Six years ago, a young Gary Sanchez was somehow willing the Yankees back into the playoff race with a historic home run pace that would make him a perennial Rookie of the Year candidate despite not seeing regular playing time until August of that season.
Sanchez’s power surge began shortly after the Yankees had done the unthinkable: selling at the trade deadline and kickstarting a rebuild that landed them promising prospects like Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier. Those acquisitions joined the likes of Luis Severino, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge as the prized youngsters that would be the core of the franchise’s next run of championship contention.
The front office and Brian Cashman were praised for looking at the big picture despite being used to a win-every-year-or-else mindset from previous ownership and a large contingent of the fanbase. The praise grew even louder when the accelerated rebuild produced a run to game seven of the ALCS in 2017, led by Rookie of the Year Judge, All-Star Sanchez, Cy Young candidate Severino, and some big postseason home runs by Bird, who overcame a season plagued by injury to become a legitimate contributor down the stretch and into October.
That game seven loss in 2017 was a disappointment, but many saw it as the spoils of an unexpected run that were sure to be replicated, and even bested, in the years to come.
Five years later, the hyped Baby Bombers era can only be viewed as a disappointment.
“The Baby Bombers have failed,” C-Mac declared on Monday, filling in for Carton and Roberts.
Cashman’s big prospect additions in Frazier and Torres haven’t lived up to expectations, with Frazier suffering concussions and prolonged slumps before his Yankee career ended after last season, and Torres’ currently brutal slump has dipped his numbers close to league average and a third straight disappointing season after beginning his career with back-to-back All-Star selections.
Meanwhile, Severino hasn’t had a healthy season since 2018 and is still on the IL, Bird’s career was derailed by injuries, and Sanchez never returned to 2017 form and was traded this past offseason.
Cashman and the Yanks were praised for putting together a winning team so quickly after a rebuild, but it never reached a higher peak than when it first materialized five years ago.
“I think his talent evaluating is, bar none, arguably the best in baseball,” C-Mac said of Cashman. “His talent development has been a real problem.
“Judge has hit, and in a huge way. Judge has been arguably the best player in baseball and the next AL MVP. But besides that, all these big-time prospects that were supposed to be great and supposed to be the foundation of the team? Not good. Turned out to be busts.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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