Many Rangers fans felt at the time of the Mika Zibanejad trade that the Rangers made a mistake. Brassard had been crushing it for the Blueshirts and Zibanejad had a couple of good seasons but hadn't truly broken out yet. Fast forward to today, and Zibanejad has been one of the most valuable Rangers ever. How do we come to terms with Mika Zibanejad's career, though? This is a player who never truly competed for any major award, never made it to the Stanley Cup Final, and at this point in his career is someone fans look at as a potential negative if his decline is real.
Grisham has gone from fourth outfielder to the top center fielder in the class within six months. He picked a great time for the best season of his career. Grisham connected on 34 home runs, doubling his previous season high. He pushed his already strong walk rate to a career-high 14.1% clip while cutting his strikeouts (23.6%) to the lowest mark in four years. The end result was a .235/.348/.464 slash line across 581 plate appearances.
Keep in mind that there's plenty of time between now and the start of the draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh. Beyond multiple months of football still ahead, some players could decide to head back to school, while others could surprisingly declare early. We also have predraft events such as all-star games and the combine, which will shake up boards. And every team's needs will continue evolving as they move toward the upcoming offseason.
Using a high draft pick on an injury-prone player, or any player who misses a lot of games, can ruin a fantasy season in a hurry. The same is true of using a high pick on a player who is set to see their minutes decrease from last season. Savvy fantasy managers are able to sniff these type of situations out in advance, and stay away from those players on draft day. Here are five big names to avoid in your drafts this season.
Hard-working game by our guys. We were in control of the game, and then we took the penalties. That is a pretty talented power play over there. It's our own fault for taking the penalties. We have to be more disciplined in those situations. We let them back in the game. Like everybody on the team, I thought the effort was really good tonight.
After a long offseason with plenty of twists and turns, the Miami Heat are going to return to the basketball court on Saturday night when they take on Orlando in San Juan to open up preseason play. Given it's preseason, we should see a vast array of players getting minutes. And while the 15-man roster seems to be locked down, that doesn't mean rotational minutes are set in stone.
Plenty of Toronto Maple Leafs will be haunted by the name Mitch Marner, but fair or not, Matias Maccelli may inspire the most comparisons of all. Both are smallish wingers. While you should expect a mammoth gap in actual production, each forward boasts sometimes-dazzling passing skills. Critics may at times even complain that passing is too often their first, second, and last options. Heck, they both even have alliterative names starting with an "M."
As always, these games are difficult to evaluate; played at the beginning of the hockey schedule, it's a group of young players who have never played together facing opposition who have also never played together, leading to some chaos and a lack of structure. With that caveat out of the way, here are some of my impressions from the weekend:
If you want to be confused about how good an NBA player is, send them to New Orleans. One of the most poorly-run franchises in the league has built rosters year after year that do not fit together. When you add in that the team has also dealt with a shocking number of injuries, you get an environment that obscures player evaluations like a full solar eclipse.
That's how much USC gained during its 59-20 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday. One-hundred thirty-two points are a lot of points. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times) That's how much USC has scored in its two games this season, including its blowout victory over Missouri State the week before. If you want to believe the Trojans are better than they were in their previous two seasons, there are developments that could further convince you that you're right.
The Cardinals have maintained this season is primarily about evaluating young players. It felt like a potential make-or-break year for Jordan Walker, in particular. Walker was viewed as an impact bat when he was a prospect. He impressed with a .276/.342/.445 showing with 16 homers as a 21-year-old rookie. That promising debut feels like an increasingly distant memory. Walker regressed to a .201/.253/.366 line in 51 major league games last year.
Though it's difficult to call a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee underrated, that label applies to the newest center in Springfield, Massachusetts. As of 2021, Howard was one of 26 players in NBA history with at least five first-team All-NBA nods. The other 25 were named to the league's 75th Anniversary Team that year. Howard was not.
Every year, after the NFL draft, everyone is talking about "steals" and "reaches." The "steals" are the players that the football-watching public thinks went way later than their talent warranted. And the "reaches" are the players we thought went way higher than they should've. It turns out: we're only half right. A 2021 study by Timo Riske of Pro Football Focus looked back at six years of draft data and identified the players who went significantly higher or lower than the consensus of publicly available draft rankings. What he found is that the players who were "reaches" did underperform, on average, compared to the other players drafted at the same pick in other years.
Stats experts contend there's no such thing as a consistent clutch player in any sport. Players who come up big at the buzzer or final whistle are typically the ones who do it at any time of the game. But anecdotes and memories stick with us. And in those make-or-break moments, we know who we want to take that shot.
It's hardly ideal that Elliott was playing on Saturday, but if you're a veteran being asked to play serious snaps in a third preseason game, you might as well make flash plays. Elliott was a game-wrecker in the middle against the Chargers' second and third-string offensive lines. If he was on the roster bubble, he should have played his way off it Saturday.
Running back Brian Robinson Jr. will add his name to the growing list of departures after things turned sour quickly. This is all part of Adam Peters' intent to rid the franchise of bad moves and replace them with players who can make a lasting contribution moving forward. That might sting, but it's had instant results. The fact that so many of Rivera's draft choices are failing to catch on elsewhere is a damning indictment of his personnel evaluation.
The art of transfers are not as cut and dry as your latest FIFA save might be. Not every flop signing is built the same as others and therefore we will not judge all the moves the same.
