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Yankees Do Not Trust Their Farm System


By Paul Catalano ~ December 22nd, 2009. Filed under: Digest Contributors.

If one thing has been shown this off-season, it’s that the Yankees, despite assurances that they want to get younger and cheaper, do not trust their farm system.

How else do you explain 2 of their top prospects in the past few weeks? Austin Jackson, (23) long one of their prized position players—the centerfielder of the future was spun for Curtis Granderson, and now, Arodys Vizcaino, the number 3 prospect in their farm system according to Baseball America, all of 19 years old, was traded for Javier Vazquez, 33 years old and making close to 12 million.

“You always want to get younger, especially when you have an older team,”

That was Cashman at the Winter Meetings a few weeks ago. Cashman now has a starting rotation who’s ages are 36, 38, 33 and an 29-year-old in Sabathia who’s arm is more like 33 what with the number of innings he’s put on it.

“(With all the injuries we’ve had recently)…you’re starting to see the necessity of [why] you have to get younger.”

That was Cashman at the end of last year. However, how long does he thing a rotation in its mid 30s will hold up? Burnett and Pettitte have a history of injury issues. So far, Vazquez has been relatively healthy—but how long will a 33-year-old Vazquez remain so? Can Burnett and Pettitte pitch healthy into September and October?

If they all remain healthy though, a rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, Vazquez and Pettitte would be potent. Even with Hughes or Chamberlain in the 5th and all their youthful volatility, that rotation should be dominant. Again, the question is age.

Apparently, Cashman isn’t concerned. Otherwise he wouldn’t have traded Baseball America’s 2008 top Yankee prospect, Austin Jackson, and, Vizcaino, who Keith Law of ESPN felt could jump well into the top 50 prospects of the game.

And maybe Cashman is right. Maybe the Yankees aren’t a team that believes that prospects could or should play a large role in their Yankees Universe. Maybe they should just be chips in trading for proven commodities. They aren’t the Rays or A’s, driven by cheaper talent. They are the Yankees.

“Ultimately, what I feel is a strong reluctance to trade three or four assets to another team [for a player] and then sign him to a multiyear contract. You trade for a guy, give up three or four assets [and then pay him], then you’ve crushed your payroll and your assets at the same time.”

And while the Yankees didn’t extend contracts, they did add contracts. Vazquez’s contract is close to 12 million. Melky and Vizcaino add up to about 3 million. Jackson made AAA money; Granderson has 25+ million coming through 2012.

Its clear Cashman has turned around from his 2005 proclamation that the Yankees need to build through the farm. Since 2005, the Yankees have grown some talented youngsters, Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson, Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata, Melky Cabrera among others. They will however, blossom with other teams. Because it’s now clear that Brian Cashman, like his predecessor sees the Yankees winning through acquiring talent, not growing it.

Let’s hope it works.

Paul Catalano is an aspiring sportswriter who’s day job is as Production Manager for Field & Stream, Outdoor Life & Shot Business magazines. He has written often for his own blog at And a Player to be Named Later since 2007. His articles have been picked up by Dugout Central, Foxsports.com, Lindys.com among others. Before that, Paul got married to the lovely Elizabeth Ryan, got his Master’s in Writing from Emerson College, attended his first Yankee game at 9 years old, got his first base hit at 5 years old and was born.
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13 Responses to Yankees Do Not Trust Their Farm System

  1. Bryan
    December 22nd, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Ever think the Yankees are in a “Win-Now” mode? Look at the ages across the board.

    Jorge Posada: 38.
    Mark Teixeira: 29.
    Robinson Cano: 27.
    Derek Jeter: 35.
    A-Rod: 34.
    Nick Swisher: 29.
    Curtis Granderson: 29.
    Brett Gardner: 26.

    In 5 years time, the Yankees will have at least 3 major holes to fill, and this is only their lineup. This team is in a win now mode where they can contend for several World Series over the next 5 years. This move had to be made. Melky will never hit more than 20 HR’s, Mike Dunn is a AAAA player, and Vizcaino played one year in the NY/Penn league. Let me repeat myself, ONE YEAR IN THE NY/PENN LEAGUE.

  2. Spencer
    December 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 am

    AJ is 33, Vazquez is 33, CC is 29, Andy is 38 and Hughes/Joba are 23 and 24.
    Don’t let facts get in the way of a good argument.

  3. Joe S formerliy of Bklyn
    December 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    I’m not sure what the complaint is. Cashman is in a job where he is expected to produce a team that goes to the World Series every year. Would you really keep Vizcaino NOW for the possibility that he’ll be a great (reliever?) in 2011 or 2012 — as opposed to having a 4-deep starting rotation?

    Really? That’s what you would do, given all of the money in the world AND the ownership’s mandate to win now, win tomorrow, win the next day, and win every damn thing?

    C’mon. I think the argument that one of these older fellows might be hurt is a good reason TO make the deal for Javy V. So if Andy has a mid-year outage, your starting rotation STILL is CC, Javy, AJ, and one of the kids (plus a 5th starter from among the various rejects).

    Also: Let’s not forget the pitching injury that we DID have — Mariano Rivera with injured ribs in the post-season. Of course, we’re all assuming he’s back in 2010 and healthy from April to November. Or that he remains Superman, gets injured, and still pitches 2 innings in the final game of the year (in November, no less)……..

    ….but while the guy believes in God, as he would be the first to tell you — Mariano is NOT GOD!!!

    So if he’s not, you have the idea of Simms or Joba as the closer and the other guy as the set-up man — and you STILL have a starting rotation that’s 4-stars-deep. This means there’s STILL a possibility you win everything in 2010 — even with Mariano on the DL.

    Think about this, man. If you look at it this way, and you assume winning in 2010 is a priority — and it is, isn’t it? — do you really hold off on trading a 19-year-old with Single-A bonafides?

    Really? Now that you’ve done a re-think, how does your original posting look?

    It looks like an unthinking rant over here.

  4. Rey
    December 22nd, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    Don’t worry they can re-sign the players they let go later when they are developed and at a higher price. The Yankee’s farm team is the Major Leagues, George Steinbrenner saw that years ago to 99.9% of the players big money is number one. If the hated Red Sox’s offered more money, many would switch from the pinstripes in a heartbeat when offered a new higher paying contract. They would then have the gall to say that they always wanted to be in Boston. Sound familiar.

  5. Stu Baron
    December 22nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Yo Joe S, who’s Simms?

  6. dale
    December 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    this may be mikes dumbest post ever

    u know when u have a flowing system deep with prospects u use them to obtain quality guys in their prime like granderson, vazquez, swisher etc

  7. dale
    December 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    he makes it sound like melky was a future all star and dunn could hit the strike zone

  8. Drew
    December 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    The color of Mike’s logo should tell you all you need to know. Mike knows nothing about the Yankee farm system. Austin Jackson hit 4 HR last year, stole 24 bags, struck out 123 times to only 40 BB. At his best he’ll be what Granderson is today 4-5 years from now when he’s 26-27, why not get that player in this prime now? Dunn cant find the strike zone and Vizcaino pitched in the NY Penn League, so the jury is still out. We have other SP gems at that level like Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances. We could spare one for a NL #1 starter, AL #2/#3. PLUS once Javy signs with another team next year, we get 2 draft picks!!!!

    Now if they gave up…Austin Romine ( 2009 High-A Player of the Year ), Jesus Montero ( BEAST!!! ) or Zack McAllister ( AA pitcher of the year ) then he’d have an argument. Hell, Id rather have given away Dunn, Jackson and Vizcaino than Melancon. Jesus and Zack will start at AAA this year, Romine will start at AA and Melancon will be in the MLB bullpen. They’ll be coming to a ballpark near you VERY soon.

    Mike, stick to reporting on your team and try and contain your sour grapes. I can understand your frustration though when Jason Marquis turns you down for the Nats.

  9. Mike Silva
    December 22nd, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    Guys

    Paul Catalano, who last I looked is a YANKEES FAN, wrote this article. I support the trade for Vazquez, and warmed up to Granderson. My logo is a combination of the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants. New York colors are orange and blue, not pinstripes.

    I have been more than fair with the Yankees. I admire Cashman and get treated well by the Yankees affiliates (better than the Mets actually!)

    To say I am anti Yankees or sour grapes is false. Just because I don’t buy into the Joba kool – aid or support popular topics perpetrated by Yankees blogs doesn’t mean I am anti -Yankees.

    Frank, Jed, and Paul all do great job talking about the Yanks and I think we are very fair with our coverage.

  10. Joe S formerliy of Bklyn
    December 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Phil. Phil Simms. Yeah, great pitcher. Not too good on the outside corner, tho.

    How about Phil Hughes, maybe?

    Sorry.

  11. Drew
    December 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    Mets History =

    “From the beginning, the Mets sought to appeal to the large contingent of former Giants and Dodgers fans. The Mets’ team colors reflect this: orange from the Giants, blue from the Dodgers (and even a reference to the Yankees via home pinstripes). Coincidentally, orange and blue are also New York City’s official colors. Thus two rival fan-bases with 19th Century origins were largely united in support of the new club.”

    Is that the color combo you’re talking about Mike?

    Hey, Im sure the guy does a great job, but to throw out a title like “Yankees Do Not Trust Their Farm System”, he should have some knowledge of the actual farm system, no? Any Tom, Dick and Harry can read headlines and make wild assumptions like the Yanks are dumping their farm system. Maybe we demand a little more for people who do this for a living.

    Lets examine =

    “How else do you explain 2 of their top prospects in the past few weeks? Austin Jackson, (23) long one of their prized position players—the centerfielder of the future was spun for Curtis Granderson, and now, Arodys Vizcaino, the number 3 prospect in their farm system according to Baseball America, all of 19 years old, was traded for Javier Vazquez, 33 years old and making close to 12 million.”

    Jackson was long regarded as a raw project, wasn’t until last year that he jumped up the charts. Until his great 2nd half in Florida State league of 07 ( only hit .260 in the Sally league the 1st half ), he was viewed as a long shot. He’s not overly fast ( 19 SB in 08 – 24 in 09 ), not an elite anything, just average to above average across the board. A good player, but not an elite prospect by anyone’s measure. Its not like this guy was a HR smashing, High Avg, High OPS..kill the ball at every level MONSTER ( Montero ). Maybe he does well, if he does, great, speaks volumes for our scouting department. However, he’s Ked 521 times in 564 minor league games. He’s still raw, like 2 more years raw before he can hang with the big boys. Cashman even said after the season that he needs at least another full year at AAA.

    Arodys Vizcaino?? He just completed 42 innings in the NY Penn league. A pitchers league that cleanup hitters are lucky to get 10HR a season in. He didnt even throw enough innings to qualify in the league statistics =

    http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_pit&lid=127&sid=l127

    We dont know what this guy will turn out being, he’s thrown 80 combined innings in the Rookie and NY Penn leagues. You wouldnt trade him for a horse like Vazquez? You make that trade every day and twice on Tuesday. It has nothing to do with Cashman giving up on the farm. There are still plenty of cornerstone pieces on the way. Aside from Montero, Romine, Melancon and McAllister…there’s Brackman, Betances, Kevin DeLeon. Jackson, Dunn, Melky, Vizquino, they were just secondary pieces, not the key ones. Who knows though, only time will tell which of these prospects turns in the next Johan Santana or Brad Halsey ( Halsey was regarded higher by the way, Santana was exposed to the Rule 5 draft ) All we can do is base it on is the current information we have. That information say these 4 players are complement pieces.

    Another great part of this trade that cannot be overlooked is the fact that Javy is a Type A FA. The Yanks will get a 2011 1st round pick and a sandwich pick from the team that signs him, and he will be signed by someone. So really, we may end up with 2 solid top 50 prospects to continue to build our system with, can this be viewed as strengthening our farm? Ok, maybe that a reach just like Paul’s statement was a reach.

    Lets be honest too, we have an old team..not as old as Paul thinks, so I guess 36 was just a mistake right? Meant 33? Ill give it a pass. So with this aging team, why are we going to wait on complement players to develop when none of them were close to doing that? Arod, Jeter, Posada, Mo, Andy..will not be here forever. CC, AJ, Tex…wont be in the primes forever. Why not go for it now? This kind of core doesn’t come around all the time. Again, that has nothing at all to do with “Yankees Do Not Trust Their Farm System”. They go rid of 36 year old Damon, 95 year old Matsui and replaced them with a 29 year old CF and a 33 year old SP that finished 4th in the CY Young voting. Javy is one of only 2 SP’s to have thrown 1000 Inning and register 1000 K’s over the past 5 years, the other one…Johan Santana. This was a no brainer from so many standpoints, and still, this has nothing to do with “Yankees Do Not Trust Their Farm System”

    I will tell you this though, it did get me to click on your site, so in the end, it was effective. Isn’t what that’s all about? Nothing worse than obscurity.

    I can believe Paul is a Yankee fan, I get into 10 times more baseball arguments with Yankee fans than any other fans.

    One last thing…thats a Mets logo Paul.

    GO YANKS!

  12. Ben
    December 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    hey mike dont worry

    the mets signed ra dickey today

    maybe someone should clue omar into this lil tidbit. having a good farm system is a nice thing to have.

    the yanks trade for guys named swisher, vazquez, granderson, marte, nady, etc and they dont give up any of their top guys and barely feel it

  13. Stu Baron
    December 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    Phil Simms – LOL!

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