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Rebuilding the dynasty

Here's some advice for the Yankees to use this offseason

Posted: Tuesday October 08, 2002 1:45 PM
  Tom Verducci - Inside Baseball

Soon after the Yankees lost with honor in the 2001 World Series, their executives and scouts gathered in Florida to map a course to return the team to the Fall Classic. Their plan was obvious: beef up the offense, especially in the area of on-base percentage. You knew since July that Jason Giambi would be in their lineup.

This time, on the heels of a Division Series defeat in which the Angels embarrassed them, the rehabilitation of the Yankees isn't nearly as obvious. New York's front office could tweak this team, preferring to rely on the comfort of its 103 regular season wins, or it could order a more expansive refitting, if it believes the faults Anaheim exposed will haunt the Yanks again next year.

"This year's team was a much better team on paper," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said.

So why didn't New York advance and what can be done about it? We're here to help.

  • CREAKY STARTING PITCHING: When do experienced veterans become liabilities? When you have too many of them and pay too much for them. This is the most likely area of change if George Steinbrenner is serious about holding the line on his $135-million payroll. "A lot of people are hearing the Yankees aren't going to bring Andy Pettitte back," one scout said. One Yankees source said it's not beyond the realm of possibility that New York will not pick up the $11.5 million team option on Pettitte's contract. It's more likely the team will pick up the tab and field trade offers.

    Roger Clemens will be paid $10.3 million by the Yankees -- whether he pitches for them or not. He'll seek about that much or more to come back. He turns 41 next season. Even New York has a budget.

    Mike Mussina turns 34 in December. The Yankees gave him a 6-1 lead in the critical Game 3. He gave up two runs, then pulled his groin. David Wells will pitch at age 40 next season and no longer has an above-average fastball. He threw 59 pitches in Game 4. The Angels swung and missed at only two of them. Orlando Hernandez is, what, about 36?

    The Yankees held eight leads against Anaheim -- with Clemens, Hernandez, Mussina, Wells and Mariano Rivera on the mound. They lost seven of those eight leads, holding on only when Rivera got the ball in Game 1.

    Take Clemens, Pettitte and Hernandez and figure one, and possibly two, won't be back. The Yankees' brain trust had better be right that Jeff Weaver, their only good young arm, is a front-of-the-rotation pitcher, despite his checkered career and high-risk throwing motion. The jury is very much still out.

    What New York needs to do is target another young starter in a trade, such as Randy Wolf, Kris Benson, Bartolo Colon or Javier Vazquez. Pettitte and Nick Johnson, whose ceiling no longer seems so high, could be the beginnings of a package.

  • DEFENSE: Alfonso Soriano is a decent second baseman at best. The position does not come naturally to him. He needs to invest more time learning the position, which means he might be better off playing the outfield and letting his tremendous offensive skills flourish even more. The Yankees should begin looking for a second baseman -- think young, athletic and a tough at-bat -- though Soriano is likely to get another year there.

    "The guy that cost them the series was Soriano," one scout said. "He had a special season until he started chasing his 40th home run for 40-40. He went back to swinging at everything and hooking everything.'' Some scouts even believe Soriano should play center field, thinking it may be time to move Bernie Williams to left. The Angels ran on Williams' weak arm every chance they got. His lack of aggressiveness going after Darin Erstad's pop-up in the fifth inning of Game 4 was inexcusable.

    Giambi is an awful first baseman. Let's face it, it made no sense to put a glove on Giambi's hand when he and Johnson are in the same lineup. Giambi's transition to full-time DH gathers steam next year.

  • RAUL MONDESI: He's a losing player, an anti-Yankee, and one of those guys whose stats don't tell the full story of his lack of contributions to winning. He chases way too many pitches, doesn't use the whole field and fails to advance runners. The Yankees have made some key midseason acquisitions in recent years, but they got burned on this one. New York never did replace Paul O'Neill, at least in terms of his intangibles and ethic. The Yankees need to find the next O'Neill, somebody such as Brian Giles.Good luck trying to pry him from Pittsburgh.

  • RONDELL WHITE: Another poor fit for this team. You cannot count on him because of his habitual injuries. He's also a poor defensive player and a worse runner than you might think. The Yankees want Juan Rivera to be an everyday outfielder next year.

  • PLAYER DEVELOPMENT The Yankees haven't produced a good power arm since Mariano Rivera back in the mid-90s. The weakness was made more obvious when the Angels kept trotting in hard-throwing Francisco Rodriguez. New York did try to sign Rodriguez at 16, but -- get this -- the Angels outbid the Yanks, giving him $900,000. "It was our first big splash in Latin America," said Bob Fontaine, who formerly ran the Anaheim system.

    Time after time the Angels fouled off pitches (40 in Game 3 alone) or stroked hits with two strikes (23 in 62 at-bats, a .371 success rate). The Yankees thought overpaying Steve Karsay would address their need for a live arm, and it did in July against losing teams, but his effectiveness in big spots, such as October, has long been called into question. And Ramiro Mendoza, who might not be worth what he can get in arbitration, isn't fooling too many hitters any more.

    The Yankees aren't as bad as they played against Anaheim. But when you're the Yankees, you must build a pitching staff for seven months, not just six. That's why they need to inject youth and power into the equation. They must first work through the Clemens and Pettitte negotiations. They also will try to dump Mondesi and White on other clubs and bring back third baseman Robin Ventura at a pay cut from the $8 million he earned this year. Change is coming, but unlike last winter, the answers aren't so obvious.

    Touched by the Angels

    Just how stunning was Anaheim's upset of New York? Let us count the ways:

  • The Yankees were 69-0 in franchise history when they led after seven innings in postseason games at Yankee Stadium -- until the Angels struck late in Game 2.

  • The Yankees were 24-0 under Joe Torre when they scored six runs in a postseason game -- until the Angels beat them in Game 2 and Game 3, by scores of 8-6 and 9-6, respectively.

  • The Yankees had never given up as many as 17 hits in any of their 139 postseason games at Yankee Stadium -- until the Angels did so in Game 2.

  • The Yankees never had given up 12 hits in three successive postseason games -- until the Angels did it four straight games.

  • The Yankees were 51-17 in the postseason under Torre entering Game 3 of the 2001 ALCS while allowing eight runs in a game only three times. Since then, they are 6-8 while yielding eight runs six times -- three times against the Angels.

    Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Check out his Insider column Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the postseason.

     
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