BOSS MAN

Kim Klement-USATSI

There are a lot of things that Brian Cashman could have done. He could have given away top Yankee prospects that were valuable to the Yankees right now, but he didn't. He could have given away Clint Frazier, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino to upgrade the Yankees starting rotation... but he didn't. He could have flipped Gleyber Torres or Chance Adams, but no.  Cashman stuck to his principles, his commitment to strengthening the Yankees farm, all while keeping the Yankees as competitive as possible right at this moment. 

I mean sure, losing guys like James Kaprielian and Jorge Mateo and Dietrich Enns hurts, because we all wanted to see these guys flourish in pinstripes. But look... you can't get quality pitching and upgrade your existing team without giving away some prospects. And when you look at it,  guys like Dustin Fowler and James Kap are hurt anyway, and we still were able to unload them for a kid like Sonny Gray.

Photo: Getty Images

I'm not sure what type of potion or shell game Cashman played with 'friend' Billy Beane, but it was pretty damn incredible to see how that played out.

Sonny Gray is a good, solid, strong pitcher and he's young.  He could be truly great in the Bronx.  Add him to Sevy and the rest of our crew... and throw in a guy like Jaime Garcia, and Brian Cashman is a friggin' boss.

Photo: Getty Images

Upgrading a very weak part of our team, as he promises to not give away the likes of Justus Sheffield and company.  It's brilliant and it makes me happy.

Will Gray help take us to the World Series? Who knows. I do know he's solid and will do great things in New York, and we needed him. We needed him real bad.

Photo: Scout.com

Many hate Brian Cashman.  They feel like he doesn't do what we need to help our team win and stay competitive.  While I used to get angry at Cash, I noticed about 3 years ago a significant change in his style.  He went back to the days of Stick. He realized that our farm didn't have the talent that we needed and so, he found it last year and really started to build us up.  And for the first time in a while, we had kids come up ready for the Bigs. 

Photo: Getty Images

Judge. Bird. Sanchez. Frazier. Severino.  It's a wonderful thing to watch the kids work out the kinks and succeed in the Bigs.  It's outstanding actually.

And now we have to pieces of the puzzle to move forward... that's the bottom line here.  Our starting rotation has been strengthened.  Our pen... strengthened. We have some extra power in the hitting department, and we did it without giving away top quality, Bigs-ready talent.  It's genius.... and it's exciting, because it shows me that yes, the Yankees are building for the future, but we're not interested in letting 2017 slip away either.

That's a solid GM folks... you better be finding Cashman's email address right about now... because he deserves a 'thank you' note.  I'm writing mine now....

BE RELIEVED THAT GLEYBER TORRES WAS SENT DOWN

Photo: USA Today Sports

I'd like to spend this at-bat in the BYB batting order to thank everyone in the Yankees' fan base, and  the handful of writers egging  them on who made impassioned pleas for Gleyber Torres to swoop into the Bronx from Single A like some kind of comic book superhero. I can see the title of that comic now. Will Torres snatch the shortstop gig from that evil super villain  "WBC Dummy" Gregorius.

It was an amusing 15 minutes hearing all the fantastic action adventure plots about Gleyber and his Wonder Bat, Gleyber and his Wonder Glove and how Gleyber and his Wonder Future are a waste of time because, you know... he's practically Albert Pujols now. Look, I get it, people are angry about the WBC and our injured Didi, but they also are wrong to think Torres can just swoop in!  Let's keep it real folks... Super Torres I not ready! Instead, look for a sequel entitled Gleyber's Adventures Mastering A New Position coming soon to a stadium near you in Trenton.

(Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire)

My condolences to you if you're one of those special people who are genuinely disappointed he didn't get a chance to make a Wally Pipp out of Didi. But honestly, did you really believe that's how it SHOULD happen? Or was it more like just wanting to believe it COULD happen. Like for example, when Joe has you believe the best players will play? Or the best pitchers, veteran or prospects, will be in the rotation?

Speaking of pitching prospects, anybody seen Dietrich Enns lately? Best pitcher in the system last year. He was the ace for the national champions of all minor league champions. His stats were totally dominant. Nobody else was even close. But he didn't even get a start in Spring training. They made him a reliever this year.  Made a couple of middle relief appearances and got sent down in the first cut.

For me, that's the stuff I think about. It's a far more puzzling question and frankly a far more pertinent one than why Gleyber's Wonder Clock should start ticking on Opening Day or a few months later. But I digress. Sort of.

(July 25, 2016 - Source: Bob Levey/Getty Images North America)

Frankly, it never even entered my mind that Torres could be Didi's  replacement and I was amazed by the outpouring of serious suggestions that he should be, because I think the plan to continue cross-training him at another position in Trenton could be the right way to go. But there's more; I didn't give Gleyber a serious thought as Didi's replacement was because of what happened to Didi under identical circumstances on Opening Day three years ago. That's the deal breaker right there, for Torres and every other not-yet-proven-ready-for-prime-time prospect in the Yankees' future.

(March 9, 2015 - Source: Brian Blanco/Getty Images North America)

To be blunt, the way this fan base and team's media treated Didi in the very same role three years ago that many pounded the drum to fling Torres into this Opening Day -- with little warning, a little before his time, into an ill-defined role replacing an established starter in a transitional year filled with question marks -- was downright nasty. And so, there can be no doubt that an organization that has infamously held petty grudges and lived by the feud for decades battling within and without itself to its own detriment has committed that awkward and unpleasant transition away from the Captain to institutional memory as a cautionary tale to avoid at all costs in the future; even though it seems nobody else beyond the team's own personnel appear to have taken the lesson to heart.

Now, you may say Didi is no Captain and Torres is no Didi. But that wouldn't matter to the Yankees -- or the media. They would  spin their Torres Takes Over takeover stories; a certain segment of the fan base, impatient for the future to get here, would jump on their bandwagon and start judging him like this Torres (and this team) was the finished product; and the mud would begin to fly again. And when Didi came beck, all hell would break loose as sides would be chosen and the clock would start clicking on both players to produce or be damned. That's certainly not healthy for team building.

Think it couldn't happen again? Well, let's think back...

(June 2, 2015 - Source: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images North America)

Didi wasn't supposed to be our starter that Opening Day. The Captain had just retired and Brendan Ryan was the transitional starter.  Didi was never been a regular starter with his two previous teams, and that, plus a poor split hitting lefties made platooning him behind Ryan a no-brainer until he learned how. But just a few days before Opening Day, Ryan became injured and Didi was suddenly thrust into the Jeter takeover role without any supporting cast to back him. A starter for the first time in his young career, he suddenly found himself debuting on the biggest stage in sports.

He never had a chance.

(July 4, 2015 - Source: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America)

The sharks were circling in the water for whoever that next guy was. Every move he made was magnified.  "He is no Captain."  With that, the entire team was stinking up the joint. Even Tex was missing easy picks in the beginning and looking like he was past it. But Didi was the lightning rod because he was the newest face replacing the oldest and most familiar face. The mistakes piled up. Meanwhile, looking around us, longtime fans were giving up on the team, attendance and TV viewership had become a national scandal and the social media interactions were truly depressing. It was more vicious than I'd ever seen it and symptomatic of a team disconnect from its fans.

Of course, you know the rest. By the end of the second month, he finally started showing marked signs of improvement, and after that every month was a new plateau of achievement. And by the trade deadline, instead of calling for his ouster, fans were calling the trade a steal. Pretty fickle of them, huh?

(Sept. 1, 2016 - Source: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America)    

Didi had over two years of experience in Triple-A and years and years of minor league ball under his belt when he went through that. He had a reservoir of  experience overcoming adversity, meeting his limitations and overcoming them as he rose through the ranks to get him through that moment and sustain him through that ordeal. Torres has none of that. He's fresh meat who's had everything come easy to him so far. He hasn't come close to facing the daily grind of major league game speed and major league pitching in games where the relievers don't wear high numbers and the at-bats often only get tougher at the end.

Still don't think this make Torres a non-starter for this Opening Day?

Photo: MLB.com

OK, try this on for size. In this scenario, Didi isn't retired. Torres would have a month to six weeks tops. And he could either be outstanding or he could stink or be something in between. But whatever he was, what would be the point?

If he stunk, he'd be gone when Didi returned, the plan for him to learn another position in Trenton would be set back more than a month, his service clock would be started, and whoever got bounced from the roster to make room for him would've been lost for nothing. Oh yeah, and he's likely to get a good thrashing from the fan base as a bust and the team's media pack would be meticulously chronicling all of the above and more as he circled the drain counting the days until Didi returned.

And if he was terrific, then what do you do with a healthy Didi  -- arguably the team's most consistent offensive and defensive weapon last year.  You can't bench either of them and neither of them can really play another position. And you're not going to send Didi down to start learning a new one or trade him.  He's still young and an invaluable part of the transition from rebuild to new era; and playing side by side with the Torres he would be an invaluable mentor as well as combine with him to make for a potent defensive and offensive middle infield duo.

Who else could better help Torres navigate the taunts and and poison pens than the one who weathered an entire stadium derisively chanting for Jeter to replace him long after the Captain had left the building?

Photo: New York Daily News

And so the answer is there's no good that could come from bringing Torres up in my opinion. There'd just be a lot of nasty media stories, ill will and fan hostility directed at him if he sucks, and a lot more of the same directed at the team and Didi if he did good and got sent back down to resume his defensive re-training when Didi returns to reclaim his spot, as he should.

And the team will never, ever again put him or any prospect in a position to fail after they've already publicly acknowledged he still has work to do before he's ready for the Bigs. They will never  risk another one enduring the public scalding Didi suffered unless they're more than reasonably certain he can handle it. It's a no-win situation to bring Torres up now. It's a no-lose situation to stick to the Trenton start-up plan.

If you want to see Gleyber in the Bronx as soon as possible, root for him to wrap his wonder arms and glove around playing second or third base as quickly as possible while continuing to knock the snot out of pitchers in the Eastern League with his wonder bat.

What's waiting for him after that, we can only wait and wonder.

Hopefully, a couple of rings in pinstripes before he splits to chase whole lot of wonder bread somewhere else further on down his wonder road.

 --Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

YANKEE PROSPECT WATCH: JUSTUS SHEFFIELD

As we approach the home stretch to spring training and our Yankees prospect watch series, we will follow up on number seven prospect Miguel Andujar with a newly acquired member of the Yankees organization, number six prospect according to MLB.com, LHP Justus Sheffield.

(Photo: Mike McCann/WFAN)

Acquired from the Indians along with Clint Frazier and two other prospects, Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen, in the Andrew Miller deal, the former first round pick out of Tullahoma High School in Tennessee is currently ranked as the 78th best prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com and the Yankees top pitching prospect.

Topping out at 97 and sitting in the 93 mph range, Sheffield has good arm-side life on his fastball and adds a slider and a changeup to his three pitch repertoire. When asked, Yankees GM Brian Cashman had some very good things to say about Sheffield as reported by the New York Daily News:

Photo: New York Daily News

"Justus Sheffield is sitting, if not at the top, towards the top of our pitching prospect side,” says Cashman. “He’s right up there with (James) Kaprielian, Chance Adams and (Luis) Severino, fighting for ‘I’m the best.’ Who’s to say he is or isn’t? Sheffield’s a three-pitch mix guy -- fastball, changeup, slider. He’s a 20-year-old that sits at 93 (mph) and tops out at 97, with an above-average slider and above-average changeup. We’ve been very excited about his makeup and development.”

Last season Justus began the season in high-A Lynchburg in the Indians organization before heading to high-A Tampa once acquired by the Yankees. In Tampa Sheffield got off to a great start in the Yankees system going 3-1 with a 1.73 ERA over five starts while striking out 27 over his 26.0 innings pitched. His success in the Gulf Coast League prompted the Yankees to give him a start with Double-A Trenton in which he allowed just two hits over four innings while striking out a very impressive nine batters!

For his career, Sheffield has averaged over a strikeout and inning and his slider is a good swing and miss pitch. He has walked 3.3 per nine innings pitched though and will have to continue to develop better command and make better pitches within the strike zone.

  (Four Seam Images/AP)

Although there is improvement to be made, as there is with all 20 year-olds (Sheffield turns 21 in May), there is a lot of upside and Cashman has already said that the 20 year-old will begin the season with Trenton, a very good challenge for the young man.

Photo of: Jordan Montgomery

Along with the above mentioned young men, James Kaprielian, Chance Adams and Luis Severino, the Yankees have a great group of young pitching prospects who are not too far away from the big leagues and a couple like Jordan Montgomery and Dietrich Enns who are knocking on the door. If even two or three of those six become legit middle-to-front of the rotation starters, the Yankees should be set up for success for the foreseeable future. As much as some have given Brian Cashman a hard time, the last two years or so he has really built a formidable list of prospects that should propel the Yankees back to the glory days in just a few short years, hopefully sooner!

Sheffield has the makings of a two or three type starter. He had a hiccup in 2015 in in which he was arrested for aggravated criminal trespassing and underage drinking and although he is ashamed of it, he sees it as a learning experience and a chance to continue to mature. He seems to have moved on, grown up and by all accounts, minus the one blemish, has a very good reputation.

Photo: Scout.com

I will be following Justus and the rest of the arms closely this summer as they continue their journey that we all hope will lead to success in the Bronx. Even my dad, who has been very disappointed in the Yankees and lost some interest over the past few years, says he is excited about the youth movement and watching the kids this summer!

Next week we dive into the top five as we profile one of the most inexperienced prospects but also one of the kids with the highest upside, 2016 first round pick, OF Blake Rutherford.

We are less than four weeks away from pitchers and catchers… Not that I’m counting.

--Dan Lucia

BYB 'Series' Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @DManLucia

UM... IT'S JOSE QUINTANA, NOT CY YOUNG

(July 23, 2016 - Source: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America)

Jesus man, everybody relax, you know what I mean?

One brief whiff of Yankee interest of a lefty pitcher from Chicago by FOX guy Jon Morosi and suddenly Yankee blogs everywhere are hot and heavy for this dude like he's the next coming of Jesus.  I mean, I know it's almost Christmas, but let's face facts... while we need a few Yankee starters, Jose Quintana is just another pitcher.  I mean, my God, we don't HAVE to trade for this guy. In fact, I can't believe we're still talking about this 2 days later.

Look, Jack Curry of YES said it best the other day:

While Yankees have contacted White Sox about Quintana, chances for a deal are slim. Sox want a ton and Yankee plan is keep best prospects.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) December 19, 2016

And then I added to that in INTEREST IN QUINTANA THERE, BUT SLIM with the following:

"You don't collect a slew of top prospects just to trade them away... you slowly build your future... and that's what the Yankees are doing."

(Sept. 6, 2016 - Source: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America)

So why in the world are blogs writing stories like this? The Yankees Should Trade These Five Prospects for Jose Quintana

In Photo: Chance Adams

I love 'Yanks Go Yard', but I totally disagree with this one: "...The White Sox want Justus Sheffield, Dietrich Enns, Chance Adams, Domingo Acevedo and Albert Abreu? Have at it..."

Also mentioned are fielders, and in a nutshell, and I encourage you to read their piece, YGY is suggesting a mix and match. Pick 5 from all those prospects and trade for Quintana. Read below:

(Sept. 8, 2016 - Source: Rich Schultz/Getty Images North America)

"...the Sox can have Tyler Wade, Rob Refsnyder or Hoy Jun Park. My preference is Billy McKinney..."

But my question is why? WHY?  Jose Quintana is not some superstar stud that gonna suddenly fix the Yankee rotation, and I go back to what Jack Curry said... it's damn slim, so why try to force it?

(Aug. 20, 2016 - Source: David Banks/Getty Images North America)

Quintana is a career 3.41 ERA pitcher with a 46-46 record.  Nothing there alone is blowing me out of the water.
 

Photo: The Trentonian

If I had to upgrade my rotation right this second, I would rather just see if Justus Sheffield can hack it before I ship my farm off to Chicago on a guess.

Right now the Pirates are trying to get Quintana.  The Yankees are not.  Hey... as far as I'm concerned... the Pirates can have him. At this very moment.... I'll stay.

YANKEE PROSPECT WATCH: CHANCE ADAMS

As the off season rolls right along, and the snow and cold quickly moves in for us up north, we here at BYB continue our top 20 Yankee prospect watch utilizing MLB.com rankings. Last week we discussed Billy McKinney and Tyler Wade (Read YANKEE PROSPECT WATCH: McKINNEY & WADE to get up to speed.) This week we keep it going with RHP Chance Adams, the Yankees number 14 prospect according to MLB.com.

Typically I’ve been covering two prospects at a time but I truly feel Chance Adams deserves a spotlight of his own. While I am no pro scout nor do I have a chance to see many of the Yankees prospects in person on a regular basis (unfortunately), I would rank Chance Adams higher than 14 based on my observations and research and definitely inside the top ten where other sites have him ranked (Baseball America had him eighth amongst Yankee prospect following the 2016 season.)

NJ.com File Photo

But the prospect ranking isn’t nearly as important as what Adams has done over his first two years.

Drafted out of Dallas Baptist in the fifth round of the 2015 draft, Chance entered his pro career as a reliever, a role in which he thrived in college. In his first half season in the Yankees organization, Adams was used out of the bullpen where he progressed from Low-A ball up to High-A ball throwing 35.1 innings over 14 appearances, striking out 45 while walking just nine and compiling a 1.78 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. He was used in three inning increments on four days rest to prepare him to start in 2016.

 MiLB.com

The Yankees gave Adams that opportunity in the rotation this past spring due in part to a very good fastball that sits in the mid 90’s and has touched 99 to go along with his above average slider, curve and change up. Chance reveled in the rotation and had arguably the best year of any Yankee farmhand, or any minor leaguer for that matter, this past summer.

MiLB.com

Starting in High-A ball in Tampa, Adams began the season 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, adding 73 strikeouts to just 15 walks over 57.2 innings before the Yankees had no choice but to promote him. Chance then started 12 games (plus added one relief appearance) in Trenton where he was even better. Across 69.2 innings, Chance added 71 more strikeouts to just 24 walks on his way to an 8-1 Double-A record while lowering his ERA to 2.07 and his WHIP to 0.85.

While there is not a consensus about whether Adams will stick in the rotation, there is a consensus that he is a very exciting and promising young arm, just what the Yankees need. Adams is a smaller guy in terms of pitchers at 6’0” and 215 pounds and he did have a much greater workload in 2016 totaling 127.1 innings so it remains to be seen how his body will hold up under the greater stress on his average-sized frame.

With the success he had in 2016, it’s conceivable he starts the 2017 season in Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, making him just a phone call away from the Bronx. Some see Adams as a guy who will start in the bullpen and eventually move to the rotation once he makes it to the Bronx, but as far as I am concerned, if he has continued success in the rotation, why fix what ain’t broken?

In Photo: Dietrich Enns / Courtesy: MiLB.com

Adams, along with Jordan Montgomery and Dietrich Enns, appear to be the three closest arms to the show with Montgomery and Enns both expected to fight for a rotation spot in March.

What Adams seems to have on the two southpaws though is the highest upside. He has multiple above average pitches, his fastball and slider, and throws a solid curve and is not afraid to throw his change up.

(Photo: Houston Chronicle)

In August, The Trentonian did a piece on him where Thunder manager Bobby Mitchell said Chance believes he can pitch anywhere noted although he is not a big guy per se, he is strong;

“He’s a bulldog,” Mitchell said. “If you look at the legs on that guy, he’s stocky, but he’s really strong. He gets a lot of his velocity out of his legs. Kind of like way back when Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver and these guys who threw really hard, they got it out of their push off the bump. He’s coming off that mound hard. It’s not all arm. He’s had good stamina, and everything is conducive to staying healthy. He’s handled it well.”

Adams added: “I’ve been trying to learn how to pitch and not just be a thrower,” Adams said. “Being able to throw off-speed in (different) counts and not just throw fastballs in hitters’ counts like 2-0. I’ve been really working on the change-up. It’s really developed over the last few months.”

He has shown the ability to pitch from the bullpen and as a starter so the flexibility could lead to an earlier call up if he continues the success he had in 2016.

Along with some of the top ranked prospects, who I will cover as the winter continues, Adams is one of the most exciting prospects in my eyes. Whether he ends up at the back of the bullpen or the top of the rotation remains to be seen, but Adams is a guy all of us should be aware of.

He will be in Pinstripes sooner rather than later if all the pieces fall into place. Who knows? Perhaps Chance gives the Yankees no choice but to give him a rotation spot with an outstanding showing in the Grapefruit League this spring?

In Photo: Dustin Fowler / Courtesy: Scout.com

Next up on Yankee Prospect Watch are OF Dustin Fowler, a former 18th round pick who is moving up the prospect list and the young and raw Wilkerman Garcia, a shortstop who is still early in his development but has a huge upside.

Keep up with the BYB Yankee Prospect Watch all winter as we continue our countdown of the top 20 Yankee prospects.

--Dan Lucia,  

BYB 'Series' Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @DManLucia

 

  

GET EXCITED FOR OUR YOUNG YANKEE STARTERS!

I know... I'm fully aware that fellow BYB writer Dan Lucia is doing an incredible series on the future of the New York Yankees.  If you don't know, read:

YANKEE PROSPECT WATCH: MONTGOMERY & FINLEY

YANKEE PROSPECT WATCH: CLARKIN & TORRENS

I just needed to write this though and why not, right? 

Look, I am at the point where I am excited to see what we have for starting pitching with some of our younger minor leaguers eventually and hopefully getting to the Bigs. 

(Oct. 12, 2016 - Source: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America)

Bottom line, I wouldn’t spend the money on Rich Hill right now given his age and injury history even though if healthy he could likely be an ace for us next year. 

The Yankees really have a treasure trove of minor league starters that folks aren't talking about enough. I honestly would love to see one or two of them join the starting rotation next season and let’s see what they can do... you know what I mean? 

(Sept. 20, 2016 - Source: Joseph Garnett Jr./Getty Images North America)

We will already have Tanaka, Sabathia and Pineda as starters (assuming Pineda isn't traded), but that leaves two spots open. One of my important beliefs is that Yanks should use Luis Severino out of the bullpen. BYB Chief Robert Casey feels the same way.  We believe that putting him back in the starting rotation would be foolish. He's too valuable as a reliever. 

(Aug. 20, 2016 - Source: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images North America)

Now, to be honest, I'm not sure Luis Cessa, Chad Green or Brian Mitchell are the answer either, but they may deserve a shot. But look, I'm very excited about the prospect of using one of more of the young guys below as a starter in 2017, or even in 2018. Check this out: 

(Source: MiLB.com)

Jordan Montgomery: In 25 starts this year for AA and AAA, this lefty was 14-5 this season with a 2.13 ERA with 134 Ks in 139 IP. After his promotion to Scranton (AAA) he had 6 starts and was 5-1 with a 0.97 ERA. He is about to turn 24 years old. Let’s give him a shot.

(Source: MiLB.com)

Dietrich Enns: This 25 year old lefty starter was 14-4 with a 1.73 ERA this year at AA and AAA with 124 Ks in 134 IP. After being promoted to AAA with a 1.92 ERA, he put up a 1.52 ERA in 14 starts at Scranton.

Photo Credit: AP

James Kaprielian: This guy probably needs more time in the minors after being injured most of 2016. But he was our 1st round pick (16th overall pick) in the 2015 draft after a dominant college career at UCLA.

Chance Adams: Perhaps a bit behind Montgomery and Enns in his development, we shouldn’t forget about Adams. He is only 22 and was a 5th round pick in 2015, but had a great year in 2016 going 13-1 with a 2.33 ERA in 24 starts at A and AA!!! Adams struck out 144 in 127 IP. Most impressive is that like Enns, he was more productive after his promotion. After going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA at Tampa, he was promoted to Trenton and went 8-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 12 starts. Adams might need 1 year at AAA, but he may not be far from helping the Yanks rotation either.

Staten Island Advance

Domingo Acevedo: This 22-year old signed out of the Dominican Republic hit 103 on the gun last summer and consistently throws 96-100 as a starter. IN 18 starts last year, he was 5-4 with a 2.61 ERA and 102 Ks in 93 IP. He is currently listed as the Yanks #8 overall prospect. Scouts say he has an amazing change up as well, but needs some time to work on his slider and curve. But he is coming!

These are guys that the Yankees drafted, so it doesn’t even include some of the great young arms that they got in the trades for Chapman, Miller, Beltran and McCann.  Think about this, we have Justus Sheffield (Miller trade), Dillon Tate (Beltran trade) and Albert Abreu (McCann trade). But the 5 guys I mention above were all guys we had without even making any of the trades. Think about that. I am very excited about these guys and want them to get their shot! To be honest, I wouldn’t sign any free agent starting pitchers. 

(Photo Credit: Gregg Slaboda- Trentonian File)

Honestly, Montgomery and Enns are probably the only two of this group that the Yanks should consider for the 2017 starting rotation at the outset of the season, but the others are not far away, maybe later in the season additions, maybe 2018 for sure.

We also have an exciting stable of relief pitchers that can help in 2017, but I will save that for my next submission. 

Anyway, keep an eye on these guys though. It's gonna be a lot of fun!

--Douglas Solomon 

BYB Guest Writer