The Yankees need some athletes
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- October
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When you watch the Tampa Bay Rays, it’s hard not to be struck by their athletic ability. Not baseball ability, athletic ability.
Carl Crawford was a Division I prospect in football and basketball. Rocco Baldelli was recruited by Pac 10 schools to play volleyball. B.J. Upton has the speed and strength to be an NBA point guard of NFL receiver. Akinori Iwamura had nine triples this season.
As the Yankees work to remake their roster, they need those kind of athletes. That brings us to Mike Jones.
You’ve probably never heard of Jones. He was taken by the Yankees in the 29th round of the draft in June. The outfielder hit .184 in 14 games in the Gulf Coast League but had to leave the team early because he’s a starting wide receiver at Arizona State.
The Sun Devils are 2-5 and have lost five straight. But Jones has caught 36 passes for 377 yards, a healthy average of 13.3 yards. The senior is 6-foot-4, 210 pounds and can really run. Once the football season is over, the Yankees are eager for Jones to devote himself to baseball.
None of us have any idea whether he will become a player for the Yankees. The odds are against it. But it’s good to see the Yankees trying to work some athletes into the mix. I’ve heard good things about 11th round pick Ray Kruml and fifth-round pick Chris Smith was a three-sport athlete in high school. This process will not bear fruit overnight. But at least it has started.
The Rays aren’t going away any time soon. The Yankees need some guys who can keep up with them.
As baseball deals with the PED issue, teams have to get younger and more athletic to compensate. Just because a guy in his 30s has a track record doesn’t mean as much any more unless you know for certain he wasn’t cycling steroids in the offseason and gulping greenies before games. And you can’t know for certain.
By no means am I saying take stats out of the mix as you evaluate players. But the Yankees can’t keep loading up on DHs.
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on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Austin Jackson? Wasn’t he going to go to GA tech to play hoops?
who? mike jones!!!…sorry I had to say it
Bille Bean’s head would explode reading this article
Wonderful another Austin Jackson.
Crawford’s a FA next season. Rocco may not play in the bigs after this year. Akinori Iwamura had a .729 OPS.
Yes, Tampa has some nice athletic players, but, this reminds me of the “Billy-Ball” A’s of the early ’80s. The reason the TB is where they are is because of their pitching and defense.
I am kind of intrigued in signing a Rocco Baldelli. Would he not be a great 4th outfielder? He’s come through with some huge hits for the Rays this year and can play a pretty good outfield in all three spots. He will not be out of baseball next year and I don’t see any reason why he would be a bad fit in NY.
The best pure athlete the Yankees have is Mariano. A little time at spring training of seeing him do fielding drills will convince anybody.
The captain is right there also. Somebody like Giambi could never be confused as a baseball player with athleticism.
wasn’t arod supposed to play football for the hurricanes?
another thing to consider is the number of guys not born in the US. i’m no expert, but i’d guess a lot of them would have no other choice than baseball, from the beginning…
Yes Pete,
Because there were so many “athletic players” on the 2007 Red Sox, 2006 Cardinals, 2005 White Sox, 2004 Red Sox…I could go on all day.
C’mon folks. Who here can deny that the Yankees need to get both younger and more athletic? Personally, I’m tired of watching Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan in the field (though I bet that Bea would be less afraid of the wall than Abreu).
The future is in developing and locking up good, young, athletic talent. Time for the Yankees to join the 21st Century.
Tom :
The Rays hold a team option on Carl Crawford …..
http://www.mlb4u.com/profile.php?id=217
Wasn’t Austin Jackson and CJ Henry(even though it didn’t work out)both highly recruited athletes?
Brad, thanks
“Crawford’s a FA next season. Rocco may not play in the bigs after this year. Akinori Iwamura had a .729 OPS.
Yes, Tampa has some nice athletic players, but, this reminds me of the “Billy-Ball†A’s of the early ‘80s. The reason the TB is where they are is because of their pitching and defense.”
Yes and one of the reasons their defense was so good is because of athletic players w/ speed like crawford and upton. They cover a lot of ground out in the outfield and balls that would likely drop for hits and extra base hits in the yankee outfield were outs in the tampa outfield. This aids their pitching also obviously. Athletic ability is not just about swinging the bat.
The Yankees have athletic players but the problem is the same- they are in their 30’s and not their 20’s- Jeter, A-Rod, Damon.
Brackman played college basketball. Does he count as athletic or was he all about height?
Am I the only one that thinks about Harry Potter when I see Krum’s name in print?
Rebecca,
I’m with you. I half-expected to see a Viktor in that sentence.
Chris Russo is funny says he was a virgin up until 20.
Yes, the Yankess need some volleyball players. That will at least get them some respect at the end of the season MLB picnic. I think Arod wanted to play football at Miami, not sure if they wanted him as well. But, I agree, the Yankees badly need more athletes on the field, it really shows up when they play the Angels and the Rays; even though they handled the Rays this year.
I wanted Rocco as well, but I am finding out that his disease is not beaten, he still has trouble playing an entire game in the field. He won’t be able to be counted on for a full season, at least not the way things stand now.
Sorry, just thinking “athletic” isn’t enough. I like to remind peope of Otis Nixon, who somehow hung around a lot of years because he was fast. But one play sums him up – he BUNTED for THE FINAL OUT in the World Series WITH THE TYING RUN ON BASE! The worst play of all time.
Speed is nice but speed alone does not win. you still have to know how to play. You can’t steal first.
Maybe they will contend for the next 5 or 10 years. But maybe this is a one-year woner as well. So let’s not run to anoint them a dynasty just yet. Maybe these pitchers won’t get any better – the films and scouting reports are circulating. If they win, players, even young players, wanna get paid. They’ll have a struggle to keep the team together.
So let’s calm down. They haven’t won yet.
The last time i looked, we had a pretty “athletic” youngster making nice strides over final 6 weeks of the season in Brett Gardner.
The problem is that thre so many Yankee fans who wont allow young players the opportunity to have growing pains. If a Brett Gardner or Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy struggles early on, they are looked upon as being a bum and only good if they can be packaged in the right trade for the next big pitcher or hitter.
Next year Mark Melancon will probably get a shot and the year after, Austin Jackson … both are highly regarded prospects with enormous “upsides” … what if one or both struggle after being called up … do we simply jettison them and look for another established star player?
Not every rookie is going to make an impact like Derek Jeter did … that was a gift. Look at how Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera struggled when they first came up.
This arguement is such a double-edged sword for the Yankees because even though it is important to build from within, they are constantly aware that their fan base is craving a winner … and us fans dont care if we have to pay thru the nose with ever going ticket prices … as long as we get that victory parade in early November next year, we will be happy as clams.
The Red Sox aka the team with the best run differential in the league have a ton of athletes. There’s ummmm, then there’s ummmmm, who exactly is very athletic on that team? Jacoby Ellsbury? Who struggled mightily this season I must add.
Start with pitching and everything else will work itself out. Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson were two of the most athletic people to ever play baseball. Neither one was very good at the game of baseball.
Give me baseball players who can play the game of baseball, I couldn’t care less about how athletic they are.
Kazmir getting squeezed like he is in this series reminds me of the frustration of both Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine in the one of the Series against the Yankees.
One big difference is that Kazmir appears to be throwing strikes, and Maddux/Glavine were trying to get away with that “just off the plate” stuff they were used to getting away with in the National League. If I recall correctly, the Yanks didn’t exactly tear the cover off the ball, but at least they could work the count.
God, I loved that.
Chris Smith is a stud… slugs like Bonds, chokes up like Big Papi
Watch out for him next year.
Give me a bunch of un athletic players that can pitch and mash all day over guys that can run a 4.3-40 hit under .260 with no power.
Manny over Podsednic
We don’t have any position players, period, let alone athletic ones.
Most of the athletes we tried out like Tim Battle, CJ Henry can’t hit.
How is Mike Jones still eligible to play football if he signed a professional baseball contract? Are the eligibility rules sport specific?
Gardner is the best athlete on the team but it doesn’t mean much when he hits .240 and can’t get the ball out of the infield.
Ellsbury did nothing for the Sox this year, he was benched for Crisp and Ellsbury is worlds better than Gardner. He hit more HRs this year than Gardner will in his career.
We do not draft in places where we can get 5-tool players, we have to go to Latin America for that.
I don’t think anybody wants players who hit .240 with no power, but run a 4.3 and jump out of the gym. What Pete and others are talking about are players like Jeter and Arod when they were younger, players like Upton and Crawford. These players are great players, yet they are versatile. If they are not hitting well, they can contribute many other ways. An unathletic player like Giambi is either hitting or he is worthless. His walks mean little when it still takes three more hits to score him.
One of the best athletes on the dynasty Yanks was David Wells. For an overweight slob he had excellent reflexes and was a very good fielder.
Dave Winfield was as good an athlete that has ever played the game. He played the outfield with Rickey Henderson and Claudell Washington in ‘88. The Rays cant match that for athleticism. But you dont win on athleticism.
Like the ‘88 Yankees,they still need consistent pitching. In ‘08 Andy Pettitte was ’88’s Tommy John, Darrell Rasner was Richard Dotson, Sydney Ponson was Rick Rhoden and Phil Hughes was ( oddly enough) Dave Eiland.
The Yankees minor league system absolutley need to produce more position players, including great athletes. The pathetic fact is there arent any coming for at least 2 years.
seems like we’re limiting the definition of athleticism to just speed, in the tone of this discussion. but what other skill would translate well to almost any other sport?
being tall is the only other one i can think of… (jumping high kind of goes along with that too)
to me, having the footwork of a running back is highly athletic skill. but i’d also say it would be a meaningless skill on the baseball field.
Kevin,
I am not sure if the rules are sport specific, but exceptions are made if they aren’t. Many players have had baseball contracts while playing college football. Chris Weinke of FSU played minor league ball for 3 or 4 years before he even went to FSU. Some others were Drew Henson, DJ Dozier of Penn State; John Elway may have had a baseball contract also while still playing for Stanford, but I may be wrong about him.
Drive 4-5, good point on Wells. now i can add ‘good reflexes’ to my list of athletic skills that translate well to multiple sports. i should also add good hand-eye coordination.
An old line from George, circa 1986:
“Dave Winfield is a great athlete and a good ballplayer, Rickey Henderson and Don Mattingly are good athletes and great ballplayers; I need great ballplayers.”
Evan Longoria is a terrific athlete. Great footwork, great hands and excellent reflexes. The Yanks happen to have a pretty good athlete themselves at third base. Alex Rodriguez.
“Chris Russo is funny says he was a virgin up until 20.”
There are some things, we the public, just don’t need to know. :O
saucy
Footwork is very important. Both Jeter and A-Rod said they trained lateral movement last off season. That’s all about footwork which is important for infielders for first step but would be benficial to any player on defense as well as running the bases.
Ray Kruml is a great player and person. i know him and his father. he is similar to brett gardner, with a little more power. maybe at best an aaron rowand
“An unathletic player like Giambi is either hitting or he is worthless. His walks mean little when it still takes three more hits to score him.”
Maybe just me, but I’ll never understand how walking is worthless.
pat, you are right about footwork, putting it that way. especially infielders.
i guess my brain must have just been thinking speed will get you to a ball quicker, without thinking about first-steps and possibly avoiding runners or other fielders. or the ball, if you’re the baserunner…
BBB (just say no to selling low on Cano)
I didn’t say his walks were worthless, I said they meant little. When it takes three more hits to score the guy, or a homerun, just how many runs do you expect him to score? A walk, of course, is always better than an out, but what is Giambi really worth when he doesn’t go deep? Surely you can admit that a walk to Gardner, Crawford, Ellsbury, or Upton is more valuable than a walk to Giambi or Richie Sexson, etc.
I think they should have class in the new stadium for Polaties. Mandatory for all to participate. In return they get the slim jims,cotton candy etc. back in the clubhouse.
Just jumpin in to say hey. Lots of topics I can see. Pete is so yesterday sometimes. If he read the posts he would have seen the pix of Arod’s apartment!
About Cashman not giving anything up – good for him. I bet he really trusts the press with information! After all, they were as gentle as pirhanas with Girardi!
About athleticism. Boy do the Rays have it. What I like about the Rays even more is their commitment to their team. Some of them signed long-term contracts or extensions when the Rays were still the Devil Rays!
About walks – I agree BBB. Anyone who sees the ball well enough to walk that often is certainly helping rather than hurting the team.
Later y’all!
“The Rays aren’t going away any time soon.”
Yeah, like the 2006 Tigers…
“Pete is so yesterday sometimes. If he read the posts he would have seen the pix of Arod’s apartment!”
i’m sure read some of the comments and that’s how he knew to post the link today
“Yeah, like the 2006 Tigers…”
i thought the same.
Athletes are nice. Talented baseball players are better!
Mark in Tampa: Youre right, you didnt say walking was worthless, I guess I kinda just read “Giambi is hitting or worthless” that way because I was thinking that he’s either hitting or walking. Also for some reason it reminded me of when Buck or McCarver (can’t remember which) once said that Giambi clogs up the basepaths by walking too much, which has always cracked me up.
To me the problem with Giambi is not so much his walks or his lack of athleticism (although the latter certainly isn;t a positive), it’s more his unwillingness or inability (I wish I knew which) to make adjustments ie beating the shift. I certainly agree that it’s more valuable when a speedy guy like Gardner walks, but guys like that tend not to walk as much as the Giambis of the world.
As much as I love speed I do subscribe a bit to the Billy Beane school of it can be overrated. I think a team of fat and slow guys who all walk all the time would score a lot of runs simply by virtue of wearing out opposing pitchers. They’d probably score more runs than a team of Akinori Iwamuras, 9 triples and all
I do agree that the Yanks should get more athletic, but I wouldn’t trade OPB for speed.
saucy,
Do my longhorns oust texas tech this weekend?
It looks like P.S. are in cruise control from now till the championship game.
“but I wouldn’t trade OPB for speed.”
***or OBP, even. Only acronym in the world that renders me dyslexic every time, lol.
BBB (just say no to selling low on Cano),
Okay. But, of course the best is to have a good mix of all types of players, a one dimensional team rarely is successful for very long in any sport.
Can we start teaching the art of bunting in the minors again if we’re going back to athletic players? Moving runners, squeeze play and bunting for a hit. With some “chicks dig” shots every now and then. We will leave that job to the future homerun champ.
s.o.s., i’m sorry to say, but i picked T.T. in the pool i’m in. Texas is currently favored by 4 points. but your longhorns could still win and not cover the point spread, in which case we’d both be winners…
that said, i am not rooting for #1 Texas!
I also wonder what rank texas tech will be if they end up winning. they may move ahead of PSU (which would be a crock of $(@)$#@*#(@)
Haven’t we drafted enough guys who list baseball as their second best sport (Drew Henson, CJ Henry, Brackman)?
Let’s focus on players who can throw, hit and/or catch a ball, and not worry so much about a guy’s speed in the high hurdles.
“That brings us to Mike Jones.”
WHO??????????
You know who was a starting QB before focusing on baseball, Alex Rodriguez