The Yankees passed on Lance Lynn, and let's be thankful

Today, Joel Sherman reports what our tormented souls at IIH have been bellicosely screaming for weeks, months, lifetimes: That the Yankees - our favorite, fully-functioning Death Barge - need pitching, pitching, pitching...

He suggests the team should have chased the veteran lug nut, Lance Lynn, who at 33 had strung together two solid years in Texas. Yesterday, the White Sox traded for Lynn. 

Sherman is right, sorta. The Yankees had Lynn two years ago. If they had kept him, who knows: We might have more than a pair of 2nd place door prizes. Writes Sherman: 

Lynn is no (Gerrit) Cole. But he is as close to sure innings for a job as treacherous as throwing a baseball hard. He has one year left on a three-year contract and counts just $10 million toward the luxury-tax payroll. Expect that Masahiro Tanaka would cost more in 2021 on a multi-year pact. Yet, the Yankees made no strong efforts toward a reunion. Instead, a team already with more certainty atop the rotation in the White Sox added Lynn. 

I get it that Chicago just snagged a guy the Yankees could use. But they gave up their 9th best prospect - ranked 80th by MLB; (the Sox have been building their farm system for several years) - a pitcher named Dane Dunning, plus an arm to be named later. 

To outbid Chicago, the Yankees would have needed to trade Clarke Schmidt and/or Deivi Garcia. That's where talks would start.

Had we made such a deal, my wails today would echo across Gotham, and I don't even live there. 

Listen: I donno know what the Yankees will do for pitching. But they had their shot at Lynn, as they did with Sonny Gray, J.A. Happ, James Paxton, the cast of Big Sky, and a lineage that extends back to Rick Rhoden. None brought us a ring. And unless somebody invents a time machine, we are stuck with what we have. 

Somewhere out there is the next Lance Lynn, a thirtysomething with a fan belt for an arm, who one day tweaks a certain pitch and shouts, "Eureka!" He receives from the juju gods a two-year rebirth before the glue factory calls. 

The Yankees need pitching, pitching, pitching. But trading for a guy on the cusp of 34 won't cut it. We've tried. It didn't work. I'd rather take my chances on Schmidt and Garcia. 

It's almost impossible to assess the 2020 season. It happened overnight. Is Gary Sanchez really that horrible? Is Randy Arozarena really that incredible? (In both cases, if the answer is yes, we're screwed.) But here's one conclusion that seems to fit: 

Youth wins, and old age wilts.

The Yankees need pitching, pitching, pitching... To get it, they need to constantly scour the landscape and to fortify their farms. They need to build an organization that is better than the others. No nepotism. No cronies. No fat. They need a system built from the bottom up. It's the strength of that system that matters. 

And, frankly, that's why Yankee fans worry.