Marchand: "Granderson has been a colossal failure"

Frank already spoke about this earlier, but when I saw this article from Andrew Marchand on Was Watching, I felt like sharing my opinion.

Maybe the biggest reason the Yankees have not finished off Boston yet is because they traded their top outfield prospect, Austin Jackson, and let Damon walk. For Jackson and in Damon's place, Granderson has been a colossal failure.

It has gotten to the point that the Yankees essentially gave up Jackson and Damon for a guy who is not even going to play in big playoff games. Granderson is barely a .200 hitter against lefties, so he is sitting against the David Prices, Cliff Lees and Francisco Lirianos in October. Barring injury, Kearns will be in left and Gardner in center for those games.

When Granderson struck out to lead off the ninth, he heard boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd. That happens when you are a $5.5 million platoon player. He is not expected to start Tuesday against Rangers lefty C.J. Wilson and he may not play against lefty Cliff Lee on Wednesday. He only started Monday because the Yankees are in the midst of playing four straight against lefties.

...

"It hasn't been the best," said Granderson, when asked to evaluate his season without factoring how well the team has done. "But just trying to help the team out as best that you can. No matter what has to be done. It is not necessarily going to be the statistical thing. I've never been the statistical type of guy. I'm just trying to help the team out. I haven't been able to be the guy, but at the same time on this team we don't necessarily need that type of guy."

First of all, spare us from the whole "it is not necessarily going to be a statistical thing" crap. When these are your stats, it becomes a statistical thing.

• Overall - .240/.307/.417
• RISP - .216/.326/.365
• vs. Lefties - .212/.250/.283

Also, if you were wondering, here's what I said the day the trade was made:

I'm really not a big fan of this move, but we'll see how it works out. On the positive side, Granderson should see his offensive numbers improve in the new stadium and he's a solid defensive outfielder.

Well, we're seeing how its worked out: Granderson has not only done worse than he did in 2009, but Austin Jackson is hitting over .300 and playing everyday. It's safe to say I'm much more disappointed now than I was on that day in December. This trade is looking worse and worse as time goes on, and I'm not sure it's going to look any better any time soon.

The Best Trades Are Those Not Made

This time last year we were talking about top prospect Austin Jackson who was arguably one of the best outfield prospects to come through the Yankee farm system since Bernie Williams. He ended up having a good all around season at Triple-A, maintaining a batting average around .300. He was also solid defensively, chasing down fly balls with his above average speed.

Unfortunately he was rewarded for this performance by becoming the cornerstone of the Curtis Granderson trade, which today looks very one-sided. Unfortunately not in the Yankees favor, and may look even worse in the future. Jackson and the other players given up, Phil Coke and Ian Kennedy, have each had good seasons this year:

Jackson: .307 batting average; 64 runs; 25 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. At this pace he should project to about 200 hits for the year. He has been a solid lead off hitter and defensive centerfielder. Referred to by manager Jim Leyland as the "total package".

Coke: In 52 games so far he has a 2.60 ERA and 38 K. He has been a very serviceable lefty reliever for the Tigers.

Kennedy: Has started 22 games for Arizona and has 6 wins, an ERA of 4.40 and 113 K. Right now he is a back of the rotation starter who should get better as he pitches more.

The evaluation of this trade will continue for awhile but unless Granderson, who is 6 years older, makes a major contribution the remainder of the season, it could become more obvious that the Yankees were fleeced. Of course some will argue the negatives about Jackson like the strikeout rate or lack of power, but his progress over the next couple years will also have a lot of impact on the analysis.

I personally like the trades the Yankees don't make a lot better. Like the one that kept Phil Hughes with the Yankees.

Today we have another prospect at Triple-A that I hope the Yankees can resist trading. He's 20 year old Jesus Montero who won the game for Scranton last night with a walk-off, 2 run home run. In 22 games after the all star break he is batting .395 with 6 HRs; 15 RBI and a .460 OBP. He is getting better offensively by the game and his defensive skills as a catcher have also been improving.

He has already almost been traded once. Hopefully he will get a shot to impress in September so he can give the front office some more reasons not to trade him.

Hughes or Santana? Jackson or Granderson?? Montero or ????

Wynegar: AJax Not Ready For Pros (yet)

From Lynn Henning (Hat-tip to Was Watching):

Butch Wynegar, the Yankees' Triple-A hitting coach, said that he expects Jackson to be a legitimate big league hitter. But he did not disagree with Carter and other critics of Jackson's swing.

"He still is raw, still has a lot to learn, but he's an intelligent kid and a good athlete -- and he wants to learn," Wynegar said. "I basically told the Yankees at the end of the year, if they were thinking about him being their center fielder this coming year (2010), I didn't know if he was ready yet.

"But I know he has a bright future. There are just some things he needs to iron out yet and incorporate to be successful."

Steve Carter, a scout for Project Prospect and one of Jackson's critics had this to say:

"Jackson gets his front foot down very early, and tries to kick-start his swing by pushing his hips -- two very inefficient moves when combined. The main reason behind getting the front foot down early and 'reacting' -- as Jackson does -- is to limit forward movement and let the ball travel deep into the strike zone.

"Unfortunately, for Jackson, this approach results in a two-part swing with poor intent to swing hard, poor upper-body resistance, and him getting caught in-between on off-speed pitches.

"He neutralizes the benefits of getting his front foot down early, by shifting too much weight to the foot. This robs him of precious energy and time. Not only does he not have enough force to exert as he should, his weight is displaced, which doesn't allow him enough of a rear hip-load to stay back."

The Yankees knew Jackson wouldn't be ready this year and that's probably one of, if not the reason they traded him. What I'm interested to see is if the Tigers rush him to the big leagues and hinder his growth as a hitter. That said the concerns about his lack of power may not be completely justified. As Jim Leyland said in the aricle, "power is usually the last thing to come."

Sherman: Yanks Still In Hunt For Halladay

Via Joel Sherman:

If you think Curtis Granderson is going to be the only big move of this offseason for the Yankees, then you don’t know the Yankees.

Even while finalizing a deal in which they gave up three prospects to complete a trade in principle for Granderson, the Yankees were continuing to talk — and talk some more — to Blue Jays officials about a trade for Roy Halladay, The Post has learned.

Major league officials described Toronto as intensifying efforts to trade its ace at the Winter Meetings, though the expectation is that a deal will not get done at this gathering. However, those same officials say that all signs point now to the Blue Jays definitely trading Halladay this offseason. And the Yankee contingent is signaling they are in by making it clear to Toronto officials that they are willing to discuss major prospects even after letting the touted Austin Jackson go in the package for Granderson.

Sherman also says that Toronto "loves" Jesus Montero, but did mention that the Yankees believe that the Jays want to send Halladay outside the AL East, and that many people around baseball believe a team like the Angels will step up the bidding and land the Jays ace.

If Cahsman gave up both Ajax and Montero in one offseason I would be very surprised. It goes against everything he's done and said over the last few years regarding young prospects and the Yankees farm system. If the Yanks throw in Joba or Hughes, which they'd likely have to, I'd be even more surprised.

Granderson Trade Analysis

The one thing this trade shows is that fans (or at least me) really are incapable of judging what it will take to trade for a player. Yesterday I was dismissing the idea that Cashman could get Granderson without giving up one of Joba, Hughes, or Montero. However, he got it done with a package centered around Austin Jackson. Personally, I think this is another great Cashman trade here.

In Granderson they get a 28 year old centerfielder who will hold down the position for a very long time at a cheap price. Granted, he's coming off the third straight year of decline but their is reason to think he will bounce back and he's still an extremely valuable player if this is all that he is. He plays solid defense and is two years removed from an MVP type year. His career wOBA is .358 and he plays a very solid centerfield. He's a consistent 20-20 guy who still was worth 3.4 wins last year in an awful year.

The biggest problem with his dissapointing 2009 was that a lot of his FB base hits from the previous years turned into fly ball outs. His FB% shot up about nine points while his GB% sunk about ten points. His BABIP accordingly shrunk but his HR/FB% remained the same. It seems a little flukey but even if it becomes a trend, that short right field porch might give him a few more homers. The guys at fangraphs.com ranked Granderson as the 22nd most valuable player in baseball and they really didn't give up all that much.

Obviously, its tough to see A-Jax go. We've invested a lot of time into watching him grow and develop but you have to give up something and he clearly doesn't have the type of potential that Montero, Hughes, or Joba show. His 2009 season saw him take a few steps backwards and it was probably a good idea to trade him while his flashy BA was still nice and high. Realistically, if A-Jax ends up as good as Curtis Granderson the Tigers will be delighted and probably a little surprised. Ian Kennedy's stock has fallen since the days of "The Big Three" and at his point I don't think their was going to be much room for him on the Yankees. After all, you have the front two spots locked up to huge contracts and a load of other guys trying to make the other spots. Phil Coke is a throwaway to be honest with you. We saw from Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez how quickly a previously reliable reliever can suddenly turn to nothing.

All in all, its not all that impressive of a package for a guy like Granderson. I'm not completely sure what comes next for the Yankees. Obviously, they still are going to go hard after Pettitte and keep tabs on Lackey with the slightly diminished pitching depth. However, Jackson would have been a major piece in any sort of deal for Halladay and I really don't see the Yanks making two blockbuster trades in one offseason coming of the heels of #27. So, I think this makes any possible trade for Halladay even less likely. It puts less pressure on them with the whole left field/DH situation as well. They're still going to sign a guy but they no longer need two, though its still a possibility. It makes Gardner and Melky much more expendable as well.

I'm very happy with the trade myself. Its good to see the Yanks fire the first shot in the AL East winter wars.

Cafardo On Boston's Offseason Plans

From Nick Cafardo:

John Lackey could be a key figure in both teams’ plans. If the Sox acquire him, it would allow them to package Clay Buchholz in a deal for Adrian Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera, if he becomes available. Buchholz is the chip most teams want in a megadeal.

Then the Sox would try to acquire another decent starter or a rehab guy like Ben Sheets as protection.

“The Red Sox could be the major player this offseason if certain things fall together for them,’’ said an American League general manager. “They still have enough chips in their farm system to make something big happen.

“They also have two other guys who could be valuable to other teams as major pieces in Casey Kotchman and Jed Lowrie. I know a lot of people were wondering why they got Kotchman because there was no real need for another first baseman. But this might be the reason.’’

If the Sox were able to pull something like that off -- let's say they sign Lackey and trade Buchholz for Gonzalez -- they'd put themselves in a great position heading into the 2010 season. Something like this would probably force the Yankees into the Halladay sweepstakes (if they're not already), which Cafardo talks about below:

The Yankees could easily get into the Roy Halladay hunt if they’re willing to part with Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, which they apparently are. The one player they’d love to hold on to is Austin Jackson, their future center fielder who could keep their outfield costs low.

Cafardo also said that the Yanks could offer Lackey a deal like the one they gave A.J. Burnett last offseason. If the Sox improve, the Yankees will have to improve with them.

How much their main competition improves themselves will have a lot to do with the Yankees decision making this offseason. Their trust in Chamberlain and Hughes will also be a big factor. If Cashman trusts them enough to start the Yanks may just stick with what they've got. But trusting them already burned him in 2008, so he might be more hesitant this time around.

40-Man Roster Updates

With the Rule 5 draft coming up next month the Yanks made several adjustments to their 40-man roster today, here are those changes:

Pitchers Hecton Noesi Ivan Nova and Romulo Sanchez, infielders Reegie Corona, Eduardo Nunez and Kevin Russo, and outfielder Austin Jackson have been added to 40-man.

Shelley Duncan has be outrighted to triple-A.

The Yankees updated 40-man roster now has 39 spots filled, so expect some more changes to the roster later this offseason.

Some Halladay Rumblings

From Jon Heyman:

The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay. And while the Yankees made the very same call last summer with no hope of acquiring Halladay, this time they have a real reason to believe they may actually have a legitimate chance to make a blockbuster trade.

...

Back in July, Toronto was also asking for both Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes in a bigger package, and the Yankees never were going to do that. But with a year gone by now, the World Series winners might have a reasonable expectation that either Chamberlain or Hughes in a package might at least get the ball rolling. The Yankees also have several catching prospects to entice the Blue Jays, including Jesus Montero, who is still only 19 but is said by one scout to be "off the charts" as a hitting prospect and "better than he's given credit for as a catcher."

Heyman also says the Yanks are the favorite to land Halladay, with the Red Sox right there with them at the top.

Matthew Cerrone over at Mets Blog said that from what he's "gathered, the Yankees have told the Jays they will include Phil Hughes in a deal for halladay, as well as one of Austin Jackson or Jesus Montero."

I know the Yankees are going to have to give up something of value, so the kind of deal Cerrone mentions above wouldn't surprise me. I'm just not sure it's something the Yankees have to do. What about you, would you trade Hughes or Joba and Jackson or Montero for Halladay?

A-Jax Makes BA's Top IL Prospect List

Baseball American has been running down their list of top prospects in each minor league division. Today they posted their list of top International League prospects, and the only Yankee to make the list was outfielder Austin Jackson, who came in seventh.

Jackson was the most exciting player to spend the full season in the IL, flashing all five tools while leading the circuit in triples and ranking second in hits. He drew comparisons to Torii Hunter, albeit with less power.

Here's the top six: 1. Matt Wieters, c, Norfolk (Orioles), 2. Tommy Hanson, rhp, Gwinnett (Braves), 3. Andrew McCutchen, of, Indianapolis (Pirates), 4. Chris Tillman, rhp, Norfolk (Orioles), 5. Wade Davis, rhp, Durham (Rays) and 6. Jeremy Hellickson, rhp, Durham (Rays). For the rest of the list, click here.

The Bronx Block Interviews AJax

Joseph Jaccom from MVN's The Bronx Block was lucky enough to get into the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre clubhouse and speak with Yankees prospect Austin Jackson. Here's the interview, check it out.

In another interesting post from around the Yankees blogosphere, Steve Lombardi from Was Watching compares the careers of Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter. It's an interesting look at the two (one future) Hall of Famers.

Two Yanks Get IL Honors

Chad Jennings is reporting that Shelley Duncan was named International League MVP, and Austin Jackson was named IL Rookie of the Year.

Duncan is hitting .273/.371/.546 with 29 HR, 26 doubles and 92 RBI in 116 games.

Jackson is hitting .293/.352/.399 with 4 HR, 22 doubles, 8 triples, 57 RBI and 23 stolen bases.

Congrats to Shelley and AJax.

Add Edwar to the List of Call-Ups

Last night we learned that Mike Dunn, Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena, and Francisco Cervelli would be joining the Yankees. Today, Chad Jennings informs us that Edwar Ramirez will also be added to the roster.

In 29 games for SWB Ramirez is 1-5 with 4 saves and a 3.18 ERA. In 51 IP he's allowed 18 ER on 39 hits, he's walked 16 and struck out 62. Oppenents are hitting .205 against him.

Replacing them on the SWB Yanks roster will be RHP Humberto Sanchez, RHP Eric Wordekemper,
and OF Freddy Guzman. There are still two spots open on the SWB Yanks roster and I will update this post as soon as those players are identified.

Also, Mark Feinsand is reporting what Jennings said yesterday, that Shelley Duncan and Austin Jackson could join the Yankees once the Triple-A playoffs are over.

Yanks 2010 Outfield Plans

According to John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus the Yankees hope to sign Johnny Damon to a one-year deal, as well as pursue Matt Holliday and Jason Bay. They would also like to give Austin Jackson a second year to develop at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

From everything I've read Cashman had seemed to make it clear that they would not be in the market for a big-name free agent, apparently that was another one of Cashman's little white lies.

What are your thoughts on this, and which of the two big name FA's would you rather sign? I think I'm leaning toward Holliday, especially after seeing what he's done in St. Louis since the trade.

Melky Cabrera's Future

I started this post a long time ago and scrapped it but I think its time to revisit it.

Melky Cabrera's comeback year has been no secret. He's come back from a season where most onlookers, detractors and fans of his alike, left him for dead to have the best year of his short career. He's stepped in for Brett Gardner well and the Yankees have not missed a beat. His line of .275/.337/.437 is not going to blow anybody away. However, considering the circumstances it presents a very interesting situation.

First of all, Melky is only a few days past his 25th birthday. Although he is already a veteran and it seems like he's been around forever, he is probably just beginning to approach his ceiling. He has reversed a three year trend of declining offensive numbers and is playing the best defense of his career, saving the team a few extra runs out in centerfield. Besides that, their is the added bonus of his penchant for getting the big hit late in the game. He has been nothing if not clutch. With some hard work over the winter, Melky has put himself back into the picture for the Yankees. Nobody thinks he's going to be a superstar but theirs some value in a 25 year old centerfielder with a .335 wOBA who can also handle the field pretty well.

The problem for Melky is that their is a bit of a logjam in centerfield. While he was healthy, Brett Gardner was doing a fantastic job for the Yanks and probably outplaying the "Melk-man." Despite being as devoid of power as we expected, Gardner has gotten on base at a decent clip and then he has the ability to really do some damage. Besides that, he is playing the best centerfield we've seen in the Bronx since the golden days of Bernie Williams. Austin Jackson also is making his way into the major leagues. Projections for him to start 2010 with the major league club appear to have been a little optimistic but he figures to be a part of their future plans.

None of these three guys really have the bats to play in left or right field, which will always be stocked with big power hitters. Sure the balance of Gardner and Melky is working for now but at some point, hopefully, A-Jax is going to be ready and that complicates matters. Melky is starting to get to the point where he's making some serious money through arbitration, as well. With Ramiro Pena learning the outfield, it seems like the Yankees are preparing to be rid of Melky. These next two months or so, could be pivotal in deciding whether Melky really is a part of the Yankees future plans or not.

King: Yanks considering calling up AJax

From George A. King III:

The Yankees are thinking about promoting top prospect Austin Jackson from Triple-A and playing him regularly in the outfield.

Because the bullpen wasn't spent in last night's 6-2 win over the Rays, the Yankees will elevate an outfielder today if they can't swing a deal. They have a low-level interest in Josh Anderson, who was designated for assignment by the Tigers last week.

When Brett Gardner went on the disabled list on Sunday with a fractured left thumb, the Yankees said Jackson wasn't an option to replace Gardner because they didn't want Jackson sitting on a big-league bench.

Nevertheless, the Yankees believe they could be better served with Jackson's ability to cover more ground than Nick Swisher or Johnny Damon. Primarily a center fielder, Jackson could be used at the corners to spell Damon and Swisher.

"We have kicked around a lot of different ideas," manager Joe Girardi said.

With the White Sox starting three lefties in the four-game series that opens tonight in Chicago, Girardi mentioned a need for a right-handed bat.

You guys know I've like the idea of calling up Jackson since Gardner went down. Call him up for a few weeks and play him everyday. Most days he can start in center, and two or three days a week he can play a corner outfield spot like King says above.

Josh Anderson was traded earlier today to the Royals, so he's out of the picture. So between Corey Patterson and Jackson, right now, AJax is the best player of the three. So if you're the Yankees don't you want the best player you can get? I know I do. Plus, I think it would also be good for Jackson himself to spend a couple weeks in the majors. Even if he struggles, just seeing major league pitching will be good for the kid.

Time to Trade Melky?

Melky Cabrera has surprised everybody by bouncing back from a terrible '08 campaign. However, he has completely collapsed since May and April and clearly isn't as good an option as Brett Gardner in center field. Melky's seasons stats still look pretty good but they're getting worse by the day and the Yankees have some better options available. Really since he established himself in the major leagues, he's been in one trade rumor after another. For whatever reason though, the time has never been right

After his first two years in the majors, some crazies (like me and Baseball Prospectus) thought he had the potential to breakout soon and transform from a fringe starter into a mainstay in centerfield for years to come. Then after 2008 he had pretty much no value after suffering a demotion to the minors and major steps backwards. However, with Melky's solid first half of 2009 he may have recouped some value.

I'm not expecting the world for Melky but I have to think that some teams would be interested in him. He's an average player who's game has improved across the board this year. His EQA of .271 matches his career high and he seems to be playing the field as well as ever. He's still only 24 and conventional wisdom states he's about to hit his peak years. The Indians (Ben Fransisco) and Reds (Wily Taveras) are both competitive teams that have to be searching for an answer in centerfield. Its difficult to imagine a situation where Melky could have a significant future in New York. He's been passed over by Brett Gardner and the spectre of Austin Jackson is looming in AAA. Even Ramiro Pena is starting to learn centerfield and could take away any usefulness Melky would have on the bench.

What could they realistically get from Cleveland or Cincinnati? I really don't know, I'm terrible at judging a player's worth but they could package Melky in a deal for Aaron Harang or Cliff Lee if they end up needing another pitcher. If everything works out in the rotation until July 31st then they could probably get a solid "B" level prospect for him instead. If they traded Melky, they could just bring up Ramiro Pena to take over his role without blinking an eye. I think its time to trade Melky.

Checking In On Prospects: The Good

Over the next few days I'm going to be making a few posts checking in on the status of a few of the Yankees more interesting prospects. I'm not going to be putting a concrete grade on them or ranking them but I'll write a little to give you an idea of how they're doing. First I'll start out with the most promising minor leaguers the Yankees have.

Austin Jackson:

A-Jax came into the season ranked first on most Yankees prospect lists. Nobody has him there anymore but that's more due to the emergence of Jesus Montero than his own performance. His overall numbers are excellent. He's hitting .324/.389/.452 for Scranton and will lead off for the International League in the AAA All Star game tonight (10 PM on ESPN2). Jackson have even shown some outstanding speed, getting caught only once in 16 stolen base attempts. He does have some people worried though with his lack of power and high strikeout totals. He's never going to be a power hitter but you'd like to have had him hit more than four by now. His constant strikeouts and sky high BABIP idicate he's not going to be able to keep up this kind of production as well. Luckily, he's only 22 and Gardner/Melky are holding down the fort in centerfield pretty well for now. He's not a star and can't really be considered untouchable if the right deal comes around but he should hopefully develop into a solidly above average player. Having Melky and Gardner playing the way they are right now gives the Yanks much more flexibility with him and they may keep him in Scranton for another year.

Jesus Montero:

Writing about Jesus Montero's hitting is liable to exhaust your vocabulary of superlatives. Suffice to say, he's really really good. After last year, his first in full season ball, he was promoted from A to A+ ball. That's what happens to catchers that hit .326/.376/.491. He spent even less time in Tampa (A+) though. He topped his performance in 2008 by starting out the season with a line of .356/.406/.583 in 48 games. When he jumped up another level he really got people's attention. In the past couple weeks he's be named as the starters for the Futures Game and the AA All Star Game. He's fallen into a slump recently which dilutes his numbers a bit but .287/.353/.472 is still nothing to be ashamed of. Considering he's 19 its pretty incredible what he's doing. I don't mean to hype him to much but Baseball America recently ranked him the #3 prospect in all of baseball and the top catcher. His defense is questionable (and kept him from being named #1) but his bat is so good it might not even matter. Montero will finish the year in AA, however, if he keeps this up then he could start 2010 in Scranton and see the majors late that year. That's best case scenario of course and so much could go wrong but this guy could do it.

Austin Romine:

The other catching prospect in the Yankees system. Overshadowed of late by Jesus and even Fransisco Cervelli's ML time he is quietly putting up a decent season for Tampa this year. He's not nearly the prospect that his former catching partner, Montero, is but he's much more likely to stick at catcher and has a solid bat. He's known for having an excellent glove and a solid bat. He's hitting .293/.322/.488 right now but those are decent enough numbers for a catcher in the pitcher friendly Florida State League.. He's even swiped a few bases (8/10). The defense lovers will be glad to know that Romine has a good game calling reputation and has thrown out 36% of attempted base stealers this year and nailed 20% last year. Although, that should decrease as he rises through the system, and baserunners get smarter, he's always going to be a good defender. The other thing Romine is known for is his power. Again, not quite Montero levels but he's hit 11 balls out so far this year which puts him in a tie for second most in the FSL. Want more advanced stats? He's #1 in SLG% in the league and third in ISO. Romine is a pretty nice catching prospect in his own right and he may be the one to ultimately replace Posada.

Zach McAllister:

Zach isn't known for having a tremendous ceiling but has been incredibly impressive the past two years. He broke out last year, dominating across two different levels and started 2009 in AA. Their he's been as good as anybody could hope for him to be and should really be getting a promotion to Scranton any day now, especially if the ML Yanks choose to go to AAA to solve their pitching woes. His numbers are great across the board. His ERA is 2.25, his K/BB is 2.78, his FIP is 3.07, the list goes on. The Yankees ML pitching situation is a confused and jumbled mess right now so its difficult to say when we'll see him. However, if their are injuries next year we could see him in the majors in 2010. I wouldn't be surprised if they traded him away though. With so many pitchers ahead of him Cash can afford to give him up if it means they can get someone they really need for the playoff push this year.

Kelvin De Leon:

I was going to cut it off with McAllister but this guy is exciting a lot of people, myself included. The Yankees have long been known for getting top prospects during the International Free Agent signing period. The big catch of 2007 was a 16 year old corner outfielder named Kelvin De Leon. Like most of the guys that come out the Dominican Republic at an age that young, he's incredibly raw but full of potential. Scouts love his power and see him as a five tool player. Last year, instead of bringing him straight to the states, he played in the Dominican Summer Leauge. Unfortunately, all I can find on his stats there are an OPS of .888. Currently, he's tearing up Rookie ball with a line of .333/.367/.526. The biggest problem so far with him is that he's not taking walks and strikes out a ton. However, he's still 18 and theirs time to fix that. Also, those stats come in a really small sample size of 16 games. Still young and raw but he could turn out to be something really special.

Honorable Mentions:

• Jeremy Bleich
• Ivan Nova
• Mike Dunn
• Pat Venditte
• Manny Banuelos

If I forgot anybody you think I should have written about let me know in the comments section, thanks.

Montero 3rd on BA's Midseason Prospect List

Yesterday, Baseball America released their midseason top prospect list - you can check out their free version of the list here, or their subscriber only version here - and third on the list was Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero. He was ranked behind outfielders Jason Heyward of the Braves and Mike Stanton of the Marlins.

On their subscriber only version of the rankings, they said that "If Montero could defend behind the plate—he threw out just eight of 64 basestealers in the high Class A Florida State (12.5 percent)—he could rank first. He has impressive barrel awareness and offensive upside for his age and experience level."

Yanks outfielder Austin Jackson made Baseball America's "The Next 25" list.

SWB's Hitting Coach Discusses AJax

Tyler Kepner recently wrote this feature story on Yankees top prospect Austin Jackson. Along with the article comes this blog post (hat-tip to Was Watching dot com) about Jackson that includes many good quotes from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hitting coach Butch Wynegar. I suggest you read both in full, but for now here's some of the Wynegar quotes:

“I don’t know if he’s ever going to have 30-home run power, but I could see him having 15 or 20 at least,” said the Scranton hitting coach Butch Wynegar, a former Yankees catcher. “But it’s going to take time. It’s more mechanical issues that I’m very leery about bringing out to him now. I want to make sure he keeps that right-centerfield approach. There’s a right way to pull the ball and a wrong way.”

Jackson has a tendency to drift forward in his stance, rushing in an attempt to add power or hit the ball harder. Effectively, though, that robs him of power by shifting his weight too soon. With Wynegar, he has worked hard to keep his weight back and let the ball travel a split-second more before contact.

“Right now his whole approach is the other way,” Wynegar said. “I’ve seen him take balls in on the black and hit a line drive back up the middle — which, for a young hitter, it’s outstanding that he can do that. I don’t want him to lose that. That’s what can make him a .300 hitter. Spinning off the ball is not going to make him a .300 hitter. It’s gradual, it is.”

“In all honesty, I don’t care if he hits a home run or not,” Wynegar said. “For me as a hitting coach, everything revolves around his approach at the plate, controlling his stride, controlling his load, and being consistent with it, repeating it at-bat after at-bat, and understanding those little subtle adjustments during a game. I’d rather see him learn that here than go to New York and try to learn that on the big stage up there.”

I knew Wynegar had played for the Minnesota Twins, and I asked if he overlapped with Kirby Puckett. He did not, but Wynegar played against Puckett, and he knew what I was getting at. Puckett hit no home runs in 583 at-bats as a rookie in 1984, but two years later, he ripped 31 on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

“That’s a good comparison, right there,” Wynegar said. “I remember when I was traded to New York and we played the Twins, Kirby was leading off at that time. He was an inside-out hitter and he was not the hitter that he became. I think that’s a good analogy. Kirby learned how to sit on pitches and all of a sudden got stronger. I totally agree.”

Wynegar had some more quotes in the feature piece as well:

“There’s nothing about Austin — defense, arm, base running, nothing — that gives me any doubts that he’s going to be a good player one day,” said the Class AAA hitting coach Butch Wynegar. “I just hope nothing happens at the big-league level where they yank him out of here premature. I’d love to see him stay here all year, see what kind of year he has and go from there. Because he’s not there yet.”

Jackson knows he needs work, but is ready whenever he gets the call:

“I think that I still have a lot more things I need to improve on and learn before I’m called on to be a part of it up there,” Jackson said. “You don’t want to be up there and have things get exposed. You want to be ready and you want to be able to make an impact when you go up there.

“I just leave it to them. I don’t know too much about people’s contracts or what the situation is with that. I know once it’s my time and they feel that I’m ready, I’m going to show them I’m capable of playing up there.”

Right now Jackson is hitting .349/.425/.440 with 23 RBI, 10 doubles, and 11 steals, but he's still striking out too much - 49 times in 47 games so far. The Yanks are probably going to want to see him start striking out less before they even start thinking about calling him up. I think he'll spend most of the season in Triple-A and then get called up when the major league rosters expand to 40 in September. Until then let the kid develop at his own pace, because from everything I've heard, read, or seen, the kid is going to be a hell of a ballplayer one day.

Could A-Jax Be Heading to NY Earlier Than Expected?

There was an ESPN Insider update posted within the last day or two about the Yankees center field situation.

A source with knowledge of the Yankees' thinking tells 1050 ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand that Austin Jackson could be the Yankees' starting center fielder at some point this summer.

The story goes on to mention that the Yankees are losing patience with Brett Gardner and unless Melky Cabrera can continue hitting or Gardner can prove he belongs in the starting lineup that "Jackson could be brought in to shake things up."

This would be a very interesting move if the Yankees decided to make it. As of today Jackson has played just 12 games in the minors, so they would be rushing him along a lot faster than they had planned. Though he has been dominating in Triple-A so far, hitting .354/.429/.458. If the Yankees feel he's ready I wouldn't be against the move. It's obvious this team needs a jolt and a real athlete in the outfield wouldn't hurt either.