CHASE CHASED, YANKEES INTO FRYER Today the Yankees consummated a minor deal, in at least two senses of the word minor, swapping lefty Chase Wright, who had been designated in the aftermath of Andy Pettitte's re-signing, in return for catcher-outfielder Eric Fryer, formerly of the Brewers. Initially this might look kind of exciting because Wright was a low-strikeout type who was unlikely to live down the historic 2007 game against the Red Sox in which he allowed consecutive home runs to Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Felix Mantilla and Don Buddin, whereas Fryer batted .355/.407/.506 in the Sally League last season. Steal, right? Wrong. You don't get a major prospect for Chase Wright unless the general manager on the other side of the table has a serious drinking problem and no oversight. Fryer was 22 last year and had spent three years in college, so he was a bit experienced for Low-A ball. He had a great year, but we should expect the pitching to catch up to him in a big way as he moves up. According to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus, Fryer's swing is also very complicated, which makes scouts skeptical about his future. The other problem with Fryer, and it's odd to call it a problem, is that when we say catcher-outfielder, we really mean "former outfielder." That, at least, is how the Brewers viewed him, increasingly playing him behind the dish as the season wore on. If the Yankees also view him as a catcher, it's difficult to see how he's going to get any playing time in, as he's at the same level as the two best prospects in the Yankees organization, Austin Romine and Jesus Montero, both of whom happen to be catchers. They can't all go up to Tampa this year, be rotating catchers and sing in three-part harmony. The assumption here is that Fryer gets pushed back to an outfield corner, which puts pressure on him to keep hitting -- assuming he showed decent defensive abilities as a catcher, he wouldn't have to post another 900 OPS to make it. A much greater level of skepticism greets an outfielder's bat. All of that said, given that the Yankees had no plans for Wright, a fringe part, getting someone for him that at least looks good isn't a bad thing, particularly since said someone is a position player. The Yankees' system needs more bats. Adding prospects through trades is something that Brian Cashman will need to prioritize to the best of his ability in the near future, as last year's draft, which eschewed a number-one or number-two pick, was a disaster, and this year's draft, which has been stripped of picks by all the free agent action, promises to be thin as well. You can't feed the farm system scraps for two seasons and not have it hurt you, regardless of how many free agents you sign. It should be noted that one of the reasons that Mark Teixeira is such a great signing for the Yankees is that next year's free-agent class is largely devoid of Teixeira types, twentysomethings at the top of their games. Top position players likely to hit the market include Carlos Delgado, Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa, Brian Roberts, Chipper Jones, Jason Bay (bet on the Red Sox tying him up before then), Vlad Guerrero, Matt Holliday... and Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. The Yankees offense looks like a light offensive unit now. With little help coming from the farm (Austin Jackson doesn't look like an impact player at this stage), little on the free agent market beyond declining vets and re-signing Damon and Matsui, probably an multimillion-dollar act of wishful thinking, the unit could achieve a helium-like quality by 2010... ...Which is to say that Mr. Cashman should keep trading those extra pitchers for bodies with bats, as many as he possibly can. --

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