What the Yankees Can Learn from the Chicago Cubs

Baseball has a budding new dynasty in the Chicago Cubs. What can the Yankees, a team that knows a thing or two about creating dynasties, learn from the Cubbies in their quest for a 28th championship?

Historically, the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees have been complete opposites. One team is known for its history of dominance, accumulating 27 World Series Championships. The other has suffered over a century of losing and disappointment, with curses, goats and an infamous fan trying to catch a souvenir all playing their roles. But times are changing and so should the Yankees.

In recent years, baseball has seen unlikely teams rise to baseballs biggest stage. 2014 saw the Kansas City Royals make their first World Series appearance in almost 30 years. 2015 saw those same Royals defeat the New York Mets to claim their second championship in franchise history. Finally 2016 saw one of the most historic World Series of all time, between the Cleveland Indians and Cubs, with the Cubs winning in seven games and ending their 108-year drought.

The idea of building a team for the future is what’s taking over baseball. Scouting is better than it’s ever been, and the MLB Draft is as competitive as its ever going to be. It’s a concept that has been around for decades, and the Yankees perfected it during their dynasty years in the 1930s, 1950s, and late 1990s. A core group of younger guys, surrounded by a strong veteran presence, is what leads to championship winnings teams.

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Look at this year’s World Champion Chicago Cubs team, which still feels weird to say. Anthony Rizzo is 26, Kris Bryant is 24, Addison Russell is 22, Willson Contreras is 24 and Javier Baez is 23.

Those are their everyday players, the core of the team that is going to be around for a long time. Two of them are going to finish the season back to back in the National League MVP voting race. Throw in some veterans in there to guide them, like a David Ross, Jon Lester, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey, and you have the perfect mix of young and old, superstars and under the radar guys, to win a championship.

The "Core Four" of Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada. Mandatory Credit: Yankees.com

The “Core Four” of Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada. Credit: Yankees.com /

Ever since the retirements of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, the Yankees have lacked youth. They have tried to buy their World Series titles, acquiring the best free agents and signing them to lucrative long-term contracts. CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira signed for a combined half a million dollars back in the winter of 2008.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka all signed in the winter of 2014 for almost the same amount. That’s almost a billion dollars for seven players, and three of which are still employed by the Yankees.

This mentality did win the Yankees an initial World Series in 2009, but long term hurt the franchise. Instead of keeping their high draft picks, they have been trading them away, or trading draft picks away. Yes the team has done decent in the past seven years or so, but they haven’t lived up to the Yankee standard, being making the playoffs every season and seriously competing for a World Series title. Building a franchise takes years to accomplish, and the Yankees have been wasting years by trying to buy players and a championship.

So what can the Chicago Cubs, the former lovable losers, teach the New York Yankees, the most successful sports franchise in the history of sports? The Yankees need to model their team like the Cubs, because quite frankly the Cubs have the perfect team, and should be the standard for other teams across the MLB.

Assembling the perfect team is easier said than done, and hats off to the Cubs on everything they have accomplished. The Yankees are taking steps in he right direction; they traded away Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman for a haul of great prospects. Chapman and Miller helped their teams make runs at a title this year, but the prospects in return can lead the Yankees to one of their own in a few years.

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The prospect class the Yankees have now is the best across baseball. They need to keep these young guys together to try and build around them, just as the Royals did a few years ago, and the Cubs currently are. The veteran guys on the roster are perfect for teaching the younger guys not only how to be a professional, but how to be a Yankee. The Yankee way is different from the rest of baseball, but they need to start thinking like it if they want to be successful in the next few years.

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