Down on the farm
What does everyone think about the Yankees minor league system?
It was barren a couple years ago but now appears to be gaining strength.
The AAA team last year was pretty barren of prospects. No position player was really anything to get excited about. Sardinha made a late season debut and played fairly well but he is a 4th OF at best.
This year AAA has a chance to have some real good prospects. Hughes, Clippard, Duncan, Cox, Beam, Rasner, Karstens. AA could also have a good team.
The one worry is that most of the Yankees young talent has not done a lot above AA and the jump from A ball to AA and then AAA are big stepping stones. Many A ball players that have great numbers fizzle out against the more mature competition in AAA ball. This is especially true for pitchers.
The Yankees have drafted very well in the last 2 drafts because they have the luxury of getting 1st round talent in the later rounds because they have the money for big time signing bonuses.
Should the Yanks hold onto this talent or trade it away for established players? The idea is whenever you can get guys that have proven themselves at the major league level as opposed to a guy that may one day impress at the major league level, you go after the established player. Look at the Abreu and Knoblauch trades.
I would give the Yankees a B+ for their farm system. If they continue to develop guys like they have and draft like they have they could have an A type system in a couple years. The big issue will be when guys are ready for the bigs and there are guys waiting at AA/AAA, what do the Yankees do? The Yankees will never re-build so how do the Yankees get a guy like Eric Duncan who in a couple years will hopefully be ready at age 23 to be a major league type player. Trade him or take the risk he may be only an average 1B in the majors?
As a Yankees fan I sometimes think the Yanks should maybe rebuild for a year here and there. I have said it before. If the Yanks can rebuild in 2007 and position themselves to be great for 5 years I rather do that than be very good for 10 years but not win anything. The Yanks need to get younger and hungrier and young talent can do that. It will be interesting to see what the Yanks do next year. Give Hughes a shot out of spring training? Clippard, Karstens, Beam, Rasner, where do they fit? I guess it is a good problem to have.
A mixture of all star talent with young hungry talent is the way to go. The Tigers, Marlins, Twins, etc. have all proved that the last few years.
Mr. Tabata. Will he be the next Sammy Sosa (minus the corked bat and steroids) or the next Gregg Jeffries?
Stevereno
