Mark Newman is the vice president of baseball operations
with the New York Yankees and is believed to be retiring after this season.
Newman has been with the Yankees for 26 seasons and has spent the last 15
seasons as the head of the team’s minor league development system. Whether this
was a forced retirement or Newman’s decision remains to be seen as if you
remember last offseason Hal Steinbrenner vowed to review all aspects of the
Yankees minor league system after a disappointing 2013 season. With the Yankees
likely headed towards their second straight season without a playoff berth,
although the Yankees system produced many more MLB caliber players this season
than last, the heat may have been on Newman and company.
With Newman retiring the Yankees system may be in for a bit
of a shake up with Newman being the first domino to fall. It’s no secret that
since the 2009 World Series Championship team, the team that had the highest
percentage of homegrown talent on the active 25 man roster, the Yankees have
struggled to produce much in the way of MLB talent out of their system. That
2009 stat is also a little skewed as that included much of Gene Michael’s work
with the Core Four and Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy
Pettitte on the team. That team, and about every team since then, has relied
heavily on the free agent market and international market and news rules in the
Collective Bargaining Agreement have changed the game and affected the way the
Yankees do business.
No longer can teams just spend heavily and expect to win as
free agents in their prime are not hitting the free agent market anymore. A
definite importance has been placed on the farm system and cost effective full
time players and the Yankees are not producing many of those outside of the
plethora of bullpen arms they have shot to the Bronx over the last few seasons.
This and other factors may have led to Newman’s retirement, although his
contract was set to expire at the end of the season anyway.
Former Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman is being
considered for the job as well as Damon Oppenheimer, the team’s vice president
and director of amateur scouting. One member of the organization that does not
seem likely to succeed Newman is Pat Roessler, the director of player
development, as his job is likely to be vacant soon as well.
Stick Michael was GM 1992 to 95! He had nothing to do with drafting or signing Posada, Mo, Andy or Bernie, the first three were drafted and signed by Peterson in 1990.
ReplyDeleteYes, the core four came up with "Stick" as GM. Why is he the one to get the credit for the Core Four when he had nothing to do with Drafting or Signing them? Showalter was the one that wanted Mo as a BP pitcher...he was a starter in the minors.