Yankees: What we learned from the postseason and what’s next

The postseason brought to light certain weaknesses that must be ameliorated before the start of the 2021 regular season if the team hopes to make it all the way to the World Series next year.

In terms of starting pitching, the addition of Severino and German, assuming they will perform to their full potential, will make the club a lot stronger, though Sevy won’t be back until June or July.

The Bombers should boast a stronger starting pitching staff next season. Following Cole, Severino, and German in the first three positions in the rotation, the Yanks will be able to plug Deivi Garcia and Jordan Montgomery into the fourth and fifth slots. Both are still maturing and developing, and they showed great promise during the shortened 2020 season. We can reasonably expect them to perform even better in 2021. This is all assuming that Masahiro Tanaka or James Paxton do not return.

I remain impressed with Jonathan Loaisiga, who is only 25 and continues to develop. Perhaps he will move from the bullpen to a starting role? He’s been bouncing back and forth between multi-inning and single-inning outings, and it’s clear he can’t handle high-leverage relief appearances. Maybe a spot in the rotation will do him well.

Having starting pitchers who can consistently go deep into games will also help increase the effectiveness of the bullpen. The stronger the starting rotation, the more rested the bullpen arms will be.

While the relief pitching corps is solid, the club will miss Kahnle, who will be out for the entire 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early August. The Yanks therefore should pick up an effective relief pitcher in free agency during the offseason, perhaps someone like Liam Hendriks (or Blake Treinen). If Adam Ottavino can regain his form after a disappointing 2020, he will bolster the bullpen, too.

Young Nick Nelson is a dark horse to join the bullpen next year if he can develop consistent command of his pitches. He was lights out when he was able to find the strike zone, even when pitching to elite hitters.

Those are all feasible possibilities for the pitching staff, especially given the expected turnover.

The Yankees have a catching problem on their hands.

And then there’s the catching situation, which suffers from Gary Sanchez behind the plate. Even the most loyal members of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club would agree that he was awful offensively and defensively during the regular season and postseason. As if he already didn’t have enough problems behind the plate and in the batter’s box, his suspect pitch calling became an issue during the shortened campaign.

Sanchez seemingly produces negative energy and is a distraction for the Yanks. The team must move him out and replace him during this offseason. This should be the number one priority. Minus a solid catcher behind the plate, the Yanks will not reach the World Series next year. All great World Series champions have had capable backstops, especially defensively.

At the same time, a change of scenery will probably be good for Sanchez. How much the Bombers can get for him on the market in return, however, is a big question mark – the team may very well have waited too long to move him and may not get someone valuable in return.

J.T. Realmuto will be a free agent this offseason. The budget-conscious Yanks will likely balk at his price tag and requested contract length and decide not to make a run at him. Instead, Cashman should aggressively pursue Chicago White Sox catcher James McCann.

McCann made the AL All-Star team in 2019. In 31 of the 60 regular-season games in 2020 (as the backup catcher for the White Sox), he had a slash line of .289/.360/.536, slugged seven home runs and drove in 15 runs.

He’s also a good fielder. He only had 5, 3, and 2 passed balls in 2018 (in 114 games), 2019 (in 106 games), and 2020 (again in 31 games), respectively, and his fielding percentages were .994, .992, and .985 for those three years. His CS percentages have been in the low-to-mid-30s throughout his career. He earned $5.4 million in 2020, and he should be affordable for the Yanks, especially compared to what the team would have to pay Realmuto.

Alternatively, on the other side of town, the Yanks could trade for Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs. At 28, he’s two years younger than both Realmuto and McCann, and he earned about $1 million less than McCann in 2020. He is arbitration-eligible in 2021, and he will be a free agent in 2023. He is a dependable hitter and an excellent fielder, knows how to call pitches and handle a good pitching staff, and has good leadership qualities. This is a long shot, but there were trade rumors surrounding him this past offseason. You never know.

The Yankees have too many righties and don’t play great defense.

Clearly, the Yankees’ lineup is comprised of too many right-handed hitters. The team should attempt to add at least a couple of good left-handed batters (or switch hitters) this offseason. Otherwise, opposing teams will continue to take advantage of their lopsided lineups.

And why doesn’t this team have more lefties? What’s the point of the short porch in right field?

Brett Gardner, perhaps the best left-handed hitter on the team, may not return next year. If he doesn’t, then this issue will become an even more important one for the Bombers to address during the offseason. Even if he does, the club still has a need here.

In addition, the Yanks do not have an adequate mix of home run hitters and contact hitters. This lack of diversity is a problem because their home run hitters tend to strike out a substantial amount, which makes run production susceptible to big droughts.

Of course, when the team’s home run hitters are yanking the ball out of the yard consistently, life is good. However, when one or more studs go into an extended slump, it becomes increasingly difficult to score runs. Contact hitters tend to get on base a lot, and having home run hitters coming up more often with men on base is a huge advantage.

One of the reasons the Yanks did not win more games during the summer or advance to the ALCS is because too many of their hitters did not come through with men on base at critical times during games. Having a couple of more contact hitters in the lineup would have probably reduced this problem.

On top of that, the Yankees were a very bad defensive team. Gleyber Torres committed too many errors and was one of the worst fielding shortstops in the AL. The outfield made plenty of errors/gaffes, and we already talked about Sanchez.

While the Yankees are a superior team and already have the core personnel, when healthy, to remain World Series contenders, they still need to make changes in many departments of the roster if they want to take the next step. It sounds crazy, but these issues with the offense, defense and pitching will not solve themselves.

The front office needs to make adjustments and they must be taken care of before 2021.

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