Contrary to popular belief the Greedy Pinstripes is not the
only shop in town covering the New York Yankees and their minor league
affiliates. I say that with extreme sarcasm but there are some publications out
there that truly either think that or at the very least act like it. That’s not
me and that’s not us. We strove to be different and do it our way when we
started this blog over five years ago and I think we’ve done a pretty damn good
job at it personally, but I am clearly bias on the matter truth be told. I said
all that to say this. I’m not afraid and have never been afraid to read other
people’s work and I absolutely have no problem giving credit where credit is
due which leads me to Lou DiPietro’s recent article YESNetwork.com regarding
James Kaprielian, the upcoming decision on whether to add him to the 40 man
roster and whether to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft or not. Here are my
thoughts on his article which can be seen on the YESNetwork.com.
As we all know the Yankees right-handed pitching prospect
underwent Tommy John surgery last week which will keep him out at least until
the halfway point of the 2018 season. This is important because the Yankees
have until after the 2018 season to decide whether they should and will add
Kaprielian to the 40 man roster as a way of protecting him from being taken by
other teams in the annual Rule 5 Draft. This, in my opinion, should not even be
up for discussion. Protect Kaprielian, period.
Kaprielian missed basically the entire 2016 season with a
right flexor strain in his elbow and will miss all of this season as well with
the elbow injury but don’t think that will deter teams from taking him in the
Rule 5 Draft. If history has taught us anything it is that Kaprielian will be
taken regardless, whether it is in the Major League phase or the minor league
phase of the draft. In his article DiPietro points out that the Yankees have
lost pitchers like Ty Hensley in the minor league phase in recent years and
Hensley has had many more injuries and is farther away from the Majors than
Kaprielian is today. Without a doubt if Kaprielian is left unprotected one of
the other 29 teams in the league will snatch him up, there is zero doubt in my
mind.
There’s some pitchers and players you take a chance with in
the Rule 5 Draft, Dietrich Enns for example this past season who I thought
would ultimately be taken and wasn’t, and there are others you absolutely
cannot take a chance with, Miguel Andujar from this winter for example, and Kaprielian
is definitely more of the latter than the former. So for now, and I doubt my
mind changes much between now and October of 2018, you must protect Kaprielian
on the 40 man roster.
What say you? Leave it below in the comments section or
tweet us @GreedyStripes with your thoughts.
Not trying to argue semantics here Daniel, but Enns was not selected because he was added to the 40 man roster. Had he been exposed, he surely would have been selected. That being said, I agree with you. Kaprelian absolutely has to be protected. Teams like Tampa Bay and San Diego would snatch him up in a heartbeat and stash him in the bullpen if need be. There's just too much upside to him not to. We all saw what that moron AJ Preller did with the Rule 5 last winter.
ReplyDeleteThought I read somewhere that he wasn't. Meh. My apologies.
DeleteI was actually surprised it was even up for discussion on the YES Network. By the time the Yankees have to make the decision, Kaprielian will be more than a year removed from the surgery and well underway with rehabilitation. In retrospect, Kaprielian should have had TJ surgery last year. But regardless, he is a talent that must be protected. As for Hensley, I had no problems with his loss. If he finally overcomes his struggles with injuries, great for him but I prefer it to be on someone else's dime at this point. I am not confident he'll ever succeed.
ReplyDeleteWell, I understand that he's routinely be injured. Hey, they were high on Lindgren and didnt protect him last year, plus we are routinely having players that can't kick injuries.
DeleteIn my opinion, this dude has become a millionaire from this franchise and hasn't done a freaking thing, which is a smack in the face to the other what, 3k minor league players in the mlb that are busting their asses earning like 2k a month, trying to make it to the bigs.
BUT hey, Jacob degrom was only a year younger than kap and he's like, top 20 pitchers in mlb now. And hopefully, we will get a half season to check him out before adding him to the 40 man.
Tldr: add him, we've protected much less on the 40 man.
I believe Kaprielian, Severino and Montgomery are the three best pitchers we have. Those three along with Sheffield, Pineda could be the backbone of the pitching staff for years to come and there are about 2 to 5 others that are coming along in a few years.
ReplyDeleteTake it to the bank!
I have had enough of Pineda, he's not tricking me! Unless Reed, you can promise that Patrick comes to The Greedy Pinstripes and says "pineda is a moron," and he will subsequently throw a gem again!
Delete