Man, those draft picks are just horrible. Not just unlucky, but absolutely dreadful. Regardless of the parameters that Garret was working under, those picks stink by any measure.

Wouldn’t a confidentiality agreement take care of that?

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Not really, Its baseball and like any business, folks often break’em (if they think they won’t get caught or ratted out).

Those agreements are often hard to enforce since its hard to prove it was broken.

Its why Billy Connors still has a job.

That said, he is probably getting some kind of paycheck, knowing how the yankees have operated for years, they have a serious paranoid fear of their people leaving the organization and dishing the dirt on what they know or exposing “where the bodies are buried”.
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Wouldn’t a confidentiality agreement take care of that?

I don’t want to throw Lin Garret under a bus with so many unknown variables and unanswered questions.

We do not know what parameters Garret operated under, how much actual say he had, what restrictions there were, if there was a philosophy that he had to utilize or even how the scouting at the bottom end was.

Having a job title and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, may (or may not) be proof of incompetance but its hard to be certain.

That said, he is probably getting some kind of paycheck, knowing how the yankees have operated for years, they have a serious paranoid fear of their people leaving the organization and dishing the dirt on what they know or exposing “where the bodies are buried”.

Its why the Yanks have so many lifers they won’t let go of, lest they go to the red sox, tell them everything they know for a paycheck (strenghts, weaknesses, etc) before calling it a day.

And, if anyone wants to wonder why the Yankees have a $200 million payroll, perhaps Lin Garrett is the reason why – as the lack of young and cheap talent to retool the Yankees
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Don’t think that has necessarily been the case; about those $200m payrolls…

top 10 salaries 2007
Jason Giambi $ 23,428,571
Alex Rodriguez $ 22,708,525
Derek Jeter $ 21,600,000
Andy Pettitte $ 16,000,000
Bobby Abreu $ 15,000,000
Johnny Damon $ 13,000,000
Hideki Matsui $ 13,000,000
Jorge Posada $ 12,000,000
Mike Mussina $ 11,070,423
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2006
Alex Rodriguez $ 21,680,727
Derek Jeter $ 20,600,000
Jason Giambi $ 20,428,571
Mike Mussina $ 19,000,000
Randy Johnson $ 15,661,427
Johnny Damon $ 13,000,000
Hideki Matsui $ 13,000,000
Jorge Posada $ 12,000,000
Gary Sheffield $ 10,756,171
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2005
Alex Rodriguez $ 26,000,000
Derek Jeter $ 19,600,000
Mike Mussina $ 19,000,000
Randy Johnson $ 16,000,000
Kevin Brown $ 15,714,286
Jason Giambi $ 13,428,571
Gary Sheffield $ 13,000,000
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Jorge Posada $ 11,000,000
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2004
Alex Rodriguez $ 22,000,000
Derek Jeter $ 18,600,000
Mike Mussina $ 16,000,000
Kevin Brown $ 15,714,286
Gary Sheffield $ 13,000,000
Jason Giambi $ 12,428,571
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Mariano Rivera $ 10,890,000
Jorge Posada $ 9,000,000
Javier Vazquez $ 9,000,000

2003
Derek Jeter $ 15,600,000
Raul Mondesi $ 13,000,000
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Mike Mussina $ 12,000,000
Andy Pettitte $ 11,500,000
Jason Giambi $ 11,428,571
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000
Roger Clemens $ 10,100,000
Jorge Posada $ 8,000,000
Sterling Hitchcock $ 6,000,000

2002
Derek Jeter $ 14,600,000
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Raul Mondesi $ 11,000,000
Mike Mussina $ 11,000,000
Jason Giambi $ 10,428,571
Roger Clemens $ 10,300,000
Andy Pettitte $ 9,500,000
Mariano Rivera $ 9,450,000
Robin Ventura $ 8,500,000
Jorge Posada $ 7,000,000

They had young, cheap talent, they opted to trade it away for whatever reason; Mike Lowell, Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, Wily Mo Pena, among others could have been ready to step in.

The Yanks have let other teams set the market, and have paid their players accordingly. Having said that, they’ve assumed contracts of others, like Kevin Brown, Raul Mondesi and Bobby Abreu.

Granted, without question, it’s not fair to play Monday-morning Quarterback here, using the benefit of hindsight, and say that Lin Garrett should have drafted Crawford, Wainwright, Wright, Saltalamacchi, or Gallardo…because many other teams passed on them as well.

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And yet you do.

I’m just saying that the Yankees’ minor-league philosophy changed dramatically from top to bottom.
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I know you know this, but just to reiterate for emphasis, it’s disputable that Brian Cashman’s ascension to power is the reason why.

Over the last three years, the Yankees have had basically an open checkbook to pay every tough sign they could get their hands on. They weren’t doing that previously. The budget for scouting has also risen. It’s simply a different minor-league system with more resources, scouts and money. So it’s hard to say X didn’t do this and signed no one while Y did all this and signed these guys. Yeah, the Yankees made odd choices during that time and they did have some awful drafts (no question), but it doesn’t take a genius scout to sign Austin Jackson, Betances and Suttle, et al., late and give them first- or second-round money.

I’m not defending Lin Garrett, because I know nothing about him, and I’m not taking away from Damon Oppenheimer, whom I like a lot and think is very talented. I’m just saying that the Yankees’ minor-league philosophy changed dramatically from top to bottom.