New York Yankees: A Team Shedding The Past And Moving To The Future
Like many New York Yankees fans, I was disappointed and dismayed that the Hall Of Fame Era’s Committee overlooked George Steinbrenner in their selections this year. But at the same time I am not surprised because he came from a different era of team building that we see today (one that he single handedly created), and therefore may not be appreciated as much today as it was then. But all indications are that the Yankees are spreading their wings and finding a team building formula that works in the 21st Century.
The New York Yankees may have wanted Carlos Beltran before they settled on Matt Holiday , but in the long scheme of things it really doesn’t matter.
They’ve had/have a plan and they’re sticking to it. Fill in the pieces, get younger, shed payroll when you can, and pick up a legitimate major league player when you can to offset the young talent that is here as well as the ones who are on the way. And Plan B (publicly) has always been Plan A.
So, the Yankees play the game pretending like they’re the old Yankees (no offense George) and they become a participant in the Edwin Encarncion Sweepstakes that ironically has many in baseball circles asking, “Whatever Happened To Them” and you plug in a Matt Holiday for one one year.
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And you play the same game with a pitcher like Rich Hill, who at one time was a “must have” piece of your 2017 rotation (or so everybody said), and eventually the Dodgers take the plunge , inheriting a pitcher who is owed $40 million and will be 40 years old when the contract is complete.
Yankees Break From The Past
In days past, the Yankees would have not only signed Rich Hill, but by now Chris Sale and Edwin Encarncion would be strapping on a Yankees jersey with the YES television lights glaring, and at least two of the their top three prospects would be packing their bags and looking for an apartment in another city.
Instead, all of the the young talent is still there. Count’em, Gleyber Torres , Gary Sanchez , Greg Bird , Clint Frazier , who the Yankees insisted on having in the Andrew Miller deal with the Indians……all those pieces are still there.
But at the same time, “The Boss” and his way of doing things is still alive when it comes to the one free agent they’ve targeted this year. And there is absolutely no one that will outbid the Yankees for the services of Aroldis Chapman .
This could get interesting, but the Cubs are reportedly out of the mix now and the rest may be simply up to Chapman.
Next: Dodgers re-sign Rich Hill
For New York Yankees fans, all of the above has to be good news. For other franchises, it’s more like, “Welcome to the real world”. Either way, for baseball it’s good to have the “love ’em or hate ’em” Yankees back in the game again.