The good Joel Sherman made an appearance yesterday, with an article detailing the Yankee shift in philosophy toward developing talent from within, comparing and contrasting it with his beloved Mets. While this isn’t news to anyone who’s followed the team closely since Cash took over the Baseball ops in 2006, it’s still a worthwhile read. But here’s the part I found most interesting:
So do the Yankees turn inward or do they use farm depth to try to find younger alternatives to areas of need through trade? Cashman, in fact, said he has tried to point the organization toward the model of the mid-1990s when the Yankees had a substantial volume of prospects from which to make trades. He cited having, for example, two high-end young lefties such as Sterling Hitchcock and Pettitte, believing Pettitte was the better long-term gamble and using Hitchcock to obtain Tino Martinez in his prime.
The Yankees feel they have strong depth in catcher with Cervelli, Montero, Romine and recent Dominican sign Gary Sanchez. They like left-handed setup men Coke and Mike Dunn. They like right-handed setup men Mark Melancon and David Robertson. Cabrera, Gardner and Jackson all are center fielders. Pena, Reggie Corona and Kevin Russo project as borderline infield starters or utilitymen.
The Yanks have depth in the farm at certain positions, not so much in others. So now the question becomes who do we keep and who do we trade? Let’s go position by position through the Yankee farm depth chart. Obviously Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes will draw much attention from the 25 man roster as well. Since minor leaguers will often change positions to suit the needs of the club, I’ll condense the positions that are interchangeable in the minors and highlight positions of depth and the players I want to keep:
Catcher-Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Gary Sanchez
First Base/Third Base-Juan Miranda, Eric Duncan, Chris Malec, Cody Ransom
Second Base/Shortstop-Ramiro Pena, Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez, Doug Bernier
Outfielders-Austin Jackson, Shelly Duncan, John Rodriguez, Colin Curtis
Starting Pitchers-Ian Kennedy, Ivan Nova, Zachary McCallister, Manny Banuelos, George Kontos, Andrew Brackman, Dellin Betances, Jeremy Bleich
Relief Pitchers-Jon Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, Mark Melancon, Dave Robertson, Mike Dunn, Anthony Claggett, Wilkins DeLaRosa, Zack Kroenke
Infielders of any kind is something we just don’t have very much of, so if the Blue Jays need a SS as reported, then we just don’t have a match who projects to be an everyday player. But they’re also looking for a Catcher, and that’s our deepest position in the minors. If I’m Brian Cashman, I don’t give up an elite prospect like Montero unless he’s the centerpiece of the deal, with filler surrounding him. Catchers who can hit are one of the most sought-after commodities in baseball. Hughes and Joba fall into my A+ category as well. For a pitcher like Halladay, I’ll give up one of them, but will not combine them in packages as so many have floated. Multiple A+ prospects is what Omar Minaya gave up for Bartolo Colon, and it’s generally considered one of the worst trades in history.
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Your list of prospects leaves out a few names that might have some trade appeal, such as Eduardo Nunez at Trenton. Like Ramiro Pena, he showed well in the WBC this spring and opened some eyes. You left off Reegie Corona, too, although he was good enough to draw Rule 5 interest last off season. There are other pitchers, both starters (Jeremy Bleich, Lance Pendleton) and relievers (Grant Duff) who could be added to the list. (BTW, cross of Kontos, who just underwent Tommy John surgery; also, since Kennedy has not yet returned from his surgery, he would draw no interest at this point.)
These weren’t necessarily trade chips, just examining depth from an organizational standpoint. I will add a few of your guys though, and thanks.
At this point, I still have a VERY hard time letting Hughes, Montero or Joba go. I also have another argument to this equation: to get Halladay, we’d have to give up a significant piece of the current team to get him unless we went with Jesus Montero. Sure, Halladay is better than both Hughes and Joba right now but he’d simply be replacing Joba and would they dare send Pettite to the bullpen if they traded Hughes for him?
This could be a big problem as you’d screw Joba once again if you don’t let him get to his innings limit and place him in the bullpen in the Hughes being traded scenario.
very cool article, Steve. I forgot about that Minaya trade and looked it up when you mentioned it. Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips were all in that deal – and he was taking on Colon’s salary – and Colon is awful – wow.
I bet Cash keeps a lot of the players. I think he has come to appreciate the value of a good bench. The Yankees in the 90′s had a very good bench with guys like Leyrtiz, Gerald Williams, Homer Bush that were home grown while the recent bench up to this year has been terrible. Having guys like Gardner and Pena (while not stars) give the mangager a lot of flexibility late in the game that is bound to pay off.
Why include players like Shelly Duncan (who I like) and Colin Curtis in the depth chart when they can easily be found off waiver lists and in free agency.
Even a kid like Pena who did a nice job, what’s his upside? utility player or starter on a bad team?
Yankees have better prospects like Kelvin Deleon and Medchill
who I wouldn’t want to give up.
If you have kids in low A and the Rookie and INTL leagues with a lot of projection why worry about mediocre players in your depth chart?
Additionally the Minor league pitching is pretty deep and giving up a few of the secondary guys wouldn’t make us miss a beat.
No, I wouldn’t give up a Left handed reliever like Mike Dunn or a Wilkens DeLa Rosa but guys like CLaggert, Whelan and a lot of the others are a dime a dozen.
Even a kid like Bleich wouldn’t be a huge loss.He doesn’t look like he’s going ot be anything more than a #4-5 in 2-3 years and is a good chip.
Do Betances or Brackman have any value? Ian Kennedy?
I’d make a deal for HAlladay because this is not a young team and there’s a real chance to win it all this year with him but keep in mind, you’d have to let Pettitte and Wang leave next season to afford him.
Not that there’s anything wrong with:
#1- HAlladay
#1a- CC
#2-AJ
#4-Joba
#5-Hughes
We could beat some teams with that rotation too.
By the way they love Higiashioka at catcher also.
Problem is, none of these guys have any value at all. A guy can tear up the low minors before getting to AA and realizing he can’t hit a curve to save his life. Mike Dunn and De La Rosa aren’t really any more valuable than a guy you can get in the Rule V draft. Betances and Brackman are reclaimation projects and therefore don’t really have any value either. De Leon is the only guy in there that might possibly be worth anything and he’s so far away that he’d just be a really nice throw in. Basically, you’re saying that we should trade Montero (as you kept Joba and Hughes in your rotation) who is our only real power prospect for a starting pitcher which is what we’re deep in. I just can’t agree with that
Give up your Halladay dreaming as it will never happen. Beside the Yankees need a young left handed bat more going forward.
I don’t agree.
Both Dunn and DeLa Rosa are left handed future relievers who can get it up there in Phil Coke territory (low to mid 90′s) which is plenty to be an effective Left handed reliever.Those are VERY hard to come by and very necessary in Yankee stadium.