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| Aaron Judge (Photo Credit: New York Daily News) |
Yankees win AL East; what’s next? ….
The New York Yankees won the American League Eastern Division Championship in a year that many had expected the Baltimore Orioles to win the division. After the division clincher, I saw a few Yankee fans on social media trying to collect receipts from fans who did not think the Yankees would win this season. I thought the Yankees would finish second to the Orioles before the season started. I am happy the Yankees proved me wrong, but I still think the O’s might have emerged victorious if their pitching had remained healthy. Sure, they had Corbin Burnes, one of the game’s best, but it was not enough. They also lost one of the game’s finest closers, Felix Bautista (Tommy John surgery in September 2023), and tried to replace him this season with the since-released Craig Kimbrel. I am not trying to deflate the Yankees’ success, and I know they also dealt with their share of injuries. I just realized the Orioles could not play with the whole deck, and the Yankees could take advantage of it. Baltimore will be back strong in 2025, regardless of how this season plays out.
But today is 2024, and the New York Yankees, possessing the best record in the American League, are your AL East Champions, with a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the American League Championship Series (assuming they make it that far). If there was ever a year to kick the Houston Astros to the curb, this is it, and I hope the Yankees do it. Beating the Royals, Guardians, Tigers, or Orioles will be enjoyable, but beating Houston would be fantastic. I would savor every moment of it.
I am pleased the Yankees took care of business after the long stretch this summer when they played like the league’s worst. Indeed, there is no underestimating the power of the Juan Soto/Aaron Judge tandem in the lineup. Soto made everyone around him better. Jazz Chisholm, Jr changed the clubhouse's vibe and attitude upon his arrival. After whispers pre-trade that he was a lousy clubhouse influence, the exact opposite turned out to be true. Those are critical differences as to why the Yankees won this season.
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| Juan Soto (Photo Credit: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) |
Anthony Volpe stepped back, but I remain committed to him as the team’s starting shortstop. I am hopeful and optimistic about his improved performance next season. If it does not happen next season, it will be time to find Plan B, but that is the least of our concerns in October 2024. It is not like a reincarnated 21-year-old Derek Jeter, possessing all the vast knowledge and experience of the original version, will show up in Aaron Boone’s office, ready to take the field.
Gleyber Torres, for as much hate as he took early in the season, found a home atop the batting order, and his detractors were hard to find late in the season. I have never said I am anxious to see the Yankees replace Torres, eligible for free agency after the season. I know the Yankees need to drain the vault for Juan Soto, but I hope they can find a little extra to bring Torres back. I am not ready to turn the page with him. It is easy to point out his faults, but sadly, perfect ballplayers are rare. If Gleyber leaves, somebody else with “warts” will take his place.
Clay Holmes, thanks for the All-Star nomination and closing out the 2024 regular season with an easy save, but I wish you well in free agency, and I hope the Yankees close the door behind you. Luke Weaver showed enough to prove that he can become the next Yankees closer. Maybe the Yankees try to make a splash in the offseason (not sure who…signing an aged Kenley Jansen does not exactly excite me, regardless of the respect I have held for Kenley over the years). Still, Weaver can be the guy if given the opportunity. In recent years, the Yankees have proven they can grow talented pitchers in the farm system, and maybe the next great closer is just a call-up away. Who knows. Yankees VP Michael Fishman probably knows since he clearly knows everything (there is no air of seriousness in that sentence, I can assure you). The Yankees have proven a solid ability to build a good bullpen, so it should be the least of anyone’s concerns in building their offseason plans.
I have enjoyed Anthony Rizzo’s time as a New York Yankee. He may not have given us the years or the memories like some of the great Yankees first basemen who preceded him, but Rizzo saved us from Luke Voit’s iron glove at first base, and I will be forever grateful. His worth extended well beyond his glove. He has been a great teammate and a tremendous Yankee. I am glad he spent a few years in the Bronx, even if he will forever be remembered as a Chicago Cub. The fractures he suffered in his hand this weekend could spell the end of his Yankees career. The Yankees kept the door open by not placing Rizzo on the Injured List when they called up Ben Rice to replace him at first base for Sunday’s season finale. No word if Rizzo will be able to play in the ALDS, but fortunately, the team has a few days before any decisions must be made. If it is genuinely a ‘pain tolerance thing’ as we have heard, then maybe Rizzo plays and gives us one of those iconic victories despite injury performances like Kirk Gibson once did for the Los Angeles Dodgers. If not, thank you for your time in Pinstripes. While the Yankees will not pick up Rizzo’s option, the $6 million buyout is enough that the Yankees could negotiate a one-year deal for Rizzo to return next season. I am okay with whatever happens. If he leaves, he has been great. If he stays, wonderful…let’s try to get him a ring in Pinstripes if that does not happen this year.
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| Anthony Rizzo (Photo Credit: USATSI) |
Like Clay Holmes, Alex Verdugo finished the last regular season game strong with a bases-loaded two-run single that gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead and an eventual win on Sunday over the Pittsburgh Pirates, which allowed the Yankees to finish 94-68, three games up on the Baltimore Orioles, 91-71. Sorry for the long run-on sentence, but one season of Alex Verdugo is enough. I liked him better than I thought when the Yankees first acquired him from the archrival Red Sox last offseason, but the Yankees can do better. Jasson Dominguez needs to work on his left-field defense this winter, but I prefer a matured Dominguez bat in left next season over a return engagement for Verdugo. Watch Verdugo become a major postseason star for the Yankees, making it impossible for them to part ways. Okay, I do not believe it would happen, but if it did, it would mean good things for the playoffs. Note to Hal Steinbrenner, please keep your money aimed at Juan Soto.
I think Trent Grisham can help teams win, but the Yankees needed to play him more for us to find out. For Grisham’s sake, he would get more playing time elsewhere. He remains arbitration-eligible in 2025, but the Yankees should do him a favor and move him to a team that needs him. I am unsure when Everson Pereira will be ready following UCL surgery earlier this year, but he should be making noise for Major League playing time when he is healthy again (or at least I hope he is).
The Yankees will have decisions to make regarding their starting rotation next season. I am sure any offseason plan for the Yankees (at least those by Yankee fans) will include a starting pitcher capable of shouldering the load behind Gerrit Cole. I do not believe Cole will opt out. The Yankees would be foolish not to extend his deal by one year. The Yankees need to build around Cole, not build toward replacing him. Clarke Schmidt and Carlos Rodón will be there, and Luis Gil showed much growth. Nestor Cortes, Jr seems like a wild card. He could stay. He could go. The over/under seems to favor his departure, even if he was the most consistent starting pitcher this season. There will be offseason pressure on the Yankees to upgrade the rotation despite their massive attention on Juan Soto’s impending free agency. Need to find the next Tarik Skubal or Paul Skenes if they can be seen without becoming the worst team in baseball to get the best draft position.
Like it or not, Aaron Boone will return next season regardless of how October plays out. I do not dislike the guy. I get frustrated with his decisions sometimes, but there seemed to be fewer of those occurrences as the season wore on. Maybe he is starting to get it. I had thought before the season that having an experienced bench coach in Brad Ausmus would help him, and I think it has. Granted, his former bench coach has done well as the manager for the New York Mets. My issue with Carlos Mendoza was never about his knowledge, experience, or ability to relate to players on their level. I had always thought he was too much like Boone to effectively help Boone.
It is a little early to discuss the offseason. Sorry. The current focus is the American League Divisional Series and determining who the Yankees will play next. The Yankees are well positioned for a deep run, and if the team gets hot, they can put the memories of ‘they have not won since 2009’ to rest. No team stands out as the prohibitive favorite. It is as simple as playing the best and being the best. The field is open.
On a side thought, I did not like the post-game celebration for just making the playoffs. I know the team missed the playoffs in 2023, and it is an honor to make the dance. Yet, the celebration of participating in the Wild Card series seems premature to me. Winning the division championship was an accomplishment, even better when the Yankees secured home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs. It was bad enough the Yankees played one game with a champagne hangover, but they did it twice in September. Two games they played at less than their best. It could have cost them home-field advantage. Thankfully, it did not, but I will never understand why you celebrate playing a Wild Card game. Win the short three-game series and then celebrate. The ALDS/NLDS are rounds more worthy of celebration…in my humble opinion.
The season has thankfully ended for the Chicago White Sox and their historically bad 121-loss season. I could not help but think what it must be like for Andrew Benintendi. Not that I want Benintendi today, but at the time of his free agency, I had hoped for his return to the Yankees despite the flaws in his game. But he desired a Midwest location and signed a contract that surprisingly was one of the largest ever handed out by the Chicago White Sox (if not the largest, if memory serves correctly). I hope the money was worth it for Benintendi while he watched those losses mount this season. I am sure the White Sox’s offseason plan will start with how to unload Benintendi and his contract. I do not pine for a return to the Yankees, regardless of what the Yankees do with Alex Verdugo, Jasson Dominguez, and left field.
Craig Counsell is a good manager, but it must have been tough to finish ten games behind his old club. Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers on their division championship, which leaves Counsell and the Chicago Cubs in the dust.
The San Diego Padres impressed me down the stretch, and so did the Detroit Tigers. Both teams can make some noise in October. I feel bad for the fans of the Minnesota Twins because of their team’s late-season collapse. As a Vikings fan, I know how much they have suffered with the NFL. While the Twins have at least won some championships in their history, late-season collapses are never fun. I am sure Yankee fans hated to see the Twins miss the playoffs, given the Yankees' success over the Twins through the years.
The season was filled with so much more than what I have covered with this random post. These were just a few thoughts at the end of another MLB regular season. February always brings so much excitement for the upcoming season, and the season, from the view of February, seems so long, yet quickly, we are at the end. It has been a fun season, even if it has been frustrating. I feel good about the 2024 Yankees despite their weaknesses. The team is cohesive, and they strive to pick each other up. They may not win it all this season, but I am confident they will give it their all.
As always, Go Yankees!
