Kuzul

A.J. Burnett is fuming, steaming and most likely darn right mad.

He’s mad at ESPN voice on the radio, Colin Cowherd.

This one’s a doozie.

Seems the guy with the strange name—that would be Mr. Cowherd—said something on his show about the New York Yankees pitcher that he might, at this moment, want to take back.

Ah, but such is the beauty of our modern day sports talk radio. Once you say it, it’s ON the record. No misquotes, no pleading and no back-peddling.

Seems the guy whose name rhymes with what we used to call Cow Patties put this gem out there on the airwaves for all to absorb:

“A.J. Burnett went through a terrible divorce, and he still might be going through it. His wife was vindictive and spiteful. I don’t feel comfortable telling you everything. The story is ugly.”

So sayeth Colin Cowherd. Oh my.

Now comes Burnett’s agent, Darek Braunecker with his response to Cowherd’s statement. It goes like this:

“A.J. is ticked. He’s not going through a divorce, and if he was, it would not be anyone’s business. They (Burnett and wife Karen) are happily married.”

Oh my.

Looks like the boys in Bristol have themselves a nice little firestorm here, doesn’t it?

And such is the beast that talk radio has become. There’s certainly a lot of it out there.

There’s a guy named Jim Rome who spouts his “take” over and over again. He is the master of repetition and he does take some listener calls, although they are screened harder than guys entering the Pentagon. You are not allowed to take issue with Rome, there is no debate. Praise him and you’re on, otherwise, forget it.

Tampa Bay is blessed with outstanding sports talk radio. We have a guy named Steve Duemig on 620 WDAE who does what talk radio hosts should do—an enormous amount of research and preparation for his three-hour show. He’ll take virtually any call and doesn’t mind screaming at callers who know little about the subject being tossed.

On the same station, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Ian Beckles can give a perspective on the NFL through the eyes of a player who spent 10 years in the league. Beckles’ takes are typically sharp and he can back up what he says from watching film and from his experience on the field.

Which brings us back to this tizzy now where ESPN, the king of commentary and the worldwide leader in sports, has gone “no comment” on this brewing feud between Burnett and Cowherd.

Cowherd had some explaining to do.

Either Burnett and his wife are getting a divorce or they aren’t. It’s easy enough. Either this has been filed in court or it hasn’t.

Yes, Cowherd’s got some serious explaining to do on this one.

So is the nature of sports talk radio gossip or fact?

The fact is, if any talk radio host is making a claim, he better be able to prove it, back it up and simply know what the heck he’s talking about.

These shows are ratings-driven, that’s a fact. Controversy is always good. It brings listeners, it drives ratings. But there’s still a little thing out there called libel. It’s something everyone is aware of.

If in fact Burnett’s agent is correct and Cowherd is totally uninformed, then there’s bound to be some real scrambling going on with ESPN’s battery of well-compensated lawyers.

The nature of talk radio is that Cowherd could end up at some point in time, eating crow on the air, taking it all back and throwing out a barrage of mea culpas.

But that remains to be seen, or in this case, heard.

Cowherd, he’s always talking.

But for once, on this one, ESPN isn’t.

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Via Chad Jennings of the Journal News:

Girardi said this afternoon that [A.J. Burnett] has already reached out to [Larry Rothschild], and the two will get to work this offseason. The problem is easy to diagnose but not necessarily easy to fix.

“Refining his mechanics,” is the way Girardi described it.

There are a lot of Yankee fans that wish Burnett would just go away, but with three-years and $49 million left on his contract that’s just not going to happen. He’s here to stay.

With that, there is obviously something wrong with him and they need to work to fix it. At least part of the reason why the Yankees fired their former pitching coach Dave Eiland had to do with Burnett tanking when Eiland skipped town for a month, so it is clear that a huge part of Rothschild’s job is to help right Burnett.

Don’t expect miracles, but Burnett has put together some big seasons including 2008-09. So, it is certainly possible that we’ve seen the worst of him and that he’ll rebound a bit in 2011. Hopefully, working extensively with Rothschild will do the trick.

Related Stories

• November 19, 2010 — Yankees Announce New Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild
• October 26, 2010 — Yankees Pitching Coach Dave Eiland Had to Go
• October 25, 2010 — Is The Bronx Zoo Returning?
• October 21, 2010 — Discussion: Could Yankees Have Won In 2009 Without A.J. Burnett?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

All the New York Yankees news the past week or so has been about Derek Jeter and his new deal. How much will Jeter “settle” for and will the Yankees come up from their three-year, $45 million deal. Also, some Mariano Rivera news has popped up. Will the Yankees give him a two-year deal?

But one big story a couple weeks ago was the hiring of new Yankee pitching coach, Larry Rothschild. His big job would need to be “fixing” A.J. Burnett, a bad pitcher locked into an $82.5 million body.

Larry Rothschild really has his work cut out for him.

Tons of articles about how Rothschild needs to find out what is wrong with A.J. Burnett, identify those faults (which are many) and “fix” A.J. Burnett’s mechanics.

That is going to be very difficult.

You see, Burnett is entering the third year of a five-year contract which is paying him $16.5 million per year. Chump change for most of us, but real money to Burnett.

Burnett is also going to be 34 years old in 2011, has a dozen seasons of pitching in the major leagues on his ledger and has thrown 1,770 major league innings. Rothschild has pitched a total of 8.1 innings during his major league career.

Do you really think Burnett is going to scrap the way he has pitched for more than 12 seasons to go along with a guy who doesn’t have enough innings for even one complete game?

I don’t think so, because even though A.J. is deemed “a good guy” by most of the Yankee beat writers, I see Burnett as a guy who cares only about himself.

Burnett has had his share of incidents with the teams he has played. First, he was kicked off the Florida Marlins team in September 2005 for detrimental comments about the manager, Jack McKeon, and the organization.

He was kicked off the team! The Marlins said, “Get lost, we don’t want you around here anymore!”

Burnett also showed up one day this season with a black eye. No one has said what happened, but I would not be surprised if Burnett popped off to someone in the locker room (Jorge Posada?) who took matters into his own fists… I mean, hands.

As I wrote in the past, I would have stayed far away form A.J. Burnett two winters ago. He showed to have a bad attitude and only performed well in arbitration and his walk years. I even had a huge discussion about it on 1050 NY ESPN radio host Michael Kay. His last comment was “that is who the Yankees really want.”

The Yankees should have passed on Burnett. When you look into Burnett’s career, he really hasn’t had one dominant season, not even a few really good seasons. He has always gotten by on the fact that he “has great stuff.” But when you can’t get hitters out on a consistent basis, you don’t have great stuff.

Even Burnett’s “good” 2008 season in Toronto, he was 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA against the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but only 13-9 with a 4.93 ERA in all other games. Typical Burnett of pitching well in a walk year against two rivals, but not doing well otherwise.

Now Larry Rothschild will be looked upon to save the big (black eye) guy. While it is somewhat easy to recognize pitching faults and work with the pitcher to correct them, it is much more difficult to get past the pitcher’s mental faults.

Burnett has many mental faults and it will be tough to get him to change those to become more confident and to concentrate more on each pitch.

Physical faults can be corrected.  

The biggest issue is that Burnett does not have command of his fastball. How many times do you watch a game and the Yankee catcher is set up on one corner or the other and Burnett throws a fat pitch right down the middle?

Too many times. And when the ball does not travel over the middle, it usually misses way outside or way inside, often hitting the batter. In fact, Burnett led the major league in hit batsmen in 2010 with 19.

No control with or command of the fastball, which is always what you hear manager Joe Girardi say after bad Burnett outings. Burnett’s pitches move too much.

Easiest thing to do to “fix” Burnett is to have him throw his fastball right down the middle. They can first test A.J. to see if maybe he has his A game and can hit the corners. But that rarely happens so move to Plan B is needed.

Since Burnett can not hit a corner on a consistent basis, the thing to do is have the catcher set up for fastballs right over the middle of the plate—every fastball, every time. Then, when A.J. has his movement going, or he is not concentrating, the pitches he throws to the glove will miss to either side and be near or right on the corners.

Tough for hitters to take those pitches and even tougher for them to hit.

We used to do this in college with high velocity guys who could not locate and Davey Johnson convinced this was the way to go with Sid Fernandez back in the 1980s. El Sid was a really good pitcher for the New York Mets during their heyday, allowing precious few hits but tons of free passes.

This tactic couldn’t be any worse than how A.J. performed in 2010. Throwing the ball down the middle could only be better, but the Yankees would never do something as simple as that.

In 2010, A.J. has had his worst statistical season as a full time starting pitcher. Worst strike out rate, worst WHIP, worst HR rate, worst ERA and almost worst walk rate.

That has to be a really bad FIP.

So they will attempt to “fix” Burnett’s mechanics.

Let me help out the new pitching coach with identifying Burnett’s mechanical issues.

Burnett uses a big hip turn where he shows the number of his uniform and his back pocket to the hitter. No need for this as it does two things. This provides no benefit to velocity and actually pulls Burnett away from the forward momentum he should be delivering directly to the plate.

What this big backwards hip turn does is reduce his velocity by creating excess movement during the delivery. Velocity has nothing to do with the strength of your arm, but the power of your core including a powerful hip turn after the front foot lands.

The big hip turn will also usually cause the lead leg to swing out and straighten when the lead leg should remain in a bent position. It is not good when the front leg acts like a swinging gate.  As I said earlier, a big turn of the hips is good after the front leg lands, not before it.

A swinging gate front leg often causes the landing foot to plant in different spots, away from the mid-line to home plate, causing the aforementioned reduced velocity and any concept of control of his pitches 

Add in the fact that Burnett does not concentrate on every pitch and that is a recipe for disaster. A disaster which turned out to be his 2010 season.  

Repeating mechanics is very difficult for Burnett because of so much movement and lack of concentration. Similar to what Dontrelle Willis has been going through since, well, forever.

First step to “fix” Burnett is to eliminate his aggressive backward hip turn and have him bring the lead leg up, down and out. Eliminating all the excess backward movement will increase Burnett’s velocity and improve his control.

As I mentioned earlier, the toughest thing for Rothschild to “fix” is Burnett’s mound demeanor and concentration. Burnett doesn’t seem like he really cares out on the mound. Several pitches in a row look good, then four hits and two walks later, the Yanks are down by three.

Only thing which works on the mental aspect is to treat the player like a child. Take things away, like his spot in the rotation. But that will never happen with all that money being paid to Burnett.

I can’t see Burnett listening much to what Rothschild says. If Burnett proves me incorrect, then it would be great all around for Yankee fans, but I just don’t see it based upon his track record of individualism.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

Best thing for the organization is to try and work a trade for A.J., eat lots of cash and let a young kid from the system take his spot. Get rid of the black cloud of having pressure on Rothschild to “fix” Burnett and having constant questions after every one of Burnett’s bad starts.

With Andy Pettitte looking like he will return for one more season and the almost certainty of signing Cliff Lee, the Yankees can afford to take a hit by trading Burnett (limited no trade clause) and using a kid (Ivan Nova, David Phelps?) as the fifth starter.

They couldn’t do any worse than the 10-15, 5.26 ERA and 1.511 WHIP Burnett put up last season.

Biggest way to fix Burnett is to not have him around anymore.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

While 2009 ended with a World Series championship, 2010 ended in disappointment.

While the Texas Rangers celebrated in front of their home crowd and were heading to their first World Series championship in franchise history, the 2010 offseason was beginning for the New York Yankees.

The Yankees and their 200 million dollar payroll, began their offseason earlier than expected.  Now multiple uncertainties surround this team, with some of the greatest players in franchise history becoming free agents.

It’s sad to write, but even the almighty Yankees can’t be the best every year. Only most of the time.

As the Yankees get back to the drawing board, and look to re-tune for 2011, here are the 10 biggest offseason questions facing this team.

Sit back relax and enjoy.

Let’s play ball. 

Begin Slideshow

Immediately following the World Series, the New York Yankees announced the termination of pitching coach Dave Eliand, which came as no surprise.

There were many guessing games of who might be Eiland’s replacement. The front-runners looked to be current bullpen coach Mike Harkey; Rick Kranitz, who has worked with Yankees skipper Joe Girardi before; and Scott Aldred, who currently serves the role in Triple-A Scranton for the last two seasons.

Fans were suggesting that David Cone, Al Leiter or Mike Mussina might bring their experience on the mound to the other side. Since none of the three have ever coached, the likelihood was slim.

Then the decision was announced that Chicago Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild was now bringing his talents to the Yankees.

It was a tad confusing because minimal interest had been expressed about Rothschild coming to the Bronx, as the Cubs had him signed through 2011.

The Cubs let Rothschild out of his contract stating that Rothschild wanted to spend more time near his Tampa, FL home. Since the Yankees train in Tampa, this move for Rothschild was exactly what he was looking to make.

No doubt Yankee fans should be elated to get Rothschild, who comes with 36-years of professional baseball experience and also coached Girardi as a player in Chicago back in 2002.

Rothschild has a reputation of being a noteworthy communicator, who does his homework but continually does the extra-credit. A lot of the qualities that Girardi brings as a manager, so Rothschild should fit perfectly on the staff.

As part of the interview process, Rothschild had to analyze video on AJ Burnett and give in detail how he would fix the Yankees pitching staff’s black sheep.

Considering Rothschild had just finished his eighth year helping the Cubs, last season’s correlation of hotheaded and unpredictable Carlos Zambrano might have helped in his answers.

Rothschild also made it clear that his motto is “repeat deliveries,” as it leads to better location and control. Well, lucky for Rothschild that Burnett is the poster child for disaster on the mound and his theories will be tested from every situation.

This move is a positive one for the Yankees, as obviously Eiland was having off-the-field issues that were more important and distracted him from doing his job.

Rothschild has coached twice on World Series Championship teams in 1990 for the Cincinnati Reds and in 1997 for the Florida Marlins. This definitely played a factor for the Yankees, who like guys who have been to the big stage and had success on it.

In his first day in pinstripes, Rothschild called each pitcher to schedule training dates prior to the start of 2011 Spring Training.

Hey, nothing feels better than hiring a real go-getter. It would seem that Rothschild wasn’t going to waste a minute.

Trust me, Rothschild has his work cut out for him with Burnett alone.

Without a doubt, all we know is that Rothschild knows how to win, and that is what Yankee Universe likes to hear.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Pitcher Scott Kazmir, the once-prized prospect, has fallen upon some hard times, posting atrocious statistics in 2010. 

A nine win and 15 loss campaign was very reminiscent of Yankees starter A.J. Burnett, with his 10 wins and 15 losses.  Deep down, Burnett still has that ability, that “gunslinger” mentality, as well as an arsenal of pitches that, when on, are as good as anybody’s in the game. 

Kazmir, on the other hand, has been on a free-fall for the past two plus seasons.

Between 2005 and 2008, Kazmir could have been considered a top-five lefty in the game.  He posted nearly 10 strikeouts a game, relying on a mid-nineties fastball and a devastating slider that had batters spinning like tops. However, injuries have depleted the lefty, and exposed some major weaknesses. 

Injuries and a lack of aggressiveness have always been two flaws focused on by scouts.  Injuries will happen, but his unwillingness to be aggressive, obviously hidden by his “stuff,” is now looked upon as a deterrent and cannot be ignored.

Kazmir has always walked a lot of batters, but now the lack of velocity is accentuating his inability to throw strikes at inopportune times, resulting in some very ugly numbers. 

In the last two years, his hits per nine innings have risen to 9.48, while his WHIP has peaked at 1.58. 

This, of course, leads us to the root cause: A decline in velocity. 

A once-dominant fastball (93.7 mph) and slider (84.0 mph) have turned relatively common, now clocking in at 90.5 mph and 80.9 mph, respectively. 

This, of course, does not bode well for one with a history of shaky control. Once able to dominate with a change of speeds, Kazmir now has to creep closer to the strike zone, where all the damage is being committed. 

According to FanGraphs, Kazmir’s O-contact percentage is at its low point of 24.2 percent, meaning batters are not fooled by what he is tossing up to the plate. 

On the other hand, his Z-contact percentage has hit an all-time high of 87.9 percent (2009, 86.4).  Z-contact percentage is defined as Percentage of times a batter makes contact with the ball when swinging at pitches thrown inside the strike zone. 

In other words, batters are teeing off on all pitches, regardless of speed, location, and variety.

In spring training, it will be very interesting to see what the Los Angeles Angels plan on doing with the former first-round pick. 

Kazmir has one year left on a guaranteed contract worth $12 million for the upcoming 2011 season. 

They can’t just release him, but can they use him as trade bait? 

All signs point to no. 

Turning 27, Kazmir should be entering the prime of his career.  He really has nothing to lose at this point, except maybe a non-existent starting rotation spot. 

We have witnessed the lack of confidence that the World Champion San Francisco Giants had in Barry Zito; is that where Kazmir is now headed?  Will he be used in mop-up duty, or in meaningless mid-June games? 

I, personally, cannot wait to see what happens.  He was a first-round pick for a reason, and has performed like one for the most part.  Now it is time to prove all the writers wrong, disprove all scouting reports claiming he is washed up, and rewrite the book on his career. 

A true pitcher will learn from this and become better.  Kazmir must learn how to pitch effectively, hit his spots, get ground balls, and get the job done.

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective

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By Eric Marmon

Interesting read in the NY Post today, which took at a poll on their official website asking fans of the New York Yankees who they want back in pinstripes in 2011. The most noticeable was, when asked who they wanted to start the majority of games behind the plate for the Bronx Bombers next season, Yankee lifer Jorge Posada received just 32.5 percent of the vote, while Triple-A phenom Jesus Montero received 67.5 percent.

New York’s displeasure with Posada doesn’t come as a complete shock. Of the Yankees “Big Four”, the catcher seems to be the least beloved. And the fact that he seemed physically unable to throw out base-stealers by the start of fall (a major necessity with guys like CC and AJ pitching), combined with his drop in production and 39-years-of-age make Jorge an easy target for fan frustration.

That being said, Montero is a complete unknown. Sure, he batted .289 with 21 home runs in Triple-A last season, but come on… the guy isn’t even old enough to drink yet. There is ZERO reason to believe he is ready to replace Posada. He’s kind of like how Brett Ratliff was viewed for the Jets a few years back.

Does Jorge Posada need to be replaced? Yes, if not in 2011, then beyond. But is the 20-year-old Jesus Montero ready for the role? Probably not. He’ll get a chance in spring training to compete for a spot on the 25-man roster, but it just feels like a guy his age would probably be best suited with more time in the minors.

Sorry fans. Look for the Yanks to either go with a Francisco Cervelli/Jorge Posada platoon for the majority of 2011, or to sign a veteran catcher to help Jorge out until Montero has fully developed.

Some other interesting things from the poll:

– While 87.1 percent of voters thought Derek Jeter should be the starting shortstop, voters in a separate poll weren’t really sure whether the Yankee captain should come back at all. Of nearly 16,500 voters, over 20 percent said the Yankees should let Jeter walk. [Just a reminder: this was an informal, unofficial poll on NYPost.com. Mets fans (and everyone else) could vote too, which might explain the anti-DJ results]

– The closest vote was over who the primary designated hitter should be, with free-agent-to-be Adam Dunn getting 24.4 percent, Lance Berkman getting 19.3 percent, and guys like Marcus Thames, Hideki Matsui, Victor Martinez and—believe it or not—Manny Ramirez all within 10 percent of each other.

– Gardner not needed. When asked about center field, 86 percent of voters took Curtis Granderson over Brett Gardner, and when asked about right field, 57.4 percent wanted free-agent Carl Crawford over the speedy Gardner.

-And if you’re looking for one more sign that the 2009 honeymoon is long over for AJ Burnett, more fan votes went in favor of Javier Vazquez being the fifth starter over AJ.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If its off-beat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders, or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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Area 51 in Nevada. JFK in Dallas. And now…Dave Eiland in the Bronx.

The conspiracy theorists are out in full force this week following New York’s surprise announcement that Eiland has been let go as pitching coach after a career in the organization.

Every good conspiracy theory is born out the idea that an authority figure is being less that forthcoming. This neatly segues into the “Those bastards are hiding something!” leap in logic.

Enter Yankee GM Brian Cashman, who refused to go into specifics about Eiland’s departure, saying only that it was a “private” decision.

Here we go…

There is a section of Yankee Universe, let’s call it a “generous swath,” that is completely insane. The majority of the e-mails I receive as a result of writing this blog confirms this.

So I’m sure you can guess I had some interesting theories about Eiland’s demise thrown my way.

Here are a few:

“eiland got into fist fight with girardi.”

I’m guessing this started when Eiland accidentally spilled coffee on Joe’s beloved binder.

“eiland is on drugs.”

This would explain why Dwight Gooden was hanging outside the Stadium on Opening Day.

“you heard Eiland got Fired for Beating the Shit out AJ Burnett during the season because AJ snitched to management that Dave was an alcoholic???”

This would explain…wow, that’s incredible! Definitely my favorite, because if you’re a die-hard fan, you should be able to put together all the moving parts in play here.

It goes like this: The “drinking problem” was the reason for Eiland’s unexplained hiatus shortly before the All-Star break. The black eye Burnett sported in September was the result of a scuffle incited when Burnett “snitched” to Cashman about Eiland’s love of grandpa’s cough medicine. Burnett’s sharp decline in 2010 was directly tied to the souring of his relationship with the pitching coach.

(In crazed Halloween mad scientist tone) It…all…makes…too much…SENSE!!!

I can’t vouch for any of the theories above, but I can imagine Cashman thought long and hard about how he was going to present this to the public. The easiest route would’ve been simply to say it was based on performance. After the Yankees‘ struggles in the ALCS, this likely would’ve been accepted at face value.

But the fact that Cashman went out of his way to say it wasn’t based on the pitching meltdown last week tells you there’s something else at play here. He knew saying it was private would raise eyebrows, but he didn’t want baseball people around the league to think Eiland was bad at his job, either. Cash, probably out of respect to Eiland, took the lesser of two evils.

As for my theory? Eiland was fully aware Burnett was completely dependent on him to keep his mechanics from going to hell. With his contract up and in need of leverage, Eiland came up with the genius plan to take a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” watch with glee as Burnett inevitably went down in flames without him, then return to rescue the $82 million pitcher, thus proving his invaluable nature to the organization. With new contract in hand, he would finally buy that awesome grill he always walks by at Home Depot.

It was a perfect plan, almost too perfect. Only Eiland was gone for too long, and Burnett’s suckiness became too strong, too powerful, for even Eiland to control. His master plan foiled, he was vulnerable. That vulnerability led to his dismissal.

Like I said, some Yankee fans are completely insane.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s been a few days since the Bronx Bombers dropped Game 6 of the ALCS in Texas. And while the healing-process was undoubtedly delayed by Cooper’s drunken rants against all things Yankee and the decade-old ramblings from an endangered species called “Orioles Fans,” the fact that the Knicks are set to start the most exciting season in nearly a decade is enough to get us out of bed in the morning.

However, in the next couple days we’ll take a look at what went wrong, what went right and what needs to change for the 2010 New York Yankees.

By Anthony Strait

The New York Yankees headed into their American League Championship Series matchup with so much on their side. They were coming off a three-game demolition of the Minnesota Twins which allowed them some rest. The starting pitching was coming together after a rough September and looked poised to power the team much like in 2009. An added bonus was that the Texas Rangers needed all five games to eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays, meaning that Cliff Lee would not start till Game 3.

Yet so much went wrong for the Yankees that many will make the argument that they could have easily been swept if not for a bullpen meltdown by the Rangers in Game 1. The Yankees ALCS loss in the end became a microcosm of the problems that plagued them over the last month of the season and in the end left them short of their ultimate goal: repeating.

You can start with the Yankees bats, which many felt would be the strength that would carry them back to the fall classic. In the regular season, New York led the majors with 859 runs—72 more runs than the Rangers. Yet outside of Robinson Cano and an eighth-inning comeback in Game 1, the Yankees bats were punchless.

The team batting average in the regular season was .267; in the LCS they batted .201 with a .300 on-base percentage. New York was just 5-for-47 with runners in scoring position in Games 2 through 6. A more sobering realization for the Yanks was that Cliff Lee pitched once in the series—meaning they couldn’t hit the other Rangers pitchers either. Losing Mark Teixeira didn’t help matters but he didn’t have a hit in the series (0-14). All in all, the Yankees scored just 19 runs in the series.

“We’re capable of anything at any time on offense,” said GM Brian Cashman after the Game 6 loss. “But outside of the one inning [eighth inning of Game 1] and the one game in New York [Game 5], we didn’t do anything.”

The Yankees offense vanished while the starting pitching was pretty much beaten up throughout the series. CC Sabathia was roughed up in Game 1 and Phil Hughes followed that up by allowing seven runs in four innings in Game 2. The starting pitching, a question mark at the end of the regular season; pitched well in the Minnesota series. Against Texas however the ERA through the six games was 6.58. Andy Pettitte pitched well in Game 3 while the decision to start AJ Burnett was questioned. Yet Burnett pitched well up until the sixth inning of Game 4. The starting rotation struggled down the stretch and was really roughed up by an aggressive Texas team that ran the bases and forced the issue.

Another key under the microscope and one that will be during the offseason will be manager Joe Girardi’s decisions during the series. The decision to start Phil Hughes in Game 2 over Pettitte raised eyebrows. Many viewed starting Sabathia and Pettitte back to back would have given the Yanks a chance at trying to steal two games on the road before facing Lee.

Game 4 saw Girardi going with the numbers game in leaving Burnett in one inning too long. It led to an intentional walk of David Murphy followed by Benji Molina’s three-run home run that gave the Rangers the lead for good.

The final nail was bringing in David Robertson after Hughes was knocked out of Game 6. He immediately served up a two-run homer to Nelson Cruz.

A series that saw the Yankees get outplayed, and to an extent out-managed, has now left them with an offseason full of questions to answer. The future of the core four (Jorge Posada, Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera) is up in the air, along with adding or subtracting personnel.

Heading into the playoffs the Yankees looked like a shell of the team that won it all a year ago. The Rangers made them look old through six games and now it will be up to Cashman to retool for 2011. Perhaps he can look at the last week to address the team’s needs; considering they will have the winter to reflect on a series where everything did go wrong.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If it’s offbeat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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• The Yankees Lost It At The Trade Deadline (And Not Just Cause Of Cliff Lee)

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When the 2010 MLB Playoffs began, almost everyone who watches or cares for baseball penciled the New York Yankees in as a probable World Series participant. A great deal of folks also had the Yankees winning it all,…again. Ah,…the Texas Rangers say “Not so Fast,” and are exposing the Yankees for what they are, OLD.

Several things about this year’s version of the Bronx Bombers are the same as always. The Yankees payroll exceeds $200 million. Derek Jeter is at shortstop, and the No. 1 closer of all-time, Mariano Rivera, is waiting in the bullpen to douse the hopes and dreams of opposing hitters.

What fans of the game of baseball are witnessing during this ALCS is the realization that save for a few young stars like Robinson Cano and CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees are just plain old.

Sure the argument can be made that baseball is a sport in which men play well into their 30s, and are productive players during that age range. The Yankees have several front-line players that are on the near-side of 40, including Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada.

Mariano the Great (Rivera) will be 41 next month, and Posada is just shy of 12 months away from his 40th birthday. Andy Pettitte is 38, and pitching just OK of late. Lance Berkman will turn 35 before the start of next season, Rodriguez is already 35 and Jeter is 36.

The tip-off for all those watching the ALCS are the plays and hits we have become accustomed to seeing these guys make just aren’t there anymore. Starting pitching is not lasting long enough to get to Rivera, and balls that used to be routine grabs for Jeter are finding left field more often than not.

Aside from Cano, the rest of the Yankee lineup is struggling to hit the baseball. Texas has 40-plus base hits in four games thus far, the Yankees have just over 20. The Rangers are batting over .300 with runners on base in this series, the Yankees are closer to the Mendoza line in that category.

Game 4 exposed a crack in the Yankees’ armor as manager Joe Girardi stayed with starter A.J. Burnett in the sixth inning. By not bringing in a reliever, much to the dismay of Yankee fans, Bengie Molina hit a go-ahead three-run homer.

Don’t blame Girardi for not making the call to the bullpen. It’s not like he could call on anyone who hasn’t been battered by the Rangers already. The middle of the sixth inning is also way too soon to bring in the closer, even Mariano Rivera.

Reality should set in for the Yankees and their fans sometime after Game 5 when Texas will celebrate its first World Series berth in the team’s 50-year franchise history. The Rangers will do the partying in New York, which will add additional insult to injury for lovers of the Pinstriped ones.

The Steinbrenner clan will have the dubious task of re-tooling a roster of aging stars in the coming years. Doing so will mean that perhaps the Yankees will see a few seasons outside of the playoff picture. It will also mean Yankee fans, and fans of the game of baseball may say goodbye to iconic figures like Jeter and Rivera.

A-Rod and his massive contract will be hard to deal with, but he has underachieved during this postseason, and Yankees brass will be wise to explore all possibilities where he is concerned. The check book of the Brothers Steinbrenner will not allow New York to stay down for long, but get ready for them to be down.

Having the New York Yankees not in the hunt for another World Championship can only be good for the game right? The Yankees winning titles seemingly every year feels a lot like their roster…it’s just getting old.

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