Former Yankee Prospect Bashes Team

Since breaking into professional baseball with the Staten Island Yankees back in 2004 Jason Jones has dealt with consistency, but overall has been a decent prospect.

The problem was Jones got buried behind the Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedys in the system and when the Yankees left him unprotected in this year’s Rule 5 draft the Twins happily selected him.

Apparently, that was a move the he couldn’t have been happier with. His major complaint: never feeling like a teammate among the many big names the Yankees had.

"That’s how I would describe it—you just don’t feel like a part of the team. There are the veterans—the superstars—and then the rest of the guys,” said Jones. “Here, there are superstars too, but it feels a lot more like we’re a team. It’s a lot better chemistry.”

He also went on to complain that Brian Cashman didn’t show him enough attention, complaining that the most he ever said to him was ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye.’ Meanwhile, Twins GM Bill Smith called him right after he was drafted to tell him that he was going to have a legit shot in Minnesota.

“It was pretty neat of him to do that. I didn’t even know who he was at the time, and he wanted to help me out,” Jones said. “I don’t think I ever talked to (Yankees GM Brian) Cashman, other than ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ a couple of times.”

Jones’ biggest problem with the Yankees seems to be that he felt ignored. Apparently that isn’t the way it is in Minnesota.

“They give young guys an opportunity here. The last couple of years for me, there’s just been no opportunity,” he said.

Jones will have a shot to win a job with the Twins out of spring training. He doesn’t have much of a chance to make the rotation, but could be the long man out of the pen or just another reliever.

If he doesn’t make the team out of spring he must be offered back to the Yankees, where, I’m sure they’d take him back. After all, he was slowly putting together a nice minor league career for himself.