Yankee Farm System Timing Looks Good

I want to step back and take a big-picture look at the Yankee organization for a second. The 2012 Yankee roster probably won’t need a lot of help from down on the farm this season, barring a very injury call-ups. They have plenty of guys – Ramiro Pena, Adam Warren, David Phelps, Brandon Laird – who can fill those roles, along with your higher ceiling prospects guys like Betances, Romine, and Banuelos sitting at Triple-A. But the Yankees have enough guys either in their prime (Sabathia, Granderson, Cano, Gardner, Swisher, Robertson) or close enough (Kuroda, Teixeira, Martin, Pineda) to contend in 2012, and probably 2013. After that, they’ll be faced with more and more aging players, and possibly one or two big-money contracts added to the system, but the team will probably overall be on the down slope. With $189 million looming on the horizon, the team could be quickly hungry for reinforcements.

Lucky for the Yankees, they are well positioned for the calvary to come riding in right about the time that their roster starts to look very, very old. Consider the following players, all likely to start the season with the Charleston Riverdogs:

Note: Not everyone here will end up at the given level. Ravel Santana could go to EST/Staten Island, Gary Sanchez could stick in Charleston, Mike Montgomery could  be pushed to Trenton, etc.

The Yankees have a huge group of very talented players at these levels. Most are high-ceiling candidates, solid defensive The players, and either young or very recently drafted or both. And when will they come close to the majors? The fast movers will start showing up right around 2014, when the Yankees will need them most. However, we’re probably looking at 2015 until you start milking real value out of them. They’ll be cheap, energetic replacements for what will probably look like a very old Yankee team. (For reference – Jeter will be 40, Arod 38, Teixeira 34, Sabathia, Granderson and Swisher 33)

Could a lot of things go wrong between now and then? Absolutely. But with such a wide group, I think chances are pretty good that at least 3 or 4 solid MLB players emerge right around that time. With a little luck, there will be a couple of future all stars in there too. And they’ll be right on time.