Excitement is building, the anticipation is growing for the New York Yankees 2018 season. The Yankees jumped out early securing the NL MVP and then followed that up by resigning CC Sabathia. The last move the Yankees made just before the start of Spring training was acquiring Brandon Drury in a three team trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees are poised to make a Championship run. This team has an aura surrounding them and it isn’t very different from the aura around those late 90’s Dynasty teams. Yes the game isn’t the same as it was in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Major League Baseball has done a good job of making it difficult to “Buy” championships.
The Yankees have also done a good job in changing their mentality and approach to the game as the game has changed. With the new “top commodity” in baseball being prospects the Yankees who in the past only had prospects to fill out minor league rosters and more importantly to trade them. However, over the last several years the Yankees have stocked piled and drafted very well. Allowing themselves to have an abundance of the new “monetary” value (prospects) just like they had when the monetary value was actually just having monetary value. Brian Cashman who is now in his 20th season as the Yankees General Manager has truly been able to reinvent this team. Cashman though has not received the praise of being a great GM until the recent 2016 “Sell-off”. When the Yankees transitioned the roster nearly over night. The Yankees having had one of the oldest rosters became one of the youngest in mid-August of 2016. Since then the Yankees upper management have been very much committed to getting under the $197 million luxury tax threshold. The Yankees have been very quiet in free agency over the last several years as well. Which is contrary to their previous modus operandi.
The Yankees have assembled a top tier farm system. Over the past 2 seasons the Yankees have made several deals in which they have traded some very high level prospects such as Jorge Mateo, James Kaprielian, Blake Rutherford, Dustin Fowler, Nick Solak, Jose Guzman, Taylor Widener, Ian Clarkin and Zack Littell. They have also had players graduate from “prospect” status like Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade, Jonathan Holder, Chad Green, Jordan Montgomery, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. Yet even with all that talent no longer in the Yankees farm system, the Yankees still have a top 6 system in baseball. The New York Yankees and General Manager Brian Cashman has positioned this team for a long run of sustained competitive play, not only for the American League East crown. But also an opportunity to have a team set to make a run at the World Series each and every season.
Some prognosticators have said that the “Rebuiliding” team of 2017 could possibly be the “worst” roster the team has for the next several years. Cashman and his staff have put together a great team of young talent and veterans who are still hungry for a championship. CC Sabathia in a recent rapid fire interview with ESPN’s Buster Olney was asked “What’s one thing on your baseball bucket list?” To which Sabathia replied quickly about another championship, and how much he enjoyed the parade. This team is hungry for another championship and they won’t stop until they achieve that goal.
