In the FCL, Baseball America gives them:
Two of the top 4.
Three of the top 7.
Four of the top 10.
And five of the top 20.
Holy crap, they're the Beatles in 1966. They're the hottest collection of future stars since "The Big Chill." (Goldblum, Hurt, Berenger, Mary Kay Place!) Reserve your hotel room now for the 2027 World Series. It's the Kardashians, circa 2001.
Or... it's farm-to-table crapola, bullshit designed to salve and soothe an angry Yankiverse, which currently wants Prince Hal Steinbrenner to a) sign the entire MLB free agent class, b) sign everybody from Japan, c) commit to a youth movement and/or d) sell the team. Right now, our short-term future looks as bleak as Giancarlo Stanton's chances of beating out a DP grounder. (Did you see him last night; guy is pulling an invisible dumpster.)
So let's think of the long haul, right? Is it just a PR strategy? Maybe, but let's bite at the hook. What else do we have?
Topping our list of FCL prospects (ranked No. 2 in the league) is SS Roderick Arias - (Rod-A, of course.) You might remember him from 2022. He was the highest priced 16-year-old in that year's Latino cabana boy signing sweepstakes, a prize often claimed by the Yankees.
After divorcing ourselves from the wisdom of bestowing millions of dollars on a kid barely old enough to shave, we can raise hopes for Rod-A: He's now 19, having lost nearly a full year due a wrist injury. They claim he is a five-tool talent, which is sort of how the world once viewed Yahoo Serious.
Says Mike Axisa in Patreon - required subscription reading for Yank fans - "Before a broken pinkie ended his season, Arias was far and away the best player on a Yankees squad that scouts unanimously pegged as one of the most talented in the league in recent memory."
Okay, before you go batshit crazy, Arias hit .267 with six HRs and stole 17 bases - not exactly Ruthian stats. Axisa predicts he'll rank No. 2 in the Yankee system, behind The Martian. The other top FCL kids are two 6'7" pitchers - a lefty and a righty (ranked 4th and 7th) - a 5'7" sparkplug 2B named Keiner Jose Altuve Delgado (ranked 10th) and John Cruz, a 17-year-old CF who hit 10 HRs as the league's youngest everyday player.
There are others. No point naming them. They know who they are. And frankly, at the subatomic FCL level, everybody is a future superstar.
Talk of a talent surge at the rookie league is like a National Hurricane Center report of a system forming off the coast of Africa. Maybe it'll develop into something worth naming. For now, it's too far away to ponder.
Also, let's not forget the legendary international signing class of 2014 - the Dermis Garcia year - when the Yankees outspent most of creation on 16-year-old Latinos. The last refuge from that immortal class is, gulp, Estevan Florial. Need I say more?
Still... hope is hope, right? We can use some. Who knows? Maybe by this time next year, Rod-A or Delgado is raking at High Single A Hudson Valley. Two Septembers from now, maybe we see these guys for a cup of coffee - or traded for another JA Happ.
One caveat: They claim Boston has a top 5 farm system, with a kid named Roman Anthony hailed as the "biggest breakout prospect in all the minors." It's the Beatles '66, and I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love a pennant. Or even a wild card. Okay, it's up to you, Rod-A: Please, please me...
Posts
8 comments:
duque,
To answer your question directly -- ONLY IF they ditch the ANALytical, coaching and conditioning staffs.
And it looks like this guy belongs at our next outing:
https://www.nj.com/yankees/2023/09/can-a-nj-natives-fire-cashman-night-wake-the-yankees-from-their-slumber-politi.html
I looked at Jon's X page...he belongs....
"He isn’t sure if he’ll bring a sign on Friday night because he is worried that he might be barred from entering the stadium. He will bring his 8-year-old daughter Anna, though, hoping that her presence will help him get through the gates."
Use the kid. Who's gonna search an eight year old? There's got to be a way to smuggle in something to embarrass Cashman...well, if he had the ability to be embarrassed.
My suggestion for 2024: Play the kids. No, I mean play ALL the kids. Judge and Cole, too, but otherwise, man the diamond with minor leaguers. They're cheap, everyone loves to root for them, and you can yo-yo them up and down to Scranton whenever you want.
If Hal really wants boffo box office, he'd start a full lineup of teenagers in the first game next season. Replace a few as the game gets into the third or so, by which time the starting pitcher would probably be clobbered. Or we discover he's Cy Young.
You know what you're going to get with the older guys. Kids surprise you. They're entertaining.
"Talk of a talent surge at the rookie league is like a National Hurricane Center report of a system forming off the coast of Africa. Maybe it'll develop into something worth naming. For now, it's too far away to ponder."
That's some good writing right there.
Most of the prospects never pan out, for various reasons. It’s nice to dream though, especially when dreams are all you have.
I have to say, even I cannot believe now bad Stanton looks. He looked like somebody’s grandfather out there last night! No exaggerating. For chrissake this isn’t some softball beer league!
FUCKING BENCH HIM!!!
Boston has a top 5 farm system? Uh oh....
Too much incompetence & complacency in the entire Yankee organization. The fat cats have become too fat. But no end in sight to how much fatter they're going to get.
And somewhere, in an 8th grade, is the next young Eli Manning if the Giants can draft him.
And of course...not even playing Florial last night.
Post a Comment