Minor League Monday 8/25/08

I didn't have time to put together awards this week, but there are a few stories from the farm that I wanted to share.

• The Yankees' highest and third-highest paid draft picks had auspicious debuts in the Gulf Coast league. Brett Marshall, the sixth round pick who signed for $850,000, pitched three dominant innings in relief, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out four batters. Even better, though, was 27th round pick Garrison Lassiter, who began his professional career with two multi-hit games and went 5 for 11 on the week with a stolen base to boot.
• I may not have any performance awards this week, but I can give Alfredo Aceves a nod for the best quote of the week. In Scranton last night, Aceves faced a Buffalo Bisons lineup which included three rehabbing major leaguers in Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield, two of whom have among the best hitters in the American League over the past few seasons. Aceves acquitted himself well, though, striking out Martinez twice and Hafner once as he pitched six scoreless innings for the win. How did he avoid any anxieties over facing experienced major leaguers? Apparently through ignorance. Aceves, who spent the last six years in Mexico, didn't even recognize any of the players, saying about Hafner "I've seen him before but I don't know where." You can check out the full story over at Chad Jennings' blog.
• In less amusing news, Austin Jackson, who is arguably the Yankees' top prospect, left Friday night's game in Trenton with back stiffness and has been placed on the DL. The move, however, is said to be purely precautionary and Jackson should be back in plenty of time for the first game of the Eastern League playoffs next week.
• On the subject of playoffs, congratulations are in order for the Trenton Thunder and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, who both clinched playoff berths last week. Additionally, Trenton clinched it's third straight divisional title. Considering the amount of shuffling the Yankees have had to do to their minor league rosters, the success of these teams is truly an impressive achievement for the coaches and staff.
• Finally, on last congratulation for pitcher Phil Coke, who was named to the 2008 Eastern League All-Star team. The 25 year-old lefty went 9-4 for the Thunder with a 2.51 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 118.1 innings before being called up to Triple-A earlier this month.
  

Yanks trade for Marte and Nady

It's not official yet, but from what I've been able to gather from several sources is that the Yankees have picked up lefthanded reliever Damaso Marte and outfielder Xavier Nady for pitchers Ross Ohlendorf, George Kontos, Phil Coke and outfielder Jose Tabata.

I'll give a more detailed analysis after the details have been confirmed, but my initial reaction is that it's a great trade for the Yankees. Marte and Nady are both good players who fit the Yankees' needs and are under contract for next season as well. Meanwhile, of the four prospects the Yankees gave up, only Tabata has the potential to be a real star, and he's had many personal issues and injury problems which have tempered enthusiasm for his future.

Update 11:27AM:It turns out that the trade is actually for Tabata, Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen. This makes the price slightly higher, as Karstens and McCutchen are more ready to contribute at the major league level than Kontos or Coke, the difference is very small. In fact, I'm tempted to say that it's a better price for the Yankees, as Kontos has the highest ceiling of the four, and Coke is the only lefthander. Considering how deep the Yankee farm system is in righthanded pitching, the loss of two guys that profile as back of the rotation types isn't a big deal.

Regardless, this is a great deal for the Yankees filling two of their four big holes. Now Brian Cashman faces the task of finding a better fifth starter than Sidney Ponson and a better catcher than Jose Molina without hurting the team in the long-term. As I've said before, I doubt that the latter is possible, but the former should be.

Right now the focus is on Jarrod Washburn, but I've got another idea if that falls through. With the acquisition of Marte, the dominating performances of Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and David Robertson, and the impending returns of Brian Bruney and Chris Britton, I think Kyle Farnsworth might be expendable. Rather than looking at teams that are out of contention and would want prospects in a trade, why not look at a contender like the Cubs, who have Rich Hill toiling away in the minors?