When you're a massive brand and historically-dominant franchise like the New York Yankees, making a niche signing every now and then is fine, provided you're making you're presence felt in the most expensive sector of the market.
The fact that the Yankees haven't been big players this offseason is what made their recent, outside-the-box signing of 18-year-old Dutch pitcher Tijn Fredrikze a cringeworthy maneuver. This isn't to loop Fredrikze himself into the negativity, though.
If this were the Los Angeles Dodgers signing Fredrikze, we'd all be able to unabashedly enjoy this narrative for the feel-good story that it is.