Watch: Montero Taking Batting Practice
By Mike Silva ~ December 5th, 2009. Filed under: Yanks Minors.
You will probably here Jesus Montero’s name quite a bit over the next few days. Mike Newman, a friend of NYBD, does a great job over at Scouting the Sally with his evaluation of South Atlantic League Prospects. He provides a detailed opinion about Montero over at STS. He includes the below video which was taken courtesy of Trenton Thunder beat reporter Mike Ashmore.
I was against trading Montero for Halladay back in July. The main reason is J.P. Ricciardi was asking for a very rich package and I thought it unnecessary to pay that price for Halladay. The difference now is that current Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos is rumored to be looking more towards Montero and Hughes/Chamberlain package- something that I would jump on if I were Brian Cashman. The reason for my change of mind regarding Montero is the presence of Austin Romine and reports of Montero’s defense. This excerpt from Newman’s column says it best:
Defensive ability is that of an average high school varsity player; Awkward behind the plate.
Montero is still very young so this is not meant as an indictment. Offensively he isn’t that far away from the big leagues. The Yankees are not the type of organization that will usually allows a young player to work out his issues behind the plate. I also have heard skepticism regarding Montero’s ability to grasp another position.
You know I wouldn’t cry about Chamberlain being traded, but I also wouldn’t turn down Halladay for a future DH unless he is Edgar Martinez (maybe, but who can ever predict that). I trade a DH for a top three starter every day of the week- twice on Sunday!
