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What's next for the Yanks?
It's tough to stay on top, but don't bet against the Boss
Posted: Thursday October 28, 1999 06:28 PM
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Perfect timing? Potential free agent David Cone went 2-5 in 13 starts after his perfect game. AP |
By Jamal Greene, Sports Illustrated
Implicit in the seemingly universal anointment of the Yankees as the official Team of the Decade is the idea that the next decade will represent the start of something new.
But while it's true that no team in the past 25 years has won more than two World Series in a row, it would be a huge mistake to count the Yankees out of the running for Team of the 2000s. Whether they can keep this core group of players together and extend their run of success another few seasons will depend both on organizational decision-making and Major League Baseball's financial structure.
After years of Ed Whitson, Doyle Alexander and Greg Cadaret screw-ups, virtually every personnel move George Steinbrenner and Co. made this decade has turned to gold: from the development of homegrown talents Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, to the trades for Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez, to the perfect-fit free agent signings of pitchers Jimmy Key, John Wetteland, David Wells and David Cone. A tougher set of challenges awaits.
Cone is eligible for free agency. Right around the time of his perfect game, re-signing Cone at the $8 million or so per year he'll command would have been a no-brainer. But Cone went 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA in 13 starts after his perfecto, and despite his postseason brilliance, team officials worry that age (Cone will be 37 on Opening Day) and numerous arm surgeries make a full healthy season a virtual impossibility. The length of the deal will be more important to Cone than the money. The club appears willing to offer him deals on a year-by-year basis to allow him to end his career in pinstripes, but Cone wants two years. Given the other contract situations the team will have to juggle, Yankee brass may prefer to let Cone go and take its chances with minor league pitching prospect Ed Yarnall. The team has similar age concerns about the 36-year old O'Neill. The club holds a one-year option at $6.5 million on the contract of the aging outfielder, which it will likley exercise even though he seems to have lost some bat speed this season.
| Looking ahead |
| CNN/SI's Vince Cellini talked with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci about the legacies left by both the Yankees and the Braves Vince Cellini: The Yankees weren't spectacular during the regular season, they were very good. But once they get to postseason, they just ratchet it up. Tom Verducci: They really do and the Atlanta Braves especially were impressed with what they saw out of the Yankees. John Smoltz had to ask, rhetorically, "Did these guys make a mistake in this series?" They played almost perfect baseball and that's not surprising. We've seen it time and time again in October. They remind me of the Chicago Bulls in that they just don't win series, they keep teams from extending series. When they have a chance to put teams away, when they have the foot on someone's throat, they step down and end it quickly. Cellini: Unlike the Yankees, the Braves were quite flawed. If the Yankees are the best of all time, what is the Braves' legacy now? Verducci: Well, that's certainly a question. All those regular season wins don't translate to wins in October. I think they really have to look hard at this team and the formula that they used. Several pitchers said after Game 4, we really have to re-look at the formula for this team. They rely so much on pitching and three-run home runs in the regular season that when they have to manufacture runs in the postseason, they are unable to do it. That is a major difference between the Yankees and the Braves. Cellini: Coming into this season there was essentially a trade-out: Boomer Wells for Roger Clemens. All is well that ends well because Clemens wins, but will there be more changes in the offing for the Yankees next year? Verducci: Well, I think so. I thought one of the great things about this Yankees championship was that they pretty much brought the same team back and won with the same players. That's going to be more difficult to do in the year 2000. Lots of payroll questions beginning with trying to get people like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera signed to long-term contract extensions. David Cone is their No. 1 priority as a free agent. There's just not enough room in the payroll to bring everybody back. I think the Yankees would like to get a little bit younger. It's going to be very difficult. I think we are going to see more changes after this season than we did last. | | | | Two clubhouse leaders -- designated hitter Chili Davis and catcher Joe Girardi -- almost certainly won't be back. Davis is expected to announce his retirement shortly, and free agent Girardi has indicated that he wants to return to Chicago. On paper, both players are highly replaceable, but no two people command more respect from their teammates, and Girardi was the preferred catcher for Cone, Pettitte and Roger Clemens. Girardi's departure will save some money -- his $3.4 million contract made him an expensive backup -- but the Yanks will lose it right back in salary arbitration battles with Pettitte, Jeter, Rivera, pitcher Ramiro Mendoza and catcher Jorge Posada. Arbitration losses to Rivera and Jeter last season drew Steinbrenner's ire, so GM Brian Cashman may be inclined to make highly competitive offers in order to get into the win column. Money-wise, it's a lose-lose for the Yankees.
Steinbrenner's successful 1990s formula has been to sign several relatively high-priced players rather than one or two superduperstars. There is speculation that The Boss may exempt favorite-son Jeter from his normal policy of waiting until players are free agents before offering long-term deals, and put a long-term offer on the table this winter. To make room, he will try to move expensive defensive liability Chuck Knoblauch and may even entertain trade offers for Williams and his huge contract. Waiting in the wings to replace either is Triple A shortstop Alfonso Soriano, considered one of the top two or three prospects in baseball.
Of course, in making contract decisions, Steinbrenner will have to keep one eye on the field and another on the collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2001 season. When Andy Messersmith was declared a free agent in 1975, he paved the way for the parity that epitomized 1980s baseball; but as salaries escalated, that parity turned into the "survival of the richest" mantra under which the Steinbrenner Yankees have excelled. With Cincinnati GM Jim Bowden suggesting divisional realignment along revenue lines, and Colorado owner Jerry McMorris proposing contraction to eliminate money-losing franchises, the financial structure of the game seems certain to change. While a league-wide salary cap or the broadening of revenue sharing to include local TV and radio contracts seem more likely solutions than radical realignment, any change will have tremendous impact on Steinbrenner's ability to spend at will.
The Yankees will probably play into October again next year, but down the line the strategy that worked in the 1990s may be too expensive even for Steinbrenner.
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