The Rangers beat the Yankees four games to two in the 2010 ALCS, and with the loss, the great New York Yankees season is over. Many players are gong to free agency, and the managerial spot for the Yankees is very much so up in the air.
Let’s start with Derek Jeter. The Yankee captain is one of the most likely to sign back with New York, besides maybe Mariano Rivera. Although, after coming off his worst season ever, no one knows how long the Bombers will re-sign Jeter to. He is on pace to get his 3,000th hit next year, and you can’t see him doing that with another team, can you?
On to Mariano Rivera, a surefire Hall-of-Famer. Rivera has broken pretty much every relief pitching record aside from most career saves, for which he is second only to Trevor Hoffman. Mo is the best of the best, and the Yankees absolutely need to make sure that they sign him to a multi-year contract, although he might choose Andy Pettitte’s route and take it one year at a time.
Now let’s talk about Andy Pettitte, another member of the core four. This will be Andy’s third season for which the lefty will seriously contemplate retirement. Year in and year out, Pettitte provides length, something pitchers don’t do so much of anymore, but if he does come back, the Yankees manager (probably Joe Girardi) will have to make sure not to use him for too long, as he’s getting up there in age.
The Yankees will surely make a hard push for Cliff Lee, as he yet again beat New York in the playoffs and dominated throughout the postseason. With Lee in the rotation, the Bombers pitching staff will be substantially better.
Some might say that the Yankees are just “buying” everyone again, but with perhaps Pettitte and definitely Vazquez out of the rotation, New York is likely to fill a spot or two with Ivan Nova and maybe Joba Chamberlain.
Needless to say, the 2011 season for the Yankees will have the same expectations as always; anything but a championship is a failure.
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