FLUSHING, NY – With their 4-game sweep of the snake-bit Colorado Rockies in the books, the red-hot New York Mets have their fans and other organizations frothing at the mouth re their abundance of young pitching talent. All are also lauding New York’s acquisitions of Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe and Tyler Clippard before the MLB trading deadline. Meanwhile, the cross-town New York Yankees are being criticized for the their lack of moves, as they committed Bronx Bomber Blasphemy and defied their historic disdain for patience with prospects, adding only the likes of Dustin Ackley – he of Angry Ward’s sinking/stinking Mariners. The Ackster promptly went Carl Pavano on them – getting hurt immediately.
So, how has the Mets brass – namely GM Sandy Alderson – done it? And what is Yankee GM Brian Cashman trying to do? Are they using draft picks to ensure their success? The answer to the latter is more or less… no.
As Fake Sandy Alderson/Big Al Sternberg has so often pointed out, the studly Mets pitching staff is comprised overwhelmingly by draft picks from Omar Minaya – not Sandy the Marine. In fact, the only player picked by Alderson to have any kind of impact during his tenure to date is current rookie Mike Conforto – and that impact is negligible so far.
Yanks GM Brian Cashman hasn’t exactly been stellar with his picks. But he did find some gems in the later rounds; in 2006 he grabbed Dellin Betances in the 8th and David Robertson was a 17th rounder and been a tad more successful with his draft picks,
So, does this suggest that the Yankees will start building their team organically through homegrown players? Heck, while there is an entire generation that thinks this is preposterous, let’s take a trip back in time with Time Warp Tony to when George Steinbrenner was banned from baseball, and Gene “The Stick” Michael was put in charge. He drafted Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte… and kept them all.
Will the Yankees or Mets become players in the MLB Draft Pick Trade Market? If so, next year could have big pieces for both teams.
The site SportsBettingDime.com is already predicting that that Riley Pint will be the No.1 draft pick next year, giving him 9/5 odds. He’s fire-balling, 6’4″ 17-year-old with great stuff. Somebody the Yanks would love to have. The Mets, on the other hand, could use an outfielder like Blake Rutherford. But they pick 18th and the Yanks pick 26th, so both would have to trade up.
In the meantime, despite what Oscar Wilde might say, youth has not been wasted on the young… at least not in Flushing, that is.
That’s all for now, leave your two cents below and come back tomorrow for a man that likes draughts more than drafts, Junoir Blaber.
