Sunday, July 31, 2016

Trade Reaction: Andrew Miller For Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller, and JP Feyereisen

I hate to see Andrew Miller go.

Just look at that face.

He pitched in 104 games since signing with the Yankees, and had an ERA of 1.77 and WHIP of .822. Since 2014 only two relief pitchers had a higher fWAR than Miller, and that was Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances.

Not only was Miller an awesome reliever, whether he was the set-up man or closer, but so many people talk up him as a person. From teammates, coaches, and those in the media, Andrew was liked by all.

And to top all that off the Yankees were only paying the guy $9 million a year, and had him under contract for another two years.

But I guess Brian Cashman and others came to the realization that the Yankees were not going to be World Series contenders any time soon, and made moves to build a core of players the team could build around later. Particularly in what will be an extremely exciting 2018-2019 offseason.

In exchange for Miller the Yankees got another nice haul of players.

Firstly there's Clint Frazier. Frazier is a center fielder who was playing for Columbus, the Indians' AAA affiliate. Clint looks like he could be a 20 home run/20 stolen base player in the Majors. But seeing as how he's only played 5 games in AAA, it's not like he's ready to jump into MLB right away. It's likely that Frazier opens next season in Scranton.

Columbus is a nicer town*, but who wouldn't rather be a Yankee?
*I'm a little biased on that.

Next the Yankees received Justus Sheffield from the Indians. Like Frazier, Sheffield is also a former first round draft pick. He's a left-handed starter, currently playing in high-A ball. His numbers don't look great, but Baseball America placed Justus at #69 in their Top 100 Prospect list recently, so there's some big-time upside to the guy.

The final two players coming to New York are Ben Heller and JP Feyereisen. Both of these guys are right-handed relievers. Ben has spent his last 28 games at AAA Columbus, so he could help the Yankees bullpen soon. JP, on the other hand, is currently playing at the AA level, so he could be a year or so away from the big club. Both guys are strikeout pitchers that could help make the Yankees bullpen strong for years to come.

I took a look at the Yankees current crop of prospects and got a big smile on my face. Here are some prospects the Yankees have, and where they rank in Baseball America's midseason Top 100 Prospect List...

Jorge Mateo #19
Clint Frazier #21
Gleyber Torres #27
Gary Sanchez #36
Aaron Judge #42
Justus Sheffield #69
James Kaprielian #99

How awesome is that? And that doesn't include Greg Bird, who could take over for Mark Teixeira at first base on Opening Day 2017. As well as Luis Severino, who's had it rough this season, but is still young and has a ton of upside. And what about the Yankees first rounder this year, Blake Rutherford? He should be in that Top 100 list next season as well.

That's an incredible crop of youngsters.

It seems clear now that the Yankees are selling. Why else would they trade away such an awesome player in Andrew Miller, who they have on a team-friendly contract for another two years? While their asking price for Carlos Beltran is reportedly too high (so was Miller's a few days ago), and Ivan Nova doesn't have that much interest surrounding him, I think we're in for plenty more before the deadline arrives tomorrow night.

Who's Cashman talking to now?

13 comments:

  1. Jorge Mateo #19
    Clint Frazier #21
    Gleyber Torres #27
    Gary Sanchez #36
    Aaron Judge #42
    Justus Sheffield #69
    James Kaprielian #99
    Greg Bird
    Luis Severino
    Blake Rutherford?
    Jacob Lindgren?

    We have some guys that could fit in very well as the 7th or 8th inning RP. How about Domingo "Ace" Acevedo, Austin DeCarr, Chance Adams, Cale Coshow, Jeff Degano and how about the pitchers we have gotten in the trades?!?

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    Replies
    1. Holy cow, does the future look great or what?!?!

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    2. Yes, it does Bryan, you and Daniel have started a Revolution within the Yankees Fanbase. Now we have fans talking about who we can get in return for this guy or that guy instead of let's get so and so to play 3rd or OF etc.!
      Granted, it will start up once more, after the deadline and things settle down a bit.
      A couple of naysayers have been saying our Farm is not any good, but even without the new players it was good (not great) now it is much better with 7 (plus-1...Bird), we can look forward to new players coming to the forefront with the big team.
      Being honest, I like it a lot but one must remember that are not veteran players...so we shall see how things work out, well, I hope!

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    3. The future is definitely bright in the Bronx. I'm going to have to buy me some sunglasses. This is great, I have been waiting for weekends like this and trade deadlines like this since 2005 when I first started coveting prospects so dearly.

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  2. Bryan, what are your thoughts on Hicks and Castro, other than Castro has the name of a dead anarchist?
    Mine is; Castro is a bad ball hitter...see the ball, hit the ball type (as was Yogi). But the thing is, one must recognize the pitch before swinging at a pitch off the plate.
    Hicks is or can be a very useful player with the Yankees if he can get his bat working as well as his fielding is. The thing is, we have a few guys on the farm that are better and younger...he is history, I think.

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    Replies
    1. Neither guy is long for this team.

      Castro will be replaced sooner or later, as the team has an incredible amount of depth with up the middle infielders. I wouldn't be surprised to see him elsewhere on Opening Day next season.

      I hate giving up on a guy under 27 years old, but the Yankees have way too much depth in the outfield to keep Aaron Hicks around. He'll probably stick around this season, but when rosters expand his playing days in pinstripes will come to an end.

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    2. Okay, I'll take back the Castro thing. Sort of...

      He will likely be around on Opening Day '17. But by Opening Day '18 I think we'll see a change.

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    3. I agree Bryan, it isn't as though they are old players! Sometimes it is like a light going on and things change for the better.
      In this case, I haven't seen any lights going off after all the at bats they have had...but, believe it or not, many players need a bit longer to adapt so I will give them this year, we just (as you said) have too much talent waiting in the wings.

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    4. I really like Castro for some reason. His stats don't exactly say I should, some stats are comparable to Stephen Drew actually if you used advanced metrics, but for some reason I just cannot get behind Hicks.

      For example, yesterday the guy can't even get a bunt down. I know it's easier said than done and easy for me to say behind this computer screen but I'm not a MLB player and I'm not paid like one either. He is. He isn't getting the fundamentals done.

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    5. A note on the bunt thing.....
      Most players in the big leagues don't know how to bunt very well and some have never even bunted a ball in the Big Time at all.
      Guys like Brett, Refsy, Didi and Ells learn how to bunt because they had good coaches or have speed but not big time Power.

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    6. Agree. I'm not saying it was an easy thing by any means because that would be foolish of me to say but I did say that he, a MLB hitter, should be able to bunt. whether his coaches let him down or not in that department is a whole other discussion for a whole other thread but a MLB player should be able to bunt consistently. Bottom line. My two pennies anyway.

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    7. Bunting is an art, everyone can do it...if taught right! Some can do it well and others can't or are not very good at it at all. Many power hitters never even tried to bunt in their life. A case of, to much talent can be a bad thing.

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    8. Yeah I see that point. I am just hard on Hicks I guess. I'm not overly impressed with his defense, his bat has been atrocious and when I see him not being able to do things you're taught (presumably) in Little League it just rubs me the wrong way. Especially when the team is losing.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)