Saturday, February 2, 2008

Devils slide continues,three former Suns in Santana deal

The New Jersey Devils allowed early goals in each of the first two periods and that made the difference in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers.
The Devils played with more passion in the loss than the previous losses,but the lack of offense is beginning to take its toll.
Zach Parise scored the only Devil goal (19) on a delayed penalty man advantage in the second to cut the score to 2-1,but the score would remain that way until the Blueshirts scored a empty net even strength goal at games end after New Jersey was called for too many men on the ice with roughly a minute to play.
The Devils have lost every meeting to the Rangers this season.
I am not hitting the panic button yet,but this type of play cannot continue for long.
They will attempt to snap the losing streak at home tonight vs the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

With the Johan Santana to the Mets trade now finished,we can look back at 3 of the 4 players that played here in Hagerstown with the Suns and now are in the Minnesota organization.
Outfielder Carlos Gomez was not even the most heralded outfielder on the team when he was assigned here,but he outplayed the higher rated Ambiorix Concepcion and became a prospect.
Gomez has speed to burn and should be a good defender,but his power ceiling is in the 12-20 homer range.
His hitting was poor in his cameo with the Mets,but he did steal 12 bases and I think he was overpushed by New York in each of the last two seasons.
Kevin Mulvey was on the Suns,but never appeared in a game for Hagerstown.
Deolis Guerra was just 17 when he was in Hagerstown and showed high level potential.
Some scouts did'nt think he threw hard enough,but I saw him touch the mid 90's and as his 6'5 frame fills out,his velocity will increase.
Guerra will not turn 19 until April and to me-he will prove to be the centerpiece of the trade.
The final player,Phillip Humber, was a first round pick from the Rice rotation that won the College World Series,but has been just average as a pro thus far,but did win 11 games at AAA New Orleans last year.
I do'nt think the Twins did too badly,although I would have liked the deal more with Fernando Martinez instead of Gomez,but certainly a reasonable deal.

Bullpen Notes

In what I am sure was an unintentionally funny column by Mike Seate of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,Pirates fans get slammed (along with all other "ball and stick"fans) for being lesser fans than that of (Drumroll please) SUPERBIKE RACING!
I never even heard of this and this is your contrast to sports and their fans??
After you are finished laughing at the "Serious" column,jump over to Fire Joe Morgan and see their hilarious take on Seate!

The Pirates in their never ending quest to assemble as many crappy hitting infielders on the team as they can claimed Ray Olmedo off waivers from Toronto.
Olmedo now joins Chris Gomez and Josh Wilson in this wonderful demographic.
Sean Burnett was designated for assignment to make room for Olmedo.
The former first rounder was struggled since his Tommy John surgery in 2005,but has reportedly been told by the Pirates that they would like to re-sign him,if he passes through waivers.

Ashland Arrow passer Taylor Housewright spurned offers from various MAC schools to stay at home at Division II Ashland University.
Housewright will be redshirted next season at AU.

The Erik Arnesen interview is finished and I hope to start posting it on Monday or Tuesday.

Until tomorrow.

Photo Credits
Parise-Bruce Bennett-Getty Images
Guerra_Topps Cards

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