Only the Yankees left out

The only team in the Yankee organization not in first place, is the Yankees. Every one of their minor league teams is in first place, with a combined 83-43 record between the teams.

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.

AAAA

I think Shelly Duncan is quickly fitting that category. He seems like he can't do any more in AAA. He played his first game back at Scranton, went 4-for-5 with 3 doubles and a home run.

Posada

I'm not positive as I couldn't find a list of most games caught to check every catcher that needed checking, but from what I can tell, last season tied the record of most consecutive seasons catching at least 130 games, at 8. Tying the record that Jason Kendall set just one year prior.

In Kendall's first year of his streak, he had a .412 OBP and a .470 SLG. By the last year of it he had a .301 OBP and a .306 SLG.

Bob Boone actually took a 5-year streak through age 38. However, he wasn't much of a hitter through any of it. The mid-year of it, age 36, the age Posada turned last season, Boone had a .504 OPS, significantly lower than Posada's .543 SLG of last season.

Yogi Berra had a 7-year streak, but the last of those years was age 31.

Other Hall-of-Famers (and locks) streaks and the ages they did it:
Carlton Fisk - 3, 28-30
Johnny Bench 4, 20-23
Mike Piazza - 4, 27-30
Ivan Rodriguez - 4, 24-27
Gabby Hartnett - 1, 32
Gary Carter - 4, 28-31
Mickey Cochrane - 3, 25-27
Roy Campanella - 1, 31
Rick Ferrell - 1, 32
Ernie Lombardi - 0
Rick Ferrell - 0
Ray Schalk - 1, 29
Roger Bresnahan - 1, 29
Bill Dickey - 1, 30

Jason Varitek's longest streak was 3. And Yankee coach Tony Pena made it to five, but with a very low OPS.

Posada is in somewhat uncharted territory.

Doing Better

On opening day, Chien-Ming Wang matched his career total for wins in April. If the game hadn't been rained out, and if the results would have been the same, he would have had as many career wins in March as in April, which is odd for a guy with back-to-back 19-win seasons.

Mariano Rivera is one month ahead of last year's pace with saves. Due to a combination of the Yankees' stuggles and a few horrible games of his own, Rivera didn't save his 2nd game until May 3rd last season. He actually only had 4 saves at the start of June last season, without a DL stint. The third contributing factor was the few games the Yankees did win that the first two months last year, they were winning by more than 3 runs.

Hideki Matsui, comedic genius

If you haven't yet heard this story, you have to read it. Aparently Hideki Matsui had a serious girlfriend, but he only told his close family about her. This spring, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu made a bet about who would get married first, and Matsui talked his way into the bet. Well, lo and behold, Matsui leaves spring training for a day and comes back married, much to the surprise of the entire team. Here's Matsui showing a picture of his new bride to the media:

I love that the microphone is right in front of her face, but my favorite thing about the entire story is this quote about how he won the bet:

"Basically, the only people I told about this were the immediate family. I think that helped."

That kills me for some reaon.

I thought they were above this sort of thing

So the Yankees signed Billy Crystal to a one-day contract. This is usually the kind of cheap, headline-grabbing thing I'd expect from the Red Sox (at least before Dr. Charles bolted for LA - he must be kicking himself that he didn't sign Ben Affleck first).

Quite honestly, I don't even know how to feel about the Yankees here. Disappointed? Can you be disappointed in your rival? I can't laugh at them because I know full well that the Red Sox are capable of much worse - they'll probably send Crystal a Red Sox Nation membership card after this.

I like it better than 38Pitches

Not as detailed but Phil Hughes gives stuff away:

http://philhughes.wordpress.com/

Drafting Yankees

I'm not sure what either of your situations right now are with Fantasy Baseball. However, as we approach that time of year, I'll be giving my suggestions as always. The two Yankees that stick out for me right now are Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu.

Giambi would only be taken to trade off in May. Remember, when Giambi is healthy, he's still about as dangerous as any hitter in baseball. He's just rarely healthy. Also, it seems he's going to be playing a lot of first base this season, which he historically hits much better doing. This means two things, a huge start and a quick injury.

Last year he was hitting .330 on May 5th before getting hurt and slumping miserably. He looks really good right now. I see a big April from him, and then trade him.

Abreu is in the final year of his contract, which is always interesting. He looks like a completely different player than last spring. It's not surprising the Yankees were on him about that after coming into spring training out of shape last year, and having a horrible start. If you're not sure about Abreu's dedication right now, he has already stolen 2 bases this spring.

I'll keep you updated on my thoughts.

A Little Competition

I always feel when players are competing for a spot in Spring Training and don't do well, I pretty much write them off. There is very little reason to not do well if you are competing for a spot in Spring Training. Especially at the beginning of spring training where 80 - 90% of the pitches are probably fastballs. That gives any hitter trying to compete for a spot, as opposed to a hitter working and experimenting with different things, an advantage. It also gives an advantage to pitchers competing. As these pitchers are throwing a normal selection of pitches, breaking and off-speed stuff, and since the hitters are only used to fastballs at this point, they tend to do well.

The Yankees have now played 2 Spring Training Games against other big league teams, and four of the players competing for playing time at first base, Giambi, Duncan, Lane, and Betemit have already homered.

Also in these 2 games, Duncan and Giambi both have doubles, and Lane a triple.

Yankees top-10 Homers

I'm having trouble ranking them, and haven't to this point. I have it narrowed down to 36 (is that narrow) moments. I'll use the Sully method for writing it out:

Honorable Mention Non-Playoffs

Alex Rodriguez vs. Orioles April 8th, 2007 - After getting booed for not coming through in big moments for all of 2006, ARod gets his first huge chance in 2007. With the Yankees down a run in the 9th, Oriole closer Chris Ray gets the first 2 guy out, and then puts the next 3 guys on, setting the stage for ARod. With 1 ball and 2 strikes, Rodriguez comes through with Grand Slam, getting in better with the NY fans, and riding it to an MVP Award.

Don Mattingly vs. Boston Red Sox, September 29th, 1987 – Mattingly hits his MLB record 6th Grand Slam of the season off Bruce Hurst. Mattingly is an unlikely person to have the single-season grand slam record as his career total for Grand Slams, also 6.

Don Mattingly at Texas Rangers, July 18th, 1987 - Mattingly caps an unbelievable stretch hitting a home run for the 8th straight game (10 home runs total). The pull-hitter, actually hits this one the opposite way.

Reggie Jackson vs. Chicago White Sox, April 13th, 1978 – Reggie said years earlier, that if he ever went to New York they’d name a candy bar after him. So after his 3-home run performance to clinch the ’77 World Series, they did. At the Yankees home opener for 1978 they gave each of the fans a Reggie Bar. In the first inning and to huge applause as he went into the batters box, Reggie hit a 3-run home run and hundreds of fans threw their Reggie Bars onto the field.

Mickey Mantle at Washington Senators, April 17th, 1953 – Mantle’s home run on this day created the term tape-measure home run. The ball left Griffith Stadium, and was measured from the person’s yard it landed in to home plate.

Lou Gehrig vs. Phildelphia A’s, June 3rd 1932 – Lou Gehrig becomes the first player to hit 4 home runs in one game. He was actually one of 6 Hall of Famers to hit a home run that day (Ruth, Lazzeri, Combs, Cochrane, and Foxx). The Yankees scored 20 runs and Tony Lazzeri hit for the cycle.

Babe Ruth vs. Boston Red Sox, April 18th, 1923 – The very first day of Yankee Stadium. More than 80,000 fans in attendance and Babe Ruth doesn’t disappoint, hitting the first home run in Yankee Stadium history in a Yankee victory.


Honorable Mention in Post-Season Non-World Series Winning Years

Jorge Posada, 2001 ALDS Game 3 – All anybody remembers from this game is “The Play.” The Yankees were down 2 games to none in the ALDS, and in the 5th inning, Jorge Posada, off Barry Zito, got the Yankees first (and one of only 2) hits of the game, a home run. It would hold up for a 1-0 win, as the Yankees would go on to win the Division Series.

Jim Leyritz, 1995 ALDS Game 2 – In a back and forth game, where Ruben Sierra and Don Mattingly hit back-to-back home runs in the 6th inning to tie the game and take the lead, we got our first flash of Jim Leyritz’ post-season heroics. Griffey Jr. hit a home run in the 12th for the Mariners, but Ruben Sierra hit a double off the wall to tie it in the bottom half. Then Jim Leyritz, at 1:22am, in the 15th inning, hits the Walk-Off home run. The Yankees did not win the series though.

Alfonso Soriano, 2001 ALCS Game 4 – The Mariners had crushed the Yankees 13-4 in game 3, and the 116-win team was trying to tie the series up. In the 9th inning of Kaz Sasaki, Alfonso Soriano hits the Walk-Off Home Run, helping keep the Yankees 125-win season (including the postseason) intact.

Mickey Mantle, 1964 World Series Game 3 – Mantle hits a walk-off home run to take a 2-1 series lead.


Honorable Mention – ALCS Leading to Championship Years

Derek Jeter, 1996 ALCS Game 1 – Jeffrey Maier, need I say more.

Bernie Williams, 1996 ALCS Game 1 – Actually I do need to say more. We all remember that as the Jeffrey Maier game, but there was a lot more. That home run tied the game in the 8th inning, but there were still 3 more innings of baseball afterwards. In the 11th , Bernie Williams clobbered one into the leftfield upper deck for the Walk-Off Home Run.

Bernie Williams, 1999 ALCS Game 1 – Bernie did it again, becoming the first player with 2 postseason walk-off home runs. This time it was against the Red Sox and Rod Beck.

Thurman Munson, 1978 ALCS Game 3 – For the third straight year the Yankees and Royals played in the ALCS. The series was tied at 1, and the Yankees had a 4-3 lead going into the 8th inning. Goose Gossage got hit for 2 runs in the top of the 8th, and then Thurman Munson hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to take the lead back and win the game 6-5. Back then the LCS was only a 5-game series.


Honorable Mention – World Series Victories

Derek Jeter, 2000 World Series Game 4 – The Yankees won the first two games at home and then lost game 3 at Shea. People were saying momentum switched with the borough change, and then Derek Jeter hits the first pitch thrown in game 4 out for a home run, and the momentum remains with the Yankees the rest of the way.

Chad Curtis, 1999 World Series Game 3 – In the 5th inning, with the Yankees down by 4 runs, Chad Curtis his a solo home run off Tom Glavine. The Yankees creep back and tie the game in the 8th inning, and then in the 10th inning Chad Curtis hits a walk-off home run, and then insults the announcers in the interview right afterwards.

Scott Brosius, 1998 World Series Game 3 – With the Yankees down 3-0 in the 7th inning, Scott Brosius leads the inning off with a home run. In the 8th inning, with the Yankees still down the Padres bring in the NL’s best, Trevor Hoffman, and Brosius hits a 3-run home run to give the Yankees the lead, which leads to a sweep of the World Series.

Tino Martinez, 1998 World Series Game 1 – The Padres come into the series known as giant killers, having already knocked off two 100-win teams. They take a 3-run lead into the 7th inning of game 1. Chuck Knoblauch ties it with a 3-run home run, and Tino gets the lead with a Grand Slam in the 7-run 7th.

Tom Tresh, 1962 World Series Game 5 – With both the series and the score tied at 2, Tom Tresh hits three-run home run in 8th inning.

Roger Maris, 1961 World Series Game 3 – With the score tied at 2, and the series tied at 1, Roger Maris continues his dream season by hitting a top of the 9th home run to give the Yankees a 3-2 win.

Gil McDougald, 1958 World Series Game 6 - With Yankees down 3 games to 2, Gil McDougald leads off the top of the 10th with a home run. Yankees score needed insurance run later and tie the series at 3.

Mickey Mantle, 1956 World Series Game 5 – This was best known as Don Larsen’s perfect game. However, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 4th, both pitchers were throwing perfect games. Mickey Mantle ended Sal Maglie’s bid and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Yankees would win the game 2-0.

Enos Slaughter, 1956 World Series Game 3 - With the Yankees down 2 games to none, and trailing with 2 outs in the 6th inning of game 3, Enos Slaughter hits 3-run home run. Without this the Yankees may not survive to get to Don Larsen’s perfect game.

Joe DiMaggio, 1950 World Series Game 2 – Joe DiMaggio hits a top-of-the tenth inning home run to give the Yankees a 2-1 win, en route to a sweep of the Phillies.

Tommy Henrich, 1949 World Series Game 1 – It was hard leaving this one out of the top 10, as it was the first postseason walk-off home run ever. Henrich hit it in the bottom of the 9th to give the Yankees a 1-0 win against Don Newcombe and the Dodgers.

Bill Dickey, 1943 World Series Game 5 - Spud Chandler throws a 10-hit shutout, allowing 13 base runners, but the only runs of the game come on Bill Dickey’s 6th inning, series clinching 2-run home run.

Babe Ruth, 1923 World Series Game 2 - After losing their first two WS appearances in 1921 and 1922 to the cross-town Giants, they face them a 3rd straight year, this time with a brand new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees lose the first game at home on a 9th inning home run by Casey Stengel. Then in game two Ruth hits a 4th inning home run to take the lead, and a 5th inning home run for good measure.


The Top 11 (I tried to get it down to 10 but just couldn’t)

11. Ruth’s 60th Home Run – Of course it was actually his own record of 59 that he beat.

10. Chris Chambliss wins the ’76 Pennant – If the Yankees went on to win the World Series this would have been much higher. Still, the walk-off home run to win the team’s first pennant in 12 years is pretty cool.

9. Mickey Mantle hits the façade - May 22nd, 1963, Mantle comes oh so close to getting one out of the Stadium. Many people say the ball was still rising.

8. Ruth, Ruth, Ruth – Most people don’t realize it, but Reggie was not the first one to hit three home runs in a World Series clinching game. Ruth did it first. In game 4 of the 1928 World Series Ruth hit a home run in the 4th to take a 1-0 lead. He then hit a home run in the 7th to tie the game (Gehrig immediately followed with a home run to take the lead), and then Ruth capped it with a home run in the 8th as well.

7. Byung-Hyun Kim’s 3 home runs allowed – I’m not a big fan of putting things in from a lost series, but oh my. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th in game 4, Tino Martinez hits a 2 run home run to tie the game, and just as the clock strikes midnight Derek Jeter hits the game winning home run in his Mr. November moment. Then the next night, off Kim again, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th again, down by two runs again, Scott Brosius hits the 2 run home run to tie the game that the Yankees win in extra innings. If they had won the series, this is #1.

6. The Wholers Slider – The Braves seemed too good for the Yankees. The crushed the Yankees by a combined 16-1 score in the (meaning the Braves had won their last 5 games by a combined score of 48-2), the Yankees won game 3 behind a gutsy David Cone performance. Still they were down 6-0 in game 4, and would be facing John Smoltz in game 5 who was looking to win his 30th game of the year (24 wins in regular season, the All-Star Game, and already 4-0 in postseason). The Yankees pulled within 3. The Braves decide to not take any chances and bring their closer in in the 8th inning. He lets two guys get on, and after getting ahead in the count to Jim Leyritz, he hangs a slider. The Yankees take the momentum and run with it, winning that game in the 12th inning, and finishing the series in 6 games.

5. Bucky Dent – After having to catch up from such a gigantic hole the Yankees had dug themselves the first half of the season, it all came down to 1 game to go to the postseason. And it was the unlikeliest of heroes for the Yankees. After Bucky Dent fouls a ball off of his foot, Mickey Rivers gives him his bat (which was odd since Dent hadn’t broken his), and sure enough Dent puts it over the Monster.

4. Reggie, Reggie, Reggie – 3 Consecutive pitches, 3 home runs, the last one into “The Black”, clinch a World Series at Yankee Stadium. Not a bad day.

3. Roger Maris hits #61 – One of the unlikeliest of people to top the great Babe Ruth. Maris’ 61 still stands as the AL Record. It was so memorable, they made a movie of it.

2. Aaron Boone – It was a pennant-clinching extra inning home run, from an amazing game, the rivalry, continued the curse, and gave Boone an explicative for a middle name. This was one of the very coolest home runs of all-time. However, the Yankees did not win the World Series.

1. The Called Shot – You can argue weather he called the shot or not, but the 1932 World Series home run is legendary. Depicted (incorrectly) in paintings, the called shot is a part of American culture. Ruth had already hit a home run in the first inning. It was in the 5th inning that he gestured, sure enough hit the home run. Gehrig immediately followed with his second home run of the game too. Charlie Root, the pitcher, says it didn’t happen. Lou Gehrig said right after the game that it did. Either way, it was the World Series, and legend.

The Influence of Wang

I was reading about Chien-Ming Wang's arbitration case. One of the arguements his agents used was a Time Magazine article that came out last May. It was their article on the World's 100 most influential people. The list did not include George W. Bush, but did includ Chien-Ming Wang. Evidently people in Taiwaan are so wrapped up in Wang, that thier stock market goes up when he wins.

However, all of that influence was enough to incluence the arbitrators in his hearing. He'll have to settle for $4 million.

I agree with the Yankee decision to not give him a long-term deal like he wanted. As a Super-2 he got to arbitration already, but being a Super-2 just gets you there faster, not free agency. He has 4 arbitration years instead of 3. So he's locked up through 2011 right now anyway. If you have a pitcher locked up for 4 seasons, and we know how often pitchers get hurt, I don't think you can negotiate. It just doesn't make sense from a team perspective.

There's talk about starting Chamberlain in the bullpen, then sending him down to the minors to stretch out his arm, and bring him back as a starter, which would help keep him under the 140 innings they want from him during the regular season. I'm wondering how long he would have to be down to lose the service time and be locked into the Yankee organization for another season.

Very Odd, and Very Young

You never think of the Yankees or Red Sox as particularly young teams. And we still won't when it comes to the offense. With Curt Schilling's injury though, and if Ian Kennedy beats out Mussina in the Yankee rotation, that leaves, of the 10 starting pitchers, just Andy Pettitte (35) and Tim Wakefield (41) as the only starters over the age of 28 for the two AL East rivals.

$50 million per year

They're saying that's the amount the Yankees turned down for the new stadium's naming rights. They have decided to call it Yankee Stadium.

Wow!

If that doesn't tell you how much money they're making, I'm not sure anything does.

How about this for a releif option...

Just throwing this out there, and I'm sure even if it works it won't work for long, Carl Pavano.

He threw for 12 minutes today going from as far as 90 feet. Clearly, if he doesn't get hurt during rehab (about 80% chance he does get hurt), he would be ready during the season.

He'd be ready quicker as a relief pitcher (which I'm hoping they'll do with Humberto Sanchez as well). As a reliever it also should take him longer to get hurt. If he's able to pitch 15 innings before getting injured, that would be in his 3rd start. However, if he makes it 15 innings as a reliever, if he's effective, the Yankees could have a very good reliever for a month.

Home-Grown Rotation???

Will Mike Mussina be in the Yankees top 5 starters (as far as games started) in 2008?

My guess is no. I think Ian Kennedy will overtake him.

It is very possible that the Yankees top 5 starters this year will be Pettitte, Wang, Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy.

Pettitte of course left for 3 years, but is home-grown.

If these 5 do lead the Yankees in starts, it will be the first time since the Chamionship team of 1962, which had a rotation of Whitey Ford, Ralph Terry, Jim Bouton, Bill Stafford, and Rollie Sheldon that the entire staff was home-grown.

Before that is was the war years of '43 - '45 that it was all home-grown. Before that you have to go back to 1913.

This is something that hasn't happened a lot throughout Yankee history. The Yankeees are clearly building for the possibility. Obviously lots could go wrong and you only end up with 1 or 2 home grown.

However, it looks more possible than in my lifetime. The fact that the Yankees are considered top-5 in minor league talent, and have very few position player prospects says how good the pitching is right now. The Yankees don't have one infield prospect right now that projects above reserve infielder. They have 2 legit outfield prospects, some possibilities at catcher, and the rest is all pitching.

I've never seen so much agreement about a prospect (especially a prospect that's not top-3 type) throughout the scouting world as with Ian Kennedy. Everybody seems in complete agreement that he's a top of the line #3 starter. #2 on teams that don't have a #2.

Chamberlain and Hughes, makes 2 straight years where the Yankees have one of baseball's top 5 prospects (and top 2 pitching ones). Since Baseball America had been doing their Top-100 in 1990, only two different Yankee pitchers (not including Jose Contreras) ever make the top 20. Those two, Brien Taylor and Matt Drews were both still A-ball pitchers when they did, not advanced minor leaguers. If either Chamberlain or Hughes can be an ace, Wang is clearly at worst a #2, if the other one does well at all, that's 4/5 of the rotation for what could be a long time.

That leaves the #5 spot for 6'10" Andrew Brackman. He's already had Tommy John surgery, so who knows if he comes back from that at all, but he was supposed to have #1 stuff, if he can just hold down the #5 spot, the Yankees could have an all home-grown rotation for many years.

I know many things can go wrong, it's also possible that Humberto Sanchez takes and holds a rotation spot for the next 15 years, and the Yankees never have a home-grown rotation.

However, it's fun to dream of the home-grown rotation (and I like thinking of Sanchez as Rivera's setup man). So until proven otherwise, I'll continue to dream and hope that proof doesn't come too soon.

Morgan Ensberg & Bobby Abreu

I really like the Morgan Ensberg move. Obviously low-risk. Decent opportunity for modest reward, and he's 32, so still a possibility to come back. He finsihed 4th for the 2005 MVP-Award, and had an injury that he played through in 2006. In '06 & '07 he batted .235 and .230, respectively.

I like this move because even if he does what he did the past two years, he can be a valuable asset to the Yankees.

Right now it looks like Giambi is the everyday first baseman, with Damon in left (where he was great last year) and Matsui as DH. Giambi has historically hit significantly better at first than at DH. Obviously if Giambi is the (almost) everyday first baseman, he'll clearly get hurt. I'm okay with that. I figure run him out there until he does, as it's the last year of his contract anyway.

If an outfielder gets hurt, you move Giambi to DH. So if either an outfielder or Giambi get hurt (clearly will happen at some point), then Wilson Betemit and Morgan Ensberg get to platoon at first base.

As bas as Ensberg was the last two seasons, it was actually pretty impressive what he did to lefties. The righthanded batter had a .925 OPS against lefties the past two seasons, seasons in which his average was in the low .230s.

Over 26-year old switch-hitting Wilson Betemit's last 3 seasons, he had an .840 OPS against righthanded pitchers. If they can both do that, that stacks up very well against any AL first baseman. Actually, other than Mark Teixeira, who left the AL before the trading deadline, only Carlos Pena had an OPS over .843 among AL first basemen. It's possible the Yankees could be well above average with a platoon of the two of them at that position.

I would really like the Yankees to go with 13 pitchers and have the bench just Ensberg, Betemit, and Jose Molina. Betemit can play all four infield positions, and the DH can cover the outfield. If somebody gets hurt you just go down to the minors for Alberto Gonzalez or Brett Gardner.


As far as Bobby Abreu goes, while I'm sure it won't happen, I'd like the Yankees to give him a 2-year contract extention right now.

Austin Jackson and Jose Tabata both look likely to join the Yankee outfield down the road. Abreu is in the final year of his contract, and Damon (as well as Matsui) have 2 years left. Ideally Jackson and Tabata replace Abreu and Damon, but I'd rather Jackson have 2 more seasons in the minors and Tabata 3 more years.

If you bring Jackson up in '09, you're looking at Jackson '09 replacing Abreu '08. He's not going to be able to do that. But if you sign Abreu for 2 more years, you're talking about a '10 Jackson replacing an '09 Damon. Followed by the next year where an '11 Tabata replaces the '10 Abreu. And obviously if either don't look ready the Yankees can cover it up with money.

Jackson and Tabata are legitimate top-tier prospects. One way of looking at it is some publications (like Baseball America) ranked them higher than Ian Kennedy. Kennedy was a 1st round pick, who in his first professional season pitched in 4 levels to a 1.90 ERA, and they're ranked higher than him.

The 20-year old Jackson batted .345 in 256 FSL at bats last year. 20-year old Jay Bruce (ESPN's #2 prospect) batted .325 in 268 FSL at bats last year. The FSL is a complete pitcher's league. Colby Rasmus (ESPN's #5 prospect) played there when he was 19 in '06, and batted .254. Last year 18-year old Tabata, playing with a broken bone in his hand, batted .307. Tabata was 5 years younger than any of the 4 batting title qualifiers who finished ahead of him.

The next highest FSL average by somebody not legal to drink was Tampa Yankee SS Reggie Carona who batted just .271.

Tabata and Jackson definitely have serious potential. But I'd rather give it a litte more time to develop, and giving Abreu 2 more years after this one would do it. It would be hard to get Abreu to sign a 2-year deal after the season, but the Yankees could probably get it done right now.

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?

Quick thoughts on Santana Trade as my class is taking a Quiz

Big Winner: The Mets

The prospects they gave up, I'd be surprised if any of them make an all-star team. The Mets needed this. Clearly there is a big risk involved, as signing a pitcher for (most likely) 7 years at that kind of money is a dangerous proposition, but it had to be done.

Assuming the end of last season was just a fluke for Santana (probably was) and he hasn't fallen off at all, he clearly is the front runner already for the Cy Young Award. Going to the NL should only make him better. Pitching in Shea should only make him better. The Mets have, once again, made themselves into preseason favorites, and didn't even give up Martinez to do it. If they had to give up those 4, and Martinez, I think they still should have done it.


Winners, but just by a little bit: Yankees and Red Sox

Neither of them wanted to make the deal. I was having painful thoughts about giving up Hughes and I really like Melky. I've been dreaming of a Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy trio with Wang. Look at what the run the Braves had starting it with 3 young pitchers, and the Yankees will always have better hitting than those Braves teams did.

The Yankees and Red Sox are both spending a lot of money on the farm systems. They are both trying to build that way, and $20+ million per season is a lot of farm system.


Big Loser: The Twins

I don't believe the Yankees and Red Sox were never really in it. I think the Twins wanted the best NL offer possible. I think they were having nightmares about facing Santana for many years to come. I truly believe they did not take the best deal they could have gotten, just to get him out of the American League. The Twins got ripped off for the best pitcher in baseball.

The New York Catcher Debate

In Ross' all-New-York team post, there was a debate over who the catcher should be. Ross chose Bill Dickey, but there was some sentiment - posted (by Warren) and not posted (by me) - that Yogi Berra might be a better choice. According to this list of the top 20 offensive catcher seasons in Yankee history, Bill Dickey has five of the top seasons and three of the top four. Yogi Berra's only in the top ten twice, topping out at number five. Berra does have four seasons in the 11-20 range, where Dickey has none, so you could make the argument that Berra had the better long-term career, but Dickey clearly had a better peak/higher ceiling. So if the Dickey on Ross' team is the 1936-1939 Dickey, you can't really argue that he's the right choice.

Incidentally, Jorge Posada's 2007 is third on the list, and he has three in the top ten and five total in the top 20. As unlikely as it may be, if he can have one more season even close to what he did last year, you can start talking about him in Yogi territory.