It will be a terrible weekend for anyone who was emotionally invested in the Yankees season. This one probably feels even worse than the past few October exits, because of the way it ended and the years that are ticking by between World Series appearances.
If you’re the manager, you’ll take it extra hard, as Aaron Boone always does. A man of faith, he goes into each offseason convinced that his team will win it all -- and he ends up stunned when they lose.
“It’s awful,” Boone said after falling 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the Division Series. “The ending is cruel, it really is.”
If you’re a fan, you might have used Friday night to fire off a few “Fire Boone!” or “Cashman must go” tweets or texts.
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Well, get it off your chest now, because you’re going to need this Yankee front office’s strengths during an offseason that is unlikely to bring big spending.
The GM whose scouts and analysts brought you Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, Chad Green and other key contributors will need to be on top of their game this winter. Our understanding is not to anticipate the Yanks as being players in free agency, not after bleeding revenue during the pandemic.
Could Hal Steinbrenner, frustrated by an early exit, change course and request a pursuit of Trevor Bauer or J.T. Realmuto? Anything is possible. But every indication we have is that the Yankees and most other teams will lay relatively low this winter.
In that climate, the Yankees will need their Rays-like evaluation skills more than ever.
In reality, the Yankees and Rays are similar, both on the field and off. They played to a near-draw in this series, and their front offices spend considerable time chasing the same players. Both teams have scouts and analysts who value similar qualities and turn up surprise contributors.
Here are but a few examples:
-In 2018, according to sources, the Yankees tried to trade for Nick Anderson. The Rays got him instead, and he became one of the best relievers in the league.
- The Rays pursued D.J. LeMahieu in free agency and tried to trade for Mike Tauchman.
Those latter two players are perfect examples of what the Yanks and Rays are both good at -- identifying players undervalued by their own organizations or the rest of the league, and make them stars or depth pieces. In 2019, the Yanks finished ahead of Tampa. This year, the Rays were better.
That intellectual arms race will continue in the American League East, expanding to include the Red Sox under former Rays executive Chaim Bloom.
The Rays passed the Yankees this year in roster depth and high-end pitching, and then wiped them out of the playoffs. The Yankees’ now-infamous opener game in this series will be a talking point all winter, an easy shot to take for those who believe that Cashman has become too invested in analytics.
That gambit didn’t work. But the front office that brought you the Game 2 debacle is the same one that brought you LeMahieu, Urshela and others -- and the same one that has designed a playoff team for four consecutive years.
That’s ultimately not good enough. The Yankees need to see a World Series very soon. But despite the natural desire among fans to call for something, anything, to change after four playoff heartbreaks, the franchise does not need an overhaul. It just needs to keep working hard at beating the Rays at their own game.
The GM whose scouts and analysts brought you Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, Chad Green and other key contributors will need to be on top of their game this winter. Our understanding is not to anticipate the Yanks as being players in free agency, not after bleeding revenue during the pandemic.
Could Hal Steinbrenner, frustrated by an early exit, change course and request a pursuit of Trevor Bauer or J.T. Realmuto? Anything is possible. But every indication we have is that the Yankees and most other teams will lay relatively low this winter.
In that climate, the Yankees will need their Rays-like evaluation skills more than ever.
In reality, the Yankees and Rays are similar, both on the field and off. They played to a near-draw in this series, and their front offices spend considerable time chasing the same players. Both teams have scouts and analysts who value similar qualities and turn up surprise contributors.
Here are but a few examples:
-In 2018, according to sources, the Yankees tried to trade for Nick Anderson. The Rays got him instead, and he became one of the best relievers in the league.
- The Rays pursued D.J. LeMahieu in free agency and tried to trade for Mike Tauchman.
Those latter two players are perfect examples of what the Yanks and Rays are both good at -- identifying players undervalued by their own organizations or the rest of the league, and make them stars or depth pieces. In 2019, the Yanks finished ahead of Tampa. This year, the Rays were better.
That intellectual arms race will continue in the American League East, expanding to include the Red Sox under former Rays executive Chaim Bloom.
The Rays passed the Yankees this year in roster depth and high-end pitching, and then wiped them out of the playoffs. The Yankees’ now-infamous opener game in this series will be a talking point all winter, an easy shot to take for those who believe that Cashman has become too invested in analytics.
That gambit didn’t work. But the front office that brought you the Game 2 debacle is the same one that brought you LeMahieu, Urshela and others -- and the same one that has designed a playoff team for four consecutive years.
That’s ultimately not good enough. The Yankees need to see a World Series very soon. But despite the natural desire among fans to call for something, anything, to change after four playoff heartbreaks, the franchise does not need an overhaul. It just needs to keep working hard at beating the Rays at their own game.