So.....now what?

For some reason, blogspot wasn't posting my World Series waxings. Ashame. I had some insights that would have made Michael Kay raise an eyebrow or two (and none of them involved my favorite late night snack or with whom I would like to be trapped in a foxhole).

So, to quickly summarize the Keats-esque poetry I contributed to the Yankees 27th world championship run that didn't get posted.............they played really well.

The thing I appreciate most about this current group is how much they all seemed to embrace the atmosphere that comes with playing in the Bronx. Yes, the fans are crazy and the media is so far over the top they make Enquirer reporters look like Walter Cronkite disciples. Games in May and June are treated like October baseball and every win and loss, every winning streak and losing streak, every slump or hot stretch is overanalyzed.

But, that's the fun of it.

So many of the guys who have come through New York in the past four or five years have treated being a Yankee like being some sort of political dissident, put on trial each night for crimes they didn't committ. Randy Johnson, who is a no-doubt first ballot hall of famer and one of the most dominating pitchers in the history of the sport, seemed to memorize the phrase "kept my team in the game," as if the Yankees had brought he and his resume in simply to give a third-starter quality outing. Gary Sheffield, who has created a fake persona of mental and physical toughness, folded when New York criticism came his way, doing nothing but embarrass himself in the playoffs two straight years, and then lashed out at everyone from Joe Torre (whom he called a racist) to Derek Jeter (whose mixed ethnicity was questioned by the ever classy Sheff).

Even bit players, like Kyle Farnsworth, reacted to fan interest and media scrutiny with a combination of disdain and dread. It showed that money couldn't purchase success unless that money was spent in the right places.

This year, however, those dollars and cents were finally put in the proper spots. Every single player the Yankees brought in understood the pressures of New York and embraced them. CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett didn't hide behind "quality" starts when they lost a game, they told New York they expected more out of themselves. Mark Teixeira, who was booed in the beginning of the season after getting off to an abysmal start, said that he would have booed, too. Nick Swisher seemed to be a kid in a candy store, thrilled to be out of Chicago and away from Ozzie Guillen and willing to do whatever it took to help the team win. Remember, Swisher had originally thought he was coming to the Yankees as the everyday first baseman, the position he freely admitted was his best overall and the one where he felt most comfortable. Then, the Yanks swooped in and grabbed Tex, turning Swisher not only into an outfielder overnight, but a platoon outfielder at best, as the Yankees had Xavier Nady and Johnny Damon penciled in as their starting corner outfielders.

He didn't say boo. He didn't complain. He didn't run off to some tabloid columnist looking for a story and scream about how Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi lied to him. He walked into spring training ready to work and, because of injuries and his own play, Swisher not only became the Yankees everyday right fielder, he secured the position for the forseeable future.

While this team wasn't your brother's Yankees - buttoned down and businesslike - it had one very important trait in common with the dynasty teams; the players came to win each and every ball game and they took losing as hard as the fans, never wanting to relinquish their "W" for that day. Yes, there were pies in the face and more laughing and joking on the field, but there was also a complete committment to winning EVERY SINGLE GAME, and that came with the exceptance that New York pressure is something to be used and even nutured rather than discarded or avoided.

This was a fun team to root for, with good guys who happened to be great players. As hard as it might have been in the past to root for Gary Sheffield or even Roger Clemens, it was that easy to root for CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. The new guys showed that it was possible to have fun, show emotion, and have a distinct personality without ever crossing over into the land of the Red Sox or even the Mets, where such actions commonly included showboating (exhibit A would be Jonathan Paplebon's gyrations towards the opposing dugout anytime he ended a game with a strikeout).

The Yankees are the darlings of the city again, and this team will one day be honored along side the other champions, and will take their rightful place in the annuals of pinstripe lore.

So, now what?

Well, I, personally, will turn my attention to the NFL (where my Giants are looking like the Jim Fassel edition lately) and college basketball (with Uconn looking at a very interesting and unpredictable year). I am also going to try my luck at some NBA this year, as I enjoy the Celtics and I am going to be interested to see how the LeBron James watch goes throughout the year (I still don't think it is out of the realm of possibility that the Knicks land Bron Bron. Seriously, you don't think LeBron wasn't watching that Yankee parade? You don't think he saw his buddy, CC Sabathia, riding on that float? And while the Knicks won't do anything this year, they should have a high draft pick, money to spend on a player in addition to LeBron, and two players with outstanding potential in David Lee, who is a double-double every night and is a better big man right now than any LeBron has played with, Shaq included, and Danilo Gallinari, who is just beginning his NBA career and is showing signs of being that long-range assasin needed to win championships).

But, there is no better time than the present to look ahead at some of the moves the offseason might bring for the Yankees. Remember, because the baseball season is now almost 24 months long, pitchers and catchers report in a mere three months. We're lucky the series ended before Thanksgiving.



The strong points:

This team just won the World Series, so most of the points are strong ones. What I especially love about this team right now is that the Yankees are paying guys for what they are going to do, not what they have done. Let me explain: for about seven or eight years it seemed the Yankees traded or signed for guys who had logged their best years for other teams. While the salaries matched the previous performance, the quality of the work was considerably lower. Randy Johnson was paid like the Randy Johnson from 2001, but he pitched like a third starter. Gary Sheffield had one good year with the Yankees and then one lost season, and got paid richly for both. Carl Pavano barely even put the uniform on, yet he walked away, four years later, with $40 million without even logging what would have been one year's worth of starts for the team. Kei Igawa? Dear God, that man is still being paid for what he did in a different league in a different country. The list goes on.

Now, however, the Yankees have some guys who promise to have the best years of their career ahead. CC Sabathia is 29 and promises to perform at an ace-quality level for a very long time. Mark Teixeira put up argueably his best season ever in 2009 and one can see an MVP performance in the future. Even Nick Swisher, only 28 himself, could easily establish himself as a power-hitting corner outfielder and produce some big years as he goes forward.

AJ Burnett is older than that group, but he put together back-to-back 200 inning years for the first time in his career, which either means he and the Yankees were lucky in 2009 or he has figured out how to keep himself healthy. And then you have Robbie Cano, only 26, who was a star this year and seems to get better each season. If he simply produced as he did in 2009, he is one of the best three or four second basemen in the entire league. I think he has more in him.

Couple that with the fact that the left-side of the infield, in Jeter and A-Rod, show no signs of slowing down on their path towards Cooperstown, and this team has a nucleus of players that should be producing big numbers years down the road.

Another strength going forward, in my opinion, will be the bullpen. David Robertson was a diamond in the rough this year, and he showed an amazing ability to get swings and misses even though his fastball isn't topping out at 95 or 96. Damaso Marte was exhibit A for Brian Cashman haters as the example of bad trades and bad signings. No one thought much of him going into the season, and even less was thought when he somehow made the post season roster (I, for one, thought he should have never made the spot). Well, count me as a convert because Marte looked like an untouchable cog in that pen, becoming one of the most trusted late-inning guys for Joe Girardi. Marte and Robertson should join Alredo Aceves, Phil Coke, and perhaps even Brian Bruney, if he can get back on track, as nice pieces to the pen. Add in Mark Melancon, who might be ready for a more impressive role next year with the big club, and the Yankees can bring some heat out of that pen.

And, of course, you have CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett holding down the rotation. While Burnett might not be as much of a given as Sabathia, he still showed an ability to stay healthy this year and put together an impressive run of games, from about June through July, that had him pitching at a "best pitcher in the game" level.



The question marks:



This team won 103 games and didn't face elimination once in the playoffs. That means it didn't have many question marks.

But, there are a few areas of concern for the Yankees as they enter 2010, and the biggest question, for me, is whether the Yankees still believe in their young guns for the rotation.

I, quite frankly, can't think of anything more tiring than the Joba debate. I could literally watch 24 hours of Jon and Kate Plus 8 analysis on the E' Network over one more minute of Chamberlain to the pen or rotation nonsense.

At this point, I don't even care. I personally believe it still makes the most sense to keep him in the rotation considering how much time was spent last year "building him up" and watching his every move in order to ensure that, this upcoming year, there would be no limitations. To throw that all away because he wasn't "spectacular" seems a waste.

But, he did rediscover his fastball in the pen and his mentality might be better suited for the pen after all.

Regardless, the Yankees need to make a decision. If they are sending Joba to the pen, they need another starting pitcher, no question. Phil Hughes, who we all believe will be in the rotation to begin the year, is going to be Joba Redux. He will have the same, if not more stringent rules and regulations attached to his year than Chamberlain last season. And, one would assume he would experience the same, if not more "growing pains," meaning Phil Franchise would, most nights, be good for a couple of innings and a couple of runs.

Plus, the Yankees last year got by with almost no major injuries to their starting squad, besides Chien Mien Wang. Burnett has never gone over 200 innings in two straight years, until now. Will he hold up for an entire year next season and make it three 200+ innings in a row? And how about Pettitte, who is assumed to be back this coming year? Andy is going to be 38. As good and consistent as he has been, 38 is an advanced age. Anything can happen. You have to at least be ready for a possible injury or simple loss of stuff. To believe that Andy is good for his usual production is wide eyed at best.

For the sake of arguement, let's say you move Joba to the pen, make Hughes your fifth starter. I, if running the Yankees, would turn my attention to getting at the very least a number 3 quality starter. Perhaps Edwin Jackson could be had for the right price. Perhaps Joel Pinero would be a good fit in pinstripes. That would be my focus. This way, you protect yourself against injury (if either Burnett or Pettitte go down, you still have three starters you can count on), against sudden diminished results (if Pettitte only has fourth starter stuff, no big deal), and protect against being desperate going into next season when one of your starters (Pettitte) will most likely be lost to retirement.

I don't believe you need to go trade for Roy Halladay, as much as I would love to see it. Halladay will cost too much in every way, and the Yankees already have the stud in CC and the enigmatic, can be as good or as bad as anyone in the sport, AJ Burnett. Even if the unthinkable happens and the Red Sox land Halladay, and team him with Beckett and Lester (and Dice K), the Yankees would still have an almost equally formidable rotation if they plugged in a Jackson or Piniero and went CC, Burnett, Piniero or Jackson, Pettitte, and Hughes. Not too shabby, especially considering the Sox would most likely have to relinquish their best prospects to get a Halladay deal done.

Another weak spot will be catching. I believe the Yankees need to seriously consider phasing Jorge Posada out of the full-time catching duties and handing more over to Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli showed enough of a bat to, I believe, be a competent back-up/part-time catcher, and his skills behind the plate are unquestioned. Simply put, Posada's time behind the plate is quickly becoming a hinderance to the Yankee's future success.