Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Not long ago, we had a rollicking farm system. No more.

Last winter, rawboned OF Esteval Florial generally ranked among the top 5 prospects in the bubbling, gurgling Yankee wellspring. With high expectations, the lightning-legged Florial began 2018 at Class A Tampa, where he'd finished the previous summer. It wasn't pretty. He didn't hit, hurt his hand, missed two months, then returned for the Arizona Fall League and didn't hit again. You'd think he'd drop a notch or two in the updated rankings. Nope. He rose. Baseball America now ranks Florial the top Yankee prospect, over first runner-up, pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga, who showed promise in his MLB debut before hurting his shoulder, which is a thing for him.

Listen: I'm not ripping on Florial: he's only 21 and simply needs a break-out season. (That's the one-size-fits-all refrain of prospect-watchers: "needs a break-out season.") But remember that abundant Yankee farm system of 2017, the one that was going to resurrect the franchise? It's gone. We traded it for Todd Frazier, Sonny Gray, Zach Britton, Andrew McCutcheon, Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn, Brandon Drury and JA Happ. Check out the following chart, prepared by Fangraphs. Read it and weep:


Reread it and re-weep. It wasn't that long ago when we battled Atlanta for the top spot. Now, our Baseball America Top 10 list brims with Single A arms in their pre-Tommy John incarnations and fleet-footed outfielders in the Gulf Coast League, where everybody is a future star. 

Okay, I know what you're thinking: One reason why the Yankee system plummeted so far is that we elevated Gleyber Torres, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar and Luis Severino to the show. (By the way, none has yet proven a sure thing - with Bird and Sanchez facing murky futures.) Also, my list of trades conveniently left out David Robertson and Giancarlo Tartabull Stanton - valuable players with crapola contracts. They weren't all Sonny Grays. (And, hey, maybe we'll score a decent prospect for Sonny!)

But what saddens me is that, back in 2017, I thought the Yankees had finally turned the corner By combining their money advantage with a commitment to the farm system, we would have it both ways: A winning team and top tier system. We'd do it like all dynasties do - refresh our system by trading elders for prospects, and letting the kids compete in spring training. (Last spring, we did just that at 3B, and Miguel Andujar emerged as a potentially generational star.) But this year, instead of Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada, we'll see Troy Tulowitzi, age 34. 

Likewise, we'll be back to watching retreads in Scranton and even Trenton. And when holes emerge in the mothership - they always do - we will drain the system dry for more oldsters. I can already see Florial flying out the window for a half-season of a name I will someday add to the list of Yankee sighs. We have the 10th worst system in the majors, but more money than God. So... what are we going to do? Spend our money or bleed-out? 

16 comments:

  1. The only thing worse than throwing away almost all of the best prospects we had is what we got for them in return.

    Yeah, that Cashman is a fucking genius, ain't he?

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  2. I love "lightning-legged"!

    Yeah, I'm only amazed there are 9 systems below ours. Wow, they must really stink.

    You're right on the mark with this, Duque. I thought the same thing: great farm plus some judicious trades and free-agent acquisitions. The same formula the Holy Trinity made in forming The Last Dynasty.

    And maybe they could have done it. Not Cashman,

    Also, what nobody amongst the Knights of the Press Box or the front office seems to notice or care about is that nearly every farmhand who DID stay on took a giant step backward last year, injured or much worse, or both.

    Ah, well. I'm sure that Coops and co. have already identified another 30 or so, can't-miss 15-year-olds from the DR...

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  3. JOHN M.

    RIGHT ON.

    CASHMAN'S "GENIUS" IS BURYING US.

    ....AND NOW, HAL'S "CHEAPNESS" IS FINISHING US OFF.

    THIS OFF-SEASON HAS BEEN SO AWFUL, THAT EVEN THE METS HAVE CREATED MORE BUZZ AND EXCITEMENT THAN US...THE METS!!!

    AMAZINGLY, IT CAN BE REVERSED WITH 1 MOVE.

    SIGNING BRYCE.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Duque,

    "I'm not ripping on Florial: he's only 21 and simply needs a break-out season. (That's the one-size-fits-all refrain of prospect-watchers: "needs a break-out season.")

    So you are saying it's too late for him to be an Over-Nite Sensation?

    Other:

    I didn't realize how far the farm system dropped.

    The real problem isn't so much that they depleted the farm its that they didn't finish the job.

    The Yankees are set up to be a dominant team for the next five years. They built the farm graduated the good ones, and traded the potentials (albeit with mixed results on both ends of those trades) All they have to do now is spend. As ALL CAPS said, "AMAZINGLY, IT CAN BE REVERSED WITH 1 MOVE.SIGNING BRYCE."

    If they do that then I'm OK with a bad farm until all those international kids come up and make the next wave. But if they don't then they are idiots.

    Today I read in the post that the Phillies want to sign everyone even Trout it was an insane list. That should be our insane list.

    Doug K.

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  5. “We traded it for Todd Frazier, Sonny Gray, Zach Britton, Andrew McCutcheon, Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn, Brandon Drury and JA Happ.”

    That is possibly the most damning sentence I have read on this blog in weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 13,

    Yeah but to be fair... Some trades were better than others.

    "The Yankees acquired former All-Star closer David Robertson, former All-Star third baseman Todd Frazier and reliever Tommy Kahnle from the White Sox for prized outfield prospect Blake Rutherford, veteran reliever Tyler Clippard, minor-league pitcher Ian Clarkin and outfielder Tito Polo."

    I don't know what Rutherford will turn out to be so I can't say that it was great trade but without Frazier, Robertson and Kahnle the Yankees don't get within one game of the World Series that year. So that one looks like a win.

    Zach Britton : "The deal sends right-handed starter Dillon Tate, left-handed starter Josh Rogers and righty reliever Cody Carroll" I have no idea if these guys pan out. But hardly our top-shelf. Plus they got to see Britton and liked him enough to sign as a FA.

    Mc Cutch: "Abiatal Avelino and right-hander Juan De Paula. Avelino was rated as the Yankees' No. 23 prospect by MLB Pipeline, while De Paula slotted in at No. 26. This one might hurt eventually given that he was a rental.

    Jamie Garcia: For Double-A right-hander Zack Littell and Triple-A lefty Dietrich Enns, the Yankees announced on Sunday. Meh all around.

    Lance Lynn for Tyler Austin. Tyler was never going to get it done here. (or probably anywhere) but he got enough chances with NY.

    JA Happ (Brandon Drury) : This one is scary!

    Infielder Brandon Drury has been traded to Toronto along with Triple-A outfielder Billy McKinney. McKinney could be a big loss.

    We traded Drury came at the price of two prospects, with infielder Nick Solak going to the Rays and right-hander Taylor Widener shipped to Arizona. Solak (No. 8) and Widener (No. 14) were listed among New York's Top 15 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, and both players had been participating in big league camp.

    So this seems like the worst trade of the lot. Then again, We don't make the playoffs last year without Happ.

    Doug K.

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  7. I forgot to add that the crime isn't the trades as much as not finishing the job by getting Corbin, Harper, and Machado. Or any combination of them.

    Doug K.

    ReplyDelete
  8. They're not even pretending they want to win.

    ReplyDelete
  9. From today's daily news

    Matthews: Cheapskate Yanks introduce another free agent not named Manny or Bryce.

    Even this toady is pissed.

    Doug K.

    ReplyDelete
  10. And in today's NY Post, Ken "The Douche" Davidoff was screaming for the Yankees to sign Harper. For once, he is correct.

    ReplyDelete
  11. MLB Network gives Harper no chance be of signing with us. Look out.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah, you know you're screwing up when even the morons in the press ox think so.

    Harper Harper Harper.

    ReplyDelete
  13. If the Yanks sign Machado, we're looking at the first team that will have 6 infielders and 2 outfielders defensively. Could you imagine all the different alignments...overshift, undershift, double-shift? Looks like a new way to outsmart the opposition.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yeah, ranger_lp, that's a really scary thought, given that our illustrious "manager" doesn't do arith-Ma-ticky too well.

    You got it, John M, combined with all-caps. LB (No J)

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  15. Cashman has been very lucky so far, in that almost everyone he has dealt away has shown very little.

    But as is often said here, in this fount of baseball wisdom, that could change in an instant. If even two or three of these guys have decent major-league careers, these trades will all be a big, net bust.

    And if they don't...well, that's weird, too, isn't it? Does it mean that our mighty farm system was a charade all along?

    ReplyDelete

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