The New York Yankees are clearly a win-now team. They haven’t been in rebuilding mode since 2016, when they traded closer Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for a package that included a then-prospect Gleyber Torres.
However, a team doesn’t have to be rebuilding to have a good farm, just like a contending team doesn’t necessarily have to boast a bad system. Having a good foundation to win in the present time AND a bright future coming up is the ideal scenario, though.
For the New York Yankees, the farm system has suffered several hits in the last few years. It was considered great in 2016-2017, but trades have decimated it to the point it was ranked 14th in the most recent release by prospects guru Keith Law, currently working for The Athletic.
In the last few years, Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman has surrendered prospects such as Justus Sheffield, Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras, Dillon Tate, Blake Rutherford, Cody Carroll, Billy McKinney, Giovanny Gallegos to upgrade the Major League roster.
The Yankees’ farm, analyzed
Here is what Law has to say about the Yankees’ farm (link courtesy of NJ Advance Media):
“The Yankees seem to develop velocity as well as any organization and have used it to great effect for their own system and for packaging unheralded prospects into bigger trades, while largely hanging on to their own high-dollar guys from the draft and the international market. Because they’ve drafted so low in recent years, their top 20 reflects more of the high-upside talent they’ve found internationally than draft products, although they do have a few recent draftees whose industry value might rise quickly once they get to play this year. They have some depth up the middle, especially at catcher, and even with trades like the Jameson Taillon deal they still have a lot of power arms.”
Despite the 14th position in the ranking, the Yankees still have some ammo to strengthen the team via trade.
Law’s top 10 farm systems are:
1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Miami Marlins
5. Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Atlanta Braves
7. San Diego Padres
8. Minnesota Twins
9. San Francisco Giants
10. Los Angeles Dodgers