In George We Trust
A(nother) blog about the most storied franchise in sports
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Farm system on the rise
David Regan at Hardball Times asks (and answers) his top 10 minor league questions heading into 2006. The Yanks system makes an appearance:

Is the Yankees' farm system close to again cranking out talent for the big club?

No matter how much money George Steinbrenner throws at free agents, he continues to lose sight of the fact that the great Yankees teams of the 90s were led by players such as Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Alfonso Soriano, and Mariano Rivera—for the most part, 100% home-grown Yankees. There are encouraging signs recently however, as general manager Brian Cashman has refused to part with young players Robinson Cano, Eric Duncan, Philip Hughes, and Chien-Ming Wang in trades. Of course if George wanted to deal Cano and Hughes for a quick fix to the starting rotation, he’d have takers to be sure, but it appears he's wising up and listening to his baseball people more these days.

There are signs that the Yankees' farm system is headed in the right direction, and Duncan and Hughes are premium talents that should be ready to contribute by 2008. Athletic high school shortstop C.J. Henry wasn’t the typical Yankees pick when he was drafted in the first round last year. In addition, the team has a number of talented teenage international signings in the lower rungs of the system. Perhaps a few of those will turn out to be helpful in a few years. I think this is a system on the rise.


Also, I'd like to rescind a remark I made in the Farm System portion of the 2006 Cross-Town Comparision: As the Yankees system stands right now, with the majority of it's high-end talent in low minors, even if it all came together for everyone, the Yanks system still WOULD NOT be as deep as the Dodgers' system is currently. I apparently got a little overexcited writing the piece, but the Dodger's system is absolutely loaded with star potential, near major league ready talent. Most of the prospects the Yanks have in the low minors can be solid if not above average major leaguers, but only a handful are truly high-ceiling. When a potential ace like Greg Miller is number 18 on your prospect list, you're doing something right.
Written at 8:19 AM by Mike A.
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