Huge prospect Hughes poster boy for the 'new' Yankees

Yankees: Five things to know

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Next Great Yankee is steadying himself this spring by staying locked on the small picture, which is both cute in its innocence and fortuitous in the big picture.

Phil Hughes might be the next star from the Yankee farm system since Derek Jeter. (Getty Images)

Nobody's canvas is larger than that of the Bronx Bombers -- ever -- and if Phil Hughes allowed himself even a quick glimpse, his little eyes might bulge right out of their sockets. Hughes, 20, not only figures significantly in the Yankees' near-future plans -- later this season? First thing in 2008? -- but he's also the unspoken poster boy of a whole new New York philosophy.

Better him than Carl Pavano.

You needed neither a private detective's license nor the keys to a general manager's office this winter to discern the shift in the Yankees' philosophy.

In the firm grip of GM Brian Cashman now, they are looking both to lower their payroll and increase their talent base. These two goals do not have to be mutually exclusive -- even for baseball's Silver Spooners.

"We're still big-game hunters," Cashman says. "It just depends on what the game is.

"We definitely didn't agree with the amount of money spent this past winter. We felt the money exceeded the talent base."

George Steinbrenner's slow fade eventually will be a loss for New Yorkers in so many ways, not to mention a crippling blow to sassy baseball columnists trolling for sarcasm and outrage.

But Cashman's tightened grip clearly is the best thing that could have happened to this franchise -- and the worst thing that could have happened to its opponents. With every failed October since Luis Gonzalez's looper fell softly onto the Arizona grass in November 2001 -- and, particularly, with their past two first-round exits -- it has become more and more apparent the Yanks need to get younger, quicker and leaner. Particularly on the mound.

In stockpiling such young arms as Humberto Sanchez (from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield trade) and Ross Ohlendorf and Steven Jackson (from Arizona in the Randy Johnson trade) this winter, Cashman didn't make the sexy splash he has made in the past with free agents like Jason Giambi and Mike Mussina.

But mark this down now: The long-range impact will be far greater.

"Winning sells in New York," Cashman says. "Derek Jeter was always Derek Jeter, but his name didn't really mean as much in '95.

"Winning sells in New York. No name is bigger than that of the Yankees."