Yankeetorial: What to do with Yankee prospects? Confucius had the answer

"The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is now."
Confucius

Ten years ago (roughly), we had a bumper crop of Yankee prospects.

Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Andy Philips, Chien-Ming Wang,  Dioneer Navaro, Nick Johnson, Alphonso Soriano, Jose Contreras, Juan Rivera, Sean Henn, Alex Graman, Ed Yarnell, Brandon Claussen, et al.

From this wave, we grew one current Yankee. Robbie Cano. 

Wang got hurt. Soriano became Arod. Melky contributed to a World Series. Anybody remember who we got for Navarro, Contreras, Johnson Halsey, Rivera, Claussen, etc?

OK, Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown come to mind.

From that traded group, Rivera could still be a solid Yankee (a Roy White). Contreras might have won us a World Series in 2005. Navarro was an all-star. Nick Johnson? Who knows?

Many are planted, few are harvested.

Today, the Yankees have another bumper crop. Some scouts say we have the fourth best farm system in baseball. As Cashman looks for a fourth and fifth starter, one issue comes to the forefront.

We must not sacrifice the next 10 years by trading for the next 10 months.

We spend more on salaries than anybody. We quadruple the spending of some teams. If we can't win with such outlays, we need to change. We need to stop accepting salary dumps and pretending other GMs are stupid. Last year, the Braves knew Javier Vazquez couldn't throw, and Detroit knew Curtis Granderson couldn't hit lefties. (Maybe we've straightened him out; maybe not; but Austin Jackson is a hell of a good young player, and probably will be 10 years from now.) We gave up talent. Don't let the courtiers -- the "he's-just-an-NL-pitcher" cheerleaders -- say otherwise.

We must think about the next 10 years, not the next 10 months.

Which brings me to Mr. Kevin Millwood. Did we want him four months ago? God, no. But we can't change Cliff Lee's malfunctioning brain.

We have three starters. We need five. I love Ivan Nova. He might be a future Core 4. But does anybody think Bartolo Colon is the answer -- show of hands? Can Freddie Garcia last through September? Sergio Mitre? Yeah, right.

And what if Phil Hughes tweaks a gonad? Then what? We either start eating seed corn -- or worse -- trading it. We all can already imagine Joe Blanton in pinstripes, and Jesus Montero homering in Yankee Stadium... against us.

Millwood is 36. He's got a year in him. He's low commitment. He will save our prospects.

Signing Millwood could be the best investment we make for the next 10 years.

Sign Kevin Millwood, godammot! That's what Confucius would do.