How The Yankees Fell From Grace Part Three: Lack Of Clubhouse Chemistry

Guys like Sheffield (when he was on the team) and Giambi have also drawn a lot of attention to themselves. Sheffield was also involved in the Grand Jury testimony for the Balco case, not to mention his interview with the New Yorker in 2006 left a bitter taste in a lot of Yankee fans' mouths and players as well when he stated that Derek Jeter wasn't the real leader of the team, and that everyone knew who to look to and he was of course talking about himself.

Who can forget the list of injuries Carl Pavano incurred during his four years in New York. Every time the Yankees thought he was close to making a return and helping the team out, something else would happen like he'd get into a car accident break a few ribs and not tell anyone about it.

His teammates felt that he didn't care about playing and that he was content to collect his large salary without pitching a single game. Pavano then said that he didn't feel that he needed to apologize to his teammates for not being able to contribute to the team, which angered a lot of people, especially Mike Mussina.

Mussina was quite vocal in his opinion that Pavano had a lot to prove and he had to start with the guys in the clubhouse. It was obvious Pavano didn't feel comfortable around his teammates considering that he stayed away from the team when he could've made appearances at games to show support the way that Jorge Posada did after his season ending shoulder surgery in 2008.

Posada did an interview with Michael Kay that aired after the season was over in which he explained why the past season was so frustrating. He was used to playing with guys that only had one goal in mind, and that was winning the whole thing. He said that every day when he went to the stadium he wasn't sure who was going to show up to play or not.

A lot of people had the attitude that there were too many injuries and other things that would prevent the Yankees from winning anyway so what did it matter? Posada recalled how he stood up in the clubhouse after a loss and went on a tirade about how that kind of attitude wasn't "Yankee Baseball" and threw his bat down in anger.

All of this disruption most definitely affects the clubhouse, no matter what anyone says. When you feel like the guy sitting next to you isn't going to give everything he has every night, it creates an uneasy feeling.

Eventually all of that tension builds up and disrupts team unity. In some ways playing a team sport is like being in the military; you want to know that the guy next to you is going to give his all in the field of battle. If that trust or comfort level doesn't exist it can make winning very difficult.

Clubhouse chemistry is not something that can be bought. However, I think the Yankees need to start paying attention to the guys that they sign or trade for so that they don't have a clubhouse full of guys that are more concerned with what's going on with themselves that the team goal gets lost in the shuffle.

Coming up next, the conclusion of this series in Part Four will discuss how the lack of pitching has been the source of the downfall.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?