THE Yankees’ body language yesterday in the Game 1 loss to the Rays was clear. They were getting pummeled and didn’t want any part of it. This was no way to start the Final Homestand at Yankee Stadium.
Between games one scout noted that he had never seen that kind of quit from the Yankees. He also noted that Derek Jeter still played hard.
The Yankees cleaned up their act after that 7-1 loss and came back to post a 6-5 victory in the nightcap with Jeter leading the way. Jeter picked up six hits, three in each game, to close within three of tying Lou Gehrig’s Stadium record of 1,269 hits. That’s only fitting.
The Yankees have some serious problems, but Jeter is not one of them.
“You play hard every night,” Jeter said. “We’re just trying to win games.”
That’s a lesson that needs to be learned by all the Yankees. Some younger Yankees have too much of a superstar approach, yet Joe Girardi has not dropped the hammer on them and this is what you get, a fourth-place team. As Hank Steinbrenner said, mistakes have been made. It’s likely Brian Cashman will return as GM, but it’s also likely that his power will be stripped down some and Gene Michael will have more impact.
There are many holes the Yankees need to address, but as one Yankee told me, “It all starts with pitching.”
The Yankees have to start taking care of obvious problems in an obvious manner. They’ve outsmarted themselves. When a star in his prime is sitting there on a silver platter – as Johan Santana was last winter or Carlos Beltran was in 2005 – they have to make those moves.
“Imagine if we had those two guys,” one Yankee told me. Just imagine.
For Cashman & Co. there is no need to reinvent the baseball wheel. The obvious move this offseason is not necessarily CC Sabathia. If Sabathia wants to come to New York, fine, but he is loving life in the NL, so it would be surprising if he takes the Yankees’ offer.
The obvious move is to sign A.J. Burnett, who will opt out of his contract in Toronto. The word is the Orioles want to sign Burnett, and if the Yankees let that happen, they might finish last next season.
Burnett shut down the Red Sox yesterday to up his record to 18-10. Getting an American League free-agent pitcher is where it’s at, they are battle-tested. By signing Burnett, the Yankees will take pressure off their young pitchers. Joba Chamberlain should be a starter but the problem is the Yankees have not molded him into a starter. He pitched an easy eighth in the second game.
They must decide well before spring training if Joba is a starter or a reliever and leave him in the role they choose. If they land Burnett, it’s easier to make him Joba the Reliever.
They must improve their defense. Jason Giambi is not a first baseman, as evidenced again in the first game when he bungled a pickoff play, trying a swipe tag to nowhere because the runner was already on his way to second. He then made a terrible throw.
The next inning, he turned a simple flip into a flop. He’s a DH in decline. The Rays, Red Sox and Angels all have excellent first basemen. The Yankees could solve that with their checkbook, too, signing Mark Teixeira. They must get someone, anyone.
Most of all, the Yankees have to develop a few high-ceiling players of their own. But until they do that, they have to accept who they are – their strength is their money.
It’s time to spend it wisely on players who can turn them back into winners, not into the $220 million joke they’ve become this season.