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.
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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.
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The Rangers were embarrassed and shut out in a 4-0 season-opening loss to the Islanders at the Garden.
The Rangers were embarrassed and shut out in a 4-0 season-opening loss to the Islanders at the Garden. Brian Monzo of WFAN joined me to talk about the Rangers’ loss as we try to not overreact to the first of 56 regular-season games for the Blueshirts.
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I thought the goal of each Yankees season was to win the World Series. I’m not so sure anymore.
I thought the goal of each Yankees season was to win the World Series. I’m not so sure anymore. The Yankees haven’t made a move this offseason to improve their roster and there’s a month left until spring training.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
I’m still waiting for the Yankees to do something to improve their actual roster, not their Triple-A roster.
I’m still waiting for the Yankees to do something. Anything. Well, not anything. They have already done that by trading for Greg Allen and signing Jhoulys Chacin, Tyler Lyons and Socrates Brito. I want them to do something that will improve their actual roster, not their Triple-A roster. Spring training is in four weeks, and the Yankees don’t just have holes on their roster, they have glaring holes, big enough to build an underground parking garage.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. Tomorrow will be 14 weeks since the Yankees’ season ended in Game 5 of the ALDS. Since then, the Yankees have done nothing. Nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. I know I keep writing that and talking about it on the podcast, but I feel like it needs to be reiterated as much and as often as possible because it’s embarrassing. I’m sure Yankees ownership isn’t embarrassed, but they should be. As a Yankees fan, I’m embarrassed. The Yankees’ championship window has closed more than expected over the last two years because of injuries and underachieving, and the team isn’t doing anything to avoid having it close even more in 2021.
2. The Yankees’ nickel-and-diming their own free agents has continued this winter their handling of DJ LeMahieu. It’s nothing new for the Yankees and how they have operated for most of the Brian Cashman era. Pay other team’s players, but not your own. It’s the same way of business that was used in signing names like A.J. Burnett (five years and $82.5 million), Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years and $153 million), Brian McCann (five years and $85 million) and Carlos Beltran (three years and $45 million). None of those four finished their contracts with the Yankees, and in terms of Burnett, Ellsbury and McCann, they paid them to play for other teams because of how badly they wanted to get rid of them. None of them were coming off the types of back-to-back seasons LeMahieu just provided atop the Yankees’ lineup, and none of them was as needed as LeMahieu is with this team.
3. Let’s say the Yankees don’t re-sign LeMahieu. If that happens, if not for needing to take care of a now-four-month-old, I would draw the curtains and stay in bed for the entirety of the baseball season. But let’s say it does happen. This would be the Yankees’ Opening Day lineup:
Aaron Hicks, CF
Aaron Judge, RF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Luke Voit, 1B
Gleyber Torres, SS/2B
Gary Sanchez, C
Clint Frazier, LF
Gio Urshela, 3B
Tyler Wade/Thairo Estrada, 2B/SS
This is dangerously close to happening.
4. The Yankees don’t just need to re-sign LeMahieu. They also need starting pitcher. And they don’t need starting pitching in terms of It would be nice to have another starter, they need starting pitching in terms of The Yankees might not be a playoff team without at least one more starter. This is the Yankees’ current “rotation”:
1. Gerrit Cole
2. Jordan Montgomery
3. Deivi Garcia
4. Clarke Schmidt
5. That’s not a rotation, it’s just the names of four starting pitchers. Three of which weren’t in the planned 2020 Opening Day rotation. Montgomery wasn’t trusted to start a postseason game until the Yankees were forced into starting him, Garcia wasn’t trusted to be given an actual start in a postseason game, and Schmidt, well, the Yankees thought they were better off letting Michael King and Jonathan Loaisiga open games in a 60-game season rather than let their top pitching prospect start and didn’t let him start a game until the final game of the 2020 regular season. As for the fifth starter, take your pick between a scumbag, King, Loaisiga, or some irresponsible combination of Jhoulys Chacin and Nestor Cortes.
6. The bullpen isn’t looking too great either. The Yankees finally decided Jonathan Holder had ruined enough games for them and let him go. Loaisiga keeps getting used in high-leverage spots when he can’t get out of them. Nick Nelson flopped in his first cup of coffee in the majors. Luis Cessa … well, he’s Luis Cessa. Tommy Kahnle is both injured and a Dodger. Adam Ottavino is an untrustworthy right-hander who the Yankees only allow to face right-handers making $9 million. That leaves Chad Green, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman. It would have been nice to add Liam Hendriks, but the Yankees passed, letting the White Sox sign him.
7. I don’t know what the Yankees’ strength is as of now. I guess by default it’s a LeMahieu-less lineup since that four-man “rotation” is set up to destroy the bullpen on days when Cole doesn’t start, though there’s not much of a bullpen to destroy. With that lineup, which is currently the team’s “strength,” expect 18-20 strikeout games to become the norm.
8. I do think the Yankees will re-sign LeMahieu because they have to. They don’t have a choice. They don’t have another option. What would their backup plan be? A middle infield of Torres and Wade/Estrada? Bring back Didi Gregorius and move Torres to second base? Sign Michael Brantley two years after they should have and have yet another outfielder/designed hitter on the roster? All of those options suck. You know what doesn’t suck? Re-signing the defending batting champion, the team’s leadoff hitter, the most versatile defender on the team and the one Yankee you actually want to see in the batter’s box when needing a big hit.
9. As for starting pitching, I think we should expect Masahiro Tanaka re-signing with the Yankees. In last week’s thoughts, I listed the available starting pitchers not named Tanaka and not having the baggage of Trevor Bauer. It’s an ugly list unless you’re trying to build the 2015 All-Star team. The same way the Yankees don’t have a choice other than to re-sign LeMahieu, they don’t have choice when it comes to Tanaka, or at least it doesn’t seem like they have a choice. Both will only cost money, which is the Yankees’ greatest resource, but both were previously Yankees, and again: the Yankees don’t like to pay their own players.
10. The other option would be to trade for a controllable starting pitcher, which is something Cashman loves to do, even if he’s awful at picking which controllable starter to obtain. The Yankees failed Sonny Gray and he failed them in his short time in pinstripes, only to find his Oakland self in Cincinnati, and the Yankees traded for the inconsistent and oft-injured James Paxton, and as a Yankee, he was … wait for it … inconsistent and oft-injured. The Yankees have to do something to improve their starting pitching, and they only have one month to do it before spring training.
My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes every Monday and Thursday during the offseason.