SSTN Mailbag: The Infield, Santander, And Farm System Ranking!

Happy New Year to all! I generally don't do a ton of celebrating on New Year's (save for a strange 7-year period where I hosted an ever-growing New Year's Eve party...long story, but surprisingly fun while it lasted), but there is one thing, among others, that makes me happy every year when the calendar turns: real baseball is right around the corner.

Growing up and as a young adult, this meant ramping up the process of getting my arm ready to throw...a process that took longer the older I got, and I shudder to think about what that process would look and feel like now. The flip side is, every year, I still get that itch to get my arm going. I also get almost irrationally excited about the coming MLB season. As crazy as they make me, I miss the Yankees when they're gone. I start counting the days to pitchers and catchers almost right after the World Series ends, but it seems a lot more real after the New Year.

Here's to 2025 - let's hope it ends better for Yankee fans than 2024, though getting to the World Series again was pretty cool. Let's do it again, but let's win it this time.

As always, thanks for the great questions and keep them coming to SSTNReadermail@gmail.com. In this week's SSTN Mailbag, we'll talk about the infield configuration, evaluate Anthony Santander's fit on this team, and discuss a possible reason for the Yankees' falling farm system ranking! Let's get at it:

Alex asks: With Goldy in the fold, the only real opening in the infield is at either 2b or 3b. It's good to have Jazz since he can play either position, but what will the Yankees do to finish off the infield? Free agent, trade, or will the team really consider using DJ LeMahieu as an everyday player?

I've been thinking a lot about the infield. The Yankees have had a very busy off-season, and a lot of good work has been done, but there's little question but that more work needs to be done before the team begins the regular season. The first question I want to handle is that of DJ LeMahieu's role.

The Yankees' recent rhetoric regarding DJ's place on the roster is of some concern, understandably so - there is an argument to be made that DJ LeMahieu was the worst performing player in the Majors last season, a statement I don't make lightly. Both Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman have alluded to LeMahieu's performance during Spring Training last season prior to his freak foot injury as evidence that he can be a capable player still, when healthy.

Even if we take that statement at face value and squint to see some upside, DJ LeMahieu has not been healthy since the 2021 season. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. DJ LeMahieu might have more pop with his lower half underneath him, and the evidence suggests that he is still capable of playing average or better defense at 3B. However, we also know that DJ LeMahieu will not be healthy all year. To take that one step further, he is not likely to be healthy enough for any length of time to provide value that approaches his upside (which at this point is a singles hitter who doesn't hurt you defensively...an 8/9 hitter who can't run).

It hurts me to say these things, because DJ clearly works hard and his teammates love him, by all reports. However, the Yankees cannot trust DJ as anything more than a bench bat this season. The Yankees are clearly leaving themselves a runway to give LeMahieu an opportunity to start, and that should scare Yankee fans. We all know that the Yankees have done things like this before (see: Troy Tulowitzki, Kevin Youkilis, etc.).

However, there is also another possibility. The Yankees have likely already done their heaviest lifting this off-season (though big January moves can happen). I wonder if they are floating the idea of going with DJ as a means of playing chicken with some of their trade partners or potential free agent targets. In order for the game to work, unfortunately, the Yankees have to be willing to play DJ LeMahieu at 3B this season...which is a problematic possibility.

There are some options out there for the Yankees on the trade and free agent market, but none of them are marquis additions. Ha-Seong Kim is the biggest name that makes sense (likely as a 2B, which would keep Jazz at 3B) on the free agent market, but I wonder what's really happening there. There's been no rumors about discussions he's had with teams, so I wonder if the labrum surgery he had in October will keep him out closer to the 2nd half of the season as opposed to May as previously projected. Still, I see Kim as a decent possibility on a one-year pillow deal. At least he'd give the team great hands at 2B and a really good baserunner in the bottom of the order.

Besides Kim, the other trade piece I'd look at is Matt Vierling. I brought up Vierling as an interesting target at the trade deadline, and it seems like others have caught on to my way of thinking. Vierling is a capable 3B, though he's not a plus defender there like he is in the outfield. Vierling is a really good baserunner and is starting to put all of the pieces together as a hitter. He wouldn't be cheap, but I wonder if the Yankees would be willing to free up a starter in a trade if they won the Sasaki sweepstakes...

Mike B. asks: Now that it's January, do you think Anthony Santander's asking price has come down and does he make sense? The team needs a power bat and could give Dominguez more seasoning in the minors and wait for the inevitable injury to bring him up.

I never really bought the idea that Santander would fetch a $20 million AAV contract this off-season, but even at a cheaper price, his peripherals scare the heck out of me on a long-term deal. This will be Santander's best chance at a long-term contract, so I expect him to sign for at least 3-4 seasons. I'm out on any long-term deal for Santander.

More critically, I believe very strongly in Dominguez's ability to be an impact MLB player, and the time to start that process is now. He will have growing pains, particularly from the right-side of the plate, but his lefty swing is ready for the Majors. The big league staff has struggled to help prospects finish off their development in the Majors, but that's the phase of development Dominguez finds himself at the moment.

I would not stash Dominguez in the minors. If the Yankees don't intend to give him his shot this year, the time is now to make the best deal you can to improve the roster, as Dominguez is the best trade chip the Yankees have. Again, I think the Yankees' best bet would be to stick Dominguez in CF this season and see how it goes.

Alan B. asks: Andy: With the Yankees taking a tumbling down the farm system rankings, why has no one even remarked as one reason is the coaching philosophy, methods. Why does it all fall on the players? Then there is the medical side that never gets looked at either.

I am going to preface this response by saying that I really respect Alan's perspectives on the minor leagues, as he is the only non-scout I know that watches more minor league games and video than I do every season. However, there is critical context that needs to be understood when evaluating this question.

It is true that the general consensus is that the Yankees' have fallen down the farm system rankings some, from a fringe top-10 farm system (somewhere in the 8-12 range in recent seasons since 2019), to somewhere in the back half of the league (opinions on this front vary widely). On the surface, the knee jerk reaction is to look to either drafting, international scouting, or development as a culprit. That knee jerk ignores one very strong factor.

The Yankees have graduated or traded a bevy of impact prospects since 2019. Here's a far from exhaustive list of good-great prospects the Yankees have either traded or graduated in that time:

• Clarke Schmidt

• Luis Medina

• Kevin Alcantara

• Ezequiel Duran

• Josh Smith

• Austin Wells

• Anthony Volpe

• Oswaldo Cabrera

• Ken Waldichuk

• Luis Gil

• Trey Sweeney

• Hayden Wesneski

• Randy Vasquez

• Mike King

• JP Sears

Every one of those guys was a consensus future value of 40 or better; 7 were at 50 or better (all on the scouting 20-80 scale). That's a ton of prospect depth and top-end talent. Another interesting counterpoint to Alan's assertion is the performance those players have exhibited elsewhere. Most of the players dealt have not performed better away from Yankee coaching; at best, some have continued their development path. At worst, like Medina and Waldichuk, their performance has cratered relative to their performance while in the Yankee system.

The Yankees have struggled over the years to develop hitters; this is a known quantity, though they appear to have a couple of guys who might hit at the Majors, Wells and Dominguez particularly (and hopefully we can add Volpe to this list). However, the Yankees have produced a farm system that has been productive internally and allowed them to make good trades for the big league level. That's the purpose of the farm system, and relative to the league, the Yankees' system has performed appropriately. The farm system is in a state of flux because most of its talent is highly volatile and in the low minors due to the amount of movement at the top of the system in recent years. For most teams, farm systems are cyclical in exactly that way.

Overall, I think the Yankees are doing a pretty good job at the moment down on the farm.