MISSED OPPORTUNITIES!!! (Part 2 of 2)
- Paul Semendinger
- 14 hours ago
- 5 min read
by Paul Semendinger
August 31, 2026
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I have been writing a lot about the Yankees and the way they handle their prospects and the way their currently handling George Lombard, Jr.
Here I discuss players with fast starts to their careers and more.
Here I discuss the pressures of being a 21-year-old big leaguer on the Yankees
Here I discuss the continued failed prospects just over the last few years
Here I discuss how the missed opportunities impact the failed prospects themselves
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Imagine having a consensus Top 10 MLB Prospect in your system. Imagine having a host of Top 100 MLB Prospects.
Now imagine having those prospects at positions that are blocked to them because of the fact that the player playing at the MLB level is a star, and young, possibly still in his twenties.
Imagine what the General Manager of a team could get for those prospects...
That is the situation we find the Yankees in, right now.
As I have explained in previous articles, Gleyber Torres was a Top Five Prospect in the MLB in 2017 and 2018. This wasn't just Yankees hype. This was in all of baseball. Torres was supposed to be the real deal. It didn't work out that way with the Yankees. Something happened.
And it did not take long. At all.
By 2022, the Gleyber Torres Shortstop Era had already ended.
Since 2022, the Yankees have played the following players at shortstop:
Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Marwin Gonzalez
Oswald Peraza
Oswaldo Cabrera
Anthony Volpe
Jose Caballero
Max Schuemann
Ryan McMahon and
George Lombard, Jr
Of those, Oswald Peraza, Anthony Volpe, and now George Lombard, Jr. have all been considered top prospects.
And, if we want to go back further, in 2016, the next great shortstop was supposed to be Jorge Mateo. And there was also Wilkerman Garcia who had a whole lot of promise...
This is what I speak of when I state that the Yankees just move on from Prospect A to Prospect B to Prospect C, and on and on...
But, at some point, we need to pause and ask, "If the Yankees were wrong about Mateo and Garcia and Torres, and Peraza, and Volpe... why do I trust that they're correct regarding Lombard, Jr.?"
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But let's take a step back and assume Gleyber Torres was and still is the real deal. If so, he would still be starring for the Yankees today. Gleyber Torres still has not reached his 30th birthday. If Gleyber Torres had been the star he was supposed to be, the Yankees would have been set at shortstop for the last eight years - and they would be set at shortstop for the next five plus (at least) years going forward.
Now. let's continue this scenario a little further. We know that the Yankees have not had the minor league depth to make some needed big time trades. Time after time, the Yankees have less than stellar trade deadlines and less than stellar off-seasons because, as they tell us, the trades that were possibly available to them would hurt too much. We have seen big time names moved to other teams because the Yankees didn't have the depth or players to trade to acquire those needed impact players..
But, if Gleyber Torres was still starring at shortstop, then Peraza, Volpe, and Lombard (at least) would have all been available in a trade. Those players would have been able to bring back quality Major League talent.
You see, the cost of Gleyber Torres not fulfilling his promise wasn't just a failed prospect, the cost of Gleyber Torres failing at shortstop has been the Yankees reluctance and/or inability to make big time trades with some of their best prospects.
The Yankees have been worse, year-after-year because they have had to hold onto their shortstop prospects. The Yankees haven't been able to address other needs through trades time and again because they have not been able to develop Major League talent at multiple positions - even though they have top rated minor leaguers at those positions.
Even most recently, if Anthony Volpe had performed as he should have, George Lombard, Jr. would have been available to trade.
This is another aspect of the Yankees failed approach with their prospects that is never considered, never brought up, and never discussed.
By failing their prospects, the Yankees are also failing the Major League team.
And, let's be honest. It isn't just shortstop.
Gary Sanchez, as I have noted, if he had fulfilled his promise, would still be the Yankees' catcher. If he was, then Austin Wells, would have been available to trade.
The Yankees Top Two Position Player Prospects over the last few years have been:
2017: Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier
2018: Gleyber Torres and Estevan Florial
2019: Estevan Florial and Anthony Seigler
2020: Oswald Peraza and Estevan Florial
2021: Jasson Dominguez and Oswald Peraza
2022: Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza
2023: Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez
2024: Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones
If just some of those players became even passable big leaguers for the Yankees, they would have solidified important positions on the field.
The Yankees often explain, also, that they cannot afford to have the highest payrolls, that they need to stay within a (very large, but strict) budget.
Here were cost friendly players who should have been stars.
If just one of the outfielder prospects above would have made it, just one, the Yankees would not have had to pay Cody Bellinger $42 million this year or next year.
One has to wonder how much better the Yankees would be if they had that $42 million to spend on a different area of need. And, of course that is just one example out of many.
Because the Yankees have not been able to develop these would-be stars, they have either played a poor Major League player at a position for long periods or have had to pay top salaries to players to fill positions that should have been filled by the top prospects they already had in their system.
The Yankees would be a better and deeper team if they had developed these prospects because they would have had a quality home grown player on the field plus more money to spend in other needed areas. And when a need arose, they would have had top minor league talent to trade to address that need.
The Yankees have come close many times these last many years to reaching and winning a World Series. They've often been a player or two away. If they had developed just their top prospects better, they would have been able to better address the weaknesses they had.
As a result it is not a stretch to note that it is very possible that if the Yankees had done a better job with their own prospects, there would be World Championship banners flying in the Bronx today.
These are the missed opportunities. And these are the aspects of this much bigger problem that no one ever discusses.
And starting now, they need to.
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One point that's not being mentioned is that each major league team evaluates prospects with their own scouting departments. What an organization pulls the trigger on a tradeWhat an organization pulls the trigger on a trade. It's all about matching up with the partnering team's proposal. We fans look at prospect rankingsWe fans look at prospect rankings, but it's not always about prospect rankings. Sometimes, teams simply value certain prospects over others.
All prospects have a certain trade value, and each team may view that value slightly differently. BaseballTradeValues frames the value of each MLB team's prospects pretty accurately but that for a tree to happen, the scouting department of the team acquiring the prospects absolutely, comes into play.
Sometimes…
The yanks problem at SS began when they let Didi walk and shifted a young slow footed 2nd baseman to SS. Since then, they went through SS after SS. Hopefully, GLJ can do the job, or next up is Kilbey.
if the Yankees goal is actually to win World Series (which I have claimed for years that it is not).
I'm pleased that you're ready and able to disagree with Alan when he goes off the beaten path and into the weeds.
disagreeing with some one else's unreasonable exaggerations provides some evidence that you're not completely wedded to others.
one can make an entirely reasonable case that the Yankee organization is not willing to do to extremes to win the Series
----- the Yankees seem unwilling to tank for a few seasons
------ the current Yankees seem unwilling to cheat or to engage in shady practices that lay along the borderline of league rules
------=they seem unwilling to sign highly-…
Paul, you make good points, but you are being way too simplistic.
As for trades, I'm going to go back to 2017:
For Verlander, the Tigers wanted the Yankees to take the rest of the contract and 4 of the Yankees Top 10 prospects were not enough (Chance Adams, Clint Frazier, Justis Sheffield, & Miguel Andujar). OK, technically Fra use was no longer a prospect..look at what the Tigers got from HOU: Parades, Cameron, & Rogers.
For Cole, the Pirates turned down the same four - Sheffield, Adams, Frazier, & Andujar. What they got was Moran, Musgrove, Martin, & Feliz.
The A's asked for both Peraza and Volpe, plus for Matt Olson. They also chose to accept Christian Pache over…
there are often two roads that diverge
and more often there are prospects who are lauded as future stars during their time as prospects.
it too often happens that potential stars do not ascend to the stardom predicted.
and sometimes it is because of things that are not the fault of the person who possessed the qualities required for stardom.
sometimes a lack of proper care and development is readily identifiable.
sometimes it's clear that those entrusted to provide the proper care failed.
sometimes it's not so clear.
however, it's reasonable to proceed from the assumption that investigation and analysis of failures will aid in reducing the tendency to repeat preventable errors.