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All Home Grown Yankees Team - The Starting Rotation

We thought it would be fun to take a look at a hypothetical all Yankees home grown team using prospects that have come through the Yankees system. Just as a reminder we are only going to use players from the last 20 years or so for the sole purpose of including the dynasty years and cour four. We tried to stay away from guys that spent most of their minor league careers elsewhere only to come to New York later, for example Jose Quintana and Jose Veras who come to mind automatically, so keep that in mind as well before jumping up and down saying we snubbed somebody. 

Today we will look at the starting pitchers:

SP: Andy Pettitte

SP: Phil Hughes

SP: Ivan Nova

SP: Chien Ming Wang

SP: Ian Kennedy

Andy Pettitte is Andy Pettitte, that is really all that needs to be said. Over 250 wins in his career and retired sitting at the top of most of the Yankees all time pitching records. Andy came out of the Yankees system in 1995 and made an immediate impact on the team as part of three World Series Championships in the 90's. Andy would also get a ring in the year 2000 and 2009 before retiring as a Yankee for the second time in 2014.

Phil Hughes probably shows the weakness of Yankees home grown pitching in the last 20 seasons because he has struggled mightily. Hughes did have a 18 win season in 2010 though and had a few memorable moments including a perfect game run that fell short in Texas. Hughes Yankees career is all but over after a struggle of a 2013 season.

Ivan Nova has been a roller coaster of a pitcher for the Yankees since coming through the system including being lost to the Rule 5 draft only to be returned by the San Diego Padres. Nova threw his first two complete game shut outs this season and was absolutely lights out for most of the season after an injury sent him down to AAA to work on things.

Chien Ming Wang burst onto the scene as a part of the Yankees youth movement during the 2005 season and responded extremely well. Wang won 19 games in consecutive seasons and was well on his way a third time before a base running blunder basically ended his career in Houston.

Ian Kennedy was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a part of the Curtis Granderson deal after flying through the Yankees system after being drafted in the 2006 draft. Kennedy was on the 2009 Yankees World Series team although he was not on the playoff roster. Kennedy would have a 21 win season in 2011 for the Arizona Diamondbacks before being traded to the San Diego Padres this season.

All Yankees Home Grown Team From The Last 20 Years

The New York Yankees have not been known for their farm system since around the 1995 season where we saw the emergence of the "Cour Four" of Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada. The Yankees went through a time where there prospects were seasoned for the sole reason of trading for veterans or over priced talent or mercenaries for the big league club by the likes of Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner. Now with the Yankees trying to get back under the luxury tax thresh hold of $189 million the Yankees are having to go back to developing and relying on their own guys from their farm system again. We are going to take a look at the best of the best that the Yankees have developed over the last 20 years or so, whether they are still members of the Yankees anymore or not.

Last week we featured the greatest Yankees team of all time now let's look at what the Yankees have produced over the last 20 or so years out of the farm system this week. Enjoy!!!

This Day In New York Yankees History 11/11

On this day in 1941 Joltin' Joe Dimaggio won the American League Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his career. The Yankee Clipper edges Ted Williams in his season in which he hit .406 when a Red Sox writer leaves Williams off the ballot. The Curse of the Bambino continues...

Speaking of Joe Dimaggio on this day in 1948 the Yankee Clipper was put into John Hopkins Hospital in New York to remove bone spurs on his right heel. DiMaggio would not make his debut for the Yankees in 1949 until June, 28 of that season and would debut by hitting a single and a two run home run in his first two at bats in a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in Fenway.

Cano Has No Other Offers But Yankees Offer

I know it is still a little early in free agency to really worry about such things but Robinson Cano, according to Dan Martin, has yet to receive another offer other then the Yankees reported offer. Many teams may be waiting to see if Cano rejects his qualifying offer as expected tomorrow before making a formal offer to the All Star second base free agent. Joel Sherman has already reported that the Yankees cap for Cano is going to be six to eight years and $180-$200 million, something I have been saying the maximum should be all along.

The market will not be set until at least the Winter Meetings in December if history is any indicator of this market so Jay Z and Robbie shouldn't be too worried just yet. They will have to come down off their $305-$310 million ten year contract demands if they want to play ball, especially with the draft pick compensation that is expected to come with Cano.

Yankees Not Interested In Joba Chamberlain Reunion

The Yankees are not one of the twelve or so teams discussing whether or not to bring Joba Chamberlain into their bullpen for the 2014 season. The Yankees have seemingly grown tired of Joba's antics and home run givings and a reunion seems extremely unlikely at this point. Any guy can throw in the mid to upper 90's but if you do not have the control, the secondary pitches, the mindset, or the confidence to go with it then it's pretty useless as the Yankees learned the hard way the last two seasons.

Joba is 28 years old and is coming off of a season in which he posted a 4.93 ERA and 5.64 FIP in 42 innings including a hard to watch 6.53 FIP in the second half. The guy throws hard and has done it on the big stage before so he is going to get a job somewhere no doubt with the "change of scenery" and "low risk high reward" moniker attached to him.

Are The Yankees & Dodgers Trade Partners?

With the news that Carlos Beltran has declined the St. Louis Cardinals qualifying offer in search of a three or four year deal the Yankees may be out of the running for the 37 year old but that does not mean the Yankees may not get an upgrade in right field. According to Ken Rosenthal the Dodgers are shopping outfielders Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier in an effort to make room for probably Rookie of the Year Yasiel Puig. Should the Yankees be interested in and make a run at either Ethier or Kemp? We're purposely ignoring Carl Crawford because he is not a fit, I don't like him, and it's just not going to happen this year or ever.

Kemp obviously has his injury question marks as well as Ethier and both are owed big money long term going forward so should the Yankees take a look? Kemp is in his age 29 season and Ethier is 31 so they would both be younger and probably upgrades over Vernon Wells and Ichiro Suzuki but do they fit into the $189 mill;ion luxury tax goal? Doubtful but let's take a closer look.

Matt Kemp:

2014 – $21M, 2015 – $21M, 2016-2019 – $21.5M annually (6 years / $128 million)

AAV: $20,000,000

Andre Ethier:

2014 – $15.5M, 2015 – $18M, 2016 – $18M, 2017 – $17.5M, 2018 – $17.5M club option ($2.5M buyout) (4 years / $69 million plus option hat would make the $17.5 million a guaranteed year AAV wise).

AAV: $16,500,000 without option

AAV: $16,667,666 with vesting club option

Obviously, assuming health of course. Kemp is the better option here as he can still play center field and would easily be able to switch to a corner outfield spot later in his career. Kemp is also the better all around player and does not have the obvious glaring holes and splits in his offensive game. The problem will be that the Dodgers know all of this if I know all of this and the price will be much steeper unless we can sell them on the whole Boston Red Sox esque fiscal reset by taking him off the Dodgers hands and getting them to pay some of the salary. I don't see the Yankees acquiring either of these players when the day ends but Matt Kemp would be a huge upgrade for us offensively, defensively, and in the Wives and Girlfriends section of the site so my vote and support is in the Kemp corner.

The Big Awards Are Being Given Out Starting Tomorrow

The Baseball Writers Association of America, or the BBWAA, will start handing out their big time awards starting tomorrow through Thursday. Each award will be handed out daily at 6:00 pm ET on MLB Network by the BBWAA secretary treasurer Jack O'Connell. The Yankees are shut out of these awards unfortunately so we will just have to watch and admire from afar.

Here is a list below for every award, what day it is given out, and the finalists for each award. I have bolded who I expect to win the award. Enjoy..

MONDAY

AL Rookie of the Year: 

Chris Archer, Jose Iglesias, Wil Myers

NL Rookie of the Year: 

Jose Fernandez(should win it), Shelby Miller, Yasiel Puig

TUESDAY

AL Manager of the Year:

 John Farrell, Terry Francona, Bob Melvin

NL Manager of the Year:

 Fredi Gonzalez, Clint Hurdle, Don Mattingly

WEDNESDAY

AL Cy Young Award: 

Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Max Scherzer

NL Cy Young Award:

 Jose Fernandez, Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright

THURSDAY

AL Most Valuable Player: 

Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis, Mike Trout

NL Most Valuable Player: 

Paul Goldschmidt (should win it), Andrew McCutchen, Yadier Molina

Yankees hitters Williams, O'Brien struggle in 3-2 loss to Desert Dogs

Yankees hitters Peter O'Brien and Mason Williams combined to go 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts tonight as the Scorpions lost their third consecutive game to the Glendale Desert Dogs, 3-2. Individually, Williams went 0-for-4 with two Ks in this one, while O'Brien went 0-for-3 with the other two Ks. Needless to say, that's not very good. 

With this loss, the Scorpions are now officially eliminated from AFL postseason participation. That's unfortunate, but do we really care? I just want the Yankees prospects to play well, I could care less about the entire team. But still, if the Scorps had won the AFL title this year, I'd crack a smile. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 11/10

On this day in 1978 the New York Yankees traded the 1977 Cy Young Award winner Sparky Lyle, Dave Rajsich, Larry McCall, Domingo Ramos, Mike Heath, and $400,000 to the Texas Rangers for left handed pitchers Dave Righetti and Paul Mirabella, right handed pitcher Mike Griffin, and outfielder Juan Beniquez. What made this deal interesting was earlier in the year Graig Nettles spoke of Lyle by saying he would go from "Cy Young to sayonara" making his prediction a reality.

On this day in 2006 the New York Yankees traded Gary Sheffield to the Detroit Tigers for pitching prospects Kevin Whelan, Humberto Sanchez, and Anthony Claggett.  The deal included a two year extension for Sheffield worth $28,000,000 through the 2009 season. Nothing ever came of any of the three pitching prospects but Sheffield had to watch from home as we won the 2009 World Series so there is always that memory to hang on to.