Chad Jennings of LoHud inspired this piece after reading his Ones That Got Away article on Saturday. On the heels of the Jesus Montero deal, one can’t help but wonder what the Yanks would look like if they never embarked on making bold moves like that, ones where they give up significant talent in order to fill a need on the 25 man roster. This list represents the best players currently playing in the major leagues who came up through the Yankee system. Of course, baseball is a game of adjustments and its difficult to say if a player who found success elsewhere would have done the same here. Someone with the talent level of a Jesus Montero will likely succeed anywhere. But Tyler Clippard? A seemingly small adjustment can make all the difference for someone like him. In a recent segment on MLBN Ian Kennedy credited working with his pitching coach on a small mechanical adjustment to his strong 2011 campaign. On the Yanks, we’ve seen firsthand how much impact Kevin Long has had on players, most notably Curtis Granderson. Would that have happened elsewhere? Hard to say.
In any case, I wanted to see what the roster might look like had the Yankees made no free agent signings and no deals since Brian Cashman took over baseball ops in 2005. I’m restricting my list to players the Yankees drafted, so someone like SS Alberto Gonzalez (acquired in the 2nd Randy Johnson deal) or Wilson Betemit (traded for Scott Proctor) won’t make the team. With that out of the way, here’s your all homegrown 2012 Yankees:
LINEUP (in no particular order)
CF Brett Gardner
RF Melky Cabrera
1B Shelly Duncan
C Jesus Montero
3B Brandon Laird
LF Jose Tabata
DH Jorge Vazquez (or Juan Miranda)
2B Robinson Cano
SS Derek Jeter
Bench Austin Jackson, Eduardo Nunez, Frankie Cervelli
ROTATION
RHP Ian Kennedy
RHP Ivan Nova
RHP Arodys Vizcaino
RHP Phil Hughes
RHP Hector Noesi (Joba Chamberlain)
BULLPEN
RHP Mariano Rivera
RHP David Robertson
RHP Mark Melancon
RHP Alfredo Aceves
LHP Mike Dunn
LHP Phil Coke
RHP Tyler Clippard
The bullpen looks strong, but the lineup looks like something out of the 1970′s. The rotation has some upside, but you would need a good amount of luck for that starting 5 to be championship caliber this year. Since I know you’re all wondering, the projected payroll for the all homegrown 2012 Yankees would be 72.43M. I would think Joba would be a starter on this team and when healthy would have taken the place of Noesi. So I didn’t assign him a set rotation spot, but did count his salary.
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24 Responses to The All-Homegrown 2012 Yankees
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TIQ IQ
Could anyone run projections on how many runs this team would score and what the team ERA would be? Maybe even a projected win total for the group? Thanks in advance.
Using last year’s numbers and the most recent MLE’s for Montero, Vazquez, and Laird, the best lineup that could be put together with those nine players theoretically scores 745 runs a year, which actually isn’t bad (fifth best in the AL last year). 122 runs fewer than this team scored in 2011 though.
It stands to reason that a team based on players drafted by the Yanks wouldn’t be too good, because the Yanks generally didn’t get high draft picks.
Another interesting question is just how good Yankee trades have been. One might be able to see how the actual team compares against a Yankee team that assumes no trades had been made, but which inclueds free agent signings.
True, and if they were playing in a league where everyone played by the same rules then the Red Sox wouldn’t be nearly as good, and the Rays would probably be the class of the division.
Posts like this illustrate the absolute necessity of making deals. This team is stacked in the bullpen, has an extra starter and ridiculously weak at 3B and DH.
Well, that team would suck.
Also, why would Cano and Jeter be hitting 8 and 9, behind the likes of Melky, Shelley Duncan, Jorge Vazquez and Brandon Laird?
The lineup and rotation are in no particular order. I will throw up an edit to clarify that.
I imagine the actual lineup would look something like this.
CF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
2B Robinson Cano
C Jesus Montero
RF Melky Cabrera
LF Jose Tabata
DH Jorge Vazquez (or Juan Miranda)
1B Shelly Duncan
3B Brandon Laird
That’s about right, though Duncan should be higher and the DH should be lower. Shelly did a nice job for the Indians last year, although as a part time player.
Yeah 7 and 8 are very interchangable. Looking at Shelley’s numbers he likely does get the nod over the unknown, but likely bad Vazquez. Laird is for sure number 9 though, he has a lot of holes in his swing like Jorge but less power potential.
This team would get destroyed. Thank god for trades and free agency.
To be fair, in this fictional league everyone else would be playing by the same rules. So the Red Sox would be far weaker, the Blue Jays wouldn’t have Bautista, etc. Also, the Yanks wouldn’t be the powerhouse they are, and would have bad years where they draft higher and secure high end talent. So its a totally different world, with too many variables to account for.
How about this all homegrown-lineup for 2015-16. Pretty nice speed/power/contact balance.
Mason Williams CF
Claudio Custodio SS
Robbie Cano 2B
Gary Sanchez C
Dante Bichette Jr 3B
Ravel Santana RF
Tyler Austin 1B
Slade Heathcott LF
JR Murphy DH
Bench:
Cito Culver
Jose Rosario
Ramon Flores
I would argue between Sanchez and Murphy Sanchez is much more likely to be the DH. If Murphy’s bat plays at the major league level he should be able to find himself a position, between C, 3B, and OF he has options and ability in the field.
Closer: Mariano Rivera.
Like you’d bet against it.
I’m starting to believe more and more this will be Mo’s last year. I had originally thought he would sign back up for one more year, but it seems like he’s starting to feel his time may be passing. I don’t think he ever wants to get to where he can’t play up to his own expectations, or the Yankees are asking him to step away. Going out on top of his game seems to really be Rivera’s style.
It’d be great to get him one last ring to ride off into the sunset with, or maybe even make his decision to retire a little bit harder with thoughts of a repeat.
Hey T.O. Chris,
I actually sent you an email yesterday; just wanted to make sure you received it.
Talk soon,
Larry
Well, nothing’s especially likely going out that far. But I do like Murphy a lot — more than Heathcott, for instance. And I’m hoping he will be part of tthe mix.
Corban Joseph might be a sleeper too. All those doubles a good sign.
What about Jose Contreras and Ted Lilly?
They won in the 70′s (middle-late 70′s, anyway) make it more like the 80′s.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1978.shtml
Take another look at those championship teams. Lou Pinella/Roy White in LF, Mickey Rivers in CF. 1B Chambliss hit 17 HRs in 1977 and 12 in 1978. It was a different world. 6 of the 9 everyday players in 77 and 78 had an OPS below .800.
Yankee fans today would cry bloody murder if you fielded teams like that. Back then they were good enough to win 100 games back to back years.
No Nick the Stick at 1B?
These days the stick is a crutch.
Nick Johnson didn’t play in the bigs last year. He signed a minor league deal, and then didn’t perform in AAA. He’s done.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsni01.shtml
Ted Lilly and Alfredo Aceves were never drafted by Yankees. Where’s future Bullpen and Rotation?