The end of the Evil Empire & The Rise of a New Hope
Ladies and gentlemen this is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill! The New York Yankees are rebuilding. Yes, that’s right. The team once dubbed, “The Evil Empire” is changing their ways. Can you believe it? Just over a week ago, general manager Brian Cashman was able to convince ownership that the team built on stars that’re past their prime, was not good enough to compete for a title this year and beyond. For any other team in Major League Baseball this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but for the Yankees this is a huge change. Why? Well, because for the past couple decades the Yankees were the team that would buy superstars left and right. The team that would sign players to massive long term deals. The team that would outbid themselves simply because they felt the necessity to overpay for a player just to make sure another team wouldn’t get him. The team that would trade away the few decent prospects they had, to bring in a player on a half year, or 1 year rental. They thrived on big names, and making big headlines.
Looking back at that approach, did it really pay off? Maybe in profits, but definitely not in wins. The franchise is worth Billions. They’ve built an image, and brand that transcends sports and makes them profitable even when they don’t win championships. That’s great, but none of that really translated to success on the field. When you’re the Yankees, anything short of a World Series title is not good enough. In the last 15 years, the Yankees have 1 World Series title. That was in 2009 when they invested over $425 million in total contracts, and it payed off immediately that year with a title. Only, that team was “good” for just that season and quickly began deteriorating. Of course since it worked so well for them that year, they decided to continue in their ways. In 2014 they spent over $480 million in total contracts, but still have nothing to show for it. I guess once you’ve given in to the dark side there is no turning back, or so we thought.
Fast forward to 2016 and the improbable happens. The Yankees, for the first time in my life time, decided to sell at the trade deadline. They’ve finally accepted that building a great team begins from the ground up by first building a foundation. That foundation is one of the top farm systems in baseball. A young group of rebels, if you may, who’re loaded with talent and potential. Headlined by the names Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, Jorge Mateo, and Gary Sanchez. Soon we’ll see these young players rise to the majors, and form an alliance with the rest of the team to try and bring the Yankees back to the promise land. As a Yankees fan it’s both weird, and exciting to see this happen. This is new territory for us and it’ll take time for us to adjust. Yet, I strongly believe this was the right decision. The team was not good enough. The most amazing part of this all is how fast the rebuilding is happening. Cashman was able to bring back an amazing crop of prospects for 3 veteran players. Instantly upgrading the farm system from top 15 in baseball to maybe the best in all of baseball. Granted, just like in life, prospects don’t always work out. We’ll have to have patience and fight through some growing pains, but this does bring us a new hope. Hope that might lead us to a return to greatness. Rebuilding, what an innovative idea. I wonder why they didn’t think of it before? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Stay strong fellow Yankee fans. Trust the process, and may the force be with us.
