In George M. Cohan’s famous 1917 song, “Over There”, the chorus trumpets: “ Send the word to beware. That Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming.” Although by today’s standards, a bit corny, they are words the rest of baseball should fear.
Over the last few months of the season and the beginning of this winter, Brian Cashman has looked like, one of these new young GMs, who have changed the way teams are put together. Mixing some veterans with, a core of home grown talent.
Hey wait a minute. Isn’t that what Gene Michael, (without sabermetrics) did when he put together, the Jeter led dynasty of the past 20 years?
Hard to believe, that Cashman has been GM for 18 years now. In an era where young less experienced people, are hired in all phases of organizations, especially general managers, give him credit for having lasted this long, with of all clubs the Yankees.
Cashman is using that formula he learned, from the Michael years, to begin a new dynasty. Yes, the Yanks are coming and the baseball world should beware. They now have a minor league system filled with talent, now ranking it in the top two or three in all of baseball. No less than seven players are ranked in the top one hundred of all MLB prospects.
Along with the fact, that they have dumped 80 million dollars in payroll, that can now be used to get guys like, Manny Machado, or Bryce Harper in 2018, making the Yankees feared in the baseball world again.
What do you do with all that talent in the minors? You don’t have enough room on the 40 man roster for all of them. Although the bulk of these new top prospects, will not have to be protected from the rule 5 draft for a few more years. Maybe there is a deal with, say a team like, the Angels. They are ranked dead last in minor league player development and prospects.
They would love to have a load of top prospects to develop into major leaguers. They have some guy named Mike Trout, who grew up in New Jersey, as a Yankee fan. Go Trout fishing boys. Or how about getting on a “Sail” boat, to Chicago. Anything is possible, no harm in asking what the White Sox would want for Chris Sale, or what the Angels would want for Mike Trout.
But realistically, right now, they need to find three quality starters and a closer. After Masahiro Tanaka, that rotation is Swiss Cheese. Dillan Betances is a monster, but not as a closer. He is an Allstar, as a setup guy, and gets the ‘hee bee gee bees’ when asked to be the closer.
Get to work with making Luis Severino your new Mariano Rivera. His strength is his power arm. Keep it simple with him, allowing him to develop two dominant pitches. A four seam fastball and a sinker, or cutter. Whatdver he feels most confident throwing. His makeup shows me that, if you take the pressure of being a five pitch starter off of him, he will be fine.
Finding those three quality starters? Well, that is where Mr. Cashman will earn his money. Good luck with that one, as the competition for quality arms it tough.
Editor’s Note: William Coppola just completed his 40th year in the game of baseball. He has been a coach, instructor and professional scout.