The Yankees season ended Monday night in Boston and somehow it sort of feels like a relief instead of a tragedy.
This year was brutal, even when the team was going well. There was NEVER an easy win; there was NEVER a time to breathe; there was NEVER a sense of confidence. This was a team that cheated death in its good games and was suicidal in its bad ones. It was not fun being a Yankee fan this year.
So the winter started a few weeks early and there are so many questions and so few answers it's like a Bizarro World game of Jeopardy! For those clamoring to see Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone ushered out of Yankee Stadium by security, you're probably not going to get your wish. Cashman is entrenched and Hal Steinbrenner is more interested in the bottom line than he is in winning. He's proven that a number of times now and Gerrit Cole's massive contract to the contrary, Hal's just not going to be the popular version (not the real version) of his dad. Cashman will stay. Get those Theo Epstein ideas out of your head.
You'll notice Cashman has not surfaced for a 2021 team obituary. That's not because he doesn't like talking.
Boone's situation is slightly - and I mean that "slightly" - more precarious. His contract is up and it would be easy for the Yankees to simply not offer him another. It's not like getting fired, Aaron. Remember how Joe Girardi's contract was up after 2017 and the team decided to go in another direction? Like that. Except Cashman likes Boone, possibly because he does whatever Cashman decides without question, so don't start interviewing new managers in your mind just yet either.
Players? Some are givens because of their contracts, not necessarily their talents or their fit in the Bronx. Gerrit Cole is ours for many years to come and we can only hope it WAS the hamstring injury that caused his blowup in Boston because otherwise we have to think he can't handle the big moment and that means there are a lot more bad nights coming in Octobers yet to be.
Giancarlo Stanton is everybody's favorite Yankee right now because he "showed up" in Fenway on Monday. He has a knack for the big game and that's very good. His numbers for 2021 were quite impressive. But how many strikeouts were there in big spots during the year? How big an obstacle at the DH spot will he be as he gets (even) older? Hard to know. Doesn't matter because his contract is completely unmovable and he has a full no-trade provision anyway. Settle in, Big G. You'll be here a while.
DJ LeMahieu was an elite player until the Yankees gave him a long term contract. Let's hope again that it was a physical issue this year and not a return to his earlier years, that he won't age as quickly as some and that he can play a really good first base because we're probably going to need that.
Gleyber Torres seemed to rebound mightily when moved to second base. But it's a small sample size and can we trust that to be the REAL Gleyber Torres? I have no idea but if someone comes calling with a good offer in the winter I don't think Cashman should hang up too fast.
Gary Sanchez. Oh, Gary Sanchez. I stood up for you for so long, but even if you do return it's going to be for the last time. The Yankees need to find a full-time catcher and fast, because it ain't Kyle Higashioka no matter what you think.
And that brings us to Aaron Judge.
2022 will be Judge's last year of arbitration. In other words, he'll be a free agent after next season. The Yankees are notorious for not extending contracts (except for Aaron Hicks, Luis Severino and Aroldis Chapman) and Hal probably doesn't want to cough up the megabucks it'll take to keep Judge for the rest of his career. Do they have the guts to trade the franchise player going into his walk year, like Boston did with Mookie Betts? SHOULD they?
Much will be said about the coming labor negotiations between the team owners and players union. That will have some impact on what the Yankees do with Judge. After all, Hal doesn't want to pay for a year in which there might be a lockout, or he might push to raise the all-important luxury tax ceiling to pay for Judge going forward.
But does that leave money for a shortstop? There's a small army of them becoming free agents this winter and the Yankees have long lusted after Trevor Story. Or will they wait for 20-year-old Anthony Volpe to be major league ready and get a fill-in shortstop for a year or two?
Pitching? Maybe another day. I'm already exhausted.
My fear is that this will be a typical Yankee offseason and we'll be seeing a slightly revamped version of this team again next year. Next year they won't be lucky enough to grab a wild card spot unless some serious retooling is done.
See you in 2022.
