Yanks: Luis Severino to Make His AAA Debut

Today could be a pretty big one in the Yankee season.  Luis Severino is making his AAA debut, and if he can hit the ground running, we could see him in the Bronx sooner than later.  He's made mincemeat of the minors so far so let's hope for the best.  Because of flameouts and injuries to Hensley and others, there are virtually no power starters behind him.  Rookie Davis is off to an encouraging start, and Bryan Mitchell who's already in AAA and doing well, and that's about it.

Yanks Win

Ramon Flores made two great defensive plays in his MLB debut in Left.  Carlos Beltran hit a jack, and both he and McCann do seem to be putting together some good at bats, which lengthens the normally 4 man lineup by 2.   Eovaldi was a little wild, but the D, led by Flores and Tex was able to limit the damage.   Still, they had to come from behind and McCann and Beltran managed that with a walk and the blast.   Huge.  Then the bullpen came in and it was lights out.  Miller will get the save, but Betances is the one who really locked it down.  It's too bad they haven't concocted a counting stat for what Dellin does, because it's incredible.  Big win.

DSL UPDATE: Brayan Emery went 3-4 with 2 triples and a walk in his DSL2 debut.   And SS Wilkerman Garcia had 2 hits and stole two bases in his DSL1 debut.

You might remember that Brayan was the guy we signed in the fall, who had been rocketing up the charts leading up to last year's 7/2 signings - with some thinking he could be the best player in the class.

This Week on the Blog

Last night was brutal.   Anyway, we'll soldier on with less Rangers games than we had hoped to see this year.   This has been a brutal year for most of our teams thus far...   Anyway, let's look for a silver lining this week.

Yanks:  The Dominican Summer League starts Monday and we will finally get a look at some of those kids they got in last year's IFA surge.  The Yanks will once again have 2 teams, and they should both feature some names we know.  And btw, the Yanks' DSL development program has been getting better and better over the past few years and could take a huge leap this year with the addition of all that talent.   That's pretty much the most exciting thing I can say about the Yansks this week.  Of course, next week is the draft and that's been the three days of Christmas around here.

Giants:  The Giants will continue to figure out their OL as they go through more of their phase 3 practices.  No more injuries please.

Knicks:  The Knicks are hopefullly coming up with a good plan for their latest rebuild.  Their latest tear down has been a disaster.

Rangers:  The Rangers should take a week or so off, and then they have a lot of roster challenges ahead of them, and must find both more picks, and/or Hayes type college FA's as well as find more cap room to keep their core guys, and also make room for the talented youngsters they're gonna start losing if they don't make room.

Anyway, the exciting thing this week is the debut of all that Dominican League Talent.   Have a great one everybody.

UPDATE: Holy crap, the DSL started today!   Don't have scores yet, but should have rosters over at MiLB.com.

Yanks Promote Severino

The Yanks have promoted their best pitching prospect, Luis Severino from AA to AAA.  So now he'll just be a call-up away should there me more injuries to the rotation.  What they can't do is Joba him and send him up to help the BP.   Some other guys will probably get promoted between now and the start of the short season teams.  But this does probably mean that we will see Luis in the Bronx at some point this season -- whether or not Girardi will play him once he's there is another matter.

Giants OL Pt.1,000,000

I think that most people presumed that once Beatty got hurt last week, the Giants would use Flowers and Pugh at the tackles - with a competetion for Left Tackle to start things off, and leaving the Giants looking for another Guard instead of a tackle to complete the Beatty-less line.

That does not seem to be what they have in mind.   Today as we noted earlier they had Justin Pugh lined up inside Flowers at Left Guard.  That's bold, but pretty clearly what they had in mind for next year and down the line.  Right now, the Giants have their three best OL's lined up at LT, LG and C.   That leaves Schwartz, who's alternating during these practices while he rehabs, and a hole on the right side.  Marshall Newhouse probably won't be part of this solution, but but he was out at Right Tackle today.

In general, with a right handed QB, it's probably better to have your problem on the right side than on the left, and that's where the Giants are keeping their's for now.  It would be awesome if Michael Bamiro or Emmet Cleary or someone who's already on the roster could grab that position.  If not, they'll have to keep an eye on the waiver or look for a trade.  I don't think there will be any OL's in the Supplemental Draft.  But right now they need to find a decent RT and may not have one.  What they do have is a lot of young talent at LT, LG and C.

Yanks Win Again

The Yanks continued they're winning mixture of pitching and power hitting, finishing off the Royals 4-2.    Pineda was back to dominating as he went 6.2 innings of 8K 1BB 1 run ball.  Leading 4-1, Girardi didn't use Lindgren.  Instead he went with Carpenter and Wilson who combined for 1 out.  Betances and Miller did the rest.

Meanwhile, the second run that the Royals scored was unearned as DiDi G threw another ball away.   It was supposed to be pitching and defense, but it's only been pitching and power so far.

Giant OTA's, PT.1

The biggest news out of today's OTA is that Ereck Flowers was installed at LT and Justin Pugh was installed at LG.  They could have left Pugh at RT, but instead they had Newhouse acting as a placeholder over there.   This is really interesting because it seems to indicate that it is the organization's will that Flower and not Pugh becomes the Left Tackle and that Pugh is still moving to LG, even with the virtual vacancy at Right Tackle.  Frankly, I think that will prove to be a nasty, pro-bowly combo on the left side -- but the right side is terribly unsettled.   Unless one of the other kids can step up -- like Cleary or Bamiro or someone -- the Giants really do need to sign someone or make a trade.

In other news, Robert Ayers did something to his knee and ended up leaving on a cart.  And Corey Washington scored two more TD's -- beating Prince 2x in goal line practice.

Rangers Crush Bolts - Force Game 7

The Rangers moved MSL off the Brassard line an added JT Miller.  The results: 3 goals and two assists for Brass, 1 goal and three assists for Miller, and 1 goal and 3 assists for Rick Nash as the Rangers rose up and crushed the Lightning 7-3.  And I must say, it should have been more lopsided as I bet Hank would want all three of the Lightning goals back.  Yandle and Sheppard had the other Ranger goals.  It was actually 2-1 after 2 and then the Rangers errupted.  Usually, they've been great at just protecting those third period leads this year, but this time, they went hard at the net and scored 5 more goals.  The Lightning had to pull Bishop.  Then Nash scored on the new guy.  Brassard's third goal was an empty netter.  

Game Seven is Friday Night at MSG.  Let's Go, Rangers!

Yanks Win Again

Yanks just beat the Royals using their homer + good pitching system.  Not sure what happened to Beltran, but he left the game for Heathcott, who had been on the bench at the start of the game, despite being the Yanks hottest hitter and an elite defender.  Hmmm.  Anyway, winning is better than losing even if it hides some warts.

Heathcott and Lindgren Impress as Yanks Route Royals

Slade Heathcott was 2-5 with his first big league homer and Jacob Lindgren pitched two scoreless innings in his MLB debut, as the Yanks clobbered the Royals today.   The solid pitching and homers were back -- and that's been their best formula all year.  Plus the kids brought their own solid pitching and a homer -- hmmm.  Anyway, it was one of those games where McCann and Drew homered, so that may not work to the team's benefit.  Headley also homered and he may be coming around.  So did Gardy, and I think it would be a very good idea for Heathcott to stick close to Gardy while he's up.  There's a lot he can still learn from him, and he's quite a bit like Gardy, but with more potential pop.  Good day for the Yanks all around -- except for the Drew reprieve.

Yanks: Lindgren Coming Up

Yanks are bringing up Jacob Lindgren tomorrow.  All he has done in the minors is flat fricking dominate, thus it is about time. He should have made the roster out of ST, but the Yanks might finally be worrying about clocks.  This should give the Yanks a three headed monster pen, should they ever get a lead and want to protect it again -- or keep the other team from growing their lead -- which would also be a switch.

Lindgren was a second round pick last year - the Yanks first.   Imagine where they'd be now if they had kept there three first rounders.   No Beltran, no McCann and no Ellsworth.  They probably wouldn't have had their surprising start, but we'd be watching kids get better instead of vets decline.

This Week on the Blog

This week will have to be better than last week was.  I won't recount or chew on it anymore, but all four of our teams took major hits, and that's unacceptable.  So, onward and upward.

Rangers:  The Rangers have to win 2 more games to make it back to the finals.  They still need to tighten up their D if they want that to happen, but if Hank, Nash and St. Louis keep playing like they did last night, they can and will.

Giants:  The Giants will continue with OTA's on into their mini-camp.  Meanwhile, they have to find another OL.   With the injury to Beatty, they're back down to 4 and that won't work any bettter than just having 3 and two filler players for most of last year.  Something must be done, and the sooner the better for the sake of line chemistry.

Yankees:  The Yanks are at a cross roads.  The timely hitting they had in April and early May has dried up and it's putting too much pressure on the pitchers.   They need to solve 2B for starters, and have the candidates to do it.  Also, they need to reconfigure their middl relief and they have the parts to do that, too.  They just need to keep calling guys up.  Also, their draft start June 6, so we're getting really close.

Knicks: The Knicks need to hang onto pick #4, and see what else they can add.  Trading Melo should be on the drawing board.  I love Melo, but this is a total reboot, and if we can move him for the #2 pick and stuff it will be to our longterm benefit and probably his.

So, all four teams should have a sense of urgency. I hope things are going better for all of you.  And Anonymous posters, remember to get handles.   Otherwise your posts will be deleted.

Rangers Win

Rick Nash broke through with 2 goals, Keith Yandle had a goal and three assists and the Rangers beat the Lightnigh 5-1 to even the series at 2 games apiece and restore home ice advantage.   The Rangers finally played so D, and Hank was back to being great.  They still made too many mistakes as far as giveaways and penalties go, but they were far more responsible than they had been in either loss.   And Marty St. Louis finally scored one and started swarming, to the point where he probably should have had one or two more.  Kreider was the other goal scorer.   Rookies Hayes, Fast and Miller continud to impress.  Hags was also an animal and had an assist.  Hell, Tanner Glass had a good game.  

In any event if Nash, Marty and Hank are going to keep playing like that, I really, really like our chances.

Giants: And There Goes The OL

Unbelievably, after finally drafting a 5th starter for the offensive line, the Giants have lost their OLT Will Beatty till at least November with a torn pec.   Even when they finally bit the bullet and tried, they still can't put 5 guys out there, and that's because they missed on so many in free agency, more so than in the drafts, where they really had bad luck with their windows.  So, this means Flowers, Pugh or Newhouse will have to play OLT, and god only knows who will then pick up the open spot.  A trade for a real OL would seem to be necessary.  This is just unbelievably bad news on the Giants end.

Yanks: Ellsbury to the 15/Slade On the Way

So, Jacoby Ellsbury is headed for the 15 Day DL and they are calling up their former first round pick, Slade Heathcott.  Only problem is, Slade's not on the 40 man roster anymore so they're going to have to make some sort of a move.  Slade's been slumping a bit in AAA after a great start, and maybe this is just what he needs to get going again.  He's a great defender and still has lots of upside as a hitter.

UPDATE: Chase Whitley was moved to the 60 day DL so that Slade could be added back to the 40.

Yanks Lose Game and Possibly Ellsbury

Yanks might have gone with Eovaldi too long tonight, and worse, Jacoby Ellsbury hurt his knee and had to leave the game.  Also, Miller gave up his first runs of the year in extras.  Just a bad night.  Also, it's high time the Yanks fix the bridge to Betances and Miller, end the Drew Era, and possibly make some 40 moves so they can call up Refs and Slade, as well and Lindberg.    They have better options than losing these kinds of games.

Knicks Will Pick 4th

The NBA once again tried to distance themselves from their alleged fixing of the lottery in the Knicks favor by awarding them the #4 pick in this year's lottery.  First of all, there is no transparency in this process, and thus I will never trust it.  Second, we're still gonna get a great player.  My hope is that it's D'Angelo Russell, but it could just as well be Emmanuel Mudiay.  They're still gonna need a lot more size.   Btw, the 76ers just got the #3 pick, and they're supposedly hell bent on Russell.  So we're getting the Congo Kid or trading the pick.  We need to spend all that cap room on skilled bigs.

NBA Draft Lottery Day Arrives for the Knicks

Win or lose, today the Knicks begin their semi-annual period of relevance.  Today, the Knicks will find out if they are picking first, or anywhere for second to 5th.   Whatever player they take - or players they add by trading that pick - will not only influence what they do in free agency, but could set the franchise up for years to come.   Or they could screw it up.  Afterall, they are the Knicks, and they've been screwing things up for 40 years.

30 year ago, they landed the top pick in the lottery and took Patrick Ewing.   Looking back, it's almost inconceivable that they didn't win a title with him, but like I said, they are the Knicks and they do tend to screw things up.   Let's hope The Great Unscrewing starts tonight.

Yanks Win

So CC is back to being the ACE, well at least for this weekend.  Seriously, these last two starts, and especially this one, have been encouraging.  Maybe the CC can pitch with reduced stuff crowd is right.   Anyway, the formula of getting a good start, timely homers from old guys, and knock out relief is back online.  Let's see how long they can keep it going.    More bats would really help.

Rangers Win Game 1!

Rangers just won just another 2-1 game.  Fortunately they were able to do it in regulation, when Dom Moore after taking a late penalty, came out of the box and scored off a great shot/pass from Hayes.   Stepan had the first goal, from Kreider -- of course.  Marty and Nash missed some opportunities, as did Step and Miller.   But, a huge game 1 win.  Let's see if we can win a game 2.  Let's Go, Rangers!

This Week on The Blog

Alright, we've arrived at another momentous week on the blog.  Let's take a look.

Rangers:  The Rangers need to win 8 more games.  And they'lll start on the second half of their mission in just over 2 hours.   We should know pretty early what the style will be.  Will the Lightning try to smother the Rangers like the Pens and Caps did.  Or will they try to bet their skill againt the Rangers' skill?   Yesterday, it looked like Boyle would play, and there is some hope that MZL will be back at some point.  Tampa beat up on the Rangers a few times before the Rangers really got going.  Let's hope they get their payback.

Knicks: Finally, the NBA Draft lottery is happening on Tuesday.  The Knicks will pick no lower than 5th, with a 19% chance of winning the lottery.  Let's hope they do.  There's some thought that they will trade down for multiple ones if they don't end up in the top two or four.  They do need players, so that might not be a bad idea if they're out of luck.

Yankees:  The Yanks have been heading for the tank over the past few days.  Their inconsistent offense is catching up with them, and they may have to re-figure middle relief.  On the plus side, Tanaka will start his rehab assignment

Giants: The Giants will start their OTA's this week, leading up to their full squad mini-camp.   We'll see what kind of news they give us.

So that's pretty much it.  The Rangers have 8 more games to win.  The Knicks will discover their pick.  The Yanks might re-shuffle a bit.  And the Giants will be out on the field with the picks and UDFA's.   Big week.  And I hope it's a great one for all of you.

Stepan Returns the Rangers To The ECF in OT!

Well, Derek Stepan just became a Ranger Immortal.   Holy crap.  Is everyone out there all right?  What a series.  Really grew to despise the Caps for all their dirty play.  Also, the refs were derelict throughout.   But the right team won, and will now have a chance to defend their ECF title.   Let's go, Rangers!

Yanks: Severino to the DL

The Yanks' number 1 pitching prospect is now on the 7 day DL with a blister.  That's probably the most encouraging explanation we could get to explain his last few starts.

Meanwhile, with Severino, Clarkin and Hensley currently on the shelf - and Hensley facing a year or so of rehab - we better believe the Yanks will be looking for some high end starters when the draft takes place next month.

Oh, and some of the healthy ones like Bryan Mitchell and Rookie Davis just had their first non-dominant stars of the season -  let's hope that was just coincidental dead arms.   Oh and Brady Lail got hit in the face with a comebacker.

Yeesh.  Look for them to load up when the draft starts.

Yanks Club Rays

The Yanks just hit 5 homers. and CC saved his bad inning of work until his last inning - the seventh - allowing the Yanks to clobber the Rays 11-5.   ARod, Beltran, Gardy, Tex and Headley hit the bombs.   This was a fun one as CC was pretty much dealing most of the night, and this version of the Yanks is back to grinding out their ab's.   Gardy went left-center and Tex went oppo, which were very good signs.   Carpenter was shaky again in relief, but Brandon Pinder was interesting - a righty throwing slider after slider mixed with 94 tonight.   Still see no reason not to call up Lindgren and others to get them experience in the middle of games, and in low leverage finish the game situations.  Ellsbury got "a day."   The Singleton/ Cone broadcast team was fun.

Rangers Win and Force Game 7

Rangers just beat the Caps in a game where they finally played some Ranger hockey then took their feet off the gas.   Kreider scored 2 goals in the first period.   Then the Caps scored one in the second.  Then Nash finally scored a goal in the third to make it 3-1.  A few minutes later Boyle scored, to make it 4-1.  Then they they went into their prevent and saw the Caps score two more goals, and McDonagh take an horrendous cheapshot from Ovechkin while they sweated out their 4-3 win.   Game 7 is Wednesday and they better not take their feet off the gas until they win 9 more games.  

Yanks: Ace

Even with Tanaka on the shelf, the Yanks appear to have an ACE.  Michael Pineda struck out 16 birds without walking 1, of 7 innings of 1 run baseball.  McCann and Beltran did the heavy lifting again -- and anyone in the pen not named Betances or Miller continued to cry for an upgrade.

Down on the farm, Severino had his 3rd rough start in a row.  Hopefully he's just working on something and nothing troubling is up.  We'll see.  Judge and Jagiello should probably both be in  AAA, btw.

This Week on the Blog

This should be a really interesting week on the blog - for all of our teams.  Let's take a look.

Rangers:  They have to win today or their season ends.  Then they have to do it again, and if they can, they will be halfway to where they want to go.  If they lose we'll take a day or two then start working on offseason goals and strategy.

Yanks:  They have to keep winning. Also, starting on the 15th, they'll have one more month left to sign protected age IFA's before their two year austerity period begins. Also, Greg Bird's shoulder is acting up so he's on the 7 Day DL.  Further, they should call up Lindgren to help the pen.

Giants:  Giants will get back into their offseason program and will start OTA'ing if they haven't already.  Also, expect more fiddling with the roster as they add and subtract UDFA's and other street FA's.

Knicks:  The Knicks will continue to twiddle their thumbs until the lottery, which they must win.

So, interesting stuff.  With the Rangers it's urgent, with the Yanks and Giants it's business as usual, and with the Knicks it's always dire.

Have a great week, readers!

Giants Sign Tempe RB Kenny Harper

The Giants have come to terms with a 3rd tryout player from this weekend's camp, RB Kenny Harper from Temple.   Harper's 5'10" 232, with good strength and average speed.   Haven't seen him catch the ball in high lights, but was also a Safety in HS.   In fact, there are more youtube highlights from his HS career than from his Temple career.

Giants Sign TE Will Tye and DT Carlif Taylor

The Giants quickly signed two of their tryout players from this weekend's rookie mini-camp.  Will Tye is a TE/H-Back who started out at Florida State, then transferred down to Stony Brook, where he dominated.   Carlif Taylor is a naturally big DT who got a lot of buzz after his workout at the Rutgers pro-day.  He went to Southern Connecticutt and was a late bloomer.   Two really intriguing guys.   Tye can really move, though he's short for an inline TE, he is a willing blocker.   Nice moves from the GMen.

Yanks Win!

Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran sort of played the roles Tex and ARod have been playing thus far, and Ellsbury and Gardy played themselves.  Fortunately, so did Betances and Miller, because Martin and others didn't get the job done.   Would be nice if all the older, big contract guys got going so hopefully, this win will be the start of something.

Rangers Win in OT

Phew. Man was that a close one.   Thanks to Chris Kreider there was overtime.  Thanks to McD, the Rangers won.   And thanks to Derek Stepan for assisting on both goals!   The Rangers should have won this one pretty easily, but too many plays ended up on the stick of MSL, and he just can't do it anymore (these days?)  They need to think about that before game 6.   Let's hope they come up with better solutions, and win again on Sunday.

Let's Go Rangers!

You've done it before and you can do it again.  Just get it done!   Score!

Eovaldi Wins Again

It's nice that Nate is getting some wins while he is still developing.  Next step is to see if he can keep the other team under 3 runs in his next start.  Doesn't help when he gives up homers to the second batter he faces.  But the Yanks once again got Ellsbury, Gardy, ARod and Tex to deliver enough O to pull it out last night, and the bullpen was once again fantastic.  The season is a little more interesting than we were expecting it to be so far.

Giants: Rookie Camp Opens, and So Does the Roster

As the Rookies gathered for physicals, contracts and meetings today, the Giants created room to add two more by cutting LB Terrrel Manning and WR Kevin Ogeltree.   Wouldn't be surprised if the corresponding signings match the same position groups.  Meanwhile, the cutting of Ogletree creates more room for the Giants to possibly keep both Corey Washington and Geremy Davis.  Glad to see them not over-valuing Veterness, like our Yankees and Rangers still do.

They hit the field tomorrow.  God bless their good health.

Yanks: Big Mike Rules

Big Mike Pineda just cruised throug the Blue Jays tonight, pitching 8 shutout inning in his attempt to give th bullpen a rest.  Twas not to be though, because Carpenter couldn't get through the ninth and Miller had to come in to close it.   The ninth started with a 6-0 lead.  Yikes.

Ellsbury and Gardner continue to grind.  ARod and Tex continue to slug a bit.  They need more.   Great start by Pineda.

Pirela Coming Up

The Yanks are activating Jose Pirela from the DL tomorrow.   This should be interesting.  Depending on the corresponing move, which should be Petit to the minors,  it could really break up the outs at that end of the lineup.   The team really can't continue ot ask the other 6 players to carry Drew, Didi and Beltran, so this is a good first move to break up the tyranny of the useless.  Let's hope Giradi plays him.

The Spags D and Landon Collins

Friday, the Giants made a decisive move and traded up to the top of the second round and take Landon Collins.   I can figure no way they would have done this without believing he will an absolute weapon in Spags' new D.    Last time the Giants had Steve Spagnuolo as DC -- and after he had proved himself in Super Bowl 42 -- they went out and got him Kenny Phillips at the end of the first round.   Now that he's back and they still believe in him, they went and got him Landon Collins.

So, Spags' D must always call for a powerful Safety, and Collins is that.  It's also said that he can set up the whole D, like Antonio Pierce used to under Spags.   That's really intriguing.  He's absolutely a smash mouth Safety who will pop anyone with the ball.   The criticisms of him are that he's not a corner or a centerfielder type SF.  But, if you've watched the games and tapes, you'll see he can get over in the cover-2, which Spags favored  the first time around.

In any event, the reason they traded up for him is because he fits a "want" for the defense and specials.  And, barring catastrophic injuries to the DB's, I think Spags will use him for the things he's great at, and protect him from the things he's not as great at.

Yanks Complete The Sweep

Jacoby Ellsbury went 4-4 with an HBP and a walk, and also caught the final out of the game.  Brett Gardner hit a 3 run jack and stole two bases.  Tex hit a 2 run bomb.  Out one point McCann and Beltran even had back to back doubles and the Yanks had an 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the 6th.  At that point a spent Warren, and Esmil Rodgers conspired to give up 5 runs and then Girardi had to get more serious with the pen.Wilson and Carpenter were fine, then Miller walked to guys, and got an error behind him to load the bases with Ortiz up and two out.  He got the Big Cheater to fly out harmlessly to CF.    Nice series, but our inconsistent O and occasional bad starts is gonna burn out the pen unless something changes as the season goes on.

Giants: Post Draft State of the OL

I've spent much of my time since Thursday night sleeping.   And that's because the Giants finally did what they needed to to fix the OL.  After taking Ereck Flowers with the ninth overall pick in the draft, the Giants finally have a top 5.

These last several years they've had a Top 2 +3 a Top 3+2 and a Top 4+1 -- where someone was often playing out of position - like Richburg last year.

I suspect this year's starters from lef to right will be Beatty, Pugh, Richburg, Schwartz, Flowers.  I think Pugh will be the LG and Flowers will be the RT.  Of course, they might reverse that, but I think they see Pro-Bowl upside as soon as next year with Pugh at LG. He could be another Seubert or Snee as a Guard who can win, and pull.  I also like the idea of having Richburg between two veterans during his first year at C.  

That could be a really good line, once it gels, and if Flowers is ready -- which I strongly suspect he will be.   Flowers is naturally gifted and also wants to be great. I've noticed most of the guys I've seen who wanted to be great started out with that attitude.  He already hates losing and acknowledges the current deficiencies in his game, which are really just some foot stuff and hand placement things.   So, I think he'll be ready to play and play pretty well right off the bat.

This is all very good news for the Giants.  What, they don't currently have is a Top 6.  I'm not a fan of any of their backup tackles at this point - unless it's Pugh - and then I'm not really a fan of their back up guards.  What would be ideal would be for them to find a way to get La'el Collins - provided he's cleared.    That would solve things for a long time.

Aside from that, they have to hope Bobby Hart and some of the younger vets make some progress.  Not really sure if Brett Jones is anything other than a C, btw.   But the more veteran veteran depth is bad news, and will hault the running game if they need to play.

We'll see if a 6th or 6th and 7th can emerge between now and the season and that's the best problem we've had on the OL in years.

Giants Grab a Young Guard With Their Final Pick

With their final pick in this year's draft, the Giants took Bobby Hart, a 20 year old OL from FSU.  He played mostly RT and as an emergency LT in college, but the Giants are listing him as a Guard and it's likely that's where we'll see him in preseason.  Because he is only 20 and has had so much experience in a big program already, he's probably still got some upside.  Thus I can see why the Giants took him, especially as he won't have to start any time soon.   He also adds an intriguing piece to their less than intriguing OL depth.   We'll see how he develops, and I really don't understand the complaints about this pick.   They got a 20 year old from an elite program.  He's been playing against older kids this whole time. Let's see how he takes to pro coaching.

Yanks Win Again

Chris Young hit another homer, and Gardy and Dellin did what they do.  Yanks just won 4-2 and Dellin was able to finish the game and give Miller the day off.   Eovaldi may be coming along.  Remember he's only 25 and they're still working on things with him.  Big win.

Giants Grab a Big Receiver in the 6th

The Giants just took Jeremy Davis a big WR out of UConn who didn't run at the combine but did post a 6.86 three cone.  Don't know what he ran at his pro day but he did have a big season in `13 and don't really know a hell of a lot about him, except that he's over 6'2" and still posted that great three cone.

Rangers Tie Series

Chris Kreider scored just 38 seconds into the game and the Rangers had to hold on for a 3-2 victory.   The Caps are pulling out all the stops, including having their goalie's equipment break, in an effort to slow the Rangers down.  They've got to push on and still play better than this.   They looked like they would blow the Caps out early, then let them back into the game.  That's unacceptable.  Do better, Rangers -- but congrats on the win.

Giants Take Another Safety

Giants just took another safety.  Mykkele Thompson played for Texas and for some reason wasn't at the combine.  He ran in the 4.4's at his pro day, along with a sub-7.00 three cone, so it looks like he'll be the coverage companion to the in the box guys.   We'll see what they like about him, he is another athlete.

This Week On the Blog

Alright, let's take care of some business before the Rangers and the NFL draft start back, not to mention the surging Yankees.   Should be a big week on the blog.

Rangers:  The Rangers dug themselves a hole on Thursday.  It's time to wake up and crush the Caps.   They have owned the Caps for a few years now and that BS Thursday cannot stand.  Right the ship and finish them in 5, Rangers!

Giants:   The Giants are having a monster draft.  So let's hope they have a strong day 3 with the 3 picks they have.  Then, they need to assemble a great UDFA class over the next few days.  I think the fact that they gave up two picks, will help them attract more undrafteds.   Later this week they'll have their rookie camp.

Yanks:  ARod hit is 660th, and the Yanks are sort of rolling.   CC came up with the best of his reduced stuff starts last night, let's hope he can build on that.  Yanks also seem to be interested in the Cuban 2B - and just when Refs is starting to show.

Knicks:  The Knicks are still waiting for the lottery.  What's more, this week there was some noise about Karl Anthony Towns being their top choice and that they plan to trade down if they don't get one of the top two picks.   Let's hope they get #1.

So it should be fun.  Have a great week everyone!

Day 2 Giants Draft Review

The Giants are very quietly - at least to the talking heads of TV - having a monster draft.    The chief reason for my thinking so is that they've only drafted MONSTERS.   Flowers, Collins and Owa are all big for their positions and violent in their physicality.  Both Flowers and Collins are true juniors and Owa, who's already gotten his degree is still pretty new to the game.  

The second day was all about Spags and he's going to love both Collins and Owa -- and what's more -- he'll be able to put them in positions where they will produce.  

So after two days, the Giants basically fixed both lines and got a new quarterback for the secondary.   Pretty damn impressive.

Let's see what they can get done tomorrow starting the day with just a 5, a 6 and a 7.

Go Giants!

Giants Grab a Giant-Type DE!

Giants just got Spags another weapon he can send from the edge, in UCLA DE Owa Odighizuwa.   This fits the "freak" definition we've often used.  He's a high motor freak, who needs some polish on his pass rush moves, but he's coming to the right place to learn them.  If he does develop under Spags he'll be one of the steals of th draft.  Now let's see if they trade back into today...  Will review where we are later.

Giants Trade Up and Grab Landon Collins

The Safety starved Giants just traded their 4th and their second 7th to move up and grab Alabama Safety Landon Collins.   Let's hope Spags has a really specific roll in mind for Landon, because I do not think he can be used in man-to-man coverage, but should be a force in the box and perhaps in the zone.  More fast than quick is the problem is coverage, but plenty fast and can probably become a special blitzer.  I'd hate to think we just reached for need and hope to discover that Spags loves him and has a way to maximize him against modern NFL offenses.  If he can do that, he could be the new Rolle.

Btw, this is another team captain with a great reputation.

Giants: Flowers Powers

Needless to say, I finally got a good night's sleep now that the line has been fixed.  Of course, they still need some depth, but we have 6 more rounds and 7 more picks to find some.  A lot of people believe that Scherff was more pro-ready, and he should be as he's 2 or three years older than Ereck Flowers.   At the same time, as a true junior Flowers has more upside.   So they were probably very close on the board.

The Giants, btw, has done well drafting true juniors, and you you can just look at some of the best players on the team and during the two SB runs and see that is true.   Flower just turned 21 last Saturday.

Marc Ross referred to Flowers as a Man-Child, and their's probably some accuracy in that, as he hasn't completely grown into what he's going to be yet.

On tape you see a willing and eager blocker who needs work on some stuff with his hands and feet, but like Scherff, had the will to make his blocks even when his form was off, and the strength to overcome leverage disadvantages created by his mistakes.    That really augers well for both of their futures.

Meanwhile, and this is a really good point, my friend Vishal brought up the case of Seantrel Henderson.   You'll remember his as the great tackle recruit who had a really star crossed career at Miami and tumbled in the draft -- only to flourish and beat out more highly regarded prospects last year for the Bills.  So think about how Ereck Flowers - who's been getting the same coaching Seantrel did - might flourish under Flats and his assistant.

We might have hit another homerun with this Giant who's said to only care about Football.