Here we are, folks: the End of Season Post-Mortem series. If you're new here (which about 50% of our reader base is in comparison to last year), here's a brief explanation: after a team is eliminated from playoff contention, we're going to put their season under a microscope and look at just what the hell went wrong, what went right, and so on and so forth. The goal is to post these the day after a team is eliminated.
Our Burning Question for the Yankees heading into the year was “can they stay healthy enough to contend?” The answer to that turned out to be a big, resounding “NOPE,” but to their credit, they hung around on the periphery of the wildcard race until the season’s final week anyway.
Preseason Prediction: It all comes down to health for the Yankees. If Granderson comes back and hits like a monster, the Yankees will be in decent shape. If Rodriguez comes back and can at least put together an .800 OPS in 80-100 games, the Yankees will be in better shape. It's really a tossup as to where this team ends up in 2013, and this could be the most interesting team to watch this season.
What Went Right: Robinson Cano put up another MVP-caliber season, nearing 30 home runs and driving in over 100 despite the fact that no one around him could hit for most of the year. For the third time in four years, Cano has posted a fWAR of 6.0 or higher, setting himself up for a huge contract on the free agent market this winter. If it wasn't for the midseason acquisition of Alfonso Soriano and his ensuing hot streak, the offense might have never gotten off the ground and this post-mortem would have gone up a couple weeks ago.
In the bullpen, there aren't enough superlatives to describe Mariano Rivera's final year. At age 43, Rivera is in the top three in the American League in saves, and if he can pick up one more this year, 45 saves will be the most he's collected in a single season in 10 years. The fact that Rivera could come back after virtually missing a full season and put up a year like this is incredible enough. The fact that he did it at his age almost seems superhuman. Despite all that, the Yankees should be alright without him next season if David Robertson's season is any indication. The 28-year-old has an ERA just over 2 for the year and a K/BB ratio above 4 for the second straight season. Holds aren't a great stat, but Robertson trails only Tampa Bay's Joel Peralta in the category, getting tons of leads to Rivera in tact.
What Went Wrong: What a far cry from the Bronx Bombers of old. Outside of Cano and Brett Gardner, the Yankees' offense was unwatchable, especially before Alex Rodriguez made his return. Age and injuries exposed the Yankees' lack of depth — when guys named Zoilo Almonte are seeing the field, you have issues. Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson combined for just 356 plate appearances. Kevin Youkilis made $12 million this year to play in 28 games. Travis Hafner only played in 81 games and was terrible (.205/.300/.384) when he was on the field. Vernon Wells was acquired at the end of spring training after Granderson broke his wrist and has seen over 400 plate appearances.
On the mound, CC Sabathia turned in the worst season of his career, seeing his K/9 rate plummet from 8.9 to 7.5 this season, opponents hit 28 home runs off of him and an ERA near 5. A lot was made of the weight Sabathia dropped this year and many are wondering if that affected his performance, but it's probably more likely that he's starting to wear down after 13 years in the majors and 415 starts. There's a lot of mileage on that left arm, even though he's only 33 — if he reaches 226 innings pitched next year, he'll hit the 3000 IP mark for his career.
Most Surprising Player: The Yankees were desperate for outfield help when they took on Soriano before July's trade deadline, who had a .254/.287/.467 line with the Cubs at the time. In his return to New York, Soriano saw his OPS jump by 100 points and he's matched his Chicago home run and RBI total in nearly 40 less games. Between Chicago and New York, Soriano has posted his highest home run total since his 40/40 2006 season in Washington. Not bad for a guy in his age-37 season.
If you want to go with a guy who wasn't acquired halfway through the year, how about Ivan Nova? After missing most of May, Nova has come back to put up an ERA of 2.65 in 115.2 innings since coming back from a triceps injury. Included in that stretch are three complete games, two of them being shutouts. It's been a bit of a breakout season for the 26-year-old who had a career ERA of 4.38 coming into this season.
Most Disappointing Player: For as bad as the offense was at times, it's hard to label anyone as disappointing — they had poor players in the lineup, and they played as poorly as you'd expect. Outside of that, you could go with Youkilis, who was supposed to hold down third base until Alex Rodriguez was ready to play. When Youkilis' back issues flared up, though, the Yankees were forced to use Jayson Nix and David Adams at third for much of that time. If you want to be harsh about it, you could blame the Yankees for depending on Youkilis when he hasn't been known as a very durable guy.
The Future: As usual, the Yankees don't have a ton of help on the horizon in the form of top prospects. As usual, it probably won't matter too much. A significant amount of money is coming off the books this winter with the retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte — not that money is ever much of an issue for New York, but every dollar will help when it comes to trying to keep Cano this winter (and, if they're interested, Granderson as well). A lot of New York's future comes down to whether or not they can keep Cano in the Bronx — with him, they can extend their window of contention for another few years with some other free agent signings; without him, they're looking at their first real rebuilding project in almost 20 years.
