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

BOO!

I know that can be a scary thought for a small market team that hasn’t won its division in more than a decade. But the only way to reap the benefits of all the work and effort is to at least make the playoffs.

This article details the incredible, five-year windfall that comes when a team makes it to at least a five-game series.

The Mariners know that. And for the last two years, they have been trying to thread the needle of continuing to invest enough talent and money to force a return for the shareholders, while not spending so much money trying to make money that they go broke.

But they just got caught somewhere between fear and hope. They should have traded for Starlin Castro two years ago and left him at short. They should have signed either DH Matt Holliday or OF Yoenis Cespedes over the last two years.

Yes, the Holliday signing wasn’t worth the money, but that is hindsight. I thought the Yankees made the right move by signing him and cannot now act as if I own a time machine. And it would have been the right thing for the Mariners to have taken that chance, too.

In the last two years, the Red Sox have brought over lefties David Price and Chris Sale. If the Mariners had gotten either of them, they might have made the playoffs one of the last two seasons.

And even though the Red Sox might not win a WS with those guys, they have already financially won those deals because they have made it to the ALDS two years in a row. Ka-ching!