Will the New York Yankees Undergo an Extreme Makeover?
October 18, 2012 · Peter Alfano · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The New York Yankees haven’t faced a challenge like this since before the Core Four arrived and began another era of dominance for the Bronx Bombers.
Hal and Hank Steinbrenner, team president Randy Levine and general manager Brian Cashman are among those who will now begin the task of evaluating the Yankees roster and determining whether it is time for wholesale changes, and if so, is it even possible to make any.
The Yankees are an aging team but depth and experience were counted on to offset the fatigue and injuries that increase with age. They were also a home run-happy team that had its way with back-of-the-rotation starters on most teams during the regular season but could not manufacture runs in the playoffs when pitching is amped up.
The Yankees have to wonder whether Derek Jeter, who is 38 and had a Fountain-of-Youth season, will lose even more range at shortstop after suffering a fractured ankle in the postseason.
They have to decide what to do with Alex Rodriguez, whose contract is now officially an albatross and who fell out of favor during the playoffs for not hitting with a bat but hitting on swimsuit models.
The Yankees will cross their fingers and hope the injuries that plagued Mark Teixeira were an aberration and not the beginning of a steep demise.
They will wonder whether Michael Pineda, Mariano Rivera and Brett Gardner, who were sidelined for most or all of 2012, will be able to provide assistance for the new Core Four — Jeter, Teixeira, Robinson Cano and CC Sabathia.
And with a goal of reducing payroll to $185,000 to avoid a luxury tax in two years, throwing money around won’t cure what ails the Yankees this time.
Right now, there are plenty of questions and not a lot of answers. Let’s look at some decisions the Yankees front office will have to make.
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