
New York Jets
Now The Jets Fire Maccagnan?
The New York Jets may be laggards in the NFL standings every year but they always supply ample grist for sportswriters during the off-season. This year they outdid themselves as they fired their general manager, Mike Maccagnan, less than three weeks after the NFL Draft had taken place.
According to most reports, new head coach Adam Gase was not seeing eye to eye with Maccagnan and that Jets CEO Christopher Johnson decided to side with the new kid in town.
I ran into former Jets linebacker and longtime radio analyst for the them, Greg Buttle, on Friday at the PGA Championship in Bethpage State Park. “It may have nothing to do with Adam Gase and could be a host of other possibilities such as some personal disagreement between Johnson and Maccagnan that we know nothing about,” Buttle told me.
New York Mets
The Mets had a chance to sign free agent pitcher Gio Gonzalez but Van Wagenen eschewed adding to payroll since fifth starter Jason Vargas is in the second year of his two-year $16 million deal. Vargas has been OK but he rarely goes deep into games. In the meantime both Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz have missed starts and Mets manager Mickey Callaway has had to start nondescript journeyman Wilmer Font, who was acquired in a nothing deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, instead of having the vastly superior Gonzalez at his disposal.
You have to feel for Mets first baseman Dominic Smith who has hit well whenever he has gotten a chance to play now that he has supplanted by National League Rookie of the Month Pete Alonso. Smith has expressed a willingness to play left field but so far Callaway has resisted doing that.
New York Yankees
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has proven to be an adept shopper for baseball bargains. Last year he acquired the unheralded Luke Voit from the St. Louis Cardinals for reliever Chasen Shreve. Last August he acquired little-known reserve third baseman Gio Urshela from the Toronto Blue Jays in a cash deal. Urshela has played like an All-Star subbing for Miguel Andujar who is lost for the rest of the season recovering from shoulder surgery.
