nysports

 The Nets lost tonight on New Years Eve by a score of 83-75, in a loss to the Detroit Pistons.  The banged up Pistons were playing without Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Antonio McDyess, although still had enough to put the Nets away, with AI leading the way with 19 points.

Vince Carter was stupidly ejected in the 2nd quarter after arguing an out of bounds call.  He then argued that and proceed to receive a Technical Foul.  He was quickly given a second technical and had to be restrained by coach Lawrence Frank and teammate Devin Harris.  This took the wind out of the Nets sails and they proceed to tank the rest of the game. Hopefully Carter will limit this foolishness the rest of the season.  The Nets have a much better chance of winning with him on the floor and not in the locker room.

On a brighter note, Rookie Brook Lopez led New Jersey with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

The Yankees have done it again trying to buy their way into the post season.  This is exactly why they have been donned with the nick name of The Evil Empire.  I don’t mind it, as they still have to go out and play all 162 games and 3 rounds of post season play before we call them champs.

But the Yankees most likely aren’t done in their post season acquisitions.  Rumors of other trades/signings include: Manny Rameriez, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, Mike Cameron and more.

Cameron is the most logical sense based on needs.  Manny would be another crown jewel for the off seasons accomplishments thus far, and almost confirm a post season appearance.  I think the Yanks will probably back off of Lowe and focus on a lesser pitcher salary wise at this point.

Here is the projected lineup at this point:

 1 - Damon - LF
2 - Jeter - SS
3 - Teixeria - 1B
4 - A Rod - 3B
5 - Matsui - DH
6 - Posada - C
7 - Cano - 2B
8 - Nady - RF
9 - Swisher - CF

Starting Rotation:

1 - Sabathia
2 - Burnett
3 - Wang
4 - Joba
5 - ??? Pettitte/Perez/Hughes

I’m not in love with the last 2 guys in their lineup.  I’d rather see them get Cameron, have him in CF and platoon Swisher and Nady in RF.  If they get Manny, Damon platoons in CF and RF or DH.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, but this much is sure….. The Empire is not done!

There have been whispering reports about the Mets being interested in Pat Burrell for the right price.  In a Free Agent market that has seen the Yankees over pay for everyone and the rest of the MLB under pay expected contracts for all Free Agents, unless Burrell goes to the Yankees he won’t get the money he was expecting.  Especially considering all the big market teams who would be interested in him are chasing after Manny at the moment.

Burrell would be an interesting option for the Mets, as it would give them some power numbers in LF, but also give them shabby defense and a low average hitter.  Although Burrell’s OBP is usually compensated by 100+ BBs a season.

Burrell turned down a 2 year $ww million dollar offer to play with the Phillies again, but it is unlikely he will get that much from any other team either.  I expect him to be more around the $10 million dollar mark, all things considering.  If the Mets could get him for 2 years, I say do it.   At least he can’t torment them for the next 2 seasons.

There have been no talks that I know of, although there has been speculation that Toronto would like to move Wells now before his contract balloons in the 2010 season, but looking at it, Wells would be the perfect fit into the Mets lineup.  At only age 30, wells still has many good years in front of him.  Last year for Toronto, he hit 20 HRs and drove in 78 RBI’s with a .300 avg in only 108 games. 

Coming into this season, Wells only makes $1.5 million, although in 2010 his contract shoots up to $12.5 million, and up to $23 million in 2011, then down to $21 million in the final 3 seasons of his contract. 

Not only would Wells provide another steady right handed bat to the Mets lineup, but he would give the Mets a gold glove winning OF in Left Field.  It would also ensure that the Mets had a solid middle of the order beyond the 2009 season, when Delgado becomes a Free Agent.

The question now becomes, what would it cost.  Well, undoubtly it would cost the Mets some prospect.  If the Mets could pull off the trade without moving Niese or Fernando Martinez, I would say go for it.  The Mets have plenty of guys in there system that have value, including Parnell, Kunz, Nick Evans, Argenis Reyes and David Murphy.  Then there is always Castillo, Church and Schnedier who they are trying to move.  It might take too much for the Mets to be able to pull off the deal, but the time to trade for him is now, and not in the middle of the season, when there will be more suitors, and thus the requirements to get him will be higher.

If Omar isn’t looking into this possibility, he should start.  In fact, someone give me his number and I’ll call him.

The Associated Press is reporting the Bill Cowher has declined the possibility to coach the NY Jets for the 2009 season.  Cowher was believed to be the front runner to replace the recently fired Eric Mangini.  Cowher, who is 51, was 161-99-1 in 15 seasons with the Steelers, including a Super Bowl victory in 2006. Cowher has been an analyst with CBS since the end of the 2006 season.

So that leads to the question, who is next for the Jets?  Other names that have been mentioned include: Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Holmgren, Jim Fassel and Bill Parcells.  From inside the Jets organization both offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and offensive line coach Bill Callahan have been mentioned. 

How about these 2 new names that have recently become available: Mike Shannahan or Mike Martz.  Martz is an interesting option, as he is an offense strategist who has been successful with some preious teams such as St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions.  Both teams flourished offensively under Martz.

Shannahan, is also very strong offensively, and has been notorious for his use of his offensive line which will not only open up the running game (which has 2 strong weapons in Jones and Washington) but also will give Farve (should he return) a lot more time and protection.

Expect a decision to happen sooner rather than later with all these names currently out there and available.  I would expect an announcement before the Super Bowl, or shortly there after.

 SNY.tv is reporting that the Mets have offered Derek Lowe a 3 year deal in the amount of $36 million dollars.  Other teams who were reportedly interested in Lowe were the Phillies, Braves, Yankees and Red Sox.  At this time, the Mets appear to be the front runner to land the 3 year old pitcher, who was 14-11 with the Dodgers last season.

“Lowe recently told a friend that the Red Sox have never showed serious interest in him,” explains John Harper in the Daily News, who believes, ‘more and more,’ it is only a matter of time before Lowe signs with the Mets.

According to ‘the friend,’ the Mets and Lowe exchanged contract proposals before Christmas, like the Boston Globe suggested last week.

Harper’s right, it is feeling inevitable – in the same way the Johan Santana Trade was starting to feel inevitable one year ago.

To me, what is most impressive about Lowe is that despite his age, he has not missed a start in over 7 seasons as a starter and consistantly compiles over 200 innings.  Also, in 4 years in the National League, Lowe never posted an ERA over 4 and is a career 19 games over 500% as a pitcher, and actually has a record of 106-75 as a starter.

If the Mets do land Lowe it most likely means they won’t pursue Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf or Pedro Martinez.  The 5th Starter slot will probably be fielded by Tim Redding or Jonathan Niese.  My personal opinion is that they should start the season with Niese at AAA and bring him up during the season if someone performs badly or gets injuried.  That way if Niese fails to perform, the Mets still have options.  It would also reduce his innings for his first MLB season.

More to come on this.

 Source: Metsblog.com

On Jan. 25th David Wright and Ron Darling will be attending the NJ Sports Writers Association dinner at The Pines Manor.  Wright is being honor with the Sports Humanitarian of the Year award and Darling is receiving an award for television and radio broadcasting excellence.

Tickets for the event are $55 and can be purchased by sending checks made payable to the NJ Sports Writers Association, PO Box 200 Metuchen, NJ 08840.

With 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter on Tuesday night, I watched the Knicks widdle a 19 point lead down to a 1 point deficit.  Does this sound familar?  It’s probably happened more than once in the last 2 weeks, as the Knicks are in a 6 game losing streak, and have won only 3 games in the month of Dec.

Granted, the Knicks have faced the Lakes, Celtics, Cavaliers and Suns during the 6 game losing streak, but tonights game is against Charolette, and some of their recent loses have come against have come against the Bucks, Timberwolves, and Trailblazers.  And here is the kicker, they actually beat the Pistons during the month.  That alone is proof that they have the components to win games and compete with the top teams.

So why are they losing?  Well, lack of focus on defense, and sloppy play resulting in turnovers are a major factor.  Lack of an inside game is a partial component as well, but that is something they can overcome.  Turnovers and laziness they can’t. Lack of leadership is also key.

The Knicks have a strong coach, who has developed the right culture in the team, and has everyone focused on team play as opposed to individual play, but what they need is someone to step up and BE THE MAN.  They need a guy to say, there is 20 seconds left in a tie game, and I want to take the winning shot.  And they need that same guy to be willing to be the goat if the shot doesn’t sink.

Individually, I like a lot of the players on the Knicks, Duhon is the perfect PG for this team. He play a smart game, and is the type of player who makes everyone around him better, regardless of what numbers he puts up.  I like the addition of Al Harrington, who brings a lot of energy and athleticism to the game.  I used to be a big fan of Richardson, but lately I am questioning his heart and focus.  He looks out of condition, and there are times his head isn’t in the game.  And Lee and Chandler are good work horse players who will only continue to improve, and let’s not forget the People’s Champ aka Mighty Mouse aka Nate Robinson.

They have all the right componets to make the machine work properly, they have the right mentality to lead the team to success, where they are failing is in execution… THE KNICKS NEED TO EXECUTE.

Hopefully tonight’s performance is a sign that things are back on track.  The Knicks pulled out a narrow victory with a final score of 93 to 89 over the Bobcats.  At least I can sleep well tonight for once.

SNY.TV is reporting The New Jersey Nets assigned former first-round draft pick Sean Williams to the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Development League on Monday.

Williams was drafted No. 17 overall in 2007, averaged 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 11 minutes per game this season. As a rookie last season, Williams appeared in 73 games, starting 16, and averaged 5.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 17.5 minutes per game.

 I have seen him play, and he is a lot better than the stats lead on,  but I suppose with the addition of Yi this season, Williams had a reduced role.  Yi hasn’t been a stand out either this season, so the move is somewhat questionable.  I hope to see him back soon with a bigger role.

Less than 24 hours after the Jets lost the game that eliminated them from the playoffs, head coach Eric Mangini was fired.  In a press conference on Monday, team owner Woody Johnson and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum announced the firing of Mangini.  It was about 1 month ago, when the talk was centered around Mangini getting a 4 year contract extention, but after losing 4 of the last 5 games, the coach is out.

 This leaves me with 2 questions and my opinions on each:

Question 1) Did the Jets handle this right?

My Answer:  NO.  This move undoubtedly had to happen, however the Jets handled this poorly.  It wasn’t quite as bad as how the Mets handled the Randolph situation, but it was up there.  The dust had not even settled on the loss from Sunday, and Mangini was gone.  There was also no evidence that the Jets management met with Mangini to discuss other options of changes in the coaching staff, areas of improvement, etc.  He was just axed… You could almost hear the crowd yelling “Off with his head!” if you listen close enough.

Question 2) Was Farve to blame in Mangini’s firing?

My answer:  Partially.  It was clear, dating back from even preseason that Farve and Mangini did not see eye to eye.  Mangini’s style is more of managing the game while Farve likes to make big splashy plays.  Well, those big splashy plays no doubt led to many turnovers, and cost the Jets at least one game during the season…. that one game is why I am writing a post about Mangini getting fired, instead of about the Jets and their opponent in the first round of the playoffs.  If Brett had learned to manage the game instead of trying to be a superstar, Mangini may still be around.  Also, it was apparent that the Jets favor Farve over Mangini and made this move so swiftly in order to send a message to Brett that they want him back next year.  Let’s hope he comes back or this compounds this bad decision and makes it much worse.

Next Jets Post:  Who should be the Jets next coach?