John Sickels of Minor League Ball sat down to talk to Mark Newman, the Yankees’ farm director, and needless to say, it’s a must read. Some of the many topics they discussed were Gerrit Cole, how to pronounce Jeremy Bleich’s name, sleepers, all sorts of great stuff. The most interesting part, to me at least, was Newman explaining how they use the Latin American market as a way to acquire premium young players that normally wouldn’t get to them in the draft. When it comes to drafting risky players like Cole and Andrew Brackman, Newman had a great quote: “… to be extraordinary involves risk, and our goal is to be extraordinary.” Amen, brother.

The interview was conducted this morning, so it looks like Newman won’t be getting the Steve Swindal treatment after his DUI.