Yankees Mailbag: Browsing farm depth, taking stock of a slump

06/28/2024 04:00 PM

The mailbag is here to assess from the top down this week.

Good afternoon everyone, it's time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Damn_yanks asks: Other than maybe Agustin Ramirez, can you please give me some reasons to be excited about the Yankees game system this season. If you say Spencer Jones and Roderick Arias my head will explode.

I'd defer to our own Smith for a more in-depth analysis of some prospects to get hype for than I can get into here, but I'll add my own two cents. Unfortunately, however, there isn't much excitement as far as other prospects near the majors currently. Jorbit Vivas has gotten his legs underneath him in Scranton and his bat is coming alive, so perhaps he could work his way into the infield equation should the team need an in-house answer outside of Gleyber Torres or DJ LeMahieu. Jack Neely has worked his way up to Scranton after a scorching start at Somerset and could contribute his strikeout stuff to the bullpen towards the end of the year — and they could certainly use every hand they can get right now.

The Yankees' farm system is one of the stronger ones in baseball, but their talent is a ways away from contributing to this year's team and the ones who were close either got injured or have had their struggles. This could be a big year for Brian Cashman to shuffle the deck in trade talks, and while he's been hesitant in the past I don't think there's as many names in the untouchable folder as there has been. You could see plenty of package deals proposed to utilize the org's ability to produce quantities of prospects, but it's up to other teams whether they'll take that over a high-quality name or two.

OLDY MOLDY asks:How do they get Gil to the bullpen quickly? The scouts have figured him out and his innings limit is coming sooner rather than later.

Boy, has my opinion on this turned quickly. Last week I urged a bit of patience in light of Gil's implosion against Baltimore, hoping for a strong rebound. Gil turned around and got beat up for a second consecutive time, giving up five runs in 4.1 innings against the Mets. While that's still technically an improvement over his 1.1-inning, seven run stinker, that's a low bar to set for a guy who was on pace to potentially start the All-Star Game.

I'm still resistant to an outright move to the bullpen, mainly because the Yankees need a win somewhere in this rotation right now and they don't have many options to replace Gil. However, thanks to their next offday lining up when Gil would start on regular rest, they could opt to skip his next start and see if a little reset does him some good. Gil may have been overperforming in the first half, but he still showcased that he could be a major weapon for the rotation, and the Yankees need him to get right for a stretch run and the postseason beyond. Hopefully they find the path to get him there, and soon.

The idiot that said, "Harper is coming" asks:W. T. F.? That's my question. That's all.

Normally I would end on a question like this and simply offer a little quip, but let's take stock of the situation for a moment shall we? The Yankees have been one of the strongest teams in baseball overall throughout the first half, but have had some obvious flaws throughout that they haven't been able to cover particularly well — the infield corners and second base have been a struggle throughout. It's no surprise that these positions are once again a part of the problem now that the team is in the midst of a slump, but what has been a surprise has been the total 180 of the rotation's performance combined with the collapse of the bullpen's health.

We've talked about Gil already in this mailbag, but Carlos Rodón is on an even worse stretch currently and Gerrit Cole has had a shaky return to the rotation as well. Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes have been serviceable, but when the majority of the rotation is at-best putting the team behind from the get-go it's just going to be tough to win games. Now with Giancarlo Stanton on the IL and Juan Soto slumping, the onus is squarely on Aaron Judge to power this offense through. The bit that gives me hope, at least, for the offense, is that I fully expect Soto to straighten things out sooner rather than later, and hardly expect Judge to slow down anytime soon. With those two back in sync the rest of the offense should benefit, and then they're just a Verdugo or Volpe getting hot away from being back in form. The offense is manageable, but it's the pitching staff that concerns me going forward. We'll see which side bounces back first.