Can the Yankees avoid the missteps of the Red Sox and Mariners?
By Cory Claus
A Few Cold Drafts
In 2011 they chose LHP Danny Hultzen with the number two pick. 22-year old catcher Mike Zunino arrived the next year via the number three pick overall. That’s three top five picks in four years. That would convince any club to create a map for not too future success.
To add to that, before the 2012 season, they traded for another (former) number three prospect, C Jesus Montero.
A look at their 2012 lineup shows why the Mariners assumed they had young players they could build around: 1B Smoak (25); 2B Ackley (24); 3B Kyle Seager (24); CF Michael Saunders (25); OF Franklin Gutierrez (29); and, DH Jesus Montero (22).
By the end of the 2013 season, the Mariners had to think the rebuild plan was going well. They saw enough growth and promise from their young position players to start a run; that’s where the Yankees arrived when the 2017 season ended.
Coming Around
Likewise, the rotation looked like it should be dominant. 27-year old RHP King Felix Hernandez pitched to a 3.04 in 2013 and was already on a Hall of Fame path.
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma was 32, but he did have one of his best years, putting up a 2.66 ERA. He seemed young enough to go along for the next four-year ride of hoped for championship runs.
That season, the three starting pitchers who threw the most innings for the M’s had ERA’s of 2.66, 5.26 and 3.04.
Best of all, they had two young pitchers they hoped would become front liners. LHP James Paxton was 24 and posted a 1.50 in his four starts, while rightie Taijuan Walker looked even better: His three starts and 3.60 ERA were worse than Paxton, but Taijuan was only 20.
He had ace written all over him. Or at least that’s how the Mariners read the cards.
It was time to add one or two key free agents and begin a string of playoff appearances and WS title runs. After all, their roster now had seven starting players who would all be 30 or younger at the end of the 2017 season.