…what would it look like?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the idea I came up with this morning inbetween doing a little channel surfing and planning my vacation in March.
Figured it would serve two purposes…
One: Could the Yankees lose an entire team full of prospects and still have a better farm system than half of Major League Baseball?
And Two…: Could the Yankees 25 best prospects, in theory, beat the worst team in the big leagues?
And this would be where you guys come in. I’d like to see your opinions on what a Yankees 25-man roster would look like — there will be some very obvious choices, like Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero — and what you think the answers to those two questions would be.
Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com
January 29, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
montero/romine
miranda/vazquez
russo
pena/maruszak
malec
curtis
jackson/battle
duncan
duncan
hughes/kennedy/garcia/mcallister/brackman/melancon/coke/aceves/sanchez/delarosa/pope/claggett
January 29, 2009 at 12:56 pm |
i hope gb7 from lohud posts, as he has really seen the a prospects in action.
January 29, 2009 at 1:02 pm |
As I suspected, my favorite part of this will be seeing the guys who get left out…
January 29, 2009 at 1:05 pm |
Shelley Duncan, Hughes, and Kennedy aren’t prospects. That’s what makes it more difficult than it seems.
Mike, is this a team to play this upcoming season, or in a couple of years? I assume next year but just wondering. That would overvalue being at a higher level(Eric Duncan would prob. make it over Suttle)
January 29, 2009 at 1:13 pm |
I was intentionally vague in describing what a prospect is and also didn’t post my own list so as not to influence anyone.
I suppose for the sake of this, you can stick to the BA prospect guidelines, which eliminates anyone with more than 50 big league innings or 130 big league at-bats.
And in theory, the team would be playing right away.
But really, look at this however you want…there really is no wrong answer. I’m just very curious to see what people come up with.
January 29, 2009 at 1:48 pm |
C: Montero/Piliterre
1B: Miranda/Vazquez(1 would prob. DH if it were AL)
2B: Castro
SS: Ramiro Pena(Corona if he doesn’t stick in Seattle)
3B: Eric Duncan
Util: Kevin Russo
LF: Curtis
CF: AJax
RF: Edwar Gonzalez
4th: Gardner
Wow, that’s a lack of power
Rotation: Coke, Hacker, Aceves, Garcia, Mcallister, Brackman
I know that a rotation(hopefully) only has 5 guys, but with Garcia being oft-injured, and Brackman just back, I went for an extra starter.
Shutdown bullpen: Melancon, Robertson(his innings are under, but I’m not sure about days of service), Whelan, Texeira, De La Rosa, Alba(same as Robertson), Dunn
For what it’s worth, there’s a whole bullpen full of guys I didn’t choose such as JB Cox, Claggett, Wordekemper….
January 29, 2009 at 1:59 pm |
Oh I forgot:
Question 1: Wouldn’t be better than half the league, but I’d put them around 20. They’d still have Romine, Higoshioka(not even close), Bleich which would be nice, and better than the nothing that the ‘Stros have, but not quite middle of the pack. Truth is, I think that both BA and KLAW had the farm at about 15-17 range(a bit for me) so maybe in the 22-24 range. Still quite impressive.
Question 2: I could see this team beating a “real” team occasionally, but I don’t think that it would have enough power to consistently play with teams…even the Nats. I mean, middle of the order being some combo of Miranda/Vazquez/Gonzalez/Duncan/Montero is great for the minors, but wouldn’t cut it in MLB.
January 29, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
[...] today Mike Ashmore posed a question that piqued my interest: If you had to make a 25-man roster using only Yankees prospects, what [...]
January 29, 2009 at 5:49 pm |
Not a list of those most ready for the majors but a mix of the best prospects and best suitabke for a 25 person roster:
C – Austin Romine
1B – Juan Miranda
2B – David Adams
3B – Bradley Suttle
SS – Ramiro Pena
LF – Brett Gardner
CF – Austin Jackson
RF – Eduardo Sosa
DH – Jesus Montero
Bench
C – Frank Cervelli
Up-the-middle INF – Eduardo Nunez
Corner INF – Eric Duncan
OF – Colin Curtis
SP
Andrew Brackman
Dellin Betances
Zach McAllister
Alfredo Aceves
Phil Coke
Closer
Mark Melancon
RP
David Robertson
Humberto Sanchez
Anthony Claggett
JB Cox
Mike Dunn
Wilkins DeLaRosa
January 29, 2009 at 9:04 pm |
Not going with the best prospects, just looking for rookie-eligible players and trying to pick the group that would do the best in the big leagues right now:
1. Brett Gardner, CF
2. Doug Bernier, SS
3. Austin Jackson, LF
4. Juan Miranda, 1B
5. Justin Leone, 3B
6. Jesus Montero, DH (gotta give that bat a shot)
7. Edwar Gonzalez, RF
8. Frank Cervelli, C
9. Kevin Russo, 2B
B: PJ Pilittere, C
B: Ramiro Pena, UT
B: Colin Curtis, OF
B: Suttle, E. Duncan, Malec or Vazquez
S. Alfredo Aceves
S. Phil Coke
S. Alan Horne
S. Eric Hacker
S. George Kontos
R: Mark Melancon
R: David Robertson
R: Steven Jackson
R: Chris Garcia
R: Mike Dunn
R: Humberto Sanchez (at least he’s been there)
R: Anthony Claggett
To answer Mike’s second question: No, I do not think this team would be better than the worst team in the majors. Not even close. It’s not a bad group, but it wouldn’t be able to compete at that level right now. I have no idea if 6 through 9 would do anything offensively, every member of the rotation might actually be better off as a reliever and even the most proven member of the bullpen has just 30 or so major league innings and might open this season in Triple-A. The minor leagues and player development are there for a reason.
It’s a fun exercise, though.
January 29, 2009 at 10:23 pm |
[...] If You Had To Make A 25-Man Roster Using Only Yankees Prospects… [...]
January 30, 2009 at 11:41 am |
[...] Ashmore challenged fans to create a team of all Yankee prospects. What if something horrible happened to the team? [...]
February 12, 2009 at 1:33 pm |
-Starting Fielders-
C: Jesus Montero
1B: Juan Miranda
2B: Justin Snyder
SS: Ramiro Pena
3B: Chris Malec
DH: Jorge Vasquez
OF: Brett Gardner
OF: Austin Jackson
OF: Edwar Gonzalez-
BENCH-
INF: Brad Suttle
OF: Eduardo Sosa
C: Austin Romine
-Starters-
SP: Andrew Brackman
SP: Dellin Betances (How Not?)
SP: Phil Coke
SP: Jairo Heredia
SP: Eric Hacker
-Relievers-
SP/RP: Wilkins De La Rosa (Spot Start/Long Relief)
SP/RP: George Kontos
RP: David Robertson
RP: Jonathan Ortiz
RP: Arodys Vizcaino
RP: Anthony Claggett
RP: Pat Venditte
CL: Mark Melancon
Youth and Power K’s… it’s proven that’s what works… especially in the pen… See Blue Jays and D-Backs.