Old Man Wells

No, I'm not talking about soon-to-be 45-year old David Wells. I'm actually referring to the 29-year old Blue Jay centerfielder Vernon Wells. Despite not yet reaching his 30s, Wells is the AL East's oldest centerfielder by 5 years.

Boston: Jacoby Elsbury, 24 Years Old
New York: Melky Cabrera, 23 Years Old
Tampa Bay: BJ Upton, 23 Years Old
Baltimore: Adam Jones, 22 Years Old

There are actually just 2 AL starting Centerfielders older than Wells, 32-year old Torii Hunter and 34-year old Ichiro Suzuki. The 14 AL starting centerfielders average being under 26 years old, and have a median age of 25. I'm assuming both are the youngest for any AL position.

The NL Centerfielder average age is just shy of 29, with a Median age of 28. Jim Edmonds at age 37, is the NL's oldest centerfielder by 5 years, thanks to Griffey's move to rightfield.

Minor League Catchers

Posada has a 4-year contract, and the Yankees have two catching prospects. This can work well as the two prospects are just 18 and 19 years old, in Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, respectively.

My favorite is Montero who many think is by far the best hitter to come out of Venezuela since Miguel Cabrera. The Yankees decided, due to their age and inexperience, both were only ready for low-A ball, playing in the Sally League.

I actually like it a lot. Every day they both play. One catches and the other DHs. They have been alternating every day, so they are both in the starting lineup every day, and are getting very little abuse to their bodies, as they're not even catching two days in a row.

Montero's bing weakness so far is that he's only walked one time in 8 games, but has a .960 OPS nonetheless. If he keeps hitting like that, the two may get split up.

My favorite most underrated Yankee prospect remains reliever David Robertson. With 7 shutout so far at AA, he now has a career 0.89 ERA in 91 minor league innings. He's from the same draft class as Chamberlain and Kennedy. The only problem that I can see at all with Robertson is his height. He's 5'11". With his stuff, I don't think that will be a problem at all at AA or AAA, but we'll see (my guess is this season) if it's a problem at the big league level with ML hitters getting a little longer look than they do against the taller pitchers.

BP Top 100 Prospects

They're up.

Top 5:

1. Jay Bruce, of, Reds
2. Clay Buchholz, rhp, Red Sox
3. Evan Longoria, 3b, Rays
4. Joba Chamberlain, rhp, Yankees
5. Clayton Kershaw, lhp, Dodgers

From our teams:

2. Clay Buchholz, rhp, Red Sox
4. Joba Chamberlain, rhp, Yankees
16. Jacoby Ellsbury, of, Red Sox
34. Ian Kennedy, rhp, Yankees
47. Austin Jackson, of, Yankees
48. Jose Tabata, of, Yankees
51. Fernando Martinez, of, Mets
53. Justin Masterson, rhp, Red Sox
57. Jed Lowrie, ss, Red Sox
60. Ryan Kalish, of, Red Sox
67. Alan Horne, rhp, Yankees
95. Michael Bowden, rhp, Red Sox
100. Lars Anderson, 1b, Red Sox

I'm biased, of course, but I was surprised to see Fernando Martinez that low, even though he didn't have that great of a season. Is he really a (slightly) worse prospect than Austin Jackson?

Young Trio

It's rare to have a young trio of top pitching prospects all breaking into a rotation at the same time. Depending on how long Mussina can hold off one of the Yankees' big three, chances are all three will be a prominent part of the Yankee rotation.

I was able to think of three other recent teams to do this.

The 1990 Braves
The 1996 Mets
The 2000 Athletics

I decided to not include the 2006 Marlins, even though their young pitchers pitched quite well that season. The reason I didn't include them was because the Marlins were really playing their AAA team in the Majors. The three above teams all chose to use their three young pitchers because they thought they were truly big-league ready.

The '90 Braves
Steve Avery - 20 Years Old (1st Round, 3rd overall Pick)
John Smoltz - 23 Years Old (22nd Round pick of Tigers)
Tom Glavine - 24 Years Old (2nd Round Draft Pick)

Steve Avery was baseball's top prospect according to Baseball America coming into the season. This is a little differrent as Glavine and Smoltz had significantly more innings under their belt than any of this Yankee trio. Smoltz threw over 200 innings in '89 and Glavine topped 185 in both '88 & '89. Avery was brand new to the Majors. Still, the young trio didn't overly impress during the 1990 season. Smoltz had the best year going 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA. Glavine was 10-12 with a 4.28 ERA. Avery was 3-11 with a 5.64 ERA.


Veteran Presence on Team: Charlie Liebrandt

Result: Last Place, but quite a turnaround by 1991


The '96 Mets
Paul Wilson - 23 Years Old (1st Overall Pick)
Jason Isringhausen - 23 Years Old (44th Round, Draft and Follow, signed in May)
Bill Pulsipher - 22 Years Old (2nd Round Pick)

This is the better comparison, experience-wise. Isringhausen pitched 14 games in '95, Pulsipher 17, and Wilson none. Pulsipher had a 3.98 ERA during the '95 campaign while Isringhausen went 9-2 with a 2.81 ERA (although struck out just 55 batters in 93 innings). In 1995 Pulsihper and Isringhausen were Baseball America's 12th and 37th top prospects, respectively. Paul Wilson was #2 in 1996.

The trio completely flopped. Pulsipher was hurt in Spring Training and missed the entire season (and season after that). Paul Wilson went 5-12, while Isringhausen went 6-14.

Veteran Presence on Team: Pete Harnisch

Result: 71-91, 4th Place in NL East


The '00 A's
Tim Hudson - 24 Years Old (6th Round Draft Pick)
Mark Mulder - 22 Years Old (1st Round, 2nd overall Pick)
Barry Zito - 22 Years Old (1st Round, 9th overall Pick)

Of the three, only Tim Hudson had been tested in the big leagues. Hudson, who never made Baseball America's Top 100, went 11-2 in 1999. Mulder was #12 on the list that year, and Zito was #41.

Hudson picked up right where he left off in '99 and won 20 games. Mulder went 9-10 with a 5.44 ERA. Zito came up for the second half and went 7-4 with a 2.72 ERA.

Veteran presence on team: Kevin Appier

Result: First Place after a weak first half of the season. By 2002, all three had become 20-game winners, and the A's made their 3rd straight playoff appearance.


The '08 Yankees
Joba Chamberlain - 22 Years Old - (Supplemental Pick - 41st Pick Overall)
Phil Hughes - 22 Years Old (not until June) - (1st Round, 23rd Pick Overall)
Ian Kennedy - 23 Years Old - 1st Round, 21st Pick Overall)

All three of them had a cup of coffee, with Phil Hughes even picking up a postseason win, giving up just 1 run in 5.2 innings, of 0 walk, 6 K ball. Chamberlain ran into his only big-league trouble in the postseason, although it had nothing to do with the other team's ability to hit. He should still have some confidence with his 0.38 ERA from the bullpen. Kennedy pitched to a 1.89 ERA in his 3 starts. Hughes topped out at #4 on Baseball America's list, as Chamberlain probably will as well, and Kennedy somewhere on it.

Veteran Presence: Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina

There are two big advantages the Yankee trio has over the past combinations. One, is obviously the veteran presence. The second is that they've experienced a pennant race and the postseason. They wouldn't have even gotten to the postseason without them. Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera went to the postseason in 1995, and in '96 they finished #2 & #3 for the Cy Young Award, respectively. Pettitte topped out at #49 on Baseball America's list, and Rivera never made it.

Of the other three teams, only Paul Wilson and Bill Pulsipher never became All-Stars. I like the Yankees chances going forward with these three.

Poor Humberto Sanchez

Baseball America came out with its top 10 Yankee prospects, and Humberto Sanchez didn't make the top 10. This was the biggest surprise to me. Clearly they must think that the Tommy John surgery will have an extreme negative impact on him.

Last season he didn't make a top-10 list either, but that was just logistical. He got traded to the Yankees after they had come out with the Yankee top-10 list and before they came out with the Tiger top-10 list.

One can reasonably assume he was #3 on the Yankees top 10 list last year as he was #57 on the top 100 prospects, behind Philip Hughes (#4) and Jose Tabata (#27), and ahead of Joba Chamberlain (#75). Hughes is no longer eligible, and not surprisingly Joba topped the Yankee list. For Sanchez to sink due to the surgery is natural, to sink out of the Yankee top-10, I don't see why. The Yankees do have a much better system than in previous years, but I don't think good enough that Sanchez isn't even in their top-10 prospects anymore.

I think I can say, without doubt, that the Yankees will have in the range of 4-6 prospects when Baseball America comes out with their top 100. #7 on the Yankee list is Jeff Marquez (although this is where I think Sanchez should be slotted), and I don't see Marquez as one of Baseball's top 100 prospects, and #4 is Ian Kennedy, and I don't see anyway possible that he wouldn't be top 100 considering he was a 1st round pick who pitched to a 1.90 ERA at four levels last season, including a 1.89 ERA in the big leagues.

That means to me that Chamberlain, Austin Jackson, Jose Tabata, and Kennedy will definitely be there, with Alan Horne and Jesus Montero as possibilities.

#8 with Brett Gardner, #9 was Ross Ohlendorf and #10 was Andrew Brackman. Brackman is also coming off of Tommy John surgery. I would put Brackman ahead of 7 through 9 (although behind Sanchez). Also I would have preferred to have seen catcher Francisco Cervelli over a guy like Brett Gardner.

I don't like Garnder being in the top-10 as he really projects to be a 4th outfielder, and the Yankees have more than 10 prospects that project better than that. One could argue he deserves it due to the fact that the other high-end prospects also have a much larger downside too. Gardner could be a 4th outfielder on many teams right now, Cervelli, who has a much higher upside, probably couldn't catch for any major league team yet.

I still think everybody is still underestimating David Robertson. Keep that name in mind as I expect by 2009 for him to be the primary setup man to Rivera.

Gulf Coast League prospects...

Baseball America has started it's Top 20 prospects for each of the leagues, and they started today with the Gulf Coast league. First of all, there are 16 teams in the Gulf Coast League.

#2 Jesus Montero - Yankees
Montero was the Yankees' big International Free Agent (IFA) signing of 2006. Still only 17 years old, the catcher is a monster in size, already 6'4", 225. He batted .280 with a .766 OPS in his pro-ball debut.

#4 Che-Husan Lin - Red Sox
The speedy 6'0" 18 year-old outfielder (turns 19 tomorrow) from Taiwan, batted .263 with a .787 OPS before moving up to the NY-Penn League where he either slumped or was overmatched, as he had just a .475 OPS.

#7 Oscar Tejeda - Red Sox
A 17-year old shorstop, the IFA signing had a .742 OPS. The 6'1" Dominican has some speed and hit 22 extra base hits in 67 games.

#14 Scott Moviel - Mets
He's gigantic. I mean a monster. He's 6'11". The 19-year old righthanded pitcher threw 40 innings, striking out 37, which is not great for this level, and walked 11, which is surprisingly little considering his size. Moviel had a 3.38 ERA

#15 Jairo Heredia - Yankees
The 17-year old Domican Righthander pitched 46 innings, striking out 52 and walking 11. He gave up 4 home runs, which is a lot for this level, but still had a 2.72 ERA.

Arizona Fall League

If you haven't seen the AFL rosters, they've been pretty much released. Most teams announced all of their rosters. There are only three teams that have more than 2 players yet to be determined, the Rockies, the Red Sox (3 players TBD), and the Mets (all players TBD). So here's a look at the Yankees and the already announced Red Sox.

Yankees:
Reggie Cornoa: Corona, known for his very slick-fielding, will be the youngest player in the AFL this season. He started the year in Tampa and was promoted to Trenton. Depending on how he does in the AFL will likely determine if he starts next year with Trenton or Scranton. He's a shortstop, and at age 20, the Yankees could be looking at him in the long-term, with Jeter eventually moving to first base, but more than likely they are sending him there to increase his trade value.

Ross Ohlendorf: After a terrible time starting in AAA, plus injuries, the Yankees moved him to the Scranton bullpen. His last couple of outings were strong. Chances are he's on a short Yankee leash at this point. My guess is the Yankees have given up on him as a starter, and are looking to see if a bullpen transition could increase his effectiveness.

Steven White: At age 26, White will be one of the older players in the AFL. This is not White's first trip to Arizona. I'm not sure if the Yankees are sending him there to see if he could be a viable, injury replacement for next season, or to see if he can pitch well enough to have some trade value after a decent season (6-4, 3.34) at Scranton.

Steven Jackson: Jackson, 25, was supposed to be in AA this season, but injuries moved him up to AAA, where he got clobbered. They sent him back down to AA as a reliever, where he was okay. He'll most likely stay a reliever, but the team needs to work on his ability to get lefthanded batters out. You don't hear of the "Righty Specialist" too often, but in AA, lefties were batting .417 off of Jackson, compared to a measly .185 by the righties.

Kevin Whelan: I know the Yankees like 23-year old Kevin Whelan, but I don't think they know what to do with him yet. Whelan hasn't pitched much in his career, as he was originally a catcher. He was doing well at AA in relief, which is the only way he had pitched. The Yankees then moved him down to A-ball as a starter, in which he started 7 games, and had a 1.93 ERA. However, those seven starts only totaled 28 innings, and his K-rate dropped to 9 per 9 innings from 11.3 as a reliever at a higher level. So the Yankees moved Whelan back up to AA as a reliever again. I'm not sure if they are sending him to Arizona to be a starter, or to get more work to be ready for AAA as a reliever to start the season, and a possible callup to the big league club when a reliever is needed. I'm sure this is not a move for trade value, the Yankees intend on keeping him (although he's hardly untouchable).

Juan Miranda: The 26-year old Cuban is taking up space on the Yankee 40-man roster. He hit 16 home runs and drove in 96 runs this season, but for his age, at his position, he's got no chance. This is purely the Yankees hoping he has a big AFL to get him to be the extra player in any trade the Yankees need to throw another player into this offseason.

Brett Gardner: The very speedy outfielder just turned 24. I think the Yankees view Gardner as a very capable fourth outfielder. He's very fast, a very good fielder, and walks a lot. At every level Gardner has had a rough adjustment period before taking off. The more playing time he can get the quicker his adjustment will be. Gardner is in the wrong organization, and it might kill his career. He may never get enough at bats with the Yankees to adjust, making him not a good fourth outfielder. He needs a bad team where he can adjust, maybe hold onto a full-time job, or become a fourth outfielder. The AFL may be his only way to succeed as a 4th Yankee outfielder. I expect he'll be back in the AFL next season too.

Red Sox:
Kyle Jackson: The Red Sox are sending the 24-year old there for what they hope is to get straightened out. In 2006, Jackson unexpectedly got onto the radar screen with a huge year split between A and AA. In 82 relief innings he had a 1.98 ERA while striking out 103. He got crushed in AA this year, pitching 70.2 innings at a 5.99 ERA. He gave up 9 home runs and walked 48, however, he did still strikeout 83 batters.

Hunter Jones: Not a big prospect, the Red Sox are probably trying to figure out what they have in Hunter Jones. The 23-year old had a good start the the season in A-ball, where he threw 47 relief innings at a 2.11 ERA. As he moved up to AA his ERA went up to 3.11. Lefties hit the southpaw better than righties did, which takes him out of being a situational guy. The Red Sox may be hoping to deal him if he does well.

2 Pitcher TBA. My guess is they are both either relievers or non-prospects, as the Red Sox will probably want to be careful with their best arms.

Aaron Bates: There's no questioning the 23-year old's power, as the NY native clubbed around A-ball pitching this season. In just 98 games he hit 24 home runs and had a 1.044 OPS. He was then promoted to AA, and he watched his average plumet as he batted only .198. This is most likely a move to get him to see more higher quality pitching so he'll be ready to face AA pitching next year, and if all goes well get called up to AAA.

Jed Lowrie: The 23-year old switch-hitter had a big year at AA, with a .911 OPS before being promoted to AAA. In Pawtucket his average remained high (.300) and his power remained strong (21 extra base hits, 5 of them HR in 40 games), but his walks dropped of dramatically. After having 65 walks and 58 K's in AA, he had 12 walks and 33 K's in AAA. Despite the fact his average was 3 points higher, his OBP dropped 54 points. No doubt the Red Sox are sending the offensive-minded shorstop to the AFL to get his patience back, and be the Red Sox SS of the future as early as next July, and give the Red Sox a very young and offensive keystone combo.

The Red Sox are supposed to be sending a catcher as well.

Top 10 Yankee Prospects

Here is my top 10 Yankee prospect list. This list will include people who will be eligible for the 2008 Baseball America list. That being said, I am not trying to predict who they will put, as I would make my picks much differently if that was what I was trying to do. So here we go:

#1 Joba Chamberlain. This is a bit of a no-brainer with Hughes going past the point of eligibility. Not only did Chamberlain,21, manage to go from A-Ball to the Majors in his first full pro season, he's managed to so far surpass the hype at the big league level.

#2 Jose Tabata. By far the Yankees top positional prospect, Tabata, 18, batted .307 this season at High-A ball. Remember, that was in the pitcher-friendly FSL, which puts .307 as the forth highest in the league. He is the only qualifying player in the league to hit above .300 and be under 23 years old. The next highest batting average for somebody under age 21, was his 20-year old teammate, Reggie Corona batting .271. Tabata went on the 7-day DL a couple of time, for what turned out to be a broken bone in his hand. If he can hit that well with a broken bone in his hand, I can't wait to see what he does at Trenton next season.

#3 Ian Kennedy. Like Chamberlain, Kennedy has risen from A-Ball to the Majors in his first pro season. There are a lot of mixed feelings on Kennedy as he tops out at about 93, but is more consistently around 89 or 90 with his fastball. Ironically, they say he compares most with Mike Mussina, even to the way he pitches out of the stretch. He is supposed to be extremely polished, and we'll see soon if he has the guile to fool Major League hitters. His off-speed pitches are all supposed to be plus pitches. Some people think he tops out at a good #4, I think he can top out at a #2, who hopefully ends up a great #4 behind Wang, Hughes, and Chamberlain.

#4 Humberto Sanchez. Sanchez came over as the main peice in the Sheffield deal. The '06 Futures Game starting pitcher was probably only traded by the Tigers because of health reasons, and of course he has since undergone Tommy John surgery. He has the surgery at the beginning of the season, so he'll be back on the mound toward the beginning of next season. There's little question that he's one of the more talented minor league pitchers, but we'll find out how he rebounds from surgery. He'll most likely start the year at A-Ball in Tampa, and when he proves he's healthy and his stuff is back, be moved up to AAA.

#5 David Robertson. I'll be shocked if he makes Baseball America's Top 10 Yankee prospects, but I really like this guy. He was the Yankees' 17th round draft pick last year, and looked like there was no way he was going to sign. The relief pitcher was going to go back to college as the Yankees weren't coming up with the money he wanted. Robertson spent the summer in the Cape Cod League, where he pitched 15 hitless innings, and was their Series MVP. The Yankees then signed him. The 22-year old throws at 93-94, but has a power sinker to go with it. He started the year at low-A ball where he threw 47 innings of 0.77 ERA ball. Moved up to Tampa where he had a 1.07 ERA, and just made his AA debut, pitching 2 shutout innings of 1-hit, 3-K ball. He has already show more control than he did in college, but he still walk over 3 per 9 innings. He'll have to get his control better before he makes the jump to the big leagues, as ML hitters will wait him out, and they hit relievers who fall behind in the count hard.

#6 Austin Jackson. Last season, at age 19, Austin Jackson had a big first half in low-A ball, and a horrible second half. This season he started slowly at low-A, but the Yankees promoted him to High-A anyway. While Tabata is the only qualifying player under age 23 batting over .300 in the FSL, Austin Jackson is a non-qualifying player doing it. In 64 FSL games, Jackson is batting .328 (just one point behind the league leader) with 9 home runs, and a .925 OPS. Jackson, an outfielder, also has 30 stolen bases on the season.

#7 Andrew Brackman. At one point people were sure this 6'10" pitcher would be a top-10 pick in the draft, but arm problems and signability led him drop down the the Yankees. He's right out of the Randy Johnson mold, which also means it could be years for him to develop. Right after signing the Yankees sent him off to have Tommy John surgery. Brackman is the definition of a high-risk, high-reward prospect. The anti-Ian Kennedy.

#8 Jesus Montero. The 17-year old catcher can hit 450 foot home runs, and is built like a truck. He's batting .280 in the Gulf Coast League. He's considered a bit below average behind the plate, but he's a hitter first.

#9 Dellin Betances. One of the Yankees highly touted 2006 pitcher picks, some thought he'd be the best of the group, better than Chamberlain and Kennedy, although much less developed. Less developed is definitely true, as he's struggled in stort-season A-Ball. Control is his big problem as the 6'7" New York native has walked 17 in 25 innings, leading to a 3.60 ERA. There's a very large upside to Betances, but it remains to be seen if he can put his talent together.

#10 Francisco Cervelli. After an amazing first half in the FSL, the 21-year old catcher slumped mightily in the second half. Cervelli still has the fifth highest OBP in the FSL at .387. A lot of Cervelli's drop off could be attributed to a much larger workload than ever before, something that can take a toll on a catcher. It will be interesting to see how he handle's Trenton next season.

Supposedly the Yankees are very close to coming to a record agreement with amateur international free agent Edward Salcedo. Scott Boras is building the 16-year old up to be the next A-Rod. He's a 6'3" shortstop, with power, who throws 93-mph to first base. It looks like it will take between 4.5 million and 5 million to sign him. I'm less excited over him than I thought I'd be, as I am remember the other most hyped Yankee amateur international free agents, Wily Mo Pena and Jackson Melian. Considering Wily Mo had the much better career of the two, I'll wait until I see some A-Rod type numbers before I get overly excited on Salcedo, but I will be watching closely, hoping to get excited if he does in fact sign.

Thinking about Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy, only one time do I ever remember three pitchers so young coming up so close together with anywhere near this much hype. Unfortunately that trio was Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen, and Bill Pulsipher. Wilson topped out at #2 on the prospect list with Pulsipher topping out at #12 and Isringhausen at #37.

Ian Kennedy, You're Welcome

The Yankees will be having Ian Kennedy taking Mike Mussina's spot in the rotation. Kennedy will be the 8th Yankee pitcher making his ML debut this year, and the third who is a legitimate prospect (with Hughes and Chamberlain). Kennedy is 22, and did the A-Ball to Majors trek like Chamberlain did.

This time I already have tickets to Saturday's game. I will not go. I have Friday, Sunday and Labor Day tickets as well, which makes it easier (and the fact it's the D-Rays) to skip a game I have tickets to. Chamberlain started on the road, so that one was not an issue. And of course I had to turn down Sully's not-so--kind (but absolutely hilarious) offer of tickets to Hughes' ML debut.

So Ian Kennedy, while you may never know what I just did for your career, you're welcome.

A Common Misconception

One of the topics that's talked about a lot these days in New York is how the Yankees have held onto their prospects recently and how it's paying dividends now with Wang, Cano, Cabrera, Hughues, and Chamberlain. They talk about how it's like 1995/96 when they held onto Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera, and Posada.

The one place there right is that it is a lot like 95/96 but not the way they mean. The only difference between those years and these compared to all the years in between is that the Yankees actually have prospects to hold onto.

Dating back to 1995, the following are the 20 biggest names the Yankees traded "prospects" for (so this does not include getting Clemens or ARod, or even Scott Brosius who they traded Kenny Rogers to get):

David Cone, David Justice, Cecil Fielder, Glenallen Hill, John Wetteland, Aaron Boone, Hideki Irabu, Chuck Knoblauch, Denny Neagle, Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle, Tino Martinez, Jeff Nelson, Javier Vazquez, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Shawn Chacon, Raul Mondesi, Mark WHolers, and Charlie Hayes.

Clearly, some of these people worked out very well for the Yankees, many did not.

Now, here are the prospects the Yankees gave up to get them:

Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis, Mike Gordon, Matt Drews, Rickey Ledee, Jake Westbrook, Zach Day, Fernando Seguirnol, Marcus Thames, Drew Henson, Jackson Melian, Ben Ford, Oswaldo Mariena, Ruben Rivera, Rafael Medina, Eric Milton, Christian Guzman, Brian Buchanan, Brandon Claussen, Charlie Manning, Brian Reith, Ed Yarnall, CJ Henry, Matt Smith, John-Ford Griffin, Carlos Monostrios, Jesus Sanchez, Russ Davis, Sterling Hitchcock, Nick Johnson, Brad Halsey, Juan Rivera,, Dioner Navarro, Randy Choate, Yehncy Brezoban, Brandon Wheedon, Eduardo Sierra, Ramon Ramirez, Scott Wiggins, Ricardo Aramboles, Chris Singleton, and Alberto Castillo.

There are a few decent names there. But not Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte, Soriano, Wang, Cano, or Cabrera. Or guys like Hughes or Chamberlain who may be joining that group in performance. There was nobody in that group that you say now, wow, if only we didn't trade that guy, we'd be so much better off. This isn't trading Scott Kazmir or letting Johan Santana go in the Rule V draft, or having a position glut so you trade Travis Hafner for Einar Diaz. Nobody looks back to these trades with regret.

They only traded the Hensons and Ruben Riveras when they realized it wasn't going to happen for them, or Nick Johnson when he was evidently extremely injury-prone. The Yankee philosophy of trading prospects hasn't changed at all over the years since Gene Michael took over in the early 90s. The only difference between now and the last 10 years is that the Yankees have made finding the best prospects a priority again.

The Yankees one position prospect...

Actually, down in rookie ball the Yankees have some teenagers who have been awfully impressive, but when it comes to higher levels, it's basically another teenager, Jose Tabata. Tabata is having surgery on his hand, which has bothered him all season. Turns out he has a broken hand from the Venezuelan Winter league.

He actaully batted .307 in the pitcher-friendly FSL this season, with a broken hand. That's not too bad. They say recovery time is 6 weeks, so I'm sure he play some winter ball this season again, and be ready for AA-Trenton next season.

Bring him up already

Maybe the Yankees were waiting to go on the road to bring Joba up, but it's time for him to be in the big-leagues. He had another Scranton relief appearance yesterday. Chamberlain threw 2 innings, giving up 1 hit, no walks and struck out five.

He couldn't strike out six, as the guy who got the hit then got caught stealing.

Not Joba

I haven't heard yet if the Yankees have called Chamerlain up. If they have, I'm hoping he does not get into tonight's game. The last thing I want is to see his ML debut. With Wang pitching, unless the Yankees are blowing out the Royals (entirely possible) the chances of Joba getting into the game aren't good. If Wang goes 7 or 8 innings, Torre would probably go with other options, unless it's a blowout. I still don't know if he got the callup though.

I'm ready for Joba and Kennedy

The Yankees definitely seem to be considering bringing Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy up to the big leagues and putting them in the bullpen. We'll see if the Yankees trade any of their relievers by the deadline. There are rumors about Farnsworth if the Yankees pick up a portion of his salary (I'm done with him), Proctor to the Dodgers, and Ron Villone is a lefty with a decent 3.28 ERA, and a small contract.

It's hard to say if the two pitchers, who both started the season in A-Ball, are ready to get Major League hitters out, and neither of them have pitched in relief before. However, the fact that they both have very good stuff, and good command, coupled with the fact that the league hasn't seen them, and won't have time to get used to them with this little season left, and them pitching in relief, the Yankees could catch lightning in a bottle by bringing them up.

How many times have we seen pitchers come up and dominate for just a little bit. Many of those pitchers had a lot less talent than these two.

Finally, maybe...

There is a rumor that Edwar Ramrirez, coming off a 3-game suspension for his role in a brawl (which started after the batter struck out on a changeup from him, and started complaing to Ramirez for throwing a changeup), that he will be headed to Scranton.

I'm hoping the rumor is true.

They should move him up

I don't understand why they are not promoting Edwar Ramirez to AAA. He threw 3 more innings yesterday, and struck out 8. Lowering his ERA to 0.57.

Edwar Ramirez and Francisco Cervelli

I think it might be time soon for the Yankees to give Edwar Ramirez a shot in the bullpen. He's only in AA right now, so I think they should get him to Scranton immediately to get increased competition. When Carl Pavano goes on the 60-day DL they'll have a spot for him on the 40-man roster.

Ramirez was horrible when he started in the minors in 2002, and got pounded that season and 2003. The now 26-year old was out of baseball in 2003. In 2005 he hooked on with an Independent League team, and started out rough as well. Then after throwing 28 consectuive shutout innings, he was purchased by the Angels organization and sent to AAA. It was already at the end of the season, so he only pitched 2 innings (perfect ones though), but the Angels let him go.

He was back to an Independent League to start the '06 season. In 25 innings as his team's closer his problem were walks as he walked 10, but since he struck out 46, it still kept his ERA down at 1.07.

This is when the Yankees got him and sent him to Tampa. He finished out 2006 by pitching 30.2 innings for the Yankees' advanced A-Ball team where he struck out 47, and pitched to a 1.07 ERA.

He made people take notice of him this off-season in Winter Ball. So far he's following it up with a strong start in AA-Trenton. In 10.2 innings he's given up just 3 hits while striking out 18, and allowing 1 run (thanks to those 6 walks).

I think they need to get him up to AAA and start seeing if he's ready to fill in next.

The other prospect I want them to promote is I want them to move Francisco Cervelli up to AA. Cevelli is a 21-year old switch-hitting catcher. He was at rookie ball last season where be batted .309, .397, .426. That had him skip low-A and move to Tampa. He currently ranks 3rd in the FSL with a .354 average, to go along with a .420 OBP.

The problem of course is I have no idea what his catching skills are like right now. I've looked back at box scores and saw that he's thrown out 11 of the last 27 attempted base stealers (41%) and threw behind a guy to pick him of second base. So his throwing at very least shouldn't hold him back.

I just want him up at AA now to see how he does because, sadly, if Posada gets hurt Cervelli is the organization's best option right now. The three catcher the Yankees have that are getting significant playing time in AA and AAA, none of them have an OBP anywhere near Cervelli's batting average. You don't want to rush him, but if he can bat .240 in the Majors, that would be significantly better than any other option the Yankees have.

I don't want him to be Posada's backup, as he needs regular playing time, but if Posada gets hurt, the Yankees need to start figuring out if he can be an option. Move him to Trenton.

Who is Jesus Montero???

I missed it when the Yankees signed him last year, but he was considered the best international free agent, and paid a $2 million signing bonus for it. He's 17 right now, and they say his hitting tools are off the chart. Scouts have given him an 80 for power on the 20-80 scale.

He's a catcher, and at age 16, when he signed, he was 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 230 pounds. Most scouts think there is no way he'll end up a catcher. The Yankees are tying to stick with him behind the plate now, deciding the offense he could produce, we all know how valuable that can be behind the plate.

He's considered the best prospect out of Venezuela since Miguel Cabrera, better than Jose Tabata. Since his catching is well behind his hitting, the Yankees decided to not send him to A-Ball (where he'd be handling some of the Yankees' better pitching prospects), but wait until the Gulf Coast League season starts up.

Before the Yankees signed him, they had him play in a couple of intrasquad games against other minor leaguers. In hist first game he went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run.

I'm going to be excited to see how he hits once the GCL starts. Of course I was also excited about Jackson Melian when he was a teenager.

Danny Almonte playing pro ball

He'll be one of the Frontier League's youngest players, maybe. He signed with the Southern Illinois Miners of this independent league.

They have two scouting reports on the 19-year old. One with his fastball between 87-88, the other between 91-93. I'm more inclinded to think the former is true, as if he was throwing in the 90s as a lefty, I don't think he would have gone undrafted.

A Good Night for Yankee Prospects

Phillip Hughes made his AAA debut tonight, giving up 2 runs in 5 innings. The first run was a HBP, wild pitch and a single (the game time temperature was 34 degrees), so that's understandable. The second run was a walk, grounder that moved the guy over, and a single. So in 5 innings, Hughes gave up 2 singles, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.

Also in AAA, 22-year old Eric Duncan, coming off a 2nd straight bad season, homered.

In AA, 22-year old Jeff Marquez, who at this point is considered about a third-tier pitching prospect for the Yankees, has thrown 5 no-hit innings so far.

In Advanced A-Ball, last year's 1st round pick Ian Kennedy (who only pitched in 1 minor league game last season), pitched 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 2 walks and 1 run while striking out 8. In that game 18-year old Jose Tabata is 3-for-3 with a triple (in yesterday's rain-shortened opener he went 1-for-2 with stolen base).