The last time the Yankees built their team from within they won four World Series titles in five years. However, since 2001 the team has gone right back to the formula that ran the team aground in the 1980's and turned them into a laughing stock in the early 90's. Instead of trying to build a solid nucleus like teams such as the Cardinals, Reds and Rays, the Yankees continue to throw money at their problems, hoping they will go away.
The Yankees have recently added new names to their roster of aging, overpaid players. Firstly, the signed an aging catcher in Brian McCann. A catcher who hit .250 last year and has a lot of miles on him. This signing makes it appear that top Yankee catching prospect Gary Sanchez will soon be shipped out of town. Their next curious move was grossly overpaying brittle free agent centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and signing him to an insane 7 year contract. This probably means that Yankee centerfield prospect Mason Williams will also not be long for the Bronx. While both Sanchez and Williams struggled a bit in the minors in 2013, both are immensely talented.
Then the Yankees added senior citizen right fielder Carlos Beltran (another soft player with a history of injuries.) Add him to a senior citizen brigade that includes old man Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Ichiro and a fading CC Sabathia and you have baseball's version of the "over the hill gang."
In addition to their aging position players, the Yankees have virtually no starting pitching and a bullpen with no proven closer. Do Yankee fans really confident with Ivan Nova in a big spot? The Yankees seem to be trying to catch lightning in a bottle again with aging players. This has the potential to really blow up in the Yankees faces in a couple of years, and quite possibly this year.
If the Yankees don't address their woeful player development issues pretty soon they could soon be in the position they were in during the Stump Merrill years.
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