State of the Yankees

The Yankees are the elite franchise in major league baseball, home to the game's first superstar, Babe Ruth, and a long string of Hall of Fame players and World Series Championships.  2019 marked the end of just the second decade since the 1910's in which the they failed to win a World Series Championship.  The 2010's were a period of relative spending restraint which impacted on-field performance.  Yankees fans are hoping the signing of Gerrit Cole brings back the tradition of sparing no expense and World Series Championships.

Ownership:

Harold Steinbrenner has been the principle owner of the Yankees since 2007 when his father, George Steinbrenner stepped back due to failing health.  Hal co-owned the team with his more outspoken brother, Hank, until Hank's death earlier this year.  The Steinbrenner family made their stash on shipping grain and ore on the Great Lakes going all the way back to Hal's great-great grandfather.  George Steinbrenner and his sons have been notorious hands-on owners which has been widely criticized but you can't really argue with the success. Their willingness to spend any amount of money to win drove up player salaries and drove MLB to create rules to promote competitive balance all of which led to an era of unprecedented wealth in the game for both owners and players.

Grade A-

Management: 

Brian Cashman has been the GM seemingly forever.  It is not easy to evaluated Cashman's impact on team performance as the Yankees are extremely ownership driven and Cashman has never had to deal with severe payroll restrictions.  Although the farm system has produced it's share of star players for the Yankees, Cashman also relies heavily on free agent talent and use of the farm system to trade for veteran talent.

Aaron Boone has been the Field Manager since 2018.  His teams won 100+ games but lost the ALCS in both 2018 and 2019.  Again, managing acumen is difficult to evaluate for Yankee managers due to the level of talent they have to work with.  On a side note, Boone is married to former Playboy Playmate Laura Cover. They have 4 children.

Grade B

Current Roster: 

Starting Nine:  Gary Sanchez C, Luke Voit 1B, DJ LeMahieu 2B, Gio Urshula 3B, Gleyber Torres SS, Giancarlo Stanton LF, Brett Gardner CF, Aaron Judge RF, Miguel Andujar DH.

Bench:  Kyle Higashioka C, Mike Ford 1B, Tyler Wade IF, Aaron Hicks OF.

Starting Rotation:  Gerrit Cole RHP, Mashiro Tanaka RHP, James Paxton LHP, JA Happ LHP, Jordan Montgomery LHP.

Bullpen:  Aroldis Chapman LHP, Zack Britton LHP, Luis Cessa RHP, Chad Green RHP, Jonathan Holder RHP, Tommy Kahnle RHP, Adam Ottavino RHP, Jonathan Loaisiga RHP.

When fully healthy, this is a stacked roster, although maybe a bit thin in the starting rotation.  The problem for the Yankees has been keeping their stars healthy.

Grade A-.

Farm System:

The Yankees have an elite international prospect, Jasson Dominguez OF, at the top of their prospect rankings.  RHP Clarke Schmidt and RHP Deivi Garcia could help at the MLB level this season.  I don't recognize many names after that.  Chances are most of them will eventually be sent to other teams in trades for veteran talent.

Grade B.