Yankees patient approach will save the season in July, or sink it in June

A Very Slow Arms Race

Chance Adams has to be the worst-kept secret in baseball. He might be the best pitcher in all of the Triple-A and is ranked as the Yankees eighth best prospect. Ranked 12^th, and also playing for Scranton, is Domingo Acevedo. But the Yankees called up neither man to give Tanaka an extra day or to replace Sabathia; Luis Cessa was and is CC’s replacement.

Both men pitched adequately for the Yankees last year, but neither is a staff-saver. And the offense is putting up huge numbers, so it would make sense to try to make the pitching as great as the hitting. The team might try to surge ahead instead of treading water. But that’s July-type thinking, and this is still only June.

And there are two concerns for the two potential front-line starters. One is the number of times each can come up and be sent down before they must pass through waivers. For Adams, at least, this figure is three. Teams don’t want to use those up early in a season.

And the other reason is each player has a little developing to do. The Yankees do not want to risk stunting, or even ruining, the careers of two highly ranked prospects by putting them in a position to fail.

What a Deep System is For

Instead, they decided to take a chance on less talented players who were excelling at the time. That’s why they called up everyone from Ronald Herrera and Ben Heller to Giovanny Gallegos instead of their two best pitchers at their highest level. Gallegos is the highest ranked player, and he comes in at 30.

They even called up Domingo German from Double-A rather than rush Adams or Acevedo to the plate. Of course, it is hard to argue with German as he has a 1.04 ERA; the Yankees have caught lightning in a bottle. But wouldn’t the odds of that luck increase if they had taken a chance on their best pitchers at Triple-A?

I think the Yankees will still give them that chance this year. But they will do it later when having either or both on the Scranton Shuttle will make more sense, when they need their best players at the most critical time of the year. That time is coming soon but is not here yet. Cashman is gambling he can wait until then to use his next, best players.