New York Is Not For Everyone

Sonny Gray and Joey Gallo don't care what Sinatra had to say

Welcome to Warning Track Power, a weekly newsletter of baseball stories and analysis grounded in front office and scouting experiences and the personalities encountered along the way.

Before we get into the newsletter, I want to let you know that today is the sixth annual Kirk Gibson Golf Classic. In addition to festivities on the course in the Detroit suburbs, there’s an online silent auction featuring many autographed jerseys, other sports memorabilia, and experiences. The Kirk Gibson Foundation for Parkinson’s funds programs to benefit Parkinson’s patients and to provide research grants to help find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.

Click here to check out the auction items online and support a great cause.

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The Yankees and A’s reengaged in a familiar practice a few weeks ago. In a deadline deal, New York received coveted starting pitcher Frankie Montas (and reliever Lou Trevino).

Headed to Oakland was a quartet of minor leaguers, all of whom are now represented in the A’s top 30 prospect list, according to Baseball America. The return featured a combination of funk, upside, Major League readiness, and risk; in a way, it’s Oakland’s philosophy.

(Starter J.P. Sears, who went from NY to Oakland in the trade, threw five strong innings and got the win over the Mariners yesterday.)

It was only five years ago that these two clubs hooked up on a similar deal. Sonny Gray, who has never been as good as it seems like he should be, was shipped to the Bronx for three minor leaguers.

At the time, that trade appeared to bring the A’s quite a return. Pitcher James Kaprielian, shortstop Jorge Mateo, and outfielder Dustin Fowler headed west.

In 2017, Kaprielian and Mateo were both top-100 MLB prospects. Fowler had broken through as a legitimate potential big leaguer a couple years prior.

I scouted Mateo and Fowler in 2015 when they were with the Yankees Low-A Charleston affiliate. I crossed paths with Kaprielian, whom the Yanks selected 16th overall that same year, in Staten Island.

The Yankees closely monitored their first-rounder’s work after he had thrown more than 100 innings for UCLA that spring. Meanwhile, by the end of that season, I was closely monitoring the anticipated arrival of my first-born child.

My wife, the Tampa Bay Rays, and I had an agreement: Once we got within one month of the due date, my scouting assignments wouldn’t take me anywhere that required a flight or many hours behind the wheel.

As I wrote about back in the early days of WTP, I spent much of that late August and September in Staten Island. So did Kaprielian.