You look at the Yankee farm system, where top prospects go to Trenton and vanish like 1980s kids on milk cartons, and you wonder what's wrong? Last spring, we finally unveiled a legitimate impact rookie - Dellin Betances - and he was 28. (Shane Greene, who arrived later, and we subsequently traded, was 25.) Meanwhile, the Redsock machine pumps out 21-year-olds.
Of course, Boston last year - as a team - crapped the bed. By August, they were running a liquidation sale and eyeing 2015. This week, Buster Olney of ESPN rates them as the best starting lineup in the AL East - if not MLB. (The Yankees rank 10th.)
Yeah, it's just a January crapola rating, done to get clicks. But blogs of the Yankiverse go gobble-gobble-gobble about our Slade Heathcotts and Mason Williamses while acting oblivious to what the other systems are producing. Next season, Boston will not only add the Tubby Twins, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, but Mookie Betts, (age 22), Xander Bogartes (22), Blake Swihart (22 - a catcher and their best prospect, according to Baseball America) and the guy we should fear the most, OF Rusney Castillo (27, from Cuba.)
Last summer, the Yankees could have signed Castillo, but we were waddling in our diapers, chasing the final one-game wild card slot. We spent millions on Martin Prado - a fine player (who also cost us a solid prospect, Pete O'Brien), Now, we've flipped Prado for Nathan Eovaldi, who might be a RH tonic, or might be a headcase. But if Castillo becomes a star in Boston, we will counter with the Antiques Roadshow of Carlos Beltran and ex-Mighty Met Chris Young - he of the .211 batting club. Good luck with that, everybody. Meanwhile, Heathcott and Williams will be somewhere in Trenton. Look for them on your next quart of 2 percent.
Hal Steinbrenner likes to say the Yankees compete for a championship every year, and we will never retool, the way Boston shamefully did last season. OK, fine. But Hal damn well better be prepared to spend more money than Boston - or anybody else, for that matter - otherwise, it's just a stupid policy.
And when you look at the people atop the organizations, well, it just doesn't seem fair...
We've simply tooled. We have the same tools on the field as we had last year. We signed and traded for some lugnuts. And the same tools are running the joint as last year.
ReplyDeleteMakes a person angry enough to want to go listen to Tool.