The Rangers controlled play, but the few minutes they took off and the few lapses they had all seemed to lead to Devils goals.
The Rangers followed up their impressive shutout win over the Islanders with a loss to the Devils to finish their season-opening, three-game homestand. The Rangers outplayed the Devils and controlled the game for much of the night, but the few minutes they took off and the few lapses they had all seemed to lead to Devils goals. Now the Rangers find themselves needing to bounce back quickly with a two-game series in Pittsburgh this weekend.
The Yankees are going to try to win in 2021 with nearly the same team from 2020. It’s a wild, ill-advised and irresponsible plan for a team in a supposed championship window, but it’s the Yankees’ plan.
The Yankees weren’t good enough to win the World Series in 2020. They weren’t good enough to get out of the division series. They weren’t even good enough to win the division in the regular season. And it looks like they are going to try to erase their soon-to-be-12-year championship drought with nearly the same roster in 2021.
During the 2010s, when the Yankees failed to reach the World Series for the first time in a decade since the 1910s, the team would use corny slogans to try to depict the organization and help boost ticket sales. Everyone remembers “Pride. Power. Pinstripes.” and “Our History. Your Tradition” and “A Timeless Legacy” from in-game commercials on YES. Well, if there’s a new one for 2021, it might as well be “Complacency” or maybe “Luxury-Tax Threshold.”
The Yankees have grown complacent since their last championship with the goal of simply getting in the playoffs, not caring how they get there. Home-field advantage doesn’t seem to matter for a team that keeps losing because of it, and having a strong, durable rotation or a lineup that can frequently put the ball in play aren’t important either.
Brian Cashman has made it clear the Yankees’ goal is to reach the playoffs and then hope to have luck and random chance on their side once they get there. Many times Cashman has called the playoffs a crapshoot, which means the general manager thinks the Yankees were just one really, really, really lucky team in four out of the five years from 1996 through 2000. They were extremely fortunate to have the dice land the way they did in 2009 as well.
It’s obvious the Yankees are doing everything they can to stay under the luxury-tax threshold for 2021 and have to avoid forfeiting an amount of money that’s probably equal to a homestand’s worth of Coors Light sales in the at the Stadium. (If Coors Light was $12 in 2019, what’s it going to be the next time fans are allowed to attend games with all of the supposed lost revenue the Yankees have suffered? $15? $18? $20?!) DJ LeMahieu’s contract says as much with the Yankees spreading his $90 million across six years rather than the expected four or even five. Their decision to replicate their pre-2008 season plans by possibly having both Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt in their rotation like they did Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy also makes it clear: avoid the luxury-tux penalty.
That means the team you see today (with LeMahieu and Corey Kluber counted as sure-things even though the team has yet to announce either as officially signed) is the team you will see on Opening Day. You can probably add Brett Gardner as well though it wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees are prepared to replace an inevitably injured Aaron Hicks or Aaron Judge with Mike Tauchman and Greg Allen. But after Gardner, that’s it. There’s barely enough room under the luxury-tax threshold to add Gardner and have space for any in-season call-ups or potential trade acquisitions. Then again, after the Yankees stood completely pat during the 2020 deadline when they had glaring weaknesses and needs, why would they be active at the 2021 deadline, especially with no wiggle room before the penalty.
When Cashman finally decided to pull the plug on Sonny Gray as a Yankee because Cashman’s pitching department couldn’t tap into the pitcher who David Ortiz referred to in 2015 as “the toughest guy I’ve faced in the last few seasons,” Cashman said the following: “I don’t feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results.”
Each time Cashman has had a chance to put the Yankees over the top in the last four seasons, he has failed to do so and ownership has failed to allow him to do so. The Yankees could have had Justin Verlander at the August 2017 deadline, but they didn’t want to take on his salary. So he went to the Astros and single-handedly swung the ALCS with wins in Games 2 and 6.
The 2017 Yankees came within one win of the World Series after not trading for Verlander, and then they decided to cut payroll by $50 million for 2018. The Red Sox and Dodgers greatly outspent them that season, and guess which two teams met in the 2018 World Series?
Cashman tried to bolster the team’s staff for 2019 by trading top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield for the oft-injured James Paxton, who had never thrown more than 160 1/3 innings in a season in his career, a career which had been and still is one long injured-list stint with some innings in between rather than the other way around. In two seasons with the Yankees, Paxton was bad then hurt then good then hurt then bad then hurt again. The 24-year-old, left-handed Sheffield didn’t miss a start for the 2020 Mariners, pitched to a 3.58 ERA and 3.17 FIP and allowed only two home runs in 55 1/3 innings. The Yankees could have used that arm against the Rays in the ALDS.
For 2020, the Yankees finally had starting pitching depth. Cashman and the Yankees created a rotation of Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ with Jordan Montgomery as insurance. But that was in February and before Severino needed Tommy John surgery and before Paxton underwent back surgery. The Yankees’ inability to properly diagnose Severino’s elbow injury from the previous October and Paxton’s back injury from the previous September had altered their 2020 plans. The Yankees had four months from the time the 2020 season was shut down until it finally started to add to their rotation, and they didn’t. When Tommy Kahnle went down in the first weekend of the shortened season, the Yankees decided not to add to their bullpen. The trade deadline came and went and the Yankees willingly decided to take their chances with a makeshift rotation, the kind of makeshift rotation they always seem have to by the time October rolls around, and three trustworthy bullpen arms.
Right now, the Yankees’ rotation is Cole, Corey Kluber and his eight starts over the last two seasons, Montgomery who is 11 starts removed from Tommy John surgery, and two rookies. The other rotation option is noted scumbag Domingo German, who it’s now impossible to root for, the same way it’s impossible to feel anything other than awful to need to also root for noted scumbag Aroldis Chapman to close out games for the Yankees. Unfortunately for Hal Steinbrenner, I haven’t forgotten that either is a scumbag, the way he hoped Yankees fans would when he allowed the Yankees to trade for Chapman and then gave him a five-year deal and said, “Look, he admitted he messed up. He paid the penalty. Sooner or later, we forget, right?” I haven’t forgotten, and I certainly didn’t forget when for the second straight season the highest-paid reliever of all time gave up a home run to end the Yankees’ season.
The Yankees are going to try to win in 2021 with the same lineup that wasn’t good enough in 2020 or 2019. They are going to try to win it all with a rotation that desperately needs Luis Severino to return completely healthy midseason and have no adjustment period after having only made five starts in what will be nearly two years. They are going to try to win it all with a bullpen that is now down to three trustworthy relievers in Chad Green, Zack Britton and Chapman with the departures of Kahnle and Dellin Betances over the last two years and the disappearance of an effective Adam Ottavino.
It’s a wild, ill-advised and irresponsible plan for a team in a supposed championship window, but it’s the Yankees’ plan. The Yankees are going to go through the same exercise and expect different results.
The Yankees weren’t good enough to get out of the ALDS in 2020 and their roster for 2021 is at best the same it was in 2020.
The Yankees are reportedly close to re-signing DJ LeMahieu and have signed Corey Kluber to a reclamation contract. Even still, the lineup is the same as last year’s, the rotation is less and the bullpen is essentially the same, and the team wasn’t good enough to win the World Series with that roster. They weren’t even good enough to get out of the division series.
Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees with less than a month to go until the scheduled start of spring training. Things get heated for a team that hasn’t played a game in more than three months.
After getting embarrassed and shut out on opening night, the Rangers bounced back with a 5-0 win over the Islanders.
After getting embarrassed and shut out at the Garden on opening night, the Rangers bounced back with a 5-0 blowout win over the Islanders. Mike Carver of the Isle Seat Podcast joined me to talk about the two-game series between the rivals to begin the season.
The Rangers couldn’t have opened the season in a worse way unless they announced a multi-year contract for Tanner Glass between taking one of their eight of penalties and allowing one of Anders Lee’s two goals.
The Rangers couldn’t have opened the season in a worse way unless the team announced a multi-year contract for Tanner Glass sometime between taking one of their eight of penalties and allowing one of Anders Lee’s two goals. The Rangers lost to the Islanders 4-0 in their first regular-season game in 10 months and a day, looking like the team that opened last season and not the team that won 16 of 22 games at this time a year ago.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.
1. Yes, it was one game and the smallest of sample sizes, but that’s all we have right now: one game. After waiting for Rangers hockey from mid-March until early August and getting only three games of it, and then waiting against from early August until mid-January, and then to be treated to that type of effort, it was frustrating. I understand the Rangers are a young team and would have greatly benefited from a full training camp and preseason games, but there’s no excuse for Thursday night’s performance in which they were dominated in every facet of the game by their rival.
2. The Rangers trailed after only two minutes and 33 seconds following a Brock Nelson power-play goal that came as a result of a lazy, unnecessary Jack Johnson penalty. Johnson has been the ire of nearly all Rangers fans since the team inexplicably signed him and he had the worst game imaginable. After finally shedding Marc Staal’s ill-advised contact and being done with the two-headed monster of the Staal and Dan Girardi contracts, the Rangers went and signed another defenseman they had no reason to sign in Johnson. Johnson’s deal is only for this season, but every night he’s in the lineup is a chance someone with an actual future with the Rangers doesn’t have of gaining valuable playing time and experience. After Johnson’s painful Rangers debut, I don’t think we’ll be seeing him in the lineup on Saturday against the Islanders.
3. The Islanders took the lead after the Nelson goal and essentially ended the game one minute and 19 seconds later on a Lee goal. The chance of overcoming a two-goal deficit against a non-Islanders team isn’t awful, against the defensive-minded Islanders under Barry Trotz there’s a better chance of Ryan Strome scoring a goal without Artemi Panarin’s help. I should have put Lee on the 2020-21 NHL All-Animosity Team, but I already had captain Matthew Barzal and Andy Greene (a holdover from last year’s team). Three Islanders on a six-person team felt like way too much, though I’m now upset with myself for not including him. Lee added a second goal (the Islanders’ fourth) in the second period to rub it in my face some more.
4. If Rangers fans were still thinking of a comeback down 2-0, Matthew Barzal ended that idea. Barzal is so good. So, so good. His goal at 13:31 of the first period to give the Islanders a 3-0 lead was … well, silly. That’s the best way I can describe it. His inside-out move against Tony DeAngelo was a thing of beauty, only to be one-upped by his quick release and snipe over the shoulder of Igor Shesterkin. It’s the kind of goal only a handful (OK maybe two handfuls of players in the league can pull off), and Barzal did it so effortlessly it appeared easy. All Rangers fans should be thankful Panarin turned down more money from the Islanders to be a Ranger, or the Rangers would be dealing with Barzal and Panarin for a long, long time. Dealing with Barzal alone is enough.
5. Not only was DeAngelo undressed by Barzal for the Islanders’ third goal, proving to once again be a dangerous liability defensively, but his second-period hissy fit after getting called for a penalty led to a four-minute power play for the Islanders. I was ready for the Rangers to move on from DeAngelo, and wish they had, and the season opener served as a reminder.
6. The Rangers did to two things well in the game: fail to create scoring chances and take penalties. If the objective of the game were to produce as few high-quality scoring chances as possible and play shorthanded for the most possible time, the Rangers would be 1-0 this season. It was a miserable game and I really have no idea why I sat through the entirety of it. I guess I just missed hockey so badly I was willing to sit through a rout at the hands of the Islanders. Pretty sad, really.
7. I’m not sure you can say anyone on the Rangers played well. Adam Fox looked the best, and I don’t care that he gave up some opportunities to shoot for an extra pass, that’s who he is. Even Fox didn’t look like his total self. He was the best Rangers player only because everyone else was so ineffective.
8. It was a sad sight to see Alexis Lafrenière serving a penalty for too many men on the ice. That’s not a position any No. 1 overall pick should ever be in: serving a bench minor. Maybe fans of other teams would disagree, but no team takes penalties for too many men on the ice like the Rangers. It seems to happen every few games for them when it should rarely, if ever, happen. The sloppiest display from a team is getting called for too many men, so it was perfect that the Rangers got called for it in that game.
9. It might have been only one loss, but in a 56-game season, it’s the equivalent of a 1.5 losses. Losses can’t be stacked in this season. Three- and four-game losing streaks can’t happen. If they do, you can kiss the playoffs goodbye. The Rangers need to average about 1.20 points per game this season and have two of the Islanders, Capitals, Flyers, Penguins and Bruins miss the playoffs (and that’s assuming the Sabres and Devils will miss the playoffs). After one game, they have zero points, and if they are to win on Saturday, they will have two, which is under the 2.40 they will have needed through two games. The margin of error is going to be so thin for the four postseason berths in the East. Overall performances like the Rangers’ on Thursday can only happen a few times over the course of the regular season, and they already used one up in one game.
10. In other words, the Rangers have to figure out and figure it out fast. They will play essentially every other night for the next nearly four months, and there are no nights off as part of the deepest division of the four realigned divisions in the league. By the time I write next Friday’s Rangers thoughts, they will have played three total games and be looking at a two-game weekend series against the Penguins. Every game this season is a big game, and in their only game this season, they were as bad as they could have possibly been.
