The Yankees had an awful August, squandering their 10½ game lead over the Boston Red Sox, which was shaved down to 3½ games. They were blown out of their own ballpark on August 31st in a 22-0 shutout by the Cleveland Indians in their worst loss in Yankees history. Then again, the Yankees had an awful April, as well.
Those facts notwithstanding, the Yankees still own the best team record in the American League. However, they have had an Achilles heel since before the season ever started which has remained their biggest fundamental problem all season long, and that is their starting rotation. It has been suspect and flawed since April.
We know that championships are not won in April, but in October. But now that October is within sight, we see that the Yankees have squandered the whole season in failing to fortify their obvious need for starting pitching.
Everyone besides Yankees fans always seem to delight in their struggles, since they have the highest payroll in the major leagues, and it is also fashionable to hate New York. But as this baseball season nears its end, some realities were clear before the season ever began for the Bronx Bombers, and is not merely hindsight.
The season's primary struggle started in December 2003, when George Steinbrenner failed to close a deal with pitcher Andy Pettitte, previously lost Roger Clemens to his supposed retirement, and David Wells packed his bags for San Diego.
We also will hear that since Pettitte eventually went down on the DL in Houston with season-ending elbow surgery, it was justifiable in not signing him. However, the fact is, the three most dominant and winning pitchers in the Yankees' 2003 rotation, which got them to the 2003 World Series, were not going to be easily replaced.
An injury-laden Kevin Brown, an unproven Javier Vazquez (having spent his entire career in Montreal), Jon Lieber, returning after two years from arm surgery, and wildly erratic Jose Contreras, who spent half the season trying to correct his pitching woes and was since traded to the Chicago White Sox, all started out as underdogs. Mike Mussina started the season as the Yankees' only proven pitcher, but they lost his services for nearly two months on the DL.
Who would have thought that Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez would wind up being the Yankees' bright light at season's end? Having started the season unsigned to any team, after major shoulder surgery last year, and released by the Montreal Expos after spring training, Hernandez was picked up for a minor league contract by the Yankees in June.
El Duque has been the most winning and consistent pitcher for the Yankees since July as Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, and even Vasquez shared time on the DL. Had it not been for the "El Duque Surprise," and an overworked bullpen, it would not be inconceivable that the Red Sox would have overcome the Yankees long ago.
The lack of a real pennant race in the American League East for most of the season says more about the lackluster play of its other teams rather than the Yankees' .618 winning percentage. Clearly, with their all-star lineup, the Yankees were expected to have a winning offense, but most of their games have been won with the long ball, rather than by creating runs. Even Alex Rodriguez has struggled miserably in knocking in runs with men on base, but has still been able to hit the ball out of the park.
With over 50 come-from-behind victories, the Yankees' pitching roster has shown all year that its pitchers on many occasions have given up numerous runs to their opponents in the first three innings, calling on sometimes ineffective long relievers and putting further stress on their short relievers, which have the most appearances in the American League.
So this has not been the meltdown of the Yankees that the press would like us to believe. The Yankees have been remarkably consistently inconsistent, with extremely flawed starting pitching.
The Yankees' other major flaw has been their inconsistency in creating winning situations without the long ball. They have never really gelled as a team, perhaps because an all-star lineup does not make a team.
Unless their pitching has a miraculous revival, and they start playing as a unit, the Yankees' future in the postseason remains cloudy. They get shut down and shut out too often because of their reliance on the long ball, and their starting pitching is easily overcome.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what may be coming. Big payroll or not, it is the Yankees' management which is largely to blame for their season-long struggles and its lack of real foresight in putting together a winning pitching staff.
Whatever the eventual outcome this season, the Yankees' 2004 legacy will be mostly about its failed management and ownership, not its players.
September 7, 2004
Hank Waddles:
This Yankee team certainly pales in comparison to the ‘98, ‘99, and ‘00 championship teams, but as you mention, they still have the best record in the American League. Because they haven’t run away with their division, we label them failures? I would argue that they made sound decisions in the off-season, for the most part, and that their one mistake has actually turned out okay.
They essentially let an injury-prone Andy Pettitte go in favor of a younger (and better) Javier Vasquez. This obviously worked out well for this season and bodes well for the future. They would have loved to have brought Clemens back for another year, but he retired. Kevin Brown seemed like an adequate replacement, especially considering that he had only two years left on his contract. His time on the DL was probably expected. The Alex Rodriguez deal was a no-brainer, and Soriano’s recent struggles make it look even better. The one mistake they made came in a deal driven by Steinbrenner, not Cashman. George wanted Sheffield, while others in the organization pushed for the younger Vladimir Guerrero. Sheffield has had an MVP season, equal to the one enjoyed by Guerrero in Anaheim, so the choice looks good now. It won’t four years from now.
But even with all this turmoil, the Yankees have just as much of a shot as anyone else at winning the World Series. We’ll just have to wait and see.