The Offseason Plan, Part 1: The Style

This is the first of a three part series outlining my view on the course the Yankees should take during the offseason. Before we get to any moves, however, first it is important to establish the characteristics a championship team has.

Despite having the most talented team in baseball, the Yankees have once again fallen short of winning the World Series. That makes six straight years that the Yanks have failed in finishing the year on top. It does not add up that a team as loaded could fail to win. There has to be some reason for this. There are key components that make up a winning team. The 1996-2001 Yankees showed these. Therefore, before we go to the offseason, it is beneficial to look at the character traits of the individuals that made those teams so successful. Through this lens, we can see where the Yankees have gone wrong. This list is in no way comprehensive. Some of these overlap. The items are abstract, and there are exceptions to all of these rules. This is simply a rough outline. However, these themes played a prominent role in the team winning titles.

Patient hitting approach: Gene Michael fueled the team’s turnaround in the 1990’s by stressing the need for hitters to be patient. Michael utilized on-base percentage long before any books were being written about Billy Beane. The results could not be ignored. The great Yankee teams did not get themselves out by swinging at bad pitches, and they wore pitchers down, which led to a feast on the soft underbelly of opposing bullpens. These guys also found ways to get on base with walks. While walks aren’t as good as hits, they are much better than outs. This is one area where the Yanks have stayed the course in recent years. This team’s approach at the plate is very good. There was, however, something great about the old teams’ approach. They went up looking to get a hit. If nothing was there, they took a walk. Certain other hitters go up looking to draw a walk and only swing if they have to. This leads to a lot of strikeouts. When a hitter puts a ball in play, there is a chance to reach base. There is none with a strikeout. There also are key points in a game where putting the ball in play is important to advance runners and score big runs. Those Yanks excelled in doing this. Some of the new guys do not take the optimal approach. The type of patience is not too important. One is slightly more preferable, but having it in any form is excellent.

Diversified offense: The Yankees did not live and die by the longball. Just about everybody on the roster was capable of hitting a homer. In fact, those Yankee teams hit a lot of homers. However, they were able to produce runs in other ways, coming through with men in scoring position, hitting behind runners, and advancing men. Delivering the timely hit is also critical to extend innings, score runs, and decide games in late innings. Some hits are bigger than others. New York’s hitters had very high slugging percentages, but they did not have many big-time power hitters. This diversity in offense does not compare favorably with the current collection of pure sluggers who can hit the ball out of the park on any occasion. It’s easy to pound the Devil Rays and the Royals into submission in July, but against the best pitchers from the best teams, it is tough to wait only for homers. There are other ways to score runs in tight postseason games, and often utilizing these can be the difference between winning and losing. Teams that can do this do not have their hitters flailing at the plate, trying to hit a homer to get a team going.

Embracement of pressure: The guys on the title teams did not shy away from pressure. They relished it. They were never afraid of failure. There was no way that they could fail. Everybody wanted to be in the spotlight with everything on the line. This leads to the next point.

Chemistry: Chemistry is a controversial component in baseball. Many claim that it does not exist. Even those who do have a tough time defining it. I view it as applicable to any other joint venture in life. When you like the people you are surrounded with, you are generally happier and more productive. These people become close friends, and you would do anything for them. This kind of camaraderie makes accomplishing a task altruistic. You want to accomplish a task for the other people you are with. This makes you focus even further. You develop the kind of trust with the others that you do not fear failure because you know that your friend behind you has your back. The current Yankees are more a collection of players who are completely on their own. They feel the weight of the world on their shoulders because they feel like they have to come through or nobody else will. They think that they have to be the guy.

Defense: The Yankees of old were very strong defensively. Bernie Williams was a Gold Glover in centerfield. Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius held down the corner infield spots admirably. Joe Girardi was a rock behind the plate. Paul O’Neill was solid in right. Chuck Knoblauch did have his infamous throwing problems, but he never made a killer throwing error in a key spot. There were not defenders as iffy as Jason Giambi or Gary Sheffield taking the field in huge games. As the years went by, Bernie Williams greatly slowed down in center, a situation that went unaddressed for far too long.

Pitching: The Yankees were filled with terrific pitching in those days. Their starting rotation was comprised by the likes of David Cone, David Wells, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez, and Jimmy Key. The bullpens had Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Stanton, and Mariano Rivera for close games. These were all guys who embraced the stage of big games. They could be given the ball on a moment’s notice. They did not care how long they had to go. It did not matter. They loved the big stage and had the talent to back it up. They were durable and determined to have success.

No excuses: The Yankees were focused on only one thing, winning. There was no obstacle that they felt was insurmountable. The only other alternative was failure. No mitigating circumstances were allowed. Everybody wanted to take the field and do whatever they could to help the team. This led to Paul O’Neill playing on one leg, Derek Jeter playing through pain in 2001 and never telling another person, and David Cone pitching through pain in 1998, and numerous other similar feats. They never asked for praise for playing through their pain. They did not make excuses if there were extenuating circumstances. They just took the field because winning was the only thing. Jack Nicklaus always used to comment on how he knew a golfer who complained about the course’s difficulty before a tournament had already been beaten. It is easy to rationalize failure. If one can do it before said failure even takes place, there is not any desperation to succeed. Not having success is fine because there is already an excuse in tow.

Depth: Joe Torre was always able to find terrific players coming off the bench in big games. Tim Raines, Wade Boggs, Darryl Strawberry, Chili Davis, Chad Curtis, Luis Sojo, Jose Vizcaino, and other talented players were waiting in reserve roles to make big impacts on critical games. Joe Torre could choose the matchups he wanted and almost always had an edge. These days, the Yankees load their starting lineups with high-priced superstars. The bench has been neglected since there seems to be no need for such players.