Meet a Prospect: Jonathan Diaz

The New York Yankees are doing anything and everything they can to prepare for the 2016 season. New York's plan seems to be to have as much depth and insurance as possible in the minor leagues while relying on the farm system, finally, while waiting out these long and bulky contracts that have hampered the organization for so long. In just a couple years the contracts of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and CC Sabathia will be gone and the names of Luis Severino, Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez will be leading the next Yankees dynasty. That's the plan anyway and the best plans need Plan B and Plan C, one of those Plan B's or Plan C's include the latest minor league signing, Jonathan Diaz.

This is Meet a Prospect: The Jonathan Diaz Edition. Jonathan Diaz was born on April 10, 1985 and spent his High School years at Coral Gables High School. While at Coral Gables Diaz played aside fellow Major League players Yonder Alonso and Eddy Rodriguez who watched Diaz finish his High School career with a strong .323 average in his senior season with six doubles and a home run. Diaz went to NC State to continue his baseball career but struggled in his freshman year. Diaz improved during his sophomore and junior years at NC State and caught the eyes of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 12th round, 360 overall, in the 2006 MLB Draft.


Diaz was placed at the shortstop position to begin his professional career and spent the 2006-2012 seasons in the minor leagues with varying degrees of success for Toronto. Diaz was never known for his bat but it was his defense that led Toronto to invite him to Spring Training camp in 2011 where he almost made the team as one of the final cuts. Diaz was back with the club in the spring of 2012 as well but was cut after just 23 games despite hitting .405 with seven RBI and nine runs scored. Diaz finished the 2012 season still in the Toronto minor league system and never made the Major Leagues as a member of the Blue Jays.


Diaz moved on from Toronto after the 2012 season and moved to their AL East rival Boston Red Sox after signing a minor league deal on December 16, 2012. Another trip to spring training in 2013 and another late cut and assignment to the minor leagues. Boston did come calling on June 29, 2013 and promoted him to the Major Leagues to make his MLB debut against the team that drafted him, the Toronto Blue Jays. Diaz was called up because Brock Holt and Stephen Drew were injured while Will Middlebrooks was ineligible to get called back up due to the 10 day rule. Diaz lasted until July 6 of that season when Holt was ready to return and Diaz was sent back to Triple-A.


Diaz returned to Toronto for the 2014 and 2015 seasons and began the 2014 season with the big league club after a Jose Reyes injury gave him the opportunity. Diaz received his 2013 World Series ring during that 2014 season and was up and down between the minor leagues and major leagues before ultimately being designated for assignment. Diaz came back to the team in 2015 to give the team some insurance for Reyes and once again a Reyes injury allowed Diaz a trip back to the Major Leagues. Diaz appeared in just seven games in 2015 and batted .154 with two RBI before hitting free agency once again.


Diaz will now look to latch on with the New York Yankees during the 2015 season after signing a minor league deal with the club. Diaz will look to win a job in spring training or start the season in Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders. Welcome to the organization Jonathan and welcome to the family as well.

Meet a Prospect: Jonathan Diaz

The New York Yankees are doing anything and everything they can to prepare for the 2016 season. New York's plan seems to be to have as much depth and insurance as possible in the minor leagues while relying on the farm system, finally, while waiting out these long and bulky contracts that have hampered the organization for so long. In just a couple years the contracts of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and CC Sabathia will be gone and the names of Luis Severino, Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez will be leading the next Yankees dynasty. That's the plan anyway and the best plans need Plan B and Plan C, one of those PLan B's or Plan C's include the latest minor league signing, Jonathan Diaz.

This is Meet a Prospect: The Jonathan Diaz Edition. Jonathan Diaz was born on April 10, 1985 and spent his High School years at Coral Gables High School. While at Coral Gables Diaz played aside fellow Major League players Yonder Alonso and Eddy Rodriguez who watched Diaz finish his High School career with a strong .323 average in his senior season with six doubles and a home run. Diaz went to NC State to continue his baseball career but struggled in his freshman year. Diaz improved during his sophomore and junior years at NC State and caught the eyes of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 12th round, 360 overall, in the 2006 MLB Draft.

Diaz was placed at the shortstop position to begin his professional career and spent the 2006-2012 seasons in the minor leagues with varying degrees of success for Toronto. Diaz was never known for his bat but it was his defense that led Toronto to invite him to Spring Training camp in 2011 where he almost made the team as one of the final cuts. Diaz was back with the club in the spring of 2012 as well but was cut after just 23 games despite hitting .405 with seven RBI and nine runs scored. Diaz finished the 2012 season still in the Toronto minor league system and never made the Major Leagues as a member of the Blue Jays.

Diaz moved on from Toronto after the 2012 season and moved to their AL East rival Boston Red Sox after signing a minor league deal on December 16, 2012. Another trip to spring training in 2013 and another late cut and assignment to the minor leagues. Boston did come calling on June 29, 2013 and promoted him to the Major Leagues to make his MLB debut against the team that drafted him, the Toronto Blue Jays. Diaz was called up because Brock Holt and Stephen Drew were injured while Will Middlebrooks was ineligible to get called back up due to the 10 day rule. Diaz lasted until July 6 of that season when Holt was ready to return and Diaz was sent back to Triple-A. 

Diaz returned to Toronto for the 2014 and 2015 seasons and began the 2014 season with the big league club after a Jose Reyes injury gave him the opportunity. Diaz received his 2013 World Series ring during that 2014 season and was up and down between the minor leagues and major leagues before ultimately being designated for assignment. Diaz came back to the team in 2015 to give the team some insurance for Reyes and once again a Reyes injury allowed Diaz a trip back to the Major Leagues. Diaz appeared in just seven games in 2015 and batted .154 with two RBI before hitting free agency once again. 

Diaz will now look to latch on with the New York Yankees during the 2015 season after signing a minor league deal with the club. Diaz will look to win a job in spring training or start the season in Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders. Welcome to the organization Jonathan and welcome to the family as well. 

Chase Headley for James Shields?

How did we ever make it back even in the 1990’s without cell phones, the internet at the touch of our fingers and social media? Honestly I’ll never know but I know one thing for sure, I don’t want to go back. Facebook is nice, Google+ was okay for a minute but I truly cannot get enough of twitter. The absolute interaction and user interface just gets me and I love it. I love interacting with everyone who reads the blog. You float me your thoughts on my articles and you, either directly or indirectly, float ideas for articles there as well. Much like this article I am about to tackle as one of my good friends, Michael Brogna, suggested trading third baseman Chase Headley back to the San Diego Padres for right-handed starting pitcher James Shields. Would it work?

My immediate question to Mike was who would play third base and replace Headley? Currently the only Yankees player I would “trust” at the position defensively is Brendan Ryan, yuck. Sure it’s easy to just say “add Yangervis Solarte” in the deal or “take on Jedd Gyorko’s salary (who has since been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals) and play him there” or even “just trade for Trevor Plouffe” but the league doesn’t work like that. Solarte was one of San Diego’s better hitters in 2015 and it’s going to take a lot more than just Chase Headley to pry him away, again. Jedd Gyorko is not a third baseman, never has been and likely never will be. He held his own at shortstop last season but he’s not going to get better the more he ages, he’s going to get worse. He was used as a shortstop out of necessity and out of desperation, not because his bat dictated him being there. Finally, simply trading for a young and controllable guy isn’t that easy. Especially for a young team that plans on contending as soon as the 2016 season. It’s just not that easy.

Looking at the third base market I don’t see much available right now for the Yankees to acquire. The most attractive pieces are Juan Uribe, Will Middlebrooks, David Freese and Mark Reynolds. No, on a minor league deal then maybe, interesting but still probably a no and who wants 15 home runs and 200 strikeouts this season with defense that will make Headley’s look Gold Glove caliber? And while we’re on the subject who wants James Shields and that incredibly back loaded and overpaid contract? Isn’t this team trying to get away from deals like these?

Mike, I love you bro and I appreciate and respect your input and opinion on this but I just can’t back you on it. Only way I’m taking Shields is on a salary dump where the team loses nothing. This plugs a hole that wasn’t really a problem to begin with and makes a huge hole at third base and in the lineup. As it stands today I have to say no thank you. 

43 New Free Agents, Any Destined for Pinstripes?

The deadline has come and gone and now all 30 Major League teams have decided whether they are going to tender a contract to their non-tender candidates and players. When the smoke cleared 43 players were added to the free agency pool after being non-tendered and about half as many trades, signing and moves went down before the deadline. 43 more warm bodies for all 30 teams to choose from but will the Yankees take a waiver on any of them?

The field of 43 is highlighted by former Houston Astros slugger Chris Carter, former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez and Kansas City Royals former closer Greg Holland. None of these three likely intrigue the Yankees much, Carter is a first baseman and hit just .199 with 24 home runs last season while Alvarez is a first baseman only out of necessity. He can’t field at third base and he’s barely marginal defensively at first base after falling out of grace with the Pirates. Holland had Tommy John surgery late in the 2015 season and will almost 100% miss the entire 2016 season as well while rehabbing the injury.

Other not-so-notable names to join the free agency frenzy includes Oakland A’s first baseman Ike Davis, former Giants World Series start Yusmeiro Petit, injured Miami Marlins pitchers Henderson Alvarez and Aaron Crow, relief pitcher Cesar Ramos, Padres third baseman and former Boston Red Sox player Will Middlebrooks, Neftali Feliz, Al Albuquerque, catcher Tyler Flowers, Jacob Turner and Atlanta Braves left-handed starter Mike Minor.

Minor league deals could be handed out to many of these players if they were willing to sign, especially Alvarez, Middlebrooks (the Yankees have almost zero insurance at third base for Chase Headley), and Minor (because, duh, he throws left-handed). Nothing really intrigues me on this roster although I do wonder if Cashman is intrigued by Tyler Flowers. Flowers could give Yankees backup catcher Gary Sanchez more time to fine-tune his development in Triple-A. No way to tell so you’re just going to have to stay tuned.