02/15/2025 11:00:00
02/15/2025 00:05:07
02/14/2025 23:36:49
02/14/2025 23:38:39
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Knicks Morning News (2025.02.15)
02/15/2025 11:00:00
02/15/2025 00:05:07
02/14/2025 23:36:49
02/14/2025 23:38:39
02/15/2025 11:00:00
02/15/2025 00:05:07
02/14/2025 23:36:49
02/14/2025 23:38:39
67 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.02.15)”
The Athletic actually likes the Yankees off season and think they have a better team than last year (not as good as the Dodgers though)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6135930/2025/02/14/mlb-power-rankings-spring-training-dodgers-yankees/
As Virgil once wrote about baseball in the Roman Empire, “Pitching Omina Vincit!”
Just as was true 2000 years ago pitching still wins in baseball, and the Yankees have assembled quite the pitching staff with depth. They will score enough runs as long as Judge doesn’t have a serious injury.
People forget while the offense of the 1995-2001 Yankees was formidable, their pitching 1-10 was their secret sauce. Rivera, Stanton, Nelson, Mendoza, Key, Wells, El Duque, Cone, Clemmens, Andy, etc they threw a quality arm at the opposition every inning of every game for 6 years.
D see i if the Yankees have pitching and the Mets have hitting, who is the better team?
Quality was their secret sauce. It wasn’t just pitching.
Girardi, Leyritz, Posada, Fielder, Martinez, Duncan, Knoblauch, Jeter, Boggs, Hayes, Brosius, O’Neill, Williams, Curtis, Ledee, Spencer, Davis, Raines, Straweberry, Justice. They had a quality hitter at the plate for nearly every AB of those 6 years, too.
It’s an approach we have abandoned in favor of starfucking bc it takes a lot of competence to get 20 quality bats and arms. You have to be right 20 times. And Cashman has (mostly for personal reasons) long since rid the organization of the scouting infrastructure that made those decisions in the 90s.
These days guys who hit like Luis Sojo bat 7th and get 500 ABs and we treat the luxury tax as a salary cap. The pitching may look good but the lineup is pathetic.
Gonna pull a Doogius Brownus and say I think you meant omnia and not omina. Autocorrect needs to up their latin game.
The 2002-5 teams with Sheffield, A-rod and Matsui had much better hitting top to bottom than the 95-01 teams. Where they ran into trouble was when the ran Kevin Brown, Estaban Loiasa, Javier Vasquez, Tanyon Sturtz, Jon Leiber, Tom Gordon ,Paul Quantrill, etc out there in big spots.
But you are correct the getting away from the Chilli Davis/Tim Raines bat on the ball types in favor of Giancarlo Stanton all or nothing types has been a huge factor.
over time now in favor of giancarlo’s contract…took a while…
it’s tough, there are easy ones like jacoby ellsbury, but then – who would have guessed dj lemahieu would fall off the map…
In his 7 seasons with NY he has averaged 62 RBI per year and cannot play in the field or his legs explode. That hardly justifies 30M/yr. he drove in 72 this year for his 32 million. Poor asset allocation at that price in a punitive salary tax structure.
he shows up in the post season (relative to his teammates especially)…
more importantly though, going forward, his salary becomes a bargain…
jeez, i hope he doesn’t end up on the mets too…
it sure seems like a really long time ago since we’ve had a young and capable first baseman…how can that be so hard…
oops, haven’t checked the recent roster, do we have one now…
Ben Rice is 26. Can’t hit but he did go to Dartmouth…
That is precisely when the influence of Gene Michael and such disappeared and the starfucking began. Giambi was the first departure from the formula.
You said “top to bottom” but actually those 02-05 teams were just top heavy. This is when the quality top-to-bottom approach went away. The bottom 4-5 spots included a washed Bernie, which was understandable. He deserved to hang on. But remember the other washed dudes who filled out 6-9 in ‘04? John Olerud, Tony Clark, Kenny Lofton, hell we even had a 39 y/o Ruben Sierra batting 7th in the 2004 ALCS! And of course the great Miguel Cairo went from utility man to everyday player.
That has been Cashman’s way since he ran all smart the baseball people out of the organization. Get massive WAR guys at the top and fill in with junk. It doe
I could brainwash my son into being a Yankees fan regardless of what color the Mets uniforms are. But honestly I don’t want to. As long as that cuck is in the front office it’s going to be the same shit that it’s been for 20 years. I mean talk about stagnation. Let him root for a team that gives a fuck.
Okay, so I was as Yankee as it got from my teens to my 30’s but sidetracked into too busy and could only really emotionally make space for the Knicks. I loved old Yankee stadium. Arod helped push me away from the team. I think I want to care about caring about baseball again.
I theoretically like the Yankees and root for them but I also theoretically like the Mets. The Mets ‘86 series was actually one of my formative sports moments. Can I be both? I remember the idea of hating the Mets because I was a Yankee but I don’t quite get that.
Which team will reward my love more going forward? Who’s the wiser investment?
Clarence, I used to be as die hard a Yankees fan as big blue Al and I’m currently pushing my son towards the Mets so I have an excuse to watch an interesting team.
The Mets have had such a long history of ineptitude that it’s a completely alien experience watching them make a series of moves that are coherent and competent. Remember, the Mets have still never made the playoffs more than two years in a row, and they have only achieved that feat TWICE in 63 seasons.
I’d have liked to see the Mets invest in one more innings-eating, top of rotation pitcher, but I can understand the logic of them not wanting to give out long-term contracts to veteran pitchers. They’re not usually a very good investment. If the pitching turns out to be too thin or if they have injuries, they will have prospects to deal, as they did not send out a single prospect to fill a hole this offseason.
Like I said, it’s a strange experience. Even with this strong offseason, the Mets aren’t a lock to make the playoffs. They’re in a tough division. But I feel pretty confident that they’re not going to do things that are painfully dumb, are not going to let problems go unfixed, and will make thoughtful decisions that are informed by data and common sense. They’ll break out the check book when a difference making player is available. They’ll balance short term and long term goals.
If that sounds like your cup of tea, come on over! Must be willing to hate the Atlanta Braves.
Call me crazy, but I think a trade for Cease can still be on the table for the Mets down the road.
Other than Turner being almost single handedly responsible for saving the American Buffalo I hate everything about the Braves.
I’m hoping that before I take the deep six that I can see my son experience a championship season from one of the Knicks (strongly preferred) Mets (looking good) or Jets (lol).
The 2002-05 Yankees won 103, 101, 101 and 95 games…
I was at a Yankee game back when with great seats close to home plate on the 1st base line when Strawberry hit three home runs. Every time his bat touched the ball it split the heavens… I kinda want that again…
This year’s Yankees look pretty good on paper to me. They should get lots of quality innings from SP, won’t need to rely much on high-variance relievers, and they now have the lights out closer. They don’t seem likely to finish second in wRC+ again but they should score plenty of runs. Breakout seasons with the bat from Volpe and/or Dominguez are both possible and would help a lot.
Cairo hit .290 in 04 and Olerud hit .280 so the bottom of the line up was fine. In the classic 04 series they didn’t lose because of the offense (they scored 45 runs in 7 games)…. they lost because Jon Leiber got out pitched by the Bloody Sock and Kevin Brown melted and Javier Vasquez flat out sucked vs Derek Lowe.
Pitching wins in baseball. Balance is nice and important.
Is their lineup on a stone tablet or something?
From what I’ve seen it’s possible to be a Yankees fan and like the Mets but not vice-versa
Yep… and they’ve won 90 plus games 6 of the last 7 non COVID seasons, but the haven’t won it all or come close because their pitching was substandard.
You can beat KC or Anaheim in August 8-5. but when you get into the playoffs, you are (usually)facing teams with front end pitching with depth through the bullpen.
In the WS last year they blew game one blowing one run leads in both the 6th and the 10th.
In game 2 Yamamoto spun a one hitter through 6 and a third and Rodon blew up giving up 3 dingers through 4.
In game 3 Clark Schmidt melted and LA pitching shut out the Yankee sluggers through 8.
In game 5 the defense squandered a 5 run lead, but Kahnle blew what was left of a tie game in the 8th.
I like them better this year because their pitching is deeper and of higher quality they have an actual top closer and the experience Schmidt and Gil got will be invaluable.
Pitching wins, and it’s not like the Yanks don’t have some hitters. But it’s pretty obvious they needed one more good, reliable bat (3B/2B) and didn’t get one. I’d be shocked if DJ can still play or Peraza is a major leaguer, but they’ll make the playoffs regardless. Which is probably all that Cashman and Hal care about.
They needed 5.
And a new manager.
Cashman is the manager…Boone is the avatar
Judge-Stanton-Bellinger as the middle of the lineup is not exactly all that imposing, but Chisolm and Wells are both competent hitters for their positions and Volpe and Dominguez both have upside. That’s seven of the nine positions.
I believe Volpe can hit better than he has, and that Dominguez is a genuine prospect. If Volpe fails to hit again at least you get the value from his glove. 1B and 3B admittedly look pretty weak.
It’s not an elite offense, but it should still be above average.
The data says that Goldschmidt isn’t done yet. I do expect a mild bounce-back year. Most likely we’ll see 1 great hitter, 4 good hitters, 4 decent hitters, and 1 wild card. A more solid lineup should produce better than 2 great hitters and trash. Even if not, it’s less exploitable.
Note that the Yanks had the second-best offense last year; I don’t think they slip all that far unless Judge gets hurt.
What the fuck I just scrolled through 30 posts and 0 were even about basketball. I’d rather read Doogie and E debating about hw to properly spell RJ Barrett than this shit…
I’m a Mets fan now, Pags. I’ve transitioned.
lol Pags, I was gonna post something about the Mikal and KAT trades, essentially that it’s better for my mental health to think of them as one big transaction where the overpay/underpay kinda balance out, and Minny would have insisted that Leon fork over whatever unprotected picks we had left anyway. But then I thought it would get lost in the Yankees roster discussion so decided to save it for another day.
Just going with the flow here. Perfectly happy to rehash how the Knicks are on the mezzanine for the 50th time instead….
Also Mitch. We’re going to get some incarnation of Mitch and a healthier rested OG back shortly. Unless the team has been putting AI videos out on Bluesky.
I’ll just note that I hadn’t realized Buck Williams is up for the Hall of Fame. He probably won’t get in, but he was a real baller. A man among boys.
And one of the very few who could make a moustache look good.
Hey Pags I got u. 😉
Yesterday I filled in as public address announcer for our 🏀 teams’ doubleheader bc all 4 of our regular PA rotation guys were unavailable. Only maybe the second time ever I’ve ever attempted to PA basketball.
My wife wanted to see me on the 🎤 so I recorded myself. I made a IG reel out of some of em: my handle is mrcdiggy77 if anyone’s interested.
And yes, I absolutely finessed that “three-point goal” call from Mike Walczewski. Ain’t nobody here finna snitch, right? 🤣 🤣🤣
Excuse me but we’re not on the mezzanine, we’ve stagnated.
That’s cool, cdigg!
Yo, your kid is so cute. Werk.
Buck Williams was an outstanding player…tough, athletic, durable, especially great offensive rebounder…the Iron Man of his day before AC Green came along. Not a gifted scorer but piled up points on effort and guile.
That mustache still lives in my head.
Former Knicks legend Buck Williams had 12 pts and 14 rebs in the decisive Game 5 win vs Miami in 1998.
Cute little guy you got there, CDiggy! But I didn’t check out more clips after I saw the Chuck E Cheese – PTSD!
One good thing that seems to be coming to pass is that squares are starting to understand how out of fashion skinny jeans are.
Sorry Jalen but good effort!
What’s going on with Chris Paul? Watching hockey.
CP3 and Wemby try to win the skills competition by just throwing the balls on the rack towards the basket instead of actually shooting them to save time. They were disqualified. Not sure how kosher the disqualification was relative to the strict interpretation of the rules, but it was definitely a BS thing to do and made a mockery of the “skills” element of the contest.
USA….USA……
Intense hockey game going on…
I have learned this the hard way, Clarence. It has taken me 5 weeks to replace my skinnies. And v necks are out apparently, too. I don’t want to wear dad jeans and dork shirts. It’s actually making me miss my raggedy clothes that everybody said needed to be burned.
Mac McClung is no Woody Harrelson…
None of these dunkers can actually dunk except Mac the G-Leaguer.
Spudd webb reincarnate
Mac McClung would be a gold medalist in any diving event he attempted. That midair torque is astounding.
Donnie, I’m glad you made it out. I literally can’t have a serious conversation with someone wearing skinnies.
Just remember, fashion always recycles. It’s a bitch.
The castle dunk was pretty
I have very little interest in serious conversation. Bring back the skinny jeans!
I hope Mac retires after this.
I only tlak serious.
I’m just glad I waited it out long enough that my dad jeans are now acceptable.
Fashion phases of my life:
Birth-1990 Whatever
1990-1996 Hippie/grunge hybrid
1996-2001 Thrift store chic
2002-2005 Retro b-boy
2006-2009 Preppie
2010-2014 Chillwave
2015-present Full circle to “whatever”
That’s a pretty good table of contents.
I still have all my Iron Maiden tees.
There was some “mod” mixed in there around the preppy phase
1975-1995: my mom dressed me
1995-2024: my wife dressed me
2025-Present: FEMA dressed me
Oh Well, wherever, wherever you are,
Iron Maiden’s gonna get you, no matter how far.
See the blood flow watching it shed up above my head.
Iron Maiden wants you for dead.
I’m still not sure if I’m an ankle sock guy or a tube sock guy. It’s all so complicated.
Round and round on that one, Clarence. I actually stole all of Little Raven’s ankle socks a year or two ago, which makes me a little bitch (also the guy who does the laundry, so opportunity knocked). He switched me up and only wears tube socks now. Considering he’s been to both the London and Paris Stussy stores, it’s not really a fair fight.
can not remember the last time i wore pants, these days it’s sweats and pajama bottoms…life is good…
very much though appreciated cp3 showing up in a denim suit at the all-star stuff…
checks in to KB to see if there are any additional late night ravings…
nope 😞