Comments on: Six Yankees prospects facing make or break seasons

By: Andrew Manley

Andrew Manley — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 00:56:18 +0000

What we obviously need most is a big bat. Teixera looks god for another season or so, but then what do we do with Bird; we still need Tex for his bat and exceptional defense. Sadly, beltran has pretty much outworn his usefulness because of age and injury; wish we had had him ten years ago. ARod a sure hall of Famer if the egotistical writers can get past their assumption moral high ground which they themselves might-probably don’t merit. (They seem more like lackeys of baseball owners who themselves seem to deserve a rating just barely above Jack the Ripper or Bin Laden; why does the word “hypocrite” run through my mind here?) Would any of them refuse to avail themselves of some use-of-language advantage (like a patent on certain words), if one existed? ……….. Wish I could find a better analogy, but I’m not a professional author, am I? (The answer to THAT one is obvious, no?)

Anyway, can it be denied that Bonds and ARod ….and Shoeless Joe ….. have done more to polish the image of Baseball than O”Malley and Saigh and Comiskey?

By: mick

mick — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:09:25 +0000

The oft injured Slade Heathcott is ready. When called on last season, he showed up. The kid is a top notch defender, who has basically all five tools. Given his opportunity last season, Heathcott went out and performed, both before and after, his injury. How did the Yanks repay him? They traded a starting catcher for a backup outfielder. Ridiculous. The sad part is that Heathcott hits lefties better than he hits right handers, albeit a small difference. He’s also the as good as any OF defender in the system. Before trading Murphy, the Yanks should’ve used their depth in the minors. Gamel is ready, Heathcott is ready. These kids will play somewhere in the next season or two, unfortunately, not as Yankees.

By: Evan Halpine-Berger

Evan Halpine-Berger — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:50:59 +0000

You’re right that the team certainly wouldn’t give up on Clarkin or Holder after another down season. I meant more that Holder will need to hit this year and Clarkin will need to stay healthy if they are going to continue to be regarded as serious prospects. Either way they’ll stay in the system for the time being, but it’s a “make or break” in terms of perception and prospect status. Same goes for Refsnyder. He’s running out of time to establish himself as a potential MLB starter. 26 will be a little old for Triple-A in 2017. That’s drifting into Austin Romine territory.

By: mosc

mosc — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 14:26:33 +0000

ok so 3 of each?

Gotta say Clarkin and Holder are too young to have “make or break” seasons. No matter what happens if they’re healthy in 2017 they’ll have baseball jobs. To be on the cut line you have to be up against 40-man roster concerns. Lindgren might have been on the cusp of hodling down a roster spot but is still just 23 too.

Also Refsnyder was not on the 40-man in 2014, an often cited explanation why the then 23 year old wasn’t called up. As such, he still has an option year in 2017 available. The guy started a 2015 playoff game I think it’s a little much to say he’s on his way out of the 40-man if he doesn’t have a good year in 2016.

I’d call out some guys who really need to get over the 40-man hump this year to get their careers going: Mark Montgomery, Lane Adams, and Jake Cave. Another pitcher to consider is Branden Pinder who’s on the 40-man for the second year but seems unable to break out of the shuttle role despite some strong performances everywhere he’s been in recent years.

The yankees seem like good trade partners for a rebuilding team. In case of injuries to Yankee regulars, guys like Erick Aybar, Alexi Ogando, Carlos Ruiz, Jeremy Hellickson, and Jeremy Jeffress aught to be obtainable for some of these fringe players. Usually the yankees lack upper level prospects. Combined with some financial flexibility, there’s really more depth in this year’s team than even shows up on the roster!