Wednesday, November 14, 2012

MLB: IF David Adams (Yankees), LHP Robbie Erlin (Padres) Arizona Fall League Players of the Week

Scottsdale Scorpions infielder David Adams (Yankees) and Peoria Javelinas left-handed starting pitcher Robbie Erlin (Padres) are the Arizona Fall League’s week five player of the week and pitcher of the week, respectively.

Adams — The 6-1, 205-pound infielder hit three home runs while batting .571 for the week. He added 4 runs, 1 triple and 6 RBI. He led the league in home runs, extra-base hits (4) and total bases (17). His on-base and slugging percentages were .474 and 1.063, respectively.

Through the first five weeks of the Fall League season, the Margate, FL native was hitting .261 with 9 runs, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs and 14 RBI and a .363 on-base percentage.

He also was the starting second baseman for the East Division in the November 3 Rising Stars Game.

Adams, 25, spent the 2012 season at Double-A Trenton where he hit .306 with eight homers and 48 RBI in 86 games. He is a .295 hitter over five minor-league seasons.

He was the Yankees’ third-round (106th overall) draft choice in 2008 out of the University of Virginia.

Adams lost a big chunk of development time over 2010-2011, his ages 23 and 24 seasons, due to a severe ankle injury.  He appears to be past that now and had a good year in Trenton and is doing pretty well in the AFL.  He’s mostly played 2B but saw some time at 3B this past season and he has a decent chance to make the Yankees out of spring training in a utility role.  CAIRO likes him a fair amount, projecting him at .256/.324/.390 which would be worth about 1.5 WAR over 600 PA.  If Adams has a good 2013 it may give the Yankees some ammunition when negotiating with Robinson Cano.  It’s one thing to lose a 5-6 win player without a viable fall-back, but a 1.5-2 win replacement makes it sting a bit less.

I’m not saying the Yankees shouldn’t try and re-sign Cano, because losing him would hurt a lot.  But I really don’t want to see him signed into his late 30s at “top of the market” dollars, and we know that’s what he’s looking for.