Yankees learn their money’s no good in MLB playoffs
On Thursday, the inert, almost lifeless, New York Yankees got swept out of the playoffs. That defeat at the hands of the American League champion Detroit Tigers culminated an entire season with one stunning theme. This year marked the rapid deterioration of the biggest-budget and most glamorous teams of recent years: the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies. Those who tried hardest to emulate them, such as the Rangers and Angels, suffered just as badly. Three of the five didn’t even make the 10-team playoffs.
The old guard didn’t just teeter. It looks like it’s virtually certain to be replaced.
The most dramatic example is the Yanks, who have assembled, and are now stuck with, a group of astronomically paid postseason chokers. Harsh words, but what else can you say? They include Mark Teixeira (.195 in eight Yankees postseason series), Robinson Cano (.222 in 11 series), Alex Rodriguez (.234 in 13), Curtis Granderson (.231 in five), Nick Swisher (.162 in eight), Brett Gardner (.215 in eight) and Russell Martin (.154, one RBI in 52 playoff at-bats as a Yankee). Not one of them has any hidden redeeming stat value. The Yanks have a worse problem than age. Their entire everyday lineup, a fearsome home-run gorging group in the regular season, is allergic to October.
What must Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill and other Real Yankees — who all performed exactly as well (or better) in the postseason than they did in the regular season — think of this current bunch with the $200 million price tag?
However, the Yanks’ futility simply illustrates a trend first noticed in spring that now has played out in full: In 2012, money bought you next to nothing. Is it a one-year fluke? Whatever it is, it’s shocking.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/yankees-learn-their-moneys-no-good-in-mlb-playoffs/2012/10/19/bc32a5ac-1a2f-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html
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