Originally posted by Double-J: Not planning for the future? I guess you haven't heard of Chien-Ming Wang, Jeff Karstens, J. Brent Cox, Matt Smith, Eric Duncan, Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Kevin Thompson, and the slew of other minor leaguers who are coming up through the Yankees farm system (Wang who is obviously with the team now, Smith recently called up).
Every ML team has "a slew of minor leaguers" working their way through the system.
The question is, "How good are these guys?"
Unless Wang shows a dramatic improvement, I don't see him as anything more than a #3 or #4 starter, certainly not the type of 16-18 game winner you build a pennant-winning pitching staff around.
We've been hearing about Duncan, the Yanks top hitting prospect, since they made him their #1 pick in 2003, but so far he hasn't done much to justify the hype.
Minor league statistics have proven time and again to be quite reliable indicators of a player's future ML performance, and Duncan's have been nothing special.
Two years ago in A ball, he hit .258 with 16 homers and 131 strikeouts in 461 ABs.
Last year, in AA, it was .235 with 19 homers and 136 K's in 451 ABs.
So far at AAA Columbus this year, he's at .250, with no homers in 17 games.
Thompson is hitting .284 this year at Columbus, and Karstens is 0-2 for the Clippers so far, with an 8.18 E.R.A.
Hughes looked like a real prospect until he hurt his arm last year, and I'm not sure if he's back in action yet this season or not.
Only Cabrera, hitting .338 at Columbus, and Smih, look like tyhe might be ready for the majors now.
