first of all, i hope everything/one is ok. but i think you are missing the point. they take guys like horne and brackman who have some issues because the potential reward is so high. if they didnt take these type of guys with either health or signability issues, we wouldnt have anyone with that kind of upside in the system.

in the past two days there have been some positive reports about bleich, and he did pitch very well last night vs. cal st. fullerton. so my point was why not give these kids a little time to come back from the surgeries before we say they havent succeeded? ok, fine you think its premature for the yankees to say they have had success. maybe it is. but the jury is still out. i just dont understand why you bash the picks when you know nothing about them except what baseball america says or doesnt say. a little cautious optimism wouldnt kill you here and there, would it? you dont have to be a complete homer and say that bleich is a diamond in the rough and a steal, but jeez, lets wait and see a little bit. you can say you are pragmatic and not overly negative all the time, and i would agree with that to a degree, but not here. here it seems like you are being negative for the sake of it.

FYI, I’ve been offline for the last 24 hours (family emergency). I offer that so that ya’ll know I was not ignoring you here on purpose.

My point here was this: The Yankees like to claim that they have “pretty good success” with this sign TJS players scheme of theirs…as if they’re smarter than everyone else to come up with this trick. However, we’ve yet to see any of these guys come up to the major league level and have a positive impact on the team.

Yes, some, like Brackman, were just signed. And, yes, the book is still out on them – no question. But, THEN, be smart and wait before saying things like you’ve had “pretty good success.”

Am I missing something here? Maybe. If anyone wants to show me the “success” evidence – above the guy rehabbing and then pitching in the minors – I’m open to seeing it.

Just rehabbing and pitching in the minors is not success for me. Lots of guys do that – it’s not like the Yankees have found some secret there.

Littlefield may only have a 75% record, but when it comes to commenters slapping Steve upside the head, Steve is at 100%! Good job Steve!

even I must say you went a bit overboard with this one bro..

Side note – who knew there were two Ryan Brauns running around the bigs?
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Last year when the “good” Ryan Braun came up, someone in my fantasy league offered me a trade of Chris Young (pitcher) and Ryan Braun (hitter) for Chris Young (hitter) and Ryan Braun (pitcher).

It cracked me up. Yes, I’m a fantasy geek…

I think your expectations are a bit high Steve, so I did a little research.

Below are the rehabbing pitchers that are not “thriving at the big league level,” what year they were drafted in, what round and what players drafted in that round, or the next round, that have even reached the majors, if only for a cup of coffee:

Humberto Sanchez 2001 (31) [Joey Gathright, Steve Andrade]

Jason Stephens 2003 (6) [Ryan Braun - P, Sean Marshall, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Eric O'Flaherty, Matt Kemp, Billy Sadler, Virgil Vasquez, Mike Aviles, Brian Bannister, Kyle Kendrick, Reggie Willits, Patrick Misch, Brendan Ryan]

Christian Garcia 2004 (3) [Jeff Fiorentino, Adam Lind, JA Happ, Jason Windsor, Chris Iannetta, Ohlendorf, Casey Janssen and Rob Johnson]

J. Brent Cox 2005 (2) [Chase Headley, Kevin Slowey, Yunel Escobar, Micah Owings, Jensen Lewis]

Lance Pendleton 2005 (4) [Justin Maxwell, Jonathan Meloan]

Alan Horne 2005 (11) [John Lannan, Mike Zagurski]

Andrew Brackman 2007 (1) [Ross Detwiler]

Mark Melancon 2006 (9) [n/a]

So it’s not that Steve’s being Mr. Grumpy again… its that his expectations are too high.

Side note – who knew there were two Ryan Brauns running around the bigs?

Steve being negative — there’s a shocker.

Don’t get too bent out of shape on this, Steve. This stuff is all a crapshoot.

your criterion for “pretty good success” with elbow problems is all of those pitchers “thriving at the major league level”? come on, steve. fine, we all know you hate cashman, but this is going a little too far. oppenheimer has presided over what look to be some pretty good drafts the past few years, how about waiting to see the results a little bit? he hasn’t earned any credibility from you??

Yankees didn’t draft Sanchez.

Why don’t you let Oppenheimer do that draft. There’s a reason he’s there.