I'm thinking the winter of 2011, when Cashman traded (the late) Jesus Montero to Seattle for Michael Pineda, a swap that boiled the Yankiverse like an atmospheric asteroid. It was a trade of great future stars. Montero - (as soon as he learned to catch) - would surely become a great slugger, and Pineda, was a Cy Young-in-waiting.
Then, they both went kaput.
Montero showed up in Mariners' camp 30 pounds overweight. He eventually earned the nickname "Ice Cream Sandwich," on his way to a four-year career of a measly 28 home runs.
Pineda promptly hurt his elbow and missed the next two years, including the 2013 season of Overbay & Pronk. He was never the same. In four seasons with the Yankees, he went 31-31 with an ERA of 4.16.
To this day, Cashman still seeks his "Great White Whale" - the ace who propels the Yankees to a world championship.
Which brings us to now - this winter - when Cashman might just top the Montero trade.
The Yankees' two best positional prospects - outfielders Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones - will likely compete for one opening in LF. Meanwhile, Cashman faces a decimated pitching rotation: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt will all miss - at least - the month of April. And the bullpen looks anemic.
Let's not revisit The Martian and Jones. We've watched them for years. And last year, neither were all that bad. The reason Dominguez disappeared in September was the breakout season for Trent Grisham. It left him no space, though he showed enough speed to steal 30 bases. Meanwhile, Jones, the 6'6" monster, hit 35 HRs last year and stole 29 bases. He strikes out too often, but those numbers signify production.
And Cashman will probably trade one of them.
It will be the most dangerous deal since he dispatched Jesus for Big Mike.
So... how lucky do we feel?
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2 comments:
it is part laziness and part not knowing where to look but how do jones's numbers in the minor league compare to judge's i know it is not fair to try and compare him to judge but would interesting to know.
my memory is fading but i seem to recall at the time judge came up without much hype and the prospect blogs i read at the time [now all sadly gone ] seemed to think too many holes in his swing and strike out too much would mean an average career at best
Call me Cashmael . . .
Here comes a whale of a deal
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