Building a successful business or organization is a task that requires a
special and unique skillset that is as hard to find as it is to
execute. That's one reason why people that live in that world and are
successful are worth so much to their employer's. Whether it's Business,
Education, Politics etc. the challenge is always the same. The most
transparent business to watch this dance evolve in is sports. Iconic
Franchise's are better and more successful because they are better at
doing the things necessary to stay on top and win consistently. Player
development, free agency, coaching, salary cap management, talent
evaluation, trades, and the draft. Historically the most prolific
prototype franchise at doing this successfully has been the New York
Yankees. Let's not waste time quoting the stats, they are the most
successful organization in sports. The real question now is what the
F#*/*! are they doing now. The Yankees showed everyone else how to take
advantage of free agency, trades, player development, etc. and now it
seems they don't have a clue about how to do this for themselves
anymore. Over the past number of years it seems that other teams are
able to get better players and give up less than the Yankees have been
able to do. Free agents seem to be more willing to sign for less money
and go other places other than New York. It's never been easy for the
Yankees to trade or sign free agents; no one wants to do them a favor.
They are the big boys on the block and the other teams look to exploit
them as much as possible before giving them any help. Success breeds
contempt. But it's more than that, New York is a star driven City,
George Steinbrenner knew that and went for the gold, and turned the
Yankees from a 8.8million dollar franchise into a 2.4 billion dollar
monster. That's old news but what's not old news is the current demise
of the Yankees. There are many reasons for this and the solutions will
not be quick in coming. The Yankees are dealing with a farm system that
has produced virtually nothing for 10 to 15 years, they are maxed out on
the luxury tax salary cap formula, they have overpaid for aging free
agents and gotten very little back in return, they don't seem to have a
gameplan to develop younger players and their farm system once the
Diamond of Major League Baseball now offers very little in trade bait
options. The last few years have seen the Yankees overpay for other
teams players and then let their successful homegrown players walk as
has been seen most recently with David Robinson. New Yorkers demand a
winner especially with the Yankees. It's hard to rebuild on the run and
the Yankees have had a decade and a half of success starting in the mid
nineties and Yankee fans certainly are spoiled. With other small market
teams winning championships it makes the Yankees look even more lost. It
can be done the St Louis Cardinals have been in 4 straight NLCS’s, and
their last World Series team had 23 homegrown players on the roster.
Brian Cashman is very good at filling holes in the lineup during a
stretch run, now he needs to learn how to fill holes in the lineup for
the long run.
