The farm is not what it used to be. But that's because the Yanks graduated a bunch of top prospects (Torres, Andujar, Frazier) and traded a bunch of other top prospects (Sheffield, Estrada, Tate) for big league pieces. I think the Yanks have a great outlook for the next several years coming off a 100 win season and still having a solid farm. Their upper level prospects are more likely to be depth/average starters, but that's really all they need at this point with their current roster. The Yankees' most highly talented players are years away from potentially being called up and that's fine considering how the big league team is setup for the next few years.
The craziest stat I saw in favor of Mariano getting in unanimously was postseason WPA compared to everyone else in history:
1.Mariano Rivera: +11.7
2.Curt Schilling: +4.1
3.John Smoltz: +3.6
4.Andy Pettitte: +3.5
5.Jon Lester & David Ortiz: +3.2 (tie)
Lot of NY and Boston on that list.
It's almost the same bullpen as last season, except Ottavino replaces D-Rob. Not that it's a bad thing since last year's bullpen had the highest total WAR since 1950. To me the big differences from 2018 to this year will be if Kahnle can become effective again and if Holder can repeat his success with his limited stuff. Also curious to see if Tarpley carves out a role for himself.
Yeah but my guess is they were only able to get him at a reasonable $9M AAV by giving him that third year. I'm sure he would have cost around $12M/year on a two year deal (similar to Dave Robertson).
Just to divert the conversation to something actually about baseball:
Steamer 2019 Projections
Severino: 4.5 WAR
Paxton: 4.0 WAR
Tanaka: 2.6 WAR
Happ: 2.8 WAR
CC: 1.2 WAR
Gray/German/Lasagna: 1.2 WAR
16.3 Total for SPs
Sale: 6.1 WAR
Price: 3.1 WAR
Eovaldi: 2.7 WAR
Porcello: 2.6 WAR
ERod: 1.9 WAR
Velazquez/Wright/Johnson: 0.3 WAR
16.7 Total WAR for SPs
----------------------------------------------------------
Chapman: 1.3 WAR
Betances: 1.1 WAR
Chad Green: 0.8 WAR
Britton: 0.8 WAR
Holder: 0.2 WAR
Cessa: 0.2 WAR
Kahnle: 0.2 WAR
Tarpley: 0.0 WAR
4.6 Total WAR for RPs
Barnes: 0.8 WAR
Brasier: 0.3 WAR
Hembree: 0.2 WAR
Brewer: 0.1 WAR
Carson Smith: 0.1 WAR
Mystery Relievers: 1.0 WAR? (I'm sure Boston will sign one above average RP, not sure who else)
2.5 Total WAR for RPs
----------------------------------------------------------
Judge: 4.8 WAR
Stanton: 3.7 WAR
Sanchez/Romine: 3.7 WAR
Hicks: 3.5 WAR
Didi/Tulo: 2.9 WAR
Andujar: 2.5 WAR
Torres/Wade: 2.4 WAR
Voit/Bird: 1.9 WAR
Gardner: 1.6 WAR
27.0 Total WAR for Starting Lineup
Betts: 7.2 WAR
Bogaerts: 4.3 WAR
JD: 3.8 WAR
Nintendo: 3.6 WAR
Devers/Nunez: 2.9 WAR
JBJ: 2.8 WAR
Pedroia/Holt: 2.7 WAR
Pearce/Moreland: 1.7 WAR
Vaz/Leon: 1.4 WAR
30.4 Total WAR for Starting Lineup
----------------------------------------------------------
Yankees Total WAR: 47.9
Red Sox Total WAR: 49.6
Dammit I figured the Yankees would be ahead by the end. What a waste of time.
Yanks lost six guys in the Rule 5 draft (and selected one). Nick Green is the biggest loss but otherwise nothing too notable. Sox actually took one guy from us, Anyelo Gomez, who we lost and regained to the Rule 5 draft last year. I guess nobody wanted Ockimetyakamehameha after all.
Meh. Happ really fell apart towards the end of last season. His velocity and spin rates all got worse which is a bad sign. Hopefully it had more to do with his workload than his age.
Edit: the deal is not final supposedly. Premature leak.
I'm curious if most people here still have an expectation of Pedroia coming back and being productive? I thought he was on the verge of retirement after last season.
Corbin is more of a high end #2 SP but got paid like a bonafide ace. So in that sense I'm glad the Yankees did pay up for him. BUT it's not my money being spent and he would have definitely improved the team, so in that sense I'm a bit disappointed they didn't overpay to get him.
The Yankees never seemed as high on Sheffield as all of the scouting reports. We'll see if this one comes back to bite them.
But for the 2019 season, Paxton is definitely a huge upgrade to the rotation. Hopefully he can stay healthy for a whole year. I don't think he's ever done that in the majors.
Betances: 2.70 ERA, 2.47 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 15.5 K/9
Barnes: 3.65 ERA, 2.71 FIP, 1.26 WHIP, 14.0 K/9
While Barnes had a good year, one is clearly better than the other.