The New York Yankees have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but executing a quick rebuild is almost impossible.

Teams generally rebuild by trading older, expensive players and capitalizing on high draft picks. The Yankees don't have high picks coming and the older players they have are extremely expensive.

"Who exactly could the Yankees trade? Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have bloated contracts, deep injury histories and declining performance (not to mention blanket no-trade clauses and no desire to leave). The Yanks are stuck with them," writes Joel Sherman.

Spending money, perhaps on Max Scherzer and/or Victor Martinez, is another option, but not a smart one with neither considered young at this point.