Jimmy Sez

Until about 9:15pm ET last night, this World Series was no fun. The big, juicy story, of course, was that Aaron Judge's career playoff struggles have reached a nadir during the Yankees' most important games of the last 15 years. There's no arguing that, but the truth is the entire lineup was in a funk, and scoring two or three runs per game just isn't going to cut it against the Dodgers. Any other storyline you could point to during this series would also give a Yankee fan the blues. A questionable decision to bring Nestor Cortes in to face the heart of the Dodger lineup at the end of Game One after he hadn't pitched in over a month. Freddie Freeman's propensity for hitting a game-changing, or at least tone-setting, home run in each game of the series. Yankee base-running mistakes that cost them a chance at more runs. Even an over-eager fan at Yankee Stadium trying to pry the ball out of Mookie Betts' glove. It was one big Yankee bummer. In an instant, every...

Each year just before Spring Training, The Athletic 's Keith Law releases his list of the top 100 prospects in baseball. The amount of thought and research put into the list is impressive enough, but it's also a great way to gauge how strong your favorite team's player pipeline is. For Yankee fans, Law's 2023 rankings offer some obvious reasons to be optimistic about the future. However, it's not all sunshine and roses. There are some glaring weaknesses within the Yankee system and a significant talent gap between the Baby Bombers and some of their divisional rivals. Ultimately, what will matter most in Yankeeland is whether the organization can convert one or more of these prospects into a star player. Amazingly, it's something they've done only once  over the last 20 years or so. So let's dig in and see what's cooking on the farm. Veni, Vidi, Volpe The crown jewel of the Yankee farm system was on full display this spring and he shined brightly. Pr...

The people who run baseball are busy doing what they do best. No sleep for them until they finish setting the game back a solid 30 years by cancelling part of their season and making it as joyless as it could possibly be. Fear not, by the time fall rolls around, the MLB commissioner will wonder aloud why interest in the game is waning, then curiously point to "analytics" as the main reason. I have a headache just thinking about it, but I digress. With the start of the 2022 baseball season nowhere in sight, I want to take the opportunity to write about a group of people that baseball owners unequivocally care nothing about: young men trying to become major league baseball players. The venerable Keith Law at The Athletic has released his annual Top 100 MLB Prospect list . The young Yankees on this list are of particular interest given that the only way the big league team is going to get out of its current rut is through home-grown players. Over the last 20 years the organizat...