New York Yankees: 3 Options New York Could Explore to Get Younger

The New York Yankees are the 2011 AL East Champions. They entered the season as clear underdogs in the division to the revamped Boston Red Sox, who had just added Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to an already star-studded roster. 

Who did the Yankees counter with with their offseason signings? 

Russell Martin, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Andruw Jones and Eric Chavez, that's who. It was a game of young guns versus veterans, and in the end—to most everyone's surprise—Brian Cashman's ragtag group of elder statesmen came out on top.

However, while it is perfectly understandable to be thrilled and grateful for what these veterans have done for the Yankees this season, there is no way we can expect a repeat performance next year. 

More than likely, most of the players on that shortlist will move on to other teams. Martin will stick around, and Jones and Chavez will continue to be great backups should they re-sign, but Garcia and Colon will likely sign with outside pursuers. Yankees fans will be grateful and welcome them back to Yankee Stadium with thunderous applause with their new teams, but a new era is about to begin in the Bronx, and most veterans don't have a place in it.

The Yankees will likely try their hardest to get younger this offseason, and as with every offseason, their weapon of choice will be the free agent market. 

However, this year's free agent class is a little older than the Bombers would hope, so there are only a finite number of possibilities for them on this route.

Prince Fielder, 1B/DH

Now let me make myself clear. 

I do not, even in the slightest bit, think the Yankees should sign Prince Fielder this offseason. He would require a monster contract both in terms of length and value, which the Yankees already have plenty of. 

Add onto that the fact that the Yankees already have a first baseman locked up in the person of Mark Teixeira and that Fielder is clearly not in good physical shape, and you're looking at adding a full-time DH.

Now, let's try to look at this possibility in a positive way. 

Fielder is only 27 years old and is already one of baseball's premier power hitters. He hit 50 home runs in only his third season in 2007. Despite concerns over his weight and mobility, Fielder plays a Gold Glove-caliber first base, so all around he would be a great player for most teams to add.

Fielder would obviously be a huge upgrade over the incumbent (sort of) designated hitter, Jorge Posada.  Posada has proven this season that he can no longer hit for average and only has minimal power left, while being a liability on the basepaths. 

Fielder wouldn't be much of an upgrade running the bases for the Yankees, but his bat would be a vast improvement. He is also 13 years younger than Posada, so clearly New York would be getting younger by adding him.

While the Yankees would be improved if they signed Fielder, it would not be worth the cost. He would only better their lineup, which already has a young catcher who will likely get a lot of at-bats as a DH next season.

Do Nothing

Hey, this slideshow isn't titled "Free Agent Additions," it's "Free Agent "Options," and one option is to do something very un-Yankee-like—absolutely nothing.

If the Yankees let every one of their free agents walk, they would lose Garcia, Colon, Jones, Chavez, Jorge Posada and Damaso Marte. 

So that's two starters, two bench players, a DH/emergency catcher and an oft-injured reliever. 

The only scary part about that is the starters, but hear me out.

If the Yankees let Jones and Chavez walk, they replace them with Chris Dickerson and Brandon Laird.  Dickerson is faster and despite Jones' 10 Gold Gloves, probably a better defender. Laird has much more potential than Chavez and will be almost as good defensively while staying on the active roster a lot more often. 

If Posada retires, which he will, the Yankees have one of the best young hitters in the game to replace him in Jesus Montero. 

Finally, if Garcia and Colon leave, the Yankees have a rotation of CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, A.J.Burnett and Phil Hughes to start with, which they can then add one of the "Killer B's" to complete. 

For those of you who don't know, the "Killer B's" are Manny Banuelos, Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances. Banuelos has the most talent, Betances looks like a future ace and Brackman has been successful so far at the major league level.  The three could duke it out in spring training for the fifth starter's spot in the rotation.

Sometimes the best addition is no addition at all, and that might be true for this free agent season. 

However, there is a wild card option that might be a game-changer if the Yankees can land him...

Yu Darvish, RHP

While Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols will be the cream of the crop of the 2012 free agent class, they are both All-Star first basemen, something a lot of teams already have. It's likely that the Cardinals will retain Pujols and either the Cubs or Nationals will land Fielder, so once those two are gone, who is left? 

The problem with the upcoming free agent class is it is lacking terribly in quality pitching. After C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle, there really aren't any good pitchers available—yet.

You see, there is one man who might enter the mix, and his name is Yu Darvish. He is a phenom pitcher from Japan, and the best part is he just turned 25 years old.

Darvish is by far considered the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, and if his current team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, choose to post him, he will likely receive plenty of interest.  The Yankees have already been confirmed to have expressed interest in Darvish, along with other teams such as the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rangers.

Now you might be wondering what makes Darvish different than any of the other duds we've seen come from Japan—guys like Hideki Irabu, Daisuke Matsuzaka and yes, Kei Igawa. 

Well, let me ask you this, did any of those pitchers post ERAs below 2.00 for four straight seasons before joining MLB? No? 

Well, Darvish has, and he has also posted the lowest WHIP in the league each of the past four seasons. 

Oh, and do you think Darvish is trying to impress MLB teams this season? 

Well he is, and through 25 starts (average yearly total for NPB) he has posted a 16-5 record with a 1.48 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 240 strikeouts in 207 innings. That includes nine complete games, five of them shutouts.

Salivating yet? Well it gets better. 

How does this kid possibly pitch at this level, you might ask? He does it by using an excellent combination of a four-seam fastball and a slurve atop his pitching arsenal, complemented with five—yes, five—secondary pitches. These include a two-seamer, a cutter, a curveball, a changeup and a splitter. Darvish can use this wide array of pitches to constantly keep opposing batters off-balance, making him a very dangerous pitcher to face.

If the Yankees want Darvish, they may have to write a couple of massive checks. 

First, they will have to win the posting bid that is done silently, meaning the Yankees will have no idea if another team is outbidding them. It will likely take more than $50 million to win the bidding rights for Darvish, and then they need to work out a deal with the right-hander and his agents, which will likely approach $20 million per season for at least five years.  So, we might see that extra "Cliff Lee cash" get spent this offseason, but if Darvish can pitch anywhere even remotely close to how he has in Japan, it will be an outright steal for the Yankees.

Only time will tell if the Yankees can acquire this phenomenal pitcher and whether or not he can break the disappointing trend set by Japanese pitchers so far. 

Follow Chris on Twitter.