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The Rest of MLB [2019 Season Preview]

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Can’t wait for the Yankees to sign some elite free agents! (Presswire)

At long last, our 2019 Season Preview series comes to an end today. The 2019 regular season begins tomorrow afternoon with Masahiro Tanaka vs. Andrew Cashner at Yankee Stadium. It will be Tanaka’s fourth Opening Day start in the last five years. Mel Stottlemyre (seven), Ron Guidry (seven), Whitey Ford (seven), CC Sabathia (six), Lefty Gomez (six), and Red Ruffing (five) are the only pitchers in franchise history with more Opening Day starts than Tanaka. Who knew?

Anyway, we previewed the other four AL East teams earlier today, so now it’s time to wrap up the 2019 Season Preview series with the rest of MLB. Some of those other 25 teams are actually trying to win this season. Crazy, I know. Let’s take a look at those other 25 teams. Come with me, won’t you?

Arizona Diamondbacks

Are they trying? Kinda. Maybe. Not really though.

One paragraph preview: The Diamondbacks traded their franchise player (Paul Goldschmidt) and lost two other core players to free agency (Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock), replaced them with no one in particular, and took a flier on a guy who is maybe trying to duck a six-figure tax bill in South Korea. Plus, good gravy their uniforms are so ugly. The D’Backs seem like a franchise doomed to have ugly uniforms forever. The uniforms are salt in the wound that is the 2001 World Series.

Atlanta Braves

Are they trying? Words say yes, actions say not really.

One paragraph preview: The Braves won 90 games and the NL East last year, they have a two-year-old taxpayer funded ballpark, and they cut payroll this year. Last year’s Opening Day payroll: $118.2M. This year’s Opening Day payroll: $110.9M. I guess that’s what happens when a franchise is as much a real estate development company as they are a baseball team. The Braves are everything that is wrong with baseball today.

Chicago Cubs

Are they trying? Not as much as they should be, but yes.

One paragraph preview: Folks are sleeping on the Cubbies. The projection systems hate them, but this is the same team that won 95 games last year even though so much went wrong. Kris Bryant played with a bad shoulder. Yu Darvish got hurt. Jon Lester was so-so. Tyler Chatwood was a disaster. The entire team completely stopped hitting in September. And still, 95 wins! The Cubs aren’t the budding dynasty everyone thought they were three years ago. They’re not a sinking ship either.

Chicago White Sox

Are they trying? Nah.

One paragraph preview: The “they’re adding Manny Machado’s pals (Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso)!” thing was my favorite dumb storyline of the offseason. The White Sox set their fans up for disappointment with the halfhearted free agent pursuits. Machado and Bryce Harper were never going to happen. Also, that Eloy Jimenez extension? Sneaky expensive. Harper made $46.9M during the same six-year chunk of his career and he won an MVP. Eloy gets $43M for those six years. Good for him. Way to negotiate an above-market extension with a player yet to make his big league debut, White Sox. The last time they played in the postseason, Nick Swisher was on their roster.

Cincinnati Reds

Are they trying? Yes!

One paragraph preview: The NL Central is brutal — there’s a decent chance the division will feature five teams with a winning record — so I’m not sure their offseason trades will be enough to get back to the postseason, but give the Reds credit. They’re trying. Not enough teams are doing that. Four straight 94+ loss seasons weren’t sitting well with ownership and they made an effort to improve. I sincerely home the Reds are rewarded for it.

Cleveland Indians

Are they trying? Not as much as they should be.

One paragraph preview: The window is about to slam shut. Despite back-to-back-to-back AL Central titles, the Indians cut their Opening Day payroll from $134.9M to $117.7M over the winter. They cut enough elsewhere (Edwin Encarnacion trade, Yonder Alonso trade) that they were able to hold on to Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer, which is so dumb. It is so dumb a contending team is in this position, or wants us to believe they’re in this position. Anyway, Francisco Lindor (calf), Jason Kipnis (calf), and Jose Ramirez (knee) are all hurt, their best outfielder is Leonys Martin, and they have no bullpen. The 2016 World Series loss will be this core’s peak.

Colorado Rockies

Are they trying? Yes. They make a lotta weird moves, but yes.

One paragraph preview: The Rockies just made the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time ever. They probably have the best starting rotation in franchise history as well. Kyle Freeland and German Marquez are studs, and I’m not anywhere close to giving up Jon Gray yet. I want to like the Rockies. I do. Then they go and do things like give Ian Desmond five years and $70M, and I just can’t buy all the way in. The Rockies always seem to make life unnecessarily difficult for themselves.

Detroit Tigers

Are they trying? lol no

One paragraph preview: There is no reason to watch the Tigers this year. I guess maybe Miguel Cabrera could go back to being an all-world hitter with good health, otherwise there’s nothing to see here. Most rebuilding teams at least have that one exciting young player to build around. The Tigers have … Jeimer Candelario? His best case is what, fifth best player on a contending team? On the bright side, they expect to start spending again in 2021 or 2022.

Houston Astros

Are they trying? Yup.

One paragraph preview: The Astros are obnoxiously good. They’ll miss Charlie Morton more than they’ll miss Dallas Keuchel, and Morton has injury issues. Wade Miley is a competent back-end starter and youngsters like Josh James and Forrest Whitley have high-end upside. The lineup is deep — Carlos Correa hit .180/.261/.256 (45 wRC+) following his midseason back injury last year and there’s just no way that’ll happen again — and they don’t strike out, and the bullpen is sneaky great. Whoever wins the 2019 American League pennant will have to go through Houston.

Kansas City Royals

Are they trying? Nope.

One paragraph preview: Five-year rebuild followed by three years of contention followed by another five-year rebuild seems not great for baseball. Is that really the best small market teams can hope for, or is that just what fans have been conditioned to believe? At least the Royals got a World Series title out of their rebuild. So many other teams are rebuilding nowadays that it’s inevitable three or four of them will completely screw it up. I’m not sure why a non-Royals fan would pay attention to the Royals this year. World Series champs to irrelevance in four years. Impressive.

Los Angeles Angels

Are they trying? Yes, bless their hearts.

One paragraph preview: Mike Trout is the greatest player I’ve ever seen. Shohei Ohtani is one of the most fun players I’ve ever seen, though Tommy John surgery means he can hit but not pitch this year. The Angels gave out a bunch of one-year contracts over the winter (Matt Harvey, Cody Allen, Justin Bour, Trevor Cahill, etc.) and it felt like sticking a band-aid on a roster aching for more substantial moves. They’ll get back to the postseason while Trout is in his prime … right?

Los Angeles Dodgers

Are they trying? They are. I mean, I think they are.

One paragraph preview: The Dodgers have won six straight NL West titles and have lost back-to-back World Series, and they actively got worse this winter. Yasmani Grandal was replaced with washed up Russell Martin. Yasiel Puig was replaced with A.J. Pollock. Matt Kemp and Alex Wood weren’t replaced at all. The Dodgers always seem to be one reliever short in the postseason and their solution was … Joe Kelly? Los Angeles has cut nearly $50M off their Opening Day payroll since 2017. I’m picking them to lose the World Series ever year until they prove me wrong.

Miami Marlins

Are they trying? hah

One paragraph preview: “(It’s) impossible to win every single game. One thing you always remember is the experience you had while you were at the park. We want it to be a positive experience,” said CEO Derek Jeter earlier this month. Imagine Jeter the ballplayer saying “it’s impossible to win every single game.” Wild. Anyway, Jeter’s comments are so perfect for baseball in 2019. The team is completely indifferent to winning, but they want you to show up to the park and give them your money anyway.

Milwaukee Brewers

Are they trying? Yes.

One paragraph preview: The Brewers won a Game 163 tiebreaker last year and finished with the National League’s best record, then they upped their Opening Day payroll nearly $30M to a franchise record $120.4M this year. That is exactly what a team in Milwaukee’s position should do. They’re good, there were opportunities to get better over the winter, and they jumped on them. They didn’t feed their fans any of that nonsense about having to lock up their core down the line or make sure they have payroll flexibility. It’s nice to know at least one MLB owner still wants to win.

Minnesota Twins

Are they trying? Yes, but they’re definitely not all the way in.

One paragraph preview: The position player core is really, really good. They have a chance to be above-average at every position except maybe catcher. The rotation and bullpen look a little short right now, and I’m surprised they haven’t made a more aggressive push for Dallas Keuchel and/or Craig Kimbrel. I mean, I’m not surprised, but you know what I mean. Joe Mauer’s $23M salary came off the books and the Twins lowered their Opening Day payroll approximately $10M over the winter. I kinda feel like all the Twins fans I saw complaining about Mauer’s contract all those years had this coming.

New York Mets

Are they trying? They are! Good for them.

One paragraph preview: I liked the Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz additions, I liked re-signing Jeurys Familia, I liked the depth moves (Jed Lowrie, Keon Broxton, J.D. Davis, etc.). Their top three starters (Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler) threw 553.2 innings with a 2.60 ERA last season, which is bonkers, and doesn’t it feel like they need that to happen again to have a shot at the postseason? The Mets are going to screw this up somehow. They just are. It’s in their DNA.

Oakland Athletics

Are they trying? In their own little Oakland A’s way, yes, they’re trying.

One paragraph preview: The A’s nearly chased down the Astros last season despite having like two and a half starting pitchers. I loved the Jurickson Profar pickup and Marco Estrada is a pop-up pitcher tailor made for whatever they’re calling the Oakland Coliseum these days. They’re going to score a lot of runs and the bullpen should be great as well. Trying to work that magic with the rotation two years in a row? Iffy, but not impossible.

Philadelphia Phillies

Are they trying? Oh hell yes.

One paragraph preview: No team improved as much as the Phillies this winter. They secured huge upgrades at catcher (J.T. Realmuto), shortstop (Jean Segura), and right field (Bryce Harper), added Andrew McCutchen and David Robertson on top of those guys, and are moving Rhys Hoskins back to his natural first base. He was at -24 DRS in left field last year. The Phillies improved offensively and defensively. I kinda wish they would’ve just said eff it and signed Keuchel and Kimbrel as well, but oh well. A big market team acting like a big market team shouldn’t be this refreshing.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Are they trying? No. If you think the Pirates are trying, your standards are too low.

One paragraph preview: Their Opening Day payroll has gone from $99.9M to $95.8M to $86.3M to $70.0M the last four years. They traded Gerrit Cole for a third starter (maybe) and a platoon third baseman who’s already lost the job, then traded three highly regarded young players for Chris Archer. They made those trades about eight months apart. Way to turn the Andrew McCutchen’s nine years in Pittsburgh into three postseason wins, guys.

St. Louis Cardinals

Are they trying? Indeed.

One paragraph preview: Paul Goldschmidt was a great pickup, even if it pushes Matt Carpenter back to third base. Andrew Miller and Jordan Hicks are a fun end-game combination. My guess is Alex Reyes replaces Dakota Hudson in the rotation before the All-Star break. Jose Martinez and Tyler O’Neill are starting caliber players stuck on the bench. They’re really good. Boring team gets boring preview.

San Diego Padres

Are they trying? Oh indeed.

One paragraph preview: Props to the Padres for swooping in to sign Manny Machado when no other team wanted him. They’re also going to carry tippy top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. on the Opening Day roster. Why? Because their best possible roster includes Tatis. That’s the way it should be. The Padres probably won’t win much this year, but their farm system is outrageously good, and so many of their top prospects (like Tatis) will arrive this summer. When you have a great young talent base like San Diego, you can make huge gains one year to the next, like the 2012-13 Pirates (79 wins to 94 wins), the 2014-15 Cubs (73 wins to 97 wins), and the 2017-18 Braves (72 wins to 90 wins).

San Francisco Giants

Are they trying? Not really.

One paragraph preview: Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Johnny Cueto, Evan Longoria, Mark Melancon, Buster Posey, and Jeff Samardzija are owed $361.7M over the next few seasons. They combined for +10.8 WAR in 2018. Yikes. The Giants plucked Farhan Zaidi from the rival Dodgers to run their new baseball operations group, so they’re getting some much needed fresh perspective in the front office. They’ll be back in contention before you know it.

Seattle Mariners

Are they trying? They won 89 games last year and decided it was time to rebuild, so no.

One paragraph preview: It takes a special kind of cheap to attach a player as valuable as Edwin Diaz to a bad contract to shed as much money as possible. Also, I like that the Mariners traded their best players for prospects whose best case scenario is the guys they gave up (James Paxton for Justus Sheffield, Jean Segura for J.P. Crawford), and those guys apparently weren’t good enough to win with, thus necessitating a rebuild. A strong contender for the most clueless franchise in the game.

Texas Rangers

Are they trying? Nope.

One paragraph preview: The Rangers have the most “this team would be good in 2013” roster in baseball. Hunter Pence! Asdrubal Cabrera! Edinson Volquez! Lance Lynn! Drew Smyly! Shelby Miller! Logan Forsythe! The Rangers acquired all those guys on purpose this offseason. I guess you could build around Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo, maybe Nomar Mazara too, but yeah. There’s not much here. An underrated mess of an organization.

Washington Nationals

Are they trying? Yup.

One paragraph preview: The Nationals went 82-80 last year they’re going to win more games this season because they were never a true talent 82-win team, and the “they’re better off without Harper!!!” hot takes will be everywhere. Preemptively, I am 100% here for Harper dingering the Nationals into oblivion the next 13 years. Washington’s due for another soul-crushing NLDS defeat, aren’t they? At least future manager Joe Girardi will inherit quite a bit of talent in 2020.

The Rest of the AL East [2019 Season Preview]

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The best ballpark in the AL East. (Presswire)

The AL East has changed quite a bit the last few years. As recently as 2016, preseason projections had the five AL East teams separated by only nine games in the standings. All five teams were talented and they were all a headache to play against. It was the toughest division in baseball, rather easily.

This year FanGraphs projects the gap between the best team (Yankees!) and worst team (Orioles) in the AL East at 35 games. PECOTA has the gap at 28 games. No other division has a gap that large. The AL East should again be a two-team race this summer, maybe a three-team race if some things break right. Point is, this is no longer the toughest division in MLB. Let’s preview the other four AL East clubs.

Baltimore Orioles

Notable Additions: Richie Martin, Rio Ruiz, Dwight Smith Jr.
Notable Losses: Tim Beckham, Adam Jones

Their Story: The Orioles lost 115 games last season, the fifth most in baseball history, and they did that while having Manny Machado, Zack Britton, Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman, and Brad Brach half the season and Adam Jones all season. All those guys are gone now, and the Orioles did nothing this winter other than make a pair of Rule 5 Draft picks and a few waiver claims. It was a quiet winter in Baltimore.

The biggest changes the O’s made this offseason were organizational. Manager Buck Showalter and GM Dan Duquette were let go — how could you keep them after 115 losses? — and Mike Elias was hired away from the Astros to become the new GM. He’s since overhauled the front office, upgraded the scouting departments, and brought the team’s analytics group out of the Stone Age.

The Orioles are very early in a long-term rebuild and it’ll take a while for those core organizational changes to lead to results on the field. Elias has them moving in the right direction, which is a start. This is essentially a ground up rebuild though. I’m not sure there’s a single player on the MLB roster who will be part of the next contending Orioles team. Maybe Cedric Mullins? That’s about it. It’s going to be another loss-filled season for the O’s.

Random Player Who Will Annoy The Yankees: Dwight Smith Jr. is my pick. The Orioles got him from the Blue Jays in a minor trade earlier this month and the 26-year-old socked three homers in limited Spring Training action. He’s hit everywhere he’s played (career 120 wRC+ in the minors) and the left-handed hitter poking a few homers into the short porch feels inevitable.

Boston Red Sox

Notable Additions: Colten Brewer?
Notable Losses: Joe Kelly, Craig Kimbrel

Their Story: The defending World Series champions didn’t have a good offseason or a bad offseason. They just didn’t have an offseason. They re-signed Nathan Eovaldi and Steve Pearce, and that’s it. I suppose they could still re-sign Kimbrel at some point. It seems really, really unlikely though. Like, if it were going to happen, it probably would’ve happened already. The Red Sox have the exact same roster as last year, minus Kelly and Kimbrel.

Clearly, the Red Sox are going to score a lot of runs, and their rotation is strong as well, assuming no one shows ill-effects from the deep postseason run. The outfield defense is great too. (The infield defense? Not so much.) Boston’s weakness, if they have one, is the bullpen. Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier went from their No. 3 and 4 relievers last year to their No. 1 and 2 relievers this year. Tyler Thornburg and Brandon Workman will assume high-leverage roles.

Brewer has been getting talked up as the bullpen breakout star. He’s a high spin cutter guy who spent 2017 in the Yankees’ farm system as a minor league Rule 5 Draft pick. Brewer signed with the Padres last winter, allowed ten runs in 9.2 big league innings, then went to the Red Sox as a scrap heap addition this winter. Should the defending champs, with the highest payroll in the sport, be relying on a scrap heap guy to save the bullpen? Hey, it worked with Brasier last year. Why not?

Anyway, the Red Sox are going to be very good again this season. Maybe the bullpen will be their downfall. My guess is they’ll figure it out throughout the summer. The offense is great and the rotation is very good, and if you’re hoping for a collapse, you’ll probably be disappointed. No, they won’t win 108 games again. No one does that in back-to-back years. The Red Sox are going to be really good again though. Hate to break it to you.

Random Player Who Will Annoy The Yankees: Steve Pearce isn’t random enough. I’ll go with light-hitting catcher Christian Vazquez. His short porch solo home run against Zack Britton in the fourth inning of Game Four proved to be the ALDS winning run last year. Vazquez hit .207/.257/.283 (42 wRC+) overall last year. Prepare for him to hit .360/.420/.500 against the Yankees this year.

Tampa Bay Rays

Notable Additions: Yandy Diaz, Avisail Garcia, Guillermo Heredia, Charlie Morton, Mike Zunino
Notable Losses: Jake Bauers, C.J. Cron, Sergio Romo, Mallex Smith

Their Story: After four straight losing seasons, the Rays emerged to win 90 games last season, sixth most in a league that had seven winning teams. They responded by cutting their Opening Day payroll from $76.4M last year to an MLB low $50.4M this year. Sincere attempts to land Paul Goldschmidt (trade) and Nelson Cruz (free agent) fell short, then, a few weeks ago, Buster Olney (subs. req’d) wrote this when ranking the divisions (emphasis mine):

It’s possible that this division has baseball’s two best teams in the Red Sox and Yankees, and folks with those teams view the Tampa Bay Rays warily after their nearly perfect series of transactions strengthened an already deep well of talent.

No team in baseball gets the benefit of the doubt more than the Rays. It’s incredible, really. Imagine any other team in baseball winning 90 games, cutting their payroll 35% (!), falling short on two big ticket players, and have it be called a “nearly perfect series of transactions.” May we all one day be graded on the Rays curve, where mediocrity passes for greatness, and you don’t have to actually contend to be considered a contender.

Tampa added Morton to Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow to give them three actual starting pitchers. They’ll use openers for the other two rotation spots. A full season of Tommy Pham will help the offense more than Garcia or Diaz or Zunino, and it’s about time Meadows gets a chance to play. That kid should’ve been been in the big leagues full-time two years ago. Service time manipulation is a hell of a thing.

The Rays are quite clearly the third best team in the five-team AL East. They’ll be annoying to play against, as always, but it’ll take a lot going right for them and a lot going wrong for the Yankees (and Red Sox) for them to have a realistic shot at the division title. They’ll finish about 15 games out and then move on to their next “nearly perfect series of transactions” that reduce payroll and don’t make them materially better.

Random Player Who Will Annoy The Yankees: Gotta be Avisail Garcia. His high ground ball rate (52.2%) and average-ish hard contact rate (33.3%) make him a good candidate to BABIP the Yankees to death with their sketchy infield defense. I’m ready for all the seeing-eye grounders pulled juuust out of Troy Tulowitzki’s reach.

Toronto Blue Jays

Notable Additions: Freddy Galvis, Elvis Luciano, Daniel Norris, Bud Norris, Matt Shoemaker
Notable Losses: Marco Estrada, Russell Martin

Their Story: The Blue Jays went from a nightmare to play against (or at least pitch against) to a non-factor so quickly that I hardly even noticed. They still have Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales and, uh, Kevin Pillar? That’s about it. Vlad Guerrero Jr. will be up at some point this season (I think), but he’s nursing an oblique injury right now, which gives the team an excuse to manipulate his service time means he’s a few weeks away from getting called up.

I’m not quite sure what Toronto’s plan is right now. It is clearly not “win now.” They also haven’t completely torn it down, so it’s not a full rebuild either. Maybe they’ll commit to a rebuild and trade Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, and Ken Giles at the deadline. It doesn’t seem like this team will do anything well this year. Pitch well, hit well, defend well, nothing. What’s the opposite of a triple threat?

The only thing keeping the Blue Jays from being the least interesting team in the AL East — that isn’t easy to do when you share a division with a 115-loss team! — is Luciano. Toronto plucked him from the Royals in the Rule 5 Draft. He turned 19 (!) last month and has never pitched above rookie ball, but he will be on the Opening Day roster. Luciano has a chance to become the first player to play an entire big league season (Opening Day through Game 162) as a teenager since Ken Griffey Jr.

Random Player Who Will Annoy The Yankees: Brandon Drury. Take it to the bank. There will be a game this season where Drury hits a double and a homer against J.A. Happ, and Miguel Andujar makes a goofy throwing error, and the “shoulda kept Drury!!!” takes come out of the woodwork. They say you can’t predict baseball, but folks, Drury giving the Yanks headaches this year is as predictable as it gets.

An Important Year in the Farm System [2019 Season Preview]

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Florial. (Presswire)

Two years ago the Yankees had arguably the top farm system in baseball. Uncharacteristically, they traded veterans for prospects at the 2016 trade deadline, and several of their own players took big steps forward with their development. Gleyber Torres came over in the Aroldis Chapman trade. Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, and Miguel Andujar? All originally drafted or signed by the Yankees.

That monster farm system of two years ago has become a powerhouse MLB team. The Yankees surprisingly won 91 games in 2017, not-so-surprisingly won 100 games in 2018, and now they go into 2019 on the very short list of realistic World Series contenders. They’ve graduated or traded many top prospects, and have tumbled down the farm system rankings as a result:

“Being ranked as everybody’s top farm system isn’t our goal. Our goal is to be ranked as winning the World Series,” said amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer to Greg Joyce last month. “… Everything’s a cycle in this thing. You get to a point where, if you’re going to try to win, you end up trading prospects. So we’ve traded quite a few guys over the last few years to help us acquire talent to help us win at the big league level, and that’s what we’re there to do. We’re in one of those cycles now where we gotta dump some more guys into the system.”

As the big league team contends this summer, the farm system will be in something of a rebuild, in that they have a plethora of young low minors prospects looking to take that step toward becoming the next wave of great Yankees prospects. The high-end upper minors talent isn’t there like it has been the last two years, and that could be an issue come trade deadline time. Time to preview the year ahead in the farm system.

Top Prospects Who Could Help This Season

There is only one: RHP Jonathan Loaisiga. In fact, the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect is set to join the rotation in a few days, after CC Sabathia’s five-game suspension ends. That is almost certainly a temporary move with Sabathia due to return in mid-April and Luis Severino hopefully sometime in early-May. Loaisiga is going to join the Yankees soon though, and that gives him a chance to help the team and force the club to keep him around longer.

Of course, Loaisiga has a long injury history and very limited experience (184.1 career innings!), plus he has never thrown a pitch in Triple-A, so he would presumably benefit from some Triple-A time. I imagine he’ll be returned to the minors at some point. Loaisiga has a quality three-pitch mix as well as good control, plus he seems unflappable on the mound, which are good traits for a young pitcher. Point is, Loaisiga is the only high-end upper minors prospect we figure to see in the Bronx this year.

Top Prospects Who (Probably) Won’t Help This Season

OF Estevan Florial, the Yankees’ top prospect, will begin the season on the injured list after breaking his wrist crashing into the outfield wall this spring. I suppose the good news is he’ll only be in a cast three weeks, meaning his recovery may not be as long as you’d expect. Three weeks in a cast seems to indicate he could be back in games sometime in May. That would be ideal. We’ll see.

The injury is unfortunate because Florial has a clear flaw in his pitch recognition — “I’m a young player. It’s tough to know what pitch to select. Try to know the pitch I can drive, and what I can’t, too,” Florial said to Brendan Kuty last month — and the only way to improve on that is with game reps. There’s no substitute for seeing live action pitching. Florial missed time with wrist surgery last year, so he has a lot of catching up to do. Once healthy, he’ll likely go to High-A Tampa or Double-A Trenton. Either way, we won’t see Florial in the big leagues this summer.

After Florial and Loaisiga, the next five best prospects in the farm system are all teenagers: C Anthony Seigler, OF Everson Pereira, OF Antonio Cabello, RHP Deivi Garcia, and RHP Roansy Contreras. On one hand, hooray for having so many very talented teenagers. On the other hand, none of those guys will come close to sniffing the big leagues. Seigler, Pereira, and Cabello may not even see full season ball this year, and Contreras could spend the entire season with Low-A Charleston.

Garcia made one Double-A spot start at the end of last season but he is unlikely to start this season at that level. Not after making only six (excellent) starts with High-A Tampa. Seems to me Deivi will return to Tampa for a few weeks before being bumped back up to Trenton. His best case scenario will be a late-season cameo with Triple-A Scranton. If we see Garcia in the big leagues this year, either something went very right (he really broke out) or very wrong (everyone got hurt).

Secondary Prospects Likely To Help This Season

Tarpley. (Presswire)

The Yankees will have at least one of their non-top prospects on the Opening Day roster. LHP Stephen Tarpley, who pitched well last September and was great this spring, will be in the bullpen. He definitely has a chance to carve out a long-term role this summer. In all likelihood though, Tarpley will ride the shuttle up and down a few times. That’s just how it goes for a young reliever with options, especially when he’s the last guy in the bullpen.

Another reliever we could see at some point: RHP Domingo Acevedo. Lindsey Adler says Acevedo pitched in relief in minor league camp this spring and the Yankees wouldn’t do that unless he was moving into the bullpen full-time. I’m definitely down with this. Acevedo has struggled to stay healthy as a starter and he still hasn’t developed his slider into a reliable third pitch. Let him air it out for an inning at a time with the big fastball (and changeup) and there’s a chance very good things will happen. I’m looking forward to seeing Acevedo in short relief stints.

RHP Chance Adams and RHP Mike King are the top two Triple-A depth starters at the moment, though King suffered a stress reaction in his elbow early in camp, and is still working his way back. He’s expected to join the RailRiders in early May. Once he does, King could jump ahead of Adams on the call-up list. He had a monster 2018 season statistically and, at least prior to the injury, had firmer stuff and control than Adams, who’s taken a step back the last two seasons. Still, Adams is on the 40-man roster, so we’ll see him work shuttle duty at some point.

Double-A hurlers RHP Trevor Stephan, RHP Garrett Whitlock, and RHP Nick Nelson probably will not see the big leagues this summer. They’re not on the 40-man roster yet — Stephan and Whitlock don’t have to be added to the 40-man until after next season — and there are a few guys ahead of them on the depth chart, but, anytime you begin the season in Double-A, you have a chance to play in MLB. They will, they do. Pitch well in Double-A and they’ll find themselves in Triple-A in short order, and force a call-up conversation.

The Mike Tauchman pickup and Tyler Wade demotion makes it less likely we will see IF Thairo Estrada this year, or at least see him anytime soon, especially after a lost season last year. A few weeks (months?) worth of at-bats with Triple-A Scranton is what Estrada needs right now, but, if the Yankees have a need at the MLB level and he’s the best option, they will call him up. I imagine we’ll see Thairo as at least a September call-up this summer.

Breakout Candidates

This is where all that young low minors talent comes into play. Guys like Seigler, Pereira, Cabello, and Contreras are prime breakout candidates who could put themselves into the top 100 prospect discussion after the season. (Deivi broke out last year, I’d say.) Pereira and Cabello in particular are very high upside players who could very well rank 1-2 in the farm system in a few months. They’re that good and that talented.

This year’s Pereira and Cabello, meaning the highly regarded international signings set to make their pro debut, should be OF Kevin Alcantara and RHP Osiel Rodriguez. Alcantara ($1M bonus) stood out for his hitting ability when he signed and he’s already growing into some power. Rodriguez ($600,000) boasts a deep power arsenal and, like many Cuban pitchers, he throws from a variety of arm angles to create deception.

Hard-throwing RHP Luis Gil kinda sorta broke out last year, and he might have the best fastball in the farm system. He’s upper-90s regularly and has a high spin rate on everything. Gil is the quintessential modern pitching prospect. RHP Juan Then and RHP Yoendrys Gomez are other young low minors guys who stand out more for their know-how and pitchability than lighting up the radar gun. That said, neither guy is short on stuff.

A few levels higher, the Yankees are finally set to turn 2017 first round pick RHP Clarke Schmidt loose. He returned from Tommy John surgery last year and pitched well in limited action. The Yankees will not be reckless with Schmidt — they don’t have him penciled him for 180 innings or anything — but he’ll finally get a chance to hold down a rotation spot and show what he can do. He’s been an afterthought since being drafted because of the Tommy John surgery. Schmidt’s kinda like adding a new prospect to the system all together.

Second tier outfield prospects like OF Josh Stowers and OF Anthony Garcia may not have the pure upside that Pereira and Cabello offer, though they do bring a lot to the table. In Garcia’s case, that means a lot of power. A lot. He’s a switch-hitter who can hit the ball a mile from both sides of the plate. Stowers is more well-rounded and will impact the game a lot of different ways. Offensively, defensively, on the bases, etc. He strikes me as a sneaky good breakout candidate.

Between international free agency and trades (Gil, Stowers, and Then were all acquired in trades), the Yankees have stocked the lower levels of the minors with exciting talent, and it was all by design. They picked up these kids very early in their careers — over the winter they traded for a pitching prospect yet to appear in a pro game — and will try to develop them into the next wave of top prospects. That’s the plan. The farm system may lack upper minors talent. In the low minors though, forget it. The Yankees are stacked, and that equals a small army of breakout candidates.

Returning From Injury

Technically, RHP Albert Abreu finished last year healthy, though injuries have given him trouble since coming over from the Astros in the Brian McCann trade. The power four-pitch mix is impressive. The lack of control and lack of durability are not. More than anything at this point, Abreu needs reps so he can work on refining his game. A full healthy season would be welcome in 2019. It could also land him a big league call-up at some point.

RHP Freicer Perez is a more traditional injury comeback story. He made six ugly starts last season before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. The good news? Perez only had bone spurs removed. His labrum, rotator cuff, and capsule are all intact. A lost season is a lost season though, and this year Perez will look to get back on track with a healthy shoulder. He went into last year as one of the top prospects in the system. Getting back to that level after shoulder surgery remains possible.

The forgotten pitching prospect in the system is RHP Glenn Otto, the Yankees’ fifth round pick in 2017. He made two starts with Low-A Charleston last year before having season-ending surgery to remove a blood clot from his shoulder. Yikes. When healthy, Otto showed a good low-to-mid-90s fastball with a hammer high-spin curveball that is seemingly allergic to bats. There were questions about his durability and changeup even before the surgery, but, even if Otto is a reliever long-term, he could be a good one. His coming out party is set for this summer.

Make or Break Year?

Holder. (Presswire)

The 2014-15 international spending spree, while well-intended, has worked out very poorly. Florial is far and away the best prospect to come out of that signing class and he was a small bonus guy later in the signing period, not a headliner. Many of those 2014-15 kids have already washed out. Others, like 3B Dermis Garcia and SS Hoy Jun Park, still have some prospect value. Not much, but some.

Garcia’s calling call remains (and always will be) his power. He moved down the defensive spectrum to first base last year — apparently he’s going to give third base another try this year — and plans to turn him into a two-way player were apparently put on hold. Dermis did throw bullpen sessions late last season but he never appeared in a game as a pitcher. Alas. Garcia will move up to High-A Tampa this year after two seasons with Low-A Charleston. Another year of contact and defensive issues mean you can probably close the book on his days as a serious prospect.

After Florial, Park probably has the best chance to reach the big leagues among 2014-15 signees. He’s a very good defensive middle infielder who draws a lot of walks and can steal bases, but is short on power and exit velocity. Power is tough to project these days because of changes to the baseball, so perhaps we shouldn’t ding Park too much. He has a chance to rebuild some prospect stock with Double-A Trenton this year. The concern is advanced pitchers will knock the bat out of his hands. This is a big year for Park.

IF Kyle Holder has Major League ready defensive tools, but he hasn’t hit much in his career to date, and we haven’t seen much progress either. To be fair to Holder, he dealt with serious injury (broken vertebrae) and off-the-field matters (his brother passed away) last season, so we should cut him a break on the lack of development. That said, he is a soon-to-be 25-year-old defensive wiz with little to offer at the plate. Another year without much offensive progress and it’ll be time to look ahead to other infield prospects.

I think OF Isiah Gilliam has reached make or break status as well. He’s closing in on his 23rd birthday and saw marked declines in his power output, his walk rate, and his strikeout rate after moving from Low-A Charleston to High-A Tampa last season. As a non-elite bat-only corner outfielder, it doesn’t take much to get left behind. Gilliam has to rebound with a strong season this year, likely back with Tampa, to avoid becoming an afterthought.

Prospects I Am Excited About

Gosh, there are lots. Seigler, Pereira, and Contreras are at the top of the list. I also can’t give up on RHP Luis Medina yet, even after he walked 46 batters in 36 rookie ball innings last year. Medina turns only 20 in May, and he lights up the radar gun with his fastball and has a knee-buckling high-spin curveball, and I just can’t give up on that despite the extreme control problems. Medina’s going to be a long-term project and I am willing to be patient because the upside is so great.

OF Raimfer Salinas should be in the Pereira and Cabello group — Salinas ($1.85M) received a larger signing bonus than Pereira ($1.4M) and Cabello ($1.35M), which tells you how much the Yankees like him — but finger and knee injuries cut short his pro debut last year. When healthy, he features an advanced approach at the plate with some power, as well as very good defensive chops. Salinas probably belongs in the “Breakout Candidates” group. I really like him. He has a lot of ability.

OF Pablo Olivares has long been a personal favorite with his “do everything well but nothing exceptionally” skill set. RHP Frank German and RHP Tanner Myatt are two 2018 draftees I like for different reasons. German has already gained velocity as a pro and features a nice little slider. Myatt is a huge (6-foot-7) extreme hard-thrower (up to 101 mph) with an occasionally great curveball. He reminds me a bit of Kyle Farnsworth, which I know will drive some people nuts, but Farnsworth played 16 years in the big leagues as a late-inning reliever. That would be a heck of an outcome for an 11th round pick like Myatt.

Will The Yankees Trade Any Of These Guys?

Of course they will. The Yankees are a win-now team, so if when they need help at the trade deadline, they will trade prospects in an effort to get over the hump. They did it the last two trade deadlines and there’s no reason to think they won’t do it again this year. That’s the entire point of a farm system. To help address big league roster needs, either by graduating prospects to the show, or by using them as trade chips.

To me, Nelson stands out as a potential trade candidate. He will be Rule 5 Draft after the season and I get the feeling he falls into the same category as Dillon Tate and Josh Rogers last year. The “good prospect the Yankees don’t really know what to do with who is on the 40-man roster bubble” group. The other Double-A arms like Abreu, Stephan, Whitlock could all become trade candidates given the club’s lack of high-end Triple-A talent. Double-A starters are the next best thing.

Even before the injury, I don’t think the Yankees would’ve hesitated for a second to trade Florial in the right deal. Would they give him away? No way. But Florial is their best chance to acquire an impact player on July 31st. As long as he comes back from the wrist injury well, his trade value should remain intact. The Yankees professed their love for Justus Sheffield right up until they traded him. I could see the same happening with Florial.

The Yankees traded 15 prospects in the days leading up to the last two trade deadlines. Some were big names (Blake Rutherford, James Kaprielian, Jorge Mateo, etc.) and many were second and third tier guys (Josh Rogers, Billy McKinney, Luis Rijo, Zack Littell). I think the Yankees are at the point where no prospect is off-limits. I thought Gleyber Torres was untouchable as it gets two years ago. Now? There’s no one in the system like that. Not even close.

Where Does The System Go From Here?

Because the system is built mainly around pitching and very young low minors prospects, the Yankees have a boom or bust farm system right now. If the pitchers stay healthy and some of those teenagers figure it out, this could again be one of the top systems in baseball, and I mean as soon as next spring. The Yankees have gotten pretty good at developing players, thankfully. The chances of a farm system breakout in 2019 aren’t small.

Then again, if some of those pitchers get hurt — I have 18 pitchers in my top 30 prospects list and normal attrition suggests a few of them are going to feel something that requires a lengthy shutdown, that’s just baseball — and those teenagers need more than one or two pro seasons to hit their stride, the Yankees will again have a system ranked in the bottom half of the league next year. It’s not the end of the world, but a great farm system is a heck of a lot more fun than a mediocre one.

“I believe our system is one of the stronger ones in the game. It’s just the timing of everything. (The top talent) just happens to be at the lower levels. We are very pitching deep with a lot of high-end young arms,” said Brian Cashman to Randy Miller last month. “I’m not saying the system rankings are wrong. I will tell you this: As long as our guys stay healthy and develop the way we think they’re capable of developing, the system rankings are going to be radically different next year.”

Year Two with Aaron Boone and his Coaching Staff [2019 Season Preview]

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(Presswire)

Overall, Aaron Boone’s first season as Yankees manager was a success. The ending was disappointing, there’s no doubt about that, but the club won 100 games despite injuries (Aaron Judge) and unforeseen performance issues (Gary Sanchez), and the Yankees seamlessly broke in high-end youngsters like Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. I think we all would’ve signed up for that at this time last year.

Boone’s on-field managerial style was very similar to Joe Girardi’s. He built his lineups the same way, meaning he sandwiched a lefty between his big righty bats (or vice versa) even though the off-hand player’s production suggested it wasn’t the best idea. He employed set bullpen roles and also rested his players on a schedule no matter what they did the day before. Everything we complained about with Boone we also complained about with Girardi.

Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner indicated the managerial change was made for communication reasons and, as outsiders, there’s really no way we can evaluate that. Boone is much better with the media than Girardi, which is not nothing, but it’s not what Cashman and Hal meant by communication either. They meant the behind the scenes work, including digesting and disseminating information provided by the front office.

As the Yankees prepare to begin the 2019 regular season, Boone no longer qualifies as a rookie manager but he’s not a grizzled veteran either. At the very least, nothing will be new to him. He’d been through Spring Training already, been through the grind of the regular season, and been through the postseason as well. Last year was the first time for everything. That isn’t the case now. Let’s preview the upcoming season to come in the dugout.

The Second Year Manager

The last time we saw the Yankees and Boone, he mismanaged the bullpen and the pitching staff in general to an embarrassing ALDS defeat. Starters were repeatedly left in too long and relievers were brought into situations that did not match their skill sets (Lance Lynn with the bases loaded and no outs? really???). There’s a pretty good chance the Yankees lose the ALDS anyway even with perfect managerial moves, but Boone was no help, and his moves left a real bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

“I hate to be too generic, but everything,” said Boone at the Winter Meetings when asked what he wants to do better going forward. “And I don’t know it’s so much self-evaluating as you go through the winter, every day is an evaluation. Every day you come in during the season, whether you won, whether you lost, whether a move worked out, you know, a decision made, hopefully you’re always taking stock of those things and evaluating, and putting into your experience and learning from it.”

Learning from those ALDS mistakes is imperative. We just won’t know whether it actually happened for a few months. Managing the pitching staff during the regular season is way different than managing the pitching staff during the postseason. Quick hooks and heavy bullpen usage works in October but not April through September. That’s a good way to burn everyone out during the summer. The regular season is a marathon, the postseason is a sprint, and they require different managerial styles.

“I think at times some of the (unpredictable) things that come across the desk almost on a daily basis, from minor things to things that are more serious, and how you handle those,” said Boone when asked what the biggest challenge was last season. “You never know how you’re going to handle those. And that’s a challenge. You’re never totally prepared, I guess, for all the different things that do come across on a daily basis. So I would say that’s the biggest challenge, the unknown of what’s around the corner … Things come up all the time that you’ve got to deal with in real time. That’s a challenge.”

I thought Boone was very good during the regular season. His on-field moves were almost indistinguishable from Girardi’s. They were so similar that I have to believe the front office has a lot of input into the day-to-day decisions. In the postseason though, Boone’s perceived inability to read the situation and react accordingly was impossible to ignore. It could be a learning experience and he’ll be better going forward, or it could be a sign his feel for the game is questionable.

As best I can tell, the players love Boone and the front office loves the way he and his coaches take the information they’re given and put it into practice. That was Girardi’s problem, apparently. With Boone, it seems everything went well in year one, and I bet things will go even better in year two now that he has some experience. What happens in the postseason? Who knows. That is a long way off, and yet it seems to be the only thing on everyone’s mind.

“As I sit here today, basically a little bit over a year after I was hired, and being at the Winter Meetings, last year I was learning people in the room’s names and what they did, and what are their values, who are they, how does this all work, who’s got a loud voice in the room, those kind of things. I have relationships with all these people now,” Boone added. “So hopefully I’m so much ahead of the game from where I was last year and hopefully we hit the ground running.”

The Same Ol’ Coaching Staff

Rothschild dresses like me when I go to the corner to get a bagel and coffee. (Presswire)

For only the second time in the last six offseasons, the Yankees did not make a single change to their coaching staff over the winter. Larry Rothschild returns for his ninth season as pitching coach, Mike Harkey is back for his fourth straight year (and tenth overall) as bullpen coach, and everyone else is back for year two. That includes bench coach Josh Bard, first base coach Reggie Willits, third base coach Phil Nevin, hitting coach Marcus Thames, assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere, and quality control/infield coach Carlos Mendoza.

There’s no good way to preview a coaching staff so I’m going to list some scattered thoughts instead. One, I’m curious to see what the Yankees and Rothschild have planned for James Paxton. He has a great fastball and he uses it a lot, but his curveball and cutter are pretty good too, so it seems like the potential for improvement with better pitch selection exists. The Mariners have no idea what they’re doing and I’m certain the Yankees acquired Paxton with the idea that they can help him be even better going forward. (Similarly, are any adjustments in the cards for J.A. Happ as he gets up there in age, especially if his fastball continues to lose spin?)

Two, will Nevin be any more aggressive or conservative sending runners? The Yankees were almost perfectly average across the board last year in terms of sending runners home. On one hand, you could argue Nevin should be more conservative going forward because the Yankees have so much power that they shouldn’t risk baserunners. On the other hand, there are bound to be times increased aggression would be worthwhile. It really depends on the situation. I think we might see runners held at tad more going forward.

And three, how much will the defense improve? Specifically Miguel Andujar at third base and Giancarlo Stanton in left field. Mendoza and Andujar work tirelessly on his third base defense. Stanton was much better in left as the season went on but there’s some room for improvement there. Giancarlo in left is a project for Willits. Ultimately, it’s up to the player to improve. Coaching only goes so far. That said, the coaches get praise and receive blame, so Andujar and Stanton will reflect on Mendoza and Willits.

It is basically impossible to evaluate coaches from the outside, so we wind up projecting player performance on to the coaching staff. Talent is the single most important thing and the Yankees have lots of it. They’re going to make the coaches look good. Boone could’ve used his talent better in the postseason last year, and I’m sure there are ways Rothschild, Thames, and the other coaches could help their players get more out of their ability. Seeing how (or if) it happens is part of the fun.

The Depth Position Players [2019 Season Preview]

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Ellsbury. (Presswire)

As the MLB player portion of our 2019 Season Preview series winds down, it’s time to hit on the depth position players, the guys every team needs but doesn’t want to use. The third catcher, the sixth outfielder, the backup backup utility infielder. Players like that. Inevitably, a few of these deep depth guys find their way to the big leagues each season. It is part of baseball.

At perfect health, the Yankees have good depth options on the infield (Tyler Wade) and in the outfield (Clint Frazier). They’re not at perfect health though. Aaron Hicks is hurt and Frazier is ticketed for Triple-A to get regular at-bats after losing so much time to injury last year. Beyond them, this year’s cast of depth players includes the usual non-roster types, the incumbent third catcher, a late-spring addition, and a well-paid question market. Let’s preview the depth guys.

Jacoby Ellsbury

It is kinda weird to include the third highest paid Yankee with the depth position players, but that’s where Jacoby Ellsbury is with the Yankees now. He has not played since the 2017 ALCS — Ellsbury pinch-hit in Game One and pinch-ran in Game Four, and that was it that series — and various injuries sidelined him all last season. Most notably, Ellsbury had hip surgery in August, and he’s still rehabbing.

“It feels real speculatory of me to even go down that road,” said Aaron Boone to Kristie Ackert recently when asked when Ellsbury will be able to play again. “First things first. It does seem like he is improving and getting better and obviously he’s here now … Hopefully he just continues improving and at some point becomes an option for us.”

Ellsbury stayed home in Arizona for a few weeks before finally reporting to Spring Training last weekend to continue his rehab. He recently started running on flat ground and is doing very light baseball activities. Hitting off a tee, playing catch at short distances, things like that. Ellsbury is not in Spring Training mode. He’s still in rehab mode and is presumably weeks away from really ramping up his baseball work.

“It’s nice to be going, doing baseball activity. As far as a timeline of when I’ll be playing, we’re not sure yet,” said Ellsbury to Coley Harvey. “You want to be out there, for sure. That’s why I put in the time, put in the work. You want to be out there, you want to contribute, you want to be part of the team. And the best way for me to do that right now is just put the work in in the gym, and the training room, the batting cage and that sort of thing. If I do that, we can get back on the field quicker.”

In addition to not playing in over a year, Ellsbury was not a lineup regular the last time he did play, and he is a 35-year-old speed guy coming off major hip surgery. You’d expect him to slow down and his skills to diminish at that age anyway. Add in the surgery and it is basically impossible to know what to expect this season, assuming Ellsbury makes it back on to the field at some point. That’s not a given.

The Yankees reportedly have insurance on Ellsbury’s contract and his current status indicates he’ll spend at least a few weeks on the injured list. They’ll collect insurance while he rehabs, monitor his progress, then make a decision about his future when he’s ready to play in a big league game. It could be they Yankees will need Ellsbury like they needed him last August, when Shane Robinson and Neil Walker were playing right field.

There’s also a non-zero chance the Yankees will have no room for Ellsbury, and release him the way they released Alex Rodriguez three years ago, or the way the Red Sox released Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, or the way the Dodgers released Carl Crawford. Teams are increasingly willing to release unproductive players with multiple years on their big contracts. Ellsbury could be next.

For now, Ellsbury is still rehabbing, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to game action. Between his rehab work and rehab games, it sounds like he’s weeks away from returning. It’s impossible to know what to expect from him but it is difficult to envision him fitting into the outfield picture when the Yankees are full healthy. There’s not much we can do other than wait and see. Ellsbury may’ve already played his final game in pinstripes. Or it could be they’ll need him in the lineup once he’s healthy.

“I believe when he’s healthy he’ll be back and he’ll be able to show us what he is capable of doing,” said Brian Cashman to James Wagner. “I’ve been told by doctors that if that’s the case we’ll be able to see the player we used to see.”

Kyle Higashioka

Higgy. (Presswire)

Higashioka is an ideal third catcher. He really is. He has a minor league option remaining, so the Yankees can shuttle him in and out as necessary this year, and he already knows the pitching staff. Higashioka has been in the farm system since 2008, he’s been in big league camp every year since 2015, and he’s had multiple stints with the MLB team the last two years. He’s not some scrap heap pickup who has no history with the pitchers, you know?

Also, Higashioka can put a mistake in the seats, which is about all you could ask from the third string catcher offensively. Expecting a third catcher to hit for average and draw walks and hit for power isn’t realistic. If he could do even two of those things, he wouldn’t be a third catcher. He’d be starting or at least backing up somewhere, not riding the shuttle. Higashioka rates well defensively, he has some pop, and he’s optionable. What more could you want from the third guy on the catching depth chart?

The Yankees have a good third catcher situation right now, and, in a perfect world, we won’t see Higashioka until rosters expand in September. (The 28-man September roster limit kicks in next year.) A healthy Gary Sanchez and a healthy Austin Romine is the best thing for the Yankees. Chances are one of them will miss time though (catchers are known to get beat up), and when they do, the perfectly cromulent Higashioka will step in as backup. He’s fine.

OF Mike Tauchman

Can’t say I expected to write a Mike Tauchman (!?) season preview blurb this year, but here we are. The Yankees acquired Tauchman from the Rockies for lefty relief prospect Phil Diehl over the weekend, and Tauchman will be on the Opening Day roster as Aaron Hicks’ replacement. Tyler Wade, who seemed to have a roster spot locked up, had the rug pulled out from under him at the end of camp. Ouch.

“Excited to get a guy that we feel is pretty talented and can play multiple positions out in the outfield, a guy that does have options,” said Aaron Boone to Brendan Kuty following the trade. Tauchman has only a little big league time, hitting .153/.265/.203 (17 wRC+) in 69 plate appearances spread across multiple cups of coffee, but he did lose his glove over the wall while trying to rob a home run once, and that’s kinda funny.

Tauchman, 28, can play all three outfield positions and play them well enough, which is pretty important. The Yankees were short on upper level outfield depth — Clint Frazier, their only true depth outfielder on the 40-man roster, can’t (or shouldn’t) play center — plus he’s a left-handed hitter, which is something the big league lineup lacks. As far as fourth outfielders go, Tauchman fits the profile.

While not a true launch angle guy, Tauchman made some swing changes two years ago in an effort to unlock some power. “I cleaned up my mechanics in my lower half, and that enabled me to use more of my body weight. I felt like I was in a really good place going into the offseason, and I kept working … I was kind of settling for singles and just looking to get on. Now I’ve changed my approach,” he said to Patrick Saunders in June 2017. The numbers:

PA AVG/OBP/SLG wRC+ HR K% BB% GB%
2016 in AAA 527 .286/.342/.373 92 1 14.6% 7.6% 57.5%
2017 in AAA 475 .331/.386/.555 139 16 15.4% 8.4% 46.7%
2018 in AAA 471 .323/.408/.571 153 20 14.9% 12.7% 43.5%

Going from one homer in 527 plate appearances one year to 16 homers in 475 plate appearances the next is really something, especially when it coincides with a mechanical change. Tauchman hit four more homers in four fewer plate appearances the following year, and look at those ground ball rates. Grounders going down, power numbers going up. It is the way of the world.

That all said, my dude has spent three straight season in Triple-A (with a few short MLB call-ups mixed in). You’d expect any player to improve his performance each time he repeats the level. Tauchman’s not special in that regard. It is difficult — if not impossible — to separate what is legitimate mechanics-related improvement and what is statistical noise stemming from a guy playing at the same minor league level year after year.

I know this much: Tauchman fills a need and the Yankees are really good at identifying talent in other organizations. Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks were post-hype prospects. Chad Green was an afterthought Double-A starter. Luke Voit was repeating Triple-A when the Yankees came calling. A 28-year-old outfielder who has never appeared on any prospect lists and was heading into his fourth Triple-A season hardly screams sleeper, but … maybe?

The Non-40-Man Roster Depth Players

You never want to see them, but sometimes they’re necessary. Shane Robinson was maybe eighth on the outfield depth going into Spring Training last year, yet he appeared in 25 big league games with the Yankees. Jace Peterson went from non-roster invitee in the spring to starting in left field in April. Ji-Man Choi, Mason Williams, and Pete Kozma all spent time with the Yankees in 2017. Injuries happen, and sometimes teams have to call up players they were hoping they wouldn’t have to call up. C‘est la vie.

The Yankees had three position players with MLB service time in camp as non-roster players this year: Ryan Lavarnway, Billy Burns, and Gio Urshela. Lavarnway is at best the fourth catcher behind Sanchez, Romine, and Higashioka, so if we see him in the Bronx this season, it will mean something really went wrong. I was surprised the Yankees signed Lavarnway because he doesn’t seem like their type (bad pitch-framer, etc.), but whatever. His best skill is power. Lavarnway is the deep catcher option.

Among these non-40-man roster depth guys, Burns likely has the best chance at seeing big league time this year. He is a true center fielder, and Aaron Hicks is already hurt, so a Brett Gardner injury could land Burns in the Bronx. Seriously. Gardner filling in for Hicks with Tauchman (or Tyler Wade) as the backup center fielder is a good short-term plan. In a long-term injury situation, the speedy Burns makes more sense as a reserve outfielder. He’s a speed and defense guy who is better at speeding and defensing than Robinson, basically.

Urshela is only 27 and he is a fantastic defender at third base. Offensively, he’ll punish a mistake, and that’s about it, which is fine. Should Miguel Andujar miss time with injury, I assume DJ LeMahieu would step in at third base. If Andujar and LeMahieu miss time, the Yankees still might go with Wade (or 40-man roster guy Thairo Estrada) over Urshela. Urshela’s a great Triple-A player and good MLB depth piece. It’ll take a few infield injuries to get him to the Bronx this summer. Given the way Spring Training went, we’ll probably see him at third base in two weeks.

The Very Necessary Depth Starters [2019 Season Preview]

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The No. 4 starter (David Maxwell/Getty)

In the modern MLB, every team needs more than five starters. It’s just the nature of the game.

That especially applies to the 2019 Yankees. Luis Severino is on the shelf until May. CC Sabathia is expected back in mid-April, but he always has his mid-summer IL stint. Therefore, the Yankees are going to need one of their depth starters from the jump and another within a couple of weeks of the season starting.

So who do the Bombers have backing up their starting rotation?

Domingo German

Say hello to your No. 4 starter! That’s right, the pitcher who had a 5.57 ERA last season will be in the Opening Day rotation.

German had an extreme go of it in the rotation in 2018. In his first start, he no-hit Cleveland for six innings. He then gave up six runs in each of his next two starts with a total of six walks and three homers.

While he gave up plenty of home runs and had bouts of wildness, he also displayed flashes of brilliance. In a three-start stretch last June, he struck out 28 batters and walked two over 19 innings.

What won him the rotation spot this spring? German’s pure stuff is electrifying: He sits in the mid-90s with his fastball/sinker with a high-80s change and low-80s curve. His offspeed pitches had a whiff rate of 35.8 and 41.3 percent, respectively.

He struck out 22 and walked just two over 15 1/3 Grapefruit League innings. His 4.11 ERA doesn’t tell the whole story as he gave up five of his eight earned runs in his final spring start, when the Cardinals launched three homers against him.

What is his role for all of 2019? If the Yankees get all five of their main starters healthy, he’s likely ticketed for Triple-A, though there will be plenty of starts. Despite Gio Gonzalez in the system, German could very well get more than the 14 starts he had last season. If he does, the team will need more consistency from the 26-year-old pitcher.

What may help is the opener. For both German and the No. 5 starter, the Yankees may utilize Chad Green or Jonathan Holder as an opener. That’s especially important for German, who had an 8.36 ERA in first innings last year.

Luis Cessa

It feels like Cessa has been on the shuttle between Scranton and the Bronx for a half-decade, but that time will come to an end in 2019. The fourth-year pitcher is out of options and will be serving in the Opening Day bullpen.

While German had good underlying numbers this spring, Cessa had fantastic ones. He struck out 19, walked just two and gave up only 11 hits over 18 1/3 innings.

The 26-year-old righty lives in the mid-90s with the fastball like German but works in a healthy dose of sliders, turning to the pitch 41 percent of the time last year.

His role is more indeterminate than German. He’ll be the long reliever to begin the year, yet his spring performance may make him the favorite to take the No. 5 starter role when the turn first pops up. Unlike German, he won’t be going to Scranton anytime soon and his lack of options may mean this is it for him in pinstripes.

As with any pitcher, working in shorter outings out of the bullpen could unlock a new level of performance for Cessa. He’s done a better job of attacking the zone this spring, which could help his fastball play up in relief action.

Jonathan Loaisiga

Of the Yankees’ depth starting options, Loaisiga has the best pure stuff. His fastball averages 96 mph with a high-80s changeup and low-80s slider/curve. The whiff rate on his slider/curve was well above 30 percent. The spin rate on his curve is in the 86th percentile and his fastball velocity in the 89th. He’s got all the talent to be a contributing major leaguer.

But his health and control tell a different story. He’s a regular on the injured list, as one might expect from a hard-throwing righty under six-feet tall. Meanwhile, despite a strikeout rate above 30 percent last year, he also walked 11.1 percent of batters. His underlying numbers were still above-average, but he had a 5.11 ERA in his short MLB stint.

This season, he’ll be up in the majors for game No. 6 i.e. when Sabathia’s suspension is up. His role is anybody’s guess. Moreso than the previous two entries to this list, he may be ticketed for the bullpen long term and his stuff makes you believe he could be quite dominant once there. His chance to start in the Bronx is slim, even if he grabs the No. 5 spot in mid-April.

Chance Adams

In the next tier, there’s Adams. Added to the 40-man roster for a spot start last August, he didn’t impress in limited action. He’s in his third year repeating Triple-A after his performance took a turn for the worse in 2018.

This may be familiar by now, but he’s a two-pitch pitcher (fastball-slider) who gets strikeouts but can’t seem to find the plate often enough for sustained success. He’s walked more than three per nine the last few years with the walk rate going up.

Therefore, this is a big season. He can’t stall out in Triple-A and expect to a have a safe 40-man spot a year from now. His optionability makes him a potential up-and-down arm at times with spot starts likely going elsewhere. He needs to turn things around in Scranton before he sees the Bronx for an extended period.

Who else?

Beyond those four, the team still has some starting depth. Gonzalez’s MiLB deal has an out on April 20 and struggles from German or Cessa could open the door for the established veteran.

After Gonzalez, it’s anybody’s guess. David Hale and Drew Hutchison, both ticketed for Triple-A, each saw some time in the Show last year, with Hale having multiple stints in pinstripes before going overseas. They’re veteran depth arms.

As for prospects, Michael King lost out on Spring Training with an arm injury. Domingo Acevedo didn’t get a look in big league camp and will be repeating Double-A Trenton, though he’s on the 40-man roster. If the Yankees run through the above options and are looking for more, something has seriously gone wrong.

The short but necessary bench [2019 Season Preview]

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Romine. (Presswire)

In today’s day and age, the bench on an American League team just isn’t very important. What traditionally hindered bench usefulness in the junior circuit was the advent of the designated hitter, but the more recent emphasis on the bullpen has become a factor too. Over the last decade or so, we’ve gone from teams typically fielding eleven pitchers to now including up to a baker’s dozen. It’s pretty clear the Yankees will carry thirteen pitchers, meaning that there are only three bench jobs to go around. One obviously needs to go to a reserve catcher, while the other two spots are a tad more flexible.

The venerable backup catcher

It seems like people either love or loathe Austin Romine. Many of those in the former category prefer him to Gary Sanchez because they’re irrational. Those who don’t like Romine have been hoping for a different backup for years, even though he’s perfectly fine in his role. Sure, it would be nice to have a better hitter behind Sanchez, but that would be a luxury, not a necessity.

Romine had his best offensive season last year, setting career highs across the board. His first half was particularly strong (122 wRC+), but he reverted back to his usual self to finish the year. It would be dandy if he’s anything remotely near his first half performance this year. That said, his historical performance would also be tolerable. It only becomes untenable if Sanchez needs to miss significant time.

The 30 year-old backstop shines in areas that casual observers can’t easily glean. Advanced metrics peg him as an above average defender, which also includes solid pitch framing. It seems like he has a good rapport with the coaching staff and pitchers, too. Those things are valuable even if they’re not as easy to read as a batter’s triple-slash. Hence the Yankees sticking with him as a reserve the past few years.

Understandably, the projections are underwhelming. PECOTA (83 DRC+), ZiPS (77 wRC+), and Steamer (76 wRC+) all foresee a poor offensive output. But if you keep in mind that the typical catcher posted a 84 wRC+ last season, it’s really not so bad. Once you layer on Romine’s value as a receiver and his bond with the pitchers, it’s clear that he makes for a respectable backup.

The hopeful super-utility player

2019 will be Tyler Wade’s second chance to secure a roster spot in the big leagues. After making the opening day roster last season, he faltered. His -25 wRC+ last April got him demoted to Triple-A for most of the season, before returning for a July cameo and September call ups. Wade still has options, so this year isn’t necessarily a make or break season, but there’s going to be some pressure on him to show he can at least be a tolerable bat in the majors.

It’s one thing to be speedy and have a solid glove, which are Wade’s calling cards. But no matter how good anyone is with those skills, they won’t be rostered for long if they post a .161/.218/.250 batting line (those are Wade’s career marks). The challenge for Wade will be making the most of sporadic plate appearances. With guys like DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres having versatility in the infield, Wade probably won’t get too many starts. Wade has been working out in the outfield for a couple of years now, including some time in center this spring because of Aaron Hicks’s injury, but again, he’s low on the depth chart to play frequently out there.

Perhaps Wade starts once a week, but most of his time will come as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. Thanks to his versatility, Aaron Boone can be pretty aggressive with Wade in high leverage situations. He could pinch run for just about anyone and have a spot in the field in the next half inning. Or, he could substitute defensively for either Miguel Andujar or Luke Voit/Greg Bird late in games. That would allow LeMahieu to take the corner infield spot while Wade slides to second.

Wade. (Presswire)

This spring, Wade has a .907 OPS in Grapefruit League play. Not that spring training stats are meaningful or predictive, but I’d rather see that than a lackluster March performance. There’s no way he’ll hit that well in the regular season, but if he can be Romine-like (think 75 – 80 wRC+), he’d be just fine. He may not get more than 150 plate appearances all season, which is difficult for someone who’s used to playing daily in the minors. It’s a learning experience to become a solid role player, but that’s what Wade will have to prove. Fortunately for him, the team’s offense is so good that his bat won’t necessarily be needed. He just can’t be equivalent to a pitcher at the dish.

The likely to change 25th man

Injuries have clouded who will take the final bench spot. It could be Greg Bird, though we already previewed him. Maybe it’ll be Jacoby Ellsbury, but certainly not immediately. Maybe a non-roster invitee will sneak on to start the year. What we do know for sure is that it’ll be a fluid situation depending on who’s healthy. Clint Frazier, who we’ve yet to preview, will probably spend some time filling in on the bench, especially if Hicks’s back woes linger or Brett Gardner struggles.

Frazier is probably bound for Scranton once spring training ends. He’s had a rough go of it in game action this month, but that’s not surprising for someone who missed significant time last season. Some time in the minors will allow him to get back up to speed. The most important thing is that he’s free and clear of the concussion problems that plagued him last season. As he shakes the rust off, 2019 will be a chance for him to carve out a role with the Yankees.

If the 24 year-old outfielder hits anything like he did in limited time with Scranton last year (170 wRC+ in 216 plate appearances), the Yankees won’t be able to keep him down for long. There’s a balance that the club must strike when they decide promote him. Riding the pine in the majors would be wasteful. However, he can’t just usurp playing time without an opening.

Most projections have Frazier as a slightly above average big league hitter already (i.e. ZiPS and Steamer), though the one pessimistic outlier is PECOTA (89 DRC+). I’m on the optimistic side, personally. I expect Frazier to carve out some sort of hybrid bench/starter role by the season’s end.