New York Yankees Eye Future Titles After Adding Prospects

The New York Yankees surrendered their 2016 playoff chances, but in return they got a bright future.

Now that the dust has settled after a furious trade deadline with the requisite winner and loser labels assigned, fans, media and front office personnel alike are starting to appreciate the work that was done, and the New York Yankees have received much of the applause.

The Yankees went against their nature and decided to look toward the future. It’s tough to sell that strategy to a fan base that is used to winning—especially considering Gotham’s other team is going all in this season—but if the Yankees are hoisting the World Series Trophy in 2018 or 2019, it’ll be worth a few seasons of losing.

The obvious source of optimism is the influx of prospects. Before the trade deadline the Yankees had three prospects ranked in the top 40 of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects in shortstop Jorge Mateo (No. 25), outfielder Aaron Judge (No. 30) and catcher Gary Sanchez (No. 37). With the addition of outfielder Clint Frazier (No. 22), Gleyber Torres (No. 24) and Justus Sheffield (No. 93), the Yankees now have five in the top 40 and seven in the top 100. (Blake Rutherford, a 2016 first round pick, is the seventh.)

The additions have given the Yankees a nice mix of offensive talent.

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Judge, Frazier and Rutherford are outfielders and will fill in nicely around Jacoby Ellsbury, who turns 33 in September, although Judge may be transitioned into a designated hitter. Judge was crushing the ball this season but injured his knee and just returned to the playing field Tuesday. Frazier is having another productive season and should make his major league debut in 2017. Rutherford is slashing .446/.493/.723 in the Appalachian League.

Mateo and Torres are middle infielders, and the two are currently playing together in the Florida State League; Torres played shortstop yesterday while Mateo played second base and hit a home run. This duo has a great chance of being the Yankees’ next great double play tandem.

Sanchez, a catcher, was just called up to the majors after posting a .349 weighted on-base average since July 14. Sanchez has been an above average minor league hitter over the past four seasons and is a good pitch framer.

While those names are the ones found on top prospect lists, the Yankees added pitching arms to the farm as well. The most headline-worthy name was Dillon Tate, a 2015 first round selection by the Texas Rangers.

If what you just read sounds familiar, it should. The Yankees have borrowed from the playbook of the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros, who traded away valuable but unnecessary assets to load up on young talent that fueled playoff runs last season and again this season.

The great thing about this approach is that it doesn’t keep the Yankees out of the free agent market. The Kansas City Royals had to buy low to fill in where their ample young talent couldn’t. So did the Pittsburgh Pirates. But like the Cubs and their spending sprees on Jon Lester, Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward and John Lackey, the Yankees have the financial muscle to go sign highly coveted free agents to supplement a deep crop of prospects.

Pitcher C.C. Sabathia, first baseman Mark Teixeira —remember how that spending spree turned out?– and designated hitter Alex Rodriguez and their exorbitant salaries will be gone over the next two seasons, whether they like it or not. That will free up around $70 million to go after players such as Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jake Arrieta, Yu Darvish, Madison Bumgarner and Jay Bruce after 2017. Or they could wait for Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper after 2018.

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Whatever they decide to do, the Yankees are well positioned to succeed. It won’t be in 2016 or 2017, but look for the Yankees to be among the game’s best teams down the road.

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