From mlb.com:

03/31/2006 10:00 AM ET
Past glory escaping current Yankees
New approach has club falling short of last dynasty's success
Baseball Perspectives

Mike Bauman




Under manager Joe Torre, the Yankees have reached the World Series
twice since 2000. (Scott Galvin/AP)
MLB Headlines

• Einhorn revisits birth of March Madness
• Report: Ortiz near extension with Red Sox
• Padres' Cameron hobbled by pain in side
• Eaton out indefinitely with finger injury
• New deal near for Giants' Lowry?
• Cuts are also unkind to managers
• Central casting: Sox are leading men
• Selig announces steroid investigation
• More MLB Headlines

ADVERTISEMENT

print this page | e-mail this page
• Buy tickets to see the Yankees in 2006
• Complete Spring Training coverage


First of all, the world is not divided into Yankee fans and Yankee-
haters.
There is a third group: those of us who believe that the New York
Yankees are the greatest franchise in the history of North American
pro sports, but also believe that the Yanks are currently a bit off
their game.

You can offer up the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, the
Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the
Montreal Canadiens ... all of the alleged "dynasties." None of them
holds a candle to the Yankees and their 26 World Series titles, not
to mention what is now an eight-decade run of success.

But those of us in the third group also believe that the way the
Yankees are operating now is not likely to produce ultimate success.
That is, not likely to produce ultimate success on their terms, which
is winning the World Series.

The Yankees of 2006 will not be like the Yankees of the last great
Yankee period, 1996 through 2000, when the club won four World Series
in five seasons, including three in a row.

It is possible that this team will have even more overall talent than
those teams, but it will not have more pitching. And it will not be
like the great Yankees teams, in the largest sense of the
word "team."

The current Yankees are incredibly talented and extremely well-
funded. They have won eight division titles in a row, and they may
well make it nine. Their numerous detractors say: "Well, you ought to
get something for a payroll in excess of $200 million."

And this is something. It makes the Yankees the Atlanta Braves of the
American League. But that's not their idea of a good time.

What separates these Yankees, the division winners, from the previous
Yankees, the World Series winners? Two things. The first is depth of
pitching.

What has happened to the Yankees in the postseason, particularly the
last two postseasons, is simple. They have not had as much pitching
as the opposition, and in the postseason, that is typically the
determining factor.

The Yankees can successfully slug their way through the regular
season, as they did last season, when the AL East was characterized
by a lack of pitching. But in the postseason, you inevitably run into
clubs that got to that point on the strength of their pitching, or
can at least produce enough quality starts to make an October
difference.

The 2005 Yankees spent more on their starting rotation -- $75
million -- than many clubs spent on their whole roster. But much of
that money was spent on injury-prone pitchers such as Jaret Wright
and Carl Pavano. If not for the contributions of some much less
expensive pitchers -- Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon, Chien-Ming Wang --
the Yankees would not have even reached the postseason.

The 2006 Yankees have essentially the same cast of starters. Perhaps
this will be a season of much fuller health and effectiveness. But
Spring Training did not lend particular optimism to that possibility.

The other issue is that the great Yankee clubs of the late 1990s had
a core of tremendous in-house talent from the farm system, including
Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy
Pettitte. The Yankees are not getting that sort of quality, or
quantity, from their farm system now.

In the late '90s, the Yankees plugged in players who were not mega-
stars, but were admirable performers on several levels. That list
would include Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, Joe Girardi, Jeff Nelson
and you can add your own favorites. These Yankees formed a truly
cohesive unit -- one that in 1998, for instance, won, including the
postseason, 125 games. They were unbreakable.




News and features:

• Yankees notes: Starting rotation set
• Stinnett homers in ninth as Yankees win
• Mussina feeling good, ready for season
• Yanks' Pavano suffers bruised backside
• Yanks notes: Wright pitches in Minors
• Sheffield goes deep but Yanks lose
Multimedia:

• Jean Afterman on her role with Yanks
• Damon on how his shoulder feels
• Mussina on getting ready for '06
• Giambi on the pressure to win
• Vinny Micucci reports from Yankees camp
• Feinsand on Sheffield, Mussina deals
Spring Training info:
• MLB.com coverage | Schedule | Ballpark | Tickets

Today, it's different. The Yankees have been shopping at the
superstar store for some time, and they have unquestionably amassed a
splendid collection of talent.

But some of the superstars involved are known not only for their
overwhelming ability, but for being self-absorbed. This is not a
despicable tendency when it comes to putting up wondrous numbers. But
it does not foster the sense of unity that is necessary to confront
and overcome the difficult times.

Look at the 2004 American League Championship Series. This was a
story, on one hand, of the Boston Red Sox's indomitable ability to
stage a history-making rally from a 3-0 deficit. On the other hand,
it could just as easily be seen as evidence that there was no team,
no core, no real unit on the other side of the argument to rise up
and halt what was also an epic four-game collapse. No one disputes
the level of the Yankees' talent. But when the going got tough in the
last two postseasons, where was that typical unified Yankee will?

These may be subjective judgments, open to debate and interpretation.
But you can only add so many players who are out of the team
mainstream before a toll is taken on the team concept.

Even with a five-season championship drought, the Yankees have not
stopped being the Yankees. Neither the traditions nor the
expectations have been diminished. I remember vividly being on the
field of what was then Bank One Ballpark after Game 7 of the 2001
World Series. The Arizona Diamondbacks were celebrating, and, as some
of them said, it was not only great to win the Series, but it was
also great to beat the Yankees to win the Series.

If the money sets the Yankees apart, so does the talent and the
history. Love them or view them as the Evil Empire, they are a basic
part of what makes baseball unique.

This is where the Yankees are now: terrific talent on the field every
day, pitching questions and a mix of personalities that may or may
not blend to help them get back to what they see as their rightful
place -- atop the game of baseball. It is possible that the
combination of talent and resources will bring the ultimate
championship back to Yankee Stadium in 2006. But the Yankees are not
using anything like the established formula for making that happen.