Yankee Fans Unite

Post your thoughts, whatever they may be. Mine are forthcoming.

We don't lose Wang to injury and we might have still made the post-season, despite how badly the team played at times. Too many injuries, especially the injuries to Wang, Chamberlain, Posada and Matsui that really shot our season down in the end.

Yeah, the injuries are probably the most significant thing that kept the Yankees out of the playoffs. It was an injury-riddled year, and the Yankee depth is not all that impressive, particularly when the people being replaced are all veteran all-stars whose shoes are rather hard to fill. There isn't a whole lot of in-between talent on this team; the players are either many-time all stars or very marginal role players who aren't really major-league talent. On a team like this, injuries are a bit more damaging to the team quality than one built along the lines of the late 90s teams, when no one was really irreplaceable, except maybe Mariano (who, thankfully, never got hurt throughout that era).

This isn't to say that Jose Molina and Wilson Betemit don't do some things right; it's just that the dropoff hurts the team a lot more when you're going from A-Rod to Betemit instead of Knoblauch to Sojo or 90s Posada to Girardi.

Most of this year was characterized by agony, wondering when they would ever get it going. There were flashes, of course...they tore up the NL during interleague, and had some big wins over Boston, like Joba's shutout and Gardner's walkoff vs. Papelbon. But there was never a real sustained drive to the top of the standings as they bided their time, waiting to get healthy.

But they never really got healthy. We were counting on Wang and Hughes for as much as two months each at the end of the season; we got 1 start.

Let's grade the whole team now...
Posada: Incomplete.
Hurt nearly the whole year, not very effective during his brief return. How he's feeling next year could have a major impact on the course the team takes.
Molina: B. He didn't hit much, but we knew that would be the case. For someone who wasn't supposed to play much, he did well enough to hold down the job. Think what would have happened if Posada had gone down in one of the past few years, with the backups they've had. He was great on defense and Mussina gave him plenty of credit for his turnaround.
Pudge: D. For someone who was supposed to be a big boost, he sure didn't provide much. In retrospect, probably was not worth Kyle Farnsworth.

Giambi: B. For a guy on the downside of his career, playing first base a lot for the first time in a while, he had a very good year. His power numbers were excellent and he walked a lot, though the BAA was rather low. He tailed off a bit as the season wore on. Probably not worth bringing back, though.
Betemit: C. He may flail hopelessly a bit too often, but he served well enough all around the infield and provided some pop. You can do a lot worse for a backup IF, though there's a chance they'll go with Ransom over him next year, and I don't think anyone would find that much of a loss.
Cano: C/D. The overall numbers are respectable, but that's mostly due to a late-season push. For what was supposed to be a breakout year...what a disappointment. I'm not sure what to think of this swing breakdown they're trying out this offseason. It could help, sure, but very valid issues have been raised about this process. It will be a major factor in the Yankees' success next year.
Jeter: B. It was a year slowed by nagging injuries that kept his numbers down, but in the end the stats were still very respectable. They need more from a healthy Jeter to be a title threat next year.
A-Rod: A/B. A-Rod's year involved an injury that cost him nearly a month, an ugly divorce, a noticeable dropoff from last year, and a lack of so-called "clutch" moments that many seem to think define A-Rod. But in the end, he was still near the top of the AL in plenty of categories. If this is what a bad year is like, I'll take that anytime.

Matsui: Incomplete.
The numbers he put up in limited time were typical solid Matsui. I wish he'd stay healthy, because when he does he's such a rock in the lineup. He'll likely be more or less a full-time DH next year, which should help, I'd hope.
Damon: A. Johnny did exactly what he was supposed to throughout the year. He missed a little time but was exactly what the top of the order needed. Definitely the sort of player you're happy to have around.
Melky: F. I expected a big step forward, and for the first month or so it seemed that was what we were getting. Instead he went into a free-fall and wound up in Scranton. His future is now rather in doubt.
Gardner: C. The numbers aren't there yet, but there were flashes of potential. If he can figure out how to get on base at a clip of .350 or so, he'd be a wonderful asset. But until then, that adage about being unable to steal first base applies. Good defense too.
Abreu: A. The most reliable person, start to finish, on this team. They face a tough decision on him this offseason, because he's obviously a big contributor who's tough to be replaced. But at the same time, keeping him on board would mean either putting Damon in center or moving someone to 1st base. I'm somewhat torn on Bobby, and what they do with him will play a big role in what they do or don't do this offseason.
Nady: A. Props to Cashman on this deadline deal. What a great pickup, and I'm glad he'll be around to keep on putting up big numbers in the Bronx next year.

Mussina: A. The team MVP. I can't say enough how wonderful it was to see him come back, reinvent himself, and put together this kind of year. It really solidified his HOF resume, and I'd absolutely love to have him back on board for next season, even though a repeat of 2008 isn't likely.
Pettitte: C. In un-Andy-like fashion, he really tailed off down the stretch when needed most. That's possibly attributable to his offseason being screwed up, but does make me a bit leery of him next year. But he's still a workhorse capable of helping the team, and I hope he's back.
Wang: Incomplete.
He was rolling along just fine until that injury hit, which was probably the worst thing to happen all year. They need a healthy version of his former self to be a factor next year, particularly with the other question marks in the rotation.
The fill-ins...Ponson, Rasner, "DL Carla": C.
There were certainly a few good performances along the way, but in the end they didn't do nearly enough to fill the gap and were overexposed (particularly Rasner). I don't expect any of them back, except maybe Rasner in long relief only.
The kids...Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves: Incomplete.
Hughes, in what was supposed to be a big development year, spent it all on the DL. How he comes out next year will have a huge impact on the 2009 Yankees. Aceves showed flashes in September and is worth a long look next Spring. Kennedy is behind both of them now and needs to go back to Scranton to sort things out and stay healthy.
Igawa: We won't go there.

Rivera: A. As great as ever.
Joba: A/Incomplete. He was great at whatever they asked him to do, but a role needs to be defined, because this is starting to get silly.
Veras/Ramirez: B. They had their rough patches, to be sure, but they had some very solid stretches and look to be useful weapons in the future. Neither is closer material, but they're clearly above average middle relievers.
Bruney: Incomplete. Hurt for a long time, but what we saw was excellent.
Marte: B/C. For all the hype I was not all that impressed, but he's still a very serviceable lefty.
Coke: Inc. We learned with IPK last year that 1 good month does not guarantee future success, but he looked great and should be in line for a job next year.

Girardi: C. A lot of the failures this year were beyond his control. He was more or less what I expected. He was more fiery than Torre and threw some nice fits, 2 of which I distinctly remembered touching off rallies. He also struggled with the media a bit, which is to be expected of someone who is a) in his first season in NY, and b) not Joe Torre. He managed the bullpen well, but whether that was anything he did or simply the arrival of some good, yong pitchers is anyone's guess. It sure wasn't a terrible debut, but the bar is set high here, and Girardi didn't meet it. He has next year to get this team into the playoffs. If he fails, I expect the wrath of Hank to come crashing down. If he succeeds, he's bought himself at least another year or two.

I won't grade the other coaches, but I will give passing comments. Eiland seems to be doing a pretty good job to me; there was obvious progress by several young pitchers, though his real test will come in the likes of Hughes and Kennedy next year. Thompson doesn't seem like much of a presence at all, so I don't know what to think of him. Long is hard to measure. Meacham seemed to get better as the year went on, though he was awful at the beginning. Tony Pena is still excellent. Cashman may not have prepared the team for this year very well, but his in-season moves were decisive. He certainly went for it at the deadline, though the results of that are a mixed bag. He found Sidney Ponson off the scrap heap, and while he wasn't all that good, he did end up with the 3rd-most innings of anyone on the staff. I'm very interested to see, and rather ambivalent over, whether he keeps his job or not.

The bottom line: there were way too many incompletes here...injuries decimated the team. It would be very easy to just bring everyone on offense back, and they'd still probably wind up near the top of the AL in runs and have a playoff chance. But in the interests of team health and long-term success, I think they need to get significantly younger at 1 or 2 positions this offseason. The obvious options are 1st base (where Teixeira is my #1 offseason priority), and the Abreu issue. We'll see where this goes.

More from me forthcoming, but I'll say this for now.

89-73 is the 4th best record in the American League, and good enough to win the central. It's one win less than Joe Torre had his first year with the Yankees. Of course, that 1996 team wasn't nearly as talented, but neither were the rest of the teams in that division. Remember when the Tigers were in the East instead of the Rays?

As disappointing as the pitching seemed, with all the Rasners, Ponsons, Hugheses and Kennedys, and Pavanos that they threw out there, the staff only allowed 11 more runs than they did in 2003, which was the last really solid pitching staff they had. On the other hand, they scored fewer than 800 runs for the first time since 1992, which was the last really terrible season this team had. Even though missing the playoffs is terrible enough, they managed to stay alive with less than a week to go. Injuries were the main culprit, but if even ONE key injury hadn't happened, they just might be playing in a few days. Alas, not.

Very true, Fred. And it's rather amazing that, when you look at everything that went wrong, they were still this close. It's a testament to the high level of talent on this team when it's functioning in a healthy manner. That just wasn't the case often enough this year.

Karl, I liked your breakdown. I really don't have the patience to look at things in that much detail, so I appreciate reading yours.

A couple of things:

1) 89 wins is nothing to be ashamed of. After all the frustration of this season; with so many ABs given away as they ran for the doors to get out as fast as possible; with the injuries to Wang, Joba, and Hughes, A-Rod and Posada; to look up after such adversity and see that they still almost won 90 games is encouraging.

2) It's too bad Mussina's first 20-win season also came in a year that they missed the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. Personal accomplishments are great, but it makes you feel even better when your personal success is part of the whole team success. Congratulations to Mussina, and I, too, would like to see him back next year.

3) A little more on the win total. Like Fred pointed out, 89 wins is the 4th best in the AL. I'm going to go a little "Hank" here and make a suggestion. Get rid of this 3 division format. Go back to 2 divisions in each League. Each division winner makes the playoffs. The 2 teams with the next best records become the wildcard teams. Seems like that would be a much better way to do things.

Here's in an interesting twist on the wildcard that I heard a few years back, and yes, it would potentially save the Yankees this year.

Instead of just one wildcard team in each league, there would be two in each league. However, to make the division the ultimate goal, the two wildcard teams would have a one game playoff to decide the final spot. Not only does this keep more teams in it, but it promises a dramatic ending to every season. I don't see it happen, but I like it a lot. As it stands now, the wildcard team just isn't at enough of a disadvantage. Roughly half of the World Series champs since the wildcard era can attest to that.

A simpler, yet another pipe dream would be to just do away with divisions altogether. The four best records in each league are the teams that go to the playoffs. I'd even be tempted to have the 8 best records overall, forgetting which league they're in. That means a World Series could have two AL teams or two NL teams face off, but with this stupid Interleague thing that killed the mystique of the World Series, would it be that big a deal?

We're looking at fairness on who makes the playoffs, but the league will always go by what makes, or saves, the most money. They heavily load up on division games to save on travel and other monetary costs. It's the reason they went to 3 divisions to begin with. Same with AL and NL - they won't have teams travel to all those cities all year.

We want to isolate a year in which we were the 4th best team in the league and claim failure of the system, but no matter which way it's done someone will cry foul and give evidence of a broken system. How about going back to 2 divisions and only the division winners make the playoffs? That is the true barometer for who the best teams are. Ain't gonna happen.

How about we go back to the team with the most wins, wins the league pennant and goes to the WS? Money says no way....

Even though it may make more sense, money does the talking here.

And in notable Yankee news, Cashman's been extended through 2011. Like I said earlier, I'm ambivalent on that. He's done a good (not great, but good) job putting the team out there. He attacks problems (perhaps a bit overzealously at times...see Jaret Wright, Kyle Farnsworth, etc.), but he seems to have a better concept of how to run an organization than the Tampa faction and is committed to the farm system.

Angels vs. Cubs...

Like it. Never happen.

I understand that it's all about money and the divisions keep the teams in it. But I still like the idea of two wildcard teams facing off in a sudden death game.

I'm stupefied that the White Sox are in the playoffs. And that's such a sour ending for the Twins, who you couldn't help but pull for. Does anyone like Ozzie Guillen more than Ron Gardenhire outside of Chicago?

What if the 2nd Wild Card team is 10 games behind the 1st and happens to win the 163rd game? Maybe even 20 games behind? You get a team come in 2nd in their division with 95 wins, miss winning it by 1/2 a game, 2nd best record in the AL, then gets knocked off by a 82-82 team in a 1 game playoff? We'd be screaming if that happened to us.

San Fran in '93 won 102 or some such ungodly number, but the Braves won 103 and edged them for the division [and then promptly lost to Philly for the pennant].

Back to the topic at hand, namely, what happened to cause 2008?

[1] Injuries. Sure, all teams have 'em, but ours hurt and no one really filled in adequately.

[2] Lack of timely hitting. Maybe it was Kevin Long, maybe it was Joe G, I don't really know.
Maybe it was old players losing their edge [see below]. Losing Posada and Matsui really hurt the clutch situation. A-Rod and Cano regressed, and Melky didn't step up. Jeter cannot carry this team.

[3] Lack of starting pitching. Losing Wang really hurt - he was on his own way to a 20 win season. Andy had a bad offseason and almost finished with a losing record. Phil and Ian and Igawful did nothing [but lose and get injured].

In a nutshell, we went with young pitching and old position players, when we should have gone with all available pitching and young position players, which is my quick-look recommendation for 2009 [I'll expound on that later].