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110 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.12.08)”
Slow starts are becoming the norm and that’s not a good sign because then you have to spend a lot of unnecessary energy to climb back into the game and you end up playing the questionable/game time decision Jalen Brunson 44 minutes in december, with 59 games left…
It’s the NBA, every team could beat anyone on the right night, especially with the three-point shot being the deciding factor in most games, so you have to bring it every night.
As I said many times, in my personal and very questionable rulebook when teams start the games “unprepared” the fault is on the coach, so to me so far this hasn’t been Thibs’ best coaching job, at least from a “team readiness” point of view…
KAT was dearly missed and even if it sounds like blasphemy he’s probably the guy we struggle more to replace, even more than the Captain.
There’s no one like him in the roster, offensive flow and spacing suffered.
Thibs went with Sims over Precious to start the game and just like last year (when he started him over I-Hart before he saw the light) the decision bite him and we were down 9 in a hurry.
Speaking about the Captain, in my opinion his gaudy offensive numbers were a bit misleading.
He scored a lot in the 1st half but with 4 turnovers (and only 2 assists) then he reversed in the 2nd where he shot badly (4-11, 0-3 3FG) but passes more (8 ast, only 1 turnover, I don’t think it’s a coincedence both wings heated up in the 2nd half when the ball moved more).
He’s dinged up and he shouldn’t be playing 44 minutes on december 7th.
He’s also terrible on defense, even worse than last year (except for charges against freight train opponents) and mercilessly targeted but it isn’t a surprise.
Well, it was a poor game, nights like this happens during an infinite regular season and I’m on with who says that RS seeding isn’t so important.
This team has shown it can be a juggernaut on offense and there were some moments of pretty good defense even yesterday*, just get in the postseason, stay healthy and then anything can happen.
Get ready for the next game Knicks!
* I still think this is Year-1 of a 3-year window.
Agree that we have a three-year window going forward Max, but I think last year was year one. All the moves have been “win now” since we realized what we have in Brunson. I think we need a top 4 seed to make a deep playoff run.
As far as minutes, Thibs gonna Thibs, we may as well accept it. I finally out on Sims. We are probably going to need a year to address the bench depth issues. Mitch, Precious, and Huk will be the Bigs. We will probably lose Payne to free agency since we won’t have bird rights, but maybe Shamet will recover. How’s Rokas looking? Then we have to hope one of the kids can step up or we can find another vet minimum pro who can fill in. I think that will be more than enough to compete.
I was informed at halftime that I was watching Join or Die, a documentary about Robert Putnam and his book Bowling Alone, which is about the decline in club membership, trust and social capital in America. I am not sure if Knickerblogger counts as a club in his sense but it did make me think about what we all do here and what it means relative to being a member of the Kiwanis Club.
So I missed what appeared to be a frustrating second half. The Cade breakout game was not one we were destined to win.
Thibs is a sicko but we could have Frederick of Prussia coaching this defense and they would still get annihilated on that end. We basically had one guy playing defense last nighr. Some of it might be on the coach but the personnel just doesn’t add up. We need some real bigs.
I was wrong, he played only 44 minutes.
The starters would not be healthy come playoffs, if they continue playing these minutes. Sure, they could get injured regardless of minutes played, but at this level of load injuries are much, much more likely.
@gkhenman
Rokas is having a better season than the disappointing last year, he’s mostly a starter for Maccabi, his playing time has raised and his numbers followed.
He’s currently at 11.2 PPG (good for 41st in EL, it’s a different game) and 5.5 APG (4th in EL).
He’s shooting poorly from 3 but the statistical set is still low (8-26)
P.S.
I agree, OG’s move was the first of the “all ins”, let’s say we are in Year 1.5 of a 3.5-years window 😉
If OG had a walk up song it would be Kendrick Lamar’s, Not Like Us “How many stocks do I really have in stock?
One, two, three, four, five, plus five.”
OG’s been a revelation.
Not that fantasy basketball rankings mean anything…but we have 5 of the top 100 according to Basketball Monster. KAT (5), Hart (18), OG (26), Cap (45), Bridges (99)
Also, if we’re keeping score: RJ (137), IQ (209), Randle (97), Donte (193), Hartenstein (64).
9 cat (Pts, 3s, Reb, Ast, Stl, Blk, fg%, ft%, and To’s) — roughly based on value above replacement.
Owen, what has Cade done to you? 😉
It wasn’t his breakout game, he’s averaging 23.9/7.3/9.4 (39.3% from 3) for the season, there’s a fair chance he’ll be in the ASG this year as a coaches choice 🙂
I have been bearish on Cade since college and have objected to the way the mantle of future greatness was placed on him before he had proved anything, as so commonly happens.
He appears to be trending towards proving me wrong. TS+ still at 96 but it may not be long. Shooting 39% from three is something Pistons fans should be excited about.
Fell asleep at the half, i guess it was for the best. 😛
But this time not even the game thread was a nice read… a bad day all around, let’s forget about it and on to the next.
I’m moving further away from injury risk being the prime detriment of the minutes and gravitating towards its impact on the defense. These dreadful 1Q performances where we give up tons of uncontested threes are becoming a pattern and could easily be ascribed to the impact of tired legs not being able to close out in time (or sometimes at all).
Same with the poor defense at the end of games, where we often look exhausted and just can’t seem to get stops at all. If you look at this backbreaking-and-fairly-wide-open Beasley 3 with two minutes to go, that looks like a very tired OG to me. He seems to be running with ankle weights on:
https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=598&GameID=0022400343&Season=2024-25&flag=1&title=Beasley%2025%27%203PT%20Jump%20Shot%20(22%20PTS)%20(Cunningham%2015%20AST)
Missed the game, first time this year, so I take the blame.
Not quite sure how to explain the other eight losses…
Sounds like a very sucky game. This “We stink coming out of the gate” thing needs to stop. Can’t blame Sims (although it sounds like he was not the solution), since it happened a lot with KAT earlier. As a now regular thing, I guess the finger has to point to Thibs for not getting the team prepared at the beginning, although I feel like Cap needs to scream at people or something. Anything.
First quarter deficits really don’t mean much. I mean, it’s not ideal to start a game sleepwalking, but as we see over and over in todays NBA, teams overcome big early leads pretty routinely
The frustrating thing last night was we had the Pistons lead down to 2 at the beginning of the 4th quarter couldn’t get a single key stop and the offense went to shit as well. Game over.
This team is winning games almost entirely by being an elite offense. KAT is the biggest reason why the offense is elite, and Cam is a smaller yet important reason. So going down 16 points in the first quarter was largely because we only scored 20 points in the first 11 minutes of the quarter. Not a single Knick other than Brunson made a shot from the field for the first 6:28 of the game, and non-Brunson Knicks made only 4 shots thereafter in the 1st Q.
At the end of the day, when KAT is not in there, we’re not a very hard team to stop if the 3’s aren’t falling. And with or without him, we are a middling defensive team.
So to me, it’s really about our offense being reduced to winning or losing the 3pt variance battle. Obviously it doesn’t help when guys like Beasley get one wide-open look after another, but Cade was hitting some non-wide-open looks as well. Then Ivey knocked down 2 daggers. Meanwhile we missed a bunch of good looks.
Also, we need to keep in mind just how bad our backup C options are right now. The best by far is Precious, and he’s undersized, limited, and still not right yet. Sims and Huk are replacement level at best. You are hard pressed to win if those guys are your only options.
That said, if I were Thibs I would just commit to Huk over Sims from here on out. Huk is greener than an Irish spring, but there’s clearly some potential there. Sims’ ceiling is replacement-level. He can defend pretty well here and there but there is just nothing there on offense. Nothing.
I also think that DET (and Bickerstaff) deserves credit for their defensive effort. They switched everything and dared us to score in the paint. Brunson was good, but was also stripped a bunch of times when we needed offensive momentum. OG and Mikal just don’t have enough juice in the paint unless they have space and neither guy is much of a PnR threat, and Hart is easy to play off of if he’s not hot from 3. And Sims is nothing but a lob threat, but even there he is useless in the PnR and if he’s setting screens he isn’t in the dunker’s spot where he belongs. The only thing Sims can do with the ball is hand off. He can’t dribble or pass a lick. At least Precious and Huk can give you some of that.
So I just wandered through all our games so far. In only four games did the first quarter not define a win or a loss — the Heat, where we were down 6 and won; the Bulls, where we were down 7 and won; the Jazz, where we were tied and lost; and the Hornets, where we were down 2 and won (by a point).
In every other game, if we lost the first quarter, we lost the game. If we won the first quarter, we won the game.
Maybe that’s random noise.
Our 2PT% allowed is actually improving a little bit, as we are now 17th or roughly middle of the pack in that metric. It’s the 3PT% surrendered that is tanking our defensive eFG%. We’re 22nd in 3PT% allowed, and we allow a lot of attempts too. Combine that with the low number of turnovers we generate (a staple of Tom Thibodeau defenses) and it’s just a passive, low-impact style of defense.
Personnel is obviously a huge part of the problem but scheme seems less than ideal too.
KAT is critical to the offense in part because he’s so efficient but in part because he provides the spacing that enables OG, Bridges, Hart and Brunson to be more efficient.
Still, the problem is defense. Even with KAT out, there’s enough offensive firepower to beat a team like the Pistons most nights, but not if we play no defense and are getting killed on the boards.
This team can beat anyone on any given night, but I think to really threaten Boston we need a 3&D PF that can help protect the rim, rebound and spread the floor. I love Hart. He’s having a great season, but I think we need a legit PF and to move OG to SF and Mikal to SG. If we can do that and not give up any of those 5 or Deuce we’d be set. The only other possibility is Mitch at C and Towns at PF, but I think that’s going hinder the offense and Mitch is not dependable injury wise
But in postgame conferences after such, Thibs never says “we executed our defensive game plan and they just made shots.” He always talks about the need to get out on shooters, etc.
I also don’t see the logic in criticizing the “generate low turnovers” approach in this context, as it would imply that players are more concerned with staying in front of their man, keeping their hands up, and defending shots rather than gambling in the passing lanes and reaching.
It seems pretty aggressive to attack Thibs’ defensive coaching when that is something we can probably take for granted. The coach’s job is to provide a game plan and schemes that will be effective if executed correctly. But if you have suboptimal defensive personnel at two or three positions, no coach is going to make that work every night.
I would be very confident in asserting that if iHart and a healthy Mitch were playing 48 minutes, we’d have a top-10 defense. Brunson is a negative. KAT is slow-footed, lousy at rim protection, PnR coverage, and defending the line in space in a team concept. Precious is undersized. Sims is a slow processor, kills the offense, and is turnover-prone, leading to better opportunities for opponents. None of these guys give our wings cover when they are scrambling on the perimeter.
Again, the good news is that KAT is so good on offense that his D is largely tolerable except on those nights 3pt variance is a huge negative factor, and having a healthy and reacclimated Precious eat up some of Sims’ and Huk’s minutes will help quite a bit. The bad news is that Mikal is still not accomplishing what he was brought in to accomplish on the defensive end, which is shutting down the point of attack. If you want to argue that Thibs should move Hart into that role, that makes some sense, but it also moves him away from the defensive boards. OG is another choice, but that means even less interior protection. Or you cna just switch everything, which will magnify Brunson’s or KAT’s weaknesses.
In other words, for me, it’s more pick your poison than bad coaching.
Bottom line: there are no easy answers.
Strat, I largely agree (although lack of D had nothing to do with missing a zillion FTs or clanking wide-open looks from 3.)
I just don’t know how you get a 3-and-D PF who protects the rim without weakening the team in some regard. It really comes down to trading one or all of Mitch, Precious, and Deuce plus that shitty protected pick, our rookies, Sims, and second rounders as throw-ins. I just don’t see anything all that impactful happening.
However, assuming KAT is back in the lineup, I think Thibs is going to try some schemes with more switching and with Precious protecting the rim from the weak side, and then rotation Mitch in when he gets back.
Thibs just hasn’t gotten great results here on defense. The first year he was here was the famous ISM year, and that team had a good defensive rating that a lot of people argued (inconclusively in my opinion) was luck-based. Since then we’ve finished 11th, 19th, 10th, and so far this year 18th.
I just don’t see the results that would lead me to conclude that he’s an elite defensive coach. The “stay with your man” approach might be more convincing to me if the results were there, but the results have been decent to mediocre.
Yeah, both are impacted by the minutes explosion.
To your point, one thing we have not seen (and I think it’s a good sign) is variance within games, i.e. no one comes back on us. When we have it, we kill you.
The 2021-22 team used to build these 20 point leads and then just die in the 3Q. That was a sign of real rot. This feels like something that can be fixed with reasonable personnel changes (like acquiring size and depth).
As time goes on I think “we need to trade Mikal Bridges” is going to keep becoming more obvious.
As long as he’s maintained 75-80% of his value (and I think he has) you could easily get a Dejounte Murray-type package for him.
A harder-to-swallow alternative would be selling high on Josh Hart after the season, like Boston did when they traded Smart for Porzingis.
Last night is the type of game I expected Mikal to step up on offense. I wasn’t as surprised by his underwhelming defense given the trajectory of his AIOs, but I thought the offense would be there. I expect the shot to come around fully, but the longer it takes the more concerned I get.
A very specific job description and a difficult one to fill, every team would like to have and/or keep those guys.
Any “reasonable” name? Who you’re gonna target?
Maybe we should just try to get Randle and DDV back for 2025-26, seems like Minny doesn’t want them…
I’d keep an open dialogue with Golden State. They are very much in the win-immediately business, and Mikal Bridges fits the Steph & Draymond timeline more than Kuminga & Moody do. I think the whole reason they didn’t pay Kuminga was so it would be easier to trade him this season.
So someone is going to offer us a palatable trade package for Bridges because they think he will adapt to their environment.
If you don’t think anyone would give us a good package for Mikal Bridges, that means you gave up on him after 20 games, not me.
I am not buying that the league suddenly values Mikal Bridges a lot less than Dejounte Murray.
There is no way to spin the PR loss if you trade Mikal for significantly less than you paid for him, especially after half a season. ATL waited 2 full years before pulling the plug on Dejounte.
Anyway, it isn’t going to happen. Everyone should buckle in and enjoy the KAT-Brunson-Mikal-OG-Hart core for this year. Once the playoffs are over, there will be time to re-assess. It is doubtful that Mikal’s value will be any lower then than it is right now.
The discussion about Bridges reminds me of past discussions about Randle. People complain about his play and his defense and wish he’d be traded. But the coach plays him a ton of minutes. Really the complaints about Bridges are about the price we paid for him.
You said the same thing about breaking up the four Nova Knicks and they didn’t even make it to training camp. Many others said the same thing about acquiring Bridges in the first place. We should probably stop saying things aren’t gonna happen.
I’m not saying we have to do it now. I’m saying it’s obvious now we have to do it. There’s no other way we’re going to get championship caliber bigs in here without trading one of our top 6 guys, and Bridges is the most expendable.
But there’s no rush. Leon should take as much time as he needs to find the right package.
I can’t imagine the PR being bad if he goes and gets the equivalent of Daniels, Nance, and two high quality firsts for Bridges. On the contrary, he’d likely be feted by everyone for fixing the team.
I think the Knicks did Randle dirty, but at the same time, boy, do I not miss Randle at all.
Seems like you’re not following the discussion very well because I haven’t “complained about Mikal Bridges” once. Maybe not even once all year.
Mikal is an excellent player who, because he’s largely superfluous here, has been reduced to a “go stand in the corner and play defense” guy. But I don’t think that means the league doesn’t value him.
I think 29 NBA teams would still give up a lot for Mikal Bridges. And we should take advantage of that bc it’s really not hard to find another “stand in the corner and play defense guy.”
We complained about Randle because we weren’t sure he could fit a championship team despite being a good offensive player.
Mikal hasn’t convinced me he’s actually good. He can’t shoot. He can’t get to the line. He has a 96 TS+. He can’t get around screens. We’ve twice benched him down the stretch for Cam Payne.
Ok well that was a complaint! And I disagree.
Haven’t we seen this before? Isn’t there always someone in Tom Thinodeau’s offense who suffers?
First it was Obi Toppin. Turned out he was actually fine.
Last year it was Josh Hart in the first half of the year complaining about standing in the corner. “Luckily” everyone got injured and he moved out of the corner and eventually found his groove.
It’s also been Quentin Grimes, who also doesn’t seem to have a problem being his best self somewhere else.
The defense is a different story but Mikal Bridges does not suddenly suck at basketball. We just don’t have room for him to flourish in this offense where Brunson and Towns can and should have the ball instead of him while OG and Hart are better than him off the ball. He is not bad, he is superfluous.
I don’t know if there is a GM in the league who would debase/humiliate himself by trading five unprotected firsts for a player then turn around two months into the season and trade that same player for way less than five firsts. I get what you’re saying about fit, Hubert, and I don’t disagree, but Leon Rose is not just gonna admit he done fucked up.
I’d personally rather try another coach, because it doesn’t seem like the one we have is a great fit for our personnel. But again— Leon would have to admit he done fucked up. So we’re probably stuck with “maybe Mitch will save us” until some more time elapses.
“You said the same thing about breaking up the four Nova Knicks and they didn’t even make it to training camp.”
I was wrong about that for sure, but parting with a $12M player who cost you nothing prior to the season is a lot different than parting with a guy you just traded everything but the kitchen sink for. But in any such case, if the proverbial “offer he can’t refuse” comes along, then that is a legitimate caveat. For example, if Dallas offers Doncic for Mikal and Hart, then yeah, Leon should do it. KAT was not quite so extreme, but many would say that it was the equivalent of a godfather offer that could not be refused.
It’s the same thing with Brunson. On the surface, he’s untouchable. But if OKC offered Shai and Chet for Brunson, even that shouldn’t be off the table.
So in that sense, I am 100% positive that unless a legit godfather offer comes along, Mikal isn’t going anywhere this year. I don’t think Kuminga qualifies for that.
Now because Mikal is extension eligible, it gets complicated after this season. If he asks for too much or if he just doesn’t get much better than he has been thus far, all bets are off. But I think you know as well as I do that the odds of something happening before the offseason involving Mikal are very low.
Hubert if you think Bridges is a good player who is underutilized, that’s fair. I’m really not sure that means we should replace him with a worse player though.
EB, I think he’s a decent player too. We could do a lot e we irse at his position.
Why do you think Leon Rose would be humiliated if he turned Mikal Bridges into something like Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance, and two first round picks (picks that could then be flipped along with Mitch and/or Precious to get a third high quality piece)? That would be fucking brilliant.
Earlier today Max and gkhenman were debating how long our window is but does anyone really think a team that plays defense this poorly has a window at all?
Patience is one thing but there’s also the definition of insanity.
There’s legitimate championship potential here. The roster just needs a little tweak and it’s there.
🤦🏻♂️
I mean… he’s fine. In the scope of NBA players he’s probably average-ish. Plus, I do think his offense will be good once his shooting comes around. But this isn’t the same as complaining about Randle.
“It’s also been Quentin Grimes”
…who was 0-2 in 17+ minutes yesterday…
I’m a little skeptical that Mikal would fetch two first rounders, a promising young player, and another useful rotation piece. He has, after all, stunk.
“First it was Obi Toppin.”
Who is averaging 20 minutes on a Pacers team desperate for help.
Mikal Bridges:
DPM 0.01
EPM 0.7
OBPM -0.3
Grimes:
DPM -0.02
EPM 0.6
OBPM -0.1
How many picks are we trading for Quentin Grimes? Maybe 1 protected?
And by the way, I get arguing about Mikal, as I do it in my head all the time, and I missed the game last night, but his line looks perfectly cromulent for a 3a/3b: 8-17 for 20 points, only 1 turnover, 2 steals and a block.
He missed some threes, but 3-9 is 33%, not good but not terrible, and a bit better than OG (25% on 2-8) or Deuce (1-5, 20%).
What was he doing that makes this the lead topic?
Just like Brunson’s line, Mikal’s line is deceptive. Both players were critical in stopping the Knicks’ momentum at various points in the game…Brunson with turnovers and Mikal with missed wide-open 3’s. The game had a trap game feel from the get-go. Detroit is a hungry team and just took it to us. Meanwhile, we were clanging 3’s and FTs while they didn’t miss many good looks, especially Cade abnd Beasley. They also killed us on the boards and had some critical putbacks and second shots to stifle our several comeback attempts.
Still 14-9 and 7-3 in the last 10 games. I know the D looks bad right now but there’s a long way to go.
I’m a little more confident NBA GMs would look past the first 22 games of the season and see Bridges’ whole career for what it is. He was one of the most sought after players on the market this year. The Rockets offered Jalen Green and the Nets’ own picks back for him. That kind of interest doesn’t just disappear after a bad start.
It has nothing to do with his performance.
The defense was the lead topic.
Strat suggested we need a championship caliber two way big who can hit threes and protect the rim and I agree but think Mikal is the key to getting that guy.
The Pacers are 10-15 and just lost at home to the Hornets. Is their fanbase looking to move on from Hali?
Jokic with 104 points in the last 2 games.
Very quietly Tyler Herro is having a very good season.
And the Pacers are doing their best to show that they were very lucky to run into injury-depleted teams in the 2024 playoffs…
The Pacers are 10-15 and just lost at home to the Hornets. Is their fanbase looking to move on from Hali?
maybe more relevant is what they want to do with turner now that they’re flailing. he’s a free agent and can’t be extended, so they have some risk of losing him for nothing. he hasn’t looked like his peak defensive self for over a year now. but he’s still a relatively rare breed who can both space and add some rim protection for a team desperate to beef up a lite 5 out without sacrificing the out. he makes mitch plus precious and it’s not totally obvious how strong the market would be for his expiring deal. history says they’ll just keep him and try to resign him but last year there were rumors they were trying to trade him for wiggins.
The idea of a Twin Towers-based lite 5-out lineup has a certain je ne sais quoi…
The Pacers seem fucked. I felt pretty strongly last night that the Pistons are better. And with teams like Brooklyn about to opt out of winning I think Detroit might be a playoff team. Nice consolation for Minnesota if that pick unexpectedly conveys.
I think Turner would be too expensive asset-wise to acquire. Maybe our far future unprotected pick swaps are worth enough.
If we did pull off Mitch + Precious + picks for Turner, we could sign a 14th man and slide just under the 2nd apron at the trade deadline with something like $50K to spare.
Well, the Mets did it
LGM
A New York Yankees that cannot re-sign Juan Soto is not the New York Yankees.
Called that 6 months ago, too. Another one I was told would never happen.
METS GET SOTO!
OH FRABJUOUS DAY!
CALLOOH CALLAY!
Must be nice to play in a sport without a salary cap. That’s a crazy contract
Lol, Yanks are a joke. Congrats to all you Mets fans.
15- 765 Mets offer
16- 760 Yankees offer
If the Yankees were going to offer that why not just take off a year
16 years -750 million is a joke offer?
The Yankees traded a lot to get Soto, too.
Its a new day. They can’t rely on the “Yankee mystique” or the idea that they will naturally outbid every team on the market.
Probably bc they didn’t actually want to win once the bidding got over $750MM.
That day came a long time ago.
Now even more so than ever. They’ve never been scooped for one of their stars.
75 million signing bonus
No deferred payments.
So that ‘s the Cohen way now
Just outbid everyone
Yeah. Isn’t it awesome?
This signing made so much sense for the Mets. They had all that money coming off the books and desperately needed a marquee bat. They STILL have money to spend after this move. Still, I didn’t really believe it was going to happen at any time during this whole process. I just always assumed he would be going back to the Yankees.
I wonder if the Cohen-Stearns-Mendoza axis was the thing that made the difference. Especially the first two. Stearns with Cohen’s money should work out well. The Mets have never made the playoffs more than two seasons in a row in their history. That should change now. This should be a perennial playoff team given the financial muscle and the front office competence.
when you have one player earning more than 90% of the teams in your sport you have any issue.
The Mets offered him the most money, that’s all that mattered. He didn’t sign with the Mets because he likes them.
JK47, I think it came down to the fact that the Mets just paid more money and Soto, as a Boras client, was never going to give anyone a discount. We basically have him for 5 years during his prime and then there is an opt out when he’ll be pulling 45 million per. But like you said, I think Stearns outdid himself here with Uncle Stevie’s bottomless checkbook.
Yes, salty tears.
They were scooped for Cano, too.
But this is a whole new level of humiliation. And frankly it’s overdue. The backlash from this is going to be fun to watch.
not really. Better hope he brings the Mets some rings though .
Cano became a bum after leaving the Yankees.
I will leave this here:
Oh, that’s right. Forgot about him. I wonder if the Yankees made resigning him a priority that offseason since he was turning the otherside of 30.
From fans? Sure, but fans will continue to fill up Yankee stadium, so online talk won’t do much
The media knew Hal would be outbid
That’s the only problem I can see! Lots of salt and hate from the poor teams.
Our chances sure picked up, wouldn’t you say?!
Not quite.
https://x.com/martinonyc/status/1865970804271255674
Nex year, Vlad Jr. will be on the agenda.
another terrible defender sounds about right..
I personally am a big fan of it, and I’m happy one New York has the balls to compete with the Dodgers.
In the end he got outbid..
FUCK YEAH!
Yes, but you said the media knew Hal was going to get outbid.
Andy Martino, a regular Yankees beat reporter, maintained the Yanks were the favorites until the very end.
So your point is somewhat incorrect, is all I am saying.
Andy Martino was a Mets reporter who recently started covering both teams..
This quibble still doesn’t invalidate my rebuttal. We can also add Heyman to the mix as well. Point, again, is that the media did not believe Hal would be outbid.
You ever look at the other 7 guys in the Yankees lineup? Cashman’s plan was always to have Judge and Soto cover up his incompetence. I’m sure Boras educated his client on how many corners the Yankees would cut if they signed him.
At the end of the day the Yankees asked him to take less money and play for a worse team. Cashman is a fucking fool for thinking that had a chance.
David Stearns just spent more money on Juan Soto ($765MM) than he spent on the entire Brewers payrolls combined over his 7 seasons in Milwaukee (~$610MM)
Bob nightengale has a different view , Cohen would not be outbid and execs knew it.
Mets tactical signings of EXCLUSIVELY Dominicans clearly worked. Soto simply needed to play with his fellow countryman: Clay Holmes.
Hence the reason I said, “not quite.”
Well, when you put it that way…
The crazy thing is they thought that was going to work!!! They actually believed bc they are the Yankees that it would just be fine. What those dumb fuckers don’t get is you have to act like the Yankees to be the Yankees. If you bring a loser like Aaron Boone back year after year, you’re not the Yankees. If you bring back Anthony Rizzo instead of signing Freddie Freeman, you’re not the Yankees. If Manny Machado and Bryce Harper are available and you say “nah, we’re good”, you’re not the fucking Yankees. And if you purposefully submit a lower bid than the Mets for your best player, you are definitely not the New York Yankees.
Nothing really surprising here. There was never any indication that Soto/Boras had any special allegiance to the Yanks. They were going for the most money and Cohen is the richest owner by far in baseball. He has 4X more wealth than Steinbrenner. He was not going to get outbid unless it was something absolutely insane. Even though there are no deferments, you can squint and see Ohtani money in the neighborhood.
It’s really the Dodgers that broke the market. They had 3 recent MVPs in the top of their lineup and were looking for more. If Cohen wants to compete, he has to keep up.
And Stearns seems like just the right guy to pick up value regardless of price paid. Mendoza seems like a player-friendly manager. Citi Field is awesome.
Good times for Mets fans!
Hubert, you are spitting straight fire tonight.
The Mets had so much money coming off the books. They were in the perfect position for this. They ate $45M of Verlander/Scherzer money this year and still made a deep playoff run. Soto just fills that salary slot.
They were in such a rare position of having all that money freed up right when a generational player became available.
Maybe I am drinking the Kool Aid right now, but I think the plan was always to sync that $45M of Verlander/Scherzer money for when Soto would enter free agency. The Mets have been in on him even back in his last season with the Washington when it was clear Nationals management was looking to trade him because of his contract demands.
Alas, the Mets still have work to do. Starting pitching is not great. 2B could use an upgrade. What will it cost to keep Pete, or is it even worth it? CF is not perfect.
This. Everyone will blame Cohen, but he’s just responding to the filthy spending that the Dodgers have engaged in the past 2-3 years.
I’m fine seeing if Acuna can be as good as he showed at the end of the season. But I would like for him to earn that 2B spot. I wonder if getting an upgrade at 3rd like Bregman and moving Vientos to DH or 1B would work?
2B and CF both have stopgap veterans holding down the fort with some interesting prospects in the high minors waiting in the wings to possibly take those jobs. In CF the Mets have Siri and Taylor who are both light hitting plus defenders, and the two top position player prospects in Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert in the high minors both hopefully returning from injury plagued seasons. Both of those guys are strong prospects and Gilbert in particular is close to MLB. Prospects don’t always pan out, but those two both are intriguing options in center.
At 2B you have McNeil returning, and he played very well in the second half last year. In the high minors you have Acuna, Jett Williams again, and the returning Ronny Mauricio. Brett Baty I’m assuming will be traded, as some other clubs have shown interest in him.
He makes $10,000,000 less per year than Jaylen Brown, seems matchable to me. George rolls over in his grave once again.