TIOPS Inside Buzz
*Rumblings, Musings, Opinions*
| Story Highlights: Volquez reunion in Pittsburgh? McCutchen to the Big Apple? | Rangers built to beat the Penguins again? |
— This photo says it all about the Steelers on Zeke Elliott’s game winning TD run.
Stephon Tuitt a second round pick pancaked on the ground, Ryan Shazier a first round pick laying on his butt, and Jarvis Jones a first round pick unable to make a play inside.
This has just been all too familiar with the Steelers front-seven.
One problem the Steelers are running into is that they’ve been too fixated on drafting hybrid players and it’s coming back to haunt them.
— When it rains, it pours.
Ron Cook of the PG reports Cam Heyward’s pec injury is believed to be serious and not good.
— If the Giants 21-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals showed anything — safety Landon Collins should have never lasted till the second round in the 2015 draft —
Nova Demands, Free Agency/Trade Chatter
Pirate sources say Ivan Nova’s agent Greg Genske told club officials last week at the GM Meetings that he is confident of landing [hide] a three year deal in the neighborhood of $42 million in free agency for his client.
One reason for that type of optimism.
Genske has told the Pirates front office it will take a Francisco Liriano type offer to get back to the negotiating table. Genske who also represents Liriano, landed a three year, $39 million contract from the Pirates two winters ago, the largest contract given out in club history to a free agent.
Pittsburgh which has made multiple offers to Nova this fall have no interest in going beyond the $10 million range.
Sources say Pittsburgh last offer to Nova was a two year, $18.5 million contract with a club option for $10 million 2019.
Huntington has told close associates in the organization he won’t make the same mistake he made with the contract he gave to Francisco Liriano who was a much more established pitcher at the time.
Names floating around that the Pirates have touched based with through the early stages of free agency are mostly stop-gap starters.
There’s a group of five to six names Pittsburgh is looking at.
One of the first calls the agent for Andrew Cashner received was from the Pirates, a source confirms.
Pittsburgh has also checked in with the representatives for Edinson Volquez who is open to a return to Pittsburgh.
Others Pittsburgh has kicked some tires on include lefties Jorge De La Rosa and Derrick Holland.
— What a time to be a baseball player. Neil Walker will make $17.2 million dollars next season with the Mets. Some inside the industry also won’t be surprised to Walker’s close friend Andrew McCutchen join him in the Big Apple this winter via trade.
Rangers Turning Heads
The New York Rangers have become the talk of the NHL. Off to a 12-4 start, the Rangers have scored 65 goals in 16 games. While many believed the window was closing, they’ve transformed their group into a four line scoring team with a ton of speed.
A big key has been cheap labor with the likes of Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri and Jimmy Vesey. That’s how you retool a stale team quickly up against the cap that looked to have ran out of gas last season.
As the NHL season nears the quarter mark, there are four teams that are threats to the Penguins:
New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals.
It’s hard to see another team emerging between now and spring. [/hide]
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