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

A Very Promising Start

Fortunately, unlike the Mariners, those moves paid off: Boston won 93 games and the AL East in 2016. And it was okay that they got swept in the ALDS because this was the first postseason experience for many on the team.

So, just as Seattle added another great player for year two of their plan with Nelson Cruz, Boston added top ten pitcher Chris Sale. This was supposed to be the final move that pushed a very good team to become a great one.

In 2017, however, the Sox stayed still. They won the exact same 93 games and were once again eliminated in the ALDS. Their only mark of improvement was that they won a single game in the playoffs.

Now they might already be facing a premature end to what they hoped would be a five-year run, at least. Alike the Mariners, the failures so far have come on multiple fronts.

This is not to diminish what Boston has done or how talented their young players are. But the measuring stick is deep playoff runs and World Series titles. That looks less likely now than two years ago. And it starts with uneven player development.