The dream is over. No matter how much I wanted to believe that the bats were going to come alive once again and/or that the bullpen would finally figure out these jokers from cleveland, there was the inescapable feeling that after the tribe took a 6-1 lead in the top of the 4th, that the yankees season was all but over.
no matter how many times the commentators talked about how jeter "made a living" by taking pitches 314ft the other way to the short porch in right field at the stadium. no matter how many montages they showed of a-rod slamming homeruns in the regular season. no matter how much they talked about the incredible season posada put together. it wasn't their night and it wasn't their series.
sure, they have made some miraculous comebacks and have put together some spectacular rallies. Their 8-7 comeback victory over the red sox at Fenway with 6 runs in the eigth inning left me feeling that anything was possible for this team. However, time and time again throughout this series the yankees showed that they did not have what it takes to advance in october. they looked old. they looked thin. they looked slow.
Continually lambasted for having an exorbitant payroll ($50 million more than the next closest team), the yankees organization continues to overpay for underperforming, washed-up players like Jason Giambi, Roger Clemes, and Carl Pavano. However, they finally seem to be figuring out that trading away all of their promising talented prospects for has-beens might not be the best idea. They have a great core of young players (Cano, Melky, Wang, Jaba, Hughes, Kennedy) as well as a number of solid veterans (Petite, Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Abreu, Damon) who are still close to their prime. With their payroll, they will almost certainly be in the hunt for a playoff spot in september. However, it is going to take some serious efforts from Brian Cashman to a)Keep a muzzle on Steinbrenner b) Deal with Scott Boras over A-rod's contract demands and c)Fill out the roster with hungry, young talent to put through the fire for a serious run next year.
They should have a strong rotation for next year with Wang, Chamberlain(if they decide they would rather have him starting than locking down the 7th and 8th innings until Mo retires), Hughes, and either Kennedy or Moose. In the bullpen, assuming that they re-sign Rivera, I would try to take a look at whether they can transform any of the rookies that they trotted out this year (Desalvo, Clippard, Wright, Ramirez) or Andrew Brackman into reliable middle relievers.
At the plate, I hope that they have the sense to bring back Posada and Abreu. Other than that, I feel their lineup is solid considering that it was the best offense in baseball this year. Even if A-rod does not come back, they should be fine if they can find another third baseman with a better glove and an average bat. They have enough guys who put the ball in play and hit it hard that they don't necessarily need to rely on one player( with a $30 mil+ contract) to hit 40+ HRs in order to suceed.
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