New York Yankees News and Notes

is there something we’re doing wrong, or is it just the product of bad luck, power struggles and a lack of high draft picks. While other teams go through cycles, we have stayed the same and we are probably the only team that has been consistently so low in the first round that we never get the ‘surer’ prospects and have to rely on high ceiling high risk signing to get elite talent. We’re kind of going against the natural cycle of the rise and fall of talented teams, so we need to adapt to that

How many “front line” starters have been developed across baseball in since 2005? Do you dare to claim there’s been 30 (one per team)? How many of those have grown up in the AL East?

Ivan Nova could be something. Ian Kennedy looks pretty good right now. The Pirates and Nationals make use of our cast offs, while our front line guys (Joba and Phil) struggle in the AL East.

There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect
Nobody bounds into MLB a fully formed and effective starter. At age 23, Doc Halladay (1st round draft pick, 17th overall)‘s ERA was over 10 in 13 starts. WIth an attitude like Geshwand’s, we would have shipped him to the Brewers for a utility infielder. King Felix (international signing and wildly hyped) posted a WHIP around 1.38 for 3 seasons before he turned the corner and has had 3 great seasons since.

will see playing time. Nunez figures to play a few times every week in order to give A-Rod and Jeter any needed rest. Jones figures to be the 4th outfielder playing maybe 3 times per week to give the main three a rest.

Didn’t Chien Ming Wang hurt himself between third base and home?

I think if a guy like Phil Hughes came up with a team in the NL West he would be at a totally different level by now. Not only would the ballpark and the competition be more favorable but I bet he would have been brought up a little earlier and he never would have gone back and forth to the pen. It also isn’t easy to go out and pitch for the Yankees as a young pitcher with all the pressure and I think being thrown into those situations has a chance to really develop you long term into a real big pressure pitcher(Pettitte) or can negatively affect a pitcher who doesn’t battle through that and just sees the negative results. I don’t think their is any doubt that we have developed and have had top level arms in our system. Joba had as good of stuff as you can really have out of the minors. Where has that gone? I don’t think its a drafting or development issue at the minor league level, I think it’s a combination of mismanagement at the ML level and, honestly, a lack of work ethic in his case(idk where that 98-100 velocity went). Ian Kennedy is a very good ML pitcher right now that we drafted and developed. Would he have done that in NY??? Probably not but, that is a great example of the issue, it’s hard the pitch in NY and in the AL East. It’s why we have to be picky with pitchers in free agency. It’s why we can’t sign a CJ Wilson with confidence he wont be a total bust, John Lackey type signing. Zack Greinke. AJ Burnett. We have such a high standard in the hardest environment to pitch. It’s going to be rare to find guys that succeed or fit those standards.

If anyone actually thinks that the Yankees are going to stop overspending when they really want or need too, they are out of their goddamn mind.