FanNation - The Republic of Sport

It is hardly a surprise to read in today's New York papers that the Yankees brain trust is meeting in Tampa to decide their course of action as we approach the trading deadline.  This is usually the time of year when everyone on the market is rumored to be heading to New York, and reports say that Hank Steinbrenner has given GM Brian Cashman the green light to trade prospects in an attempt to win now.  The big difference is that this is a year when the Yankees seem likely to be sitting at home in October for the first time since 1994.

This might sound odd coming from a Yankees fan, but I really hope that they don't go crazy here.  I wouldn't mind seeing them making a few smart moves to try and increase their chances -- they are only 3 1/2 after coming off of a second win against a quality team (the Twins).  But if Austin Jackson and Jose Tabata are future stars, are they really worth giving up to get Jarod Washburn or AJ Burnett?  That's always a tough question to answer, because today's highly regarded prospect is tomorrow's bust.  I remember names like Ricky Ledee, Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera....these guys displayed flashes, but have been either too injured to contribute to their current teams, or just not good enough to stick around.  Jackson, Tabata, or any player in the minor league system for that matter, could just as easily end up being the next Ricky Ledee as the next Bernie Williams or Derek Jeter.  You don't know and you don't want to be stuck always overvaluing your own prospects when you have a chance to win.  That's how you become the LA Angels of Anaheim....alwasy in the mix, but rarely at the top (no disrespect to Angels fans...yours is a team I'd root for come October if the Yankees and Cardinals aren't playing).

But you look back to the Yankees of '96 - '01, and while it's always true that the Yankees will field a very expensive team, the core of those teams were guys that were homegrown products -- that had been brought up in the game learning the "Yankee Way".  They respected the history of the team, and wanted to be the next great Yankees.  That group yielded Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.  I believe the next ring for the Yankees will be won by the next group of prospects.  I think baseball is starting to move beyond the "buy your ring" phase.  Even the good teams are benefitting from an influx of homegrown talent.  The Red Sox have benefitted greatly from a Steinbrenner-like willingness to spend money, but they've filled in with guys like Ellsbury, Pedroia and Youkilis.  The Cubs look like they could be the best of the NL this year, and most of their roster is made up of guys that were either signed as free agents or picked up via trade.  Last year, they ballooned the free agent market by overspending on guys like Soriano, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.  But the key to their success has been guys like Theriot, Geovanny Soto, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano.

So while I would hate to see the Yanks sit idle when the opportunity is there, I'd also hate to see them trade for the sake of making a trade.  I've always like Washburn, and lefty's do tend to do well in Yankee Stadium.  AJ Burnett is a nice player.  I wouldn't mind having Brian Fuentes as a setup man, or Jason Bay/Xavier Nady starting in left field.  But overpaying for these guys is going to bring back the Yankees of the mid to late 80's, not the Yankees of the mid to late 90's.  Spending huge sums of money on free agents followed by foolish trades is what brough the team to where it's at today.  Hopefully, the younger Steinbrenner's can learn from the mistakes of the past rather than repeating them.