Man. That Was Painful.

First of all, congratulations to the Detroit Tigers on their trip to the World Series. Good for you, Tiger fans. Enjoy the ride.

Now. Down to business.

Having said that to the Tiger fans, let's hope they've chosen not to read on, because the sad fact of the matter is that except for Game 4, they didn't win this series. The Yankees lost it. Not even--the Yankees handed it to Detroit. If they ever had it in their possession at all.

The 2012 ALCS was as dispirited a series of games as I have ever witnessed. Other than the ninth inning of Game 1, there was never a glimmer of hope, never an expectation that something good was going to happen. When Game 4 came around and CC Sabathia (about whom I have nothing negative to say--the man is entitled to one off day, no matter how truly awful the timing was--after all, did you think they'd have won the next three if he'd thrown a shutout today?) had given up six runs including two 2-run homers, I called my son and we went out to dinner. There was no point in watching. I knew there'd be no comeback.

Call me a bad fan. But this team didn't hit a lick in this series, and especially since Jeter didn't get up on Saturday night.

There will be changes, but don't expect miracles. No, Mr. Rod is not going anywhere, not with that contract and the way his swing looks these days. No, Swisher will not be back. There might be talk of Granderson leaving; I wouldn't pay it much mind. You have seen the last of Ichiro in pinstripes, which is kind of too bad but makes sense. The same is probably true of Eric Chavez; it is certainly true of Andruw Jones.

Will Hiroki Kuroda be back? Maybe. Will Andy Pettitte? I'd put money on yes. Mariano Rivera? Set your watch for Spring Training. Mo will be there.

If this off season is punctuated solely by news stories about how hard Michael Pineda has been working to get healthy, don't expect 2013 to be a lot of fun.

Is Joe Girardi's job in jeopardy (alliteration--not bad, huh?)? Maybe it should be. He couldn't light a fire under this team with a flame thrower. They shouldn't have to HAVE a fire lit under them; they're professionals and veterans, but it sure looked like they needed one this past two weeks. Maybe a fire-and-brimstone guy would be better. Maybe not. The one thing I've always liked about Girardi has been his handling of the bullpen, and I continue to admire that. But the past two postseasons have been about how the Yankees--the team everyone said had the best offense in the business--couldn't buy a hit with a credit card.

Time for wholesale changes? Could be, but they won't come. There are too many guaranteed contacts and the threat of the 2014 luxury tax threshold at $189-million, a number the Yankees are reportedly taking seriously. That means LESS spending, and with Jeter, Mr. Rod, Sabathia, Teixeira, Soriano (who might opt out if he thinks he can do better elsewhere) all signed for years to come and options coming up on Cano and Granderson, a lot of money--a LOT of money--is already tied up. There's not a lot of maneuverability for Brian Cashman to manipulate.

Expect that he'll try to move Mr. Rod and fail. Maybe the same with the Grandy Man (which might be worth it just to get John Sterling to stop saying that; after all, "Swishalicious" will be out of his lexicon shortly). They'll be in the starting lineup next April1. Against the Red Sox.

For the first time in a long time, I'm not that excited about next year's Yankees.

Well, It's Been Nice...

Two of the most depressing days in Yankee history (short of the 2004 ALCS, which we won't discuss) are concluded now, and there's little to say except that a team whose most memorable offensive play this postseason has been the strikeout needs to mount a serious rejuvenation starting Wednesday night. Against Justin Verlander.

Uh-huh.

I hope I can eat my words, but right now, it's looking like 2013 will be a whole new year. An outfield of Brett Gardner, Curtis "Swing and a Miss" Granderson and... somebody, a rotation of CC, Phil "That's Hit Deep to Right" Hughes, Ivan Nova, maybe Andy Pettitte (at 41) and... somebody (Michael Pineda?)..., an infield with a clearly depleted Mr. Rod, a Captain on a whole new left ankle, Robinson "Best Hitter Except in October" Cano and Teixiera on a hopefully healthy pair of legs.

And maybe Mariano will grace us with one more season. At 42. But with him, age doesn't count.

Hopefully, Raul Ibanez will come back at 41 to drive balls into the right field stands in streaks of dramatic at-bats and then take a seat on the bench for a while when the streaks end. Some of the best games of the year have been Ibanez games. Go figure.

Catcher? Russell Martin's contract is up. Do they want the guy who hit .300 in September, or the guy who hit .190-something the rest of the year? Hard to say.

Now, it's possible the bats will wake up and the starting pitching will remain outstanding and this postseason won't be over. But it doesn't seem likely. Especially after Jeter's injury, the life was out of this Yankee team, and we've seen them look like this for too many stretches this year to assume it will all end against maybe the best pitcher in baseball, and then three more times in the next five games.

I hope I'm wrong. But I don't think I am. So. 2013. There are a lot of questions to be answered.

Oh, and the fans who got all over Swisher after his years here, on probably his last home game for them? Not cool. Yeah, he's been lousy in the postseason. Show me two other guys in the lineup who haven't. Not cool.

Booing Mr. Rod? I get that. He's never been a favorite of this fan base, he's always been somehow a plastic figure, an automaton of a player, not someone the Yankee fan can warm up to, and he's been conspicuously atrocious this postseason, striking out so many times it's really impressive. Besides, he gets booed wherever he goes. I wouldn't do it myself, but I understand it.

Booing Granderson? The man hit 43 home runs and drove in over 100 this year, and I still cringe when I see him come up in a crucial situation. It's 0-2 before you can blink, and everybody in the park knows the slider going away from him is going to be strike three. There are times I think I could strike him out, and believe me, I can't strike anybody out. It's like he strikes himself out, and the pitcher is simply there for decoration.

But booing Swisher? The fun guy? The fan favorite out in right field? The guy who saluted the Bleacher Creatures each and every home game?

Not cool.