That's what Baseball America says.
Not one Yankeelet cracked the NYP League's Top 20 Prospects List. Not even Jeremy "Beautiful Hair" Bleich, the closest we have to a top pick, before he eventually undergoes obligatory TJ surgery.
One kid of ours made the Gulf Coast League's Top 20.
The Redsocks, meanwhile, kicked ass. Three in Gulf Coast League, two in NYP.
Some say it's just Baseball America's hatred of Yankees. Some say we'll rule in the higher levels. (Paging Jesus Montero.) Some say all these rankings are bullshit.
Wait a minute. Those last people... they're right. These rankings are bullshit.
And this is the best news we can get: Nobody worth hyping.
We've been hyping these bozos for 10 years, with not much to show for it. If a Yankee kid raises eyebrows, the hype blogathon kicks in, his underwear gets sold on eBay, and suddenly he's the second coming of Jeter or Jorge or Marinano... when he's actually the next Ricardo Aramboles.
Have we wondered how much damage we do to the teenage head when we make a kid famous before he hits Double A? Last year, Jose Tabata turned into Mariah Carey. Ian Kennedy got so full of himself that he couldn't even notice when he was getting bombed. And last spring, Phil Hughes didn't seem to think stardom would be difficult; he must have been reading all those syncopathic comments on his blog.
Nobody on Staten Island made the A list?
Good. Let them stay hungry this winter.
You don't grow a forest in a year. Last winter, when Santana became available, we backed the idea of keeping Melky, Kennedy and Hughes (though Alphonso raged his doubts.) We did it mostly because we felt the Twins wanted a double-standard: Two pounds from us, one pound from everybody else.
Well, maybe they weren't. Maybe we were just hung up on all the bullshit hype out there that turns Yankee prospects into rock stars before they sing a tune.
Well, we can't change ours now. We still think Hughes viable -- same with Brett Gardner -- though the others look like dice rolls.
Next year, we'll have Melancon and Humberto -- pillar of the Sheffield trade -- Coke, Aceves and maybe JB Cox. By mid-season, maybe Austin Jackson.
We're just hope the Yankees do NOT pull a Doug Drabek trade. Remember him? We touted him, pitched him, he sucked for a year, so we peddled his butt to Pittsburgh for Rick Rhoden. There, he became the best pitcher in baseball.
Let's NOT do this with Phil Hughes. Please, please, please...
If we didn't trade him when his value was highest, let's not trade him when his value is lowest...
Right now... down in the bottom... the cupboard's bare.
Good!
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3 comments:
Interesting.
I don't pay too much attention to those rankings, myself. They often overlook or don't pan out, as you mentioned. I think if our scouts honestly have confidence in the farm system, you have to let them pan out. In any case, according to the Yanks at least, the price for Santana was higher than Melky, Hughes, and Kennedy. Apparently it also included Wang and maybe Cano as well. Obviously, that would have looked absolutely brilliant following this season, but I still wouldn't have done it. Sign Sabathia this off-season and piece it together from there.
Well, that was a team filled with a bunch of halfway decent prospects, but nobody who really stood out.
Jeremy Bleich pitched 1 game there so that probably had a lot to do with him being left off the list. Also his arm is fine and he will not need TJ surgery.
Other guys to watch on that team are David Phelps, Addison Maruszak, David Adams, and Ray Kruml.
I think Maruszak has the best shot at moving through the system.
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