Beyond the Boxscore has been running an interesting feature in which they devised a system to put a dollar value on each farm system in baseball. The valuations are done based on top 100 prospects lists, as well as the grading system utilized by John Sickels. The Yankees come in at fourth in the division, but are bunched within a group of three at the bottom, with the Jays and Red Sox, that is separated by a mere 5 million dollars. Being that the Orioles and Rays have more top flight prospects than the other three clubs, they have a comfortable lead in a system that highly values star power over depth. Here is the blurb on the Yankees:
New York Yankees, $97.8M. Jesus Montero looks like a pretty terrific international signing. The 18 yr. old won the Sally League batting title in his full season debut and projects to be a major power threat in the big leagues. Austin Jackson has no standout tool, but looks like a solid all-around center fielder. Where the Yankees are particularly deep is the pitching department, but none of their pitchers are really awe-inspiring at the moment. Andrew Brackman, Dellin Betances and maybe Arodys Vizcaino are the only ones who strike me as having high upside. The Yanks have nine 23 year old + C grade pitchers, 12% of their systems’ value, so they should be able to fill out a bullpen rather cheaply for the next few seasons.
I like the upside of Heredia and De La Rosa as well, but the point is fair. The Yankees’ farm system is a bit weak at the top, with few players that look like decent bets to be major league stars. However, they should be able to fill the bullpen and back of the rotation fairly easily for the foreseeable future.
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System is weak at the top. That means people aren’t going to value it highly. By next season they should make some nice moves forward. That’s when last year’s RiverDogs will be moving up to Trenton. That’ll get everyone’s attention.
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Anthony G. Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Absolutely. The Yankees have been loaded at the lower levels the past couple years and next year is when the rest of baseball will be forced to take notice – if not this year I suppose.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
I think that in regard to offense, they are fairly weak at all levels. They have few impact bats, and even the ones they have, have positional issues.
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mryankee Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I have to disagree Montero-Jackson and Romine and Laird. I also read a nice write up via Ken rosenthal about eduardo Nunez possible future ss-what teams have strong impact bats? I would agree at triple AAA there are no ready impact positon players except Austin Jacksonbut I would rather have a system with more pitching than hitting as I think offensively the Yankees are fine for the future.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
You basically listed all of them, and the article about Nunez was not high on his offense, only his defense. Plenty of teams have impact bats, and as I said, even the ones you listed, two of them have position issues.
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mryankee Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
True but perhaps Monetro can play Left field and Romine can catch and Jackson is haveing a great spring. My question is why woudl someone like Lars Anderson be more of an impact bat than Austin Jackson? and when we use the term impact bat are we saying what we perceive will be an impact bat based on his minor league numbers? You would know this better than me but was Albert Pujols or Mike Piazza perceived as an impact bat before they arrived in the Majors?
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Pujols once in the minors, was seen as an impact bat (but not coming out of school). Piazza obviously not. That does not mean much- yes, we can hit on some guys unexpectedly, but we have a lower probability than teams who have better farm systems.
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I believe the article captured the Yankee position very well, one must remember…Phil and IPK are no longer considered prospects. Other then Monterro (positional), Romine, Cervelli and Higashioka…all catchers by the way (maybe Addison Maruszak SS, very low minors)…we don’t have anyone that jumps out at you, yet. Give it time, we had a late start, be optimistic!
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I am not saying other teams dont have more probability in terms of hitting stars but I would state that I would rather listen to a scout who has seen the player over the long course of time as opposed to a scout who is prone to hyperbole and states that this guy will be a future hall of famer after one good game. I like Gammons but stating that Jed Lowrie will hit 40-50 doubles because of a good spring?
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I find it odd that the system prizes top hitting prospects as being more than twice as valuable as pitching prospects. Everyone knows the most important commodity in baseball is pitching.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Everyone also knows TINSTAAPP. Hitters in general are more valuable than pitchers in terms of on the field impact, and are less likely to have a major injury and flame out.
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