cbssports.com
The knock on the Yankees has been the same since the strike of '94. They buy teams. They have more money than anyone else, and they use that to buy the best players. And, to a certain extent, that's true. The problem with this view, though, is no one knows who the best players are going to be this year, next year, or even, really, next game. Scouts, metric stats, and players' history can only tell you so much. After that, it's a crap shoot. You can only hope your team makes the best decision it can with the information it has.
Absent of a history of injuries for a player, injuries are impossible to predict, and they've cost the Yankees dearly this year. I'm going not to list all their injuries, but at one point almost their entire starting pitching rotation was on the DL. The Yankees' current DL would earn more than half of MLB's teams.
Professional players got where they are for a reason, and they, with very few exceptions, always play their best. Players go hot or cold, sure, but there's way too much money on the line for them to take games off. Rarely can the players be blamed, exclusive of themselves.
So injuries played a part. The players are doing what they can. What's Cashman's role? He signed all these players. He spent big money on Tanaka. He re-signed A Rod. Oh, and most importantly, his contract is up.
Blame Cashman if you want. Blame injuries. Blame average play. But what happened is this: the Yankees ran into a leagueful of bad luck. In times like this, we all would like to lay the blame on one person, one source. If we just get rid of X, everything will be fine. If it was that simple, Brian Cashman wouldn't have his job, you would. Given everything that's gone wrong since A Rod's suspension, an outside shot at a wild card ain't bad.
The Yankees have said they expect A Rod to be healthy and ready to play next year. This is part gamesmanship, and part lobbing a ball into A Rod's court. Of course they expect him to be ready to play. He's still on the payroll.
Yankees' fans are pissed about this year. They're pissed at Cashman. They're pissed at A Rod. Let's remember, though, as we say goodbye to Jeter this year, that Cashman and, yes, A Rod had as much to do with the championship, division titles, and memories since 2004 as Jeter did. Maybe what's missing is the support.
Josh Henderson
T: @verybadwrong
