Comment of the day, from ZacharyA...
Do you all remember the 2014 international spending spree? Quick recap from Baseball America:
>Other teams have broken their bonus pools, and other teams have spent big money on international amateur talent before the bonus pool era, but no team has ever done what the Yankees did last year. From the opening of the 2014-15 international signing period on July 2 through the end of the calendar year, the Yankees spent more than $17 million on international players subject to the bonus pools. With a $2.19 million bonus pool to start and a 100 percent overage tax for demolishing their pool, the Yankees will be paying around $30-$35 million (and counting) between bonuses and taxes.
I was looking at BA's minor-league free agent lists published this morning and saw some familiar names. So I decided to check up on where all the top Yankee free agent signings from that period are today. Beware. You may want to look away.
Antonio Arias (out of baseball since 2018)
Jonathan Amundaray (released in 2018, out of baseball)
Lisandro Blanco (out of baseball since 2018)
Leobaldo Cabrera (now in the Twins minor league system)
Diego Castillo (now in the Pirates minor league system)
Frederick Cuevas (never made it to the majors, now free agent)
Juan De Leon (never made it to the majors, now free agent)
Brayan Emery (out of baseball since 2018)
Miguel Flames (released in June 2019)
Estevan Florial (hey he's still here, but has big issues to iron out in the minors)
Griffin Garabito (out of baseball since 2018)
Dermis Garcia (never made it to the majors, now free agent)
Wilkerman Garcia (never made it to the majors, now free agent)
Nelson Gomez (now 23 years old and still in Rookie ball)
Jason Lopez (never made it to the majors, now free agent)
Erick Mendez (minor-league free agent, hasn't played since 2019)
Leonardo Molina (minor league free agent, hasn't played since 2019)
Raymundo Moreno (hasn't played since 2019, never made it out of rookie ball)
Pablo Olivares (now 23, still in Single-A, hasn't developed as hoped)
Hoy Jun Park (now in the Pirates minor league system)
Danienger Perez (.229/.285/.327 minor-league hitter, out of the game since 2019)
Miguel Yajure (6.14 ERA in the majors, now in Pirates minor league system)
What a disaster. And Ronald Acuña Jr. was available that July, but he was the one guy to slip through their fingers.
Also, because of the 2014-2015 spending spree, the Yankees were banned from spending big in the subsequent international signing period. And of course in that signing period, players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, and Yordan Alvarez were available.
I don't know how you can follow this team without drinking.
Again, what makes you think we DON'T drink? Or that the excuse for following the 21st-century Yankees is not that it gives us a good reason to drink?
ReplyDeleteBut really, thanks, Zach, that is very informative and truly pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI keep saying—but somehow, no one listens!—that the whole 16-year-old signing thing is preposterous. But beyond that, doesn't failure this big display a preposterous lack of ability by the Yanks' talent assessors? Shouldn't heads roll—and better appraisers of horse flesh be brought in?
Don’t forget we got this started in 2004, when they stole Jose Contreras from the Red Sox!
ReplyDeleteWe need to revamp the scouting system. The FO is focusing on getting the best "fantasy players" based on metrics not firing the people that should be fired, the scouts.
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste of International money purse. But after the CBA, the International players will be drafted instead so we can find new ways to fuck up getting good talent.
ReplyDeleteI can't really empathize with Hal Steinbrenner. He has money enough that he could buy and sell a guy like me 500,000 times - with big bux left over.
But if an owner sees results like this (and you all know there are a lot of results like this, as in signing pitchers who don't pitch very well, catchers who can't catch, hitters who only pull the ball, folks who get injured at the drop of a hat -- and such) --
. . . can you blame him for pulling the $$$ reins in on his management team?
I can only blame him for not firing the GM. Who was the GM back in 2014, anyway?
I do understand how difficult it is with young players and to project how a kid leaving high school will develop is difficult enough but a 16 year old player is even more of a lottery
ReplyDeleteHowever maybe this is a stupid idea but look at the teams who regularly draft well in the draft and international draft and offer their scouts and analytics team a job with the Yankees for more money
One way of using our financial advantage that doesn't affect the precious luxury tax barrier
Again apologies if this is a stupid idea
Don't worry, this will all be rectified when the Martian is a perennial All-Star starting in 2023.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I remain a Yankee fan and I have never stopped drinking, I only limit it to days that end in "y".
Mission accomplished.
ReplyDeleteIt's not stupid at all, Scotland! I've been saying this for years!
ReplyDeleteIn what other business do you keep on the management team of a company that constantly underperforms? And yes, how hard is it to simply look at the track records of who has done well and hire them away???
Apparently, too hard for HAL.
Wait a minute......this blog began because of a bunch of Yankee fans sitting around drinking.....it's the only way.
ReplyDelete