Once upon a time, I covered minor league baseball out here in Staten Island. Believe it or not, there used to be rookie A ball on the north shore by the Ferry.
The Staten Island Yankees were a fun team who won six New York Penn League championships. In 2005 and 2006, they won back-to-back Penn League championships. Most exciting was seeing some of those players make it to the big leagues. That included Brett Gardner, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Mark Melancon, Dellin Betances, and George Kontos. All had successful major league careers.
Kyle Higashioka is the remaining holdover from the Baby Bombers. He's the backup catcher on the Yankees. Coincidentally, they've fallen on hard times. Continuing to rely on old and stale veterans such as Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson finally caught up. Even though he's having a strong finish to the season, it's hard to tell if D.J. LeMahieu will return to the high contact hitter he was when he first arrived. He's in his mid-30's. The Donaldson experiment failed miserably with the organization releasing him.
As for Stanton, he is a declining slugger who occasionally still hits home runs. But his body is so beat up that he adds little else. Injuries have taken their toll. The Yankees remain on the hook for another few years. Unless they decide to grow a pair and pay him to stay home next year.
At least in a down year, it's forced the Yankees to reevaluate how they do things. By finally promoting top prospects Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells, they're getting a glimpse of the future. Oswald Peraza is also playing regularly. With rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe reaching the 20/20 plateau in an otherwise tough year hitting wise, there are some bright spots on a team that will likely miss the playoffs. With Dominguez hitting safely in his first five games with three home runs, the promise is there. The future of center field will continue to learn at the age of 20.
The Yankees have played better recently since going with the youth movement. They even swept the hated Astros last weekend. Aaron Judge still has over 30 home runs to lead the club. Had he not gone down due to a freak injury on an outstanding running catch into the Dodgers wall back in June, who knows how many home runs he'd have. The rating AL home run record holder remains a force when he's healthy.
Gleyber Torres has provided some good production at second base. He's made a strong case to stay in the Bronx. How much will he get on the open market? It looks like Brian Cashman will have to pony up if he wants to keep Torres.
The only negative has been the disaster Carlos Rodon has been. His achy back kept him out the first three months. Since returning, he's been consistently inconsistent. He's not pitching deep enough into games. Then, there are miserable starts like last night in a blowout loss to the Tigers. They paid him too much money to be so underwhelming.
At least Gerrit Cole has delivered a big season. He's the front-runner to win the AL Cy Young. He takes the ball every fifth day and pitches well. Cole has silenced the critics who were under the assumption that his previous success was all due to the sticky stuff, which MLB cracked down on. Not so fast.
The biggest question is for Hal Steinbrenner. Is Aaron Boone safe? If Cashman is coming back, does that mean Boone stays as well? We'll see what happens.
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