Jeter’s recovery top baseball story for Yankees

Put aside the salacious revelations of the potential connections of Alex Rodriguez and Francisco Cervelli to a Miami clinic suspected of dispensing performance-enhancing drugs. Never mind the feud and subsequent burying of the hatchet between Joba Chamberlain and his new teammate Kevin Youkilis. The most important baseball story so far this spring training by far for the New York Yankees has been the recovery of Derek Jeter.

I can understand why the media is obsessing with the Yankee Captain’s every move on the field. With ARod down for at least half a season, Nick Swisher playing the outfield for the Cleveland Indians and Russell Martin catching his old pal AJ Burnett in Pittsburgh, the Yankees are going to have to squeeze offense out of every position. The Yankees will desperately need Jeter to have a season like he had last year before getting hurt, the kind of season in which he carries the team with his clutch hitting and defense while his teammates struggle mightily, which will no doubt happen again this year. Jeter has to be healthy and he has to be Derek Jeter or the Yankees don’t have a chance in 2013.

But I really worry about his health. I hope Derek learned a valuable lesson about not pushing himself too hard. He admitted he played the last two months of the 2012 regular season and into the playoffs on an injured ankle even though he probably shouldn’t have. Jeter is, in a sense, a hostage to his own toughness because he firmly believes that if a baseball player can walk, he should be out on the field. I’ve long admired his ability to ignore pain and man the shortstop position every day, but I think it leads to too many situations where he plays baseball when he shouldn’t. It finally cost him last October.

Jeter’s rehabilitation has gotten even more attention than Mariano Rivera’s comeback, perhaps because Mo’s injury happened way back in May of last year while the image of Jeter writhing on the ground in unbearable pain is fresh in our minds. Whatever the reason, no one on the Yankees is being watched more closely than Derek Jeter.

So long Swish!

Nick Swisher did really well for himself financially this offseason.

Swisher will sign a four-year, $56 million contract with the Cleveland Indians, with a $14 million option for a fifth year. That’s a nifty deal for Swisher. I’m a little surprised he went to Cleveland given their struggles in recent years and I do wonder how his personality is going to play in the Heartland. But that kind of money is hard to say no to and it would have been difficult to match that offer in a more desirable market.

As much as I liked Swisher personally, I think the New York Yankees were right to let him walk. He is a solid, but not great player and I don’t think he is worth that kind of money or length of contract. I became very frustrated with his disappearing act during the four postseason chances he had in the Bronx. Swisher was a solid player during the regular season, but a non-factor in every baseball playoff series, including this season when the Yankees could have benefitted from him stepping up after that devastating injury to Derek Jeter.

But he had a nice couple of years in New York and I wish him well and hope his family is happy in Cleveland. Perhaps I’ll make it out to see him in Ohio next year as part of my quest to visit every ballpark in America. I’ll root for him, except if they are playing the Yankees.

Godspeed, Nick Swisher.

Yankees set 2013 plan in motion

We don’t know all the details yet, of course, but the New York Yankees have finally put their plan for the 2013 baseball season in motion.

The first element of the plan was picking up the options on second baseman Robinson Cano and center fielder Curtis Granderson. Picking up Cano’s option was a no brainer, even though his agent Scott Boras had been clamoring for a multi-year extension, which the Yankees were unwilling to do right now. I’m slightly surprised they were so quick to pick up Granderson’s option, but the Yankees could have decided to give him another year to right himself, meaning to correct the bad tendencies that made him a swing-and-miss hitter, before they let him walk as a free agent. There is also speculation that Granderson could be traded, which would not surprise me in the least.

So what’s next? The next news out of Yankees land will likely be Rafael Soriano officially opting out of his deal to secure a rich, multi-year contract after his successful year closing games for the Yankees. But I don’t think the situation will be resolved anytime soon, not until Mariano Rivera commits to another year or retirement. And we’ll know soon enough if the Yankees, as expected, decline to retain Nick Swisher’s services, although this seems like a foregone conclusion given his constant struggles in the playoffs.

The Yankees will have to decide what to do with their other free agents or players just a year away from free agency such as Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. There seems to be a movement to send these two out the door in exchange for cheaper talent. I’m frankly surprised at how eager people are to get rid of two young, but experienced pitchers. I know they are going to cost money when they hit free agency, but I doubt the Yankees are willing to bid adieu to either one just yet, especially Hughes, who at times this year pitched like the top-flight starter the Yankees projected him to be. The Yankees will likely give these two one more year to prove that they can consistently perform in the Bronx.

Given that the Yankees failed in their quest to win another World Series championship, I expect some major changes. It will be interesting to see who the Yankees show the door. 

ARod gets unfair share of the blame

Alex Rodriguez is taking the brunt of the criticism for the New York Yankees embarrassing collapse this season and while he deserves some of the blame, some things are just unfair.

ARod doesn’t help his cause by being clueless to the consequences of his actions, whether he is trying to hook up with a good-looking woman during a playoff game or waving to his mother on national television (never seen any Yankees bench players do that and they sit a hell of a lot more than ARod does). His obliviousness is part of the reason why silly stories about ARod gain so much traction, like the one about Yankees manager Joe Girardi calling the press box to avoid causing ARod further embarrassment after pinch hitting for him. It furthers the impression of ARod as a self-centered child who needs to be coddled by his bosses, something the Yankees would not even bother to do with any other player.

Don’t get me wrong. I think ARod should waive his no-trade clause and leave New York, not just for the New York Yankees sake, but for his own. But I don’t think everyone’s focus should be on him. How about directing some of that anger and vitriol toward Nick Swisher, who had yet another bad postseason and showed that he too, like ARod, has a pretty thin skin when he complained about the loud boos heaped upon the Yankees by a fan base tired of paying exorbitant prices to see the Yankees underachieve in October? Perhaps it’s because the free agent right fielder probably was destined for a one-way ticket out of New York anyway. So what about Curtis Granderson, who after years of claiming not to be a home run hitter, turned into exactly that, to the detriment of the rest of his game? Why aren’t they getting their fair share of the blame? Because ARod is the easiest, richest target, one that Yankee fans will continue to resent if they feel his diminishing skills and payroll-strangling salary will keep the Yankees from another World Series.

Hopefully ARod will take the extra time he has this offseason to decide he could use with a fresh start. It is time for ARod and the Yankees to part ways, but he’s not the only one the Yankees should bid goodbye.

Yankees go out with barely a whimper

The New York Yankees couldn't put up a fight to save their season.

I was attending a networking event at a conference last night so fortunately I didn't have to sit through the nightmare that was Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. I don't blame CC Sabathia for the sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. He did everything he could to carry the Yankees to victory this postseason. Save for last night's game, he and his fellow Yankee starting pitchers were terrific, but their efforts were wasted by a non-existent offense. Alex Rodriguez will get the lion's share of the blame, but he has plenty of company, namely Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher. It is finally time to say good-bye to some of these guys (more on who I think should go later), especially if they are so bothered by loud booing.

Truthfully, I knew the Yankees were done as soon as I saw Derek Jeter crumple to the ground in Game 1. It wasn't just the horrifying image of the tough-as-nails captain unable to get back on his feet as he usually does. It was the knowledge that the one regular in the Yankees lineup who was actually hitting was obviously done for the baseball postseason and that no one else in that lineup has the will to put the team on his back the way Jeter did this season.

Without Jeter, the Yankees simply had no fight in them. It's high time the Yankees organization returned to the philosophy that won them so many championships in the late 1990s: building a team of solid, but not superstar players who have the heart and soul to will themselves to victory. Can you imagine Paul O'Neill or Scott Brosius taking it on the chin from the Tigers or anyone else? Of course not, because it wouldn't happen. They may have lost, but they would never go down without a fight. The current Yankees went out with barely a whimper and they should be embarrassed.

Yankees may not recover from Jeter loss

Could the New York Yankees suffer a more crushing blow than the loss of their captain?

No. It's an easy question to answer. Not only was Derek Jeter the only regular in the Yankees lineup actually hitting the ball and getting on base, but he was an inspiration to his team, clearly playing at well below 100% (which may have contributed to his devastating injury). Jeter was trying to carry his team across the finish line with the sheer strength of his talent and personality, but he couldn't do the job by himself and now the Yankees will have to do the job without him.

Can the Yankees survive this loss? I have my doubts. The starting pitching has been tremendous, with strong outings by playoff veteran Andy Pettitte and Yankee newcomer Hiroki Kuroda in the first two games of the American League Championship Series, and Raul Ibanez providing the thump the Bronx Bombers have been missing. But the rest of the offense, with the exception of two innings in which they scored multiple runs, has completely vanished this postseason. Alex Rodriguez has been the main target of vitriol (despite a brief effort by Yankee fans to will him to get a base hit with their cheers), but there are plenty of culprits. Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher have been particularly frustrating with their numerous strikeouts and weak popups with runners on base. You can only fail a limited number of times in the postseason before the fans start to turn on you.

The Yankees have survived the devastating blow of losing Mariano Rivera. But that happened back in May, giving the Yankees plenty of time to adjust under less stressful circumstances and giving Rafael Soriano the chance to show that he could step into Mo's shoes to soften the blow. Losing Jeter in Game 1 of the ALCS, especially when the rest of the regular lineup can't manage a hit with men in scoring position, could knock the Yankees right out of the playoffs.

Jason Nix is a good player and he makes solid contact when given the chance to play. Eduardo Nunez has explosive power and speed. But neither of them are Derek Jeter. There is no other Derek Jeter. And the Yankees will have to figure out a way to win without their October magic man.

Time for Yankees to show O's, Rays who's the boss

Coming into the 2012 baseball season, I never thought I would say this but the New York Yankees face a tough test against the Baltimore Orioles starting tonight.

After another disappointing performance by ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees stumbled into an off day losing two out of three games against the injury-riddled, Triple-A Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees are going to have to step up their game if they want to maintain their slim three-game margin in the American League East, with their next 10 games against the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays.

We knew the Rays would be good, with their superior, youthful starters, but who saw the O’s coming? Not me. I have to give Buck Showalter a lot of credit for the Orioles resurgence (although with his luck he will get himself fired right before the O’s win it all, as happened in both New York and Arizona). And you can’t call their rise a fluke, not when they are coming to Yankee Stadium on the last day of August with a chance to grab the division from the floundering Yankees hands.

Can the Yankees manage to take two out of three this weekend to keep the O’s at bay, then continue to play well against the Rays and the O’s again in Baltimore next weekend? I never thought I would say this, but I’m not sure. With Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira out, the only reliable bats in the lineup belong to Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher and they can’t drive themselves in all the time. Sabathia has not pitched up to his ace billing, and Phil Hughes, who salvaged the series against the Jays with another strong performance, doesn’t start again until Monday. I feel confident that Hiroki Kuroda, who has been the best starter on the Yankees over the last two months, will give the team a great chance to win, but it’s anybody’s guess if his offense will give him any type of run support.

The Yankees are in for a brutal final stretch, starting for real tonight. It’s time to step up and show the O’s and Rays who’s boss. If they can. 

All right in baseball land as Yankees take 1st place

The New York Yankees are right where they belong: in first place.

After struggling the first couple of months of the 2012 baseball season, the Yankees finally find themselves at the top of the American League East division, just ahead of both the Tampa Bay Rays and the surprising Baltimore Orioles. It’s only a one-game lead, but considering how awful the Yankees have looked at times this season, I’ll take it.

The Yankees can thank superior starting pitching for their rise to the top. Aside from an uncharacteristically erratic CC Sabathia, the Yankee starters have been brilliant in recent weeks, consistently putting up zeros and shutting down opposing teams. And they have to be near perfect, as they haven’t gotten much in the way of run support from their “can’t get a hit with runners on base” offense.

Yesterday’s game was a good example of the Yankees’ turnaround from the start of the season. After sleepwalking through seven innings against young Mike Minor (who truly deserved a better fate after his strong outing), the Yankees finally came alive in the 8^th, led surprisingly by Alex Rodriguez, who tied the legendary Lou Gehrig with his 23^rd Grand Slam. That was quickly followed by a two-run blast from Nick Swisher that put the Yankees in the lead for good. And even after his rough first inning, Sabathia did exactly what a true ace should do in gutting his way through seven innings to give the overworked bullpen some much needed relief.

So the Yankees are in first place. All seems right in the baseball world again. 

Billy Beane gives insight into his Moneyball world

My professional and personal interests once again collided at a conference I covered last week when I got to hear a keynote speech by Billy Beane, who provided tremendous insight into how he used the “Moneyball” concept to build a playoff-caliber baseball team despite limited resources.

The Oakland A’s general manager was nervous and edgy on stage, maybe due to a phobia about public speaking (hard to imagine for a person with his job title) or perhaps somewhat intimidated by talking in front of a crowd of insurance professionals who Beane insisted were much smarter than him (he was speaking at the Risk & Insurance Management Society’s annual conference). Beane seems to have a bit of a complex about his intelligence, cracking several jokes about his much smarter former right-hand man, Paul DePodesta, now an official with the New York Mets.

It’s shocking to realize this, but the A’s in 1992 had one of the highest payrolls in baseball at $48 million. But as other teams’ payrolls skyrocketed, in large part thanks to lucrative television deals, the A’s payroll rose at a much slower pace.

“For us, the biggest risk that we can have is actually doing things like everybody else because if we do things like everyone else, we’re destined to finish exactly where our payroll and revenues say we are,” he said.

To his credit, Beane dismissed the notion that he and DePodesta created the Moneyball concept. He specifically named Bill James (who Beane said deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame) and others that advocated the use of mathematical analysis to build baseball teams for years before Beane did, but were generally ignored because they were outsiders.

But for a while, Beane and his team used the Moneyball theory of player evaluation better than anyone else in baseball, focusing on players with strong on-base percentages and other unrecognized metrics that were important to winning games. For instance, he drafted a young Nick Swisher, a player now with the New York Yankees who is known for his OBPexcellence, out of college.

“That’s passé now because the highest paid players in the game are guys that get on base,” he said. “Back then, 10 or 12 years ago, it was about the seventh highest paid statistic in the game. People were paying for skill sets that didn’t necessarily correlate strongly to winning.”

Beane talked about how teams with greater resources could invest in players that had all the skills, the way the Yankees once invested in a young, high school shortstop named Derek Jeter, who could run, throw, hit and play defense.

“Those guys cost $20 million a year,” he said. “We couldn’t afford that. What we needed was guys who did one thing really well and what they did really well had a huge impact on winning.”  

Beane adopted this philosophy out of necessity, of course, due to his miniscule payroll, but he still deserves a lot of the credit for the Moneyball concept taking hold in Major League Baseball.

The GM was quite funny and self-deprecating, noting the disappointment of women when they see him rather than his movie star alter-ego Brad Pitt, and his own unsuccessful baseballcareer, launched after being the 23^rd pick of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft, which ended with a career stat line of a .219 batting average, 66 hits and 29 runs batted in.

“That’s essentially Chapter 11 if you’re a baseball player,” Beane said. 

Who will the Yankees sacrifice for payroll cut?

This is more of a question for next winter, but who will the New York Yankees sacrifice in order to lower their payroll?

If you take Hal Steinbrenner at his word, which I do, the Yankees are going to do whatever it takes to get below that magic $189 million mark in payroll by 2014 to free themselves of paying millions of dollars in luxury taxes. As Brian Cashman notes, the Yankees still have the highest payroll in baseball and that is not going to change anytime soon. But the Yankees’ free-spending days are over.

Of course, the Yankees will have some money coming off their payroll naturally in time for 2014. Rafael Soriano’s three-year deal, which pays him more than $11 million annually, will expire by then. And Derek Jeter will have an option year that will pay him only $8 million barring a renegotiation (that’s if Jeter even decides to keep playing, not a certainty by any stretch).

But the Yankees will have to throw some money at their younger superstars Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano, which will eat up the savings from expiring contracts. Cano is the one that worries me the most as his current deal expires after 2013 and his agent is Scott Boras, who is always looking for the biggest payday. Plus, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira all have several years left on their contracts, which combined amount to about $72 million in 2014, well over a third of the figure the Yankees want to get down to.

The Yankees are going to have to cut someone making decent money loose, even if they do not want to. Nick Swisher is the name that has been bandied about recently and it makes a lot of sense since his current deal expires after this season. That would not sit well with some Yankee fans, but Swisher’s expiring contract and postseason futility make him expendable. 

Yankees start to get busy in the offseason

The New York Yankees began what will be a typically busy offseason by exercising the contract options for Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher.

I have to admit to being a little surprised by the willingness to extend Swisher’s contract. I thought the Yankees would think twice about bringing him back considering his consistent failure in the postseason. Swisher has definitely brought a burst of positive energy into the Yankee clubhouse (which desperately needed it for many years) and has endeared himself to the Yankees faithful. He has also been a high on-base guy and a decent run producer in the regular season. But with the Yankees locked into long-term contracts at so many positions, I thought Swisher might be the major change the Yankees made as far as position players after a disappointingly quick end to their playoff run.

The quick extension on Cano’s option was not surprising. I don’t think Scott Boras was joking at all when he said he wanted to renegotiate those option years. It seems like Boras just changed his story when the heat got turned up too high. But Brian Cashman quashed that talk very quickly by exercising the option, making it clear to Boras the Yankees have no intention of giving up their favorable contract just because Boras was seeking a new deal for his new client. With Boras as his agent, that decision could definitely hurt the Yankees when it comes time to pursue a new deal with Cano. But at least for now the issue was quickly put to bed.

So less than 48 hours after the World Series ended, the Yankees got their first order of official player business out of the way. The most important, however, is still to come: a new deal for ace CC Sabathia.

Girardi steps to the plate for his hitters

Joe Girardi stepped up to the plate to defend his hitters by arguing that their lack of production in the American League Division Series had a lot to do with bad luck. Apparently, he didn’t see what the rest of us saw.

If he had, he would have noticed that Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher failed in key situations in the playoffs for the third consecutive year, which is enough of a sample to indicate that they are simply not clutch postseason players. Girardi would have noticed that Alex Rodriguez, aside from his performance in 2009 (which he definitely deserves a lot of credit for), has reverted to bad form in the playoffs. He would have noticed that his #9 hitter Brett Gardner had as many runs batted in (5) as his 3-4-5 hitters.

“I guess I could have put Gardy fourth,” Girardi said sarcastically when questioned about why he kept running out the exact same lineup in the ALDS.

No, Joe. No one is suggesting that you bat Gardner in the cleanup spot for the New York Yankees. What people are suggesting is that the lineup needs to be shaken up, that ARod, Tex and Swish can’t be allowed to continue coming up short in the playoffs in key situations. The biggest shake-up would be for the Yankees to let Swisher walk away and give right field to one of their young hitting studs, likely Eduardo Nunez, or go shopping for a relatively inexpensive, but clutch veteran.

Moving Robinson Cano into the third spot in the lineup for the playoffs was a good start, a move that Girardi was obviously not afraid to make and should stick to, unless he decides to bat Cano cleanup. But Girardi is going to have to seriously rethink his lineup. Should ARod continue batting fourth? Not if he can’t protect Cano. Who replaces Jorge Posada at designated hitter and where should that person bat? If it’s Jesus Montero, do you put more pressure on the kid by batting him in the middle of the lineup or do you protect him by slotting him seventh, where Posada batted most of the year?

These are legitimate questions and Girardi has to seriously consider them all. Unfortunately for the Yankees, he has plenty of time to think these days.

Yankees have few moves to make

I enjoy the Daily News' Keep 'em or Dump 'em poll/game as much as the next fan, but the problem is that it encourages too many choices that are simply unrealistic.

There are many players on the New York Yankees that they cannot get rid of (no matter how much we want them to be gone) because of long-term, expensive contracts. But John Harper has some useful suggestions, which I think the Yankees should seriously consider.

The one idea that I think has the most merit is getting rid of Nick Swisher. Sure, his $10.25 million option might seem like chump change to the Yankees, but Swisher has proven that he is worthless in the postseason. I know some fans love his boisterous attitude (I myself have never been a huge fan), but I think his playoff futility has gone on too long to keep him around. And since the Yankees are stuck with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, Swisher is the most likely fall guy for the offense's failure in the 2011 American League Division Series.

I also like Harper’s idea of putting a weight clause in CC Sabathia’s next contract. The media seems to think that Sabathia became less effective down the stretch because he gained back all the weight he loss last offseason and then some, which is entirely possible. Personally, I would prefer that the Yankees offer Sabathia a contract where the latter years are triggered by reaching certain clauses such as number of wins and innings. But Sabathia has all the leverage in these negotiations, which he absolutely should use (we know the Yankees would), and is unlikely to agree to such limitations.

But as much as Yankee fans would like to be rid of ARod and AJ Burnett (they are so far running the highest dump scores in the Daily News poll), neither one of them is going anywhere. The Yankees have to concentrate on player moves they can make such as letting Swisher walk away. The rest the Yankees just have to live with.

Who's at fault for Yankees quick playoff exit?

When a good baseball team loses in the playoffs, the natural question is “whose fault was it”? With the New York Yankees, there are a lot of culprits.

We definitely know who is not at fault. Jorge Posada, in what could have been his last games as a Yankee, did everything he could to try to help his team ascend to the next round of the playoffs. Brett Gardner, the #9 hitter, had several clutch hits and made the Detroit Tigers pitchers nervous every time he was on base. And as shocking as this would have seemed going into the American League Division Series, AJ Burnett came through with the best starting pitching performance.

So who takes the blame? I’d start with CC Sabathia. The Yankees ace looked like a contender for a Cy Young award against any team not named the Boston Red Sox this year. And in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, he started off by giving up a home run in the first inning. He had a very rocky start in Game 3 (messed-up routine, tight strike zone, way too many excuses) against Tigers ace Justin Verlander. And when he had a chance to redeem himself last night, he gave up what proved to be the winning run.

But the middle of the vaunted Yankees lineup deserves a large share of the blame. Alex Rodriguez will get most of the attention, which he deserves for his 2 for 18 performance and strikeouts in key situations last night. But Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher both had bad playoff series for the third consecutive year. (For the ultra-popular Swisher, his futility at the plate again might have finally been enough for the Yankees to show him the door). These are the guys the Yankees should be relying on to drive in runs, not Brett Gardner.

I can’t decide right now who deserves the lion’s share of the blame for the Yankees too-quick exit from the playoffs. Maybe in a couple of days, I will get past the disappointment and see things more clearly. For now, I have to make other plans for Saturday night.

HOPE week off to another inspiring start

The New York Yankees are once again bringing hope to those who deserve it the most and receiving hope in return.

The Yankees third annual HOPE week is off to another inspiring start. The first day had Nick Swisher, Francisco Cervelli, Chris Dickerson and Russell Martin singing with members of Daniel's Music Foundation, which provides free music instruction to individuals with disabilities. As the aunt of a disabled child, it really lifts my spirits to see the Yankees get involved with such a cause.

With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks fast approaching, it was also nice to see the Yankees highlight an organization such as Tuesday’s Children that has done so much to help kids recover from that day and other horrific tragedies. Current Yankees manager Joe Girardi and former Yankees manager Joe Torre led the very large Yankee contingent that spent the day with the kids in the program and the adults who mentor them.

I love that the Yankees players get so much obvious joy from their interactions with these well-deserving honorees, especially the kids. The players have just as much fun at these events as the fans they are honoring, as shown by the impromptu water balloon fight that broke out today. I really do love seeing the Yankees so willing to share their time with people who have suffered and overcome so much.

I want to give a shout-out to public relations director Jason Zillo, who had the foresight to understand that the Yankees can bring joy to people who deserve it the most through these simple interactions. What Zillo probably didn’t anticipate was that his players would receive as much hope as they give.

Another HOPE week brings another week of beautiful stories.

Honest Derek shows his true emotions

Not Honest Abe, but Honest Derek.

Watching Derek Jeter circle the bases after hitting the home run for hit #3,000 was one of those moments where it felt like we were finally seeing the real Derek Jeter after all these years. He was smiling ear to ear, openly celebrating his milestone (but not in a way that showed up the Tampa Bay Rays) and had that huge smile still plastered on his face when he was greeted by best pal Jorge Posada and the rest of the New York Yankees at home plate.

But it was even more refreshing and enlightening watching Jeter in his post-game interviews admit to being relieved that the pursuit is over and that he was feeling pressure to achieve the milestone at home in front of the Yankee faithful. Jeter admitted that he was lying to the media when he tried to act like the pressure wasn’t getting to him and that he wasn’t upset about the Rays refusing to play the split doubleheader, robbing him of an extra home game to get the hits he needed before the All-Star game.

During his post-game interview with Kim Jones on the field, Jeter started to get emotional when he heard the fans chanting his name over and over and Jones asked him how he felt about it, which he responded to by waving his cap at his fans. He showed even more emotion during the press conference after, which was yet another indication of just how much it meant to him to do what he did at home.

Jeter is never going to be Nick Swisher, wearing his emotions on his sleeve for the world to see. But I am heartened to see him start to be so open, whether it’s Jeter admitting to being angry at the Yankees for the way they treated him during his contract negotiations to him allowing camera crews into his castle to document his journey to 3,000 to his thrilling gift to New York and mutual love affair with the Yankees faithful yesterday afternoon. After all these years, we’re starting to see some of the real Derek Jeter and it’s quite a sight to see.

Girardi tries to quell Jeter leadoff fire

Joe Girardi is trying to prevent a potential controversy from brewing by firmly insisting that Derek Jeter will bat leadoff when he returns from the disabled list to the New York Yankees. But the real question is how long Jeter will hit first.

Girardi is not going to embarrass Jeter by shifting him out of the top spot before he reaches the 3,000-hit milestone. But once the well-deserved celebration dies down, how long will Girardi keep Jeter in the leadoff spot in the Yankees lineup? It’s not like the manager doesn’t have other options. The #1 spot has been kind to Nick Swisher, who has raised his game after struggling for most of the season, while Brett Gardner definitely has the speed and explosiveness to bat first in the lineup.

The problem with moving Jeter is that it likely means moving him to the bottom of the lineup. As well as Curtis Granderson is hitting, you can’t displace him from the #2 spot. The heart of the Yankees lineup is set with Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano. I don’t think Girardi would put Jeter even behind Cano at #6 because ideally a hitter with a little more pop would be in that spot to protect Robinson.

Jeter has stated several times that he doesn’t care where he hits in the lineup although he has also stated a preference for batting in the first inning. Any move would be an adjustment for Jeter, particularly since he hasn’t hit in the bottom of the lineup since very early in his career. You’d have to hope that his pride doesn’t take too much of a hit when he is moved down in the batting order. But this is Jeter, who will probably be the last person in New York to acknowledge that his skills have diminished with age. He likely won’t be happy with a lineup move.

Girardi can only prevent this fire for so long. Sooner or later, it will burn out of control.

Yankees have no place for Johnny Damon

As popular as Johnny Damon was in the Bronx, the chances of him returning to the New York Yankees are remote.

Damon proved to be a clutch player in pinstripes and was a big reason why the Yankees beat the Phillies in that World Series last year. But the problem is that Damon is a year older now, meaning his range in the field is probably worse than it was during his last few years with the Yankees. Besides, the Yankee outfield is settled with Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher so Damon would be strictly a backup limited to one start a week, barring an injury. With Jorge Posada now firmly ensconced in the designated hitter spot, there's simply no place for Damon to get at-bats.

But I can see why there would be some interest in bringing Damon back. During the Yankees' loss to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series, they needed someone to step up, have good at-bats and wear the Rangers pitchers down. Damon would have been the perfect guy for that job and perhaps that could have woken up the sleeping offense. We'll never know for sure, but maybe that ALCS turns out a bit differently if Damon was still wearing pinstripes.

Damon didn't have a great year for Detroit, but I can see him getting a job with more regular playing time than the Yankees can offer. If he's willing to sign a reasonable contract (no sure thing with Scott Boras as an agent), he would be a great fit for a team on the periphery with young players he can mentor. I hope he does find the right place for him, but it probably won't be with the Yankees.

Thanks to KenN and Mattingly23 via Wikipedia for the photo.

Yankees don't need Crawford or Werth

The New York Yankees need pitching, not hitting, despite the disappearance of their offense in the playoffs. That's why I believe the stories about their lack of interest in Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth.

Sure, the Yankees could be spinning the story to drive down the price for either or both of these guys. But in making their offseason plans this week, I totally buy that the discussion centered on how much money they can throw at Cliff Lee and a backup plan to trade for a good starting pitcher if Lee spurns them. The Yankees need another arm to go with CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes, especially if Andy Pettitte finally decides to go home for good. Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi believe AJ Burnett can rebound in 2011 and the next guy they hire to be their pitching coach will have the sole mission of fixing Burnett, but they can’t pin their hopes on being able to straighten him out.

When the Yankees look at their team, I don't think they see their outfield as a liability. Late in the baseball season, Curtis Granderson started to show the promise that led Brian Cashman to go after him and say goodbye to fan favorite Johnny Damon. Brett Gardner scored nearly 100 runs, mostly out of the 9th spot in the lineup, while bringing an element of speed that the team has been missing for a long time. And despite his second consecutive rough postseason, Nick Swisher had an All-Star year in hitting 29 homers and knocking in 89 runs.

This being the Yankees, I wouldn't rule them out of landing Crawford and/or Werth, especially if the market for free agents collapses again. But there won’t be intense pressure to sign either one like there was two winters ago to sign Sabathia. If Cashman hadn't gotten his man that time, his master plan for revamping the Yankees would have blown up in his face. But he got Sabathia and another World Series ring.

If Cashman can focus all his energy on Lee, he could add more jewelry to his collection. He doesn't need another bat for that, even if has the name Crawford or Werth on it.

Thanks to Keith Allison and phillymads63 via Wikipedia for the photos.

Playoffs or bust for Hughes, Yankees

Phil Hughes put the New York Yankees within striking distance of another berth in the playoffs.

He wasn't crisp by any stretch of the imagination. I actually thought Hughes was sharper in last week's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. But he battled for a solid 6 1/3rd innings against the team’s division rivals. Unlike Javier Vazquez or AJ Burnett, the youngster has figured out how to win baseball games when he doesn't have his best stuff. It bodes well as the Yankees head toward October, with Hughes solidifying a spot in the postseason rotation.

The Yankees looked terrible losing five of six games to the Texas Rangers, a potential playoff opponent, and the pesky Rays, who have been breathing down the Yankees necks. But they have turned things completely around with Derek Jeter looking more like himself at the plate and Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner fighting their way back into the lineup after injury layoffs. The most important return, of course, was Andy Pettitte, looking like he didn't miss a beat despite his two-month stint on the disabled list and boosting his team’s October hopes.

For Hughes and the Yankees, it's playoffs or bust. The magic number is down to three.