Yanks are too old and with no youth in sight.

What was Yankee management thinking at the start of the 2014 season?  What were Yankee fans thinking?  Here is the opening day lineup for April 1, 2014 in Houston using the player's ages as of mid-season:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF	30
Derek Jeter SS	40
Carlos Beltran RF	36
Brian McCann C	30
Mark Teixeira 1B	34
Alfonso Soriano DH	38
Brett Gardner LF	30
Brian Roberts 2B	36
Kelly Johnson 3B	32
CC Sabathia P	33

Elston Howard 1965 by Arnie Lee
via Wikimedia Commons

Even the starting pitcher was at least 30.  Not one player younger than 30.  Three of those players were signed in the 2013-2014 off season to multi-year contracts, all of which I opposed at the time: Ellsbury (7), McCann (5), Beltran (3).

All three are expected to be among the eight starters in the field in 2015 along with Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner.  All five will one year older in 2015.  And the Yankees have gaping holes at second, third and shortstop.  Among players currently under contract, those holes would be filled by these players showing their ages in 2015:
2B: Martin Prado 31
3B: Alex Rodriguez 39 (40 in July)
SS: Brendan Ryan 33

Are the Yankees decision makers out of their minds?  Can a team win with all its fielders at least 30 years old?  Here are the starting players for the 2014 champion San Francisco Giants:

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
1	C	Buster Posey	27	147	605	547	72	170	28	2	22	89	0	1	47	69	.311	.364	.490	.854	143	268	16	3	0	8	5
2	1B	Brandon Belt*	26	61	235	214	30	52	8	0	12	27	3	1	18	64	.243	.306	.449	.755	114	96	4	2	0	1	2
3	2B	Joe Panik*	23	73	287	269	31	82	10	2	1	18	0	0	16	33	.305	.343	.368	.711	104	99	4	0	1	1	0
4	SS	Brandon Crawford*	27	153	564	491	54	121	20	10	10	69	5	3	59	129	.246	.324	.389	.713	104	191	4	2	2	10	10
5	3B	Pablo Sandoval#	27	157	638	588	68	164	26	3	16	73	0	0	39	85	.279	.324	.415	.739	111	244	16	4	0	7	6
6	LF	Mike Morse	32	131	482	438	48	122	32	3	16	61	0	0	31	121	.279	.336	.475	.811	130	208	19	9	0	4	0
7	CF	Angel Pagan#	32	96	413	383	56	115	21	2	3	27	16	6	25	53	.300	.342	.389	.731	110	149	5	1	1	3	1
8	RF	Hunter Pence	31	162	708	650	106	180	29	10	20	74	13	6	52	130	.277	.332	.445	.777	121	289	13	3	0	3	3
Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
9	OF	Gregor Blanco*	30	146	444	393	51	102	18	6	5	38	16	5	41	77	.260	.333	.374	.707	103	147	4	3	6	1	1

After Pagan was injured he was replaced by Blanco.  Of the eight starters, only three were at least 30 and the oldest only 32.  The Yankees had a 40 year old shortstop and may have a 39-40 year old third baseman in 2015.

The best that the Yankees can do in 2015 is fill their three holes with players younger than 30 but that still leaves the core of players over age 30 with multi-year contracts at the five other positions.

Let's look at Yankees teams from 1964 (pennant winner 50 years ago), 1996 (Derek Jeter's first team), 2009 (most recent Yankee championship team):

1964:

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
1	C	Elston Howard	35	150	607	550	63	172	27	3	15	84	1	1	48	73	.313	.371	.455	.825	127	250	10	5	0	4	12
2	1B	Joe Pepitone*	23	160	647	613	71	154	12	3	28	100	2	1	24	63	.251	.281	.418	.698	90	256	17	3	2	5	7
3	2B	Bobby Richardson	28	159	728	679	90	181	25	4	4	50	11	2	28	36	.267	.294	.333	.626	73	226	15	0	16	5	1
4	SS	Tony Kubek*	28	106	447	415	46	95	16	3	8	31	4	1	26	55	.229	.275	.340	.615	69	141	6	1	4	1	3
5	3B	Clete Boyer	27	147	554	510	43	111	10	5	8	52	6	1	36	93	.218	.269	.304	.573	58	155	12	1	3	4	11
6	LF	Tom Tresh#	25	153	621	533	75	131	25	5	16	73	13	0	73	110	.246	.342	.402	.743	105	214	12	7	3	4	3
7	CF	Mickey Mantle#	32	143	567	465	92	141	25	2	35	111	6	3	99	102	.303	.423	.591	1.015	177	275	9	0	0	3	18
8	RF	Roger Maris*	29	141	584	513	86	144	12	2	26	71	3	0	62	78	.281	.364	.464	.828	127	238	7	6	1	2	1

1964: only two players at least 30.  MVP the previous four seasons: Maris, Maris, Mantle, Howard.  And this was the end of that dynasty.  The Yanks did not win another pennant until 1976 when they were led by MVP catcher Thurman Munson, 29.
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1996:

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
1	C	Joe Girardi	31	124	471	422	55	124	22	3	2	45	13	4	30	55	.294	.346	.374	.720	82	158	11	5	11	3	1
2	1B	Tino Martinez*	28	155	671	595	82	174	28	0	25	117	2	1	68	85	.292	.364	.466	.830	108	277	18	2	1	5	4
3	2B	Mariano Duncan	33	109	417	400	62	136	34	3	8	56	4	3	9	77	.340	.352	.500	.852	112	200	10	1	2	5	1
4	SS	Derek Jeter	22	157	654	582	104	183	25	6	10	78	14	7	48	102	.314	.370	.430	.800	101	250	13	9	6	9	1
5	3B	Wade Boggs*	38	132	574	501	80	156	29	2	2	41	1	2	67	32	.311	.389	.389	.778	98	195	10	0	1	5	7
6	LF	Gerald Williams	29	99	258	233	37	63	15	4	5	30	7	8	15	39	.270	.319	.433	.753	88	101	7	4	1	5	2
7	CF	Bernie Williams#	27	143	641	551	108	168	26	7	29	102	17	4	82	72	.305	.391	.535	.926	131	295	15	0	1	7	8
8	RF	Paul O'Neill*	33	150	660	546	89	165	35	1	19	91	0	1	102	76	.302	.411	.474	.885	123	259	21	4	0	8	8
9	DH	Ruben Sierra#	30	96	407	360	39	93	17	1	11	52	1	3	40	58	.258	.327	.403	.730	83	145	10	0	0	7	11

1996: not counting the DH, four of eight at least 30.
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2009:

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
1	C	Jorge Posada#	37	111	438	383	55	109	25	0	22	81	1	0	48	101	.285	.363	.522	.885	125	200	13	2	0	5	4
2	1B	Mark Teixeira#	29	156	707	609	103	178	43	3	39	122	2	0	81	114	.292	.383	.565	.948	141	344	13	12	0	5	9
3	2B	Robinson Cano*	26	161	674	637	103	204	48	2	25	85	5	7	30	63	.320	.352	.520	.871	121	331	22	3	0	4	2
4	SS	Derek Jeter	35	153	716	634	107	212	27	1	18	66	30	5	72	90	.334	.406	.465	.871	125	295	18	5	4	1	4
5	3B	Alex Rodriguez	33	124	535	444	78	127	17	1	30	100	14	2	80	97	.286	.402	.532	.933	138	236	13	8	0	3	7
6	LF	Johnny Damon*	35	143	626	550	107	155	36	3	24	82	12	0	71	98	.282	.365	.489	.854	118	269	9	2	2	1	1
7	CF	Melky Cabrera#	24	154	540	485	66	133	28	1	13	68	10	2	43	59	.274	.336	.416	.752	93	202	15	4	4	4	4
8	RF	Nick Swisher#	28	150	607	498	84	124	35	1	29	82	0	0	97	126	.249	.371	.498	.869	122	248	13	3	3	6	2
9	DH	Hideki Matsui*	35	142	528	456	62	125	21	1	28	90	0	1	64	75	.274	.367	.509	.876	123	232	4	4	0	2	1

2009: not counting the DH, four of eight at least 30.
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Six years later in 2015 the Yankees will be counting on 2009 holdovers Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.  If the Yankees had any non-pitcher prospects in their minor league system we would have seen them in the last two seasons.  They let Derek Jeter play until age 40 without having a viable replacement.  They let Robinson Cano walk with no replacement.  After Alex Rodriguez was suspended a year ago the Yankees made no plans for a true replacement.

Who does that?