Olney: Yankees' fall from grace stems from years of draft neglect

From Buster Olney:

George Steinbrenner lorded over the staff meetings he attended, and as the Yankees prepared for the amateur draft in the spring of 2000, Steinbrenner noted aloud that Jorge Posada was moving closer to free agency.

"We need a catcher," Steinbrenner said. When it came time for the Yankees to make their first round pick, 28th overall, they called out the name of a catcher. He was David Parrish, the son of Lance Parrish and a University of Michigan product, with the kind of pedigree that Steinbrenner liked and recognized.

Parrish also was regarded by executives and scouts with other teams as a fifth-round talent.

"No better than that," said one AL general manager.

Eight years later, Parrish has yet to play in the big leagues, like the vast majority of the Yankees' picks from 1997 to 2005 -- a period in which the Yankees' drafting and developing has been clearly the worst of any team in the major leagues. The Yankees failed to make the playoffs this season, in large part because the team is paying for its inability to generate young talent, as the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays and others have been able to do.

Instead, at the end of the 1996-2001 dynasty, which was built largely on homegrown talent such as Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Posada, the Yankees began a period of free spending on veteran free agents, a habit that often exacerbated their player development problem and increased their reliance on older players.

The Yankees began shifting their draft philosophy after general manager Brian Cashman began overseeing the player development system after the 2005 season, but they still have a lot of catching up to do.

"They're probably two or three or four years behind the Rays and Red Sox and Toronto," an American League general manager said recently.

Consider that in the drafts of 1997-2005:

• The Yankees produced a total of 10 position players who have appeared in a major league game; that is the fewest of any team in the major leagues, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
• The 10 position players drafted by the Yankees had accounted for a total of 888 career at-bats as of Sept. 9, which means that not only have the Yankees generated few major league position players, but they have produced no stars, and just a handful of journeymen. The draftees of the Toronto Blue Jays from the same time frame, by comparison, have combined for 27,427 big-league at-bats; the Mets, 11,469.
• The Yankees drafted and developed 20 pitchers, which is tied for the 12th-most among the 30 major league teams. However, those 20 pitchers selected by the Yankees have amassed 1,852 2/3 innings in the majors -- the fewest innings for any group of pitchers drafted by any team. The Oakland Athletics' draftees rank first, at 9,686 innings, according to Elias.

This is the main reason I don't blame Cashman for this season’s failures as much as the next guy. The Yankees had a flawed system in place even while they were winning rings. One of the only people to realize this, and push for a change, was Brian Cashman. That's why he demanded full control back in ‘05, and that's why we've seen much better drafts since then. He has a plan, and right now he's in the middle stages of it.

Olney goes on to mention how this off-season is a crossroads for the organization, and it is. After missing October baseball for the first time since '93, the organization is most likely going to go after a few big names free agents, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira being on top of that list. But as Olney says "they probably will lose their first-round draft pick, and their second-round draft pick, and further retard their player development system." However, I don’t feel that one off-season of spending will be that detrimental to the system as a whole.

Which brings me back to Cashman, and his plan. The Yankees farm system is much, much better than it was three years ago. And hopefully the work Cashman has done revamping the system can enable him to make a few big splashes in the free agent market this off-season. Remember, the Red Sox spent years drafting well and stockpiling a ton of young talent. Then after a third place, injury plagued year in 2006, they spent the next off-season making several big FA pickups to turn their team into a World Series Champion. The combination of good young players and smart free agent signings is what has led them to where they are, and the Yankees must do the same.