Last Three Years Of Yanks System Stuffing
Marc Hulet at Fangraphs took a look at the Yankees last three drafts. (Every time I see Marc Hulet’s name, by the way, I think of Marc Hill and Tim Hulett – what a ’80′s flashback, huh?)
What I like about this study is that Hulet lists the first three rounds and “over-draft signees” ($200,000 or more) – here they are with the latter denoted by an “X” -
2009
1st Round: Slade Heathcott, OF, Texas HS
2. J.R. Murphy, C, Florida HS
3. None
5x – Caleb Cotham, RHP, Vanderbilt
12x – Brett Gerritse, RHP, California HS
14x – Graham Stoneburner, RHP, Clemson
16x – Bryan Mitchell, RHP, North Carolina
44x – Evan DeLuca, LHP, New Jersey HS
2008
1st Round: Gerrit Cole, RHP, California HS (Did not sign)
1S. Jeremy Bleich, LHP, Stanford
2. Scott Bittle, RHP, Mississippi (Did not sign)
3. David Adams, 2B, Virginia
6x – Brett Marshall, RHP, Texas HS
7x – Kyle Higashioka, C, California HS
9x – Michael O’Brien, RHP, Virginia HS
10x – D.J. Mitchell, RHP, Clemson
15x – Matt Richardson, RHP, Florida HS
27x – Garrison Lassiter, SS, North Carolina HS
2007
1st Round: Andrew Brackman, RHP, North Carolina State
2. Austin Romine, C, California HS
3. Ryan Pope, RHP, Savannah College of Art/Design
4x – Brad Suttle, 3B, Texas
6x – Richard ‘Chase’ Weems, Georgia HS
8x – Taylor Grote, OF, Texas HS
10x – Carmen Angelini, Louisiana HS
So, how many of these names will be playing in the Bronx between 2010 and 2014? That remains to be seen, no doubt…
Steve Lombardi wrote:
The more appropriate question should also include how many of these names will be used to aquire better and/or MLB-ready talent, thus justifying their existence as farmhands on a team that tends to shy away from rebuilding.
From the 2007 list, Chase Weems was traded for Jerry Hairston Jr. If nothing else, Hairston scored the winning run in Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS. There’s value right there.
The 2008 draft was more or less unspectacular, if not all-out putrid. The 2006 and 2009 drafts were tremendous.
@ MJ: Then again, if the farm was producing, then you wouldn’t have to go out and trade for a Jerry Hairston….
Steve Lombardi wrote:
No, in that case the farm would still be producing…as in producing a swap for other talent that helps you get to and win a World Series. Trading Weems for Hairston is still farm production.
Think it was really Weems that brought J.H., or, more like the Reds being happy to dump his salary and get any body in return?
Oh, yeah, the Reds just had to dump the 750K left on his contract. What a burden!
More like, they wanted to clear him off the roster to get some of their younger guys some more playing time. Like Stubbs.
A cool note about the so-called mismanaged Yankee farm system, courtesy of Tyler Kepner in today’s NY Times:
“In the winter after the 2007 season, the Yankees could have acquired Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins for Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Jeff Marquez. Two years after turning down that offer, the Yankees are overjoyed with their decision.”
http://tinyurl.com/y8bo3ah
Think about that for a second: the trade we didn’t make with Minnesota ended up yielding Javier Vazquez, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and the money needed to sign CC Sabathia. Mismanaged farm system, my ass.
Also from the article, two more noteworthy points about Javier Vazquez:
“Since leaving the Yankees, Vazquez is one of only two pitchers with at least 1,000 innings and 1,000 strikeouts; Santana is the other.”
Also, the five leading strikeout pitchers of the past five years are Johan Santana, Javier Vazquez, Jake Peavy, Dan Haren and AJ Burnett. It doesn’t suck to have two of the five…