The Yankees blue chip prospects who will be traded next

The Yankees are betting that 2018 will bring a championship. Now it’s time to see which blue chips they will soon bet with, and which they will bet on.

The Yankees have plenty of potential in their farm system. It’s a system that the fans and front office have grown accustomed to appreciating, like a gift basket stocked with talented players who will be unwrapped a few at a time for years to come.

Visions of sugar plums dance in observers’ heads.

But that is not reality; it was never reality. And that’s because there is a very simple formula for success in the modern era: Grow young talent until you believe the team is close to winning a title and then surround it with as much now-talent as possible.

That’s true in all sports, and dynasty building.

And just between me, you and Giancarlo Stanton’s contract, I don’t mind a little evil with my empires. I actually relish it. Mostly, I think, it is the fear and panic a good ol’ Yankees dynasty instills in their so-called opponents that delights me.

They quiver, quake and finally quail in the face of certain defeat. The next thing you know, 27 turns into 28, turns into 29, and so on. I’m gonna let you in on a secret: When the Yankees are dominant, I pay extra to watch NESN for the sheer schadenfreude of it all. [Insert maniacal laugh here.]

I better stop there before I lose all objectivity and this devolves into a fan-boy piece. Whew, just in time.

No one noticed that

Fortunately, Brian Cashman reads my stuff and we seem to be simpatico. He has cleared the dross, mostly, and opened the path for younger, better players. But one thing fans love, and observers applaud against their will, is that the Yankees don’t just try to win a World Series, they bum rush that stage.

One thing they will not do is blow up their future, though, which makes for difficult choices.

On paper, the Yankees have a WS-caliber team, right now. But all that means in the real world is that they should make the playoffs and be favored to reach the Fall Classic. That sounds like something the Tigers would settle for. And did.

Not the Yankees. It’s clear that adding a player like Stanton should put them in the WS. And that’s why they are going to add four or five more important pieces. Wouldn’t Mets’ fans have liked their team to really load up after their recent WS trip?

That means that Cash is going to take a few of the Yankees’ best prospects and trade them right now, maybe even today.