Yanks: April Thunder
Outfield
Tyler Austin
Mark Payton
Jared Mitchell
Juan Silva
Jake Skole
Tyler Austin is probably in a make or break season here. Before his wrist and other injuries, Tyler was one of the top prospects with the Yanks, and possibly around baseball. He could hit, hit with power and steal bases with impunity. But the injuries seem to have compromised him. Which is sad. He's a great kid and few stories would be nicer than a big comeback season for Tyler.
Mark Payton had a good first season after he was drafted, but because of the clock, he probably needs a big season, too. Oddly, Payton sort of plays a speed position and game, but his timed speed in his draft year was pedestrian. Scrappy guy.
Jake Skole was the 15th overall pick by the Texas Rangers several years ago. He seems to be the minor league edition of the Yanks' major league collection of other team's high picks like Hicks and Ackley. Maybe he'll wake up and be what the Rangers hoped he'd be.
Juan Silva was a long time Reds minor leaguer who more or less peaked in rookie ball.
Jared Mitchell was the 23rd overall pick of the 2009 draft by the White Sox. He had a really bad ankle injury in 2010 that seems to have slow tracked him. But here he is, a 27 year old in AA.
Infield
Tyler Wade
Dante Bichette Jr.
Billy Fleming
Dan Fiorito
Jonathan Diaz
Delbinson Robinson
Jose Rosario
Matt Snyder
Donovan Solano
Tyler Wade is the bottle rocket from this group. He's going to be a major league shortstop and how far he goes probably depends on how his hitting progresses, because he can play D and RUN.
Dante Bichette Jr. was a monster in the rookie leagues then somehow fell apart for the next few years. This might be his last chance to come correct. The talent has always been there, and it's really mysterious that he hasn't stepped up. Great kid, too.
Billy Fleming was an undrafted signee out of WVU back in 2014 and has played okay but is probably just an org guy given what else is coming up behind him.
Dan Fiorito was signed as an undrafted back in 2012. He has good size but hasn't really put himself on the map.
Jonathan Diaz is a 30 year old ex Blue Jay and ex Sox.
Jose Rosario was a Yankee IFA signee back in 2009. He's shown signs of hitting, but hasn't really turned the corner and become a hitting prospect and he's probably just about out of time.
Matt Snyder was the Yanks 10 rounder back in 2012 and like Rosario has shown signs, but is probably running out of time,
Donovan Solano is a former Miami Marlin big leaguer. He's 28 and was originally a St. Louis Cardinal IFA. He was considered a darkhorse to make the Yanks as a Ute, but here he is on the Island of Unwanted Toys.
Catchers
KJ Alexander
Eddy Rodriguez
Sebastian Valle
KJ Alexander was an undrafted signee out of Dallas Baptist back in 2014. It's probably a tribute to the Yankee scouts that so many of their undrafted are at least climbing the organizational ladder.
Eddy Rodriguez was a Reds 20th rounder several years ago and will probably be a lot of help to the pitching staff.
Sebastian Valle was an undrafted player signed by the Phillies in 2006 and was at one time their number 8 prospect. But now he's on the Island. I have absolutely no preference as to which among these guys plays on a given day.
Pitchers
Cale Coshow
Daniel Camarena
Tyler Jones
Jaron Long
Angel Rincon
Caleb Smith
Eric Ruth
Alex Smith
Miguel Sulbaran
Phil Wetherell
Matt Tracy
Some of these guys are or have been pretty interesting.
Cale Coshow is a guy that everyone thought was a reliever. A big power pitcher, he was put in the rotation to work on his secondary stuff. Funny thing was that he held his stuff through his starts and now, if the secondary stuff catches up, the Yanks could have a surprise starter on their hands. Could be a classic power guy.
Daniel Camerena knows how to pitch. He's a little lefty they drafted a few years ago who got better and better before getting injured. It will be interesting to see how firm his fastball is this season, because the cat knows what he's doing on the mound.
Tyler Jones as a Braves 11th rounder back in 2011. He's been a decent reliever since. Yanks signed him as a minor league FA.
Jaron Long is the soft tossng son of Kevin Long. He had been cruising through the minors until last year. We'll see if he got his soft tossing mojo back or whether it's time for his Dad to teach him to hit.
Angel Rincon has been a pretty good minor league reliever for the Yanks since they signed him in IFA back in 2010.
Caleb Smith is a lefty the Yanks took from Sam Houston State back in 2013. He started out really well, and I don't know if it was an injury or something else, but for awhile he looked like a breakout candidate. Probably a big year for him.
Eric Ruth is a distant relative of the Babe. He pitched well two years ago, but not as well last year.
Alex Smith has been a minor league reliever for the Yanks who has put up some great numbers before running into trouble lately.
Miguel Sulbaran was the little lefty they got for Nunez, and he's had moments of clarity and anguish as a Yankee,
Phil Wetherell is one of those big righties they've been drafting for last several years. He showed up with power and a splitter, but hasn't moved like he might've, so he'll try it again.
Matt Tracy is a big lefty. This is sort of a sad story so far. Matt was sort of the lefty version of Adam Warren upon signing. Underrated collegian with upside. He threw hard and knew how to pitch. For awhile he was a sleeper candidate, but I guess he got hurt and lost his power. Let's hope it snaps back. He's a lefty so he's due a million chances.
So there you have the April version of the Thunder. Help will be on the way, though.
UPDATE
Help already started arriving as Jake Cave and Dustin Fowler have joined the Thunder. I think Jared Mitchell is gone. In any event, Jake and Dustin can both play CF though Jake may be a bit faster and Dustin may have more power. Both will play in the bigs.
posted by Kalel9 @ 9:21 PM
26 Comments:
Thanks, Phil -- Hope you're right about Clarkin and Mateo and warm weather. It would be understandable if they wanted to be extra careful with Clarkin. Otherwise, apart from Wade and Coshow, this group looks like a collection of flashes in the pan.
Camarena and some of the other pitchers have a shot.... And Tyler Austin could still turn back into himself.
Sherman recalling what would have been the Mateo/Kinbrel lunacy while reporting the NYY showed interest in Ross at the time as well. He's a pretty good starter, but probably not worth the likely price with this mess of an aging offense.
I suspect this was about not risking alienating Ellsbury further:
“I wasn’t supposed to play against Keuchel,’’ Gardner said Monday, two days after being informed of the lineup move. “Obviously, Hicks swings the bat well against lefties, so I didn’t think I would [start].’’
http://www.lohud.com/story/sports/mlb/lohud-yankees/2016/04/04/yankees-announce-preliminary-scrantonwilkes-barre-roster/82623898/
It gets worse for the kid:
"He will be out at least four months," Joe Girardi said. "We have to find out exactly what that four months means; is it he can begin throwing or he should be back? But it will be at least four months before we see him."
Cave returned.
51 splits???
Axisa
Masahiro Tanaka‘s two-seam fastball was moving a ton yesterday. So much so that PitchFX appears to have misclassified a bunch of fastballs as splitters. I don’t remember Tanaka’s two-seamer ever moving that much.
http://riveraveblues.com/2016/04/slot-bonus-values-for-2016-draft-and-2016-17-international-signing-period-135684/
The Yankees have a $5,768,400 bonus pool for the draft this year. That’s the eighth smallest bonus pool in baseball. The Yankees didn’t add (or subtract) and draft picks through free agency this past offseason, so all they have is their natural picks in rounds 1-40. Here are the slot values:
First Round (No. 18 overall): $2,441,600
A joke of a game to this early point.
I would like few things better than to see Castro be a big time hitter, albeit without OBP. They currently have 0 young impact ML bats (my primary criticism of their roster construction under Cashman), and if he can change that, F'ing GREAT!
btw, Cano be en fuego. That's the negative of free agency. He should have been a lifelong Yankee, and even if his contract turns out to be a bargain compared to Ellsbury's, both were horrible risk/rewards.
Some best writer
The #Yankees lead the majors with 27 runs scored. Their starting pitchers are tied for first in the AL in runs allowed.
At least it's a little clever
As an aside: Girardi told NJ Advance Media Thursday he's begun calling Castro "Starsky" for a nickname. Just something to know.
Despite his uneven start, the Astros’ top of the order — Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa — was 0 for 9 against Eovaldi and finished the game hitless in 12 at-bats.
Kay shill spinning
I just think this fan base would not accept a total rebuild, and ownership and management knows that.
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Utter bull fucking shit
LINJ, while we as fans would accept that, the majority of the fan base would not, so it's a valid statement consdiering the more knowledgeable yankee fan is a minority.
Back to the season, I called it when the trade happened and fully expect it to continue but Starlin Castro is going to be a stud and the contract he's signed to is an absolute bargain.
I know a lot of you disagreed and felt 4/40 was not good value but it is, especially considering it's his age 26-30 seasons, which are his prime.
Hopefully as the weather warms up, our SP improves. Excited to see how Luis does today versus Detroit.
Billy
Let's not forget is that the Yankees enjoy their current brand advantage because they rebuilt in the '90s. They did it so well, that it had almost a 20 year impact.
Every other team in NY except the Knicks and Nets (sucky teams w/o a pick!!!) have been rebuilt successfully (relatively, anyway) and repeatedly, and teams like the Giants and Rangers, who have a loyal fanbase,have been able to maintain it. And it's the trades for veterans that have hurt the Rangers, not their in-house development, which has been exemplary.
The Yankees current way of doing things may well be responsible for their declining attendance and viewership. I think their fans deserve more credit for patience.
The real problem, imo, is ownership's fear of uncertainty and a lack of vision.
As for Castro, who is batting 3rd today, my only issue was context. I think Refs is the kind of hitter this team needs (a grinder with the hit tool). So if Castro was obtained for 3B, no issue.
The contract would not be an issue but for the multiple long-term contracts already on the books. That highlights the risks of their lack of vision and fear of uncertainty.
Again, I hope he is great here!!!
I don't think it takes much of a leap of faith to think that at some point the starters will get better. We can only hope that sometime in April.
The majority of the fan base would not accept a rebuild, but given YES viewership is down (is attendance declining), I would have done it anyway were I the owner.
They should sign Yuleski Gourriel for third the second he's cleared.
The "is attendance declining" was meant as a question.
Yes
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/yankatte.shtml
by the way, The Mets rebuild was w/o payroll. The Yankees can do it while spending big, but of course, smartly.
Actually, "rebuild"is a canard. Just be willing to commit to youth, even their OWN, while living with their sometimes uneven development, and sit and/or trade contracts.
Nice start by Cees.
Showing interest in Swisher but not Montero as 1B insurance exemplifies what is wrong with the Yankees.
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