Quote:
Originally Posted by PhillieFever
HaHa, I'm sure you're joking, but if you're not, it's pretty much well known around baseball that the Yankees have made a concerted effort of late to improve their farm system. Guys like Joba, Phil Hughes, and Austin Jackson were the results of this new direction.
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Honestly, I think its a huge injustice to the Yankees not to recognize that even during their dominant years, they still had a fair amount of home-grown guys who were among the best in the league. Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano, Nick Johnson, Bernie Williams, lets give them some credit there. The difference is that the Yankees spend astronomically more money on the rest of their roster than other teams in the league. And their also smart enough to realize that they have the resources to pay for fairly sure bets, so why not do it when most farm system guys are question marks?
There are a fair amount of teams out there known for developing young talent that simply do nothing but trade established players for young talent. I'm a Marlins fan, and while they have some of the best young talent in the league and have usually had it, an astoundingly low percentage was actually developed by them. Look at their current roster, and guys like Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, Cody Ross, Ricky Nolasco, & Cameron Maybin all came to them from other sources, most of the time a trade of an established player. Even Dontrelle Willis was gotten in a trade. All they prove is that if you trade enough established guys for prospects, every now and then some of them will pan out nicely.
I think the Yankees farm team deserves credit where its due.