CarterHud

Over the off-season, the New York Islanders made some big moves, all happening in free agency. These were those moves.
 
            Added: Andrew Ladd from CHI, Jason Chimera from WAS, P.A. Parenteau from TOR
             Lost:    Kyle Okposo to BUF, Frans Nielson to DET, Matt Martin to TOR, Brian Strait to WIN
  
                  Overview: Ladd is a LW and Okposo is a RW but Ladd is still a pretty good replacement to go along with John Tavares and a choice between Ryan Strome and Parenteau on the first line. Chimera is a nice replacement for Martin to go along with Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck. But the reason why they lose the year\’s off-season is the loss of Frans Nielson. He\’s always been one of their best players and the Islanders can\’t replace him. Matthew Barzal has a chance to make the team. Young players Shane Prince and Alan Quine should return after great performances in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Ryan Pulock should be in the top six this year with Brian Strait off the team.

             So that\’s it for the moves they made, like I said before, Ladd and Chimera are good replacement for Okposo and Martin, but losing Nielson meant losing the offseason.

 On the ending of July, the New York Yankees made some big trades giving away RPs Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller and RF Carlos Beltran.
     In the Chapman trade, he went to the Chicago Cubs for the Cubs\’ top prospect, shortstop Gleyber Torres, OFs Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford and RP Adam Warren. The 19 year-old Torres was recently ranked the 27th best prospect in the MLB by Baseball America and no. 34 by Baseball Prospectus. Torres is hitting 275/359/433 in High Class A this year. Mckinney was part of the trade that sent Addison Russell to the Cubs. He shows potential to be the next Brett Gardner. Crawford has some speed and can play center but he owns a career OPS of .674 and is yet to play above High A. Warren is a RP/SP who came up in the Yanks organization and was traded for 2b Starlin Castro in the offseason. For the Cubs, they got the hardest thrower in the MLB and a outstanding closer.
           In the Miller trade, he was dealt to the Cleveland Indians for their top prospect, OF Clint Frazier, LHP Justus Sheffield plus two right handers Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen.
Fraizer and Sheffield are top 100 prospects and Heller and Feyereisen don\’t have much potential. Frazier has 14 HRs and 52 RBIs with a 271 BA. between AA and AAA this year. Sheffield has a 3.38 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 106.2 IP this year in advanced A. For the Indians, they get a left handed closer with a super nasty slider.
            In the Beltran trade, the Yanks got right-hander SP Dillon Tate, plus prospects Nick Green and Erik Swanson. Tate has a 4.82 ERA and a WHIP of 1.61 in 71 IP this year. The Rangers got an outfielder who already announced his retirement after this year but he\’s known to be one of the best postseason hitters in MLB history.
            That\’s it for the blockbuster deals but the Yankees also made a minor trade acquiring RP Tyler Clippard from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for pitcher Vicente Campos.
              The Yankees now have 7 prospects on MLB\’s top 100 list. Tate isn\’t on this list. no. 20 is Frazier, no. 22 is Torres, no. 23 is SS Jorge Mateo, no. 27 is RF Aaron Judge, no. 34 is C Gary Sanchez, no. 58 is OF Blake Rutherford and no. 89 is Sheffield.  

From Monday, May 16, 2016, the New York Yankees went west for 7 games: 3 in Arizona vs the Diamondbacks and 4 in Oakland vs the A\’s.
       The trip didn\’t start well. In pitcher Chad Green\’s ML debut, the rookie pitched only 4 innings, allowing 6 runs, 4 earned. D-backs pitcher Robbie Ray went 7 innings, allowing only 2 runs. D-backs Jake Lamb was 3-4 with a three run bomb and finished a triple shy of the cycle. The final score was 12-2 D-backs. The next game wasn\’t much better. Yanks pitcher Michael Pineda went 5 innings, allowing the same amount of runs, falling to Zack Greinke, who had 7 innings of 3 run ball as the D-backs win the series with a 5-3 win.
         Luckily, the losing stopped there. After a lead off double, Yanks starter Nathan Eovaldi retired 18 straight, going 6, only allowing 1 run. Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury were involved in all the Yankees\’ runs as they avoided the sweep, winning 4-2.
          In Oakland, Pitcher Ivan Nova went 6 innings allowing 1 run and the offense scored 4 runs again as the Yanks take the opener 4-1. In the next game, pitcher C.C. Sabathia allowed one run in 6 innings in his return off the disabled list and the offense, lead by Carlos Beltran and his 3 RBI doubles, score 8 runs as the Yanks win again, taking it by a score of 8-3. In the next one, Masahiro Tanaka went 7 innings, allowing just 1 run. Rob Refsnyder had an RBI double in his season debut, as the Yankees take the first three, beating Oakland  by a score of 5-1.
          In the last game, the Yankees tried to take their first 4 game series sweep in Oakland since 1979. It also would be their first sweep this year. In the game, with the Yanks up 2-1, a two run double by Stephen Vogt gave the A\’s a 3-2 lead. But the Yankees answered back. RBI singles by Mark Teixeira and Starlin Castro gave the Yanks a 4-3 lead. It was Teixeira\’s only hit on the trip. Both teams scored another run as the final score was 5-4 Yanks.
           On the trip, the Yanks had 5 straight quality starts, all during their wins. On the streak, the starters went 31 innings, allowing just 7 runs. 

Today I had the pleasure to interview New York Islanders radio color commentator Greg Picker.  Here are some of the questions I asked him.

Q1: How long have you been working for the Islanders?
A: 4 years.  First in the the public relations department and now full time on the radio.

Q2: How did you get the idea that you wanted to be a NHL broadcaster?
A: Going back to when I was 5 or 6 years old I used to play on the nintendo 64 and   broadcast those games. This used to drive my brother crazy.
 
Q3: How did you become a broadcaster?
A: I was a broadcaster at Boston University for men and women\’s sports.

Q4: Who was your favorite player growing up?
A: New York Islanders\’ Michael Peca.

Q5: What is your second favorite sport?
A: Soccer. I\’ve never played it but it\’s fun to watch.

Q6: What is your second favorite NHL team?
A: Whoever plays the Rangers.

Q7: Who is your favorite non-Islander to watch?
A: P.K. Subban. He really electrifies the crowd in Montreal.

Q8: What is the best game you ever broadcasted?
A: Game 6 OT winner of round 1 of this year. Also, the most special game was when Michael Grabner scored an OT winner in Colorado in 2014. It was my first game doing play by play.

Q9: What is 1 thing you want the Islanders to do this offseason?
A: Re-sign two of the three UFAs. ( Frans Nielson, Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin. )

Q10: What is the most tongue twisting name you had to say as a broadcaster?
A: Jryki Jokipakka of the Calgary Flames.

Q11: How do you like Barclays Center?
A: It\’s not the Coliseum but I really like it. The broadcasters sit really close to the ice and we feel like we are part of the crowd.

Q12: Who wins the Stanley Cup this year?
A: The Penguins. Even though they are losing 1-0, they\’ve been the best team in the NHL since February. 

On Friday, May 6, 2016, the New York Yankees started a weekend series vs their archenemy, the Boston Red Sox. The pitching matchup was the struggling Michael Pineda for the Yankees and Rick Porcello for the Red Sox. Porcello\’s last start was against the Yankees and he threw 7 shut out innings for his 5th win to improve to 5-0. The Yankees looking to hand Porcello his first loss. In the first inning of the game, David Ortiz hits a 2 run home run to make it  2-0 Red Sox lead. The bomb was Ortiz\’s 510th career homer, passing Gary Sheffield for number 25 on the all time list. In the bottom of the first, Jacoby Ellsbury steals second after a lead off walk. Then, when the ball gets away from catcher Christian Vazquez, Ellsbury advances to third. On the play, it appears something\’s wrong with  Ellsbury but he stays on third. The next batter, Brian McCann, then doubled home Ellsbury to cut the lead in half 2-1. In the top of the second, Dustin Ackley comes out on the field in stead of Ellsbury. In the bottom of the second, with runners on first and second, Ackley in his first at bat of the game gets a base hit, scoring Starlin Castro, but Ronald Torreyes is thrown out at third to end the inning but the Yanks tie it 2-2. In the bottom of the 4th, it was announced a hip injury for Ellsbury. Still no score or major excitement but in the top of the 7th, lefthander Chasen Shreve replaced Pineda. Shreve allowed a double and got a bunt out until Kirby Yates replaced him. Yates then got out of the inning. In the bottom of the 7th, with Porcello still in the game, Aaron Hicks hit his first home run as a Yankee to give them a 3-2 lead. In the top of the 8th, Ben Gamel replaced Ackley as a defensive replacement, making his MLB debut. Also, Dellin Betances replaced Yates as pitcher. The Red Sox immediately test Gamel, as Ortiz flied out to him. Betances struck out Hanley Ramirez and allowed a single to Travis Shaw. Closer Andrew Miller then replaced him for the four out save. Former Yankee Chris Young pinch hit for Brock Holt to face Miller. He walked Young then got out Jackie Bradley. Tommy Layne then came in the game for Porcello. In the top of the ninth, with bases loaded and one out, David Ortiz had the chance to be the hero. On a 3-1 count, a pitch that appeared outside is a called strike, leading to Red Sox manager John Farrell being ejected by Ron Kulpa, the home plate ump. Ortiz then was called out on strikes on the next pitch and then Kulpa ejects him. The next batter, Hanley Ramirez then struck out to end the game as the Yankees win 3-2. Kirby Yates gets the win, his first decision in Pinstripes. Rick Porcello gets a win, declining his record to 5-1. Andrew Miller got the save, but will stop getting then soon as Aroldis Chapman will come back from suspension.