The Captain's Blog

Despite its disappointing end, the 2010 season had its share of triumphs and memorable moments. In fact, exiting July, the current edition of the Yankees looked at least as strong, if not better than last year’s championship version. Even after going an AL East worst 30-31 over the final two months of the season, the Yankees still came within a game of the league’s best record, not to mention the best run differential in all of baseball (as well as a better run differential than the 2009 team). Ultimately, however, the only way this year’s team will measure up to their predecessor is by winning another World Series. In the meantime, following is a recap of the team’s 2010 regular season performance.

Carrying a Big Stick

For the second straight season and fourth in five years, the Yankees led the American League in runs scored. There were some peaks and valleys throughout the year, but for the most part, the Yankees did not lack for run production, even if it did seem as if leaving runners in scoring position was a team hallmark.

Yankees Offense, by Month

Source: fangraphs.com

Robinson Cano was the Yankees undisputed MVP, leading the offense in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, runs above average, wOBA, WAR and WPA. Regardless of what side you take in the statistics revolution, Cano was the Yankees most productive bat in 2010. Not too far off Cano’s pace was Nick Swisher, who offered further evidence that his 2008 campaign was an aberration in a career of well above average offensive production.

Cano’s and Swisher’s production levels were needed because Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez each experienced a down year, based on their relatively high standards. Teixeira sandwiched a strong middle of the season around a very disappointing April and September, and as a result, posted the lowest BA/OBP/SLG/OPS+ since his rookie campaign. Still, however, Tex managed to lead the American League in runs, while belting over 30 HRs and knocking in 100 runs for the seventh consecutive season.

Teixeira’s consistency is certainly impressive, but no one has made hitting 30 and 100 more of an art form than Alex Rodriguez, who accomplished the feat for the 13th consecutive season and 14th time in his career, both major league records. Also like Teixeira, however, Arod posted his lowest BA/OBP/SLG/OPS+ rates since being a rookie. And yet, Arod managed to finish just behind Cano in WPA, suggesting the magnitude of his contribution was greater than the frequency. After years of being maligned as a compiler, Alex Rodriguez has emerged with a reputation as one of the Yankees most clutch offensive weapons, an impression enhanced by his 2010 campaign.

In addition to solid seasons from Jorge Posada, Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson, who after reworking his swing with Kevin Long rebounded from a lackluster first half to post a .411 wOBA in September, Marcus Thames’ contribution was worthy of note. At .288/.350/.491, Thames not only exceeded expectations, but also found himself as a frequent hero, including twice in walk-off fashion.

Over the past 15 years, Derek Jeter’s name has always been at the forefront of any discussion concerning the team’s most important offensive contributors, but this year he found himself in an entirely different conversation. Aside from Francisco Cervelli, Jeter was easily the Yankees least productive regular player, as the future Hall of Fame short stop easily posted the worst season of his career. His rates of .270/.340/.370 were all well beneath his previous lows, and Jeter ranked as a subpar major league hitter for the first time since taking over in 1996. Jeter also posted an abysmal WPA of -1.33, which ranked ahead of only Austin Kearns (which tells you all you need to know about how poorly Kearns played in his two months as a Yankee).

As early as May, I noted a disturbing trend in Derek Jeter’s at bats. Despite still posting a strong OPS of .833, Jeter’s expansion of the strike zone had been very evident. At the time, the Yankee Captain was swinging at a whopping 33.3% of pitches out of the strike zone, which caused me to express some worries. Unfortunately, those concerns proved warranted as Jeter’s production declined significantly over the passing months. As 2010 progressed, Jeter never really corrected his sudden lack of discipline and ended the year offering at 28.2% of pitches out of the strike zone, a problem exacerbated by making contact on nearly 70% of those offerings.

2010 Offensive Production

Note: Pitchers excluded
Source: fangraphs.com

The Pen Is Mightier than the Starting Staff

After the first two months of the season, the Yankees starting rotation appeared to be its biggest strength, while the bullpen looked as if it would be the achilles heel. By the end of the year, the opposite proved to be true. Over the last two months of the season, the Yankees’ starting rotation ranked as the worst in all of baseball with a cumulative ERA higher than teams like the Royals, Pirates and Brewers. Meanwhile, the bullpen emerged as a model of consistency, even in the face of an increased workload necessitated by the starters’ inability to go deep into games. As a result, the Yankees enter the playoffs with C.C. Sabathia and a deep bullpen, but lots of question marks in the starting rotation.

Source: fangraphs.com

For the second straight season, C.C. Sabathia led the American League in victories, the only Yankees pitcher to accomplish that feat. Sabathia’s 2009 and 2010 seasons were nearly indistinguishable from each other as the big lefty continued to pay dividends on the Yankees’ big investment in him.

Unfortunately, the team’s other big acquisition from 2009 did not live up to his contract. Instead, AJ Burnett made history of an ignominious kind, becoming the first Yankee to suffer at least 15 losses with an ERA above 5.00. Incredibly, that doesn’t even speak to just how poorly Burnett pitched in 2010. In 14 of his starts, Burnett spit out a game score below 35, meaning the Yankees pretty much had no chance to win half the games he pitched.

Aside from pitching well in June and July, during which he went 6-2 with an ERA of 3.28, Javier Vazquez was another bust. In the first half of the year, Vazquez and Burnett seemed to take turns being the rotation’s sore thumb, but over the final six weeks, both pitchers proved to be a deadly combination.

Before suffering a groin injury, Andy Pettitte was on his way to having one of the best seasons of his career. When he went down on July 18, Pettitte was a sterling 11-2 with a 2.88 ERA. Even more importantly, the Yankees were 15-3 in the games that he started. With the veteran lefty out of the rotation, the Yankees struggled to fill the void, turning to retreads like Sergio Mitre and Dustin Moseley before settling on rookie Ivan Nova. Although Moseley and Nova (particularly the latter) had their moments, neither was able to give the Yankees the consistency needed to stem the tide until Pettitte’s return.

With three-fifth’s of the rotation a crap shoot at best, Phil Hughes emerged as the only relatively reliable starter after Sabathia. To be sure, Hughes suffered his own bouts of inconsistency, including a very difficult June and July, but he turned in a solid 18-8 campaign with an ERA just above the league average. Unlike Burnett and Vazquez, Hughes only had three starts with a game score under 35, which helps explain why the Yankees were able to win 20 of his starts.

2010 Yankees Starters

Source: fangraphs.com

With the exception of Chan Ho Park, just about everyone who saw a significant amount of innings in the Yankees bullpen proved to be at least competent. With Mariano Rivera being his usual dominant self (and arguably having one of his best seasons before a few September blips resulted in three blown saves), the focus all season was on building a stable bridge to the legendary closer. Although second half improvements from David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain helped to achieve that goal, it was really the emergence of Boone Logan and the acquisition of Kerry Wood that proved most important. Logan finished the season with a 2.93 ERA, but his real value stemmed from an ability to shut left handed hitters down to the tune of .190/.286/.215. Meanwhile, Wood, whose acquisition at the July 31 deadline seemed like an afterthought, shut everyone down. Over his 26 innings as a Yankee, Wood allowed only two earned runs and 14 hits, a level of dominance reminiscent of his days in Chicago.

2010 Yankees Relievers

Source: fangraphs.com

A crisp autumn afternoon at Fenway Park would normally be an ideal setting for pennant race baseball, but today it was the backdrop for the end of the Yankees’ disappointing pursuit of a division title.  

After weeks of playing out the string, the Yankees chances of winning the AL East finally unraveled with an 8-4 defeat to the Red Sox. So, instead of flying back to the Bronx to open up the ALDS, the Yankees will be packing their winter jackets and heading to Minnesota.

The Yankees have been the American League wild card three times in the past, and each time exited the playoffs in the first round. However, the disappointing aspect of finishing with the post season consolation prize is not the implications for the road ahead, but how the organization’s willing acceptance of second place betrays its past.

 Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.” – George M. Steinbrenner III

Throughout its history, the Yankees have always been a team focused on being the best in all aspects. George M. Steinbrenner was famous for saying, “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next,” and everything the Yankees seemed to do reflected that unmitigated passion to come out on top. In the team’s first season without the Boss, that philosophy seems to have changed.

By sending Dustin Moseley to the mound, Joe Girardi was only driving home a point he made perfectly clear with his decisions over the last three-plus weeks: winnings isn’t its own reward. Instead, the manager paid lip service to the importance of winning the AL East, while making contrary decisions cloaked in a dogged pursuit of “rest”. The result was an abysmal end to the season, which saw the team finish 13-16 over the last month-plus and cede first place after holding the position on Labor Day for only the third time in franchise history.

It’s very easy to conjure up an argument in defense of Girardi’s “lose the battle to win the war” strategy. Home field probably doesn’t mean much in the long run, and there is certainly a benefit to being well rested come October. However, achieving that end by accepting a lesser fate just doesn’t seem to mesh with what is, or used to be, the Yankee way.

You can blame the second tier players for failing to perform, or even major league baseball for not providing enough incentive to win a division title, but there is still no excuse for the attitude of indifference with which the organization handled the stretch drive. Losing is ok…not trying to win is not.

The Yankees theme song proudly proclaims “everyone knows they play to win because they’re the New York Yankees”. Those words ring hollow this season.