Rangers Acquire Eric Staal

The Rangers just made their annual "all-in" Big Splash Trade.  This time they gave up a pair of second rounders and ascendant Finnish prospect Aleksi Saarela for the honor of adding the declining Hurricane center and captain.   Their problem really was on D, where Eric's brother is among the problems.   The picks aren't so bad, btw, the Rangers have been good at getting 2's, and at least this year's trade didn't involve another 1.

Meanwhile, Saarela had gone off at the WJC earlier this year, and the Rangers plethora of impressive Euro's just took a major hit.   Not sure why they had to put Saarela in the deal, although Carolina is retaining enough salary to make it fit for the Rangers.

Let's hope Staal can get hot.   He'll need to to make up for his bro's and Girardi's defensive issues.

This Week on the Blog

This past week gave us a little excitement as the Yanks opened their full camp, the Rangers got some wins, the Knicks got a win, and the Giants announced their coaching staff and hit the Combine.   This week could be nerve wracking as the NHL Trade Deadline approaches, and pretty interesting on all other fronts.

Rangers:  The Rangers are currently leading the Stars 2-1, in the Foxwoods Final Five. And, nope.  The Stars just tied it.  Typical.  Anyway, the deadline approaches, and it's really important that the Rangers don't give away anymore #1's, or any of the young guns like Kreider, Miller, Skjei, Buchenevich or Shesterkin.  We'll see if they are as trade dumb as they have been over the past few years, where they gave away 4 or 5  1's in deals that didn't bring a cup.  The 2 1's for the ghost of Martin St. Louis should live in infamy. (Klein just scored, and the Rangers are now up 3-2 with 2:07 left.)   Anyway,  there's been a lot of speculation about Eric Staal.  I don't think he'll be the "Butch Goring" move that leads to a dynasty.  He's a declining player.   And last year's overpay for Keith Yandle has killed the Rangers in a couple of ways.   First, it cost them The Duke and a 1, and, second, AV doesn't use him enough or correctly, and they'll probably lose him as a Free Agent over the summer, because of all the dough they have tied up an Girardi and Staal.  (Rangers just won!  Goals my Kreider, McD, and Klein.  Yandle with his 31st assist in limited minutes.)  Anyway, big win for the Rangers, and they better not lose again at the deadline.  They need help for the D, not so much the O.   They should be looking to move Girardi, Staal and Nash, but they probably won't.   They'll buy something, though.

Yankees:  They've all reported to camp.  And hopefully they can stay healthy and train sensibly.  I believe the presason games start March 1 or 2.  Let's hope Sanchez starts out hot and keeps rolling till they can trade McCann.

Giants:  NFL FA doesn't start for another 12 days, but ahead of it the Giants might work on signing some of their own.   As of right now they are short on DL bodies, and signing JPP or Ayers ahead of the open market would be wise.  Perhaps Prince, too.  Also, they will probably make a cap saving adjustment with Victor Cruz before FA, so that could also happen this week.

Knicks: The Knicks went into freefall several weeks ago and even a coaching change couldn't change much.   I do believe they have an offseason plan; however,  and hopefully that will include draft picks coming back.  They will either be in good cap shape or great cap shape depending on what they do.

Okay, time to cross our fingers till the NHL Trade Deadline passes.  Hope that works out and that everyone of you has a great week.

This Week on the Blog

This week passed without the Knicks making a move at the deadline, the Giants taking care of their long snapper, the Rangers playing okay, and Yankee pitchers and catchers reporting to camp.  Things could be even more fluid this week, let's take a look.

Rangers:  The Rangers will face their own deadline on the 29th.  At that point we'll have to see if they think this team can make a run, or whether they're ready to restock for a future by selling.  Today, they waived Daniel Paille, who's acquisition, I don't think I ever mentioned, and Gorton and Arniel are going to watch Hartford tonight to see whom they should call up.   Feels like they should already know, but apparently they don't.  And the underperfomance of the 4th line probably isn't their biggest concern.  Rick Nash has been out for weeks, and Ryan McDonagh keeps getting cheapshotted in games where Dylan McIlrath is out of the lineup.  Also, they may have the wrong coach.

Knicks:  Jimmer Fredette should show up early this week.  Who knows if they'll play him.  They lost to a terrible Nets team last night, and have no draft picks, thus far that could benefit from their inane losses.   And they seem to be losing faith in Jerian Grant, though their suckiness cannot be blamed on any of the young players.  I hope they have a great plan this summer.

Yankees:  Chapman, Miller and Betances all through together today, and McCann believes they can be special.  The Yanks also brought Mark Miller, once thought to be the next DRob, and Kyle Haynes to camp.  I have no idea how Haynes didn't get picked in the Rule 5, but he is a late blooming starter with big stuff, who could easily be moved to the pen.  More of the position guys should start filtering back in this coming week, too.  Btw, this year's Captain's Camp ran for a month with almost no coverage until the end.   It would have been nice to get a list of who was there, and what was worked on.

Giants: The Giants could announce a Victor Cruz restructure any day now.  They could also dive right into the Cut Players Market, as James Laurinaitis and Chris Long are now available, among others.   Also, the Combine starts Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see if they make some sort of deal with Tom Coughlin on Monday, because he will no doubt be in his traditional seat come Wednesday when the testing starts.

I hope all of you have great weeks, and thanks for reading.

Knicks Sign Jimmer

The Knicks are signing Jimmer Fredette and he'll apparently join the team early next week.  Having failed to add anything, like a needed guard at the deadline, why not?  Jimmer has been emasculating the CBA, and if he's willing to share the ball with Zinger and Melo, they could become fun to watch again.   I'm pretty sure he'll shoot better threes than Affalo and the others.  I hope he finds his niche.

Giants Sign Euro WR

The Giants have reportedly signed French WR Anthony Dable.  Dable worked out for the Giants yesterday, and, apparently impressed them enough to earn a rookie deal.  The 27 year old is 6'5, 27 and coming off of two straight championship seasons in Europe.  I have no idee if this guy can play, but I do like the idea of searching far and wide to try to improve the bottom of the roster.  The Giants were also going to work out a European TE named Harry Innis.  There've been no updates on whether or not they did, or whether or not he was also signed.

UPDATE:  Okay, watched some youtubes.   One of them listed his 40 as 4.41 and the another at 4.49.  Either would be decent good for a guy this size.  Of course, he dominated the competition in Europe and that's exactly what you want to see.  He also moved around better than, say, Ramses Barden, who was a little bigger but also came from a lower level of competition.  He also ran some returns, and that's another thing you want to see coming from lower levels.  Both Will Tye and Corey Washington ran returns for their college teams, even though they were much larger than typical return guys.  And Dable also caught the ball with his hands, instead of letting it get into his body, and showed a knack for high pointing it.   We'll see how he looks in camp, if he makes it through OTA's.  

Early Wednesday, Soup Harris, and smooth looking WR who had been injured revealed that the Giants were not briniging him back.

Giants Stuff

The Giants finally announced Coach Ben McAdoo's first coaching staff yesterday, and it was exactly who we were seeing reported during the process.  The only mystery solved was the return of Lunda Wells as assistant OL Coach and he is, indeed, back.  There's plenty on it in Giants.com  as well as a refresher of the front page of BBI. So I won't paraphrase what everyone else is saying.

There are a couple of things to think about, though.  First, Spags did not get a AHC designation.  We thought an older coach with head coaching experience like Philbin might be brought in and given an AHC title, but he took one form the Colts.  Spags was an AHC with the Giants in `08, then and AHC with the Raven's before rejoining the Giants.  He is older than McAdoo, and has head coaching experience, but he didn't get his old title back.  So, though he is the DC, they want him as that only, and he probably has this season to show he's still got it.

Secondly, Frank Cignetti Jr. might be a sleeper agent.  In his comments, McAdoo mentioned that Cignetti had grown up in a version of this offense.  He is the son of College Hall of Fame Coach Frank Cignetti.  From a football history perspective Sr. must have been among the first East Coast coaches to employ the WCO, or was building his own off of the old Paul Brown system.  In any event, Cignetti probably knows this offense a hell of a lot better the Mike Sullivan does, and so I wouldn't be surprised if he is the play call (if it's not McAdoo) and if he doesn't replace Sullivan next year.

Beyond that, the NFL Combine is next week, and the NFL Free Agent Season starts in the second week of March.   The Giants will have around 60 or so million in cap space, plus 6 good picks, plus the UDFA, cut players, street FA, and trade markets to attempt to upgrade all of the postions, save QB, and most of the roster.

It's interesting that they are supposed to be the first of several teams who will try out two Euros, a WR and TE, to see if they have NFL measurables to compensate for the low level of competetion they played against.  Both are also older than 26.  But the Giants have to look everywhere and it seems they are.

Also, UDFA and priority cuts, might start picking the Giants again, because of the lack of competition around the roster.

Now that the staff is in place, and they don't have to hire anyone at the Combine, they can get down to cases.

UPDATE:  The Giants just re-signed Long Snapper Zak DeOssie.  His was a spot I thought might be calling for an upgrade, but, re-signing him does at least buy the Giants a year and doesn't force them to pick or overpay for a new one.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, sorry I missed last week's usual column.   I was distracted.   Meantime, we have a very big week coming up for all four teams.

Knicks: The trade deadline is Thursday, and for the first time there's some smoke around Carmelo moving.  Last night a three team trade involving Carmelo, Kevin Love and Boston, with picks going to the Knicks was setting Twitter on fire for an hour or so.  This morning Carmelo said he's not being traded.  And he does have a no movement clause.  Of course, yesterday or the day before he said he wanted the Knicks to get him another star.  Remember last time Melo was traded, he wouldn't "own it" till it was done, and thus ended up costing the Knicks more.   We'll see what happens this time, but do remember it's important to Melo to protect his brand.

Yanks:  Pitchers and catchers report this week!  Of course, many of them are already down there, and a bunch of position players from the system are down there working out across the street at the minor league complex.  Should be interesting to see who is healthy enough to be a full go.  And of course, to see how Kaprielian looks in his first camp.  It's the start of a big year for the Yanks and the system.

Giants:  The Giants created more cap space this past week, and could create more with restructures and pay cuts Victor Cruz and others.   Meanwhile, they may finally have all of their coaches and be ready to announce that.

Rangers:  The Rangers have two more weeks till the trade deadline.  They blew one in OT last night, but had won their previous four, and done so without Nash and McDonagh.  McD returned to practice today.  It will be interesting to see what Gorton does at his first deadline.  He better not trade anymore first, because those trades, especially the 2 for Marty St. Louis, are one of the things killing the Rangers right now.  JT Miller, their last first rounder, is finally breaking out.  It would be nice to have more.

I hope you all have great weeks!  Thanks for reading and posting.

Yanks Avoid Arbitration With Chapman

The Yanks today avoided arbitration with Aroldis Chapman by signing him to a one year 11.325M contract.    That sets them up to see how he plays out and either extend him or offer him arbitration again next year as he hits free agency.  Hopefully, they are thinking about extending Dellin Betances. Yes, pitchers and players get injured, but teams would be wise to lock up the good ones till age 30 as soon as they can.   The Yanks should have gotten way ahead of Cano's free agency, for example.

McAdoo Hires Zgonina, Staff Complete?

Was kind of hoping they got Zgonina for the DL rotation, instead of the staff.  Coming out of Purdue as a 7th rounder for the Steelers in 1993, Jeff went on to play 17 years in the NFL.  That's insane and not only will he bring all that experience to his charges on the DL, but he should be a shining example to the entire team on how it's done.   Really intriguing hire.  Also, I'm not sure this completes the staff, or if they're bringing in another assistant or two, and I also don't know if Lunda Wells is still around, who had been or is the assistant OL coach.   I guess they'll announce it soon, if not today.

The Giants OL, Going Forward

When the Giants hired Mike Solari a week or two ago (I've literally lost track of Giant time lately waiting for them to announce the new staff), I wondered how he'd appraise the roster, notably the now bigger three of Flowers, Pugh and Richburg.   Apparently he sees no need for training wheels, and may even see a way to finally get the OL fixed in one offseason.   Right now the Giants are set at three positions and still need two more guys.  Can Bobby Hart play RG?  Not sure anyone knows for sure yet, but they do need a starting tackle. I'd like to see them sign Mitch Schwartz or someone else who can play RT, and then grab another Guard who can compete with Hart in the draft.   They'll still need more depth as Jerry and Newhouse haven't gotten it done.

Giants Release Beatty, Schwartz and Beason

The Giants today added to their available cap space by cutting oft injured OL's Will Beatty and Geoff Schwartz and oft injured LB Jon Beason.  Both were good players, and not part of the "talent problem" but they rarely played.  Each cut creates "dead money."   So the cap savings isn't huge,  but all cap room will help as they have needs all over the place.   And of course, now, they have big needs on OL and at LB, again.  Seems like they maybe starting to overcome their tendancy to plan on relying on guys like this, and are taking a really critical look at their roster.

Knicks Fire Fisher

After losing 9 of their last 10 games, the Knicks today have fired Derek Fisher and made Kurt Rambis the interim head coach.  I was looking for a picture of Kurt in his old Knicks uni, from when he signed a couple of ten day contracts with the Knicks be heading to the Lakers back in the day.  Perhaps he's suppressed all the evidence.  In any event, when your team is losing games because of your coach's decisions, it's time to switch.  I think it's very likely that the Knicks will go after Luke Walton to be their Head Coach this summer, unless Rambis sets the world on fire down the stretch.