The Yankees’ decision to decline Brackman’s 2012 option and make him a free agent couldn’t have been an easy one, but it was the right one. In the course of 4 years Brackman went from a Baseball America top-10 prospect to nothing short of a total (and expensive) bust. As Mike Axisa at FanGraphs points out today, the $11M the Yankees have committed to Brackman since he was drafted in 2007 makes him the most expensive draft bust to date. And to make it worse, it’s not as if the Yankees didn’t know what they were getting. Every MLB team knew going into the 2007 draft that Brackman would need Tommy John surgery, and the Yankees were the team willing to take a chance on him. After all, he had a huge upside if the gamble worked out, but the cost of coming to the table was huge.

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They have a great take on Brackman’s rough 2011 season after the solid number he posted in 2010. At 26-years old, Brackman is nearing a tipping point in his professional career. He has the pitches and velocity to be successful, but his control and pitch patterns are problematic, as evidenced by the fact that his strikeout to walk ratio in 2011 was an even 1:1. Essentially, Brackman is a perfect example of the frustrations and unpredictability that often accompany top prospects.

I, for one, am greatly looking forward to Brackman’s 2012 season. His raw talent is exciting, and being an eternal optimist I feel like he is on the verge of turning a corner and finally living up to the high expectations. Hey, it’s happened to plenty of pitchers before him.

So you may be wondering: “Where are Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Andrew Brackman going to be on Opening Day 2012?”

Well, our friends Nathaniel and Wally over at Seedlings to Stars have the answer. So check out their take on the impact these young players will have next season!