The lack of a good bench and a good bullpen, I think, is what has caused the shortage of world championships since that time.
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I think the breaks have gone against them.

Yeah, and it would be nice to see the Yankees develop some of their own pitchers to fill out the rotation and bullpen, too. That might be easier if they didn’t have to give up draft picks in order to sign players like Pavano and Wright.

FWIW, I found the Torre quote on Melky:

“He seems to really enjoy being the guy that you count on,”

jon – good points. Maybe less $14-18 million players means more money for a bench and pen?

Steve,
I like Melky too and find him a joy to watch, but I can’t say that I agree with your analysis here.

First, when we talk about the Yankees last period of dominance, we should talk about the 1996-1999 Yankees and not include 2000. That 2000 team only won 87 games and got a little lucky in the post-season. All in all, I think that every Yankee team since 2000 has been a better team than that team.

What the 96-99 Yankee team had was a very strong bench of “former” all-stars (Strawberry, Raines, Davis) and useful role players like Leyritz. The teams since then have not had such a bench. Nor have they had a strong bullpen. The lack of a good bench and a good bullpen, I think, is what has caused the shortage of world championships since that time.

Also, if anything the Yankees stuck with their “play-makers” too long. By the end of the run, the Yankees were getting below average production at both infield corners and RF. I can still remember my frustration with Martinez in particular. A forgotten mistake was over-reacting to Brosius’ 1998 career year and signing Brosius after 1998 while trading Mike Lowell. If they had kept Lowell, the team would have gotten younger and cheaper. That is the kind of cold-hearted move that the Yankees made in the 50s and that lack of sentimentality explains how that dynasty was able to last so long.

Raf, for every Karim Garcia, Tony Clark, Tony Womack, and Aaron Boone there was a Javier Vazquez, Tanyon Sturtze, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, and Wayne Franklin waiting in the wings to screw things up.

The “Team of All-Stars” didn’t work in New York during the days of Winfield-Baylor-Smalley-Griffey-Kemp-Mumphrey and it’s not working, with respect to rings, today either.
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It didn’t work because on the other side of the ball you had Dotson, John, Rhoden, Hudson, etc, etc, etc.

You could argue that players like Melky are the reason the Yanks haven’t won since 2000, be it Bubba Crosby, Karim Garcia, Tony Clark, Tony Womack, Aaron Boone, etc, etc, etc

Amen Steve, amen!