Before getting into the meat of this blog, I must admit that I have been a Yankees' fan my whole life.
I have been to a ton of games, watched many on television and went to the parade in 2009. It is safe to say that they are my favorite MLB team.
With that said, it is time for the team to change in a big way. Over the course of the past few seasons, we have seen teams get younger, teams utilize more home grown talent and teams adapt to what is going on in the league.
The Yankees have not done this yet. Year in and year out, they look to go out and sign the big free agents, sign the big stop gaps or look to get players that can help them win now.
For the Yankees, especially this season, doing these things have not helped. Curtis Granderson is hurt. Mark Teixeira is done for the season. Alex Rodriguez has not played all season.
The stop gaps, such as Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Travis Hafner have produced but have not done so on a consistent basis. The home grown talent, though not terrible baseball players, simply are not Major Leaguers yet.
Nevertheless, the Yankees find themselves with a 43-39 record (as of this writing) and just 3.5 games out of first in the American League East. While everyone who roots for the Yankees should be satisfied with this record considering the lineup they throw out on the field on a nightly basis, I would urge fans to hope that this team does not make the playoffs come the end of the season.
The franchise needs to be dealt with the reality that the league is changing. Over-the-hill players are not going to get it done anymore and neither are the stop gaps or fill-ins that the team acquires and puts out on the field.
The club needs to go into rebuilding mode and build the team around the Cano's, Gardner's, Pineda's, and Roberston's of the team. The team needs to rebuild from within and allow the growing pains to occur because if they do not, it is going to be the same thing over and over again for the Yankees.
It is easy to see why doing something like this might be a hard pill to swallow. The Yankees are a prideful franchise that has done it all and won it all when it comes to baseball.
With that said, it is time to take a backseat and look towards the future. It is time for the Yankees to start anew and start doing things the way clubs like the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals do.
Again, the franchise and their fans may not like it but for the betterment of the future, missing the postseason needs to happen.
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