The Curious Case of Manny Banuelos

Brian Cashman kicked off the new year with a bang. In a move that comes as a bit of a surprise to both teams involved, Jason Evans of Yanks Go Yard reports that the New York Yankees shipped off one-time elite pitching prospect Manny Banuelos to the Atlanta Braves. The Yankees received David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve in return to add to their seemingly ever evolving bullpen.

As someone who covered the Yankees minor league system in depth this past season, it comes as somewhat of a surprise. Banuelos, a 23-year old lefty, was once the prize of the Yankees eyes. He, Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman, the Killer Bees, were supposed to be the new wave for Yankees pitching. Heading into the 2012 season, Banuelos was ranked as the 12th best prospect in all of baseball. His future was bright. And then the injuries came.

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Banuelos would pitch only 6 games in 2012 when arm injuries ended his season. It led to the dreaded Tommy John surgery and he was on the shelf for the entire 2013 season. Banuelos pitched the entire 2014 season on a limited basis. He would not eclipse three innings pitched until late July and by then, he was not allowed to go past five. Still, his performance garnered him enough to be ranked as the Yankees 9th overall prospect by season’s end. He finished 2014 2-3 with a 4.11 ERA and 71 strikeouts over 76.2 innings. Most promising, however, was that he seemed to pitch best late in the season when he was promoted to Scranton/Wiles-Barre in Triple A where he went 1-0 over four starts with a 3.60 ERA.

What does this mean for the Yankees? 2013 brought names like Luis Severino and Ian Clarkin onto the scene. The Yanks seem to be moving forward from their prospects that seemingly failed them and are making room to usher in a new era of prospects. They also immediately got better on the big league level, as Banuelos still has a season of pitching full games in the minors before he is ready. David Carpenter, the 29-year old bullpen veteran, steps in and replaces the recently traded Shawn Kelley. Carpenter is better than Kelley and had he been on another team that didn’t have Craig Kimbrel awaiting in the the bullpen, he could have arguably been a very good closer.

Chasen Shreve, the 24-year old lefty, has minimal big league experience, but has a long minor league pedigree that shows good control and a high strikeout rate. While there seems to be little room in the Bronx for Shreve right now with the additions of lefties Andrew Miller and Justin Wilson. He will most likely work out of the bullpen in SWB for the RailRiders, but he has shown he can handle the bigs. In limited work for the Braves last year (15 appearances), Shreve surrendered just one run while striking out 15 over 12.1 innings. He provides immediate depth and big league experience to the Yankees “Super Bullpen”.

The move is more curious for the Braves. New GM John Hart is clearly putting his own signature on his Braves, but Carpenter and Kimbrel proved to be a strong shutdown option in close games for a team that doesn’t score many runs. Furthermore, Banuelos is the fourth pitcher this offseason that Hart has brought to the Braves with arm issues, with the most recently acquired Max Fried coming to mind. Like Banuelos, Fried’s future shined bright until Tommy John stepped in and ended his season prematurely. The Braves are known for making young pitchers great, but this seems to be a lot of risk to take on in one offseason. As Evans pointed out, Gordon Blakely, the Yankees former top scout, has signed on to help Hart in Atlanta. He may very well have had something to do with this and knows something nobody else does.

This is a trade that could pay infinite dividends for the Braves in 2016. If Banuelos can put the injuries behind him, and just turning 24 it leaves much promise that he will, the Braves have just bolstered their rotation in their rebuilding plans. Carpenter, although arbitration eligible, will make an immediate impact in the Bronx now, and maybe for awhile down the road and Shreve looks like he has the goods to stick for awhile as well. Right now, the Yankees seem like overwhelming winners, but come 2016, the Braves could be laughing all the way to the bank.