YankeesRedSox.com

Let's face it, the MLB draft is pretty boring.  Unlike the NBA or NFL drafts there is almost no chance you will see the first player selected by your team show up in the bigs next season.  That doesn't mean it isn't important, the Yankees would be in a much different place if they had done a better job with drafting these past few years. 

Now, before you rip me about Joba and Hughes and those guys, consider the makeup of the current 25-man roster.  The Yankees drafted Mo, Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, Joba, Hughes, Gardner and Robertson.  Basically, they had some great drafts in the early 90's and some good ones in the middle of this decade.  Other than that, player development has not been a strength.

That could and should change.  The Yankees have more money than everyone and should use that to scout and sign players in the draft that other teams won't gamble on.  They did this well a few years ago with Austin Jackson, a guy they grabbed in the 8th round and paid a lot of money to so that he would skip college and a basketball scholarship at Georgia Tech.  

Brian Cashman has said it is a priority to develop young players, I hope he proves it tomorrow by drafting a hitter instead of a pitcher in the first round.  Look at the Yankees' rotation for the forseeable future.  Sabathia is here for six more seasons, Burnett for four more, Wang is under team control for two more, Joba at least four more.  That leaves one rotation spot open between now and 2012 and that is probably going to Hughes, who is under team control for four more years.

In the bullpen, Brian Bruney isn't a free agent until 2012.  Robertson and Melancon will be under team control for at least five more years.  Ian Kennedy is the same and we haven't talked about guys like Veras, Brackman, Coke or Ramirez yet.  I know you can never say you have enough pitching, but the Yankees have a lot of it and they have hardly any position players who are legitimate prospects.

Austin Jackson could be in center in 2010.  Montero and Romine seem on their way to the Bronx as catchers sometime around 2011-2012.  Other than that, who are the positional players to get excited about?  You really don't have much.

Contrast that against a lineup with five players well into their 30's. The Yankees have done a good job of getting younger this season with the subtraction of Abreu and Giambi and the additions of Swisher and Teixeira.  They will have another opportunity to inject youth after this season when Matsui and Damon become free agents.  And it isn't just about changing the starters, consider the predicament the Yankees were in this year when A-Rod got hurt.  The Yankees need younger players with potential in the upper levels of the minors desperately.

So, I respectfully ask Brian Cashman and the assembled draft experts to select a batter tomorrow in the first round.  Go crazy and follow it up with another one in the second.  We need all the help we can get.