2008 Post Draft Signing Period Top 30 Prospects

August 18, 2008 by Mike Axisa 199 Comments

So the August 15th signing deadline came and went, but sadly a whole bunch of nothing went on in Yankeeland. The Yanks didn’t sign their first or second round pick, and made up for it only by signing their sandwich pick, a LHP who may or may not have elbow issues. It takes about five years before you can accurately judge a draft class, but so far this looks like the weakest crop of Damon Oppenheimer’s impressive tenure as Scouting Director.

That said, the Yanks did add some nice talent and solid organizational depth, with six players jumping right into my Top 30. Overall the system is down quite a bit from this time last year, partly due to the graduation of Joba & IPK, but mostly because of trades, injury and general ineffectiveness. Here’s my pre-draft list, and keep in mind that the prospects I ranked 16 through like, 28 are pretty interchangeable. Fun starts after the jump.

Austin Jackson, CF – best position player prospect the Yanks have had since Dioner
Jesus Montero, C – doesn’t need to be great behind the plate, just passable … his bat will more than make up for it
Mark Melancon, RHP – absolute beast at the end game, without question he’s Mo’s successor
Zach McAllister, RHP – you gotta love high probability high schoolers
Dellin Betances, RHP – has cut his walk rate significantly in the second half, which is one exciting development
Andrew Brackman, RHP – number one this time next year? I sure hope so
David Robertson, RHP – already shown that he can get big leaguers out, it’ll be exciting to see how good he becomes
Jeremy Bleich, LHP – Yanks’ best LHP prospect since Claussen, which is kinda sad when you think about it
Humberto Sanchez, RHP – getting healthy was the goal this year … next year it’s put-up or shut-up time
Austin Romine, C – better than some people realize … life in Montero’s shadow is tough
Brett Marshall, RHP – high upside prepster received the largest bonus in this years draft class ($850,000)
JB Cox, RHP – stuff is down and he’s currently on the DL due to a minor knee injury, but he’s still good enough to get guys out in big spots
Jeff Marquez, RHP – struggled in AAA before getting hurt … 2008 is essential a lost season of development for him
Bradley Suttle, 3B – answered any questions about his ability to hit with wood bats … he should hop on the fast track next year
Jairo Heredia, RHP – strikeouts & grounders … he’s the Latin American version of Phil Hughes!
Alan Horne, RHP – injuries popped back up this year and he’s going to be 26 in a few months … that equals a drop in the rankings, no matter how good his arm is
Wilkins DeLaRosa, LHP – electric stuff, but he’s still gotta get more experience on the mound … that’s the only missing ingredient
Brett Gardner, CF – has a ton of value as cheap and moderately productive everyday CFer
David Adams, 2B – a gap hitter with a discipline approach, Adams was considered a first round talent out of high school … the ability is in there, somewhere
Carmen Angelini, SS – tough first year, but not everyone comes out of the gate playing like their hair’s on fire
Juan Miranda, 1B – RHP masher should get a chance next year, but he’ll need a platoon partner
Kyle Higashioka, C – Austin Romine v2.0
Colin Curtis, LF – solid all-around guy with no discernible weaknesses, he’s got a chance to be an outstanding 4th outfielder
Ryan Pope, RHP – firm stuff, solid probability, nice guy to have in the back end of your top 30
Abe Almonte, CF – tons and tons of talent, but he still needs to learn how to make adjustments
Corban Joseph, SS – with excellent bat speed and the uncanny ability to get the sweet spot of the bat on the ball, CoJoe’s got a chance to be an impact hitter … impact defender though, no so much
Phil Coke, LHP – made himself into a prospect through hard work and perseverance … helps that he’s lefthanded
George Kontos, RHP – not his biggest fan, but I can’t deny the ability and performance at a high level any more
Dan Brewer, RF – very similar to Colin Curtis, but he’s a better hitter for both average and power
Chris Garcia, RHP – for the love of God, just stay healthy for one season, please

If you’re curious, I would have ranked Gerrit Cole #4 behind Melancon, a completely healthy Scott Bittle #13 behind JB Cox, Jose Tabata #7 behind Brackman, Ross Ohlendorf #9 behind Bleich, and Dan McCutchen #18 behind Brett Gardner. Alberto Gonzalez would not have made the list.

cult of basebaal

too bad for horne, this year would have been a great shot for him to show what he could do …

overall, a pretty disappointing draft. it just didn’t feel like they took enough shots at signability cases that might turn out to be high impact hitters …
- Steve
  
  The Yanks will always find position players, via FA or trades. Its the pitchers we have had trouble finding, so I like the imbalance in our system.
Ivan

Overall the yanks Farm system is solid/good. A notch below from year or two back but nevertheless a top 15 Farm system.
radnom

Bleich ahead of Sanchez?
- http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
  
  of course. sanchez hasn’t pitched at an appropriate level yet for the yanks since he got here
  - radnom
    
    And Bleich has?
    - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
      
      i see what you mean. but sanchez has been frequently injured since his days in DET
      - Bo
        
        Sanchez has been a total dud.
      - radnom
        
        Dud? I think they took him knowing what was up. Part of their strategy the last few years has been taking young promising pitchers and letting them go through TJ and work through in the minors (Melencon, Brackman, Cox etc.).
        
        Besides, Bleich has injury concerns of his own. Although he does have left-handedness going for him.
        
        Steve
        
        I hope Bleich is healthy. He looked very polished to me in the college playoffs.
JRVJ

Cole was clearly a signability case, but he shafted the Yankes (I can’t really fault the Yanks for that, as the kid pretty clearly strung people along – I heard the phone conference Pete Abe posted, and it’s easy to see that he wasn’t shooting down the idea of signing).

As to Bittle, I think it’s one of those things – the guy was more banged up than anyone could have foreseen before hand.

I don’t really think the Yanks failed in this draft – they had some bad luck, both in being shafted by a punk and his family (which is unusual) and by having a pitcher turn out to be more banged up than expected.
Ivan

Hey guys, have the yankees announce where is Hughes gonna make his next start?
- radnom
  
  5 days after his last one?
  
  Unless they push him back to start in the bigs on saturday, but they havn’t shown any indication of doing so yet.
Manimal

Just out of curiosity Mike, where would Cole lie if he signed.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Read the entire post. ;)
  - Manimal
    
    whoops. I guess I should read the whole thing.
steve (different one)

yeah, it’s disappointing, but you have to figure that picking Cole influenced the rest of their draft.

i know everyone wants the yankees to operate in every area without a budget, but that’s not how businesses work.

if their draft budget is $8-10M (which is very large) and they had $5-6M tabbed for Cole, that doesn’t leave a whole lot.

they went top heavy and got burned by Cole. if Cole signs, its a good draft. and the kid had way too much upside to pass on.

hopefully Lassiter and Marshall pan out.
Adam

best position player prospect the Yanks have had since Dioner?

i can’t tell if that is a joke or not. the phrasing “best since” implies that he was not better than the guy he is being compared to, and surely austin jackson is a better prospect than dioner, who was only the best of a weak crop. how about “best position player prospect the Yanks have had since Nick the stick”?
- http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
  
  IMO I think Dioner is starting to pan out quite nicely in Tampa Bay
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I liked Navarro then (2003-ish) more than I like Jackson now. I have a weakness for switch-hitting catchers that are as good defensively as they are with the bat.
http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos

Why is Bleich in the top 10? I mean, the dude isn’t THAT good of a talent and he likely needs elbow surgery. And isn’t Marquez, a marginal talent in my view, a bit high after such a rough season?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Bleich is in the top 10 because he’s … better than everyone behind him. Good stuff, good size, good command, and he pitches aggressively. I won’t knock him down until I know the elbow is an issue for sure. Right now it’s all just speculation.
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    I read in the DN that Bleich signed under-slot because, according to a source used by the writer (McCarron?) that he needs surgery.
    - bill
      
      De la Rosa is a better lefty than Bleich. He should be ranked higher. he throws harder and has better stuff than Bleich and he has already proven himself in the minors with this breakout year. Bleich has injury concerns and from what I hear Bleich is a marginal talent that may have been drafted too high.
      - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
        
        DeLaRosa has two things on Bleich: fastball velocity and less miles on his arm. Bleich has better command of his fastball, better secondary pitches, a more consistent delivery, more experience, and he’s two full years younger.
JohnC

I can’t kill the Yanks for Cole’s decision, but I do blame them for not taking more chances in this draft in case Cole didn’t sign. Can’t beleive they passed on Tim Melville and Ryan Westmoreland, and once again, they take a guy high in the draft who will need TJ surgery (Bleich). Hopefully next year, they’ll have a better plan in place with the extra picks they will get.
Joey

IMO Brackman #4 lowest. I know he hasn’t done shit yet, but just the possibility and potential should be scary for other teams
pat

since this is a draft related post i feel safe from ben’s sword of justice.
mike do u know if its true that in the event of a team signing more than one type a free agent they can only have one first round pick taken from them? For example say the yanks accumulate a few extra first rounders from teams signing abreu marte or pudge etc. If the yankees in turn sign cc and tex only one of those teams get the yankees original first rounder and the other is kind of screwed right? t guess basically im asking if the picks from other teams are protected ?
thanks for ur help if u know.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  You can only lose the picks that belong to the team. Any compensation picks, no matter how they are acquired (from losing a Type-A FA or failing to sign a draft pick) can not be lost due to signing a Type-A FA.
  
  If the Yanks sign CC, they’ll lose their first rounder but keep any comp picks. If they then sign Teixeira, they’ll lose their second rounder but keep the comp picks. If they then sign Manny, they’ll lost their third round pick, but keep the comp picks, and so on.
  - pat
    
    ah ok thanks for clearing that up. basically now we can sign tex and cc without it really affecting our draft ststus next yr bc we have the compensatory 1st and 2nd rounders. Awesome.
  - Steve
    
    Thanks for that.
    
    WOW we might have a boatload of good picks next year.
Chip

This is disappointing but honestly it wasn’t a deep draft. Keep an eye out for next year where the Yankees could have their two comp picks from this year, lose two or three picks due to free agent signings and still end up with 2 from Bobby, 1 from Giambi (if he’s a type B and they let him go), 1 from Pudge, 1 from Pettite/Mussina. That’s 8 possible picks in the first couple rounds. And yes, before somebody tears me apart, I know we might get some of these guys back
- 27 this year
  
  I am not tearing you up on that but do you realize that some of them would accept arbitration. I think Giambi might because he would get another year of about 22 mil and Abreu might for 16 mil and Pudge might because he probably won’t get more than 13 mil from any other team. You don’t just get picks, they come if they get offered arbitration. Abreu actually might not accept in hopes of a multi year deal but the others don’t look like they are getting more money from anyone.
  - Bo
    
    I wouldn’t rely on getting picks for these vets.
    
    I doubt they offer arb to half of them.
    - cult of basebaal
      
      they’ll offer arb to giambi, pudge, abreu and even marte, if they just want to let him walk (though i image they’ll reup his option)
      
      each of those players will get a multi-year offer.
      
      there’s about as little risk in offering arbitration as you can get and the payoff, which is a potential 4 or 5 1st and supplement round picks that cannot be lost is more than enough incentive for them to do it …
      - Ed
        
        Giambi would be guaranteed at least $16.8 million through arbitration. He makes $21 million this year, and no one has ever gotten a salary decrease through arbitration, so unless he’s the first, he would get at least that much.
        
        Even if someone else is willing to offer Giambi multiple years, do you really see him getting more than $20/2 ? I don’t see him getting a better deal than that. He likes being a Yankee, so it would make sense for him to accept arbitration then become a free agent the following year.
        
        Abreu I don’t see accepting arbitration, as he’s young enough to easily get a 3-4 year deal.
        
        Ivan Rodriguez is a tough call. This is probably his last chance at a multiyear deal, but, he’s in line for a big salary decrease, so if he’s after the big payday it might make sense to take arbitration.
        
        Marte – he’s a good lefty reliever. Everyone will overpay for him. No reason for him to accept arbitration unless he just really wants to be a Yankee.
        
        cult of basebaal
        
        please provide citation for the insane claim that “no one has ever gotten a salary decrease through arbitration”
        
        as i stated before, with free agent players offered arbitration, the team is NOT BOUND by the 20% max decrease limit that affects pre-free agent players.
        
        the team is free to offer the player in question whatever they want, as the player is free to ask for whatever salary they want. the arbiter is not bound by the previous contract in ANY manner and relies upon performance and salary comps in choosing between the valuations.
        
        Larry over at RLYW did the comps on Pudge and figured he’d end up somewhere around 6-8 million.
        
        i think it’s pretty easy to see him getting a 2-3 year contract worth enough more than that to keep him from accepting.
        
        Chip
        
        It hasn’t happened yet where any players have received a decrease but most free agents don’t accept arbitration and would ratherget contracts longer than 1 year so there aren’t many of these cases
        
        Ed
        
        I don’t know how to begin to verify the claim that no one’s salary has been reduced ever, but it comes up in every article on the subject.
        
        What makes you think the 20% paycut rule doesn’t apply to free agents? No one else seems to think that’s the case. The biggest example of it being an issue would be with Clemens and the Astros after ’06. Read up on any articles on it – the Astros were afraid of being required to pay him ~$18m+ due to his ~$22million salary the previous season.
        
        cult of basebaal
        
        not think.
        
        KNOW.
        
        http://baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_baseball_arbitration_works
        
        “3) The club’s salary offer to a player under its control may not be less than 80% of the player’s total compensation from the prior year, and may not be less than 70% of his compensation from 2 years earlier. These rules, however, do not apply to ***free agents*** who are offered arbitration.”
        
        or, if you don’t believe that, you can peruse the 2006 CBA yourself. the relevant section is on page 25.
        
        http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/cba_english.pdf
        
        (1) A Club may not tender, sign or renew a Player under reserve
        to the Club pursuant to Article XX(A) of this Agreement and paragraph
        10(a) of the Uniform Player’s Contract to a Uniform Player’s
        Contract that provides a salary for Major League service that constitutes
        a reduction in excess of 20% of his previous year’s salary or
        in excess of 30% of his salary two years previous.
        
        the key phrase is *under reserve*.
        
        that phrase only applies to players *not* eligible for free agency.
        
        Steve
        
        Dude, it won’t go to arbitration. They’ll offer it and he’ll decline it.
        
        Its probably a clause in his contract that its an automatic. If I gave somebody a 119 mil contract, I think I can get them to agree to decline arbitration at the end of it.
        
        I can’t think of a single case where this was ever an issue for a Yankee free agent.
  - cult of basebaal
    
    these are FREE AGENTS, not pre-free agent players.
    
    there’s no 20% max cut limit, the yankees can offer them whatever they feel is a fair amount, what they made last year really doesn’t matter, it’s what is roughly commensurate pay for their relative production …
    
    giambi, pudge and abreu are all going to get multi-year offers to start somewhere else, for a larger total than they will get if they accept arbitration
    - Shawbler
      
      Not true. If you offer a player arbitration, you can’t cut their pay by more than 20%. This is the reason why high-priced, declining veterans do not get offered arbitration.
      - cult of basebaal
        
        wrong. wrong. wrong.
        
        once again, the 20% pay cut ONLY applies to pre-free agency players.
        
        here … this took me about 15 seconds to find …
        
        http://baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_baseball_arbitration_works
        
        “3) The club’s salary offer to a player under its control may not be less than 80% of the player’s total compensation from the prior year, and may not be less than 70% of his compensation from 2 years earlier. These rules, however, do not apply to ***free agents*** who are offered arbitration.”
        
        now read that last sentence again.
        
        make sense now?
  - Chip
    
    In the new baseball collective bargaining agreement, you don’t need to offer arbitration to get picks for type B free agents. Thus we get picks for Giambi, Pudge, Mussina and Pettite IF they’re type B (which we don’tknow yet if they are) which is why I said we COULD have a good draft and get 8 POSSIBLE picks.
Old Ranger

If we have learned anything this year it is; potential is just another word for projections…which means, maybe he has the ability to be a major league pitcher. From what we have heard, his ability/stuff is better then Jobas’…just think, 2009/2010…Joba, Brackman, Phil, McAllister, Betances and maybe C.C. or IPK. Not bad, if they all pan out to reach their Potential. 27/09?
- http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
  
  I’ve always wondered, what does “27/09?” mean?
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    27th World Championship in 2009. He recently chickened out and changed it from 27/08. Wuss. ;)
    - Old Ranger
      
      Yep, sure did, and am a Wuss!
      Adapt to each situation as it arises. I have not given up on making the Play-offs, but the WS for this year, is not in the cards. We have the chance (if we make the POs) of winning it all…but, being a realist, I don’t see it. 27/09?
  - Old Ranger
    
    27th WS in 2009. No chance this year…and hope I’m wrong. 27/09?
steve

interesting you didn’t rank Lassiter … don’t know much about him but thought he was suppose to be as good as angelini was coming out of hs ?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I had Lassiter #30 on the first draft. I did some rearranging the second time through, plus I totally left off D-Rob on the first pass, so he got pushed out. Lots of conflicting info out there on Lassiter, I’ve heard everything from he’s all tools with no idea how to use them, to he’s got a polished approach and significant offensive upside.
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    This is Oppenheimer’s take:
    
    “I’d say Lassiter is a little stronger physically at this point. They both have good swings, Lassiter has a bit more pop. He’s probably a little more advanced at the plate than Carmen was.”
    
    http://www.nomaas.org/draft/?p=113
Bo

This draft was a total disaster in every way.

A huge mistake from an organization.

They took very few risks late and they seem to have wasted their top 3 picks.

They didn’t even dominate the LA free agent market.

A bad yr.
- MD
  
  I second this……hopefully someone from the organization will give an explanation of the mediocre LAFA and draft results…..we saved a lot of money by letting the Oakland A’s of the world out spend us…..
  - Old Ranger
    
    Respectively disagree with your supposition.
    If the talent is there, they would have spent the money. Why spend for a hyped up player, just to spend it? We have all seen how agents etc., hype their players. 27/09?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  Thank you fortuneteller.
  - MD
    
    too much “bad luck” regarding Cole and Inoa and Bittle…….WWGS (what would George say?) ….my take is they need to make up for it (in the system) somehow, and not just waiting till next year for 5 or 6 high picks……..it just isn’t clear to me how they can do so.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
      
      Again, when Gerrit Cole wont even listen to an offer, it is just unbelievable to me that the Yankees are being blamed for this.
- Steve
  
  In case you didn’t notice, they fired their Latin American scouting director amid a bonus skimming scandal.
  
  Their Latin American operations are in a bit of disarray at this point, and its not their doing, its MLB and the FBI’s doing.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

Since Michael Inoa was reportedly ready to sign with the Yanks until his agent came along and screwed things up, where would he have been ranked if signed?

Also, what kind of ceiling and floor we talking about with Jeremy Bleich?
- http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
  
  my view:
  
  ceiling: Ted Lilly
  floor: Brandon Claussen
  - JohnnyC
    
    All things considered, Lilly’s a decent 3, maybe a 4 in a top-notch rotation. You can’t kick if Bleich turns out to be Ted Lilly. Frankly, I think if the Yankees had a real pitching coach when Lilly first came up, he would have developed further. Rick Peterson’s no guru but he did smooth out Lilly’s wind-up so he stopped throwing across his body so drastically.
Old Ranger

Anyone know the splits on Brett Gardner, Left/right handers?
Going from memory, I thought he hit well against leftys as well.
The reason I ask is to think about who is going to sit when Matsui comes back. Anyone have an idea? It’s a slow day…no ballgame. 27/09?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  If the Yanks are creative enough, they can find enough AB’s for Brett Gardner with him not being a starter, but also not stunting his development.
  
  Most likely it will be Gardner that will be sent down.
  - Old Ranger
    
    I was thinking it would be Justin? Joe has stated, Brett was the CF. 27/09?
    - http://mvn.com/milb-yankees Eric
      
      Getting picked off certainly didn’t help Christian’s chances. I wonder if Christian being in the doghouse was the reason he wasn’t used to pinch-run for Pudge in the 9th inning on Saturday.
      - Steve
        
        If you saw the post game, Girardi said “If Damon gets down the bunt, were not in that situation” in defending Justin.
        
        He was pretty ticked off at Damon, and didn’t retract anything during his Joe Girardi show the next day.
CB

What was the thinking in not ranking Brandon Laird in the top 30?

I don’t think it’s good enough to say the yankees just had bad luck in this year’s draft. It was a disaster. Even if the guys they did take and sign turn out to be productive players it will still be a bad draft. They got as close to minimal value from their first 3 picks as possible. And getting compensatory picks isn’t close to the same value. The opportunity cost of having to wait a year to get a guy into your system is enormous (especially with an older major league roster). And on top of that of course so guarantee you’ll get equal talent next year.

If you’re going to make player development the core strategy of your organization you just cannot have drafts like this. That’s like IBM saying, well you know our research and development this year just ran into some bad luck. Unacceptable. Especially after all the issues that came up with the Inoa signing.

Oppenheimer and Cash have rightly gotten a lot of credit for recent drafts. If they get the credit they should take the hit. They need to go back and do an honest evaluation over what went wrong with this year’s draft and fix it.

The Sox had a very strong draft. So did Tampa. Their systems continues to build.
- MD
  
  thanks, CB…..I’ve been trying to put my disappointment into words, but you did it better.
- Ivan
  
  It was bad luck. Hey they didn’t know that Cole was that committed to College. It was a risk and shit happens can’t fault the yanks there.
  
  Hey there is really nothing to fix. They got burned and that’s it. Besides they did sign some pretty high ceiling guys as well. Hey it was not the yankee best draft, but I wouldn’t call it a disaster.
  
  Sometimes, you gotta live with the fact that the Yanks are not gonna get the best talent.
  - bklynJT
    
    I believe the strategy they took in dealing with Cole is the reason he decided to go to college. If they gave him the same treatment as Marshall and the others, which he rightly deserved as the first pick, he would of more than likely signed with the Yankees. But instead he was brushed to the side because he was a boras client… Terrible decision making on the part of the Yankees, not in selecting Cole, but in the lack of Woo-ing they did. You are the NY Yankees, why didn’t you use that glamour to convince Cole to sign.
    - Chip
      
      You don’t know he didn’t get an invitation to hang out with the Yankees. In fact, I’m sure he did and Boras advised him to refuse it as it would give up bargaining position. We all know Boras is a snake and clients don’t make their own decisions regarding bargaining. Cole is probably convinced he comes out of college with a major league contract as the number 1 overall
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  People want to fault the Yankees, but how can you fault them for not signing Gerrit Cole and Scott Bittle? According to reports, Cole’s father told the Yankees he and Gerrit wont even listen to an offer. They would not listen to an offer, how can that possibly lay at the feet of the Yanks? The Yankees did not even get a chance with him.
  
  With Scott Bittle, it’ a different story. Teams are not privy to all the medical information they would like pre-draft. Therefore they can not be blamed for not knowing about his shoulder issues and how bad they were. Also, with Bittle, the compensation pick is not a hude trade-off. With Cole, yes, with Bittle, not really.
  
  One last thing, what’s with the hating on Jeremy Bleich. Right after the pick everyone hated him. After the College World Series, he was Andy Pettitte-lite. Now because Cole and Bittle aren’t Yankees, Bleich is back to being hated again? Why is it his fault that those two weren’t signed? Be fair.
  - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio
    
    Cole you can make an excuse for. But not taking chance on talents like Melville, Westmoreland, Lobstein and others deserves criticism. Scott Bittle shouldn’t have been the 2nd round seleciton anyway. As stated earlier, you can’t make building from within your top priority and than not go after the best talent available (especially when you have the money, I don’t think anyone can dispute that).
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
      
      Kyle Lobstein was the first pick of the supplemental round, wasn’t he?
      - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio
        
        I thought he was the first pick of the second round, taken after the Yanks selected Bleich.
        
        http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
        
        Yeah, I think you’re right. But still, is it really worth pointing out the selection of Bleich over Lobstein?
        
        http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio
        
        As a distant third, I think you can make the arguement. But Jamal, you can’t tell me you’d take Bleich over Melville or Westmoreland? Or Scott Bittle over either of them.
        
        http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
        
        True, my whole deal is the bitching over the Yankees not signing Gerrit Cole and Scott Bittle, not necessarily what they did or did not do later on.
    - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
      
      I wouldn’t put Lobstein in the same paragraph as Melville and Westmoreland. I actually like Robbie Ross better. But point well-taken.
  - pat
    
    how spoiled are yankee fans now..To say this draft was a “disaster” has got to be a fucking joke. We got screwed with coles nd one of the best lefties in college baseball. Oh and we got a kid in hs who throws 96 instead of 98 …. wah cry me a river. To base the whole draft on one player and ignore the marshalls josephs higashoikas turleys and lassiters is borderline psychotic. Take that bullshit absolutism back to lohud with the rest of the monkeys.
    - pat
      
      ** and landed one of the best lefties in the draft.. sometimes i get so angry my fingers stop working correctly
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Laird was one of the very last cuts, #31 or 32. Just lost out in the numbers crunch.
  - Steve
    
    We need an ‘honorable mentions’ category next time. I think you’ve done that in the past if I remember correctly.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

Oh, does anybody have any video on happenings of the U.S.A. and China baseball game? Heard Matt LaPorta had to go to the hospital after a pitch hit his shoulder then ricocheted up to his head (it was intentional, LaPorta slid hard into home plate earlier in the game).
- Ivan
  
  surpise.
Ivan

I just feel that some of the people on this blog are overreacting on the results of the draft.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  I feel the same, borderline ridiculous by some.
  - Jersey
    
    Amen. People got to chill just a bit.
CJ

Moose and Abreu probably won’t accept arbitration. Little risk to the Yankees in offering it to them. If they accept good, if they don’t, draft picks.

I don’t think Pudge would accept arby. First, he probably wouldn’t be the starter on the Yankees, and I don’t think he’d like sitting on the bench. Second, I can see him easily getting a one year deal for about what he’d get in arby to start somewhere else. Good defensive catchers who put up .750 OPS aren’t a dime a dozen. I don’t know if the Yankees would risk that, though.

Giambi probably would decline arbitration as well. Hes 37 and coming off a injury free year at 1B where he put up a 900+ OPS. His free agent value is high, and taking arby would risk tanking that with injury. Would he rather get one year and 15 million by accepting arby or three years 30+ in FA? Again, I don’t know if the Yankees would risk offering arby.

Pettite will definitely accept arby and it will be offered. I’m fairly confident he will be back on the Yankees in 09.
CB

Successful organizations – in any field – just don’t chalk things up to bad luck. They just don’t. They are constantly self-critical and are continuously reevaluating how well what they are doing is working.

That’s what the yankees need to do with resepect to their draft this year and with their international signings.

A big issue people aren’t considering enough is how radically the competitive landscape has changed in terms of acquiring amateur talent.

It’s changed drastically since 2005 when Oppenheimer took over.

Both the Royals and the Pirates spent close to $10M in the draft this year. That would have been unimaginable just a year ago.

This year’s draft was a real turning point because many small to mid-market teams adopted the same strategy the Sox and the Yankees have in terms of paying over slot bonuses. Just look at the Royals drafting and signing Tim Melville.

The same exact thing happened with the international signings. The A’s gave Inoa $4.25M. The Reds gave Yorman Rodriguez $2.57M. Again – completely unlikely a year ago.

A year ago Tim Melville might have fallen to round 8 or even day 2 of the draft. The yankees may have taken a flier on him. Not this year.

That means the Yankees will need to reevaluate what they are doing.

It’s simply not good enough to chalk it up to bad luck and move on. That’s not how successful organizations in any walk of life are run.

If the Mets had this draft so be it. They are not a team that has dedicated itself to building through player development. But the yankees have. That means the draft has become a mission critical operation for them.

If you fail at a mission critical operation you need to seriously reconsider the way you are doing business. That’s the bottom line. Anything short of that is simply lying to yourself.
- whozat
  
  Just because WE are chalking things up to bad luck (with some justification) doesn’t mean that Oppy and Cash are.
  
  A lot of times, we try to project or imagine what is going on behind the scenes where we can’t see, and then we work ourselves into a lather over what we think is happening. Inoa…well, apparently the Yanks had him at their price and then a new agent came in and broke the agreement and put the kid back on the market. Given the hype machine that tends to surround the latin american free agents, it seems kind of dumb to get all pissed about that. RE: the draft…if we all see that it sucked without Cole, then they do too. Sure, they can maybe shrug off what happened with him, but if you’re right and they were thinking a guy like Melville would be there in the 8th round…then I’m sure they’ve realized that as well. We have no idea who got yelled at and which underlings got quietly shoved out the door; it’s unlikely we’ll get to see whether they learned their lesson until next year’s draft. Any consequences that happen now are of the kind that would be invisible to us anyhow.
  - steve (different one)
    
    Just because WE are chalking things up to bad luck (with some justification) doesn’t mean that Oppy and Cash are.
    
    i was right about to type this.
    
    and CB is pretty smart, so i’m not trying to be a smartass.
    
    but it’s funny to read all of these things like “the Yankees didn’t try to woo Cole”, as if ANYONE here actually has a clue about what they did or didn’t do.
    
    second only to this are the people that want Cole to get hurt. yikes.
joe

Why no love for some of the young pitchers like Vizcaino, Banuelos and Barrada?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Too far away, and in the case of Vizcaino and Banuelos I don’t have enough info. Barreda’s not top 30 material right now.
http://2009 Haggs

IPK graduated?

I thought he got left back.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio

Funny how people defend the underslot signings of this year’s draft so vigorously. Look at the top 7 of this list Mike created.

Six of them (AJax, Montero, Brackman, Betances, Melancon and Robertson) were guys that were signed for well above slot in terms of their perceived value (including the IFA for Montero, 1.6 million). AJax and Betances were considered risky because of what it would take to acquire them, and were taking in the eighth round of their respective drafts even when their talent was clearly better than that position. You can make the same argument with Melancon, who was viewed as first round material but had an injury concern (9th round). Bleich may fall into this category, but other than Marshall and Lassiter no one else does.

You always go after the best talent. Signability picks often don’t work out as well as those other players that were recognized as top talents and fell because teams didn’t make the financial commitment.

As the Padres how Matt Bush turned out. Or the Pirates about Daniel Moskos. Go get the best, always. Especially when if you are right, you get to spread out the money you give them up front for the first six years of their career when you don’t have to pay the player near what they are worth.
- whozat
  
  “Funny how people defend the underslot signings of this year’s draft so vigorously.”
  
  I was reading that people thought the Yanks had had a GOOD draft back when they thought Cole would sign. Once he didn’t…it all of a sudden turned into an unmitigated disaster. The draft seemed pretty characteristic to me. Bleich was maybe a bit of a reach, but the feedback I read seemed pretty happy with the ratio of “safe” picks to guys who’d need to be paid over slot. That’s all changed because one kid didn’t sign. How is this not just bitching in hindsight?
  - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio
    
    I’m making the point that “safe” isn’t the way to go. One only has to look at the current top prospects in this organization to see that high celing talent has lead to the rebirth of building from within (you can add Joba and Phil to this as well, both were “overslot” drafts). Passing on better players for percieved “safer” selections is the wrong choice in my opinion. I’m just using the success of our current crop to illustrate the point of going after the best at all times.
    
    Especially when you are an organization that can fiscally dominate all others in amateur talent pools should they choose to.
    - SM
      
      In markets things that were very recently undervalued could rapidly become overvalued. Look at the $$$ spent on draftees this year and it does have bubble qualities.
    - whozat
      
      “One only has to look at the current top prospects in this organization to see that high celing talent has lead to the rebirth of building from within”
      
      Yes, and they obviously know that. That’s why they drafted Cole. But you can’t make ALL risky picks, drafting nothing but challenging signability cases. You always, always have to mitigate your risks. One things the Yanks can do to mitigate risk is throw more money at more guys. Ok, fine. But, every time they do they risk setting precedents, making it tougher and tougher for even THEM to sign guys in later years. They have to ALSO take some high-probability guys. I’m saying that, back in June and July, people thought they’d done a pretty good job of balancing the Coles and Lassiters with Bleichs and Vendittes.
- Ivan
  
  Your not being fair. The yanks have done their best to get/sign the best talent whats so ever.
  
  Remember even though they are the yanks, it’s as easy as it sounds. Hey almost everybody including me thought it was a slam dunk that Cole would sign and he didn’t.
  
  Plus, they sign Marshall and Lassister who are big talents. Plus, it’s easy to say get this guy as a blogger but you are not scouting them or researching these players. They were scouting A-Jax when he was 12.
  
  Point is, hey as long that the yanks are trying to sign big time talent Im cool. Sometimes though your gonna be unsuccessful getting players like that. I just feel you are jumping the gun here.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Someone asked where I would have ranked Inoa, but I can’t find the comment now. Anywho, I wouldn’t have ranked him, I never rank IFA’s in the top 30 the year they sign. I’ve been burned way too many times before, even on those so-called “once-in-generation” guys.
David brown

I was really aggrivated by the draft, because it seemed like Oppenheimer and Cashman had no plan B after Cole. They had options such as Dwyer and failed to exercise them. I would not resign ANY of the free agents except Moose, and try and get Tex (Lord knows we need hitters).
- pat
  
  dwyer broke his leg this summer
Mike C

What about Al ‘El Paton’ Aceves? Yeah, he’s gotten beaten up a little in AAA but before that he was dominent – give him some time to adjust….
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  One of the last cuts, but where’s the upside?
bill

How is Angelini ahead of Miranda, Kontos, and Garcia? He’s done nothing, he can’t hit or field, and dont give me the argument that Jeter also struggled in his first minor league season, because there is absolutely no chance Angelini will come close to Jeter.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  No one said he will be Jeter. Well, at least I never did. I’m a big Angelini fan, love the all-around package, love the athleticism, love the athletcism. If we wrote of every player who had a bad first 5-6 months in full season ball the big leagues would be barren.
  
  Miranda’s a platoon DH and nothing else, yawn me. I’m not a Kontos fan so I ranked him low, good chance I’m wrong though. Garcia hasn’t been able to stay healthy in 4+ pro seasons, the only reason he made the list was because of upside. I’ll glady take Angelini over those three any day of the week.
Andy in Soon To Be Windblown Daytona

You forgot Melvin Croussett.
r.w.g.

Humberto Sanchez in the top ten? Good grief. Chris Garcia makes the list and Brandon Laird and Tommy Baldridge don’t? Wow.

Other than that, I mostly agree.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Tommy Baldridge? Where did that one come from?
  - r.w.g.
    
    He signed early, has hit well and produced at an appropriate level. He’s not flashing much power but Chris Garcia isn’t flashing much playing time.
    
    I just don’t think guys who have done literally, absolutely nothing for multiple seasons shouldn’t make it over guys who hit.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

Per Jon Heyman (who I look at as the national version of Peter Abraham, great reporter who is an absolute dumb ass and shouldn’t analyze shit):

“While they had to know there was a chance Cole was going to go to UCLA, it was still worth a try. Picking 28th, they may have felt there was only one top-tier talent available. And Cole, who throws 97 mph, certainly qualifies. So they gave it a shot.

But apparently, Cole’s father very much wanted Gerrit to go to college, a sentiment that didn’t really become crystal clear until after the draft. The Yankees were believed to have been willing to offer upwards of $4 million. But there never was any negotiation, as Cole’s father wasn’t interested. So the Yankees will have to settle for a 2009 first-round pick as a replacement.”

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/08/18/heyman.cubs/1.html
bill

Why do they still have Montero catching? There is no shot he will be catching size by the time he is major league ready. I just dont see the point.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  I just don’t see why everybody automatically assumes Jesus Montero can’t be a Catcher. I really wish people wouldn’t take a couple opinions from Baseball America as gospel.
  - Ivan
    
    Fun Fact, Matt Weiters who almost everybody feels is automatic to stick at catcher is bigger than Montero. Now Weiters is a better athlete but still despite the size, Montero if he can be average is a big plus. Besides he does have a very good arm which helps.
    
    Jose Molina is fucking Huge (6’2 WT about 230-240) and he can field pretty well.
    - Steve
      
      Interesting, but Jesus is 6’4″. Matt Wieters is 6’5″.
      
      Mike Piazza was 6′ 3″ and was a lousy fielder, I can’t think of any good fielding big catchers.
      
      If you can find me a 6’4″ catcher who’s a good fielder, I’m all ears.
      
      EDIT-Did it myself
      
      A.J. Pierzynski-6’4″
      John Buck-6’3″ KC Royals, just awful fielder
      Brian McCann-6’3″ ATL
      Joe Mauer-6’5″
      Chris Snyder-ARIZ 6’4″-Highest FLD PCT in baseball at position.
      
      While most are below 6′, it clearly can be done.
  - steve (different one)
    
    Jamal, you are arguing with the guy who thinks it’s a good idea to put Austin Jackson in the majors right now.
    - bill
      
      Its stupid to think a September call up can damge a player’s career. Especially if the games are meaningless, which might be a reality soon.
      - steve (different one)
        
        ahh, there’s the catch. there is a BIG difference between a “September callup” and what you were proposing.
        
        they could call him up, let him sit on the bench, watch the big leaguers, see how things are in the clubhouse, and maybe play a handful of games. the yankees did this with Jeter in 1995, Posada in 1996, etc.
        
        those games do not count as major league service time nor do they burn an option (i think).
        
        that would be debatable, but probably would be ok.
        
        you were advocating, or at least people thought you were, calling him up in the next few weeks to be the everyday CFer until the end of the season.
        
        that’s a little different, and not something i think i think is a good idea at all.
- Old Ranger
  
  Fisk was a big guy, I remember him being listed as 6’2-3″, but he was really (almost) 6’5″. The problem was…they listed him as a kid, he kept growing. 27/09?
Emac2

Great list!

I don’t see too many prospect lists where I agree on over half the choices.

I still don’t get how Marquez and Cox are so highly rated….They’ve got nothing!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily Eric SanInocencio

Yeah I saw that. Again, my argument isn’t with Cole. Its that after him they didn’t flex their financial muscle to scoop up kids that were falling due to money. Like they had in the past. I hope they don’t regret it. That’s all.
- r.w.g.
  
  I think the only guy you can really definitely scratch your head at is Tim Melville.
  
  The scouting department passed on him in favor of Bleiche and Bittle.
  - Ivan
    
    Why can’t we ask ourselves that maybe the yanks didn’t like Tim Melville.
    - r.w.g.
      
      You can ask yourself that all you want. I’m not the thought police.
      - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
        
        He’s not saying that, he’s saying why can’t we just be rational for a second and entertain other reasons for what went down instead of “DUMB ASS YANKEES, BLAH BLAH BLAH!1!1!!!!11!”. He’s just saying to take a second and look at it from the Yanks’ point of view, maybe, just maybe, the professionals have a bit more information than the fans and they have better judgment than us.
        
        There have been rumors that maybe Tim Melville wouldn’t sign with a team other than his hometown Royals or Cardinals, that could be bullshit or 100% true. However, it’s still a possibility. So to make conclusions based on one rationale of thought is a tad irresponsible and extreme, no?
        
        r.w.g.
        
        Well I didn’t really make many conclusions at all. I just kind of said it was head scratching they didn’t take Melville.
        
        You read the site every day Jamal, so you know I’m not really on the side of tearing apart the Yanks over the Cole pick.
        
        I think your two paragraphs might be a little much.
        
        Ivan
        
        The point he’s trying to make and Im trying to make is, hey we don’t know why they didn’t take him. Nevertheless, hey maybe the yanks were not as impress with Melville as you are and they are the ones who do the scouting and advance research and scouting.
        
        Hey if the yanks feel that Melville isn’t that good to their opinion then they have a right not to draft him.
        
        Remember the MLB draft is by far the trickest of the major sports draft. That’s all Im saying and I think that’s what Jamal saying.
        
        r.w.g.
        
        I’m not even saying I’m super impressed with Melville. I’m not even really knocking the Bittle pick.. I understand why they made it and I know they didn’t examine him medically before they picked him.
        
        I just found it odd at draft time that the Yanks didn’t grab him when he was there. I thought the whole focus was getting big, tough pitchers into the system.
        
        The original post I was referring to.. all the guy said was he was surprised the Yanks didn’t spend even more money. Jamal says there were rumors Melville wouldn’t sign with a team outside of Missouri. Other people say there are rumors we could have traded Melky and Kennedy for Santana. You know what you can do with rumors.
        
        http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
        
        It wasn’t directed at you as much as it was directed at the whole general sentiment that the Yankees are incompetent because of what has happened so far regarding the 2008 draft.
        
        My bad, I really didn’t mean to point you out on an individual level.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
    
    The Tigers took three relievers over Melville, only one of which is any good.
    - Ivan
      
      Didn’t they drafted Chris Carpenter.
      
      Even Perry Im not foud of either.
      - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
        
        I thought the Cubbies took Carpenter. The Tigers’ first three picks were Perry (stud, but still a reliever), Cody Satterwhite and Scott Green. Their fourth rounder, Brett Jacobsen, is also a reliever. Yikes.
    - r.w.g.
      
      The Tigers also badly overrated themselves and used this draft to try and help their dismal bullpen.
      
      I don’t think it’s an accurate comparison because of the wildly different nature of the draft strategies.
Adrian-Retire21

Isn’t Sanchez old like 26.You can’t put guys over 26 with talent above people under 25 with more talent and younge.

Look at Horne.He’s great but he’s 25 and injuried.And never dominated AAA.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  If assuming full health, Sanchez > Horne in just about every single way.
bill

The Yankee seson is currently on life support. If they fall out of the race I want to see Austin Jackson full time in center. I dont care if he is not ready. The Yankees will not win a championship in the future with Gardner or Cabrera as their center fielder. Jackson has all the tools.
- pat
  
  HAHAHAHAHA. bill doesnt care if ajax is ready, doesnt care if it has a detrimental effect on his development getting tooled on by mlb pitchers. thats probably the WORST thing they could do to him right now. but goddamn bill wants it come hell or high water
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  That would do far more damage than it would good.
  - bill
    
    I disagree, Pat and Mike. Maybe he rises to the challenge. He has proven this when he was promoted to high-A after struggling in low-A. I know minors to majors is a far bigger jump than low a to high a, but still I dont think the risks are that great.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
      
      If you want to argue that the benefits of your proposition outweigh the risks, that’s fine, I wholeheartedly disagree, but you can do that. However, to say “I dont think the risks are that great.” is crap. I’m sorry, but that’s just absolute crap. You run the risk of Eric Duncan part deux, you run the risk of forever ruining Austin Jackson as a baseball player, you run the risk of flushing down the drain millions of dollars in player development, and you also run the risk being looked upon as a complete fucking idiot upon the rest of Major League Baseball.
      - bill
        
        To say that Eric Duncan has as much talent as A-Jax is absolute crap, so that argument doesnt work. Also, the notion that promoting and sending down prospects ruin their careers is totally overrated. Do you know how many times the Yankees promoted and demoted Posada? Do you know how many times the Twins promoted and demoted Hunter? Look at their carreers now. Anyway Jamal, if you dont think AJMax is major leugue ready, is he at least AAA ready?
- steve
  
  he has all the tools but hes at least 1.5 yeas away. your analysis is retarded. sorry.
- rbizzler
  
  Rushing a kid and potentially stunting his development because you, as a fan, are bored with the season is extremely shortsighted. Give the kid some room to develop. It’s not like they haven’t already been challenging him with aggressive promotions.
pat

sanchez is 25.. took me all of 3 seconds to look that up
bklynJT

You have to throw the blame on the Yankees for not signing Cole. I believe the strategy they took in dealing with Cole is the reason he decided to go to college. If they gave him the same treatment as Marshall and the others, which he rightly deserved as the first pick, he would of more than likely signed with the Yankees.

But instead he was brushed to the side because he was a Borass client…giving Cole ample time to reconsider going to college. Terrible decision making on the part of the Yankees, not in selecting Cole, but in the lack of Woo-ing they did. You are the NY Yankees, you should of used the glamour to convince Cole to sign.
- Ivan
  
  That’s totally unfair. Even the yankees get dump too. I assume the yanks did there best to sign the kid. The kid didn’t sign. What ya gonna do.
  - bklynJT
    
    Then why didn’t they bring Cole to a game and give him the treatment like they did Marshall? Instead they probably waited until the last week to even approach Cole since he was a Boras client.
    - bklynJT
      
      Also, with 4 mil+ free, they could of attempted to sign some of their other signability cases, which they didn’t go hard after because of maybe budget issues. I read on Lane’s blog that the general perception was that the Yankees didn’t put much effort in doing so after they heard from Cole.
      - rbizzler
        
        Maybe b/c they didn’t like those guys as much after they saw them repetedly over the summer. Dwyer had a broken leg and Monar was throwing low-80’s in his last few starts.
        
        Spending money just to spend it isn’t really all that great of an approach.
    - rbizzler
      
      Also, how can you assume that there was not a significant amount of ‘wooing’ that Cole blew off. For all intents and purposes, the kid sounds like a prick (talented though). He blew off a conference call with the beat writers to go play golf. Not exactly a good sign.
      
      I love how it is assumed that because Cole didn’t sign it was because the the Yankees didn’t try hard enough. Sure, they are just going to ignore their first round pick who they plan on making a multi-millionaire.
      
      They should have gone all Eckstein and got grittier during the signing period!
      - r.w.g.
        
        I don’t like how Cole gets painted as being immature because he blew off the reporters to play golf.
        
        He’d just been through the draft process and all that BS and was going to hang out with his dad. Didn’t he talk to the reporters the very next day?
        
        Reporters are just terribly, terribly annoying people. The vast majority are so terribly average at their job. He gets points in my book for doing it, frankly.
    - Ivan
      
      Who knows. I mean could the yanks ooooo him better? maybe, but at the end of the day it’s not like they ignore the kid and etc. Hey the kid made a decision and didn’t even gave the yanks a chance. The New York Yankees, and he didn’t even wanna negociate with them. Maybe he was that serious about college and his father as well.
    - Chip
      
      They probably waited until the last week to even approach Cole? Seriously, stop assuming shit! That is the dumbest thig I’ve ever heard. The Yankees number one priority was to sign this kid, I’m sure they put on the full court press (even inviting him to a game possibly?) but the kid just didn’t bite. It happens, some guys just want to go to college. He’d have probably signed if he was the number 1 overall but the Yankees couldn’t offer him that, all they could offer is money which I’m sure he figures is coming once he’s done with college.
      - bklynJT
        
        Don’t go insulting people for their opinions, condescending &*@. Your the dumbest person I’ve ever heard.
        
        As per T. Kepner… Not necessarily facts, but more proof than you have, idiot.
        
        “From what I understand, the Yankees drafted Cole believing he would sign with them and wanted to play pro ball. Negotiations were not set to start until late, as usual with Scott Boras clients. By the time they really started to talk, Cole and his father said Cole was committed to college and they did not even want to hear offers from the Yankees.”
        
        Ok so they believed they could convince him to sign with a big payday, so they didnt bother giving him the stadium treatment. Maybe I’m overblowing that type of treatment, but it has worked with Marshall, Lassiter, and Higashioka (all signability cases). If they considered Cole a signability case, it wouldnt of hurt to do the same with him.
        
        Chip
        
        You don’t KNOW that it went down that way though
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  But instead he was brushed to the side because he was a Borass client…
  
  I was under the impression Scott Boras is the one who wants the negotiations held off until the latter stages of the deadline, but I could be mistaken.
  
  Also, Gerrit Cole is a first round pick who understood he had the potential of making multimillion dollars to play baseball on a professional level. There was no need for any other “Woo-ing” to take place.
  - bklynJT
    
    Cashman cited a “lifestyle difference” as the reason for Cole not signing. Basically he wanted to play around with UCLA girls. The Yankees could of at least pimped out some shorties for Cole.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
      
      Heh, Colorado U FTW!
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      Heh, if the kid just wanted some action why’s he going to UCLA? It’s all ghetto booty there. He’d be much better off at either USC or Pepperdine. Besides, I think having $4M in the bank and a New York Yankees player ID is a pretty good pretty good pickup line.
      - Ivan
        
        Whats wrong with Ghetto Booty?
        
        http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
        
        Nothing I suppose, if that’s your cup of tea.
        
        Ivan
        
        Well how about this, to you what is Ghetto Booty?
- whozat
  
  Kevin Goldstein completely disagrees with you.
  
  From today’s Pinstriped Blog:
  
  PB: So it wouldn’t be fair to the Yankees to say that they miscalculated here and that they made a mistake drafting a player who didn’t want to sign. This was a last-minute change on the part of the Cole family.
  
  KG: This was certainly a change of course. I hate to use the word blame. If you wanted to assign a hundred points of blame for what went wrong here, the Yankees get zero points. The Yankees don’t need to be blamed at all. They drafted him in good faith, intending to sign him, but [Cole] had a last-minute change of heart. The Yankees didn’t do anything wrong.
  
  So, I’m going to trust him and not you, since you have no idea what you’re talking about. Goldstein is of the opinion that, rather than not taking enough risks like some here are complaining about, the Yanks took some risks high in the draft and they “came up snake-eyes.” It happens. If you want to blame them for misjudging how far signability cases would fall, ok. Hopefully they recalibrate that meter going into next year.
  - steve (different one)
    
    BUT THEY DIDN’T INVITE HIM TO A BASEBALL GAME!1!!!! TO WATCH BASEBALL!!!
    - Old Ranger
      
      Whozat/steve(d.o.)…
      Good as usual, nice shots. It’s all the Yankees fault, don’t you know! 27/09?
  - bklynJT
    
    As per T. Kepner… Not necessarily facts, but more proof than you have…
    
    “From what I understand, the Yankees drafted Cole believing he would sign with them and wanted to play pro ball. Negotiations were not set to start until late, as usual with Scott Boras clients. By the time they really started to talk, Cole and his father said Cole was committed to college and they did not even want to hear offers from the Yankees.”
    
    Ok so they believed they could convince him to sign with a big payday, so they didnt bother giving him the stadium treatment. Maybe I’m overblowing that type of treatment, but it has worked with Marshall, Lassiter, and Higashioka (all signability cases). If they considered Cole a signability case, it wouldnt of hurt to do the same with him.
    
    The Yankees didn’t do anything wrong, in KG’s opinion, but did they do everything in their power to sign him… Thats a different stroy.
The Fallen Phoenix

I’m sure if the Yankees thought Cole would potentially be a tough sign, they probably would have attempted to give him the Marshall approach, Boars be damned.

The fact of the matter is, no one really seemed to expect Cole would seriously consider college.

This is an aside, but how many of the signability cases that the Yankees failed to sign (McMahon, Monar, Dwyer, Anders, etc.) do we seriously think are going to be 1st day picks in three years? Simple attrition probabiliy would likely suggest that not all of them would be, so I think we need to be really careful when we harpoon the Yankees for not throwing money at all of them. Not just because of the proposed “bubble” quality of the draft market, but because at a certain point you have to assume that Yankee scouts know what they’re doing.

Speaking of which…what if the Yankees took the $4-$6 million they had budgeted for Cole and poured it into scouting? Wouldn’t that be a more efficient use of money than throwing it at a signability case the Yankees obviously didn’t like, either because they didn’t draft him when they had the chance (arguably Melville) or opted not to field competitive offers up to the deadline? Just a thought…
- whozat
  
  “Speaking of which…what if the Yankees took the $4-$6 million they had budgeted for Cole and poured it into scouting?”
  
  I’m sure they’re not going to blow it on Skittles and Schnapps. It’ll be used either to expand scouting, or pump up bonuses for next year, I guess. Or maybe spread on the international market. Or spent on scouting the international market :-)
  
  Or, marketing the international scouting. Or, internationalizing the scouting market. And other buzzwords as well.
  - steve (different one)
    
    or, what if they use it to buy HoHos for CC Sabathia??
    
    it’s funny how the people here seem to think the Yankees are cheap and will just pocket the money.
    
    just incredible how spoiled we’ve become.
Sinjin

I agree with CB’s 4:04 pm post.

The Yankees had no way of knowing that Cole did not want to sign and that Bittle’s shoulder showed wear.

However, going forward the Yankees I hope learned from this draft and IFA period that the landscaoe has changed and that many teams are willing to spend heavily for talent in the Rule 4 draft and IFA.

Therefore, the Yankees have to adjust its thinking and take high upside players earlier in the draft (foregoing org. guys like Wilkes, Nutt, etc.) and be willing to spend for the coveted IFA.

Also, take fliers on guys like Alex Meyer, D. Hultzen, etc. Two reasons for this. 1) Contingency plan if your top picks opt for college and 2) just by taking the player you prevent other teams from taking them.

The Red Sox employed this to a great extend in this draft and had highly talented players not sign (Marquis, Opressa, Meyer, Scalfani, Navery Moore, Cooper, Flynn, etc.) If Kelly had opted for Tennessee these guys might have been in play. At the very least it prevented 29 teams from signing these players.
- steve (different one)
  
  Therefore, the Yankees have to adjust its thinking and take high upside players earlier in the draft (foregoing org. guys like Wilkes, Nutt, etc.) and be willing to spend for the coveted IFA.
  
  you do know the Yankees have always spent a ton to get “coveted IFA”, right?
  
  that they signed the top 2 guys the last 2 years and had a deal with Inoa agreed upon until he backed out?
  
  where is some of this crap coming from?
  
  you have heard of Jesus Montero, right?
JohnnyC

Damon Oppenheimer is interviewed on the Pinstripes Plus website. Just went up 15 minutes ago. He answers your questions about the Cole affair. Apparently, this had nothing to do with Boras. It was entirely Cole’s father who decided his son was too young and immature to sign a professional contract, albeit with the team his son had dreamed of pitching for. Oppenheimer said he flew to Cali to give them their package (which included millions, full ride to the college of his choice, and the professional care and concern of an organization that would value the health and welfare of their son a whole lot more than the head coach of a second-tier college program would)but didn’t even get to meet face-to-face. Cole’s father rejected the offer unheard and said his son wanted to go to school instead. Boras, according to Oppenheimer, hadn’t been informed either. Came as a surprise to him too. Essentially, Cole’s father acted in bad faith with all parties involved…maybe even his own son.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I had heard that the kid’s father is kind of the nutcase.
  - pat
    
    nuts… maybe. Even if he gave the yankees a 100% commitment that he would sign yout still cant fault him. Obviously it pisses all of us and the yankees but this is the kids life we are so haphazardly talking about. A father making a decision regarding the well being of his own son should NEVER EVER be criticized no matter how much it screws us over and we hate him for it.
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    I feel bad for the kid
  - Old Ranger
    
    I read that too, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. The kid is noted to be a head case…arrogant , insulting and down right…not a very nice guy. This is what I read, not what I say. It could be, he likes being a big fish in a small…no that’s not fair, we don’t know him. 27/09?
JohnnyC

Good grief, now the Yankees have to scout the prospect’s parents as well.
Ivan

Maybe it’s nobody’s fault. The Yankees wanted him didn’t bullshit the kid, gave the kid a great offer and the kid turn it down because he felt this decision would negativily affect him or he wasn’t ready to take that leap.
JohnnyC

The point is they never heard the offer. Cole’s father rejected it out of hand. That’s why Boras was as surprised as Oppenheimer. There were no negotiations.
Chip

For all of you who think the sky is falling, if Bleich becomes a number 3 starter, Brett Marshall becomes a usefull bullpen arm and one of the SS drafted becomes the successor to Jeter, then this draft is a HUGE success. Is that really so much of a reach?
JohnnyC

Also, and this will really get you steamed, the Yankees were asked by the family NOT to pressure Gerrit, lay low, not to, say, invite him to Yankee Stadium or Angels Stadium a la Marshall or Kyle H. The Yankees acceded to their wishes. All they could do was have Alex Rodriguez, Phil Hughes, IPK, Nardi Contreras, and Mark Newman write him letters. They also sent him a video. In all this time, not one word or sign from the family that they weren’t even considering listening to an offer. So, it definitely is someone’s fault. But not the Yankees. They got played.
- steve (different one)
  
  impossible, i was assured by the omnipotent posters at RAB that the Yankees didn’t even try to woo him and just ignored him for 2 months.
  - Old Ranger
    
    Nawww, You got to be ribben usuns’. No one wouda did dat, dis is da Yanks! 27/09?
Reggie C.

I just want to move on from this disappointment. I’ll give the yanks a pass on the Cole fiasco, but the Bittle selection is on the scouts. That was a wasted selection where we could’ve drafted anybody else!! Talent was still on the board…

Oppenheimer must be dying to get Brackman on the mound and have him impress cause i think alot of the fuzz and bewilderment of the signing day is gonna hang over the org till then…

p.s., DJ mitchell is an undersized college pitcher who’s IPK best case scenario. this draft is essentially 3 guys: marshall , ‘shioka, & lassiter
Adrian-Retire21

What about Ian Kennedy?Say what you want he has great AAA numbers as a pitchers.

Also the Yankees are the reason for rushing him to the majors.
Thurman

As a frequent reader, I always here mention of your dislike for Kontos. I don’t know enough about the guy, and I was wondering why you don’t like him. Not necessarily disagreeing, just curious as to your rationale.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  The biggest thing is that he was terrible in college, turned pro, made a mechanical adjustment, then dominated the NY-Penn League. I’m always skeptical of guys who just make a small adjustment and take off like that. That seems like too little of a cause for too great of an effect.
  
  Plus he’s always had impressive stuff, but he’s never had equally impressive results except for those 3.5 months with Staten Island. Classic underachiever.
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    but the same thing happened with David Robertson, though I do cede to you that D-Rob has dominated for the last…forever
Old Ranger

Your list is ok with me, except a few changes…but nothing to argue about, I am parshall to athletes at any possition…i.e., Mo, Moose, A-Rod, Almonta, Angelini and Brett, etc. Good list. 27/09?
Steve

Mike, I don’t understand why you call Bleich “Our best lefty since Claussen” and go on to describe lefty Wilkins DelaRosa as having “electric stuff”.

Shouldn’t a lefty with electric stuff (who is already in our system) be better than Claussen? Maybe even better than Bleich, who has solid, but not eye popping stuff?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Stuff is only part of the prospect status equation. DeLaRosa has better stuff, but Belich’s total package is better, the command, delivery, pitchability, etc. Heck, Garrett Patterson had some of the best stuff you’ll ever see in the lefty, but he couldn’t command it, so he never did squat.
  - Steve
    
    Gotcha.
PaulT

While it pisses me off that the Sox took home another draft bonanza, I was reading Heyman’s article today and he had the following paragraph…
The Red Sox spent $10 million on their drafted players, according to baseballamerica.com, just another indication of what a smart organization they are

…If that was the Yankees that dopped 10 bills on the draft, everyone would be freaking out. Same garbage with Matsuzaka. The Sox get a free pass time and again!
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees Eric

Donde está Cervelli?
Jon

When is Cole eligible for the draft again?