Yankees Farm System Making an Impact

“Brett Gardner’s perception around the league is changing.” That’s what was said on Saturday’s FOX broadcast. The same thing has been said a few times on the YES broadcasts. There’s even speculation that the Yankees won’t go after free-agent to be Carl Crawford because of the success Gardner is having this year. Gardner isn’t the only Yankee farmhand making an impact this year though. Many, many more are too.

Robinson Cano has made the biggest impact. Cano is coming off a month where he hit .400/.436/.765 had 8 home runs and 18 RBI, and was named AL April Player of the Month. He is beginning to show that he may be the best all-around hitter on the team.

Then there’s Phil Hughes. Hughes is off to a remarkable start, going 4-0 in his first 5 games, has an ERA of 1.69, and came within four outs of a no-hitter.

Then there’s Joba Chamberlain. Yes the highly debated Joba is having a quiet season because he is excelling in his role as a setup man. Even when called upon to get a couple saves last week, Joba was able to get the job done.

There’s also Francisco Cervelli. Who made everyone’s worries about Posada’s bat in the lineup disappear this past week, especially after his 5 RBI game against the Red Sox on Saturday.

But the Yankees farm system is making an impact further than just the Yankees system. You can start by looking at a player who was highly touted during his time as a Yankee minor leaguer—Austin Jackson. Jackson leads the league with a .370 batting average and has scored 24 runs and hit 3 triples. He has provided a spark to a fairly old team, as they are just 2.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins.

Move over down to Washington and you’ll also see a familiar name in Tyler Clippard. The reliever was traded for Jonathan Albaladejo, and it looks like the Nationals are getting the best out of that trade. Clippard has been stellar out of relief, going 6-0 with a 0.76 ERA and has 29 strikeouts to 12 walks. The Yankees could probably use that efficiency out of their bullpen.

Even Ian Kennedy is doing a fairly good job out in Arizona. He’s 2-2 with a 3.48 ERA and 35 strikeouts. Imagine if he was in the rotation over Vazquez?

You can look at the success of these youngsters from the Yankees system in a number of ways. The more cynical fan would say the Yankees should have held on to the ones that got away and the team would be that much better. Or you can look at it as the players currently on the team could make for good trading chips should the Yankees need to acquire a starting pitcher or big time bat.

Or, you can just look at it and realize that the Yankees scouting department and the coaching development is doing a terrific job in making major league ready players. Many have criticized the lack of farm system depth with the Yankees over the years, but you can no longer argue that. In addition to the players in the majors, they have prospects such as Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Ivan Nova, and Slade Heathcock who have high potential.

Many teams overrate their prospects, but the Yankees now have a proven track record that they are doing a good job scouting and developing their players. And if the Yankees need to make a trade, or need to call somebody up, there will be little doubt about whether that prospect can fulfill their role at the next level.

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Granderson apparently headed to Yanks in 3-way trade

Multiple outlets, including SI's Jon Heyman and ESPN are now reporting that a deal that was rumored last night has been finalized and center fielder Curtis Granderson will be coming to the Yankees.

Granderson" style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="224" height="240">Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

It is a three-team deal involving the Yankees, Tigers, and Diamondbacks. Here's how it breaks down:

Yankees get: Granderson (from Tigers)

Tigers get: Phil Coke and Austin Jackson (both from Yankees) and Max Scherzer (from Diamondbacks)

Diamondbacks get: Edwin Jackson (from Tigers) and Ian Kennedy (from Yankees)

Different reports differ slightly on whether the Diamondbacks give the Tigers pitcher Daniel Schlereth (better known as the son of ESPN football analyst Mark Schlereth)

If this trade goes through, it means a couple of different things for the Yankees.

1. The Yankees now have some leverage in negotiations with Johnny Damon
2. The Melky/Gardner combination in center field, despite being relatively successful last year, will not continue next season, unless they slide over to platoon in left or...
   
3. Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner may now be trade bait.
4. Say sayonara to Hidkei Matsui.
5. The Yankees won't be going after Matt Holliday or Jayson Bay (unless they were kidding about cutting payroll).
6. By trading 3 for 1, the Yankees open up 2 spots on the 40-man roster for other free agent signings.
   
7. Granderson will be your everyday centerfielder through at least the 2012 season, and possibly the 2013 season because of an option.
   
8. The Yankees pick up a very back-loaded contract: Granderson is due $5.5 mil in 2010, but that increases to $8.25 mil in 2011, and $10 mil in 2012.
   

We'll update with more as soon as more news becomes available.

UPDATE 3:45: No news as of yet, as they are apparently looking over medical records and physicals and things of that nature. I just had a couple of other thoughts:

• From the Tigers point of view, they get considerably younger and it makes you wonder if people like Miguel Cabrera and Maglio Ordonez are on there way out the door as well.
• While I was a little hesitant about giving up Austin Jackson, reading a Tweet from PeteAbe made me reconsider it a little:

  Look at the trade this way, #Yankees fans, the best you could have hoped for Jackson to be was Granderson. So get Granderson.

• With stats of .249/30/71 Granderson helps to make up some of the offense lost by Matsui and/or Damon leaving. You'd like to see a higher average and a better on-base percentage (.327 in 2009, .344 for career) especially if he bats towards the top of the order.
• Plugging Granderson in centerfield and possibly move Melky/Gardner to left vastly improves their outfield defense, which at times was horrendous.
  
• With Coke headed out, that means Mike Dunn, who the Yankees are very high on, will most likely get the chance to be the 2nd lefty out of the bullpen behind Damaso Marte.

UPDATE 5:00: John here, busy day for me today, but even busier for the Yankees. Just wanted to give my reaction of the trade. I thought the Yankees did a good job here. Despite giving away our best position player prospect, the Yankees sent Kennedy who is coming off a shoulder anuerysm and has shown inconsistencies in his development and Phil Coke (who I deemed the name Choke) for an All-Star centerfielder. So when it comes down to it, the Yankees made the right move.

It took me a while to deal with losing Jackson, but for a team looking to repeat, Granderson is probably the better option. Look what happened when we threw Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy into the spotlight in 2008. They stunk up the joint. It takes a few years for players to develop. If you can give up prospects for a relatively young and inexpensive player who is in the prime of his career and fills a need on the roster then you pull the trigger. The difference between this and Johan Santana a few years ago is the cost of Granderson, which Jim talks about above.

Now, as for Granderson, what I like about him is his defense, power, and his speed. I don't like his splits against lefties which is why I have mixed feelings about him. His average has also declined over the last two season. However, playing in a hitter-freindly park like Yankee Stadium, especially for a lefty, and with a little faith in Kevin Long, things may work out. And as Jim pointed out, Granderson in center Melky in left improves our defense tremendously.

Now we just have a few more questions which we kind of answered but we'll make a post later or tommorow. What does this mean for Damon and Matsui? And where does Granderson fit in the lineup?

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Yankees 5- Blue Jays 3

Yankees 5 10 0
Blue Jays 3 9 1

WP: Pettitte (11-6)
LP: Halladay (11-5)
S: Rivera (31)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mark Teixeira. Big Tex went 2-4 with a home run and an RBI. His home run in the 8th off of Doc Halladay was big as Hughes struggled a little bit in relief.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Melky Cabrera's nice catch going back towards the wall. (In the interest of full disclosure, I missed the game because of work, and just stole that award from the YES postgame show.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Johnny Damon and Teixeira going back-to-back, belly-to-belly in the 8th inning off of Halladay.

GAME NOTES:

• This was Pettitte's first win since July 1. He had been struggling and suffered from a little bit of bad luck. But in his post-game interview, Posada said that Andy's cutter was working well tonight, and that's always a good thing.
• The Yankees finally figured out how to hit Halladay. In their last two games against the Cy Young award winner, the Bronx Bombers have scored 10 runs on 19 hits. That information from PeteAbe.
• Good news on the health front, as Ian Kennedy threw 25 pitches from a half-mound a little over 2 months after having an aneurysm removed from his right arm on May 12.
  
• The stats for the 2-5 hitters in the Yanks lineup: 7 hits, 5 runs, 4 RBI's. That's pretty good.
• Remember people, no matter how bad it gets, just remember: We could be Mets fans.
• Great game going on between the Red Sox and Rays. I'll be watching that closely.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees at Rays, 7:07 PM at the SkyDome (same situation as Comiskey Park)
Mitre vs. Rzepczynski (thankfully, this blog has no audio portion, because I would have no idea how to pronounce that)

SEE YA!

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