MLB

With youth unavailable, 1-year veterans are Yanks’ best option

Last week I wrote a column advocating for players I thought the Yankees should consider this offseason, and the group — Carlos Beltran, Scott Hairston, Torii Hunter, Jeff Keppinger and A.J. Pierzynski — essentially shared one item in common:

They were all older players.

Hairston and Keppinger were the babies in the bunch, and both are due to turn 33 early next season.

The most common complaint I heard via email and Twitter to these suggestions — and by complaints I mean folks who called me “idiot” were the nicest of those responding — was that the Yankees need to get younger, which, in theory, is true.

Now, here is my question back to those nice folks: How exactly do they do that? Is there a Young Player Store between The Gap and Banana Republic at the mall that I don’t know about?

Because you have to play at least six years in the majors to be a free agent, you generally don’t find young players in that market. And those who are young-ish and quality will need contracts of six years or more, taking them into baseball old age.

The trade market? Maybe. But there is more money in the game than ever, spread among more teams. In other words, clubs can afford to keep and, in general, pay their best young players, and they don’t become available on the market the way they once did.

And, if they do, the Yankees no longer are the only team with the resources to obtain such players and keep them long term. Thus, this is not a field the Yankees simply can expect to dominate any longer.

Lastly, if you want to acquire someone — such as San Diego’s talented switch-hitter Chase Headley, who turns 29 in May — the cost is going to be four high-level prospects, thus, defeating the very premise you claim to want — protecting young players.

Remember, the Yankees obtained Curtis Granderson at age 29 for three youngsters — Phil Coke, Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy — and now many Yankees fans would like to reverse that trade.

That is why I recommended targeting a few older players. Not because I do not see the need for the Yankees to get younger, more athletic and more diversified in their offensive approach, but because you have to be realistic about what is available and the cost and likelihood of obtaining it.

Yes, the Yankees could get younger in 2013 by removing a bunch of older players and replacing them with, well, what? It would seem unlikely that they could get younger and still build a team that can win 95 games. And, I suspect, there would not be much tolerance in the Yankees-sphere for winning 83 games in the name of prettier birth certificates.

The players I recommended are attractive because they still are performing at a high level and you probably would not have to commit to them for more than two years at the most. This is not getting married to a guy in his mid-to-late-30s for five or six years.

One reason the Yankees won the AL East this year was because of shrewd one-year commitments to older players such as Eric Chavez, Raul Ibanez, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Ichiro Suzuki. And for the ones that did not work out as well — think Freddy Garcia and Andruw Jones — the commitments expired after just one year. In other words, it is not the bad gift that keeps on giving.

The Yankees’ farm system is not ready to provide high-end youngsters. Pitchers Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Michael Pineda took huge steps back either for physical or production reasons. The best of the Yankees’ position prospects — Tyler Austin, Dante Bichette Jr., Slade Heathcott, Gary Sanchez, Ravel Santana and Mason Williams — are at least two years away.

Thus, the Yankees have to find a way to stall until something talented and young comes along. The best way to do that is by plugging short term with experienced players who you believe can play here, are motivated and still have high-end production left. Kind of like what they got with Ibanez, Kuroda, Pettitte, etc.

To blame the Yankees’ postseason ouster on too many old players is pushing a theory and ignoring reality. Yes, Alex Rodriguez turned decrepit and Derek Jeter broke down. But prime-aged players such as Robinson Cano, Granderson and Nick Swisher were futile, too. Phil Hughes, age 26, had to exit a playoff start with a back injury.

It is better to bet on the physical health and higher ceiling of youngsters, but Pineda, Banuelos, Brett Gardner, David Robertson and Ivan Nova were all twentysomethings who missed a chunk or all of last season. There is something to be said of the dedicated, professional veteran who knows how to prepare his body and get through the season, and the Yankees picked well in that area.

It is possible for the Yankees to do a hybrid construction in which, say, they add some veterans and trade Granderson for a few young pieces. For example, if the Yankees traded for Beltran, signed Hunter and re-signed Ichiro, they could play that trio plus Gardner in an outfield rotation that likely is to be productive in 2013. Then they could market Granderson with the idea of obtaining the best youngsters — pitchers or hitters — possible.

For example, Texas (if it loses Josh Hamilton), San Francisco (if it loses Angel Pagan), Atlanta (if it loses Michael Bourn), Washington and Philadelphia are among win-now teams that could be willing to give up something significant for a year of Granderson.

But the Yankees also are a win-now team and, thus, can’t trade Granderson unless they are well covered without him. The Young Player Store is not open. They again have to do well shopping for older players.

joel.sherman@nypost.com