When the baseball obit writers tell the tale of the Yankees’ 2013 season, they won’t lead with all the games missed by Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Kevin Youkilis and Curtis Granderson.
Instead, the first paragraph will read: “The Yankees’ season died across two stretches of inexcusable August performances across three time zones and two countries.’’
A team with October dreams doesn’t lose two of three to the inept Padres then get swept three straight by the awful White Sox in Rodriguez’s first games back from hip surgery and in the middle of a nasty dispute with the front office and MLB.
A team with October dreams doesn’t lose two of three to the Triple-A Blue Jays in Toronto.
The excuse makers — and they don’t live inside the Yankees’ organization — point to the injuries. But they are full of it. All teams get hurt. The Red Sox got hurt yet lead the AL East. Rays ace David Price was hurt for an extended stretch, yet Tampa Bay is second in the East and had a four-game cushion for the second wild-card spot heading into yesteday.
Yes, the Yankees got hurt and big names went down. But two bad stretches in August when Alfonso Soriano, Granderson and Rodriguez were in the lineup was the cause of death and negated
the 11-3 hot stretch from Aug. 9-22 that pulled them to within 3 1/2 games of the second wild card.
Those losses make the 16-12 August record look a lot better than it was.
MVP: Alfonso Soriano
From Aug. 13-16, you wondered if Soriano had enough time to get into the AL MVP race. During that stretch, Soriano batted .722 (13-for-18), scored nine runs, hit five homers and drove in 17. With runners in scoring position, he was 8-for-9 (.888) with three homers and 14 RBIs.
LVP: Phil Hughes
On Aug. 4 Hughes described his year as a “nightmare.’’ The light-hitting Padres had spanked him for five runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Hughes, a free agent after the season, talked about turning it around, but the rest of August was just as bad (0-4 in five starts, 33 hits in allowed in 23 2/3 innings) and cemented the fact that September will be his final month in pinstripes.
WHAT’S NEXT
The final 27 games of the season will be about Mariano Rivera’s exit. Baseball’s all-time saves leader is leaving Sept. 29 in Houston and the clock to Cooperstown begins. Rivera isn’t the only one possibly in his final month as a Yankee.
Joba Chamberlain and Hughes are free agents and won’t be back.
Lefty Boone Logan, 29, makes $3.15 million this year and figures to get multiple years at higher money from more than one team.
Andy Pettitte certainly will dance with retirement again, because that has become a November staple as much as Thanksgiving.
Hiroki Kuroda could opt for L.A. or return to Japan.
Curtis Granderson hoped to have a walk year that didn’t consist of two fractured bones. If the Yankees make him a qualifying offer (near $14 million for one year) he might take it.
Derek Jeter, 40 next June, has a $9.5 million option belonging to him. Some believe Jeter will exercise that, but Jeter still might be smarting from the last contract negotiations and fight for more dollars.
Then there is the mother of all Yankees free agents: Robinson Cano. If he is looking for 10 years and $20M per, call a limo for the Yankees’ best player. Something in the five to six range is more in the Yankees’ taste.