Yesterday morning, I spoke to a scout with a club that was heavily following the Yankees affiliates around the time of last year's non-waiver trading deadline.

Below are a few of the highlights of that interview in regards to the players who I don't believe will be with the team next year. I'll save the Thunder-centric quotes for the Top 10 series, which began this week and will last until around the third week in February. 


Overall impression: I'm not the biggest Betances fan in the world. I think he's got really good stuff, but he's got to learn to harness it. I think he's going to end up as a bullpen guy.

On injury problems: Here's a guy that, as a starter, if you trade for him that way and believe that's what he's going to be, you're taking a guy who's been out a lot and spent time on the disabled list every year. It's kind of like taking the running back that's missed time four years in college, that's probably not going to change. ... To me, with durability and just the way his stuff plays, he's going to be a bullpen guy.

Background: Big strong kid, he's a great kid, he's grown up, he's got aptitude. There's a lot of good things.

Troubles with repeating delivery: I don't think he's the greatest athlete in the world, not that he's terrible, but I'm not sure he's the greatest athlete in the world. If you hope a guy's going to log 200 innings, you've got to repeat that delivery for a long, long time. That's not always easy.

Miscellany: I think that's what he gets in trouble with sometimes, is throwing that breaking ball for strikes. His fastball doesn't have a ton of life, it can straighten out a little bit.