THE REARVIEW MIRROR
Looking back on the Yankees’ 2005 season




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
October 17, 2005

After the Yankees dropped the final four games of last year’s ALCS to the Boston Red Sox it appeared the richest team in sports had hit rock bottom. Before that monumental collapse no team had ever gone from a 3-0 series lead only to lose in seven games. The 2004 Yankees will forever be known for the biggest choke in sports history.

To add insult to injury the Red Sox celebrated their improbable victory on the home field of Yankee Stadium in front of the Pinstriped Nation. That was too much for anyone connected with the Yankees to endure.

After swallowing that bitter pill the Boss, George Steinbrenner, vowed the team would get better.

The team underwent a major overhaul. The Bombers acquired starters Carl Pavano from the Florida Marlins and Jaret Wright from the Atlanta Braves. Both were coming off their best seasons in the majors. The biggest prize was finally working out a deal to get Randy Johnson out of Arizona. These three acquisitions were set to join returning starters Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown.

On paper this starting rotation looked to be as formidable as any in baseball. If they pitched anywhere near their expected potential the Yankees would be very difficult to beat. Obviously, the starters needed a good bullpen to back them up and Brian Cashman tried to improve that area by reacquiring Mike Stanton. They also picked up Felix Rodriguez and Buddy Groom. The Yankees retained Paul Quantrill, Tom Gordon, Steve Karsay and Mariano Rivera to round out the relief corps.

The Yankees also added Tony Womack from the St. Louis to play second base in place of the departed Miguel Cairo.

The Yankees entered the 2005 season with a lot of hope. They opened the season at home against the Red Sox. Randy Johnson was manager Joe Torre’s selection to be the opening day pitcher and the Big Unit didn’t disappoint. He threw six innings and only surrendered one earned run as the Yankees won 9-2. The Yankees won the following game behind Carl Pavano

The Yankees started out looking as good as advertised. However, for the remainder of the month New York looked anything, but a contender, as they ended up with an 11-19 record. The starting rotation was getting knocked around by the likes of Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Texas and the Los Angeles Angels.

It didn’t take long for the wheels to start coming off the wagon. Jaret Wright went on the DL with a sore right shoulder and spent the next four months there. He was joined by Kevin Brown in June and never returned; Carl Pavano in July and he never returned.

Suddenly, a once promising rotation looked like an episode of M.A.S.H. However, some nuggets of gold were found in this river of devastation. The Yankees discovered right-hander Chien Ming Wang (8-5, 4.09) at AAA Columbus, Shawn Chacon (7-3, 2.85), traded from the Colorado Rockies and Aaron Small (10-0, 3.20) from AAA Columbus. Without these three hurlers the Yankees season would’ve been sunk for sure. They were responsible for over twenty-five percent of the Yankees wins.

The relief corps was a shambles too. They Yankees dumped Paul Quantrill, Mike Stanton, Steve Karsay and Buddy Groom and replaced them with a myriad of pitchers from Columbus. The only one to stick was hard throwing Scott Proctor. The Yankees also picked up Alan Embree and Ramiro Mendoza from the Boston Red Sox after they had been placed on waivers. Neither pitcher worked out.

One other highlight of the season came about in the person of Robinson Cano.

Cano was also brought up from AAA Columbus when the Yankees tried to use Tony Womack in the outfield to replace a below par Bernie Williams. Although the outfield experiment was a failure the placing of Cano at second base was not. Cano fit right in with the Yankees infield and didn’t seem bothered by the bright lights of the New York or the pressure packed media. Cano joined the team on May 3rd and started that night. In his first couple of games Cano made some rookie errors, but that didn’t stop him. Cano became the regular second baseman where he batted .297 with 14 home runs and 62 RBI. He has placed himself in position to receive a lot of Rookie of the Year votes.

Even with the emergence of these unknown players manager Joe Torre had his hands full. Jason Giambi, who last year had to deal with numerous health issues, a steroid scandal and offensive numbers that were, well, offensive, started out the 2005 season as he had ended the previous year. He was a liability in the line up. To make matters worse the New York media were calling for Giambi’s head. They wanted him out of town. The Yankees had looked for reasons to void his contract. He wasn’t hitting and driving in runs.

The Yankees organization eventually realized it was stuck with their struggling high paid employee. Giambi was requested to go to Tampa Bay, the Yankees spring training facility, to work on his batting. He refused, which further infuriated his employers. Giambi sat on the bench while Tino Martinez played every day. Martinez reminded the Yankee fans of the once great dynasty by carrying the team on his back for the month of May. Tino hit ten home runs, including five in five games, and had a SLG% of .708. Giambi’s stock on the team was dropping faster than the stock market. But for once, Giambi was right.

On June 28th Jason Giambi was batting .257 with only four home runs and 22 RBI. When July hit so did Jason Giambi. Giambi hit 14 home runs and drove in 24 runs. In August he hit six more and drove in another 18 runs. In September Giambi slammed another seven homers and knocked in 22 runs. By the time the season ended Giambi had walloped 32 home runs, pushed 87 runs across and batted .271. It was a remarkable turnaround. Giambi’s sudden emergence as an offensive monster again was good enough to earn him the “Comeback Player of the Year” award as voted on by the fans.

Meanwhile, Joe Torre’s problems grew. Not only did he have a pitching staff with their own revolving door, he had to put up with statements made by George Steinbrenner and ever increasing questions by the press about his management moves. On July 1st the Yankees were in fourth place with a 39-39 record, and trailing the Boston Red Sox by six games. It was getting very tense in the Yankees clubhouse.

However, with all of the negative things swirling around him Joe Torre managed to be the one person who seemingly kept his head while all those around him were losing theirs.

From July 1st to the end of the season the Yankees caught fire and finished with a 95-67 record. That means they went 56-28 (.667 winning record). They somehow found ways to win games. Sometimes it was done with chewing gum and duct tape, but the Yankees kept winning. They went 19-10 in the final month of the season to take their eighth straight division title.

Under Joe Torre’s watch the Yankees have won and incredible four world titles, seven league championships and nine division championships. They have made the playoffs in each of Joe Torre’s ten years as Yankees manager.

In any other town a record like that would be worthy of immortality, but not in New York City. In New York success is measured by how many times you’ve brought back the World Series trophy. Anything less and the season has been a failure. The Yankees last won the World Series in 2000 when they beat their cross town cousins, the New York Mets, in five games. Although they appeared in the 2001 and 2003 World Series the Yankees didn’t bring home the prize. Those teams, according to the Yankees credo, failed.

This past season was no different. Although it was great to celebrate the latest division championship in Boston, the post-season was another exercise in futility and disappointment. The Yankees were thrown out of the playoffs in five games by their West Division nemesis the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

It was a bitter ending to what should have been a satisfying season. The Yankees faced more controversy, more roadblocks and more questions about their heart and guts than at any other time in Joe Torre’s reign as manager. Yet, they succeeded and they failed. The 2005 campaign will go down as a mixed bag of satisfaction and regret.

The satisfaction was in the Yankees winning their eighth straight division title. They discovered solid players in Robinson Cano, Chien Ming Wang, Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon. All four should have roster spots in 2006. Alex Rodriguez, although miserable numbers in the playoffs, had an MVP caliber season. Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui were also solid at the plate. Jason Giambi had a terrific post-season batting .421 and appeared to have rediscovered his stroke during the second half of the regular season. Randy Johnson won his last six decisions in the regular season. There were a lot of things to point to with contentment.

On the other side of the coin there were also things that were very unpleasant. No World Series trophy for the fifth straight year. The Yankees offense disappearing during the ALCS. Bernie Williams, probably playing his last season as a Yankee, looked bad at the plate and sometimes worse in the field. Jorge Posada’s offensive numbers fell off dramatically this year. Tony Womack was a huge bust. He couldn’t get on base unless he was put in to run for somebody. The revolving door pitching staff never completely got settled in. Consistency isn’t a word you would’ve used to describe it.

Either way you decide to look at it the 2005 season didn’t turn out the way we all hoped it would.

The Yankees have some pressing problems to solve in the off-season. First and foremost the Yankees need to fill their general manager’s role. Steinbrenner has made it clear he wants Brian Cashman back, but is Cashman willing to come back? He may have grown weary of the Boss’ tantrums and second-guessing and decided to bolt to new pastures. What about Joe Torre? He has yet to address the media in his post-season interview and many wonder if he too has had enough.

Now that Mel Stottlemyre has made it clear he has had enough the Yankees will have to go about finding a new pitching coach. They also need to address Hideki Matsui, who says his decision to re-sign with the club will depend, in part, who the manager is. The Yankees will also need to look at the catcher’s and centerfield positions as well.

Last, but not least, the pitching staff needs another major overhaul, especially in the relief corps. What about Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright? Just how healthy will they be in the spring of 2006? Do the Yankees want them back? Who’s going to replace Kevin Brown? How strong is Randy Johnson’s balky back, and is Mike Mussina finally run out of gas?

These are all questions the Yankees will have to address and soon. The new season is only 4 months away. Has this club finally run its playoff course? Are we preparing for some lean years ahead?

I don’t know the answers, but stay tuned and we’ll all find out together.


PLAY BALL!


© 2005 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

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