What does a Yankee rebuild look like?

terrynever

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Just wanted to see what others think. My idea of a Yankees rebuild is to get the old guys off the field and the base paths. And with the team hamstrung by several untradable contracts, this limits the options in 2016, which I characterize as the year the chickens came home to roost.

Still, these are the Yankees. As Abbey keeps saying, they could go after Harper in a few years.

Beltran and Teix are gone after this season. A buyout of CC seems likely. The farm system has two prospects primed to replace Beltran and Teixeira (Judge and Bird). Operative word there is prospects.

Pitching remains a problem. Pineda and Eovaldi are wildly inconsistent. Severino is struggling to find an out pitch. James Kaprelian won't climb thru the farm system in one year, due to a swollen elbow setback.

What is the price of success? The Red Sox finished last three of four seasons (and won a WS in the other!). During those four seasons, they steadily broke in three gifted young players from their farm system. They had this luxury because they were not serious pennant contenders. The Yanks are in a similar situation this year but are blocked by those aging players. It might take them three or four seasons, as it did Boston, to break in their prospects and see which ones sink and which ones can swim.

To me, a Yankees rebuild begins with the coaching staff fixing the starting pitching. Regression is not acceptable for young pitchers with great stuff. The rest of the rebuild begins next year and could continue for a year or two, just as it did for Boston.

And, to pre-empt Abbey, Cashman has already begun his rebuild by acquiring two young middle infielders, Didi and Castro.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Not a NY fan, but I am interested in seeing this because (as I've mentioned in other threads before), I think the team-building concepts in our current baseball structure are fascinating. Used to be that teams could leverage their revenue advantage in FA, drafting, or overseas but as we discussed, money doesn't give a team the advantages as it used to.

I presume that there will be an influx of talent from their last international free agent signing but if that is not enough, I will be interested in seeing how Cashman (or his successor) tries to build a roster.
 

terrynever

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Getting younger never hurts. The Phillies are 15-10 so far, thanks to good pitching and going younger in the rest of the lineup. Won't last but fun to watch for their fans.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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They're kinda in the rebuild mode for their pitching staff already, aren't they? Tons of young guys on the pitching staff right now. Their next problem is dealing with the aging lineup; as you note, Terry, they've only got 2 position players younger than 30 right now. Turning over that much in the field will take some time.
 

terrynever

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They're kinda in the rebuild mode for their pitching staff already, aren't they? Tons of young guys on the pitching staff right now. Their next problem is dealing with the aging lineup; as you note, Terry, they've only got 2 position players younger than 30 right now. Turning over that much in the field will take some time.
Not really. If Judge is ready in 2017, the OF is set. If Bird is healthy, the infield is set, because Headley isn't going anywhere. McCann has two years left and his successor is getting a full season in AAA ball this year. Maybe Gary Sanchez is polished and ready to take over in 2019.

Pitching is the trickiest part of any rebuild, even for rich teams.
 

Vinho Tinto

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CC, Teixeira, and Beltran come off the books after this season. They wisely had a quiet offseason and aren't trying to band-aid their way back to contention. The one thing they have no recourse on is Ellsbury. He's Carl Crawford bad and is signed thru 2021. McCann is at least giving them above average hitting for a catcher.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Not really. If Judge is ready in 2017, the OF is set. If Bird is healthy, the infield is set, because Headley isn't going anywhere. McCann has two years left and his successor is getting a full season in AAA ball this year. Maybe Gary Sanchez is polished and ready to take over in 2019.

Pitching is the trickiest part of any rebuild, even for rich teams.
Having Headley stuck on the roster for the next few years doesn't help make the infield "set", it helps make it suck, because he's terrible. They need to pull a Travis Shaw out of the hat, don't they?
 

uncannymanny

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Aren't we looking at it?

To me, a Yankees rebuild begins with the coaching staff fixing the starting pitching. Regression is not acceptable for young pitchers with great stuff.
Regression from what? None of the young pitchers have a long enough MLB track record to call their performance regression. Not living up to the expectations would be more apt (and they should still get more time to sink/swim), but this would make them just like 90% of prospects who either struggle in the Show or start fast and then struggle. I don't know that you can really pin anything about the Yankee pitching performance on coaching.
 

mt8thsw9th

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Not really. If Judge is ready in 2017, the OF is set.
Are you at least prepared for Judge not being very good? He's approaching 400 PAs at AAA with an OPS hovering around .700. Even Baseball America dropped him in their rankings. I never understood the hype given his strikeout rates, but to each their own, I suppose.

Regarding Headley, he's still looking like he's on the Ensberg trajectory, despite a couple good months to start his time with the Yankees.
 

jon abbey

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Aren't we looking at it?
Yeah, exactly. NY already has the youngest average roster they've had in a while (I forget the exact year, I posted it around Opening Day, maybe 1993?).

I believe that once the ill-fated and franchise-hindering "let's get under $189M" plan fully fell through in the 2013-2014 offseason, Cashman sold Hal on a new longer-term plan. No big FA signings until the winter of 2018 (Harper hits FA then, but also Manny Machado and many others), go nuts in summer 2014 in international signings, and generally try to build up the farm system as best he can, while trading for 25-26 year old former top prospects whose teams have soured on them for whatever reason (Didi, Eovaldi, Hicks, Castro) in the hopes of finding some longer-term pieces at non-prohibitive rates and keeping the current team somewhat competitive. As an additional bonus (for Hal), NY will likely be under whatever the cap number then is (new CBA) for 2017 or 2018 or both and can reset their tax rate.
 

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I wouldn't be panicking if I were a Yankee fan. They've looked terrible in April, but shit happens. Is it bad timing or a bad team?

I don't follow them closely so I'm in this part of SoSH to be corrected. They're a team reliant on home runs for scoring and my experience is that April is a tough month for home run hitters (can't compare Fenway to Yankee Stadium though). Once the home runs start coming the scoring will give the best bullpen in baseball the opportunities it requires. Their starters have no more and no less suck than many teams. A healthy Tanaka is critical. Eovaldi can certainly be a high quality #2. I don't know about Severino (was last year a mirage? have hitters figured him out?)

Pessimists will say the following: Ellsbury and Gardner are losing their greatest assets (youth and speed), the middle of the lineup is losing its power and the team can't rely on station-to-station scoring, Pineda's a pumpkin...

In the meantime, the infield defense could be the best in baseball (Is Castro really that bad? All I know is from this weekend...and Headley doesn't just forget how to play gold glove 3B). Beltran probably shouldn't be playing in the field, but whatever.

There are 5 months left (and a trading deadline). Averaging 4 games over .500 each month puts them at 90 wins. Any Red Sox fan who counts them out after 1 month is ejaculating prematurely.
 

jon abbey

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I wouldn't be panicking if I were a Yankee fan. They've looked terrible in April, but shit happens. Is it bad timing or a bad team?

I don't follow them closely so I'm in this part of SoSH to be corrected. They're a team reliant on home runs for scoring and my experience is that April is a tough month for home run hitters (can't compare Fenway to Yankee Stadium though). Once the home runs start coming the scoring will give the best bullpen in baseball the opportunities it requires. Their starters have no more and no less suck than many teams. A healthy Tanaka is critical. Eovaldi can certainly be a high quality #2. I don't know about Severino (was last year a mirage? have hitters figured him out?)

Pessimists will say the following: Ellsbury and Gardner are losing their greatest assets (youth and speed), the middle of the lineup is losing its power and the team can't rely on station-to-station scoring, Pineda's a pumpkin...

In the meantime, the infield defense could be the best in baseball (Is Castro really that bad? All I know is from this weekend...and Headley doesn't just forget how to play gold glove 3B). Beltran probably shouldn't be playing in the field, but whatever.

There are 5 months left (and a trading deadline). Averaging 4 games over .500 each month puts them at 90 wins. Any Red Sox fan who counts them out after 1 month is ejaculating prematurely.
I agree with most of this, but I think it will be hard for NY to go on winning streaks given their rotation, and also there's been some talk in the last week or two that shifts are really impacting their batters, as they get shifted on more than any other team in baseball (BOS is second). If that's actually the case, that is very hard to correct, or you'd think they would have done it already.
 

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Ellsbury looks like he could be a real issue for them. He's gonna be 33 in September, he's owed $21 million every year until 2020 (team option for 2021), and his OPS+ has gone 113, 111, 84, and 88 this year. His OBP has declined every year too, plus of course he's never going to steal bases like he used to. Plus he got hurt again last year and missed a ton of time.

I should know better to think things won't ever turn around for him, because we've seen crazier stuff, but the trends aren't promising on him.
 

Clears Cleaver

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Realistically, they will trade chapman and Miller for prospects this year.

I look at their lineup and don't see any really good players. Ellsbury and Gardner were, maybe they will be again. Didi and Castro are average. McCann is good but old.

Show me some good to very good position players and I'll tell you how long this process will take
 

terrynever

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Thanks for the input. I like the Headley-to-Ensberg comparison. It is possible but my feeling is he will get back to mediocrity at some point. His best stretch in pinstripes came in a walk year. Too bad he can't recapture that kind of energy after securing a solid contract.

I have my doubts about Judge, too. You just don't see too many 6-foot-7 sluggers. Kingman and Frank Howard, a couple of all or nothing swingers. Judge is a better athlete who seems to need at least one full year in AAA, maybe more.

The Yanks' last rebuild depended on pick of the litter free agents and four stud prospects all coming through and reaching peak results. That was sort of unusual. There are four or five kids right now in the system with high ceilings. What are the odds that two become stars?

So this rebuild won't happen overnight. Maybe it began last year with Didi replacing Jeter. First step in a long process. And if Didi doesn't hit enough, Mateo is two years down the road.

I see a long rebuild. Maybe, as Abbey says, the Yanks will go after the prime free agents for 2019 to top off the rebuilding. That would mean 3 seasons of rebuilding without really contending seriously to win it all. Which is what we have seen since 2012.
 

benhogan

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If the Yankees are toast by All Star break, a good way for the Yankees to flex their financial muscle is to offer a player like Miller (subsidize a great deal of his contract) to contending teams, you could get high quality talent for him.

Same goes for the rest (to a lesser extent): Beltran, Ellsbury, Gardener,Tex, McCann (if the Yankees subsidized their contracts) could net prospects. Thus working in Judge/Bird (when healthy) sooner, rather then later.

for example, the Sox could be looking for a veteran LHH LF for a short term rental or a LH reliever like Miller if they are in contention. Maybe the Sox offer up a Henry Owens or Brian Johnson for a subsidized Miller if they are desperate enough.
 

moondog80

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Isn't the Yankees payroll potential such that Ellsbury doesn't really hurt them, provided they are disciplined enough to just release him if/when he becomes a sink cost? Are there really any moves they would otherwise make that won't happen because of he 21 mil per that he gets?
 

terrynever

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Nobody is giving up on Ellsbury. He can still be effective. The contract is the killer.
 

jon abbey

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Actually I'd argue that NY would likely be better off right now if Ellsbury didn't exist, regardless of financial commitment. They could instantly improve their outfield D (Hicks is an upgrade), they could promote Gamel or Heathcott, and they could tinker with the top of the lineup instead of writing in the ex-Dreamboat every single freaking day.

Awful awful signing, like so many big money deals in recent years.
 

jon abbey

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If the Yankees are toast by All Star break, a good way for the Yankees to flex their financial muscle is to offer a player like Miller (subsidize a great deal of his contract) to contending teams, you could get high quality talent for him.

Same goes for the rest (to a lesser extent): Beltran, Ellsbury, Gardener,Tex, McCann (if the Yankees subsidized their contracts) could net prospects. Thus working in Judge/Bird (when healthy) sooner, rather then later.

for example, the Sox could be looking for a veteran LHH LF for a short term rental or a LH reliever like Miller if they are in contention. Maybe the Sox offer up a Henry Owens or Brian Johnson for a subsidized Miller if they are desperate enough.
I think Chapman will be first on the trading block, pretty much every NL contender could use him and at least one might be willing to go for it and pay up for him now that his legal situation is resolved.

Also, Andrew Miller is signed for 2/18 after this year, I don't think that will need to be subsidized to get quality players in return if NY chooses to move him.
 

terrynever

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Actually I'd argue that NY would likely be better off right now if Ellsbury didn't exist, regardless of financial commitment. They could instantly improve their outfield D (Hicks is an upgrade), they could promote Gamel or Heathcott, and they could tinker with the top of the lineup instead of writing in the ex-Dreamboat every single freaking day.

Awful awful signing, like so many big money deals in recent years.
I agree, but since he is here for four more years, and nobody is going to bail the Yankees out, then maybe we can focus on things he might still be able to do well. Let me think about what that is and I will get back to you.
 

smastroyin

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I think the biggest problem is whether they are in to make it happen quickly. I still think they could be decent this year, but if they aren't, then smart trades probably help them out.

Contenders will be interested in the bullpen arms. You might find contenders willing to take a shot at hot streaks from teix or beltran. Gardner I would think has some value. Refsnyder can be packaged if you've really bought in on Castro.

But to accelerate a rebuild you have to commit to getting younger players for these guys and do a better job than the sox on avoiding more stupid deals to patch holes. I kind of disagree with you on the premise of the red Sox being bad allowing them to develop players. They actually did a lot of the opposite.
 

terrynever

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I think the biggest problem is whether they are in to make it happen quickly. I still think they could be decent this year, but if they aren't, then smart trades probably help them out.

Contenders will be interested in the bullpen arms. You might find contenders willing to take a shot at hot streaks from teix or beltran. Gardner I would think has some value. Refsnyder can be packaged if you've really bought in on Castro.

But to accelerate a rebuild you have to commit to getting younger players for these guys and do a better job than the sox on avoiding more stupid deals to patch holes. I kind of disagree with you on the premise of the red Sox being bad allowing them to develop players. They actually did a lot of the opposite.
What is the success ratio when developing players? My guess in 1 in 3 good AAA prospects become long-term big league players. Boston made some mistakes and Cherington certainly paid for his FA blunders. But when you have five young players in your lineup every night, as Boston has, I think the organization did better than most in terms of player development.
 

benhogan

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I think Chapman will be first on the trading block, pretty much every NL contender could use him and at least one might be willing to go for it and pay up for him now that his legal situation is resolved.

Also, Andrew Miller is signed for 2/18 after this year, I don't think that will need to be subsidized to get quality players in return if NY chooses to move him.
the more the Yanks subsidize - the more potential trade partners pop up (hello Pittsburgh) and better prospects can be had by the Yanks.

If they view the yearly payout as a sunk cost and really want to maximize their financial advantage, subsidize and include the small market teams as potential trade partners.
 

moondog80

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Actually I'd argue that NY would likely be better off right now if Ellsbury didn't exist, regardless of financial commitment. They could instantly improve their outfield D (Hicks is an upgrade), they could promote Gamel or Heathcott, and they could tinker with the top of the lineup instead of writing in the ex-Dreamboat every single freaking day.

Awful awful signing, like so many big money deals in recent years.
If that's true they should just find a way to get him out of the lineup, like the Sox did with Pablo. That's the only way this hurts them, if the contract makes they play him when they otherwise would not. Especially with all the money they have coming off the books the next couple of years, Ellsbury's contract shouldn't impact what they do in free agency, not with their payroll capacity.
 

jon abbey

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If that's true they should just find a way to get him out of the lineup, like the Sox did with Pablo. That's the only way this hurts them, if the contract makes they play him when they otherwise would not. Especially with all the money they have coming off the books the next couple of years, Ellsbury's contract shouldn't impact what they do in free agency, not with their payroll capacity.
Right, I know that and you know that, but it's a big step to NY actually doing that, especially when it wouldn't really make them contenders anyway. What Boston did with Pablo/Castillo is the exception and not the rule.

Basically NY is going to keep doing what they've been doing (see my sig), waiting out the contracts of the older players and trying to get younger whenever and wherever they can. The only difference is that if they're really out of contention early (and we're a long way away from that), they may try to trade guys more actively than they would otherwise. Chapman I always thought was going to be flipped if NY wasn't in real contention, but he needs to actually pitch first.
 

smastroyin

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What is the success ratio when developing players? My guess in 1 in 3 good AAA prospects become long-term big league players. Boston made some mistakes and Cherington certainly paid for his FA blunders. But when you have five young players in your lineup every night, as Boston has, I think the organization did better than most in terms of player development.
Sure but it nothing to do with not having dreams of contention. They've been trying like hell to contend.
 

grimshaw

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I've been expecting better out of that rotation. I keep thinking Pineda and Eovaldi are going to get it going consistently with Tanaka.
The schedule hasn't been that tough either - lots of off days, several rain outs, and only three series against the AL East (not the O's yet).
I'm not counting them out, but they have played much worse than I thought.

I actually don't think you have to subsidize Miller considering what it cost for the Sox to acquire Kimbrel at his market value. Obviously you'd get more, but relievers are getting paid these days.
 

jon abbey

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Pineda has been flat out terrible for close to a full year now, going back to his dominant early May start against BAL last year where he struck out 16. For the remainder of 2015, he had a 5.04 ERA in 20 starts, and we've seen his lousy numbers this year.

On the other hand, his 20 starts before that (13 in 2014 and 7 in 2015, his first 20 as a Yankee after coming back from surgery) were dominant, a 1.89 ERA in 2014 and a 2.72 for the first 7 starts in 2015, so who knows. He's still only 27 years old, FWIW.
 

Wingack

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Before the season I was calling for the Yankees to trade Miller and even think about trading Betances to see if they could really stockpile talent. They decided to go the other direction and add Chapman. Well, if they are floundering at the trade deadline, I would trade all three of those guys for the best talent they can acquire. I think that is the smartest and most efficient way to inject young talent into the organization.
 

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Before the season I was calling for the Yankees to trade Miller and even think about trading Betances to see if they could really stockpile talent. They decided to go the other direction and add Chapman. Well, if they are floundering at the trade deadline, I would trade all three of those guys for the best talent they can acquire. I think that is the smartest and most efficient way to inject young talent into the organization.
That'd be bold. Each one of those guys could net a legitimate prospect, but wouldn't you want to hold on to at least one of Miller or Betances to keep the bullpen from completely unraveling? Or maybe even both, as they surely could anchor a bullpen at a reasonable cost for the next four years? I know they don't have much else in valued commodities to move, but a shutdown bullpen is huge these days.

It can't be summed up in numbers, but it surely has the help the confidence of starters (especially younger ones like Severino and Pineda) having a bit of a sure thing there behind them. That's a tough call to make, you can get decent bullpen arms, but guys like those three don't grow on trees.
 

Sampo Gida

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Every team is constantly rebuilding. Players get old and retire, or depart via free agency, or just decline to the point they are released and are replaced via free agency and the draft. Its a constant process. Every team has the hope and prayer of their prospects being a lottery ticket winner, and once a decade the average team gets lucky enough they develop enough young talent to put them post season for a year or two, and longer if they supplement them with some good free agents

Yankees are not rebuilding, they are simply spending down and surrendering their financial advantage, a process that began around 2011 as Hal chose to pursue getting under the LT threshold to collect the revenue sharing rebates. Sure, contracts expire as players age and come off the books, but those salaries won't be replaced in their entirety, Hal has said as much. While Hal could go over the LT threshold once he gets under to get the lower LT rate, the LT has never been the problem, they spend less money on tax in real 2016 dollars than they did a decade ago. Its the revenue sharing rebates he wants, and going over the threshold means he collects 0. Basically, their spending down in revenue and payroll inflation adjusted dollars has sacrificed about 10 WAR per year from the 2003-2008 years average . Instead of going into the season with a 95 W team they go into the season with a 85 W team and hope luck gives them another 5-10 Wins to get them in the post season. So instead of making the post season every year, they make it about 1 in 3 years. End of dynasty

So the Yankees future Core 4 is arguably Mateo, Severino, Bird and Judge. Bird is out with labrum surgery which could limit his performance for years to come. Severino has disappointed after an enormous 44% IP jump last year, Judge has struggled making contact against crafty AAA pitchers. Mateo looks to be developing nicely, but has not been tested in AA ball, and is blocked, as is Gary Sanchez who is a candidate for the core 4 as well. Kap may move into the core 4 as well if someone else falls out, but is suffering an elbow problem after a rather significant velocity increase, which is rather ominous. The message here is that you can't always count on your prospects, and you need a lot more than 2-3 of them panning out to be a championship team year in and year out unless you spend at 2003-2009 levels (adjusting for revenue and payroll inflation)
 

jon abbey

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We've had this discussion many times, but spending on the FA market hurts you more often than it helps you these days. It's not just the money, it's the loss of flexibility (as we discussed with Ellsbury a few posts ago). If Ellsbury isn't making huge money through 2020, he likely isn't leading off anymore, and maybe he even gets sent to AAA and they give someone like Puello or Gamel a shot.

That being said, I really do think NY is going to do their best to go nuts in the 2018-2019 offseason, there aren't many genuine impact players available before then.
 

jon abbey

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you need a lot more than 2-3 of them panning out to be a championship team year in and year out
And this is where they are hoping thst the quantity of IFAs they've signed in the last two years will ideally kick in, maybe starting around 2018 or even later (although the game does seem to skew younger every year). We know about summer 2014, where they signed 10 of the top 30 plus at least 20 others, then in 2015 they were capped at bonus per player, but still they signed 57 guys, the most of any team. So something like 90 players combined from those two years plus all of the US draft picks, is that enough quantity for you?

Also they drafted a handful of SPs last summer who are doing well at their respective levels. Kaprielian is of course the main one, but Josh Rogers is also worth keeping an eye on. He has already jumped from low to high A after four great starts, and was even better in his first start in high A this week, 48 Ks and 6 BBs in 43 innings so far this year. Also Brody Koerner was a 17th round pick but has already jumped two levels (also in Tampa now) and has a 1.45 ERA in 56 innings so far. He was a reliever last year but they converted him to a starter this year, going well so far.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t587&player_id=642028#/career/R/pitching/2016/ALL

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t587&player_id=621259#/career/R/pitching/2016/ALL
 

Wingack

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That'd be bold. Each one of those guys could net a legitimate prospect, but wouldn't you want to hold on to at least one of Miller or Betances to keep the bullpen from completely unraveling? Or maybe even both, as they surely could anchor a bullpen at a reasonable cost for the next four years? I know they don't have much else in valued commodities to move, but a shutdown bullpen is huge these days.
It is huge, but I kind of think at this point it is being overvalued. If I can get legitimate prospect packages, for each of those guys I would do it in a heartbeat. And then try to rebuild it in the offseason (starting by signing Chapman). First call I would put in, would be to offer up Betances to Texas which has some blocked talent in the minors for Lewis Brinson, or maybe a package of Gallo and Profar. I'd see if Detroit would be interested in doing an even up deal of Andrew Miller for Nick Castellanos. Chapman obviously has his issues, but if a team wants to win the World Series this year the Yankees should be able to ask for a nice haul for him.
 

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It is huge, but I kind of think at this point it is being overvalued. If I can get legitimate prospect packages, for each of those guys I would do it in a heartbeat. And then try to rebuild it in the offseason (starting by signing Chapman). First call I would put in, would be to offer up Betances to Texas which has some blocked talent in the minors for Lewis Brinson, or maybe a package of Gallo and Profar. I'd see if Detroit would be interested in doing an even up deal of Andrew Miller for Nick Castellanos. Chapman obviously has his issues, but if a team wants to win the World Series this year the Yankees should be able to ask for a nice haul for him.
It's somewhat illogical to assume that they Yankees can acquire Chapman cheaply because of the negatives associated with him but get a "nice haul" for dealing him as a rental.

The only assets the Yankees can trade and expect to receive a big haul in return are (as you identified) Miller and Betances. I'd be shocked if Chapman buys them more than a lottery ticket or two.
 

BaseballJones

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Before the season I was calling for the Yankees to trade Miller and even think about trading Betances to see if they could really stockpile talent. They decided to go the other direction and add Chapman. Well, if they are floundering at the trade deadline, I would trade all three of those guys for the best talent they can acquire. I think that is the smartest and most efficient way to inject young talent into the organization.
Trade Miller. Keep and extend Chapman. Miller should get you a nice piece, and Chapman and Betances give the Yankees a dynamic back end of the bullpen.
 

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It's somewhat illogical to assume that they Yankees can acquire Chapman cheaply because of the negatives associated with him but get a "nice haul" for dealing him as a rental.

The only assets the Yankees can trade and expect to receive a big haul in return are (as you identified) Miller and Betances. I'd be shocked if Chapman buys them more than a lottery ticket or two.
Well, back when the Yankees made the deal for Chapman it was very uncertain what Chapman's eligibility for the season would be. He possibly could have suspended for a full season, nobody really knew. If he is vintage Chapman with an excellent K/9 there will be plenty of teams that will be interested in him and all you need are two interested teams to bid against each other to drive up the price.

All that being said the Yankees will get the least amount in a trade back for Chapman than the other two. But maybe they can get a stupid team on like the Diamondbacks on the phone and they can pry away a piece like Brandon Drury or Braden Shipley for three months of Chapman.
 

smastroyin

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I think they have to decide if they want to muddle along and then hope for a combo of FA availability (Harper) and development of all the guys ja mentions.

Or, do they want to strip it down a bit, not worry about losing 90 games and try to stock the upper levels of the farm.

Given the salary mandate I would probably lean toward the latter, but if the salary mandate is temporary, then there is a bit more appeal to muddling.
 

E5 Yaz

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You'd have to think that signing Strasburg this offseason is a real possibility
 

jon abbey

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You'd have to think that signing Strasburg this offseason is a real possibility
It's probably more possible the worse that the 2015 team is, I wouldn't have thought it likely coming into the season. Tanaka is under contract through 2020, but has an optout after 2017, and Pineda and Eovaldi are also scheduled to hit FA after 2017. Severino is (hopefully) in place longer-term and NY hopes Kaprielian will join him, but that leaves three other longer-term rotation spots assuming Tanaka opts out and NY doesn't re-sign him.
 

jon abbey

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FWIW, I did a quick run through the NY farm system and listed starting pitchers who seem promising either based on their prospect status or results so far this year or both. Obviously Cashman is hoping that a few of these guys emerge, we all know that you can't count on prospects but there's a surprising amount of collective possibility here, IMO:

Chad Green, Luis Cessa-AAA
Ronald Herrera, Dietrich Enns, Brady Lail, Jordan Montgomery-AA
James Kaprielian, Chance Adams, Ian Clarkin, Vicente Campos-A
Domingo Acevedo-low A

Also there are a handful of 2015 draftees (besides Kaprielian) who I didn’t include but who also all seem promising to one degree or another: Josh Rogers, Brody Koerner, Drew Finley, Jeff Degano (the first two in high A already, the latter two being held for short-season, I believe).
 

uncannymanny

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It's probably more possible the worse that the 2015 team is, I wouldn't have thought it likely coming into the season. Tanaka is under contract through 2020, but has an optout after 2017, and Pineda and Eovaldi are also scheduled to hit FA after 2017. Severino is (hopefully) in place longer-term and NY hopes Kaprielian will join him, but that leaves three other longer-term rotation spots assuming Tanaka opts out and NY doesn't re-sign him.
Forgot about that opt out. Jeez, that's a lot of pitching to (potentially) replace in one offseason.
 

jon abbey

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Sabathia's contract also runs through 2017, although a pitching machine could replace him at this point.
 

jon abbey

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Blown saves by WAS and TEX tonight, Cashman should text their GMs pix of Chapman. :)
 

jon abbey

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What a Yankee rebuild looks like is lots of people wearing Mets caps for the next few years.
Also Comcast must be loving this, although I'd guess the bulk of their cancellations happened already by early April.