Sure, the St. Louis Cardinals just won the World Series, doing a fine job of taking advantage of every Detroit blunder, boner, and error when they couldn’t get anything started on their own, but as all New Yorkers know, everything comes back to the Yankees. If the Cardinals win, it has to say something about the Yankees or it’s not important.

As it happens, the Cardinals’ win meets this criterion. The 2006 World Championship, won as it was by Jeff Weaver throwing a gem in the final game, points an accusing figure at the Yankees, asking why the organization is so hapless with young pitching, be it internally developed or acquired from elsewhere.

Through 2003, the Yankees often had terrific starting rotations made up of Hall of Famers and near-Hall of Famers. Roger Clemens is an innercircle immortal. Almost certain to finish his career with better than 250 wins, Mike Mussina may yet build a case for his enshrinement in Cooperstown. Andy Pettitte and David Wells aren’t Hall of Famers but their careers rank somewhere on the next tier down, that of pitchers whose careers contained many moments and seasons of excellence without quite being historic.

The problem with this rotation was twofold. First, with the exception of Mussina, it wasn’t signed past that year. Second, it was old, and even had the Yankees retained all their pitchers, they would have been at great risk of injury. Pettitte was the youngest at 31, Mussina was 34,Wells and Clemens were 40.

The Yankees made it clear through their actions that they understood that the starting rotation had to get younger. On several occasions the team successfully acquired young starting pitching. This was a victory in itself; through the 1980s, the Yankees were always one vital young pitcher away, and they could never find the means to acquire that pitcher, be it through the draft, trades, or free agency. Brian Cashman proved to be more creative, either acquiring or promoting from within, among others, Ryan Bradley (22; the age cited is that of the player’s debut season), Ed Yarnall (23), JakeWestbrook (22), Ted Lilly (24), Rany Keisler (24), Jeff Weaver (25), and Brandon Claussen (24). More recently, the team has tried Javier Vazquez (27), Brad Halsey (23), Alex Graman (26), Sean Henn (24), Chien-Ming Wang (25), Jeff Karstens (23), and Darrell Rasner (25).

This is a mixed record at best. It is important to note that while the Yankees’ farm system failed to provide any blue chip prospects, just because these players failed to develop in Joe Torre’s and Mel Stottlemyre’s hands is no proof that they wouldn’t have fared better in other organizations. Indeed, teams with fewer resources have been seen to do more with less — not every pitcher who emerges from the minors are future All-Stars or potential Cy Young award winners. In fact, the vast majority are not.

That these pitchers could have done more with better organizational support cannot even be proved, but the team’s record with pitchers like Lilly and Westbrook, both gift-wrapped by then-Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria in the Hideki Irabu deal, bears out its probable truth. Neither pitcher was exploited to the full extent of his abilities before being packed off in trades.

Trading Lilly made way for Exhibit A in this nonhit parade, Jeff Weaver. Weaver was a four-year veteran with an ERA of 4.33 in 715 career innings. Rushed to the big leagues at age 22 in 1999, he had improved his ERA in each subsequent season. When the Yankees acquired him, his 2002 ERA was 3.18. What followed was a legendary breakdown. From the start, the blond, pure-Californian Weaver seemed ill-suited for the Yankees, frequently failing to control his emotions on the field. Roughed up upon arrival, Torre quickly remanded him to the bullpen. He made two relief appearances, both poor, in the postseason. Weaver’s confidence was apparently shot. In 2003 he fell apart completely, posting a 5.99 ERA and again spending time in the bullpen. We need not reiterate the highlights of his 2003 postseason here.

Torre later speculated that Weaver wasn’t suited to pitch in New York. After two lackluster seasons with the Dodgers and another complete meltdown in early 2006 with the Angels, Weaver seemed no longer suited to pitch anywhere. It was only in September of this year that Weaver again resembled the pitcher the Yankees acquired, a rediscovery he carried over into the playoffs.

If the Yankees had failed to exploit Weaver and only Weaver in recent seasons, or even Weaver and a half-dozen other pitchers over the same period, you could chalk that failure up to a bad attitude on Weaver’s part, or poor material in general. But when it comes to young pitching, the Yankees have failed with almost all comers. George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees in January 1973. The list of young pitchers established as the big league starters by the Yankees from that day to this is limited to Ron Guidry, Andy Pettitte, Doc Medich, Dave Righetti, Dennis Rasmussen, and Scott Kamieniecki. Of these, only the first three made 100 or more starts in pinstripes. Wang is halfway there. Even if he makes it, the Yankees’ record is still a poor one for over 30 years worth of work.

For decades the Yankees have lacked either the patience or the technical skill to nurture pitchers under 30. Weaver, Vazquez, and a hundred busted prospects testify to the team’s persistent blind spot. It’s something that needs to be addressed now, or someday Phil Hughes will be another Weaver, celebrating a championship in another uniform after the damage of the Yankees years is undone. Some general manager — and if Hughes fails it might not be Cashman — will be left thinking, like so many Yankees fans, “This should have been ours.”

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for www.yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.