07/30: Potential Ex-Yankees
Posted by: James
Update: It's official and the other minor-leaguers are catcher Jesus Sanchez (19 in 2 months and hitting .264/330/.319/.649 in the GCL) and right-hander Carlos Monasterios (20 and pitching well in the GCL - 2.97 ERA, 24:3 K:B in 30 IP). Awesome - these guys are still at least 3 years away from the majors. A couple weeks ago, the Phillies were talking Hughes and Tabata...now, they end up with these guys. Nice work, Brian Cashman.
If it is C.J. Henry & Matt Smith, I for one will be ecstatic. To get a player of Bobby Abreu's caliber as well as someone who immediately pushes Sidney Ponson (and perhaps Shawn Chacon) off the team for a package of these guys could be (and probably will be) labeled a coup. Joe P. over at the Sporting Brews has done a very good job of looking at the players listed in the trade. Mike A. over at Baby Bombers would be a good source to check in on this as well but while Henry is young (only 20), he has not shown a ton of promise playing in Low-A Charleston. He's not a huge bust ala Jon Poterson (what a waste that was) but he simply hasn't performed to the expectations that were there when he was drafted. At that time, Baseball America had him listed as the second-best athlete and fourth-fastest baserunner in the draft. To date, that athleticism simply hasn't transferred to the field but that's not to say that it won't in the future. In essence, we're not giving up on a sure thing and we're not giving up a stud SS prospect either as he's been just plain bad at short and pretty much any prospect analyst thinks that an outfield move is in his future.
As for Smith, a lot of people are high on him based on his 0.00 ERA so far in his MLB appearances as well as his performance in the high levels of the minors in the last two years. Still, giving up Smith becomes a lot easier to swallow when you think about it in terms of who you would rather keep - a 27 year old who has pitched a total of 12 innings in the majors (8:9 BB:K ratio) or the 29 year old (Scott Proctor) that has performed well to date in the majors and (more importantly) earned Joe Torre's trust.
So far, it looks very good for the Yankees, especially if reports are true that the Yankees won't have to pick up his 2008 option. That would make Abreu a free agent after the 2007 season (Lidle is a free agent at the end of the year) so he would essentially replace Gary Sheffield next year.
If it is C.J. Henry & Matt Smith, I for one will be ecstatic. To get a player of Bobby Abreu's caliber as well as someone who immediately pushes Sidney Ponson (and perhaps Shawn Chacon) off the team for a package of these guys could be (and probably will be) labeled a coup. Joe P. over at the Sporting Brews has done a very good job of looking at the players listed in the trade. Mike A. over at Baby Bombers would be a good source to check in on this as well but while Henry is young (only 20), he has not shown a ton of promise playing in Low-A Charleston. He's not a huge bust ala Jon Poterson (what a waste that was) but he simply hasn't performed to the expectations that were there when he was drafted. At that time, Baseball America had him listed as the second-best athlete and fourth-fastest baserunner in the draft. To date, that athleticism simply hasn't transferred to the field but that's not to say that it won't in the future. In essence, we're not giving up on a sure thing and we're not giving up a stud SS prospect either as he's been just plain bad at short and pretty much any prospect analyst thinks that an outfield move is in his future.
As for Smith, a lot of people are high on him based on his 0.00 ERA so far in his MLB appearances as well as his performance in the high levels of the minors in the last two years. Still, giving up Smith becomes a lot easier to swallow when you think about it in terms of who you would rather keep - a 27 year old who has pitched a total of 12 innings in the majors (8:9 BB:K ratio) or the 29 year old (Scott Proctor) that has performed well to date in the majors and (more importantly) earned Joe Torre's trust.
So far, it looks very good for the Yankees, especially if reports are true that the Yankees won't have to pick up his 2008 option. That would make Abreu a free agent after the 2007 season (Lidle is a free agent at the end of the year) so he would essentially replace Gary Sheffield next year.
Patrick wrote: