Loperfido is 26. Whitcomb is 27. Dezenzo turns 26 this week. Cole turns 26 later this season. None of those would be young players in AAA, they're all old for a prospect at that level. There should be a group of 22-24 year old hitting prospects at the AAA level looking to make the leap, and there's none. Matthews is an actual young guy who should probably still be at AAA. Same for Cam.
I'd say Dezenzo and Cole are still young for AAA, but on the older side for prospects in AAA. Loperfido probably is deserving of an MLB roster spot.
Actually in 2026, AAA is used as a part of the development system less than ever before. For competing teams, 90% of the players in AAA are basically a taxi squad to support the MLB roster.
We all hope that Alvarez and Neyens end up being elite prospects But there are extremely few outside of our organization and its fans who would consider them elite at this point Of course the term elite in and of itself lends itself to however someone wants to use it But it would be very difficult to find people not tied to our organization currently call them elite prospects
Of course it’s entirely subjective, but both Alvarez and Neyens are already on a major publication Top 100 list and both guys are one of a limited number of prospects that far from the majors on those lists. I would consider that “elite”, ymmv. FWIW, Google AI answers affirmatively when asked if they are considered elite. So there are outside people who consider them elite (unless the staff at Baseball America and MLB Pipeline don’t count for some reason).
Au contraire! Duck AI says: Short answer: No — neither is widely considered an "elite" prospect yet, but both are high-upside, top‑of‑system talents worth watching. Prompt: As a Yankees fan, are kevin Alvarez and xavier neyens elite prospects?
As to the original question To build a dynasty you need 3-4 multi year all stars who are all beginning their mlb careers at similar times, plus at least 5-6 more really solid mlb talents in that same group. That is why dynasties are so rare We had Springer, Correa, Bregman along with Altuve who signed an early extension to guarantee he would be there. It’s extremely difficult to get a group like that to come up at generally the same time. You see 3-4 teams every 10 years that have a group they think will be like that according to prospect evaluation, but they rarely have the careers to back it up The other thing you need is a GM who is good at roster building. Acquiring talent is one thing, but with basically 3 backup position players filling out those spots is way more important than most give it credit The other thing you need is a system that will continually give you 1-2 players a year who can help your mlb club Luhnow and Click were really good at roster building, not just the position players but finding cheap bullpen guys who were successful year after year, that’s how you go to the ALCS every year for almost a decade
