MLBTR's Top Ten Minor League Deals of the Year

MLB Trade Rumors came out with their list of the top ten minor league deals of the season. Between the top ten and honorable mentions, five Yankees signings made the list.

1. Bartolo Colon, Yankees. He didn't pitch at all in the Majors in 2010, but this year Colon has a 3.33 SIERA in 152 innings. He's been a major cog in the Yankees' rotation. Some of his success may be owed to offseason stem cell treatments, which Yankees GM Brian Cashman was not aware of at the time of the signing.

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4. Freddy Garcia, Yankees. Colon and Garcia have provided the Yankees 280 innings of 3.63 ball. Baseball's biggest spenders got a ton of bang for their buck on minor league deals this year.

Eric Chavez, Cory Wade and Luis Ayala made the honorable mention list. I've written about this before, but it's worth mentioning again that Cashman has always been great at landing some major impact players on small and/or minor league deals. This year, maybe more than any in the past, these small moves are one of the main reasons why the Yankees are 4 games up right now.