With the offseason here for the New York Yankees and other teams around Major League Baseball, there are plenty of factors that have to be considered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the Yankees, what they want to do with Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger is at the top of that list.<\/p>\n
Bellinger is one of the top players on the free agency market, while Grisham was given a qualifying offer as the Yankees hope to keep him back for at least another season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to The Athletic\u2019s Ken Rosenthal, it remains uncertain at the moment what Grisham is going to do, but he reported that he was comfortable in New York and believes that he can replicate his 2025 success because of the changes he made to improve his offensive game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA year ago, the New York Yankees weren\u2019t even certain they would offer Grisham a contract. They did, but Grisham accepted a pay cut from $5.5 million to $5 million \u2014 and then responded with 34 homers, double his previous best, and a career-high .811 OPS…<\/p>\n
\u201cGrisham was comfortable in New York and is said to be confident he can replicate his 2025 performance because of changes he made at the plate and in his mental approach. If interested teams agree with that assessment, he could warrant a healthy multiyear deal,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
If there’s any reason for the Yankees to be worried about Grisham, it’s the fact that he’s never done what he did a year ago throughout any other part of his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a strong argument to be made that Grisham was among the top outfielders in baseball offensively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, there’s a possibility that he never has that type of success at the plate again due to prior indications.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Philadelphia Flyers\u00a0were battling hard in practice on Monday.<\/p>\n
Scrappy plays against the boards, small-area plays where teammates temporarily turned to foes, and a palpable sense that this team is going all-in on being able to bring not just the puck possession and intelligent hockey that Tocchet has implemented, but also a sharp, physical, and resilient mindset that can carry them through 60 minutes (and, especially as of late, extra time, if needed).<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 recent dip wasn\u2019t about effort so much as edge. Breakdowns were piling up in similar ways\u2014too much space given up in transition, forechecks arriving half a step late, and defenders collapsing rather than confronting.<\/p>\n
Tocchet didn\u2019t mince words about why he dialed up the pace and physicality in practice, saying, \u201cI think there\u2019s been a trend of backing in and too much containment\u2026 We needed a good practice of getting in on people and working on our forecheck. It\u2019s not just one guy\u2014it\u2019s five guys participating in all the aspects of the game, whether it\u2019s defending or a forecheck.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a coach is talking about a trend, he\u2019s not referencing just one flukey game. This was a pattern\u2014and the solution wasn\u2019t another video meeting. It was putting players in uncomfortable, demanding situations and forcing them to work through them together.<\/p>\n
Onlookers could sense the tone shift immediately. Drills that usually begin at half-throttle went from 0-60 in the blink of an eye. Battles on the wall looked like scrimmage-level intensity. Line rushes weren\u2019t just about timing\u2014they were collisions waiting to happen. You could hear it in how sticks cracked off the ice and how fast the pace escalated.<\/p>\n
If a practice is this physical, players will let you know afterward whether it felt useful or just punitive. Travis Konecny made that distinction unnecessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love them. It was getting a little competitive, a little chippy, and I think we need it. It\u2019s good, getting that competitive mindset. Everyone\u2019s bringing the intensity. Guys are leading the right way, competing\u2014doesn\u2019t matter who you are out there. You\u2019re just setting a good example for the next guy in the next rep.\u201d<\/p>\n
In particular, the comment about \u201cthe next guy in the next rep\u201d is revealing. These practices work not because they\u2019re punishing, but because they force accountability to the player behind you in line. If you coast, he feels obligated to match that pace. If you push, the entire group rises to the level you set.<\/p>\n
What Tocchet implemented on Monday isn\u2019t new for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need a good push-and-shove in practice\u2026 I\u2019m a big believer in\u2014you never want to fight your teammates\u2014but you want to play hard because, what if I play soft on a guy in a one-on-one [in practice]? What is that doing for him? I\u2019m not helping him. So you play a guy hard. You don\u2019t have to kill a guy, but playing a guy hard is only going to make you better, make the other guy better, and make the team better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet obviously isn\u2019t asking players to manufacture animosity. He\u2019s asking them to eliminate the artificial buffer that sometimes appears in practice\u2014when teammates subconsciously ease up because they know the opponent is wearing the same jersey.<\/p>\n
The Flyers don\u2019t have the luxury of being a team that can win on finesse alone. Their structure works when it\u2019s backed by urgency and contact. Their offense grows when their forecheck disrupts. Their defense stabilizes when they close early instead of containing late. Soft habits in practice leak into games, and Tocchet is working to plug it.<\/p>\n
Midseason can flatten a team. Schedules cram together, travel piles up, legs get heavy, and practices often turn into maintenance sessions rather than opportunities to sharpen. This week, the Flyers needed more than maintenance\u2014they needed friction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The response\u2014both in the drills and in how players talked afterward\u2014suggests Tocchet hit the right note.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the offseason here for the New York Yankees and other teams around Major League Baseball, there are plenty of factors that have to be considered.\u00a0 For the Yankees, what they want…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t