The Cry For Homegrown Talent May Be Ill Advised: 1999

The New York Yankees have two World Series in the 90's with the perfect mix of homegrown talent, free agency, International signings, and trades. Many fans, including myself, have been blowing up Twitter asking for a shake up and to bring up the talent in the farm system but that may not be the best recipe for success. If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it and I'd like to repeat another dynasty so let's see how the Yankees kept this dynasty going in 1999.

The Yankees infield looked a lot like the previous years infield in 1999 with Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch and Scott Brosius joining the homegrown talent of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. The designated hitter role went mainly to Chili Davis, Jim Leyritz, and Darryl Strawberry three non homegrown players.

The outfield looked very similar to the 1998 squad as well with Paul O'Neill in right field, Chad Curtis in left, and the homegrown Bernie Williams in center. New York had Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer on the bench once again and we also were treated with a Tony Tarasco (Baltimore, think Jeffrey Maier) appearance or two before it was all said and done.

The pitching wasn't changed much for the defending champions as Roger Clemens (Blue Jays) joined Orlando Hernandez, David Cone, Hideki Irabu, and the only homegrown talent in Andy Pettitte.

The bullpen once again had mainstays Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson along with Jason Grimsley (Angels, Indians), Dan Naulty (Twins), and Allen Watson (Angels and others) as the new guys in the pen. The Yankees once again had Mariano Rivera in the pen but got another homegrown talent to join him in Ramiro Mendoza.

Another season, another World Series, and another team, built more around free agency, trades, international signings, etc. and less dependent on homegrown players.