Remember the '90s? The 2019 Yankees seem to
Gone are the days when the New York Yankees would in one calendar year single out a slew of baseball's best free agents and pledge bank-busting contracts to them.
As general manager Brian Cashman likes to say, the game has changed. A series of competitive-balance measures has been implemented in the sport in recent years -- in part because of the Yankees' free-spending ways of the past -- altering the way the team does business.
The focus in the Bronx has shifted, even if the expectations of some fans haven't. This past offseason and these early days of spring training are proof of just how vast the change has been.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
The current Yankees mantra echoes one from the 1990s dynasty years: Identify young, high-potential talent, both domestically and internationally, sign those players early or collect them through savvy trades (see Paxton, James for this winter's example), groom them through the minor league system, and retain them as early in the pre-arbitration window as possible.
It worked with the "Core Four" of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte -- and the rest of the gang that helped key five World Series titles between 1996 and 2009.
Now, a new core is appearing to take shape with the recent signings of ace Luis Severino and center fielder Aaron Hicks.
"It's huge to have a core group and guys who know how to win and want to win and are doing things the right way," Pettitte, a new special adviser to Cashman, told the New York Daily News earlier this week.
"I know Aaron came over from Minnesota, but when you have a core group of guys, but I know you are talking about me, Mariano, Derek and Jorge. We were all in the minors together, we were on bus trips together, just gives you a little bit different feel."
"It's good for him, I want to be like that one day," Yankees third baseman and homegrown talent Miguel Andujar said Wednesday, laughing when asked about Arenado's eight-year, $260 million deal. Despite being the American League Rookie of the Year runner-up last season, Andujar, who will turn 24 Saturday, has been chided over his defense, and Arenado was seen as a possible upgrade.nike nfl jerseys cheap china
After his excited proclamation in English, the Dominican Republic-born Andujar slipped back into Spanish, through a interpreter: "Joking aside, that does impact the position where I find myself. But I'm going to keep enjoying the game, and playing hard and giving my best and enjoying everything that happens around the game."
This time next year, Andujar and his fellow sophomore, Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres, could be answering the same questions another Yankees superstar has already faced this spring.
