The Yankees' In-Program Development

by acman319 on Feb 22, 2009 6:56 PM EST Comment 4 comments

In recent years, it seems as if the Yankees have somewhat abandoned the "home-grown" player development approach and have gone after mainly free agents. I don't mind them doing that as long as it brings wins, however the thing is the Yankees haven't won a championship since 2000. Does anyone think that the Yankees' player development program will get better or if they will be looking to develop more talent in the future?

The Yankees really haven't had a whole lot of success in that department since the days of bringin up Jeter, Posada, Rivera, etc. I definitely think guys like Brett Gardner, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy have potential but the latter two really didn't show up last season. If you look at some other MLB examples of home-grown success, look at the Rays--David Price and Evan Longoria are good and we all know it from last season. The Red Sox too brought up guys like Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury in the past few years and we (unfortunately) have seen the results of that in 2004 and 2007.

I think that if the Yankees can find a good balance between signing big names and growing real good players, they will bring back the dynasty we hold so near and dear to our hearts. I also think it is essential that they do so in order to keep up with the other player development programs in the AL East--those of the Rays and Red Sox.

Poll

What road do you think the Yankees should be taking when it comes to improving the roster?

Palyer Development.

11 votes

Big-Name Free Agent Signing.

0 votes

A healthy mix of player development and big-name signing.

21 votes

Trading with other teams.

3 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I would hope...

…that this year’s FA haul will be it for the next few years.

Not it, per se- but I would hope that they won’t be in on every big-name next off-season as they were very much so this year. Maybe a corner OF in the next couple years, of course maybe an SP here or there- but i don’t see any great necessity at this point in dropping another huge chunk on a bunch of guys in one off-season.

Of course, it all matters how these recent signings play out. And player development gets tougher when you are sending all your draft picks away in exchange for signing the big names… so yeah.

But a healthy mix is the way to go in ideal world, sure.

by NumberSeven on Feb 23, 2009 1:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

As a Steelers/Yankees Fan

It’s hard to watch the Yankees struggle while my Steelers dominate. The Steelers and the Yankees are both really successful sports franchises, but as the Yankees get more and more wrapped up with big name free agents, the harder it becomes to function consistently as a team. Look at what the Steelers do, they build through the draft, which in baseball terms would translate to the farm system. I understand that there is always a need to add free agents, and I’ll admit that sometimes I am frustrated with the Steelers conservativeness, but it has more than a trend of working. Look at the Yankees of the late 90’s. They were built off that Farm System Core: Jeter, Pettite, Posada, Bernie, Mo’ to name a few. In short, the Yankees need to tone down on only focusing on the top free agents. It’s fine to bring a small amount of top notch guys, but you’ll have more of a benefit if you actually build a team with anywhere from 3 to 6 All Stars, and surround them with talented guys who aren’t the best, but work well together as a team.

To the tune of the classic children's song "This Old Man" (the part with nick nack patty whack)

Big Snack, Silverback, take the Dawg Pound's Bone, the Black and Gold sent the Brownies crying home.

by HighSchoolSteeler on Feb 23, 2009 10:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I agree with you about what the Yankees’ player development and free agent signing should be like and would be the most successful. It’s too bad that they have lost so many top draft picks, but I guess that’s all part of the business. I would love to see some fresh faces in the next few years with some excellent talent come up to New York.

And to comment on the football part of your post, I’m in school right now at the University of Pittsburgh and I saw first hand how you Steelers fans are when it comes to loyatly and celebration…very impressive. (I’m from Buffalo so I’m not used to seeing a bunch of people celebrating a Super Bowl victory like that. lol)

Pride, Power, Pinstripes...Go Yankees!

by acman319 on Feb 23, 2009 11:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Just another Yankees/ Steelers fan weighing in...

Good to see HighSchoolSteeler and I share the same opinions on BOTH of our teams.

   I think we have had a better farm system than most people think. I wish it were a lot better, but to say that we have’nt produced players like Jeter, Mo, Jorge and Andy Pettite since then is a little unfair. These guys are SUPERSTARS, and all time pinstripe greats (with the exception of Andy, you blew it for me taking off to Houston a few years ago, still one of my favorites though).
   To expect our farm system to kick out players like this is a little unrealistic. Should it have produced one or two really good players, hell yes, and there is no excuse for the best franchise in baseball to not be able to create its own talent. But it’s hard to deny that our farm system has produced some fairly solid major league talent in the past few years. Guys like Juan Rivera, Nick Johnson and Ted Lilly all came up with the Yanks. Not allstars, but good players.
   I think we expect good things from most players that come up, and if they don’t put up the numbers and produce the way we expect them to, they’re gone. Traded, released, sent back down, whatever. Part of bringing up home grown talent is going through growing pains. I know I have friends that ripped Brett Gardner apart without really thinking… Hey this is this guys first shot with the big club, cut him some slack early on. Some friends grimace in pain when I bring his name up now for CF. They want him gone already.
   One thing the Steelers do with their young players is let them develop, give them some time. I know they are supposed to develop in the Farm’s but you can’t fully come into your own without suffering a little in the beginning. Get them as ready as you can in the minors, bring them up and give them some room to make mistakes early on. That’s what young players do. You can’t just replace young talent when they don’t live up to expectations early on. That’s short sighted management.

by NYSteelersFan4 on Feb 26, 2009 11:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs