Wild stat shows Yankees' draft pick development under Brian Cashman is insanely bad

Want the good news first? The Yankees are extremely lucky to have Aaron Judge, who's developed into a force in the sport and will be ending his career in New York, barring a sell-off for the ages five years down the line.

Now the bad news: As exciting as Judge's development has been, he also represents ... the entirety ... of the farm system's fruit ... on the position player side ... since the 2008 debut of Brett Gardner.

Look upon these numbers and be aghast, as one helpful "fan of the Yankees" has culled the data to lay out, once and for all, just how terrible the team's drafting and developing efforts have been under Brian Cashman, Damon Oppenheimer, and their crack team of researchers. Oppenheimer and villainy? These two things just go hand in hand, folks!

Since Cashman took the reins of the front office, the Yankees have selected three offensive players who've posted over 20 bWAR. Three. Those same three offensive players are the only men Cashman and Co. have selected who've posted over 10 bWAR, as well as over 5.0 bWAR.

One of those men, Austin Jackson, never played a game for the big-league Yankees; he was flipped in the Curtis Granderson three-way swap. The other two? Brett Gardner (44.3) and Judge (39.6 and counting).

Currently, Anthony Volpe, halfway through a somewhat middling first season in the Bronx, is third on the all-time Cashman win list. Is that good?!

Yankees' best position players drafted and kept under Brian Cashman: Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge ... That is IT.

This can't be real. But it is.

"But wait," you might say, your mouth full of food and your metabolism jacked up to defend Cashman. "The Yankees always pick in the bottom half of the first round! You expect them to find talent there?!"

Yes. Yes we do. Totally fair expectation.

For example, here's some "offensive talent" found at the back of the first round/start of the second round over the past several years. We won't even delve into the third round and deeper. We'll just go with players who wouldn't have been viewed as massive first-round reaches.

2022: Drew Gilbert (28th overall, Justin Verlander trade headliner), Dalton Rushing (40th overall, Dodgers prospect on helium alert)

2021: Jackson Merrill (27th overall), Zack Gelof (60th overall), James Wood (top-10 prospect, 62nd overall), Kyle Manzardo (just traded for Aaron Civale, 63rd overall)

2020: Jordan Westburg (already in MLB with Orioles, 30th overall), Casey Schmitt (already in MLB with Giants, 49th overall), Masyn Winn (Cardinals top prospect, 54th overall)

2019: Matt Wallner (39th overall), Gunnar Henderson (42nd overall)

Spencer Steer and Michael Harris were also taken in the third round in 2019, but we're trying to be nice. Henderson, of course, was selected five picks after the Yankees chose injured left-hander TJ Sikkema, who was sent to Kansas City in the Andrew Benintendi trade.

You can never have enough pitching. But the Yankees have shown enough proficiency at both drafting and developing hurlers since the implementation of Matt Blake's system that it's maybe time to focus on players on the other side of the ball? There's gold to be found where the Yankees select. Hell, if you know how to scout, you might even stumble upon MLB's No. 1 prospect at Pick No. 42!

At least the Yankees have developed a number of iconic homegrown stars from the international market since Robinson Cano, and -- oh. Oh, no. Oh, we're so sorry. Jasson Dominguez, there's a lot riding on your shoulders, kid. Apparently, though, there remains no pressure on Cashman to uncover talent and get it to the finish line, 25 years after he was first handed the assignment.