Ricky Ledee to Aaron Judge Trade Tree

 

Don't call it a comeback.... but we're back for the first time in what feels like forever with possibly a new set of content for all the Yankees fans reading today. How in the world did Ricky Ledee, I'll give you all a minute to Google the former Yankees left fielder in the dynasty years, lead the Yankees to their captain, Aaron Judge? That's what we are here to discuss with you all today.

The New York Yankees selected outfielder Ricky Ledee in the 16th round of the 1990 MLB Draft. While with the Yankees, Ledee spent parts of the 19998  - 2000 seasons in the Bronx winning two World Series rings with the club. After 62 games with the club in 2000, the Yankees needed an outfield upgrade for the postseason, which led New York to trade Ledee to the Cleveland Indians (Guardians) along with Jake Westbrook and Zach Day for popular star David Justice. 

Justice would stay with the Yankees for the 2000 season, winning a World Series against the New York Mets, as well as the 2001 season, seeing the team fall to the Arizona Diamondbacks in seven games, before being traded to the New York Mets prior to the 2002 season. Justice was traded in a rare cross-town trade with the Mets for third baseman Robin Ventura. 

Ventura was an All Star with the Yankees in 2002, falling short of the ultimate crown of World Series champions, before being flipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers halfway through the 2003 season. On July 31, 2003 the Yankees shipped Ventura off to the Dodgers for RHP Scott Proctor and outfield prospect Bubba Crosby. 

Proctor quickly became one of Joe Torre's favorite and most relied upon reliever during his stint with the Yankees, pitching in a league high 83 games in 2006. Proctor would throw in an identical 83 games during the 2007 season, but only 52 of those innings came with the Yankees, interrupted by another midseason trade back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. For what it's worth, New York didn't do much with Bubba Crosby after the trade aside from using him as our "starting center fielder" in the negotiations with then-Boston Red Sox free agent center fielder Johnny Damon. 

Another July 31 trade for New York saw the addition of infielder Wilson Betemit to bolster their bench, while the Dodgers added back Proctor to strengthen their bullpen. Betemit would spend two seasons in the Bronx, including the final year of the old Yankee Stadium in 2008, before the Yankees, who missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1994 strike-shortened season, went out and aggressively began adding to the team. Betemit was traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2009 season, along with Jeff Marquez (draftyed and developed by the Yankees) and Jhonny Nunez (who was acquired in a separate trade involving Alberto Gonzalez from the Yankees side) for outfielder Nick Swisher and reliever Kanekoa Texeira. 

The Yankees would go on to win the World Series in 2009, behind Swisher and their flury of new additions, and were back on top of the baseball world. The team could not repeat their successes in 2010, nor in 2011 or 2012 before Swisher left the Yankees via free agency. Swisher would sign with the Cleveland Indians (Guardians) prior to the 2013 season, thus giving New York a compensation pick between the first and second rounds of the 2013 MLB First year Player's Draft. 

With the 32nd pick overall, the New York Yankees selected Aaron James Judge and the rest, as they say, is history. Judge has had a 62 home run season, breaking the American League single-season home run record, along with a 58 home run season in 2024, but the World Series trophy has eluded Judge since breaking through with the team in 2016. 

Imagine a world where the New York Yankees didn't have Aaron Judge playing in their outfield in the Bronx, kind of hard to picture right? Well that would have certainly been a reality had the Yankees not drafted Ledee way back in 1990. A lot of chips had to fall a certain way to lead the team to where they are today and I, for one, am happy with the progression. Judge will presumably spend his entire year with the Yankees as their captain of the squad and we all, as fans, have the likes of Ledee, Ventura, Proctor, Betemit and Swisher, to name a few, to thank for it.

Cashman: Is the Rotation Full or is the Rotation "Full?"

"Who is Bubba Crosby?" - Hal Steinbrenner

Brian Cashman once garnered the name from Yankees fans "Ninja Cashman" for the way he carried himself and the way he conducted business as the GM of the New York Yankees. Whenever Cashman would make a deal, and most of his major deals specifically, no one would read about it on MLB Trade Rumors or other media sites weeks or days or even hours in advance. You wouldn't hear about the first bit of interest and then boom, the player is acquired. Remember when "Bubba Crosby was the Yankees starting center fielder" only to see him sign Johnny Damon a few weeks later? There's plenty of other instances as well including the most recent trade involving Aroldis Chapman but that's not important, what is important though is the fact that Ninja Cashman could be lying in the weeds for another attack.

In an interview with reporters during a conference call last week Cashman responded that the "rotation was full" when asked about whether he was going to acquire another starting pitcher or not. Sorry Cashman but I find it hard to take you at face value anymore. Is the rotation full? Or is the rotation "full?"

It's hard to say either way. A trade could be in the works and he could be saying this to keep the price down. He could be working on a deal that bring Wei-Yin Chen to the Bronx and doesn't want to tip his hand or he could be serious about the seven starting pitching options he currently has at his disposal on the 40 man roster. The thing at this point is, who know for sure?

Does Cashman even know? I doubt it. Stay tuned.

Let the Long, Cold Wet Winter Commence

The 2015 World Series ended on Sunday, November 1^st 2015 with the Kansas City Royals toppling the New York Mets in five games. While many of us, myself included, wasted an hour and a half watching the incredibly boring “Morgan” episode of The Walking Dead the hardcore fans watched the Royals come from behind yet again and win it all in front of the Mets home crowd thus starting the clock for the long, cold and wet winter to commence.

I believe in my heart of hearts that this offseason and winter is going to be especially long for the Yankees and their fans. Last winter was long and the team signed Chase Headley to man third base, Andrew Miller to close out games for the team and traded essentially Shane Greene for Didi Gregorius. Including the Nathan Eovaldi for Martin Prado, plus other pieces, deal the Yankees really only made four major deals last winter. Truth be told that may be four more deals than what the Yankees make this offseason, the roster is basically set.

The gift and the curse with the New York Yankees right now is their farm system and the fact that it is actually producing Major League level and caliber talent. I believe the years of filling every spot on the Major League roster with overpaid 30-somethings are over and I truly believe we are finally in the position to see just what the farm system has to offer. Does that mean the Yankees are going to have a $130 million payroll anytime soon? Lord know, they are still going to spend. The difference is when Brian Cashman says that “Bubba Crosby” is the Yankees starting center fielder on Opening Day I think he may mean it this time around.

When an opposing team or free agent knows you want a veteran presence to fill the void and know you’re not going to give the position to a young guy they get into the position of power. Cashman will not be giving that power to anyone this offseason in my opinion. Dustin Ackley and Robert Refsnyder will platoon at second base, Brendan Ryan will be the backup shortstop with Jose Pirela bouncing around everywhere in the infield and the outfield and the bench and bullpen will likely be filled out from within. The only signing I can see the Yankees making is the signing of a right-handed power hitting outfielder for the bench a la Chris Young from 2015 and half of 2014. That’s it.

The starting pitching is set, not that it cannot be improved with a trade or two, the bullpen is set, the starting lineup is set and the bench is basically set outside of a few spring training competitions or relatively minor moves. This has all the makings of a long, wet and cold winter ahead for Yankees fans, brace yourselves. Well unless Brian Cashman gets really, really creative. 

Yankees Not In on Asdrubal Cabrera

Whether this is all a ploy and Bubba Crosby is going to be our center fielder next season or if this is the truth remains to be seen but the New York Yankees are apparently "out" on Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera was at one point a offensive minded shortstop who has lost some range and is now better suited as a second baseman. Earlier in the week we reported that Cabrera would be willing to take a one year deal to establish his value and his market in next year's class, which would be right up the Yankees alley, but it seems like New York is content using Robert Refsnyder and/or Jose Pirela for the job.

In a word, good. The team doesn't need any more reclamation projects and the team doesn't need another veteran undeserving of a job that is blocking a prospect. Let Refsnyder have the job and let the Mets have Cabrera.

Alex Rodriguez: The $21 Million Backup First Baseman

Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees are preparing for the 2015 season without getting regular at bats or playing time in the field from Alex Rodriguez, and they should, but the latest blurbs have me scratching my head. The team has announced that Alex will work out at first base this spring in hopes of him being a viable backup option for Mark Teixeira. This news essentially makes A Rod a $21 million bench player with no real position if it's true and comes to fruition since the team is also looking at third base help to keep Alex off the left side of the infield.

Here's a quote from Cashman himself when talking to Ken Davidoff:

“We’re going to get him exposed to [first base]. It doesn’t mean he’ll be a viable option. But we just want to test the waters on it,” said the GM. “I think there was an area of vulnerability for us last year that was really predicated because of the outfield alignment that we had. We had more outfielders than necessary because the guaranteed commitments that we had kicked in, so I couldn’t get a backup first baseman situation. But hopefully we can alleviate that this year.” 

Either Bubba Crosby is going to be our every day center fielder or this team is really that scared to eat a very necessary $61 million crap sandwich. One would surprise me more than the other. 

Yankees Done Adding Major League Deals

According to Joel Sherman on Twitter the New York Yankees are done adding Major League contracts to their already crunched 40 man roster since Spring Training has started. That does not mean that we won't see another minor league deal or two but if you believe Mr. Sherman that does mean we will not be seeing Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, or Stephen Drew in Yankees pinstripes in 2014. This also means the Yankees are content with going with what they have in the bullpen, which could really work out for us or really, really back fire. It also could mean that the Yankees and Brian Cashman are pulling another "Bubba Crosby is our starting center fielder" line, stay tuned.