jacksonianmarch

Well, one of the caveats of prep talent is the high miss rate. When you hit, the reward is higher because the players are under your control at a younger age, but the miss rates are ridiculous. That being said, the sox got some high ceiling guys and paid the price for them. Theo went balls out in this draft and spent a ton of money

So to recap, the yankees draft and signs are a pretty solid crew. Prep Bats Slade Heathcott highlights the group as the #1 draft pick. Lefty power hitter with great speed signed for $2.2 million. If he doesnt hit, he can always make it on the mound, as he tops out at 96mph from the left side. J.R. Murphy was a sleeper in the draft in the second round, but has been anything but since. Short, strong catcher with good gap power and very strong catching skills, he signed for $1.25mil. Jud Golsan is the final prep bat signed by NY. The lean speedster was drafted in the 31st round. He is the fastest player in the yankee system by far now (yes, faster than Gardner) but has a long way to go with the bat. College Bats The yankees only took 1 college bat in the top 10 rounds, but their best comes in at #11. Robert Lyerly the 6th rounder picked by NY out of UNC Charlotte was considered a solid professional hitter, but has spent a lot of time on the DL this season for the SI Yankees. Neil Medchill the 11th round pick out of OK State was the best college bat taken. He was considered a potential top 3 round pick. He has delivered on that promise in the NYP this yr, by tying the SI record for homeruns in a season with 12. He should easily slide into long season ball as one of our best power theats in the minors. DeAngelo Mack could be the most versatile bat taken. Lefty power hitter with great speed, he is having a solid yr in the NYP and should also snag a starting job in long season come 2010. Luke Murton taken in the 19th round has also shown some pop as the SI Yankees 1b with 7 homers in the short season league. He is most likely a filler who will struggle vs better pitching, but the intrigue of the long ball is nice in a system that lacks quality power Joe Talarico JuCo player signed overslot on the final day, Talerico provides a well rounded offensive player, capable of stealing bases and gap power at this time. Prep Pitchers Pretty shallow, but talented class after taking a ton of prep pitchers in 2008. Brett Gerritse 11th rounder who is built like a horse. He throws low 90s with a now curveball, he signed for overslot and looks to be a potential middle of the rotation starter Bryan Mitchell 16th rounder signed on the last day for 800K has a ton of projection. He maxes out at 91-92 right now, but has a big frame and a plus breaking ball right now. His command is much better than most high schoolers as well, making him a potential top of the rotation starter if they are able to match his heat to his frame. Mariel Checo the 41st pick for the yankees, was the top rated NYC prep player who signed overslot a few weeks back. He is a project with a very live fastball (95-96mph) and a powerful, but inconsistent breaking ball. His mechanics need a complete overhaul. He might toil in the short season leagues for another season, but if he gets it figured out, he could be something special. College Pitchers Getting back to what worked in 2006, when the yankees drafted Kennedy, Chamberlain, Kontos, McCutchen and Robertson as college arms, this draft has a ton of them. What makes it a bit more painful is the fact that we let some of them slide (LHP's Meade and Lyons). Adam Warren our 4th rounder with a massive frame has seen his stuff improve considerably since signing. He's gone from sitting 88-92 to sitting 92-94 and topping out at 96. He has parlayed that extra power into dynamite numbers in SI and a likely skip of Low A for 2010 (1.05ERA 0.98WHIP in 42.2IP) Caleb Cotham our 5th rounder, signed today. He is our consensus best pitcher taken. RHP with mid to high 90s gas and a plus slider, he is being considered a poor man's Joba by some of the yankee scout gurus. Sean Black our 7th rounder was a 1st round talent out of HS, but decided to forgo signing and go to Seton Hall. He never turned his talent into success at SH, some theorize it could be the metal bat syndrome. He features mid 90s heat with a pretty solid offspeed arsenal. Since signing, he has been very solid at SI with an ERA of 1.52 and a WHIP of 0.88. He is another guy who could skip low A and jump to High A. Sam Elam might have the best stuff of any guy drafted by NY, but is equally wild. Capable of throwing high 90s from the left hand side, he has a ton of work to do to get ready for 2010 as his BB totals in the GCL are just absurd. Gavin Brooks the UCLA product is another wild lefty who has a dynamite arsenal. His numbers in the NYP have been solid in terms of power and ERA out of the pen, but the walks (20 in 36IP) need to be improve upon. Shane Greene is a guy who was drafted well ahead of where he was thought to be drafted until teams started seeing the guy he became prior to the draft. He was a pitcher who never threw very hard prior to TJS. After the surgery, he enrolled at Daytona beach where his FB gained velocity into the mid 90s. He still needs to develop a quality offspeed pitch and will likely be a pen arm, but he is a guy with dynamite heat. Overall, we added a lot of talent through the draft. Heathcott, Murphy, and Medchill will be very interesting offensive players to follow. Mitchell, Gerritse, Checo, Cotham, Warren, and others will be very interesting pitchers to follow.

Well, this might be a poor time for the O to go cold. This is time to pad the lead, not lose to shitbums in Oakland

yeah, but its more demoralizing for the other team when you win by 15

The Yankees finished with signing RHP Bryan Mitchell and IF Joe Talarico. Apparently, the budget has been reached, although 2 highly talented prep players are still negotiating in Evan DeLuca and a RHP named Thompson.

The sox have gone with a ton of prep talent which is very much against their grain seeing as most of their big draftees have been CC or college guys.

we are losing to the A's and Brett Tomko. Embarassing as of right now

per rotoworld

Suzuki aint going anywhere

I know its mostly on the pitchers. But his mechanics and his arm make it moot for a pitcher to even try and hold runners better. I bet the philosophy changes once they get a catcher who has an arm. Right now, Victor and Vtek are a baserunning frenzy

that's true. But also, Varitek is a good .2 second off from where he needs to be

whoa, hold up there partner. Thats a major typo. I meant to say anyone other than Holliday replacing Bay would be a sharp downgrade

Putting Wake and DiceK back into the rotation for 2010 is a good way to get Tazawa a lot of innings in the bigs early in 2010

Blane Neal forever

the problem is, how do they shake it up. After 2006, a lot of the burden contracts were expired. After this season, the only burden on the team whose contract is up is Varitek, who may come back based on his own player option. Bay is your biggest FA, and you need him. Papi and Lowell are going to be difficult to impossible to move and Drew still has 2 more yrs. Face it, the sox offense will look VERY similar to this yrs in 2010. The only question will be where Jay Bay ends up and who replaces him. And if that name is Holliday, then it is a sharp downgrade.

The yankees have had a busy day. It started yesterday with the signing of RHP Graham Stoneburner out of Clemson. The big, hard throwing sinkerballer with a ton of projection who was taken out of the 15th round and signed over slot Today, it started at the top. Slade Heathcott, the 2009 first round pick of NYY, and the versatile HS lefty CFer and pitcher has signed. JR Murphy (2nd round), the HS catcher with the very strong bat has also signed And out of the fifth round, Caleb Cotham has signed. He is widely considered our best pitcher in the draft and was signed for the second highest bonus of anyone in the 5th round. He is the biggest sleeper in the draft and will likely blow through the low levels quickly in 2010 There are expected to be plenty more to come as today is the deadline

Joba, Pettitte and Mitre are better than Buchholz, Penny and Tazawa. And if you remove Tazawa and put in a hobbled wakefield, I still think ours is better. And one must remember, the pitching matchups are significantly influenced by the lineup opposing them. I think CC and AJ can neutralize and beat Beckett and Lester in the playoffs mostly because our lineup is much, much better than yours.

yankees surpassed them awhile ago

13 baserunners in 5 innings is terrible. And no strikeouts. This guy is not the savior of 2009. He has one really good pitch and needs to work on the location of his FB to be effective. His SR's varied widely from Japan, but the majority had him right around 90mph with the heat and with a knee buckling curve. He's shown this, albeit without the consistency yet in the strike zone to be useful. I dont think he's a future ace, not by a long shot, but he should profile well into the middle or back of a rotation once he gets his command issues squared away. That being said, he belongs in AAA for the rest of this season and most of next. If he has a rotation spot coming out of the gate in 2010, then Theo made a mistake cause he isnt ready.

Gom, not sure where you get that from. He's 23 in his first full yr of starting in the toughest division in baseball. He's erratic. Some innings, he looks untouchable. Others, he leaves balls over the plate and makes bonehead decisions. That is what young pitchers do. You gotta roll with the lumps in order to reap the reward. I expect 2010 to be a really big yr for him

you obviously arent very smart or observant. No wonder why you are panhandling with a law degree

Joba was all over the place today. The slider was useless, but his changeup actually looked pretty good. He's been nothing but inconsistent and maddening this yr, something I expect him to improve upon next yr

There are some dumbass cocky yankee fans who are cocky for the sake of being an *******. Then, there are the rest of us, who start feeling really good about the team when it is pretty obvious that they are the best team in the game. THats the level we are at right now