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Thread: The rebuild that wasn't

  1. #1

    The rebuild that wasn't

    The Yankees made the playoffs every season sans one (injury marred season) from 1995-2012, a staggering 17 of 18 seasons. Injuries and age started to take their toll and while we were above .500 and competitive, 2013-2016 were years to say goodbye to aging stars and a time to renew. Most teams either rebuild from within which takes years of losing or spend like drunken sailors to stay competitive. The Yankees somehow avoided both fates. While our team is still bloated with the heavy contracts of yesteryear, those overpaid players are no longer the face or the heart of the franchise. In ARod's case, he isn't even playing anymore. Yet somehow, after picking in the back of nearly every draft for over 20 years now, we have somehow rebuilt in a way that has left us financially savvy while keeping our farm system stocked. The decision to finally give up on a season did pay dividends, but the only player acquired currently producing on the big stage is Adam Warren. But taking a look at this team and the depth or youth at every spot in terms of both big league options and high level prospects is staggering.

    Catchers:
    Gary Sanchez is 24 years old and is still controllable at league minimum through 2019. We have him under wraps until 2022. The guy is a sure fire middle of the order bat who also plays a damn good defensive game behind the dish as well. He is a major building block for this club going forward. Behind him we have Austin Romine, who is a solid defender and Kyle Higashioka at AAA who has power, but might be more a AAAA player. While our true depth beyond our starter isn't outstanding, the fact that our starter is controllable for 6 seasons and is 24 is awesome

    First Base:
    Greg Bird is also 24 years old and he is controllable through 2021. This kid stepped in during a playoff push and hammered HR's left and right before losing a season to a shoulder injury. He hammered the ball in ST before injuring his foot. He is currently on a rehab assignment. When the kid is going right, he is a middle of the order bat. He proved that when he hit 11 homers in 46 games as a rookie in 2015. The kid can play. There are plenty of guys who can fill in at 1b or could make a big name for themselves behind Bird long term, but Bird is 24 and isn't going anywhere any time soon. The best prospect name behind him is Chris Gittens, who is 23 yrs old and is just killing the ball in High A.

    Second Base:
    Starlin Castro seems like he has been around forever, yet he just turned 27 yrs old. His contract is controllable through 2020 as well. Behind him at the position is the 2016 second round pick Nick Solak, who has a .400+OBP in High A this year. There are a multitude of middle infielders, but Nick is the best pure 2b in the system behind Starlin

    Shortstop:
    Didi Gregorius also seems like he has been around awhile. He just turned 27 as well and is controllable through next season. Behind him are a stable of top flight prospects and a damn good utility guy in Torreyes. Gleyber Torres is a top 5 prospect in all of baseball. He's a 5 tool player who just turned 20. Gleyber can play all IF positions as well. Since Didi is locking this one down likely for awhile, Gleyber likely moves off the position. Tyler Wade is another good name in AAA. He doesn't have the power potential of Gleyber, but he is a bigger threat on the bases. He also takes a lot of walks and has consistently hit well in the minors. Another nationally known prospect is Jorge Mateo. The kid hasn't put it together as has been hoped, but his combo of speed and power potential has scouts projecting big things. He is one of the rare 80 speed guys

    Third Base:
    Chase Headley is a stiff. Ronald Torreyes is a good utility guy, but not a good 3b replacement. All the backups to Didi at SS make sense here, but there is a good young prospect in AA who has a bigger power profile than all of them. Miguel Andujar is only 22 and he is raking AA pitching. He doesn't walk much, but he is more a Castro like player with much more power potential. If there wasn't a glut of prospects in AAA, he'd already be there. I still think long term that this position ends up in the hands of Gleyber Torres before he moves back to SS after Didi moves on

    OF:
    We currently have Gardner in LF. He's playing at an AS level and is controllable through next season with an option for 2019. While he is older, he is very athletic. I think he might be trade bait, though.

    Aaron Hicks has taken CF and won't give it away. He is only 27 yrs old and is controllable through 2019. The guy has become a GG caliber OFer and has blossomed as a hitter. If he keeps this up, he will be a hell of a player for us and we will all forget about Ellsbury.

    Aaron Judge is a man amongst boys. He is 25 yrs old and under control through 2022. Needless to say, he isn't going anywhere.

    We have Ellsbury ticketed to 4th OFer. He is a stiff. Behind him, though, we have two outfielders knocking on the door in AAA. Dustin Fowler is a cycle waiting to happen. While he doesn't walk as much as anyone would like, he looks like a high average 20-20 guy who could lock down a COF spot and make a good CF impression in a pinch. The best prospect is Clint Frazier. This guy is a top 20 guy nationally who looks to be a potential 30 HR guy in the majors with the potential to steal some bases as well.

    DH:
    Matt Holliday is having a career renaissance. He is likely to be asked back in a similar role, but we will see if he tests the market. We have a ton of talent that could take the role, but his leadership is said to be big

    SP
    Tanaka is better than he has shown and he proved that in Anaheim. I expect him to return to near the top of the rotation. I also think that the early season blip and history of elbow issues will likely cause him not to opt out this year. That means he has another 3 years with us.

    Pineda is likely to head off to greener pastures in FA. While he is having a career year, we can replace him on the market with someone more reliable

    Sabathia is having a career renaissance as well. He is also in his final year here and I find it likely that we try to let him move on unless he somehow maintains his sub 3 ERA.

    Luis Severino is forgetting about 2016 and remembering his blistering end to 2015. He just turned 23, so he is very young. He is also controllable through 2022. This kid is the future ace of the staff and the future is now.

    Jordan Montgomery has become our 5th starter, but he is showing he is more than that. He is 24 yrs old and controllable through 2022 and looks to be a future #3 or maybe #2 depending on the refinement of his location.

    While I expect 2 holes to open this offseason, I do expect us to sign a starter and develop another. Yu Darvish looks to be the guy we sign. But in terms of development, we have options

    Our best option who is ready is Chance Adams. The kid has dominated all levels of the minors and currently at 22 yrs old, is dominating AAA. His WHIP is under 0.9 and his BAA is .151 in AAA. He should be on the short list to enter the rotation in 2018. Behind him, we have guys like Chad Green, who has done very well for us in the pen. We also have Luis Cessa who did well last year for us. In terms of top prospects, we have Justus Sheffield in AA who is killing it. Domingo Acevedo is dominating AA as well. James Kaprielian is recovering from TJS, but he might be the best of them all.

    Regardless, we have a young and highly effective new core. But what we also have is a deep farm at the same time. We have somehow stayed competitive and reloaded and now we are back on top.
    Hal sucks

  2. #2
    Resident Old Fart Spudboy's Avatar
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    Well the Yankees dropped the ball on Vendetti the ambidextrous pitcher so it is all for nought.
    "Hating the Yankees like it's a religion since 94'" RIP Mike.


    "It's also a simple and indisputable fact that WAR isn't the be-all end-all in valuations, especially in real life. Wanna know why? Because an ace in run-prevention for 120 innings means more often than not, a sub-standard pitcher covering for the rest of the IP that pitcher fails to provide. You can't see value in a vacuum when a player does not provide full-time production."

  3. #3
    Deity moonslav59's Avatar
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    It took balls to trade away good players for prospects. You scored big on the ones you got.

    Better than the Sox did with their purge.

  4. #4
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    To paraphrase Gollum in the Hobbit: 'Yankees...we hates it forever!'

    But Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner do deserve a lot of praise for the way they've handled things in recent years.

    I can't praise them for the first Chapman trade though. Good baseball move but questionable ethics there.

  5. #5
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post
    It took balls to trade away good players for prospects. You scored big on the ones you got.
    You're basically talking about Chapman and Miller, right?

  6. #6
    We even got a damn good prospect for Beltran and somehow got an actual prospect for Nova

  7. #7
    Deity moonslav59's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bellhorn04 View Post
    To paraphrase Gollum in the Hobbit: 'Yankees...we hates it forever!'

    But Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner do deserve a lot of praise for the way they've handled things in recent years.

    I can't praise them for the first Chapman trade though. Good baseball move but questionable ethics there.
    ...and McCann and Beltran and others. The "balls" was in terms of trading all those vets for prospects--not guys like Cespedes, Craig and Kelly, who were more established players and not truly the "rebuild" types of trades I was hoping for and that Cashman pulled off.

  8. #8
    I forgot about McCann. Albert Abreu is a legit prospect with Joe Kelly level power (tops out at 101).
    Hal sucks

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post
    It took balls to trade away good players for prospects. You scored big on the ones you got.

    Better than the Sox did with their purge.
    As someone who was very frustrated by what the Red Sox did with the Lackey and (to a lesser extent) Lester deals, I have to agree. Much as I hate to admit it as a Sox fan, it looks like the Yanks played their cards just about perfectly last summer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bellhorn04 View Post
    To paraphrase Gollum in the Hobbit: 'Yankees...we hates it forever!'
    Dropping Tolkien references in a baseball context = permanent Top PosterTM status.

  10. #10
    Deity moonslav59's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Flap View Post
    As someone who was very frustrated by what the Red Sox did with the Lackey and (to a lesser extent) Lester deals, I have to agree. Much as I hate to admit it as a Sox fan, it looks like the Yanks played their cards just about perfectly last summer.



    Dropping Tolkien references in a baseball context = permanent Top PosterTM status.
    I hated the idea of losing Lester. The lackey situation was complex, but once it became clear Lester was going to free agency, the purge was the right way to go.

    I remember posting at the time, that people say "you have to fire the manager, because you can't fire the team," but we "fired the team" that summer.

    My beef was that I had hoped we traded for younger players and top prospects and not Cespedes and Craig types. I had hopes for Kelly, and some of them are starting to pay off now, but the Yanks did better with their "purge", IMO.

  11. #11
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    I agree the purge was the right way to go...I should have been clearer, but what I was getting at was that I wished we'd gone for younger players/prospects in return for those guys rather than taking the approach that we did.

  12. #12
    Deity moonslav59's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Flap View Post
    I agree the purge was the right way to go...I should have been clearer, but what I was getting at was that I wished we'd gone for younger players/prospects in return for those guys rather than taking the approach that we did.
    That's exactly how I felt at the time. At the time, I said we "tried to play it half way."

  13. #13
    I need to stop posting positively about this team. I post a thread about how they rebuilt and BAM 5 game losing streak

  14. #14
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    Good Trade by the Yanks that flew under the radar, was RHP Zack Littell for James Pazos.

  15. #15
    Pazos is pitching really well in SEA, so it isn't like we won that one. I think both sides are happy. We had a 40 man crunch and SEA needed a lefty reliever. Littell is turning into a very good prospect. He has big league stuff, but he is a studier, a guy who knows what the hitters tendencies are and will exploit them. It is very big league of him in the minors, where a lot of pitchers just grip it and rip it and let their talent take over. He's turning into quite a find for us. Should he keep dominating AA, there is a chance he hits AAA this yr
    Hal sucks

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