The Yankees are fundamentally unlike any other team. This truth is so obvious that it’s sometimes forgotten, but in a discussion of what the franchise ought to do this off-season it’s worth mentioning, because the two things that most separate the Yankees from other teams dictate what they ought to do.

First, the Yankees are not bound by money the same way other teams are. The radical advantage their $200 million payroll offers them is, I think, poorly understood because the money has been so poorly spent – buying a team without defense, a stable rotation, a competent middle relief corps, or a bottom third of the lineup. The payroll is big enough that a team as poorly conceived as the current Yankee squad can be made into a 95-game winner just by its weight; more impressively, if judiciously spent, that money could build a perennial 110-game winner.

Second, because this is so, the Yankees should never go for a World Series title; their aim should be sustaining dynastic runs. For a team like the Padres, making the playoffs is a worthy goal; for a team like the Cardinals, winning a championship is; for a team of the Yankees’ resources, multiple consecutive championships should always be the aim.

With these two assumptions in place – that the Yankees can build a team that wins 110 games and a World Series every year, and that because they can, they should – we can see the choices before the Yankees in their context. Will, say, signing Hideki Matsui for another three years contribute to these goals? How about Tom Gordon? Should the Yankees make a play for veteran free agents Johnny Damon and A.J. Burnett to fill holes in the outfield and the rotation? Or should they content themselves with placeholders and wait for less flawed players?

There’s an argument to be made that they should spend now – that their payroll allows them to simply fill any holes that may come up and not worry about the long-term consequences. I think that’s a foolish policy. If you could sign Damon and Burnett to one-year, $20 million contracts, it might make sense to do so; in the real world, though, acquiring the soon-to-be 32-year-old Damon to fill next year’s hole in center means you’re stuck with 36-year-old Damon, bench player, as well.

Similarly, there are reasons to think Burnett might turn into an elite starter, but equally as many reasons to think he’ll just remain a somewhat above-average pitcher whose results don’t match his stuff. Next year’s Yankees team – which will feature the declining Jorge Posada, Mike Mussina, and Randy Johnson, the three of whom will earn as much money as the entire Tampa Bay Devil Rays roster – shows where over-reliance on the long-term contract gets you in the long run when dealing with truly elite players; the results when dealing with second- and third-tier stars like Damon and Burnett tend to be even worse.

More than that, though, there’s no reason to think this team is a potential dynasty. Teams like the Stengel and Torre Yankees, the Big Red Machine, Charlie Finley A’s, and so on tend to have one thing in common: A broad base of young, superstar talent. The Yankees don’t have that.

In the mid-’90s, Joe Torre had Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, with Jorge Posada on the rise. The infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen were all anchored by an excellent young player who could be expected to improve; all that was needed was to surround them with solid veteran talent and good coaching that immersed them in a winning approach to the game.

Right now, the Yankees have a handful of veterans who are quite a lot better than solid, but no such broad base of young talent. Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are in that point in their careers where they are no longer on the rise, and can in fact be expected to start declining. In terms of building a dynasty, they should be slotted on the “solid veteran” side of the ledger; odd as it seems, they’re probably complementary players in a way. To build the team they can and should build, the Yankees will need to develop or acquire young players of their caliber and keep them. They need more players like Mets third baseman David Wright, and fewer like Gary Sheffield.

None of this means that the Yankees should burn the team down just for the sake of doing so. If a player like Sheffield or Posada can be traded for young talents with good chances of becoming part of a Jeter/Williams/Pettitte/Rivera type core, he should be; otherwise, the Yankees should hold on to him. But the team’s focus should be on holding spots open for the core of the next dynasty, and on not tying up money that could be efficiently used to build the best possible supporting cast for them on players who will, in several years, not be worth it. One Carl Pavano and one Jaret Wright are already more than enough.

tmarchman@nysun.com