RIP 2010 Yankees

I figured my own thoughts on the end of the Yankee season would destroy NYAT's comment section so I figured it best to put up my own post.

Friday night was depressing, as I knew that during the 2011 MLB season, the New York Yankees would not be referred to as the defending World Champions.  They were ousted in embarassing fashion on Friday night by the Texas Rangers and will not get a chance to defend their 2009 title.

So as I was walking home on Friday night, I started thinking to myself "How did we get to this point?"  Here's what I came up with.

The 2010 team looked very similar to the 2009 team.  Javy Vazquez replaced Chien Ming Wang, Nick Johnson replaced Hideki Matsui, and Curtis Granderson replaced Johnny Damon.  Unfortunately, with exception of Granderson during the last month and a half of the season, none of these players did a good job replacing their predecessors.  Johnson went down after about a month and we never saw him again, Javy Vazquez was an utter disaster, and Granderson was a disappointment until the middle of August.

The rest of the team was basically the same, but did not produce nearly as well as last year's team.  With the exception of Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, and to some degree Alex Rodriguez, every other starter had a down year.  Mark Teixeira had an EXTENDED slow start and even once he picked up his bat he did not hit consistently through the end of the season.  Derek Jeter, in his walk year, had by far the worst offensive numbers of his career.  Alex Rodriguez did not get on base nearly as much as he has in previous years, nor did he hit for a particularly high average, but he drive in a ton of runs and most of them were significant.  Jorge Posada looked like an old man towards the end of the season.  Brett Gardner showed us a nice glimpse of his potential, but was inconsistent during the second half of the season.


On the pitching side, CC Sabathia may have been even better than last year.  Andy Pettitte, when healthy, was as good as he's ever been, and Phil Hughes showed glimpses of brilliance amidst both solid outings and merely mediocre outings.  However, AJ Burnett, who already had a reputation of inconsistency but yet had managed to put up solid numbers last year, was abysmal for the final four months of the season and may have had one of the worst seasons ever for a Yankee Starting pitcher.

Out of the bullpen, Mariano Rivera remains an aberration (If Tim Lincecum is "The Freak," then how do we describe Mo).  However, the rest of the bullpen did not come together until Brian Cashman brought Kerry Wood on board.  David Robertson was awful during the spring, Damaso Marte missed most of the season, and Joba Chamberlain may have pitched his way onto the trading block.

So looking back on this past season, it almost seems as if the Yankees record was not indicative of the way the team played.  They were hot early on and cooled off late, whereas last year's team was cool early on and picked it up towards the summer.

Now this isn't to say that the entire team had an awful year (after all, they did reach the ALCS).  Robinson Cano had an MVP season in the number 5 hole, driving in runs and playing stellar defense.  CC Sabathia was a horse once again.  Nick Swisher worked hard in the off-season and came out to play what was arguably the best season of his career.

Now it's often said that what happens during the regular season can have little bearing on what happens once you hit October and this is true to a certain extent.  The Yankees crawled into Minnesota yet managed to put the Twins to asleep in three games.  But then they marched into Texas and their offense fell asleep for all but an inning of game 1 and most of game 5.  Quite honestly, their offense didn't look much different than it did at the end of the regular season (which exception of Alex Rodriguez, who was their only consistent offensive producer in September).  Their bats were dead the whole series and their pitching could only take them so far.

Last year, Alex Rodriguez was an unstoppable force at the plate.  This year, he could have been taken down with a fly swatter.  Mark Teixeira had one big home run in ALDS game one, but his bat disappeared after that.  Nick Swisher's postseason struggles continued and Derek Jeter, well, I don't even think words can begin to describe how bad he was.  CC Sabathia was the epitome of the "Ace" title last year.  This year, not so much.  Andy Pettitte was brilliant again but had no offense behind him.  Phil Hughes was enigmantic (brilliant in the ALDS and quite hittable in the ALCS).  And AJ Burnett could only be relied on for one average start in which he was left in for one too many batters.  And as for the bullpen, other than Kerry Wood and Mo, there was almost no consistency during the ALCS.

In short, they played flat and looked old.

So where does this team go from here?  Are there a few small fixes that can get them back to World Champion caliber?  Let's take a look at what faces the Yankees this off-season:

1-The Cour Four.  No reason why Mariano Rivera shouldn't be back.   The only question is how long a contract they will give him.  I'm sure Brian Cashman would like to go year by year (and I coudn't blame him) but that won't happen.  I would anticipate a two-year deal with an option for a third year.  And then there is Jeter.  I'm the first to defend everything he has done for this organization and the game of baseball.  I can't see any situation in which he plays for any other team other than the Yankees.  But what concerns me is his stubbornness.  He has always been one who believes that he's always been the same player and doesn't need to change anything that's worked in the past.  Except he's going to be 37 years old and looked his age last season.  He'll get the deal he wants but I think he somehow has to understand that he's not 25 anymore and that his will to win can only go so far to cover for eroding skills and a stubborn attitude.  I severely worry that if they can't get through to him that we'll have a Cal Ripken type situation on our hands.  Andy Pettitte can always come back if he wants to do, but the decision is always on him.  Posada is under contact for one more year.  Boy does Cashman wish he was able to shove the three year deal down his throat three years ago.  I don't think they can get by with Posada as a full-time catcher for another year and expect to be successful.  His defensive skills were never great, but they are almost non-existent at this point.  His bat seems to have slowed (and he has not hit well when not playing in the field) and he's still prone to injury.  In all honesty, he probably should call it quits but he won't.  Somehow they will have to try to deal with this problem.
2-Starting Pitching.  The Yankees will need another starting pitcher.  The obvious target will be Cliff Lee and I expect nothing less than a full out monetary bombardment.  Other than Lee, it's a relatively thin market.  It's possible they could try to deal AJ Burnett but for what?  Next year should be showtime for Phil Hughes.  He just made it through his first full season as a starter and had mixed results.  It's time for him to develop some consistency if the Yankees plan on relying him as an important member of the pitching staff.  What Andy Pettitte chooses to do will also impact the outcome of the team's rotation next year.
3-Bullpen.  I'm sure the Yankees would love to bring back Kerry Wood but not at his current option price.  They will hope that Robertson and Boone Logan continue to take steps forward.

The rest: Alex Rodriguez isn't getting any younger and he may be destined towards the DH role at some point.  However, his bat is still dangerous and while his days of hitting 40-50 home runs are probably over, he will still continue to be an above-average offensive player.  Mark Teixeira has to, and I mean HAS TO, find a way to avoid another slow start and put up numbers closer to his 2009 marks.  Curtis Granderson has a great deal of positive work to build on and I expect big things from him next year.  And Nick Swisher just needs to keep doing what he's doing.  CC needs to continue to pitch well but will need help to back him up.

In closing, if the Yankees want to make it back to the Fall Classic next year, they have their work cut out for them, as it is clear that the holes they showed against Texas were not just an aberration, but actually a reflection of how they played the whole year.

Side Notes:
1-Along with the Yankees season, I suffered another death this weekend - my DVR.  Now ordinarily, one would say "Ok, I lost a few shows but I'll just go swap it out."  Let this be a lesson to you all that if you have something important on your DVR, transfer it to DVD somehow and do it sooner rather than later.  I waited two years and now I am without the last game played at the old Yankee Stadium.  I figured maybe I'd watch it again in mourning of the Yankees' season but it was not to be.  Thankfully, I still have a bit of stadium dirt that I collected from a stadium tour.
2-In 1996, Derek Jeter burst onto the scene as the AL's hot young shortstop while it's former representative at that position, Cal Ripken Jr., began to fade away and moved to 3B the next season.  Here we are, 14 years later, and another young shortstop stole the show (quite literally) for the Rangers while Jeter had a miserable postseason.  Any symbolism here?
3-Bengie Molina is a lucky man.  Win or lose, he gets a World Series ring this year.