The New York Yankees broke their three-year playoff drought when they made it to the American League Wild Card game against the Houston Astros. But the 27-time champions were soundly defeated by the upstart Astros 3-0 at Yankee Stadium in front of 50,000 fans, per ESPN.

After the game, general manager Brian Cashman revealed that he was offered utility man Ben Zobrist by the Oakland Athletics last transfer deadline. The general manager said that he turned down the offer as he would have sent two prospects, second baseman Rob Refsnyder and right-handed pitcher Adam Warren, per Sun Times.

"I'm not going to do that for a three-month rental," Cashman said via NJ Advance Media.

According to Sun Times, Cashman added that he did not think it was worth it, considering that Zobrist is a soon-to-be free agent this coming offseason and the Yankees can just easily offer him a contract. The utility man was eventually traded to the Kansas City Royal, helping last year's AL champion clinched the AL Central and the best record in the American League.

He had a .284 batting average, with seven home runs, and 23 RBIs. But his most appreciated skill was the fact that he can play any position besides first base, catcher and pitcher, per Baseball-Reference.com. The two-time all-star would have been helpful for the Yankees as he could have been the everyday second baseman.

It's not all bad for the Yankees as Warren was a valuable arm for the team as he was excellent as part of the rotation and bullpen while Refsnyder played good throughout the season, enough to get the start in the Wild Card game, per NJ Advance Media.

This would be the first instance, in a very long time, that the Yankees farm system is very well-stocked, but it's a new approach for the front office and management to just stick with the prospects and let them develop through the system, as reported by Sun Times.

According to the New York Post, owner Hal Steinbrenner has no plans in adding big contracts to the already bloated $190 million salary of the franchise. Instead, they are planning on just letting the big contracts expire.

The report noted that Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira are set to be free agents in 2016 while Brent Gardner and Alex Rodriguez will come off the books in 2017. The front office would just have to pay $23 million for the arbitration-eligible players on the roster, per MLB Trade Rumors.

Other prospects who have a great future are first baseman Greg Bird, shortstop Jorge Mateo, outfielder Aaron Judge and future ace Luis Severino, per MLB.com.