Baseball America's Josh Norris on the Yankee system: "There is a very good argument that it is the No. 1 system in the game."

Yesterday, the venerable Baseball America - heir to The Sporting News - uncorked its annual Top 10 Yankee prospects list - a generous helping of comfort food that warms every October. Throughout the years, no matter how we had decimated our system with trades - (Lance Berkman for Mark Melancon!) - we still received a top ten list about which to rejoice. But this year - wow - it's like eating ice cream. It's like a foot massage - NO, it's like getting laid. ("Megyn, why are you so fascinated by sex?") Go there, RIGHT NOW, for a good time!

Ahh, so you've returned. I can smell it on you. Go ahead, light a cigarette...

So here's the thought of today: As much as watching Andrew Miller and El Chapo dominate the World Series displays the talent we surrendered, this year's BA rankings show what we received: A shitload. Our two top prospects - Glyber Torres and Clint Frazier - both came in trades, and have elevated our entire system. In a chat yesterday, BA writer Josh Norris repeatedly praised our farms in terms I have never seen in my lifetime - not even when Brien Taylor (federal inmate number 56437-056 prior to being released in 2014) was the best prospect in baseball. At one point yesterday, Norris mused that the Yankees could put eight prospects on BA's annual Top 100. That's incredible. In recent years, we were lucky to place three. The Yankees sit where the Cubs were two and three years ago.

Listen: No single prospect is a sure thing, but when you have seven or eight in the Top 100... that is as close to a sure thing as it gets. All we need is - gulp - patience.

So here's a thought: In a mega-system ruled by luxury taxes - de facto salary caps - there is no reason why the Yankees cannot use their money advantage to always rate among the top systems. The lords of baseball made rules to limit spending on free agents, but a smart front office can still consistently build for the future. All we need is - gulp - discipline. . 

Right now, one team consistently dominates in parity-driven American pro sports: The New England Patriots, under Bill Belichik. Year in and year out, with or without Tom Brady, the Pats win. And this week, with the NFL trade deadline near, Belichick once again showed his acumen. He traded a sixth round pick for one player, and then dealt another player for a fifth round pick. In other words, he upgraded - ever so slightly - in next year's draft. Even while contending this year, he's working on next year.

The Yankees must do the same. We must always be getting younger. We can do it this winter by trading Brian McCann, Chase Headley and Brett Gardner. Get younger, get faster, get deeper in the system, get more power arms. We should always be in the top tier of BA's rankings. The minute we start bundling three or four prospects for the Javier Vasquezes and Jeff Weavers of the world, we will start backsliding.

Yep, I am calling for prospect-hugging. Supplement with free agents - I'd take Melancon and RA Dickey, and I wouldn't spit on Edwin Encarnacion or Steve Pearce - but build with youth. And pleasure yourself thinking about the future.