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Considering all of the questions about the New York Yankees’ pitching staff right now, it says a lot about how highly they value Spencer Jones that he wasn’t traded for a frontline starter during the offseason.
Per ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, the Yankees “refused” to include Jones in their trade offers to the Chicago White Sox for Dylan Cease.
This comes after Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network previously reported Jones was believed to be the “key prospect” in talks between the Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers about Corbin Burnes.
Burnes wound up being traded to the Baltimore Orioles for DL Hall, Joey Ortiz and the No. 34 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft. Cease was dealt to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday for Drew Thorpe, Samuel Zavala, Jairo Irarte and Steven Wilson.
The Yankees did get some good news regarding Gerrit Cole’s elbow injury. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported on Friday the reigning AL Cy Young winner doesn’t need Tommy John surgery at this point, but he will likely miss 10 to 12 weeks.
Losing Cole for potentially up to three months leaves New York with a rotation of Nestor Cortes Jr., Marcus Stroman, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Clayton Beeter to start the regular season.
While there is optimism about Jones’ potential, he’s not considered a superstar prospect at this point. B/R’s Joel Reuter has him among the 50 honorable mentions outside of the top-100 prospects going into the 2024 season.
By comparison, Thorpe, Zavala and Irarte are all ranked in the top 100 right now. They are in the bottom 20 of that group, but the White Sox still managed to get three top-100 prospects for Cease.
It’s not hard to look at Jones’ physical profile and draw a comparison to Aaron Judge. He’s listed at 6’6″ and 235 pounds. His frame and long limbs lead to a lot of strikeouts (155 in 480 at-bats in the minors last season).
Jones hasn’t shown the prodigious power in his minor-league career that Judge possessed. The 22-year-old has a .459 slugging percentage in 142 games in the minors over the past two seasons.
One thing Jones’ size does help him do is run. He’s not a blazer out of the box or on the bases, but his long strides allow him to cover a lot of ground. He stole 43 bases during the 2023 season and has the ability to play centerfield in the big leagues.
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