11shares For years, there were two ways to do baseball; the New York Yankees

For years, there were two ways to do baseball; the New York Yankees way, and everyone else’s way. The two could be assumed to be the right way and the wrong way respectively, with the 27 World Series pennants waving from atop Yankee Stadium.

But with just one World Series since 2001, the two ideologies have started to represent the easy way and the hard way, and unfortunately for the Yankees, there are no more easy ways to a Fall Classic triumph. Since the onset of the 2000’s, MLB has become less about who spends the most money and more about who spends it best – a game within a game.

Changing with the times

The 2002 ‘Moneyball’ Oakland Athletics perhaps best represented this new way of dealing in the business of winning, ironically doing so with former Yank David Justice on their roster, with the Bronx Bombers paying half his salary. How fitting then, that since the start of the decade, two major points on the Pinstripes timeline have appeared – the death of George Steinbrenner and the departure of Alex Rodriguez. These two sad milestones have simultaneously served as the figurative and literal pushing of the organisation in a different, more modern, more correct direction. The death of the eldest Steinbrenner, whilst tragic, seemed to concurrently serve as the death of the Evil Empire, and the rebirth of a modern empire under his two sons Hank and Hal.

Six years later, the retirement of A-Rod served as another death of the old regime, a more symbolic death. Depressingly absorbing Rodriguez’s enormous financials with little other choice, his release on August 13 (ironically, the number of his jersey) symbolised the ending of the Yankees shooting first and asking questions later. Having for so long represented their city perfectly, as an encapsulation of all that is good and bad about capitalism, playing out of a town that thrives on it moreso than anywhere else in the world, we are now only just beginning to realise what Murderers’ Row had been building under our noses.

The new core

The New York Yankees are back, having added a modern Columbia University brain to their Wall Street chequebook, and we’ve all suddenly realised only when it’s too late. To most, two names stand out above the rest for the current Yankees team: Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge. Sanchez signed with the club as an international free agent way back in 2009, as a 16 year old, receiving a $3 million signing bonus and arriving with little fanfare, rated as just the Yanks’ 7th best prospect. He reached the heights of a top 30 prospect in all of baseball back in 2011 as per Baseball America, but not even they knew what was happening when ‘Sanchize’ arrived for his rookie season in the Bronx, recording 11 home runs and 31 hits in his first 23 games. A few Player of the Week and Month awards later, Sanchez hit his 18th and 19th home runs in his 45th game, making him the fastest to that mark in the modern era. He finished the year hitting .299 with 20 HRs and 42 RBI.

For that, Bronx Bombers fans can thank the work of General Manager Brian Cashman, the man long lampooned as a mere handshaker and ribbon-cutter, puppeteered in part by the Steinbrenners and in part by President of Baseball Operations Randy Levine. As CBS New York’s Jason Kiedel so eloquently put it, the aptly named Cashman existed for the sole purpose of “jotting a number on a napkin, sliding it across a bar, and the player and agent nod, smile and sign”.

But there’s none of that to what Cashman’s doing now. The Pinstripers’ GM is using his wealth of available resources to build from the farm system up, and his team is starting to reap what they sow – and they just reaped Aaron Judge. Judge, a 6-7, 282 pound monster of an outfielder arrived in a similar fashion to Sanchez. No Times Square lights. No fanfare. It was all hard work that saw Judge turn a spring training invite into a rookie record 10 home runs in a month. At the start of May, Judge joined Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez as the only three members of the Bronx Zoo to hit 12 home runs through the teams’ first 26 games of a season. Not bad company.

True contenders

But the 26-16 New York Yankees are not the owners of the 3rd best record in baseball simply because a couple of kids are striking while the iron is hot. Those on Murderers Row know when they see a World Series contender, and whilst no one in New York City has mentioned the O word just yet, these Yankees are starting to generate their fair share, and fair enough. The bullpen is electric. 2nd in the Majors, in fact, and this is without The Cuban Flamethrower Aroldis Chapman. Dellin Betances has got on just fine in the ninth in Chapmans’ stead, to the tune of a 0.61 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. Sanchez is still hot, hitting .270 with four homers and 11 RBI. Judges’ rookie exploits need no further extrapolation.

Even the old guard has seemingly been infected with this new lease on baseball. Starlin Castro is hitting .335 with seven round trippers. Aaron Hicks is hitting .292 with seven homers too. Brett Gardner is hitting .281, and designated hitter Matt Holliday is in on it also, with eight big flies and 27 RBI.

The starting pitching has performed anywhere from good to solid this season, but there’s no doubt it requires some consistency, especially in Masahiro Tanaka’s starts.

Adding at the deadline?

With their new way of doing things, the Yanks have prepared themselves for a “buying” trade deadline after a fair few “selling” deadlines in a row.

Currently ranked as the 2nd best in the MLB according to SB Nation, the Bronx Bombers farm system boasts highly touted prospects Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres, the latter ranked even more highly than Sanchez or Judge.

The Pinstripers are well within reach of another ace at the deadline, and despite a seven-year long sculpting of his future masterpiece, Hal Steinbrenner is open to anything.

“I don’t know if I’ll be more open to it,” the youngest Steinbrenner said of trading a package of prospects, “but I will absolutely divert all my attention to any one deal that’s brought across my table.”

“I’ll do the research. I’ll read the scouting reports. I’ll talk to Cashman and all of his people, and I’ll consider any option.”

A 21st century team

This is Hal’s team now, Hal’s way of doing business. It’s Hal running the Yankees, and whilst winning is his priority, sensibility is his philosophy.

He has more than what it takes to get a Jose Quintana or a Gerrit Cole this year, perhaps even an Alex Cobb. But he’s not going to go after a “win” if it sacrifices “winning”.

Back when his father George ran the team, each year existed in a vacuum. Everything was done that was fiscally possible to secure the 2009 World Series, the costs were absorbed, and next year, the fight was started again.

It was Hal that moved this team to a new, more monetarily responsible business model. He gave the team a 21st century head, and it has sprouted 21st century limbs.

At the end of the day, no one has more money in their pockets than they do on Murderers Row. For the past few years, other teams have hush-hushed whilst the New York Yankees have seemingly put that money into all the wrong stocks. But what we didn’t realise is that, as always, the Yankees were one step ahead. They were building a portfolio, we just didn’t realise it. Now all of a sudden, the Bronx Zoo is open for business once more, and they’re about to let the animals out of their cages.