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I made a similar post last year, about what I considered "True Yankee's" and how they just didn't seem like their players are the same as they were during the end of the century. The players they have now are probably better individual players, but they don't have the same mentality that the guys did in the past. In the past, the Yankee's to me were build kind of like the Patriots now. They were a complete team that didn't rely on a major superstar, but when it all came down to it all of the individuals were really good. You have guys like Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, Tino Martinez, and Alphonso Soriano. None of those guys were really superstars, but they were all very good players who played more as a team. I compare them to like Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, etc.
The Yankee's now are completely different. They still have some of the guys from when they were a winning team: Posada, Bernie, Jeter, and now Tino again. Except now instead of being the foundation of a completely solid team, they are the low end of a team based around superstars. I like the idea of A-Rod being on the Yankees, because he is the most high profile player playing in the most high profile team, but he just doesn't fit for them. To become a team that can win multiple World Series again, they have half the team.
They need to get rid of Posada, first and foremost. He isn't good enough to play his role on a team like this. Who they need now is a guy like Johnny Estrada or Victor Martinez, a young guy who can sit in the hole and make things happen. Then they need to rebuild their pitching staff completely. They stole Mussina from the O's so why not go get Ben Sheets now. They need to go younger as a whole, they keep adding older players to an old lineup. Randy Johnson might be good for a year, but that doesn't address the real future of their team. If they want to win they have to add the young players. Right now they are completely relying on free agency, and that has killed their farm system. As much as people hate to believe it, their farm system produced some very good players and guys that were very important to their long string of world series wins.
The Yankees will win games this year no doubt, but the make up of their team is nothing like it was a few years ago, and until they stop relying completely on free agency and superstars, they won't have the same results.
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