There is one person on the UFA list that gives the Rangers the best chance to have a drink with Stanley in June.  His name?  Mats Sundin.  Surprised?  Hear me out.  There are essentially three main (and legitimate) arguments against signing Sundin: 1) he’s past his prime, 2) the Rangers are loaded at center with Gomez, Drury, Dubinsky, and Betts, and 3) money used for a Sundin contract is better spent elsewhere.  One at a time:

 

Sundin is past his prime.  A hard argument to debunk, but let me try by going to the numbers.  On an increasingly bad Toronto team, Sundin’s numbers have remained consistent.  Since 1999-2000, he has scored 73, 74, 80, 72, 75, 78, 76, and 78 points, and he’s only been a minus player once in that same time span.  He has never played fewer than 70 games in a season not shortened by lock-out.  Neither Drury nor Gomez can rival that level of production over such a long period of time.  Gomez has lacked that consistency and Drury has never scored 70 points in a season.   Neither is first-line center material. (Gomez may ultimately be that for the Rangers, but not until he gets a high-scoring winger to play with.)  Sundin is.  Right now.  Even more so because his down-low, slow down game will mesh perfectly with Jagr.  Put Sjostrom on that line to add some speed, grinding, and forechecking (kind of like what Dupuis was able to do for Crosby and Hossa), and you’ve got a successful first line.  We’ll come back to lines later…

Continue reading "Most important UFA...NHL"

The transition is complete.  The new "Joba Rules" are simple: he's a starter working on the same 100-pitch count as most other major league starters.  With that process completed (and completed seemlessly), and with the 20-20 perfection of hindsight, is there any more use in debating Joba's best role with the Yankees now and in the future?  He's a starter, ladies and gentlemen.  And he's going to develop into a damn good one, one that will make Hank's comparison's to Josh Beckett look pretty smart.  But he's also so much more than that.

Listen to or read Kid K's interviews: he knows his business.  He's aggressive in the way that Kennedy and Hughes were not this season.  Joba's reponse to a reporter's question about how he will handle a Pirate's team (6/25, 7:05ET start) he's never faced was simple: he'll challenge them with his best stuff.  He knows--as every good pitcher must--that he cannot get beaten with anything less than his best pitches.  And when your best pitches are as dominant as Joba's, you don't figure to lose too much.  Not convinced of his value in the Yanks rotation?  Ask yourself this question: is there a starting pitcher on the Yankees' roster to whom you'd rather hand the ball for 100 pitches and 7 innings? 

Continue reading "Joba Well By New York Yankees' Brass: MLB"

Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.  Remember these two guys?  They were expected to win 25-30 games between them during the Yanks' 2008 season before getting hit hard and injured over the first month of the season.  So what happened?  Are these temporary setbacks or an example of two over-hyped prospects?  Didn't Cashman nix a deal for Johan Santana to keep these two guys in our stable of young pitchers? 

Well, Yankees fans, there's good news and there's bad news.  First, the good.  Hughes is still one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball--let alone in the Yankees system.  Two quirky injuries in two years may be cause for concern, but I think it's just that: quirky, flukey, nothing to worry about.  Don't forget, at the start of this season Hughes was the second youngest player in MLB (behind Homer Bailey).  That's player, not just pitcher.  By the time he hits the age of 24 or 25, Yankee fans will have long forgotten about a pulled hamstring and a ribcage injury--and all those ugly starts he had this season.

Continue reading "Hughes and Kennedy: New York Yankees, MLB"

Let me preface this article: it is not meant as an indictment of Ranger management--the Smith and Sather regimes in particular.  It's meant to make clear this point: the Rangers have some nice talent in their system.  But, aside from Lundquist and possibly Staal, they lack a sure-fire superstar.  Even more alarming is that no where in the Rangers' system is there a bona fide blue chip forward that can rival the NHL's best.  (No, Cherepanov cannot be considered this yet, if at all.)

Consider the Stanley Cup finals: the Wings consistently turn out top-flight talent.  Zetterberg and Datsyuk are their most recent draft gems.  These are not just good payers; these are legitimate superstars.  The Penguins drafted Crosby and Malkin in consecutive years.  Again, superstars.  Players who dominate the game.  Go back further in both teams' draft histories and you'll see names like Yzerman, Federov, Lidstrom, Lemiuex, Jagr. 

Continue reading "NHL Draft: Trouble Brewing for New York Rangers"

Every so often, I'll include a post that is not all (or maybe at all) about sports.  Just a reminder of the bigger world that also deserves our attention--even though it can be infinitely more depressing than knowing Kei Igawa is only a an injury, a Ponson failure, or a Rasner melt down away from being back on the Yankee Stadium mound...

-why, at a time when humans are living longer than ever, are we in a hurry to do everything?

-why do we so quickly diagnose senior citizens with "chronic complain-itis" whenever they start a sentence with "i remember when..." or "in the old days..."? maybe it's time we start listening to them...minus the racial, ethnic, and gender bigotry!

-when are people going to learn to separate what's expected of them from what they desire?

Continue reading "Random musings...sports, politics, society"