2012 YANKEES: MANAGING AN UPHILL BATTLE

It was hard to watch the Yankees get swept in the ALCS, and when the Yankees lose, people start searching for answers... it's been a week and some of us still are... like me! Look, the Yankees have a lot of questions to address during the off season. Sure, there will be a lot of free agents to look at and even trades to consider but will the Yankees coaching staff be under the same scrutiny? It makes you wonder if we will not only see new players on the field, but will there also be new leaders in the dugout?

It was a tough year; that is the bottom line. We were constantly fighting uphill battles. Sure, it wasn’t the outcome we wanted. We aren’t bringing home a 28^th ring this year; this quest will have to be marked as “to be continued.” When you look at everything that happened to this team, we had a good run, we even reflected on it in THE 2012 YANKEES WERE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN YOU THINK. Let’s be honest, considering all of the obstacles that were thrown our way we may not have accomplished as much as we did and I give a lot of credit to our coaching staff. 

That being said, at the end of the day we all go to work and our bosses evaluate us on many different categories and if we come up short we have to deal with the aftermath. So, what fate awaits our great coaches?

I know Joe Girardi gets scrutinized a lot, but when you look at the challenges he faced all season it is hard to say he didn’t do well under all of the circumstances. It’s not easy when you lose key pieces of your team and have to start mixing and matching with your bench and bullpen. Who knows, if Joe didn’t make some of those decisions we may not have won 98 games this season. Injuries plagued this team, when you add up all of the days each player missed this season it adds up to over 1700…which explains why the Yankees ranked first with the most days lost on the disabled list. 

I know some people say he is too in love with his binders, but his strategy did help lead us to earning the best record in the American League. This doesn’t just happen by accident, Joe knows his strengths and his team’s strengths and he uses those to his advantage. He is also a good leader in the clubhouse, he knows his team and they respect him. He also has a lot of fire and determination to help his team succeed. It’s not easy playing or managing under the bright lights in New York, and he has done both successfully, and it is safe to say he will continue to do so.

So the old saying “You can never have too much pitching” rears its ugly head again. At the beginning of the year it looked like the Yankees had such a surplus of starters that we were considering trading the away. Suddenly, Michael Pineda is out for the season before he can ever throw a pitch as a Yankee and Freddy Garcia is penciled in. Let’s not forget losing CC Sabathia not once….but twice to the disabled list and of course, Andy taking a ball off of his foot and making a trip to the disabled list on the same day as CC. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. When CC and Andy were out David Phelps and Freddy Garcia stepped into the rotation and were successful.

Hiroki Kuroda was an anchor for this team, and while he struggled on the road during the first half of the season he became the stabilizing force that the Yankees needed when CC and Andy were out. Before the season started, some questioned how he would handle pitching in a tougher division, and he answered that challenge pitching to an impressive 3.32ERA, with 16 wins and 3 complete games. 

Rafael Soriano also stepped up when needed after Mariano Rivera suffered his season ending injury. When Mariano went down in May, he stepped in and still managed to close a league leading 42 games for us despite not starting in this role. 

These guy proved that good pitching wins you games, especially when our offense struggled. Hats off to Larry Rothschild for his mentoring, it will be even more exciting to see what this team can do when the pitchers are back at full strength.

It’s been a successful six years in the Bronx for Kevin Long, but this year did not give him passing marks. The Yankees struggled all season with runners in scoring position and as talented of a hitting coach as he is….he wasn’t able to solve the problem. Granted, I know he isn’t standing in the batter’s box and doing the swinging, but the Yankees were exposed. Our opponents found our weakness and exploited it. His job may be more complicated because he is coaching an experienced and aging team that could be stuck in their ways….but we have to stop living and dieing by the home runs. We need to find a way to play small ball again. What happened to the art of the bunt? It works, and if nothing else it can make a productive out. We need to embrace the “move them over and drive them in” philosophy.

I can’t help but think about Derek Jeter’s success….last year when he was in a slump he reunited with Gary Denbo and went on an offensive tear which continued this season.

What about ARod’s ineffectiveness against righties? We benched a guy that makes a ridiculous amount of money in the playoffs because he was neutralized.

Curtis Granderson didn’t live up to expectations either. In 2011, Kevn Long was able to help him get out of his slump and change his swing up. He went on an offensive tear after that, the same cant be said for him this year. During the season he had 211 strikeouts and was a disappointing 3-for -30 during the postseason.

Last but not least….what about Mark Teixeira? What happened to laying down the strategic bunt? We heard so much about it during the off season and it never happened. Not only that, but if Teixeira could just learn to hit the ball the other way he would have more hits and would defy that frustrating shift that beats him too often.

This week Brian Cashman has come to Long’s defense HERE stating "He's safe. ... Kevin Long is without question one of the best hitting coaches in the game, and what took place here is a collective failure, not an individual one, and no one is going to be pointed at as a scapegoat," so as long as Cashman isn’t using his poker face, I suspect he will be back for 2013. I agree with his statement about Long, but we can't continue to have these struggles just ask Mickey Hatcher who was also a hitting coach for the Angels until he was released this year.

Baseball is a tough game, and we have some of the best coaches in the game. We accomplished a lot this year and we conquered challenges that were daunting at times. Thanks again to our amazing coaches, you fought hard all year long! We have good talent on the field and in the dugout, together I know they can bring that championship back to the Bronx next year.

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Writer and Editor

Twitter: @NyPrincessJ


Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.