Today is call-up day, with all but the Staten Island Yankees finishing out their seasons (only the GCL team qualified for the playoffs and they lost their championship series 2-1). We can expect Mitchell, Banuelos, Chase Whitley, Preston Claiborne, Matt Daley and Chaz Roe to possibly be called up, with position players Chris Young, Ramon Flores, Zoilo Almonte, JR Murphy and Gary Sanchez as possible position player call-ups. All but Young are on the 40-man. Of the non-40 man guys, Kyle Roller, Burawa, Montgomery, Nuding and Pinder are all Rule 5 eligible, while Refsnyder, Rumbelow, Webb and Lindgren are not Rule 5 eligible but figure to contribute next year.
I'll try to put together a look at the minor league season in the next couple weeks. Mostly good news, including some very good news.
Bird may start at AAA, he may not, but I've watched him pretty closely the last few weeks and he does two things really, really well. He is patient and when he hits the ball he makes loud contact.
The late-season surge for Austin could put him at AAA too; whether he could be an above average regular or he's JAG remains to be seen but he has talent too. Sanchez could also be at AAA to start the season and while he didn't have a great season he was pretty good.
Judge and Jagielo could end up at AA or back at Tampa for a little while (Jagielo probably goes to Trenton) but both had solid seasons. Miguel Andujar finished the season very well. Mason Williams actually did as well, though it was just for a couple weeks and may be SSS.
So while impact bats aren't necessarily going to be ready from Day 1 the days when our position prospects were just getting their feet wet in full-season ball are, thankfully, behind us.
Link - ( New Window )
GCL Yankees1 lose - ( New Window )
...Yankees have nothing to be ashamed about.
Too bad their guy at SS will be watching the playoffs from the outside looking in.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with that assessment.
Thanks to Dune and Phil and the others here who cover the Yanks' minor league system. I always enjoy reading this stuff, esp. when the big team isn't doing so great.
That ain't happening. I have a feeling this home stand will bury this team. They have played like crap at home all year. And the Red Sox will be throwing out nothing but mediocre pitching this series, Yankees don't hit mediocre pitchers
I know the Yankees are a professional organization, but sometimes they seem like they are run like a jr. high social club. I'm not just talking about this move at this time, but in general it seems over the last several years they are making moves based on what they want people to think of them, rather than based on a clear vision for what kind of team they are going to be.
This is what happens I guess when the strongest people in your organization are marketing people.
IDK, Jeter was middling for most of the season and brutal in August. That describes pretty much the entire lineup. No way he should have been in the two slot, but the reason they're losing games is because they're getting jack shit out of the positions that are supposed to provide offense, DH and 1B in particular. Add in Headley and his whopping .252 at 3B, and the position Prado isn't playing on a given night (his .282 has been one of the few pluses post-ASB) and you see why they can't win. Jeter was, pathetically, one of the 3 or 4 best contact hitters on the team up until August 1.
So, yes, Jeter certainly contributed to the season long funk. But, there are far worse culprits to look at first.
It is amazing, that they are 4 games out of a WC and will likely hang around in that range (maybe a tinge closer) for the month. More amazing, is that if that hold true, that will quadruple the number of meaningless games Jeter will have played in his career. Think about that. For parts of 20 seasons, Jeter will have played in less than 10 games where the Yankees were not at least in contention. in that span, they will have missed the post season 3 of those seasons (including this year). That is simply incredible.
Teixeira's 1st half: .241/.341/.464 (305 PA) 2nd half: .179/.281/.302 (121 PA)
A far bigger part of the problem was the middle of the order. Old, injured, overpaid, and just bad.
Hopefully we have one last run but this has looked like an 85 win team pretty much all year.
I really think that people need to take off the fan glasses and look very hard at the last 2 seasons of Jeter's career. At nearly 40, even healthy he was a shadow of the player he was- and Jeter had just one injury.
ARod has now had several major injuries and lost more than a season due to suspension. He will also be 40 next year. I think ANYONE expecting anything more than what Prado or Headley can give is in for a major disappointment.
ARod isn't even a gate draw anymore- he is just as disliked a player as there is in baseball and is more likely to hurt attendance than help it.
Quite simply, the Yanks need to realize ARod's remaining $61M over the next 3 years is a sunk cost and the smart thing to do is to cut all ties with him and either give Prado the job in 2015 or make a major trade to get a younger guy with upside at 3B.
The Yanks financial guys might not like the payroll hit- but he's untradeable and the hit will happen whether he's on the team or not. Bite the bullet and move on.
System Review pt. 1 - ( New Window )
Phil - check that link? It's not taking me where I think it's supposed to be taking me.