A Minor Deal
I was going to write a big thing about how the Yankees need to make more trades like the minor league one they did today, but Steve Goldman did it better than I ever could.
I am not as down on Austin Jackson as Goldman is, but I do worry about how soon he will be ready. In addition, where are the impact bats after Jackson? Certainly not at AAA and it's hard to get too excited about prospects who haven't even cracked AA.
What the Yankees have is a ton of pitching prospects and like Goldman says, they need to turn some of those into position players. What he didn't mention and what makes this more important in my mind is when you look at the rotation for the next three+ years there are really no empty spots. Sabathia and Burnett are obviously going to be in it. Wang will be a free agent after 2011. Joba and Hughes are under Yankee control until after 2012 at least. And there are players like Aceves and Kennedy who could always fill in as needed.
Now of course injuries happen and players don't perform as expected, but stockpiling pitchers while neglecting hitters is going to cause problems. In an ideal world the Yankees would groom some young position players who can then start to fill in the gaps in the lineup. The Yankees can of course just throw money at the problem, but it is far safer and more efficent to have some alternatives in the minors. Maybe Cashman will address that in the near future, but if history is any guide, he won't.
