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| Was today A-Rod's last game for New York? |
Could this be the end of an era? Jeter's ankle injury may have been a telltale sign that this team is getting old. That is what many people will be saying about the Yankees all offseason after their poor display in this season's playoffs. In fact, if you really think about it, the Yankees could have been eliminated in the Divisional Series in just four games if Raul Ibanez doesn't bail them out twice in Game 3.
The once promising outlook on this postseason quickly faded as fans and the media were reminded of past postseason struggles for numerous Yankee stars. Alex Rodriguez, the man who usually took most of the heat in the past for his career long postseason slump, got benched for almost half of the games that the Yankees played, while also forcing manager Joe Girardi to pinch hit for him on several occasions.
Joining him this year was Nick Swisher, who has always struggled in the postseason but yet somehow goes unnoticed and Curtis Granderson, who strikes out almost every time he steps to the plate. Both of these players were benched in at least one game as well, pointing out the glaring internal issues with this team.
Manager Joe Girardi tried everything this postseason to try and get his team to hit, and at the beginning, it actually worked. Although I have already mentioned it, Girardi pinch hit Ibanez for Rodriguez in the ninth inning of Game 3 in the Divisional Series, while the team trailed by one run. If a manager is pinch hitting for one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, it is a huge sign of desperation.
If anything else but an extra base hit came off the bat of Ibanez, Girardi would have been crucified by the media, as his team would have been down 2-1 to the Orioles who were in the midst of their improbable playoff run. Instead, Ibanez homered, in one of the gutsiest calls by a manager/coach in all of sports, shifting the momentum of the series back to the Yankees.
That was a great call by Girardi, but it was a foreshadowing for how he would handle the rest of the playoffs, and a prime example of his micromanaging that he usually only resorts to for pitching changes. Girardi completely lost hold of his guys, abandoning his soldiers that had fought long and hard to get to this point, and replacing them with guys like Eric Chavez and Brett Gardner.
Girardi is a very poor in-game manager and it is clear he doesn't trust his guys to get the job done, and always feels the need to try and impact the result of the game any opportunity he gets. The pitchers that he brings out of the bullpen are all "specialty guys," in the sense that righty pitchers are only in there to face righties and lefty pitchers are only in there to face lefties. He doesn't have guys like Phil Coke or Brian Matusz, two lefties that the Yankees faced this postseason that opposing mangers would leave in to get all three outs in an inning no matter who was up.
This translated to the way Girardi handled his batters. In a big spot, no matter who was up or what the have accomplished, he would pinch hit for them based on whether a lefty or righty was on the mound. This blatantly shows his distrust for his guys to come through in a clutch situation, and that he feels the need to try and do it himself from the managerial position.
Even though Girardi is a poor manager, and totally lost control of his team down the stretch, the players didn't do anything to help themselves out. Starting pitchers Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda, Phil Hughes, and CC Sabathia (before getting shelled today), all pitched tremendously. They gave the Yankees a chance to win each and every night, but the hitters never picked them up. Guys like Rodriguez, Granderson, Swisher and Robinson Cano (who came into the playoffs as one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball, ended up having statistically the worst slump in postseason history) all tanked and basically shouldn't even have shown up to play. Take a look at their stats in this years playoffs.
Alex Rodriguez - 3 for 25 (.120 AVG), 0 XBHs, 0 RBIs, 1 RUN, 12 STRIKEOUTS
Curtis Granderson - 3 for 30 (.100 AVG), 1 XBH, 1 RBI, 1 RUN, 16 STRIKEOUTS
Nick Swisher - 5 for 30 (.167 AVG), 2 XBHs, 2 RBIs, 0 RUNS, 10 STRIKEOUTS
Robinson Cano - 3 for 40 (.075 AVG), 2 XBHs, 4 RBIs, 1 RUN, 6 STRIKEOUTS
That is essentially the every day "heart" of the Yankees order, with the exception of Mark Teixeira, who was one of the few that actually hit well (9 for 32) in the playoffs. There is no way any team can win with this type of production coming from half of their starters. In the Tigers series, the Yankees only scored in 3 of the 39 innings in which they played in and managed to hit just .200 as a team throughout the entire playoffs. If you watched, you would think that even that number is too high.
The Yankees have a bunch of questions that they must answer this offseason and of course the biggest one will be figuring out what to do with Alex Rodriguez. After embarrassing him on a national stage with the numerous benchings and replacement pinch hitters, rumors are already starting to swirl that A-Rod might be on the verge of being traded to Miami, his hometown. Who knows if this is true, but what is true is that aside from 2009, A-Rod struggles in the playoffs. Now with five years left on his lucrative contract, the Yanks may be looking to get rid of the fading and aging star.
Next the team has to figure out their outfield. With Granderson and Gardner most likely locking down the center and left field positions, right field remains a question mark. Nick Swisher, who clearly struggled again this postseason, will be a free agent, along with Ichiro Suzuki (39 years old), who the Yanks picked up at the trade deadline.
A very real possibility is that both of these guys walk, and the Yankees look elsewhere for a replacement. Many fans will be calling for the bringing back of both because they are each fan favorites, and Ichiro was probably the best playoff hitter this season. Ibanez, who emerged as another fan favorite with his clutch home runs down the stretch, will probably sign another one-year deal and serve as the DH and spot outfielder.
The next spot that the Yankees must figure out is catcher. Russell Martin struggled mightily all season, hitting below the .200 mark, but picked it up in September to get himself up to .211 and a solid 20 home runs. Where Martin is most valuable is behind the plate, and since he is one of the top defensive catchers in the game, the Yankees will probably bring him back.
The final and most important situation they need to figure out is their starting rotation. CC Sabathia will return as the ace of the staff, and Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova will also be under contract next season. Michael Pineda, who the Yankees picked up last offseason and the world has forgotten about, will also probably be fighting for a spot in the rotation.
That being said, Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda are both aging veterans who pitched very well for the Yankees this season and are now free agents. Pettitte will most likely decide his own fate by figuring out if he wants to retire again, or come back for a full season, but the Yanks should resign Kuroda. That being said, the fact that he pitched very well for the team this season at his older age, might mean that he will look for a contract longer than one year, and the Yanks may not be committed to doing that.
One Last Thing: It is a very realistic idea that GM Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner brothers may blow this team up this offseason after not advancing to the World Series for the third straight season. That may not be very long for some baseball fans, but when you are in the postseason year in and year out and you don't take home the Commissioner's Trophy, you aren't getting the job done. Especially in New York.
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