INTERNATIONAL AMATEURS - AMERICAN EXPERTS

With all the focus/jealousy from the baseball critics and other teams regarding the Yankees persistent overspending on team payroll, there’s one thing most of them have been missing as their target - the Yankees also don’t hesitate to spend on scouts and lawyers!  While it is known that the Yankees have more in each category, no one really pays enough attention to those somewhat intangible aspects of the Yankees’ success.  I do and, as a Yankees’ fan, I love it!

As I’ve mentioned in the past, it’s not easy to draft and/or sign successful young farm system players such as Adam Warren, Dellin Betances, David Phelps, David Robertson, John Ryan Murphy, etc., when you constantly win and get penalized with low draft picks; however, the more expert minds you have collectively scouting the world, the better chance you have to find that diamond in the ruff.  Additionally, the more lawyers you have, the better chance you have to stay ahead of MLB’s potential strategies involved with key things such as the upcoming expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which anticipates more obstacles for heavy-spending teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Rangers, etc.

With that, the Yankees have been progressively adding many scouts to find more talent that can potentially strengthen their farm system, particularly assigning the bulk of the scouts to evaluate the international leagues, including Latin America and Korea.  Their team of lawyers apparently believe that, once the Players Union/MLB CBA expires, drafting the amateur free agents from those leagues will terminate and ultimately become a draft pool, similar to the June draft process for selecting America’s young talent of players.  If so, an international draft may develop into another queue selection - whereby the poor performing teams get the first selections of these youthful potentials.

So, the Yankees are planning to not only topple their free agent spending officially on July 2^nd, but trounce their competition.  In the past, both the Cubs and Rangers have slightly exceeded their spending, but no team has ever shattered the limit!  The CBA-determined “limited” spend is somewhere near $2.2 million, but the Yankees are rumored to be planning on obliterating that limit by spending at least $12 million collectively on players - most of which they’ve already had gentlemen’s agreements with since late last year - all enormous offers.  One of those players is this year’s most sought-after international free agent - third baseman, Dermis Garcia (from the Dominican Republic).  Other players they have been negotiating with since last November include another third baseman, Nelson Gomez (Dominican); centerfielder, Juan De Leon (Dominican); outfielder Jonathan Amundaray (Venezuelan); and three shortstops - Chris Torres (switch-hitter Dominican), Diego Castillo (Venezuelan), and Korean Hyo-Joon Park (Korean).  It is believed that most of them have already made an agreement with the Yankees and are just waiting to officially announce their deals this Wednesday.

Most of the aforementioned and, in general, most of the players from the international league are typically 16 years old.  Hence, predetermining any of them as can’t-miss superstars at such an early age and development in life is very difficult; but, like any other gamble (and realistic mathematics) you can increase your chances by increasing the positive odds.

Oh, and by the way, the penalty for teams spending over their limit is two-fold:

Major tax penalties

- The Steinbrenners are, once again, showing extra spending is worthy as long as it offers the opportunity to help develop/strengthen the Yankees.

Prohibited from spending more than approximately $250,000 (for any player during following year’s international free agents)

- Again, the Yankees’ lawyers believe that the Yankees will be restricted anyway from their predicted adjustments to the new CBA and their overabundance of the Yankees’ scouts collectively believing that this year’s selections have more potential than next year’s will.

BASEBALL'S TONY

This year, like any other year, several former players have passed away.  Most recently, that list includes Bob Welch, Don Zimmer, and Tony Gwynn.  I’m not going to write about every MLB player or coach that deceases, but I will always (as long as I’m alive/able) offer a dedication towards those who have died who I've extremely admired.

Therefore, after these recent losses of players, I dedicate this segment to the one and only, Tony Gwynn ("Mr. Padre").  He unfortunately died at the “young” age of 54 from salivary gland cancer.  There aren’t many players who fully represent class throughout and after their careers, but Tony was certainly one of them.

As a player, his offense was at the same extreme high level as his defense.  His career batting average of .338 (winning 8 Batting Titles) currently ranks him as tied for 18^th place with the highest recognized batting average of all time!  He coined the term “5.5 hole” representing the perfect placement of many of his hits between the 3^rd baseman (known on a scorecard as position 5) and the shortstop (known on a scorecard as position 6).  His defense as a right fielder was impeccable (5 Gold Glove Awards), including a rifle of an arm.   Furthermore, Tony was rightfully voted as an All-Star 15 times, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, and fittingly won 3 different humanitarianism-type awards.

As a man, Tony always displayed a jovial personality while eagerly offering to help veteran players, college players, rookie players, and even rookie reporters - just ask Los Angeles Times’ reporter, Bill Plaschke.  He was known by everyone who knew him, including his community, to have treated all individuals with the utmost respect.  Even as one of the greatest players of all time, he continually exercised his humbleness throughout his on- and off-field shortened life.

Personally, as a Yankees’ fan, I will always appreciate his kid-like behavioral excitement when he initially arrived at Yankee Stadium for his team’s first 1998 World Series game, ensuring to share his excitement with his son, Tony Gwynn, Jr. (currently an outfielder for the Phillies) as they both visited Monument Park.  More importantly, as a baseball fan, I will miss having and knowing he’s still around to represent one of the best, overall players the game has ever seen.  Tony, you won so many awards in life, but to the baseball stage of life, you were our “Tony” Award. 

TEAM WOUNDED - HURRY UP, JULY

With the amount of injuries, sometimes I feel like the Yankees are playing the 2013 season all over again - although, no year has ever reached the pinnacle of last year’s injury list in the Yankees’ history.   Now, I understand that every team has injuries, but how many teams have had three-fifths of their starting rotation injured all at once while also having their 8^th inning setup man and their 3^rd and 4^th hitters injured?  No team could ever be successful with those consequences.

Most baseball fans will say it’s their age, because that’s what they've been brainwashed to believe whenever it comes to the Yankees, but the injury bug has hit all layers of age thus far.   The aforementioned key injuries in respective order are:  CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Piñeda, Shawn Kelley, Carlos Beltran, and Mark Teixeira.  The good news is that Teixeira has just returned (for the 2^nd time) and Beltran is scheduled to return tomorrow; however, both are questionable to sustain their health for any length of time, due to the severity of their fragile conditions.

Again, every team has their injuries, but the significance of such key contributors leaves the Yankees no choice but to look for alternatives if they want to compete in October.  I would begin by attaining Kendrys Morales.  He’s been a free agent for half a year and is one of those who currently has a penalizing draft pick attached to him until June 7th, after the baseball draft (which begins tomorrow).  Hence, the Yankees (or any other team) will not lose a draft pick and, thus, only have to pay money towards the player - a perfect situation for a team that’s always ready and willing to spend.  He could help enhance some of the offense.

From a pitching standpoint, the Yankees just released Alfredo Aceves which is a good thing, but they made a mistake by picking up Wade LeBlanc who was just rightfully released on waivers by the Angels.  Typically, real value is rarely available until after June, when teams have the opportunity to perform a half-season evaluation and the weak teams look to trade high-priced players for youthful and/or cheap replacements.   The Yankees made some other minor moves here and there relating to their farm system over the last few months, but they (like most teams) don’t just simply have 3 starting pitchers ready in the wings to jump into the major leagues abruptly.  Additionally, they are determined to leave one of their optional starters, Adam Warren, in the bullpen due to his relieving success.

I believe the Yankees will be very active with transactions in the next few weeks for pitching and offense, so stand by and enjoy the show.  Hopefully, it will be more positive and entertaining than their recent games have been.