A Biased Look at the New York Yankees, the Greatest Franchise in the History of Sports
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Kevin Goldstein recently released his list of the top ten Yankees prospects in his latest Future Shock. Good, good stuff and you have to be happy with how the Yankees have restocked their farm system.
Phillip Hughes comes in at the number spot, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Hughes roughed up both High A and Double A hitting last year and he’s going to get to show his stuff at spring training this year. It’s a long shot, but you could be looking at your fifth starter, and he won’t turn 21 until closer to the end of April.
Rightfielder Jose Tabata comes in at number two. He’s still a couple of years away, which is fine because the corner outfield spots are full. Number three is the Yankees first round draft pick in 2006, Joba Chamberlain. He’s a big kid and you should expect him to start at High A.
Number four is Humberto Sanchez, who also could compete for the fifth spot in the rotation. Sanchez was the key player in the trade that sent Gary Sheffield to the Tigers and he was having a nice season at Triple A until he got shut down. One word of warning, and that’s that Sanchez came out of nowhere in 2006 so he could be a flash in the pan.
The final prognosis is that the Yankees have some great arms, but little depth out in the field. If given the choice though, I’d rather have the pitching depth then the pitching depth since it’s a lot tougher, and more expensive to obtain.
For a while, the Yankees haven’t had many bullets in the chamber when it comes to prospects. Trade deadline deal after trade deadline went down until the Yankees farm system was pretty much depleted. The only reason we didn’t further deplete the farm system in 2006 was because the Phillies were looking to dump Bobby Abreu’s salary so we got him for practically nothing.
Now, with two trades that have helped restock the Yankees minor league system, New York has some prospects worth keeping an eye on. In this article by Keith Law, the Yankees appear to be back and with guys like Philip Hughes and Jose Tabata waiting in the wings, the future for the Yankees looks pretty bright. In addition, with pickups like Humberto Sanchez and Ross Ohlendorf, the Tigers have some depth as well.
Good stuff and I think we’re getting someone to cover the Yankee’s minor league system in a blog. Should be a great daily read and I’ll let you know when it goes live.
Randy Levine and Brian Cashman are going to lead a delegation to Beijing, China next week. The ultimate goal is to eventually open a baseball academy in the Asian country, which the team hopes will bring a wealth of talent. China didn’t last very long in the World Baseball Classic but in 2008, Beijing will be hosting the summer Olympics, the last Olympics that will have baseball as a sport.
Tokyo and Okinawa are also stops that the Yankees front office is going to make. It if it means more good players in Yankee pinstripes, I’m all for it.
This isn’t a huge surprise, but Yankee Stadium will host the All Star game in 2008 in what will be the last season at the old ballpark. It looks like there’s a news conference set up to make it official next week.
Alberto Gonzalez, who was one of the prospects that the Yankees picked up in the Randy Johnson trade, was the centerpiece of a story at Baseball America. Solid stuff here and I like those numbers he put up at Double A last year. It looks like Gonzalez is more of a defensive replacement then a full time player though, unless he develops a little more power and patience.
Things have been pretty quiet on the Yankees front as of late. I’m hoping to get up a few more player retros at Yankees History to tide us all over until the Yankees announced that they’ve signed Clemens. In the meantime, here’s a great interview with journalist Michael Morrissey, who has a new book coming out in April. The book looks great and it’s “an inside look at the tradition and turmoil unique to the Yankees” from the perspective of the front office. The interview is a great read.
With the influx of minor league players since John Sickels published his original list, he’s now redone his list of top 20 Yankees prospects to reflect the players received in the Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson trade. The big addition is Humberto Sanchez, who now falls in at number three and has a B+ rating.
Minor league guru John Sickels provided his book entries for the three minor leaguers that the Yankees got in the Randy Johnson trade. All three have a C+ ranking which is pretty disappointing although he does call Steven Jackson a sleeper. If we get Clemens, I won’t be complaining if none of these three pan out.
The Yankees re-signed utility infielder Miguel Cairo to a one year deal yesterday. He’ll make $750,000 and he’ll provide a backup and every spot in the infield. He had a pedestrian year last year with the Yankees hitting .239 but he didn’t hit a single homerun.
With the signing, it looks more and more like Bernie Williams won’t be a part of the Yankees plans. I didn’t thing he’d be back for 2006 so I’m not going to dwell on it too much other then say I hope Bernie the best of luck. He was a key player in our four championships and that’s something I hope Yankee fans never stop appreciating.
This has been a weird offseason. I thought last year that the best two teams in the American League were the Yankees and the White Sox. Neither made it far and both have done more to bolster their farm system then they have to help out their 2007 team. The Yankees traded their second big name player and once again, they did it for prospects. The Yankees shipped Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks for reliever Luis vizcaino and three minor leaguers.
The three minorleaguers are Ross Ohlendorf, Steven Jackson and Albereto Gonzalez. Don’t know much about him, but we’re supposed to be getting someone to write about the Yankees minor league system so hopefully we’ll find out whether these guys are good or not. Then again, they could just be trading deadline fodder.
The good news is, you’d hope the Yankees wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t think they could ink Roger Clemens. He’d be the big catch, the boss just has to make it happen.
This has been a weird offseason. I thought last year that the best two teams in the American League were the Yankees and the White Sox. Neither made it far and both have done more to bolster their farm system then they have to help out their 2007 team. The Yankees traded their second big name player and once again, they did it for prospects. The Yankees shipped Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks for reliever Luis vizcaino and three minor leaguers.
The three minorleaguers are Ross Ohlendorf, Steven Jackson and Albereto Gonzalez. Don’t know much about him, but we’re supposed to be getting someone to write about the Yankees minor league system so hopefully we’ll find out whether these guys are good or not. Then again, they could just be trading deadline fodder.
The good news is, you’d hope the Yankees wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t think they could ink Roger Clemens. He’d be the big catch, the boss just has to make it happen.
Well, the Yankees didn’t solve their problem at first base, but they did sign a first baseman. Just kidding, sort of. Doug Mientkiewicz signed a one year, $1.5 million deal to play for the Yankees in 2007. You know Doug Mientkiewicz’s bill. He’s a no hit, good field first baseman who’s bounced around and he even took the 2004 World Series ball which makes him look good to Yankees fans. Oh, and that good fielding is more reputation because the last time he had a positive Fielding Runs Above Average was way back in 2003. He’s a career .270 hitter but he has a career .405 slugging. He does have a good eye though and he has a 377 walks versus 415 strikeouts in his career.
Plus this is the Yankees. If he’s not working out, we’ll get a better first baseman at the trade deadline. How many stud hitters do the Yankees actually need?
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