The Indians have acquired pitcher Zach McAllister from the Yankees to complete the Austin Kearns deal, according to a team press release. The trade called for Cleveland to receive a player to be named later or cash.
McAllister, a native Midwesterner, has a 5.09 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 for the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate this season. He enjoyed a strong 2009 in Double-A Trenton, however, posting a 2.23 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.
Heading into the season, Baseball America ranked the 6'5" righthander as the fifth-best prospect in the organization and the second-best pitcher behind the now-departed Arodys Vizcaino. According to their 2010 Prospect Handbook, he had the best control of any pitcher in the Yankees system but his slider is his only plus pitch.
You have to be kidding me.Why would the Yankees give up one of their best pitching prospects for a meh bench bat?Also “The Indians have acquired pitcher Zach McAllister from the Indians to complete the Austin Kearns deal, according to a team press release. The trade called for Cleveland to receive a player to be named later or cash.”
the yanks have a VERY deep farm system
So that justifies giving up a good piece for a bench bat?
he was expendable
So was Sylvester Stallone. Your point?
His prospect status kinda fell apart this year. He’s at best a throw-in in a major deal, and the Yankees have plenty more like him.
Look at it this way – the Yankees probably wouldn’t have acquired Kearns (who looks to be a key part of the bench) if they weren’t willing to include McAllister. I would rather have Kearns than McAllister, especially if it’s going to help the team win a tight division race. McAllister would provide no value to the team this year, and the way his stuff and numbers look, I honestly doubt he’d provide as much value as Kearns would in half a year on the bench.
If you told me last year McAllister would be moved for a bench bat, I would have been pretty disappointed. But if you also told me last year that McAllister would put up non-prospect numbers in AAA with his peripherals falling off the cliff, I would have understood.
What with all the better pitching prospects coming up behind him, the Yankees’ farm system won’t even notice he’s gone.
My whole point about this is that the Yankees have lots of money.
If the deal was for a PTBNL or cash, why not just give the Indians CASH?
McAllister, even though he’s having a bad year, is still one of the Yankees better prospects, and worth more than a bench bat.
No they don’t…at all. The Yankees have an average to below average farm system that lacks elite pitching. I don’t think McAllister was anything special, but the fact that he was the #2 ranked pitching prospect in the organization a few months ago shows that this organization isn’t deep. At all.
Lack of elite pitching? Have you seen the stats of Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, David Phelps or Ivan Nova this year? They have all been insane.
Don’t worry…the rest of baseball still hasn’t moved past the ‘denial’ stage. It will take time.
Ok, you don’t know anything of the Yankees farm system either so you shouldn’t be talking. I guess all you pay attention to is Keith Law and Baseball America. May I add that the Yankees never tell them anything, and all they like to do is drool all over the Sox’s system?
Considering how badly he has pitched this year, with a severe dip in K’s and a severe rise in ERA, his stock dropped considerably.
That. He’s a ground ball guy who wasn’t getting ground balls against more advance hitters. Back of the rotation type starter, expendable.
Yeah, he’s not that great and he would never have seen playing time in New York (I’m not a NYY fan, but them’s just facts).
Yeah really. Thank you. let’s just be honest here, I’m not a big fan of this trade, but McAllister isn’t exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread.
He was marketed as such because it looked like he was the only guy that had a chance at cracking the big-league rotation from the minors.Then Betances, Banuelos, and Phelps said hi.
Kearns has done very well for the Yankees so far and McAllister’s stock was down. From Cleveland’s perspective Kearns wasn’t in their future plans & McAllister has some upside. From New Yorks, they’re in a tight pennant race & this gives them a right handed bat in the outfield, which they need and McAllister looks to only have a limited upside, although you never know for sure.This is coming from a Tiger fan who remembers getting Doyle Alexander from the Braves in 1987 for a pretty well regarded prospect.
If this is a guy that is the player to be name later, I do not know who I should feel sorry about, the Yanks for getting Kearns or the Indians for getting this guy.
I think they did quite well getting McAllister… not that he has great upside, and he has struggled this year…
his is a big win for the Indians. McAllister is a pretty highly-regarded pitching prospect, from what I gather, and they got him for an aging bench player. Nice.
aging? considering most prospects get called up at 24 or 25 that is pretty degrading of him considering he is only 30
In sports, I generally consider those 30 and over to be aging. Note that I said aging, and not old.
Yankees have a a weak minor league system, that’s the only reason he’s ranked high, he’s good in comparison…
He’s only supposed to be a 4th/5th starter, and Baseball America said that before he had a terrible year (this year)…
They do not have a weak farm system. Noesi, Nunez, Nova, Betances, Banuelos, Romine, Montero, Arcia, Heathcott, Brackman, and Adams are all good prospects to say the least.
That’s funny because the Yankees are STACKED in every position in the minor leagues, just alot of players early in development(Banuelos, Gary Sanchez ect.) and some players that should get called up(Brackman, Noesi ect.), Not to mention the Yankees invested alot in the draft which is something I am pleased with. The Yankees farm system, even if they aren’t as good as Texas’s or Tampa’s, I can see them becoming at the highest at least a 10, 11, or 12 in the BA Rankings, and it better be better than Boston’s because behing Kelly, and maybe Tazawa I don’t see many high upside, and their probably the worst at catching which is something they need, and alot of their high-upside players are either injuredstruggling (Westmoreland, Bowden, Anderson) or early in development(Iglesias, Mark Wagner ect.)
everyone is aging unless theyre benjamin button
Just because he was #2 pitching prospect in a system doesn’t mean he’s highly-regarded. He’s a groundball guy, low K, back of the rotation starter.
I was only going on what I had heard throughout the year, and it seemed that people thought the kid had good potential.
What people? People who comment here who think Ramiro Pena is the SS of the future? McAllister was always a 4/5 starter.
Wow Yankees got RIPPED.
We’re not complaining.
It’s MLBTR tradition to rag on the writers when they make a goof. It’s all in good fun.
I am not a fan of this
wounder what the PTBNL is for the Kerry Wood deal, Jesus Montero?
Seriously, this doesn’t make a lot of sense, but there the Yankees and prospects aren’t as important to them.
Neither is money. Why didn’t they give the Indians a million bucks and call it a deal?
lol@Brian cashman
For developing such a deep pool of pitching talent that a guy like Zach McAllister is expendable? If this were 2005, McAllister would have been deemed ‘untouchable’ and a ‘future workhorse’ because that’s what happens with mediocre talent when their teams have no one better than them.
Look at the Mets, and how guys like Brad Holt are considered ‘future mid-rotation workhorses’, and a future below-average regular Ike Davis is deemed part of the Mets’ future core. It’s not because they’re that good, it’s because the Mets’ farm system is so devoid of true front-line talent those guys get hyped up.
But Danile Murphy!!!
Alright, let’s see if the Indians can fix what’s wrong with him. Dude has been horrific this year, and has actually been getting worse as the season has gone on.
McAllister was never going to pitch in NY, he was just trade bait. Now this move opens up a spot in the AAA rotation, maybe Brackman gets called up…
Doubt that, he only has 60IP at AA and his BB9 jumped back up to 4. Plus they rarely bumb a guy A-AA-AAA in one season.
Great deal for the Indians. McAllister is at best, an average #3 guy only, but getting him for a bench player is wonderful.
Just a quick heads up Arodys was traded to the Braves in the Javier Vasquez deal.
They were giving the pre-season prospect rankings
The trade happened 12/23/09 so the information seems a bit outdated.
Outdated schmoutdated.
lol thats great:)
A lot of those rankings start showing up shortly after the World Series
I did not like them trading away Vizcaino, I don’t care what he did in 2009, he’s not worth anything in the AL.
I’m talking about Vazquez when I said he’s not worth anything In th AL, forgot to mention him.
Arodys is getting better and better and he is going to be a stud, Melky is well Melky, he get’s the Braves hits now and then(even better as of late) and Dunn is turning out to be a good Lefty in the pen, all in all I would have to say my Braves made out on this trade.
How is Arodys getting better and better when he’s on the DL with a torn elbow ligament and may need TJS?
because the person who posted it is clueless.
Dunn has more walks (11) than strikeouts (8), and has a career 4.1 BB/9 ratio in the minor leagues. He’s also 25, so not too much chance of him developing any kind of control.
Trust me, the Yankees don’t miss him one bit. Or Melky. Or, really, Vizcaino, because he’s yet another minor league pitcher with a torn labrum and they have at least 3 guys who are better prospects than him at this point.
It’s nota torn labrum, it’s a partially torn elbow ligament
“they have at least 3 guys who are better prospects than him at this point.”
hahahahahahahahahaha
Nova, Betances, Banuelos, Phelps, Noesi. Should I continue?
Do you really believe that? Banuelos is a future loogy, Phelps is a back-of-the-rotation/spot-starter at best, Noesi and Nova are both older with worse stuff. Betances is the only one with a chance to be better than Vizcaino. Of those 5, only 2 of them will probably end up as starters in the big leagues, and even that isn’t a lock.
But sure, please continue. I would love to see who else you decide to throw out there.
No, you please continue.
Vizcaino is a high-ceilinged arm who hasn’t moved past A-ball and is also seriously injured. Sorry, but guys with similar ceilings who are healthy and pitching are always going to rank higher.
Banuelos, Betances and Brackman all have similar or greater ceilings than Viz, and are all now in AA. If Vizcaino were still in the Yankee farm system and had the same injury, he would not rank higher than these three arms.
Sorry, but them’s the breaks. Pitching prospects are risky. At least you’ve got Teheran, who looks like the best pitching prospect in the game.
So worst case scenario he has TJS and comes back even better than before. Don’t you think it is a bit hypocritical to say that Brackman is a better prospect because of Vizcaino’s injury, when Brackman has had the same injury, is 4+ years older than Vizcaino, has inferior stuff, and is not much further along in terms of development. I really don’t think they are close long-term.
I may have underrated Banuelos, but given his size and build I would still guess that he ends up in the bullpen long term.
Since when is 23 old? And Banuelos has had a high ceiling since the day the Yanks picked him up. And he has been showing exactly why they did. What evidence do you possibly have that would dismantle the almost elite prospect status that he currently has?
“Since when is 23 old?”
when you’re comparing to a 19 year old
But Nova is in AAA (Actually making a start in the big leagues on Monday).
23 is an average age for prospects at that level.
Dunn walks more than a guy an inning. That’s not “a good lefty.” Your analysis = FAIL. next.
McAllister probably had a ceiling of a #4 to #5 SP who would be an inning eater. That might not “wow” people but those pitchers have value. I’m not opposed to trading a guy like that but trading him as a PTBNL for a player in Kerans, who the Indians obivously had no use for, was a mistake in my opinion. Will it cripple the Yanks? Of course not. With guys like Nova, Phelps, Brackman, Betances, Banuelos, Warren, Noesi and Mitchell all at, above or close to being promoterd to AA the Yanks have plenty of prospects knocking on the door. However, it’s extremely hard for me to think that we could not of have gotten Kearns for a lot less than McAllister.
Also, I can’t understand how people can be so quick to dismiss a guy as a prospect just because he struggled with the transition from AA to AAA. Yes, he’s getting hammered more than a Meth crack whore at a biker gang retreat but so did another decent prospect like Ivan Nova. Last year Nova dominated @ AA and then posted a 5.00 ERA in 12 starts at AAA. He rebounded nicely this year at AAA to post a sub 3.00 ERA. Of course Nova has better stuff but I would not be shocked to see McAllister settle down and be more of a sub 4.00 ERA pitcher next year. McAllister ranked high among Yankee prospects, not because they have a weak farm, but because they as of 2009, the majority of their best prospects were below AA or were coming off of a difficult or injury riddled year (Betances and Brackman). Who did we have above AA other than Montero, Nova and McAllister? Either way good pick up for the Mets as they need as many options in the mix and from the Yanks perspective, while not a major loss I would agree that it seems like we sold him short. Indians wanted to move Kearns as much as we wanted to obtain him.
Having seen him pitch in Trenton a few times last year, I can vouch for the fact that he had pretty good stuff. However his stats in Trenton are deceiving since it’s very much a pitcher’s park (as the winds coming off the Delaware River tend to knock down fly balls. Still, I would project him at best as being a 3rd or 4th starter in the Majors someday…at best, which is still better than most of all minor leaguers.
Right, and about every major publication can vouch that he doesn’t have pretty good stuff, he only has 1 good pitch.
This should open the door for Brackman, is Noesi in AA or AAA? because there are some players who are in the lower levels who need to get called up, which should boost the farm. Brandon Laird should also rank in the 90’s he’s solid right now since getting called up Triple A should see him develop some of his power
Noesi is currently in AA Trenton. He’s had a good year so far:
A+ : 8 starts, 5-2, 2.72 ERA in 43 IP w/ 53 ko vs 9 walks
AA : 16 starts, 7-4, 3.30 ERA in 92 IP w/ 8 k0 vs 18 walks
His last 2 starts have been great but overall he’s struggled in his last 10 games w/ an ERA around 4.12 (3 awful starts). He might get a bump to AAA.
Interestingly enough, if McAllister makes it to the majors w/ the Indians in 2011, which is a decent shot, then he will join Joba, IPK (now w/ D’backs), Melancon (now w/ Astros), Robertson, McClutchen (now w/ Pirates), Kevin Russo (AAA/mlb) and Colin Curtis (AAA/mlb) as players drafted by the Yanks in the 2006 draft that have made their mlb debuts. And then you have Dellin Betances (A+ :14 starts, 8-1, 1.77 ERA in 71 IP w/ 88 ko and 19 walks) as a legit blue chip prospect also from the 2006 draft as well. Pretty good draft, especially for the Yanks.
Noesi should have read AA : 16 starts, 7-4, 3.30 ERA in 92 IP w/ 80 ko vs 18 walks
PTBNL for Wood = Brandon Laird
Is that your prediction or did you read it somewhere?
My prediction. If we gave up ZMac for Kearns, we might give up someone better for Wood. Does anyone really think it’ll be Corona, Russo or someone else totally useless?
I would hope so. Big differenc between the statistical trends of McAllister and Laird. Most felt that McAllister was regressing at AAA where as Laird has had a fantastic 2nd half and is headed towards a .285/.350 30 dbl 25-30 hr kind of year between AA and AAA. Not sure what his ceiling is but I would be shocked if Cashman were to move him for Wood.
Well let’s hope Cleveland just takes the cash.
Thanks for that since I also did beleove Noesi could be bumped up to Triple A, and that’s what he wishes, Laird would never get traded right after he got called up, besides the third basemen the Yankee farm system have are either early in development, or ar being blocked because the Yanees should project him to be a replacement for A-Rod, especially since when Jorge retires, Montero will take over, A-Rod will probably be moved to the DH role, and Laird should take over. I think more Yankee fans should monitor him more closely, he has what it takes to be a power hitting third baseman.
*Yankees, *believe sorry.
Even if that were true, would Laird have the glove to stay at 3rd?
There’s no other position for him to go to. He’s too big for the middle infield, he could move to 1B but That’s where a guy nicknamed Tex lives these days and will for the next 7 Years, and I doubt he can make a transition to the outfield. Hi glove at third pretty decent anyway, and you have to face that that migh and I hope will be true because A-Rod isn’t going to stay at third forever, and Laird and Montero seems like the future of the Yankees to me, Cashman better damn not trade him for ANYONE(but if Lee was still available I’d go for it).
Yankees minor league system is stacked. Let the Boston bias prospect writers tell you different, but right now the Yankees have 3 potential top of the rotation starters in the system in Brackman, Betances and Banuelos. If 2 of the 3 make it to the majors, the Yankees will destroy their competition having cost controlled high ceiling pitchers in the majors. That means they can spend big on Jeter’s replacement at SS and Mo’s replacement as closer down the line.
Not to mention the Yankees have the market cornered on catching. Montero, Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez (who is the best of the 3) rivals anything any other organization has in that department.
When the Yankees are developing these kind of high ceiling resources in their own system, it’s a death rattle for the rest of the league. Hughes, Gardner, Robertsen this season alone are giving the Yankees high dollar production at bargain basement prices.
If the Yankees continue to develop players in the system and still use their financial might to sign the free agents they deem worth it, they will have another dynasty.
The days of George acting irrationally and signing Sheffield because he’s from Tampa over Vlad Guerrero who was all ready to be a Yankee many years ago, are over.
They are being run smart & efficient and don’t be surprised to see a large jump in their off season minor league system rankings.
I Almost agree with you but I don’t thunk Sanchez is he best catcher out of the three since he’s only 17 and really early in his development. I could possibly see him competing with Romine for the Catcher role if Montero gets moved to a different position, but right now, even if Montero is injured, he is the best Catcher ou of the three, and in fact, the 2nd best caching prospect behing Posey who is doing a tremendous job for the Giants
The scary part about Sanchez is he jumped to high A already this season at 17 years old. He squares up everything he hits and is a better defender than Montero. He’s moving through the system fast for his age and has a special bat.
A lot can happen between high A and the majors, but right now most scouts are calling Sanchez the best of the bunch for catcher. He’s going to leap up in the prospect rankings this year.
I know he has moved alot quicker, he is something special no doubt, but of course he has to destroy Double-A and then Triple-A which is something Montero has done already. Until that Montero is better right now, even if he might get moved to a DH or even outfield position.
Yeah clearly every baseball writer from Keith Law to Jim Callis loves Boston and hates NY and that’s why the Red Sox are universally ranked as having a significantly better system. Obviously the Yankees system is much better, its just every media member outside of NY hates the Yankees and loves Boston. Right? Right?
Your ignorance is just sad. The Red Sox have Law and Callis in their back pocket. Law has admitted he is close with Theo on more than one occasion.The Yankees refuse to talk up their prospects to Law, Callis or any of the prospect ranking systems.Meanwhile Boston consistently uses their media contacts to sell stories on their prospects. You read a Yankee writer and it’s rare they mention a prospects name. You read a Boston writer and 9 out of 10 articles mention can’t miss prospects most of whom amount to nothing. You want to ignore facts, go right ahead. But if the Brackman, Betances and Banuelos all independently praised highly by Frankie Pilletierre recently pan out, the Red Sox will be looking up at the Yankees for many many many years. Especially since Theo hamstrung the future rotation with Lackey and Beckett for many more years. There is no one in the Boston system, including the immortal Casey Kelly, who comes close to Montero, Romine, Brackman, Betances, Banuelos & Gary Sanchez. You may think I’m talking out of my butt, but in a few short years you’ll realize that all the kool aid you’ve been sold about the red sox drafts and their vaunted system was sour. Theo and the Red Sox front office have excellent relationships with the draftnik media for a reason. The Yankees don’t even spend 5 seconds feeding them anything. It’s 2 different organizational philosophies. One is about keeping the hype down. The other is about creating hype and keeping the fans believing they are smarter than the other teams to justify ticket costs.
Kinda like how Cashman hamstrung the Yankees rotation for years with AJ Burnett?
Hamstrung? Get him to play catch with Jose Molina and He would disagree with you…
I’m amazed. I never have seen someone so ignorant and stupid, and not know anything to even back it up. I think you’ll be saying different when Montero hits bombs off your pitchers all day, and when people like Banuelos strikes your batters out like it’s nothing.
this was dumb by the yankees. whether he was expendable or not the fact of the matters is they traded him for a bench player
So maybe you would have offered them Ramiro Pena and got the trade done right?
You either trade a guy with a limited ceiling but he’s closer to the majors, or a guy with a higher ceiling but still down at low A ball.
You trade the guy with the lower ceiling every time
Could of gave them money…the yankees have unlimited amounts anyway.
that makes zero sense (I’m not surprised). (smart) teams in a playoff race ALWAYS trade expendable players to improve their bench.
So it DOES matter if the prospect was expendable. It has everything to do with it, actually.
The Yanks traded some expendable parts for Hinske and Hairston last year. I guess that didn’t work out?
You Yankee-haters are pretty funny. Don’t quit your day jobs.
So while reading above I see some people that believe the Yankees have a “really deep farm system”, LMAO. The Yankees are not deep at all. This trade for a bench piece goes to show you why the Yankees have such a hard time developing decent talent, they don’t keep it long enough.
McCallister was passed by other prospects. It’s that simple. The system really is that deep.
People keep knocking it, but between Hughes, Cano, Robertson, Joba.. it keeps producing players that help the best team in baseball win games. Jesus Montero and Brandon Laird are having huge years. Banuelos is the truth. Gary Sanchez is ALREADY gunning for Montero’s spot as the organizational darling.
The NYY system does exactly what it needs to do: produce players to trade for veterans, produce players to fill bench roles since good bench players don’t want to play for the Yankees, and produce legitimate impact players to grow into team fixtures at below market cost.
Don’t forget Brett Gardner.
And to everyone bitching about the Vazquez trade, don’t forget that the Yankees got Boone Logan as well. Logan has been a nice surprise in the bullpen in his role thus far.
-wtk
You’re a moron. You should re-read your comment and then check the stats. The Yanks farm system (all levels) is outperforming many others in the league. What team do you follow? The Yankees have produced so many impact players in the last 2 decades its laughable. Two of which, are perhaps the most important faces in modern day baseball in Jeter and Mo. Another that is currently in the running for AL MVP in Cano. Yeah, he’s only 26 so I see how this would be discounted (insert sarcasm here). A power pitcher with an ERA below 4 in the AL east with a record of 15-5. Yeah, they are having a very difficult time developing top notch talent. Let’s not forget to consider they have 3, if not 4, of the best catching prospects in baseball.
I forgot that teams with strong farm systems are supposed to have 31-year old veterans in their minor leagues!
As withpower has already mentioned, the Yankees are doing juuust fine developing their own major league talent, thankyouverymuch. He even forgot about Brett Gardner, who has been one of the top LFers in the game this year.
It’s a whole different kind of discussion, but the Yankees’ farm system has been in damn good shape ever since Cashman took control back in 2005. The only reason people think it’s weak is because the Yankees don’t talk to BP about the amateur talent they’re scouting, so BP has no idea how good that amateur talent actually is. Don’t put too much weight into those top draft prospect lists. They can’t possibly accurately scout every minor leaguer in the game, so half their information comes from the teams themselves. The Yankees don’t really divulge the amateur talent they’re scouting, so their drafts always look ‘weak’, and thus their farm system is considered ‘devoid of high-impact talent’ because, well, guys like BP invest so much into their draft rankings that they can’t possibly backtrack that fast.
The 2006 draft is already pretty legendary. But look at the 2007 draft, which was considered ‘disastrous’ by many. Well, they got Brackman, Romine, and Laird from that draft, who all at least look to be on track for a major league career. Now look at Boston’s ‘haul’, which I guarantee you was considered one of the ‘better draft classes’ of that year. What’s really there? Hagadone looks like he might have a chance at the major leagues, and Rizzo can hit with some power in AA but has no plate discipline. That is IT. Now how did that happen? How could the Yankees, who had a ‘shallow’ draft, possibly come away with a better draft class than Boston’s ‘great’ haul? This is just one example as to why it’s incredibly dumb to put stock into draft rankings These people rarely have any true idea at who had the better drafts, and they’re forced to be biased to those teams that actually give them scouting info. Boston loves to. The Yankees don’t. That is really the only reason why you’ll see Boston having ‘historic’ draft classes and the Yankees being pooed on. It’s not about the talent, it’s about the information.
The Red Sox 2007 draft was probably their second worst under Theo Epstein and they still got Nick Hagadone, Anthony Rizzo, Will Middlebrooks, and Drake Britton. They almost got Yasmani Grandal signed but missed out, but that’s beside the point. Anyways, Rizzo is the third best 1st base prospect in the MLB, Hagadone landed Victor Martinez, and Middlebrooks and Britton are both performing well and have very high ceilings. And again, this is in one of their worst draft classes.
My question to you is why do you Yankee fans feel the urge to talk about Boston’s farm system every time the Yankee farm system is brought up? Seriously, look through this thread…in a thread that has nothing to do with the Red Sox whatsoever, they must have been brought up 5 or 6 times. Now go through Red Sox threads and see how many times they talk about the Yankee organization. I remember back in the 90s when Red Sox fans would cry about everything that was the Yankee organization…now the Yankee fans have become obsessed with the Sox. Give it up, you guys are probably the favorites to win the WS again and the Red Sox might finish in 4th place. Stop analyzing whether the friggin 2007 draft class was overrated or not…do you realize how petty you sound?
Buddy, the Red Sox and Yankees are inextricably linked for many, many reasons. This is one of them. The Red Sox consistently divulge their scouting information to associations like BP, mostly because they like to control public perception of their minor league organization. It’s a great business strategy and it’s worked out – look at their marketability. The Yankees, by direct contrast, do not divulge information about the amateur talent they’re scouting. It’s just a different way of doing business.
But, the consequence is that BP’s draft rankings are forced to be biased towards the teams that give them information. Boston is the team that consistently gives them the most information. It’s why you’ll see ‘historic’ and ‘amazing’ linked with Boston’s draft classes, and ‘shallow’ and ‘uninspiring’ attached to the Yankees’, but the difference in talent is not nearly so much, if at all, and there are several instances where a Yankees ‘impotent’ draft class runs circles around a Boston’s highly-lauded draft class.
No one is saying that Boston is a terrible team and drafts awful. They’re a solid organization, pretty much on the same level as the Yankees. It’s just that the public perception is oftentimes separate from reality. And the public perception that Boston has strings of ‘historically deep’ draft classes is just as far from reality as the perception that the Yankees can’t draft a major league player if their lives depended on it. Hey, Boston’s done a great job of marketing their team. It’s probably their biggest strength as an organization.
I’m not in any way surprised that people think they’re some kind of historic factory of major league stars. I would just like it if some people think a little more critically when reality starts to set in.
I don’t think you realize that most of those prospects will never amount to anything(especially Middlebrooks and Hagadone), and Rizzo is just there as a wake up call to Lars Anderson saying “You better hit, or you’re done, and we’re replacing you with this guy.”. Besides most of their talent is in double-a, and triple-a, behind that potential is almost non-existant. Which is why the Sox’s system has no depth and will probably be ranked lower, since Keith Law is eventually going to have to stop giving Red Sox prospects special treatment, especially ones with no upside, or will probably get fired.
Ok well maybe you’re too ignorant to see how the Yankees system is one of the deepest. They just don’t tell Keith Law, Baseball America, or the Media/Press anything. And why would they need to? That would be in the way of their development for future stars. I can tell you know nothing of their system so don’t even.
Something that people probably don’t realize about this trade – the Yankees needed to protect McAllister from the Rule V draft this year. Trading him really frees them to protect someone more valuable.
So, instead of losing McAllister for nothing at the end of the year, they get to trade him for something they can really use this year.
Also remember that the Yankees didn’t choose to send McAllister. They told Cleveland, here is a list of players we would be willing to trade for Kearns, choose one or take cash. It was Cleveland’s decision to take the player.
I bet you that if they didn’t include McAllister on that list, the Yankees wouldn’t have gotten Kearns.
So while reading above I see some people that believe the Yankees have a “really deep farm system”, LMAO. The Yankees are not deep at all. This trade for a bench piece goes to show you why the Yankees have such a hard time developing decent talent, they don’t keep it long enough.
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I hate feeling as if I have to defend the Yanks all the time. I feel like Al Sharpton watching Fox News waiting for someone to slip. However, I feel that there’s just not enough independent thinking with regards to baseball anymore. So often people look athow many prospects a team has inside of someone’s top 50 list and uses that to make their opinion. Often those that compile their lists focus on guys that are higher in the system or were high profile draft picks. When the Rangers traded away Texieira to the Braves for Satly (07 ranked #36 overall), Harrison (07 ranked #90), Andrus (07 ranked #65 overall), Feliz and Jones is what Feliz who wasn’t even ranked inside the top 100 list and is arguably the best of the bunch. So as of today, there may not be anyone inside of the top 100 list other than Montero and Romine but it certainly might be others like Dellin Betances, Andrew Brackman, Manny Banuelos, Adam Warren, Ivan Nova, Hector Noesi, Graham Stoneburner, David Phelps, JR Murphy, Slade Heathcott, Gary Sanchez, Brandon Laird and Dave Adams, Corban Joseph, Jose Ramirez that might have their current seasons evaluated and felt worthy of being included in the next list or are a breakout season away from catching someone’s eye. Arodys Vizcaino wasn’t on anyone’s top 100 list last year but obviously the Yankee front office knew what they had.
Top prospect lists are sexy but by no means are they the end all and be all in evaluating a “good system” vs a “bad one”. The Yankees get crushed for allegedly not having a good farm system and the Rays get applause. Difference is that the Rays for years were drafting high in the draft (from 1999 to 2007 they had 4 #1 picks overall, 1 #2 overall, 2 #3 overall, 1 #4 overall, 1 #6 overall and 1 #8 overall). I’ll give them cedit for turning those high draft picks into Hamilton, Baldelli, Delmon Young, BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, David Price, Randy Neimann and Wade Townsend but it’s not hard to pick an impact player when you’re choosing so high. The Yanks on the other hand never are ranked high enough to be inside the top 20 but have done a good job of finding gems in the later round and in international free agency and have managed to bring guys like Robinson Cano, Chein Ming-Wang, Phil Hughes, Brett Gardner, Austin Jackson, Joba CHamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Coke, David Robertson and many others into their system and have many, many more that I think will come into their own in the next couple of years.
I agree, but every organization has similar outside the top 100 prospects talent…guys who could far exceed expectations, or guys who could fit important roles. Obviously elite talent isn’t the end all be all, but it is the most important. Give me 4 or 5 Jesus Montero’s over 20 Ivan Nova’s.
Of course we all would prefer elite talent but my point is that most of the elite impact players are early 1st rnd picks 35/100 of the top 20 picks in the 2007-2009 drafts are ranked inside of BA Top 100. 21 out of 50 of Jonathon Mayo’s picks were all top 20 picks over the last 3 years as well. Those that weren’t recent picks were guys who finally broke thru and had breakout seasons at or above the AA level. So with most propsect analyses it seems they either favor high profile draft picks (which of course have elite talents) or simply focus on guys who’ve proven themselves at the higher levels. That’s probably how it should be. However in the case of the Yankees they had a few guys above the AA levels that have graduated to the majors from 2005-2009 drafts (Austin Jackson, Brett Gardner, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Coke, David Robertson), a few currently at AA and AAA (Montero, Romine, Brackman, Adams, Phelps, McAllister and Nova) and then the rest are all at A+ or below and are still at the projectable stage and came into the system in the last year or so or are recovering from injuries suffered in 2009 (Sanchez, Murphy, Heathcott, Banuelos, Betances, etc). If they stay healthy and replicate their current success next year then they can easily be listed as top prospects next year. If you have 5 to 10 promising prospects in the farm now who aren’t getting a lot of pub but reaffirm themselves next year and get the pub they deserve then does that mean that the overall farm sucked last year but suddenly improved the next or did it take longer for the “experts” to simply acknowledge the talent that was already there in the first place?
All about perception. Just because the Yankees might identify 10 good to great prospects currently between the GCL and A+ doesn’t mean that BA or Johnathon Mayo will right about them.
Look at Arodys Vizcaino. He wasn’t viewed as a top 100 prospect until this year, right before he was included in the Vazquez deal but the Yanks had him in the low minors and were talking about him since 2007.
For those of you that keep saying the Yankees system is bad…
The Yankees take pride in invesing in the draft as well one of the most aggressive scouters internationally, including in the Chinese and Japanese leagues(Irabu, Wang, Hideki Matsui, and I’m hearing about Yu Darvish). They also look for players in Dominican Republic as well as anyone. The reason they do not rank high in anyones list is because they will not tell anyone about how they scout and how they develop players. That would get in the way of the development and scouting of the Yankees. And actually that has paid off, as the Yanks, even if it isn’t on paper, have one of the deepest and strongest farms that continues to thrive. The only reason the Red Sox are praised more for their farm, is because they let people like Keith Law get the inside on everyone they scout and develop, which is just a form of business. But that’s not the way the Yankees roll, and if you ask me, it makes the Yankees system/scouting, development, and organization as a whole, look alot more classier.