Written by Greg Fertel | 02 February 2007

Less than 2 weeks until pitchers and catchers report, meaning in less than 2 weeks we all get to remember how uneventful it is when it's just pitchers and catchers. But it's baseball, and it's not coming soon enough. Otherwise...there's a whole bunch of nothing going on prospect wise. Matt DeSalvo was dropped from the 40-man roster, but he cleared waivers, so it's no biggie. He was sent outright to Triple-A Scranton, not Double-A Trenton, meaning that either Tyler Clippard will be returning to Trenton to start '07, or that DeSalvo will be used in relief. Either way, who cares. Both won't finish the season where they start it anyway. The long-running joke that Wayne Franklin would be Fabian's top prospect has gotten old, but he finally revealed who his top guy is. If you don't know who it is without having to click the link, please, go away. John Manuel pinch hit for Jim Callis during ESPN's weekly BA chat (if that makes sense). Here's a great question:

Jeff (London): Will AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre have the best minor league rotation (Hughes, Sanchez, Ohlendorf, Clippard, White/Kennedy/Karstens) ever? John Manuel : Good question, Jeff, and yeah, I think Scranton will be in contention there, though Ian Kennedy is not in the mix for that staff. Tyler Clippard probably ranks fifth on that staff in raw stuff, though probably third in terms of prospecty-ness. That's four guys in the Yankees' top 10 (counting Ohlendorf, who wasn't a Yank at the time the Handbook was finished). The Yankees are loaded with pitching, curiously none of it lefthanded, and that's the case for this projected Triple-A staff. You also left out Darrell Rasner, who could be there. One or two of those guys are either going to be in the big league bullpen or back in Double-A; I would guess spring training performance actually will be a factor.

Best minor league rotation ever? But I thought the Yanks farm system sucked? There's a whole lotta draft previews running around, and I'll have something about it next week. I shoulda bought a lottery ticket when I previewed the draft last year, because I hit the nail on the head, relatively speaking. Then again, I believe that just confirms my genius, and I'm anxiously awaiting job offers from Major League scouting directors. Any day now guys, the draft is barely 5 months away... Have a great weekend.

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