Yanks Thus Far
They have on the acquisition side added Andrew Miller, DiDi Gregorius, and high upside IFA Bryan Emery as well as a few other AAAA type minor league guys who may or may not help at some point. They did have to give up late blooming starter in Shane Greene to get DiDi, but they have other pitchers of similar profiles in the system, notably Bryan Mitchell.
As of right now, the Yanks now have a first rounder and sandwich pick. This year, pool money is expected to be raised by 8 or even 9%, which should put the Yanks over 8M for the first 10 rounds of the 2015 draft. They could really rock with that kind of cheddar, so let's hope they keep it.
IFA will be tougher, since starting when the IFA calendar turns (June 15?) the Yanks won't be able to spend more than 300K on any player for the next 2 years. Of course, they've kicked ass for 300K and unter in the past - Luis Severino, Ravel Santana (got injured but would have been a 5 tool star), Of course, that gives them 6 months to lock up anyone including both Yoans without sustaining further penalties.
As their transactions have trickled along, they have fully redesigned their minor league system, dividing it into 4 quadants, and promoting a bunch of the promising young execs and coaches in their system. The results of that are still to be seen, but there's already a bunch of activity down at their Tampa facility. In the past, that didn't usually start till January.
So that's where things are right now. As long as they don't blow their picks on free agents, they should have a strong draft. And if they are able to sign the Cubans and some other IFA's, all the better.
posted by Kalel9 @ 2:37 PM
10 Comments:
I wonder if they were in on Masterson. A one year deal, given their seeming interest in adding veteran starters, would have been a good risk/reward.
“Did I call Arizona? Yes,’’ Cashman said. “Did I call Detroit? Yes. I didn’t have Cespedes to send to Detroit. We are waiting for something we are comfortable with.’’
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Of course not, because you won't make in-season deals due to the need to pretend to contend.
They can change coaches, scouts, and minor league managers. He is still the biggest problem.
I disagree. I think it's ownership that's demanding he pretend to contend.
I think the problem is Hal, then Levine, then Cashman. Now, I think Cashman has eliminated many of the problem people below him, other than Girardi.
Ownership and Levine are a problem, but Cashman has more advantages than disadvantages compared to other GMs, and he can't maximize them. Yet he stays, and stays, and stays...
He is either the CEO or COO of the baseball operations. What goes on beneath that level is on him, and even if those people are good, the operation can never be at its best with a bad manager at the top.
That is why I view him as the biggest problem.
Again, they don't have one impact offensive player with a $200m payroll. That's crazy, and that alone would get most GMs fired.
That failure is on Hal and Levine.
The payroll is inflated partly because ARod and Tex were once impact offensive players, and still getting paid to something they just aren't anymore.
It's also inflated because CC fell off a cliff.
The ARod deal was all Hank.
The $64 question seems to be who is where in the pecking order and who, other than Cashman, has baseball success as his primary interest. What pressure, if any, are they under to generate a good return to the limited partners?
No, the NY Times had a long article with quotes. Hal was as intimately involved with the A-Rod deal as Hank.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/sports/baseball/yankees-hitched-to-alex-rodriguez-an-aging-star-anatomy-of-a-deal-and-doubts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
On Nov. 8, as Levine and Hal Steinbrenner drove to Naples, Fla., from Tampa for a meeting of baseball owners, they received a call from Cardinale. Rodriguez had agreed to the basics of the deal. At that point, the Yankees had to get Boras involved, and told Rodriguez that. Boras was still Rodriguez’s designated representative and the only one mandated to supervise Rodriguez’s interests.
There was also the matter of placating the Steinbrenners. For them to sign off on the deal, Rodriguez would have to go to the owners in Tampa on bended knee.
On Nov. 14, Rodriguez and his wife, Cynthia, flew in from Miami. They sat in Hal Steinbrenner’s living room over coffee and iced tea with Hal and Hank Steinbrenner. Levine was there, too, as was Cashman.
...
“We saw him at the time as the one that’s going to be around a long time and he’s going do great things,” said Hal Steinbrenner, now the Yankees’ managing general partner. “We’re halfway through the contract. Alex is capable, if he’s healthy after the surgery. If the hips are fine, both of them, he’s capable of living up to everybody’s expectations. Will he? I don’t know. It’s up to him. There’s plenty of time to do it.”
Also, it's not like Cashman was against extending him. He merely (and quite rightly) wanted to retain the offset from Texas.
As for the others, he took credit for convincing Hal to sign Tex.
Given this MLB leading (or in the top 2 or 3) IP over the timeframe of his career, it was foreseeable that CC was prone to breaking down, and Cashman was for that extension.
All of this spending is only necessary because this system doesn't produce prospects and/or they can't finish off their development at the ML level.
Cashman himself said in 2007 that they would no longer have to sign expensive free agent pitchers. Well...
It's almost impossible to imagine that any team could be this bad at development for so long since Stick and Buck were basically fired for being so successful.
Maybe that changes, but that's pure speculation until it happens.
And blocking Refs, just as they have blocked Murphy, is not a good sign.
Interesting NYT article.
Based on minor league performance, Refs seems like a far better hitting prospect than Murphy.
new post.
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