Blue Jackets Send Alexandre Texier To The AHL

The NHL playoffs are over for the Columbus Blue Jackets but for one of those players, the AHL playoffs are not over.

The player, Alexandre Texier, has been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters, who are still in the AHL playoffs but are battling to stay alive.

Texier has been a welcome surprise for the Blue Jackets after being selected 45th overall back in 2017. Many are still hoping he will develop into a legitimate NHL option, but played one season in France and there isn't a lot of top competition playing there. In the two seasons that followed he grew into one of the more dangerous offensive players in Finland, racking up 41 points in 55 games before deciding to come to North America.

He joined the Monsters and had an impressive showing, scoring five goals and seven points in seven games. He was called up to the Blue Jackets shortly thereafter and impressed well. Even after this playoff showing, it sounds likely he could be part of the time full-time next season.

Now, he'll try to help a struggling Monsters team that is down 0-3 in the series against the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies. That team is hoping that Texier will be the magic touch that keeps their season alive.

Pat Venditte and Yangervis Solarte Designated

Looks like it's the end of the road for both Pat Venditte and Yangervis Solarte with the Giants organization.

In the latest flurry of moves for the San Francisco organization, they have announced that Solarte and Venditte have both been designated for assignment. Their roster spots will be handed to outfielder Mac Williamson and infielder/outfielder Donovan Solano. Both of them will report to the club today.

The Giants have also optioned outfielder Mike Gerber to Triple-A Sacramento and recalled lefty Williams Jerez.

Solarte made the club right out of Spring Training after being a non-roster invitee. However, his numbers haven't come to form. During his 2014-17 tenure with the Yankees and Padres, he carried a .267/.327/.419 hitter line. He was capable of playing multiple spots on the infield. However, when he went to the Toronto Blue Jays, he struggled. The Giants wasn't much better. He batted .205/.247/.315 during his time in SF.

The numbers are not much better for Venditte. He signed a contract this offseason but in his time in the Giants bullpen, he gave up six runs on four hits, a pair of walks, and three hit batters with two strikeouts in only 3 1/3 innings of work. His ERA is 5.03 in 68 big league innings, so it was clear he wasn't going to factor in long-term for the Giants. He hasn't been able to stick well at the big league, anyway, either with the Giants or Dodgers.

The moves make sense, not because of their bad numbers, but because Farhan Zaidi is always trying to look for those impact players. And while Venditte was one of his guys, it became clear as the season went on that he most likely wasn't going to make it at the big league, and even if he did, it wasn't going to stick.

As for Solarte, I feel bad for him, because I thought he was somewhat of an impact player with the Padres, and I thought the Padres organization went out of their way to support him, especially after the death of his wife. Now, he may be fighting for his baseball career, and you have to wonder if this is the end of the road for him.

Good luck to both Solarte and Venditte. We'll see if they land other jobs elsewhere, and it's more revolving doors now for Giants players.

Thank You Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets had a miraculous season on the ice. They went through the regular season on a grind and were close to being eliminated from the playoffs. They then managed to hang on to grab the final seed in the Eastern Conference and a date with the best team in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As many of you already know, the Columbus Blue Jackets were one of the surprise stories this season, not because of how they were able to get into the playoffs, but how they were able to dispatch the Lightning in four straight games. That's a big achievement, and against a team that was the clear favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

That sweep allowed them to get themselves into a matchup with the Boston Bruins. The Bruins took care of the Blue Jackets in six games.

While it may seem like the Blue Jackets would go on to the Eastern Conference Final and probably a date with the Carolina Hurricanes, it was a pretty successful season because I did not expect them to get into the playoffs, much less get a surprise upset over the Lightning.

John Tortorella, his coach, and the Blue Jackets organization should be very proud of how well this team has played all season and into the playoffs. Although it did not end with a Stanley Cup, in my estimation, they have already won the NHL this season.

Throughout most of the season, they have struggled to remain within the playoff picture and they took it upon themselves to get a couple of guys from the Ottawa Senators, like Matt Duchene, to try to hold on to that spot, which ultimately helped them get that last spot. As a result, this team is resilient, this team doesn't give up, and it always fights til the final horn goes off.

I would like to say this: The Columbus Blue Jackets are a team of the future. They're a team not to be messed with. They will be competitive til the end. That's the Blue Jackets I know.

Thank you Columbus Blue Jackets. Thank you 5th Line. Thank you to the great folks of Ohio and the city of Columbus for putting together a team that doesn't give up and doesn't give in.

Have a wonderful summer and I'll see you in October!

Suns Hire Monty Williams as Next Head Coach

Sixers assistant Monty Williams is finally getting another chance at being a head coach.

The Phoenix Suns announced today in a press release that Williams will become their new head coach. Williams will remain with the Sixers until the end of that club’s playoff run before making the move.

According to a recent tweet from Shams Charania of The Athletic, the deal will be a five-year contract.

General manager James Jones said in a statement, “I am thrilled to welcome Monty Williams to the Suns family as our next head coach…Monty brings a wealth of NBA experience, both as a coach and former player, in addition to being a high-character individual who will infuse basketball wisdom and life lessons into our locker room. Monty is well respected for his coach pedigree, leadership, and commitment to the community, all of which make him the ideal person to lead our team moving forward.”

For Williams, this will be his second stint as an NBA head coach. He previously led the New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets from 2010-15. He posted a 173-221 (.439) record with the team, along with two postseason appearances. However, they didn’t win a playoff series during the stretch.

Despite this, he is regarded as one of the NBA’s top assistants, and has been working with Sixers coach Brett Brown in Philadelphia this season. He had a two-year absence before this season while he mourned the death of his wife, Ingrid, who was killed in a car crash in Oklahoma City back in February 2016.

He spent some time with the Thunder as an associate coach back in 2015-16. Before that, he was an assistant for Portland for several years.

Williams is taking over the role in Phoenix previously filled by Igor Kokoskov, who was fired after one season. The idea that the Suns are giving him a five-year deal suggests to many, including to me, that they are finally going to give a head coach some patience in developing the team, including stars like Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges, as well as some other young prospects.

Whether or not this is an ideal move for Williams, it’s clear that he would like to be a head coach. The only thing I question about this is whether or not he’ll actually go those five years. The consensus around the league is that Robert Sarver is the worst owner in the league and that nobody would like to work for him. However, the talent on the court is very promising and that would appeal to any head coach.

I wish Monty Williams the best and I hope this works out better than it did in New Orleans. However, you can never be too sure with Sarver, as well as the rest of that Suns front office. He will need to be more effective in this position than Kokoskov, and that may mean winning one year in, or even this season.

Wolves Hiring Gersson Rosas As President of Basketball Operations

The Timberwolves seem to have found their next man to lead their basketball operations.

According to Jon Kwaczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic (link), with confirmation by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (link), the Wolves are planning to hire Rockets executive Gersson Rosas as their new President of Basketball Operations. With this move, it means that Rosas will assume control of Minnesota’s front office.

Rosas has spent the last two decades with the Rockets. He most recently served as their executive Vice President of basketball operations and was a close associate of general manager Daryl More. Rosas also had a brief stint as the Mavericks’ GM back in 2013 but returned to Houston when it didn’t work in Dallas.

Many teams had been exploring adding Rosas to their front office in some capacity. He was linked to top jobs in Charlotte, Detroit, and Philadelphia last season. This spring, he interviewed with the Pelicans and the Wizards, in addition to the Wolves. In a recent tweet by Wojnarowski, Rosas met with the Wolves with the second time that also included owner Glen Taylor.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau was the President of Basketball Operations title for the Wolves heading into the 2018-19 season, but was fired during the season. General manager Scott Layden assumed that control shortly thereafter.

Now that Rosas has been fired, his next task will be what role will this have in Layden’s future? And how will this also affect head coach Ryan Saunders. The Wolves are said to want to have both men back, but with Rosas in control, he’ll probably make his own decision regarding that.

Despite the sorting out of the front office Rosas will have to do, he will also have to deal with a challenging offseason ahead. They missed the playoffs this season and the big contracts that Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, and Gorgui Dieng all have are still on the club’s books.

Gersson Rosas is a fine man, and I believe he fits into what the Timberwolves are looking for in a new President of Basketball Ops. It’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out with both Saunders and Layton. My guess is that Rosas will keep one or the other. I wouldn’t be so confident that both of them will be back in their capacity. Most of the time, a new President of Basketball Ops would really like to bring in their own guys to run things. That may happen here.

The Timberwolves have their man to lead their front office. Now, we just have to wait and see what kinds of moves he’ll make, not just with the front office, but perhaps with acquiring talent for this Timberwolves team, so they can get back to getting competitive.