From Joel Sherman:
So who knows what happens when their two best pitching prospects, Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances, begin throwing in spring, particularly in light of the Yanks’ hunger for quality starting pitching.
However, for now, GM Brian Cashman is firm that Banuelos and Betances are not part of major league plans for 2011 either out of spring training or during the season.
“They shouldn’t be caught up in our major league problems,” Cashman told me. Translation: No matter how short the rotation might be, it is not up to two inexperienced pitchers to solve the mess caused by Cliff Lee’s rejection and Andy Pettitte continued defection. Banuelos and Betances have each made three career starts at Double-A, which is the highest level they have attained. Both had injuries last year that severely restricted their workload. So you can expect that the Yanks will institute an innings cap not much above 130 – if that high. With that the case, it would be hard to begin or end the year with either Banuelos or Betances in the rotation. In addition, Cashman stressed that Banuelos is just 19 (he turns 20 next month).
Neither pitcher is entirely ready for the majors, although Keith Law believes that Banuelos is very close. That said, I can already see how spring training will play out if either guy performs well. People will see the hotshot prospect throwing heaters next to Freddy Garcia’s soft-tossing and Bartolo Colon’s waistline and will suggest that the Yankees go with the young arm in the rotation. While that would be the more exciting and interesting decision, Cashman is right to be opposed to any such move.
Handing a major league job to a pitcher who has yet to see significant time in AA is a recipe for disaster. The Yankees would likely see marginal gain at best from starting the prospect over the veteran, and there is a distinct possibility that the prospect would be awful and actually cost the team more than Freddy Garcia might. Additionally, there is a nonzero chance that rushing the prospect into the rotation would stunt his development and cost the Yankees a valuable asset.
Showing patience with prospects is incredibly difficult, particularly when the alternatives are guys who were last effective 3 or 4 seasons ago. But building a farm system requires a deft hand, as pushing players too quickly or moving them along too slowly could upset the delicate balance of talent and health that goes into building a professional baseball player. When it comes to Banuelos and Betances, having them start the season in the majors would be a poor decision built upon desperation, and could very well hurt the franchise in the long run. Hopefully Brian Cashman remains steadfast in his opposition to rushing these pitchers, and they develop into excellent pitchers at their own pace.
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6 Responses to Cash Preaches Patience With Prospects
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TIQ IQ
Keep them in the minors. Don’t make the same (Joba) mistake again. Also don’t trade them, show REAL patience.
Ideally, Banuelos and Betances both get one more MiL season to polish the FB command and work on the off-speed stuff. Whether the Yanks make the post-season or not will not hinge on the success of these 2 excellent prospects.
Should the old, disposable re-treads like Garcia, Prior, and Colon FAIL to stick around, the “pressure” will fall on a deep and interesting AAA staff before it touches Banuelos or Betances.
Lets just say that a whole lot of guys would have to be very ineffective before Cash thinks of calling AA.
I don’t know where I first read it, but I do recall Bill James writing about it in the 80′s: promote young hitters as quickly as possible, but young arms should be handled with extreme caution. (In a similar vein is the old saw ‘young pitchers will break your heart’).
Take a lot of time with the 3 B’s, (tho’ limiting their MiLB innings throughout the year might make one of them useful down the stretch a la Ford, Stottlemyre, etc), but give Montero 500 PAs in the majors this year.
I think Joba’s problems have less to do with being promoted and more to do with an erratic motion and lack of conditioning-they did keep his innings down.
I do believe Brackman should be allowed to work his way to the majors this year if he deserves it, he has pitched about 80 innings of double a ball and he has the least upside of the 3 and I believe he is also the oldest.
Joba was never aloud to pitch in triple A, he had maybe 3 starts and they were shortened to convert him to the pen. If he had been aloud to actually have a full year or more I don’t know developing in the minors he maybe could have been coached up on his mechanics in a less stressed filled enviorment and been given strict workout regiments in order to see major league time.
Let’s not act like the Yankees don’t have plenty of hand in making Joba who he is today, he owes himself a hell of a lot more than he gave but the Yankees did him no favors to ensure a team with no WS chance made the playoffs a year before out playoff miss.
Has everybody forgotten about the other pitchers in Triple-A?? It seems like it’s a foregone conclusion in some people’s minds that if (when) Garcia, Colon, and Mitre (and maybe Nova) bomb, the Yankees are going to automatically turn to the Killer Bs and rush them up.
What about Hector Noesi? What about David Phelps? These are guys that have performed incredibly well at every level of the Minors and have thrown plenty of innings in Triple-A last year (each over 158 IP in 2010). If the Yanks need starters, they would be wise to turn to these kids first.
With the lineup and bullpen they have, the Yankees aren’t going to need people to come into the back end of the rotation and light the world on fire. They just need guys who can keep them afloat and bridge the gap to the time when the Killer Bs will be ready. Noesi and Phelps can be those guys. And who knows? Maybe they come up and have more success than anticipated and the Yankees find another potential future rotation piece there.
Who assumes they will turn to the B’s?
Almost 90% of the people on the TheyankeeU want no part of Banuelos or Betances in the major leagues this year, for the most part I have seen nothing but people expecting Noesi, Stoneburner, Phelps and Warren to get a chance at some point this season and many expect them to do fairly well. I would also like to see Brackman pitch this year on the major league team but he really has no other choice because he is on the 40 man (and next year won’t be able to be sent down) and he is the oldest of the 3, other than him however no one around here wants the other 2 B’s anywhere but double and triple A.