New York Yankees: Bronx Bombers Show New Vulnerabilities in 2011
May 19, 2011 · Peter Ajemian · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
For years, Red Sox fans have heard that age will soon catch up to the New York Yankees, but the Pinstripes have always wound up performing well and staying in contention for a World Series title.
Well, maybe this is the year that age will begin impacting the Yanks. Early signs suggest that.
First, at least two of the Yanks’ key players are showing signs of age.
Jorge Posada, 39, is the most obvious example after the “Posada Episode” during the Red Sox-Yankees series last weekend. This is the first year when Posada has not been the team’s starting catcher. The team asked him to be the DH instead, and, so far, Posada is not playing well. He was batting .179 as of May 19.
When manager Joe Girardi told him he was batting ninth—rather than seventh—before the May 14 game vs. the Red Sox, Posada asked out of the lineup. The next day, Posada made up with Yankee management, but negative undercurrents linger. Posada, a switch-hitter, is 0-for-24 when batting righthanded vs lefthanded pitchers. Speculation has begun about whether the Yanks will keep or release Posada if he continues to hit poorly until the All Star break.
Posada earns an annual salary of $13.1 million and is in the last year of a $52.4 million contract.
Derek Jeter, 36 and turning 37 in June, is off to a very slow start, which follows his sub-par 2010 season. Jeter was batting .255 as of May 19. With one quarter of the season over, Jeter has only five extra base hits—three doubles and two home runs.
Jeter just doesn’t look like himself at the plate. During the recent Red Sox series in Yankee Stadium, Jeter did not display his usual cocky, relaxed demeanor at the plate. Instead, he looked more serious and uncomfortable.
Hitting-wise, Jeter’s bat speed seemed a bit slower. He grounded out more and often swung late rather than spray his usual assortment of line drives. Jeter worked hard to improve his hitting during spring training and tried a new approach, but he’s still not right, and perhaps it’s because he’s just getting older.
Jeter earns $14.7 million a year and is the first year of a $51 million contract.
Second, there are other older starting players who might soon show the effects of age.
Alex Rodriguez, the cleanup hitter, is now 35 and unlikely capable of posting his same excellent numbers much longer. Also, A-Rod has suffered a few physical setbacks in the past few years. This week, reports indicated that A-Rod planned to have his hip checked as a proactive step. A-Rod had arthroscopic surgery on his hip prior to the 2009 season.
A-Rod earns close to $24 million a year and will continue received that salary until he’s 42 years old as part of a 10-year, $275 million deal he signed a few years ago.
Mariano Rivera is 41, and while he’s been remarkably consistent for so long, at some point he’ll either lose some skill or be more susceptible to injuries (Rivera reportedly felt symptoms in his shoulder in the past day or two).
AJ Burnett, 34, is a starting pitcher with some wear and tear on his arm. Before he pitched for the Yankees, Burnett spent considerable time on the disabled list with other teams. Burnett earns $16.5 million a year
Bartolo Colon, unexpectedly thrust into an important starting role, is 37 years old. Colon not only has years of wear and tear on his arm, but he had elbow surgery in the offseason, and appears vulnerable to physical breakdowns prior to the end of the season.
Freddy Garcia, another last-minute starter, is 34 and doesn’t seem a “sure thing” in terms of his performance throughout 2011.
C.C. Sabathia, while only 30, seems older because he has logged a lot of innings in his 10-year career and he’s such a large man to be a starting pitcher. Sabathia just seems a bit more likely to break down as he ages, but so far he’s been in great shape and has pitched brilliantly in New York. Sabathia earns $24.3 million a year as part of his multi-year $161 million contract with the Yanks.
Mark Teixeira is 31, but signed under a multi-year contract currently paying him $23 million a year.
Because of the signs of decline with Jeter and Posada, one can sense a shift on the Yankees in terms of which hitters are now viewed as the most reliable core. Rodriguez is probably still the most steady great hitter, with Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano filling out the top trio.
In years past, Jeter and Posada were included, more definitively, in the “feared hitter” category and they were damned good clutch hitters. (They both got hits in the nightmarish rally vs. Pedro in Game 7 of the 2003 ACLS!) Now, their roles are diminished at least to some extent. Who knows how A-Rod, Teixeira and Cano will handle the added pressure? They won’t have guys like Bernie Williams to help them out.
Third, the Yankees manager, general manager and ownership have shown signs that they might not handle the team’s “age issue” with the same savvy and discretion the Yankees did in the past.
The absence of Joe Torre was evident last weekend during the “Posada Episode.” It was exactly the kind of incident that Torre used to handle so smoothly.
Instead, one wondered whether Girardi’s up-and-down relationship with Posada had influenced his behavior. Why didn’t he talk to Posada in advance of trying to move him to ninth in the lineup? And why does Girardi keep calling Posada “Georgie” when Posada prefers “Jorge,”?
Cashman inexplicably chose to talk to reporters during the game in an apparent rush to gain the upper hand with Posada (or act really defensively). Then, Hal Steinbrenner, Cashman and other Yankee officials arranged a conference call with Jeter to make sure that all were on the same page regarding the episode. The Yankees reportedly were upset with Jeter for making remarks defending Posada when, they argued, it was clear Posada had made a mistake.
The past few days make Red Sox fans wonder how many more difficult days the Yankees have ahead as they deal with aging star players who cannot perform any longer. It’s a challenge the Red Sox and Yankees share, but the Yankees currently have more old players on their team than the Sox. Good luck, Bombers.
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