, around the league and the NCAA for a long time. Not sure he's ever taken a position beyond "Consultant" which is what he was for CAA, and others. So it probably took some doing for Rose to get him signed up, but he has and this is another strong get for the new front office. Now, if they can hire the right coach and coaching staff - the Knicks might just become relevant sooner than later.  They've got a lot of picks and the ability to make as much cap room as they want. But they have to get the right coach and surround him with a great staff.  Still hoping for Hardy.

The Week on the Blog

Okay, the Yanks just signed RHP Blane Abeyta from Nevada as they continue their round up of undrafted players. The Giants are now in their annual break before training camp.  The Rangers are ramping into Phase 2, and the Knicks are conducting a real coaching hunt. Let's take a look at what's next.

Yankees: So the Yanks signed Abeyta who's just 6'1" and was a good hitter growing up. They also just announced that they'll be holding their training camp in NYC, rather than Tampa. Seems like an overreaction, as  many things have. It's unclear when that will start as the players and the league still don't have a deal to resume. I'm sure the small market teams are still the loudest whiners. Of course, we know, small markets don't have pro teams - except for Green Bay - and they own their team. Baseball has already missed a huge opportunity by needlessly truncating their draft. Not their blowing their restart.

Giants: The Giants have completed their their virtual offseason, and are off training by themselves. We won't know how successful this has been until Football returns, but at least they are making the effort as a team and as a league. As soon as July starts, they'll probably get Markus Golden back i the fold.  Also, there's a Supplemental Draft. Since Dave Gettleman likes using 3rd's for the Supplemental Draft or for puzzling trades, we might see him use another, this time around, especially if there's a C.

Rangers: The Rangers started skating six at a time this week, but they haven't called back their players from overseas yet. They will for camp and it looks like Kaapo Kakko will be cleared to play. Still no information on a draft date or format.

Knicks: seem to be executing due diligence in their search for a new coach. They will start interviewing nine of 10 candidates over Zoom, Skype of 2-way wrist TV this coming week. This effort can only fail if they pick the wrong candidate - which they've don't plenty of times in the past.  It can also fail if they hire the right guy, but then bring in a "superstar" to destroy him. See D'Antoni, Mike. So rings of harmony around their plan.  By the way, the draft sounds like it will be on October 10. Not sure about the lottery, but let's win it.

So there we are. Some progress all around, but not enough. Hope you're all making the progress that you desire.

Knicks to Interview Will Hardy!

This is just what the Knicks need to turn the page. Will Hardy is the 32 year old Spurs Assistant who will be interviewing for the Knicks Head Coaching job. Hardy is sort of the Joe Judge of the Spurs, and just the kind of guy the Knicks should be looking for to help build and lead a better Knicks team in the future. Also, Will Hardy played his college ball and Division III Williams College. My school.  So I'm really hoping this works out.

Lias Andersson Refuses Rangers' Camp Invite

This kid either has a big personal problem, or is getting horrible advice from his family and agents. He has let hurt feelings destroy his chance of being part of an exciting young team. What a pity and a wasted pick. They'll no doubt throw him into a trade, but this is a fragile fella and unless he gets more help than hockey can offer, he's not going to make it anywhere. So rings of harmony around him, and let's hope Vitaly Kravstov is getting better advice and has adjusted his approach.

Yanks Sign Houston LHP Clay Aguilar

The Yanks have gone off script and signed Junior LHP Clay Aguilar from Houston.  Aguilar posted good era's through his Houston Career.  He's 6'1" and 204, so a bit of a lefty bulldog. As a Frosh and Sophomore he K'd more than one per inning.  He was below that around 17/22 when this season was shut down. Seems to have some pitchability, and what might be a bit of what we used to call a craft lefty. He'll compete.

Yanks Add Two Bats

So the Yanks stopped rounding up righties and grabbed a couple of the intriguing bats.  Elijah Dunham, is a L/L slugger  from Indiana who was ranked 186 in Baseball America's.  He's a junior and would have been a slot 3rd rounder or something. Great get. He's also 6' 213 so about one pound heavier than Trevor Hauver, but roughly the same size. More patience  and pop. He plays 1B and LF. He was drafted as a DES last year, but they couldn't make a deal. But the DES designation produces old juniors and Elijah is 22. Regardless, this seems like a really nice get.

Aaron Palensky is a R/R RF from Nebraska.  He's 5'11" and looks pretty athletic in the field. He was off to a big start when the season got shutdown. He could be another nice value.

Both of these first two bats are from what we might call non-baseball hotbeds. Not, Florida, Texas, California or other warm weather states. Not sure if they played in showcases, but Dunham played wood bat summer ball in the NECL, which is, probably a step down from the Cape and Northwoods. On the other hand he RAKED. So it's unclear if he had an opportunity to play in the Cape or if things are a bit more of a mad scramble for midwest prospects.

The Yanks are keeping it intriguing, and that's much appreciated during this sports dry spell.

Knicks Now Expected to Interview 8-10 Coaching Candidates

According to SNY the Knicks are now expected to interview 8-10 coaches,  now including Becky Hammon, Ime Uduka, and Pat Delany.  Those three can be added the Kenny Atkinson, Mike Miller, and Tom Thibodeau.  That adds up to 6, so we could hear 2-4 more names. This sounds a lot better than it did when it just looked like Miller, Atkinson and Thibs. They needed to be thorough and it seems that they're going to make the effort.

Yanks Sign RHP Connor Pellerin

This is getting monotonous.  The Yanks signed Tulan RHP Connor Pellerin. He also threw at the Cape and is pretty wild. Lots of walks, but also lots of K's. Perhaps there's a biomechanical fix.  Hopefully there is some method to this seeming madness and they're finding pitchers with markers they can really build on.  Bats are good, too, though.

By the way, Connor was number 360 in BA's top 500.

Yanks Sign RHP Ocean Gamonia

The Yanks have added yet another RHP to their RHP loaded stable of arms. Ocean Gamonia sort of sounds made up, but there he is above. He pitched at Everett JC in Washington. Odd that they haven't signed a lefty or a position guy yet, but it's only been about 27 hours.

Yanks Sign BYU RHP Jarod Lessar

The Yanks are throwing another RHP into an RHP heavy system.  Jarod was a swing man at BYU and K'd less than one per inning. He's also older than the other kids because he went on his mission,  That said, he's 6'4" and 220 and he must have things that intrigue them..

Might have thought they'd grab a first baseman or two right of that bat.  That's how they got Mike Ford several years ago, and College 1B's are generally passed over in the draft, though one went first overall in this shortened version and a few others were picked.

Anyway, there should be plenty of value still out there, given this year's 5 round format.

Yanks Sign RHP Trevor Holloway

Trevor Holloway had a nice career for UCF and he is a darling of some of the advanced metrics crew.  He's a starter who made 6 starts before the shutdown.  He had 29 K in 26.2 innings. And that's always nice. Let's  see what else they can do.

Yanks Sign Carson Coleman

The Yanks have signed Kentucky closer, Carson Coleman. Coleman had been drafted before but had gone back to Kentucky. This is the sort of player - college closer - they'll probably hit a few times during this undrafted signing period.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, this week, we saw the Yanks draft 3 Yankee types, learned that Daniel Jones had been leading workouts in Texas, saw the Rangers hit the ice again and learned that the Knicks had poached 26 year old wunderkind Alex Kline as a scout. Pretty big week given the situation. Let's see what could be coming.

Yankees: Tomorrow the Yankees can start signing free agents for 20K a pop. The question is who will take it? Certainly no preps with strong college commits. But they can definitely sign college seniors to their hearts' delight. We'll see if they can get Juniors, JuCo's or DES kids to come in for 20K. Certainly, during this crazy period, 20K is worth more that it was in February. Then there is the time value of money, especially for families who've been hit hardest by the Shutdown. I still think the dollar assignment is pitiable for the league - as the short draft was.  And MLB looks more and more like a public trust that is trying to profiteer on the the Shutdown. It's a little sick.

Giants: The Giants end their virtual offseason program around 6/20 then adjourn until training camp starts in late July. However; is great to know that Daniel Jones has taken the leadership reins and is bringing his teammates in to keep working. It should keep happening during the layoff. Nick Gate spoke out about how much he appreciates Coach Columbo, and that's very reassuring. 

Rangers: The Rangers started hitting the ice - 6 players at a time - and the whole team probably won't be around until camp opens in July. That said, at least they're making progress and the league isn't doing anything too stupid as they are in MLB and the NBA. They still haven't given a draft date.  And seem close to naming Las Vegas and maybe a Canadian site as their playoff hubs. At least they're on the ice.

Knicks: The Knicks made another impressive addition to their organization by getting Alex Kline.  That and the fact that they have not yet named a coach could be indicative of the fact that they really are doing their due diligence in their search for a new coach. We can't count any chickens yet, but Roses rebuild of the front office has been impressive, even if  he did punt GM until next year. Probably means he likes someone still under contract somewhere  else.  

So there it is.  Our teams are spiriting on even if they're leagues are not properly supporting them.  In both baseball and hoops, the players unions seems to be trying to use this time to re-open negotiations.  It's gross that they're both not desperate to play as we the fans are desperate to have them play.

Have a great one, and I hope your lives are getting back to normal after these surreal months.

Yankees Draft Review

The Yanks made the most of a terrible decision by MLB. By cutting the draft to 5 rounds, MLB not only screwed all the teams and prospects, but didn't really give the Yanks a chance to even out the picks they lost by signing Cole. I wonder if they've ever spent 3 high picks on one player before. So far it's a 1 a 2 and a 5. And more than a few bucks.

The Yankee Macro has changed lately, and scouting and player development have been revolutionized by new measuring tools and new biomechanical understandings of hitting and pitching. To wit, they talk more about spin rates and exit velos than they do about 12-6 curves and stadium swings now.

That's said, the Yankees didn't do anything new and different with their 3 picks. They collected talent as they did since they build the first version of Yankee Stadium.  Patience and pop lefty sluggers and a pitcher with a good number one.  This is not how they got Ruth, but it is how they got Gehrig and Keller and Dickey and  Yogi and targeted Maris and Murcer and Nettles. and Reggie. Austin Wells and Trevor Hauver are 20's-80's type Yankee bats, but it's pretty much a certainty that their walk rates and exit velos got them picked, not their handedness. These are very exciting bats to throw into the mix.

Wells may be the best power/pop guy the Yanks have drafted since Aaron Judge.

Beck Way is an interesting guy, with a good fastball and a developing change. Over the past few decades the Yanks have had trouble developing pitchers with good changeups, so hopefully, taking Way is a sign that their new understanding have solved that problem. The Yanks have been good at adding velo and refining breaking stuff. Just not developing plus changeups.

In all, they were able to get high production and high skills from their picks  They're also 21 and they're getting them at the right time.  So it's correct to be annoyed at MLB for screwing this up, but the Yankee scouts and FO found impact just the same.

Tomorrow, at 9 am, the Yanks can start signing undrafted free agents at 20K plus college tuition per player. This is where their combination of classic scouting and modern understanding can really pay off for them.  Could be fun.

Yankees Take RHP Beck Way

Beck Way if obviously a righty pitcher with a big fastball/slider combo.  He was listed as the best JuCo draft eligible guys this year.  He's 6'4" so he's got the size to add a 3rd plus pitch, and perhaps stay as a Starter, but the fallback as an impact reliever isn't bad.  The Yanks are now done

Yanks Take 2B Trevor Hauver at 99

The Yanks went back to college and back to lefty sluggers by taking Trevor Hauver with their middle pick in this draft.  Hauver seems to be another DES, but will sign.  He played OF in college, but the Yanks listed him as a 2B which he played in HS. He's 6" 205. Played on a stacked Sun Devil Team.  In the early days of the baseball draft the Yanks would load up on lefty hitters and pitchers. So far they're doing it again.

Daniel Jones: Leader of Men

Over the past few weeks, Giant Quarterback Daniel Jones, has lead a series of workout for his teammates down in Austin, Texas. There, they went over their new offense and concepts. This is very much what Eli Manning did during the 2011 lockout, and it's great to see second year Jones taking charge like 7th year Eli did. This has got to be encouraging to the new coaching staff,

as well.

More Austin Wells

So, last night the Yanks took Austin Wells, again. Wells is the most impactful hitter they've taken since Aaron Judge. And he's a lefty. He's also athletic and his defense has been improving. But even if he can't play catcher he has the chops to play 1B and either corner of the OF. He comps to the Cubs' Kyle Schwarber - whom the Yanks tried to acquire during their sell-off a few years ago, so that's a great value at 28. It's also a good thing that the Yanks were able to re-draft him. Some players say. "no thanks," to teams that want to re-draft them. Wells had no such reservations and that's a tribute to the relationship they started years ago. Let's hope they can can two more impact players today.

Also, his Arizona coaches say he won't be outworked.

Yanks Take: Arizona C/1B Austin Wells

This is a kid we'd hoped they'd sign a few years ago when the Yanks took all those sign ability kids on Day 3. He's got a great lefty bat as he did as a prep, and this is just terrific. Not everyone thinks he's a catcher, but the Yanks have a good catching program and this is a kid they've been on for years.  I think he was a Yankee fan growing up, and we were really hoping he'd sign out of HS. Couldn't be worked out then, but it will work out now, and he didn't go off the college and fail after turning down the Yankees, he went off to college and RAKED! And he's got that great lefty swing! Ringer City.  Great pick.

Yanks Draft

Okay, blogger isn't letting me add pictures right now, but here's the juice.  The Yanks only have three picks. One in the first, one in the third and one in the 4th. Their pick today is #28, where there just going to have to wait and see who falls. Seems like they'd want an impact bat, but the strength of this first round seems to be college pitching and the Yanks have done well with those, lately. So it probably will be a big arm, unless a bat falls.  It will be interesting to see what thy ey do win 3 and 4 or whether they just go after a big number in the first and take college seniors at 3 and 4 or just in one or the other.

This Week on the Blog

Last week was more of the same, plus, looting and rioting. Unbelievable. Normally, this week would be great because of the baseball draft, but, because of the virus, MLB flinched and cut their draft down to 5 rounds. Our Yanks only have 3 picks, and there's a hard cap of 20K for undrafted  players. A totally shitastic turn of events. Otherwise, let's take a look.

Yankees: Terrible as this is, the Yanks do have 3 pick over 5 rounds and 2 days starting on the 10th. So here's hoping they Yanks go BPA with each pick instead of the pool era practice of keeping their powder dry through the first 10 rounds of senior signings. 30 years ago, they drafted Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada on the same day. Let's hope they can get a similar result.

Giants: the Giant coaches are allowed back at the facility, but thus far Joe Judge has eschewed reeling them in from around the county. The why of that is unclear, hut what is clear is that he believes they are getting enough done virtually not to rush back.

In player news, Daniel Jones is up to 230 and that should help his with his fastballl. He's also working tirelessly on his ball control and every other element of his game. He looked much better than an older Eli did as a rookie. But the tricky part is that Eli had a break out in year 2, and lead the Giants to the playoffs. For year 2 they got Eli a Right Tackle and Play. Far, they're only gotten Jones the Tackle, no Plax or big play WR.

Rangers: the Rangers may be allowed to hit the ice this week in New York, but training camp for the playoffs isn't till July, so, they might not. The NHL is probably missing an opportunity to hype their brand during this nation wide shutdown, but they're dragging their heals and losing momentum. Their late schedule could effect next season and the next few seasons.

Knicks: The Knicks are looking for a coach. Let's hope they are thorough. If they just take two beats and hire Thibs, this season will be more of the same and it will probably lower our expectations for a cogent and reasonable offseason plan.

So there it is. The Yanks are getting screwed. Judge has taken charge. The Rangers can skate. And the Knicks still have a lot to prove.

Have a great one.

NFL Coaches Can Return to Team Facilities Tomorrow

Joe Judge and his College of Pigskin Knowledge can start returning to Giants Central tomorrow, in what is great news for a desperate base. The NFL keeps giving us great news, the NBA and NHL drag it out and MLB seemingly hates us right now. This really is great news as the coaches can fill in what they've learned about the team over Zoom and adjust their schemes accordingly. They probably have lots of new ideas to swap. Tomorrow will be a great day in Giant Land.

Per Woj: NBA Lottery Moved to August 25 Draft to October 15

Wow. The league has given the Knicks more than 4 months to come up with a cogent and effective plan to start turning this disgrace around. On the other hand, the Knicks also plan to reinterview Mike Woodson for the head coaching spot. That's not a good use of the abundant time they've been given.  That said, it's probably just a CAA favor, but the optics are horrendous.

The truth will turn out to be that no matter how august the new front office is, if they blow the coaching pick they won't get to make the subsequent GM pick and we'll being this all over next year.

Another thing. If whoever turns out to be the Knicks best player next year isn't willing to play defense, it will just be more of what we had when Melo and Starbury wouldn't play defense. On championship teams, the leaders play D.

UPDATE: Free Agency will start on October 18, Training Camp on November 10 and Next Season on December 1.

The Knicks are Officially Out

The NBA has unveiled it's plan and it doesn't include the Knicks.  22 teams will finish the final 8 games of the season down at Disney World (ESPN got it's pound of flesh) and then continue to a 16 team playoff format. The extra regular season games are to complete local TV deals and expand interest - just not to NYC. This is actually great news for the Knicks who have a ton of thinking to do and, hopefully, a  comprehensive coaching search to undertake. It would also be wise for them to move up in the lottery, but who knows if that will be possible through luck or pick bundling. But at least they won't waste 8 or 9 more weeks waiting to get into the heavy lifting, they can start that now.

This Week on the Blog

Sorry this is late, I was recovering from some surgery (non Covid related). It was pretty routine and I'm well.  Anyway, they knocked me out for a few hours and the whole country went to hell, I'll try to avoid losing consciousness again. I hope all of you are safe and healthy. Let's take a look at our teams.

Yankees: The Yanks are at the mercy of the league and the player's union.  Next week they will pick 3 players over 5 rounds. This is still ridiculous.  As you know, most of the annual rule 4 amateur draft has always been "virtual" as in they do it over the phone.  All they had to do was move the first two rounds to that format and they would have given so much to baseball fans and baseball prospects. This is self destructive for the league and our beloved Yankees. With a growing payroll, they need as many picks and IFA hits as they can gather. MLB is foolishly pushing the teams away from the talent trough when they could have given the country a boost.  Meanwhile, Social Distancing has disappeared from our streets and it's time for MLB to man up and announce a schedule and a start date. Damnable situation.

Giants: The NFL is the perfect sports machine.  Granted they have been lucky in that their season was completed when insanity struck, but still, they muscled out their annual draft - to record ratings - and gave the Country a boost. Baseball used to be America's game. No longer. As per the Giants, the Coaches may be allowed to return to their headquarters this week. We'll see. The NFL has curiously ruled out joint practices for this offseason.

Rangers: The Rangers are waiting for the practice signal as well as their hub assignment. It's taking longer than it should.  Surely the looting isn't delaying hub decisions.

Knicks: The Knicks will look for a coach as soon as they are sure their season is over.  The Knicks seem to be looking at retreads, when our other teams have shown us - that's not the way to go.  The Yanks hired Boone out of the booth, then have rejiggered the development system, the Giants hired Joe Judge and his staff of teachers - after failing with a retread, and the Ranger hire a college coach, then this past offseason finally hired a teaching staff for Hartford. The Knicks should be looking for fresh ideas with a great commitment to fundamentals and a teaching staff. They haven't had that since Riley was coach.  I guess D'Antoni might have been able to get more done if Melo wasn't running the organization when he was coach.

So there it is, all our teams and all of us are waiting for the great GO! Stay safe and healthy. All of this will pass.