The New York Yankees had two major hires in the past week that could shift the direction of the franchise. The Yanks announced that they had hired former Giants GM Brian Sabean and former Mets GM Omar Minaya to senior advisor roles. Manaya will be advising baseball operations and Sabean will be advising the General Manager.
Both men have extensive backgrounds in scouting and bring the human element back to the front office. The Yankees have been criticized by their fans for their drastic approach to the game of baseball. Many believe that the team has become too analytical which has halted their progress.
I don’t think anyone would argue that analytics can be useful. Of course they can be and the analytics department has been largely responsible for acquiring talent that might not be picked up by typical scouting. However, overthinking the game with the use of analytics has really come back to bite New York at times over the past few years.
Yankees Future
You cannot take the human element out of baseball. You also can’t bank on promise over proven production. The Yankees and Brian Cashman have largely been criticized for holding onto top prospects that they could have dealt for major league talent.
Many of these prospects never panned out and New York essentially gave them away for nothing. We know that the Yankees are trying to acquire Bryan Reynolds from the Pirates, but they haven’t been willing to meet the asks to this point.
I’m not saying that bringing in Sabean and Minaya will completely lead to the Yanks loosening their love for prospects, but you could see them more willing to make bigger deals. Sabean and Minaya are known for their eye of talent. They both have something in terms of scouting that a computer can never tell you.
The Yankees need voices like this talking to Brian Cashman. Human element needs to be apart of the conversation and traditional scouting cannot be ignored. Bringing in Sabean and Minaya shows that the Yankees know what they’ve done hasn’t been working.
Sabean and Minaya are here to help Brian Cashman get the Yanks back to where they belong and that’s on top of the baseball world.
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