New York Yankees should become sellers

The New York Yankees should sell Aroldis Chapman, Carlos Beltran and the rest to make way for the future.

As underwhelming as the New York Yankees have been this season, and as horrible as their current roster make-up is, they are really not in such a bad position after all.

That is because they are the Yankees. And, even though the Bronx Bombers no longer have George Steinbrenner running the show, they’ll never be shy about spending money.

New York is also currently paying off the final years in four of their largest contracts. Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran are up after this season, while Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia are after next. That means that roughly $85 million dollars will be off the books for them to reinvest into the team in a year-and-a-half’s time.

Now, that’s not to say they should stand pat and do nothing – quite the contrary. The Yankees should both realize and accept their failings in 2016 and look to bolster their system of young players in the process.

Simply put, the Yankees need to become sellers. Yeah, when’s the last time we said that. But really, it’s for the best. By not trying to bail their sinking frigate, loaded down by they weights of enormous contracts, with a bucket, they can make their team much stronger in the end.

Yes, New York will get better. There’s really no question about it. This organization has far too much pride and resources, and far too little patience to endure another season sniffing the bottom of the AL East. But, by selling the assets they do have and likely won’t hold onto after their contracts expire, they can add talented youngsters to have at their disposal when the rebuild – I mean signing process – really begins.

Coming into this season, the Yanks had a minor league system that ranked right about in the middle of the pack. Number 14 on some lists, 16 on others, and this season hasn’t done a whole lot to change that. New York can’t look down and see a Yoan Moncada or Dansby Swanson, or heck, even an Andrew Benintendi preparing for his big league debut.

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Aaron Judge received the highest marks for the Yankees at 23rd overall in Keith Law’s midseason Top 50 prospect rankings for ESPN. The 24-year-old is an exciting prospect who is coming off a sizzling June, but who also isn’t without his flaws, as he has had difficulty at times with contact as noted in Baseball America’s Midseason Top 100 Prospects. For this reason BA ranked Judge at No. 42 while giving Jorge Mateo the top spot in the Yanks system at No. 19 overall.

Mateo, a 21-year-old shortstop, has shown great potential, but he too comes with spots. As Keith Law mentioned in his rankings, Mateo has both been suspended and not lived up to his foretold speed, while struggling to make hard contact with the ball. In essence, the Yankees have a few talented prospects, but the opinions on how well these players will perform in the future still seem split and the likelihood of any of them becoming franchise-altering, slim.

And that brings us back to the current state of New York’s roster and the assets they possess. Players like Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller (though I think they should keep him), Carlos Beltran, and maybe even Jacoby Ellsbury or Nathan Eovaldi, could bring in one or more significant prospects to help the Yankees in the future.

New York shouldn’t hesitate sending them to the highest bidder and realigning their sights to next year and beyond.

Next: Yanks ready to deal Chapman

So in 2018 when they look to sign the likes of Bryce Harper, they can add him to the mix of several young, skilled big leaguers or top prospects, putting them in prime position for the next decade. Then New York will feel like New York again, and the world will be back in its proper balance with the Bombers striking fear in the hearts of their opponents, rather than being a punchline.

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