05/09 (Hamilton) Quickie

Josh Hamilton is on my fantasy team and yet I am near the bottom of the league standings -- I should take a lesson from the Rangers: Hitting is great, but great pitching matters just as much (particularly when you play in a 5x5 head-to-head league).

My favorite Hamiltonian stat: There have been fewer players (16) to hit 4 HR in a game than there have been perfect games (21).

Should the Rangers (over)pay him? When healthy, he is clearly worth the kind of money that has been given to Prince Fielder and Joey Votto. But he is 31, he averages less than 120 games per season and he's got some mileage on his baggage car.

I could see the Rangers being willing to give him more money per year for less years -- I could also see a team with cash and a sense of urgency giving him even more (if not for the Nats' brutal deal for Werth, they could have been huge players, I think).

The Rangers have a lot of money. They have a willingness to spend it. They have a wide-open window to try to win a championship. They have a triple crown contender in the lineup. What would you do?

More:

JaVale McGee: As a long-suffering Wizards fan, I am fairly expert at the inconsistency of McGee. Here's what you need to know: As the 6th-best player on a playoff team, he will thrive -- as an almost child-like knucklehead, he needs structure. Where he got into trouble in DC was that he was expected to be a franchise player, surrounded by no structure. He isn't a player worthy of being paid like a near-superstar. If a team makes that mistake, they will figure it out pretty quickly.

The Hawks and Bulls both push their series to Game 6: I could see both series going 7, which would at least make them interesting. No such luck for the Heat-Knicks.

NHL: The Devils roll on to the Eastern finals. I think the Eastern winner wins the Cup, and it's easy to envision the scorching Devils getting past a spent Caps-Rangers survivor.

Tonight's must-see: Caps-Rangers Game 6. Wish I could be at Verizon Center for that. I'll content myself screaming from the couch with my kids.

-- D.S.