The Yankee Way is Broken: ALCS Sweep Draws Harsh Realties

Let it be known that the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" can simply be replaced with "We want Houston!" Fewer words. Fewer syllables. Same idea.

So, thanks for that, New York Yankees fans. Now do yourselves a favor and wish for your team to figure out how to get back to the World Series.

We wish we could say that the Bronx Bombers at least ended their 2022 campaign with a heroic last stand at Yankee Stadium. But, alas, we cannot. The 6-5 loss that secured a sweep of the American League Championship Series for the Houston Astros on Saturday was indeed an ugly affair for the home team.

Early on, there was a hobbled Nestor Cortes giving up an early 3-0 lead. Later, there was a defensive miscue that triggered a decisive two-run rally by Houston. And in the end, there was 62-homer slugger Aaron Judge grounding meekly back to the mound for the final out.

With that, the Yankees made it 13 years in a row without an appearance in the World Series. And while nobody can take away any of the organization's 27 championships, it's fair game to point out that the one from 2009 is its only successful title run in the last 22 years.

Clearly, some soul-searching is in order.

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What the Heck Just Happened?

AP Photo/John Minchillo

Let's back up and grant that the Yankees won 99 games this year. A season like that can't happen without a whole lot going right.

Above all, there was Judge going beyond what even he might have expected of himself after he rejected a $230 million contract offer in April. He had arguably the most impressive home run-hitting season in MLB history.

Gerrit Cole turned in yet another fine season, while Cortes broke out and became his unlikely co-ace. Credit that to the Yankees' analytics and coaching staffs, who likewise deserve some for Clay Holmes' emergence as an All-Star closer, Matt Carpenter's midsummer revival and an infield defense that collectively improved by 29 outs above average over 2021.

At the absolute pinnacle of their season on July 8, the Yankees were 38 games over .500 and on pace to set a major league record with 118 wins. Life was good, in other words.

Further, nobody can accuse the Yankees of not trying to bolster themselves at the Aug. 2 trade deadline. They outfitted their roster with the contact-hitting outfielder (Andrew Benintendi), defensive center fielder (Harrison Bader), starter (Frankie Montas) and relievers (Lou Trivino and Scott Effross) that it clearly needed.

That the Yankees nonetheless finished the regular season on a 38-40 run prior to the Astros outclassing them in the ALCS can largely be chalked up to every would-be World Series contender's worst foe: the injury bug.

As measured by dollars spent on injured players, only four teams were hit harder by injuries than the Yankees this season. Some of the biggest setbacks came at the worst times, such as Carpenter's broken foot in August and further blows to Benintendi (broken hamate), Montas (shoulder discomfort) and Holmes (shoulder strain) in September.

Nevertheless, the notion that a team as resource-rich as the Yankees shouldn't be rendered so vulnerable even by that many injuries has merit.

It was frankly shocking to see the lineups that manager Aaron Boone had to resort to in the playoffs. Even with Bader's unexpected turn as a slugger, there just wasn't a whole lot on either side of the club's core trio of Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo.

The effect was generally one of helplessness. The Yankees offense bowed out of the postseason after collectively hitting .173 with a 32.4 strikeout percentage.

The pitching staff fared better to the tune of a 3.28 ERA, but that obscures the sense of dread that hung over the mound whenever Cole wasn't on it. The thinness of the bullpen was an ever-present specter, and Cortes' final departure via an injury timeout was all too predictable in context of how far past his previous high for innings he had already climbed.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that the Yankees ran out of able bodies, but it works well enough to say that they just plain ran out of gas. And for this, it's more than fair to ask why there wasn't more in the tank.

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Where the Yankees Must Go From Here

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

It's just a matter of time before the knives are out for Boone and general manager Brian Cashman.

Indeed, it was a small miracle when the Yankees retained Boone as their skipper after the Boston Red Sox bounced them from the AL Wild Card Game last October. And while the club's slow-moving collapse of 2022 is hardly all on him, it's frankly difficult to determine what, exactly, he brings to his leadership role.

As for Cashman, he perhaps doesn't get enough credit for an operation that's not only produced Judge and made stars of guys like Cortes and Holmes but also currently has one of the better farm systems in the league.

And yet, various failures and gaffes can also be traced back to Cashman.

The March trade of Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa came to resemble an outright disaster as both of the latter routinely hindered the Yankees in the playoffs. And while he did enjoy a rebound year in 2022, it's still worth asking where the version of Gleyber Torres who hit 62 home runs in 2018 and 2019 has gone.

So if this is the winter that the Yankees want to part ways with Boone and finally remove Cashman from a post that he's occupied since 1998, then fine. Go for it. Heck, it's about time for some new blood.

However, it's also hard to imagine any of it mattering without an attitude adjustment on the part of Chairman and Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner.

Far from a chip off the 'ol block, the son of the late George Steinbrenner is more measured in just about everything he does. His priorities are simply different from those of his father, who once famously stated that the importance of winning ranks below only that of breathing.

"That's my job every year, to make sure that we're financially responsible," Hal Steinbrenner told reporters earlier this year in response to queries about the team's payroll. "I've got a lot of partners and banks and bondholders and things like that that I answer to. But at the same time, it's always the goal to win a championship."

This philosophy need not hold the Yankees back in theory, but there's at least one area where it clearly is in reality. Whereas they had the highest Opening Day payrolls in the league annually between 2000 and 2013, they've occupied the No. 1 spot just once since 2014.

The Yankees are the most valuable franchise in baseball, so Hal Steinbrenner's stingy spending seems more a matter of preference than necessity. Regardless, it's inevitably led to a pattern of corner-cutting that's occasionally all too evident. Like, for example, when they spent all of $35.4 million on last year's free-agent market.

This needs to change, and it needs to change yesterday.

That it must start with an appropriately sized—something in the $300-400 million range ought to do it—contract for Judge in free agency goes without saying. From there, a proper co-ace for Cole, at least one ace reliever and upgrades for the left side of the infield must also be on the shopping list.

Especially with a whole bunch of money set to come off the team's 2022 books, such an extravagant offseason shouldn't be too much to ask of Steinbrenner. And lest he need a little extra motivation, he need only look to Queens at the New York Mets to see evidence of how quickly a sudden and massive uptick in spending can transform a team.

The alternative is for Steinbrenner to stay the course and hope that one of two things happens first: either more of the same improbably leads to the World Series glory that's recently been so elusive, or MLB starts handing out trophies for financial responsibility.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.