EJ Fagan of Pending Pinstripes brings the meat in an impressive summary of Yankee prospects, along with a bevy of links to other people who, like EJ, have worked way harder than I ever have in penning a portrait of the future faces of the franchise.
Okay, the image is a tad overwrought, but it’s a lot more fun reading about prospects than it is about who attended what party in 1998, no?
Another great one from Hank!
“Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs. I don’t know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don’t tell me it’s not more prevalent. The number in football is at least twice as many. Look at the speed and size of those players.”
This has nothing to do with this thread or any other thread:
Manny Ramirez apparently plans to hire, or has hired, Scott Boras as his agent.
How is Tabata coming along? Everytime I look at his stats it’s not so impressive (fine fine, I’m been tough on a 19 year old) but everyone loves him. I haven’t seen him play yet though.
By the way, this kind of makes me happy, since I’ve also been guilty of underrating him:
Ranking: Eric and I agreed and listed Kennedy at #1. Ashish has him at #3. I’m Kennedy’s biggest fan on the internet. I’m still disgusting by the persistent statements dooming him to “#3 starter” status at peak. Besides that fact that I don’t think that anyone who makes that accusation can define in precise terms what they mean by #3 starter, I think people are ridiculously underrating his ceiling. Kennedy has been one of the most dominant pitchers in organized baseball for 3 of his last 4 years of pitching. Strikeout rates are the lifeblood of a starting pitcher, and Kennedy has a truly special ability to strike people out. Worst case scenario, he’s a solid above-average innings eater. Best case scenario: he’s the heir to Mike Mussina. If the Yankees compete with the Red Sox for the AL East this year, Ian Kennedy will have to play a very important part.
I’ll be happy if Kennedy performs like a Ted Lilly this year. Excited, even!
I’m reading down the list and this is exciting indeed.. if it would pan out! I don’t remember these scouting reports in years past – are they a bit optimistic on the ceiling?
Lar, yeah, I agree the read is quite optimistic.
I’ve been reading EJ’s stuff since last offseason, and have to say he’s pretty fair. When he thinks he’s being optimistic, he says so. However, it should be noted that he’s projecting their ceiling; the best they can be. Even someone like Joba may never get 100% to his ceiling. So saying a guy has an unbelievable ceiling isn’t saying they’re going to do it