7Up

While our guitars gently weep, it's worthwhile to take a look, I think, at what was supposed to be the core of The Yankees Dynasty That Never Was.

You've heard a lot about the "Core of Four" that charged the last (10th) Yankees dynasty:  Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and The Great Rivera.

That's true enough if you go all the way through the last of the five rings they brought home, in 2009.  But really, for most of that team's championships, it was more like, "The Magnificent Seven"—adding in Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez (Duque missed the first championship.  Curse you, Fidel!).

Looking back, you can come up with a similar Power 7 for most of the Yankees' dynasties.  Ruth, Gehrig, Earl Combs, Long Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, Schoolboy Hoyt, and Herb Pennock, "the Squire of Kennett Square," for the 1920s, say.  Or maybe Reggie, Munson, Chambliss, Randolph, Nettles, Mick the Quick, and Guidry for the 1970s.

So what was supposed to be the Big 7 for The Dynasty That Never Was?

I'd say it was Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier, Luis Severino, and Aaron Judge.

Many other first-rate prospects who quickly capsized for whatever reason aside, that was going to be the power core.  All are—or would be—now in their 4th, 5th, or even 6th year with the big club.  By the time all of the 1990s Magnificent Seven were that far along in their Yankee tenures they were, to a man, all-stars who had at least one World Series win, and more often several rings to their credit.

So how are our contemporary Big 7 faring?

Greg Bird—After some early promise, went up in a puff of smoke like some bad genie, thanks to injuries and an inexplicable drop in play.  Out of baseball.

Gary Sanchez—Looked like Johnny Bench when he first came up.  Now he looks like some johnny at the end of the bench.  In Double-A.  Injuries seemed to sap not just his skills but his desire.  He's millimeters away from doing Greg Bird's Irish goodbye.

Miguel Andujar—Impossible to say if he can come back, but injuries have already robbed him of two key years, and the organization's messing with his head can't be helping.  Could easily end up as yet another Bird.

Luis Severino—One of the very best pitchers in the game for a year-and-a-half.  Just how much the Yankees ignoring his arm injury halfway through the 2018 season has hurt him we will never know.  But coming back from major arm surgery isn't even up to the level of a crapshoot, and the years are speeding away.  A comeback in 2022?  Would love to see it.  Am not putting any cash money on it.

Gleyber Torres—Considered the true, can't-miss star out of the whole group, the man Theo Epstein himself, a real general manager, bitterly regretted dealing.  But the injuries started early, taking him out for a regular 20 games a season, and much more of this season.  Plus he can't play the position he was slated for—not an unusual problem on this Yankees team, which seems as devoid of instruction as it is of medical care.

Aaron Judge—This is the one to really make you cry.  The man who not only the Yankees but MLB saw as the face of the game's future.  Already so banged up and so deprived of consistent play that it's unlikely he'll ever regain the form he showed in the first half of 2017.  Judge turned 28 this April, meaning that, chronologically at least, he's on the downhill slide from here on in.  Sad, sad.

Clint Frazier—"But the cat came back, the very next day..."  Weirdly enough, the only one who has some potential left.  If only from happenstance, the Yankees have been unable to break his body or his spirit.  May be the winner of the "Zelda Fitzgerald Emotional Maturity Contest," but when they put him in, coach, he hits.

So there you have it.  What does it all add up to?  Nothing, sadly enough.

As a great man once said, "It gets late early around here."  Sanchez also turns 28 in December, and Sevvy will be that old when he is pitching regularly again—if he ever does—in 2022.  Torres, Andujar, and Frazier may—may—still be young enough to form the core of a winning team, but for the rest of The Dynasty That Never Was, the bell has already tolled.