Yankees minor league signings

The New York Yankees have announced several minor league signings. They signed relief pitcher Royce Ring who pitched for the New York Mets for a couple of years. They also signed outfielders David Winfree and Reid Gorecki. I only know something about Royce Ring, I will have to go with what I have heard. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and Lohud Yankees Blog has a good grasp of minor leaguers considering he worked for Scranton for 7 years. Here are the stats that he provided and some insight. David Winfree had his first shot at AAA last year and hit 273 with 14 homeruns and 31 doubles. He did strike out 88 times with only 28 walks. Winfree is only 24 years old, he seems to have Shelly Duncan type power, similar type of player but Duncan has more experience. Baseball America ranked him as the Twins #28 prospect last year and only had one other prospect with better power. Royce Ring has 94 games of big league experience. He has pitched with the Mets, Padres and Braves. He had a 3.04 era in AAA with the St. Louis Cardinals last season. Lefties hit 208 against him last year and they have hit 229 against him in his career. He seems to be AAA filler but isn't a bad guy to have around. The Yankees now have Damaso Marte who they hope will be the guy they saw in the playoffs and not the guy they saw in the regular season. They also have Boone Logan and Wilkens De La Rosa.

Baseball America Top 10 Yankee Prospects

The Baseball America Top 10 prospect list came out today for the Yankees. The top 10 are as follows. 1. Jesus Montero(C) 2. Austin Romine(C) 3. Arodys Viscaino(P) 4.Slade Heathcott(OF) 5. Zach McAllister(P) 6. Manny Banuelos(P) 7. Gary Sanchez(C) 8. J.R. Murphy(C) 9. Jeremy Bleich(P) 10. Andrew Brackman(P) The interesting thing about this list is that the Yankees have 4 catchers in the top 10 so you can see they are in good shape there. Jesus Montero doesn't project as a catcher to most people though and the most logical thing would be to move him to first base but Tex is there for a long time and they don't want a young guy like that to be the DH but if he is that good offensively and they don't trade him why not let him DH. The Yankees are pretty strong in the pitching department also with Hughes and Joba in the big leagues now, they hope Andrew Brackman will have a strong year as he really struggled last year, I can see him moving to the pen eventually. I think Jeremy Bleich is the closet to the majors and could become a solid #3 or 4 starter in the future. Slade Heatchott was drafted last year and the Yankees really have high hopes for him. Austin Romine really projects as the catcher of the future, his bat is a little below Montero but he has a good bat also and he is better defensively. I think even with trading some guys away the Yankees farm system is still in good shape.

Yankees Hot Stove action

The New York Yankees have made it clear they are going to take their time this offseason. The Yankees are the World Champions and don't have to rush into anything. Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi both indicated yesterday at the premiere for the World Series DVD that starting pitching is the priority but unless they give up a lot to get a Roy Halladay which I don't think will happen they will sign a middle of the road type starter. They can also sign Chien-Ming Wang for cheap to a incentive laden deal and see what happens. If they don't sign anyone they can go with Joba and Hughes at the backend and is that really the worst thing with Aceves, Mitre, Gaudin, Kennedy all backing them up. I think it would be fine to get another starter but I don't think they are in such bad shape here. If you can have a guy like Gaudin as your 4th or 5th starter with Hughes or Joba and the other in the pen I think you are in really good shape. The Yankees showed this year that you only need 3 strong starters in the postseason and a good bullpen. There were rumors about the Yankees being interested in Jermaine Dye but the Yankees have shot them down. The Yankees did sign someone today, it was a dominican prospect named Eladio Moronta. He was suspended by baseball for a year earlier this year for lying about his age but that ban has been lifted. He is said to have excellent speed and a strong arm. You can read this article about him on baseball america. I like what the Yankees have done to build up their farm system and this is part of it being strong in the international market. It will be interesting to see this season how Austin Jackson, Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena and some others will be used. I think they could have a big impact on the team and show that the Yankees system does have some talent and they don't just go out and buy players.