“Conventional wisdom,” all too frequently, is not very wise. Right now, “The Yankees farm system is barren” is considered conventional wisdom.
But how accurate is that statement? Is it true, or mostly true? Or is it simply the wishful thinking of people who don’t like the Yankees, and who are hoping that the team’s failure to make the postseason in 2013 is the beginning of a difficult era, instead of an anomaly, as 2008 turned to be?
The Yankees AAA team is the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders. As of the morning of May 23, they are getting good production from all three of their regular outfielders: Zoilo Almonte, Adonis Garcia and, to a lesser extent, Ramon Flores. Third baseman Zelous Wheeler and second baseman Jose Pirela are also hitting well. Aside from Almonte, currently up with the Yankees as he was for a time last season, none of these players is an obvious replacement for someone already on the big-league roster. But, given an injury emergency, any one of them could be a good choice.
As for starting pitching, which is currently the Yankees’ most pressing need due to the injuries of CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova, (Yankees Team SIA Profile) the parent club has already seen enough in Chase Whitley to call him up, and though he has yet to pitch more than five innings in his two major league starts, that’s been due to the club’s caution, as his control has been good, and he’s only allowed one run in nine innings. Joel De La Cruz has made four starts for the Rail Riders, is 1-1, has a 1.90 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP, so he could also be ready to make his big-league debut.
Many of these players played last season in AA, with the Trenton Thunder, winning the Eastern League pennant. First baseman Kyle Roller (not to be confused with former NFL quarterback Kyle Boller) is batting .385 with nine home runs and 23 RBI. Catcher has been a problem for the Yankees since Jorge Posada declined, but if Brian McCann continues to not hit well, the Yankees may have one for the future in Peter O’Brien. He tore up the Florida State League for the Tampa Yankees, and is now batting .280 with seven homers and 16 RBIs at Trenton. One red flag, though: he’s already struck out 40 times this season, between A-ball and AA, and fanned 134 times last season between Tampa and Charleston.
Of course, bringing a player up from the minors is always a crapshoot, no matter how highly regarded. Not that long ago, with Pineda on the shelf for two years, it looked like general manager Brian Cashman had been a fool to trade the Yankees’ most-discussed prospect, Jesus Montero, for him. But as Montero has spent time away from Yankee Stadium, his weight has gone up, and his numbers have gone down. He’s currently at .327. That’s not his batting average, or even his on-base percentage. That’s his slugging percentage. His OBP is just .264, his BA only .208. While he did hit 15 homers with 62 RBIs last year, not bad numbers at all for someone playing his home games at Safeco Field, he batted .260, and his OBP was just .298. Why was this guy hyped so much? Did the Yankees need a catcher that badly? Yes, but the catcher they needed was not necessarily Montero.
The Yankees farm system is no longer one of the best in baseball, but to say that it’s “bad,” or “barren,” or “stripped,” making comparisons with the great Yankee collapse of 1965 that ended a dynasty over forty years old, is ridiculous. There may not be a next “next Mickey Mantle” in there (and how many of those ever panned out?), but there are prospects, and they will be promoted as needed.
For more on sports injuries, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
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