If we've learned anything from baseball in general, and the Yankees in particular, it's that having a big bankroll can make you good for a long time. But no amount of money can make you great.
What made the Joe Torre dynasty so strong was their core of young, homegrown stars, whom they supplemented with clutch imports. And if you look back upon those years, the run really ended in 2001, after Game 7 against the Diamondbacks. Sure, the Yanks returned to the playoffs every year until 2007, and reached the Fall Classic in 2003, but not even the fledgling Marlins were afraid of them anymore. Then Boston delivered the death blow in 2004, banning Aura and Mystique from all future games.
The Yanks of years before struck gold when they had the shot. Whether it was the 1930s, '40s, '50s, or '60s, they didn't mess around when they reached October.
Even the Bronx Zoo Yankees, renowned for infighting and backbiting, stopped slugging each other just long enough to bag two more rings, in 1977 and '78. They reached the '81 World Series, but that team was a shell of those rough-and-tumble, Billy Martin teams. And finally, that pinstriped behemoth made the late-'90s their personal highlight reel, gobbling up four titles in five years. Then there was some subsequent noise, but just silence at the end of every following October.
Now these Bombers, who have had their mail forwarded to the MLB postseason in each of the last four years, are at a crossroads. They are still really good, but did they blow their shot at being great?
In 2017, they shocked the baseball world by reaching the ALCS. Aaron Judge was a pup who just clubbed a record 52 homers and moonwalked to the Rookie of the Year Award. Gary Sanchez was just 24 and just blasted 33 homers. They had a young promising slugger in Greg Bird, just 24 years old, and Didi Gregorius was 27. And, they had a surefire future ace in Luis Severino, who was just 23 and went 14-6 with a sterling 2.98 ERA over 31 starts.
In 2018, they rumbled to 100 wins, added two all-world rookies in Gleyber Torres (whom many thought was the best young player on the planet) and Miguel Andujar, who had an even better rookie season than Torres, and should have won ROY. Torres was 21 and Andujar was 23. They also added 28-year-old basher Giancarlo Stanton, who came off a historic season, with 58 home runs and an NL MVP with the lowly Marlins.
The next year they added the super-solid Gio Urshela, 27, and the hitting machine DJ LeMahieu, 30. And for good measure, they padded an absurdly deep lineup with Mike Tauchman, 28.
So the team that may not have been quite ready in 2017 got better in 2018, but they lost, too. Then they had a super squad in 2019, and lost, again. Then, in 2020, with the Yanks the chalk to walk to the World Series, they lost in the ALDS. Not one of these loaded clubs clawed their way to a World Series, much less win one.
Now LeMahieu is 32, on the back-nine of his career, and just turned down the Yanks' qualifying offer for 2021, making him a free agent. What if Brian Cashman makes the tough but understandable decision not to pour $100 million into an aging player's bank account? Sure, the AL batting champ is worth every dime now, and will be a year from now. But what about three or four years from now, when LeMahieu turns 35? The Yanks have wisely passed on purchasing 30-something studs, fearing the gruesome, back-end horrors of such contracts.
And if LeMahieu leaves, it would hurt the Yanks beyond the box score. He was the emblem of this revival, a shrewd move by Cashman that paid ten times his original investment. And thus, the team's future isn't quite as bright as it was four years ago. Consider: Andujar is injury-addled; Torres’ future is suddenly uncertain; Sanchez has become a maddening symbol of inconsistency; Judge turns 29 in April, and has faced serious problems staying off the IL; Stanton has played in just 41 games over the last two years, popping a measly seven total homers and driving in 24 runs while making more money than the Tampa Bay Rays’ entire payroll; and Severino can't keep himself healthy either, and has missed almost half of his four-year extension already, just two years in.
They made it rain on Gerrit Cole, but not even an ace with his quiver of pitches can do it alone on a crumbling staff.
All the Yanks have is a nuclear bullpen and a litany of variables. Maybe they keep it together for another run in 2021, but baseball, like all sports, is a moving train that doesn't wait at the station for any team, not even the Yankees. Even in the best of conditions you get a few, ephemeral shots at some magic moments before Mother Nature, Father Time, age, and wage start to pull tattered teams apart.
Front-running fans don't have to worry; the Yankees will find ways to be good for a long time. But for the hardcore fans whose blood type is Pinstripes, their beloved Bombers may have blown their shot at being great.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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