Selling high – Part 1
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 9:18 pm by Gary Wallace
While CC Sabathia and Bartolo Colon may rival the legendary tag team of Earthquake and Typhoon, the Yankees starting rotation is actually quite thin. With the free agent pool now empty, the groupthink in Yankeedom is to simply wait for the mid-season trade deadline. We disagree. There is no better time than right now for Brian Cashman and his crew to put on their thinking caps and get a deal for a starter done.
Here's why.
While acquiring someone in the offseason will certainly be more prospect-expensive than waiting until the trade deadline, making a move now will allow the Yankees to leverage a minor league system coming off a monster year that could quickly see its value erode. We don’t have to go back to far to see just what we're talking about.
Zach McAllister, the 2009 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, entered the 2010 season as the Yankees #4 and #5 prospect according to us and Baseball America, respectively. To put this ranking in perspective, he was the Yankees' top pitching prospect in April; fast forward to August and he’s being announced as the PTBNL in the Austin Kearns trade. McAllister went from being a decent bargaining chip to only worth a half-season of a fourth outfielder in a matter of weeks.
The Yankees have a strong farm system, among the best in the league, but its greatest strength is having a number of projectable back-of-the-rotation arms, all coming off great years (Noesi, Warren, Phelps, Nova). If that doesn’t sound like McAllister to you, you haven’t been listening. That isn’t to say that they’re all going to fall off a cliff like Z-Mac did, but it is intended to portray how volatile their value is. Suffice it to say there’s a reason the phrase “Buy low, sell high” exists.
With a glaring weakness in their starting rotation and the pieces to fix that problem, the Yankees have few reasons, if any, not to make a move ASAP.
*In Part 2 of "Selling High", we'll highlight specific trade targets that should be on the Yankees' hit list.
Lay off the Bartolo signing, he's starving.
Tags: farm system, offseason, starting rotation
I would pitch better than Bartolo but I’m dead.
yeah…and?
And you’re a hack out there in left. Ricky Ledee was better than you.
Prospects= Suspects
O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake, and Jarrod Loughner = suspects. You of course equal a bagel with spoiled cream cheese, you dumb Jew fuck.
Hey man, underneath your paragraph it says 0 and 12. Is some sort of counter or my record as a starter this season?
Hey! I got one!
NoMaas = the tits
You rang????
Seriously: you think the F/O can follow this?
I’m gonna be fucking 30 yrs old before they bat me leadoff
It’s okay, it took me until I was 36.
I think he fixed the problem of having thin starting pitching. WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA
Jenny, you’re gonna love my nuts…..and yes, I will be the greatest Two-Sport (Baseball & Competitive Eating) athlete of all time!
Great article, Nomaas.
You guys have been killing it lately.
Yeah, you too.
yeah, boxen
Best photo shop ever!
you could be our #3 this yr
Everyone can breathe easy.
(Just don’t tell him C-Grand looks like Jay-Z).
@tsjc:
“@mikeaxisa @rebexarama I promise I’ll be back. Probably by Grapefruit League action. Feel free to reassure the masses.”
I cant wait for part two
Lay off me, I’m starved!!!
BA ranks the Yanks farm system higher than the Sox, even though OMGZ BOY WONDER IS THE BEST DRAFTAHH EVAAHHH! I like the idea – interested to see Part 2.
Don’t be fooled – BA still has a throbbing hard-on for the Sox. They just can’t credibly keep Boston ranked above New York after Epstein traded away 3 of their top 10 prospects for Adrian Gonzalez.
Any comments from Gary Wallace on Keith Law’s rankings, released this week?
I assume you mean his Top 10? Nothing that surprising, though Stoneburner at 7 is somewhat noteworthy. I’m a huge fan, but there are a ton of people in the business who think he’s a reliever long-term. KLaw is not one of them.
You may have posted something about him earlier, but what’s your take on KLaw sleeper Mason Williams? Better chance to stick in CF than Heathcott?
This is very exciting
I prefer my men to be at least 6’2″ with a nice package. Yummy
Do I have to put stock away today?
yeah, moosen
Me and Terrible Todd Robinson accept all challengers for the TWF Tag Team titles.
he remember this –
http://www.nomaas.org/images/bartolocolon.jpg
I totally agree with this. My issue with this site is that they almost blindly follow a GM who most of the time fails to “sell high.” For example, the Yankees had a commodity so valuable that the Twins would’ve given up a 2 time Cy Young award winner in his prime for a trade based around Jobamania. Granted, in retrospect trading for Johan Santana would’ve been a bad move considering his current injury problems, but the fact that the Yankees couldn’t cash in on the fact that Joba’s value was so high he would’ve been the centerpiece in that deal is something that (in addition to all his other pr stunts this offseason) tells me maybe Cashman isn’t cut out for this job beyond next year.
I think the contract Santana would have required scared the Yankees away from this deal more than the price in prospects (unless Hughes was really involved, which was rumored – then the prospect cost was too high). The Mets certainly don’t regret the trade from the prospects-lost standpoint, but that contract is awful and gets worse with each injury.
Then again, the Yanks would just be able to eat that contract as a sunk cost, so I dunno. Maybe you have a point.
Free agents, especially pitchers, are no guarantee either. It’s a balancing act.
Wait, so you want us to use hindsight in condemning Cashman for not moving Joba for a guy who, in hindsight, turned into an albatross? Fantastic logic, that.
Do you READ the posts here? There is no logic. Only “humor” (and lumps). Opinions unsubstantiated; backed only by what the posters can conjure from their collective Papelbons.
I’m Just Sayin’
Meh
I agree! Sell Sell Sell!!! Trade everyone! Everyone knows that there are NEVER any good prospects available as the first 1/2 of the season unfolds. Its now or never. WHY DONT THEY JUST LISTEN, THOSE FOOLS!
Meh meh
You’re fat
Not fat. Chubby.
I agree with this post: not just b/c I’m a nomaas fanboy but also because cashmonizzle can quickly restock the farm by using the yankees financial muscle to sign talent above slot. Also, did you see how I inserted an urban colloquialism into this post to make myself appear more hip?
Swisher might be better than Fattolo Colon on the bump..but few are better at the post game buffet than Fattolo…not sure how this makes any sense…maybe he will throw good bp in spring training to the Yankees…Lord knows he will throw his grapefruit ball at the opposition.
The Texas Rangers are “on welfare” and their CEO is “delusional,” according to Yankees president Randy Levine
This is out of the Daily News. More colorful of a story than the grab-ass crap usually found in these posts.
Douches.
this is my first visit and just wanted to stop by to say hi