Can the Yankees avoid the missteps of the Red Sox and Mariners?

Year Four, and Still Under Construction

Adding IF Dee Gordon does nothing to address the power outage in the outfield, although the merits of building an all-speed team are intriguing.

The bigger issue is that he will now play out of position. With or without the incentive to create cash for Ohtani, it was more a move of hitting and hoping, rather than filling a hole with the exact right piece.

And as so few of the players they were counting on worked out, they are trading pieces they need. For instance, although Taijuan has not become an ace, the 3.49 ERA he put up for Arizona in 2017 would have been good enough for second on the Mariners starting staff.

But Seattle needed a shortstop and was unwilling to pay for one so, et voila, Jean Segura. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not adding to strengths.

Some in Seattle might say that the main culprit has been bad luck, while others would call it a failure of talent evaluation. Either way, their drafts, and trades have been disastrous, in particular, 2009.

A Flaw in the System

They took Dustin Ackley with the number two pick, just missing out on RHP Stephen Strasburg at number one. They hoped he would be a prolific and somewhat powerful hitter; he wasn’t.

In fairness to the Mariners, none of the next three picks turned in to anything (Donavan Tate, Tony Sanchez and Matt Hobgood). But there were good players to be had, and just because other teams missed out on them does not let the M’s off the hook.

For instance, Zack Wheeler, Mike Minor, Mike Leake, and Drew Storen were all chosen in the five picks after Hobgood.

But worst of all is that Mike Trout was drafted number 25. Two picks later; the M’s chose SS Nick Franklin, another complete bust. The Yankees chose two picks after they and ended up with a bust of their own, CF Slade Heathcott.

Third-rounder and 3B Kyle Seager has worked out, though. He slashed .249/.323/.450 with 27 home runs last year and was second in the American League in Fielding Percentage at his position (Alex Bregman, Astros). That was too little to cover the team’s other deficiencies, though.

Finally crippling the team is how they have lost out on talent in true Mets fashion.