It's prospects ranking season, and for the Yankees, the early results show ups and downs

For baseball news, late January is the doldrums, the time of table-scraps. The monster free agents have signed, and the remainders are digging in, playing chicken, waiting for spring training injuries to juice the market. Frankly, it's amazing that last year's NL Cy Young winner remains unsigned, while the Yankees - claiming to be "all in on 2024," despite a dearth of pitchers - seem to be in a full thumb-twiddle, waiting for camp Tampa to open. 

Time is frozen, as the sports world watches - seriously - Buffalo?

So, how do Yank fans and MLB news munchkins fill this void? By pouring over lists of prospects, ranked, firewalled and released in slow teases, like dancers at the Bada Bing. Such icons as Baseball America and MLB.com have begun measuring the prospects of measuring prospects. Soon, the bloggers will join in, basing their rankings on other rankings, as the industry lines up mirrors to reflect each other. This creates a massive news turd-burger, which falls somewhere in meaning behind the Golden Globe awards and the SI swimsuit edition. 

(I must sadly note yesterday's apparent passing of Sports Illustrated, the sports mag of my youth, shredded and bled by some faceless new asshole billionaire. As a kid, every trip to my Uncle Paul's house meant securing a corner couch and pouring through SI. Later, my dad gave me a subscription, mostly so he could read it. Another one bites the dust, eh? Nothing lasts forever. Still, in a perfect world, we should be awaiting Kathy Ireland in a ballcap and little more. Instead... prospect rankings? Shoot me.)

So... PROSPECT RANKINGS, EVERYBODY! Hey, here are some takeaways...

1. The Yankees landed six on Baseball America's Top 100 - (Spencer Jones, Jasson Dominquez, #16; Spencer Jones, #47; Everson Pereira, #67; Roderick Arias, #68; Austin Wells, #71; Chase Hampton, #72.) Not bad. Tied for the most in baseball. The problem: Both Tampa and Baltimore also landed six each, and theirs generally come in higher than ours. Not quibbling. Just saying. 

2. The Yankees whiffed on MLB's  Top 10 catching prospects list. (MLB is releasing scattered position-by-position rankings.) Wells didn't make it, despite having a clear path to a 2024 platoon catching slot. The Yankees protected two young catchers on their 40 man roster - Carlos Narvarez (age 25, who hit .239 across three levels last year) and Augustin Ramirez (age 22, who hit .271 across three levels). Neither is ready. Frankly, for all their high draft picks and top international signings - a theme of the 2010s - the Yankees showed little success in developing catchers.   

3. The Yankees also whiffed on MLB's Top 10 list at 1B. This isn't as bad as it sounds, because if Wells doesn't cut it behind the plate, he might move to first. (Assuming he hits.) Three years from now, Aaron Judge will probably be our first-baseman, so you could argue that we don't need to grow our own. Still, it's nice to watch a stud corner infielder through the system. Maybe somebody will emerge. (Ben Rice, age 24, out of Dartmouth, who hit .324 with 20 HRs over three levels.) For now, though, we're sucking air down there.

4. Guess what - more shutouts in the top 10 lists for RH and LH pitchers. For whatever it's worth, Drew Thorpe - whom we traded for Juan Soto, didn't make the RH list. Not sure what this means, because these days, it seems as if every young pitcher is ticketed for Tommy John surgery. The key is having a large wave of arms, and letting the Fates whittle them down. On that note, the Yankees this winter have traded or lost nine young pitchers. Strength in numbers? Hard to see it.  We better hope for good health. In the meantime, Bada Bing.