Manager Joe Girardi and General Manager Brian Cashman just held court at Yankee Stadium.
Here are some news and notes from their back to back press conferences:
First of all Yankees Pitching Coach, Dave Eiland has been fired. Cashman said it is a private matter and had nothing to do with what happened in the ALCS.
Say what? Let's face it, the Yankees starting pitching was poor in the second half of the season (except for C C Sabathia) and was absolutely awful in the ALCS.
On free-agent Derek Jeter, Cashman said, "we will work something out that we are both comfortable with." And on free-agent manager Joe Girardi, Cashman said, "we will start talking contract tomorrow. I'd like to retain him and he'd like to stay."
And when it came to the Texas Rangers 6-game win over the Yanks in the ALCS, Cash simply said: "They dominated us."
On his off-season blunders from last year, Cashman said fittingly, "Javy Vazquez didn't work out and the injury bug hit Nick Johnson again."
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Oh by the way, maybe the Yankees GM's best soundbite of the whole day was,"Texas made us look old."
Meanwhile, Joe Girardi put the season in simple terms, "we didn't accomplish our goals. That's disappointing. That's hard to swallow.
Texas outhit us and outpitched us."
On his hope of remaining as the Yankees skipper, Girardi said,"I love being here and hope it gets done quickly."
So the Yankees post-mortem is complete.
Now Cashman has to get to work. Girardi, Jeter, Pettitte and Rivera are all free-agents.
And the Yankees have to figure out, how to straighten out A.J. Burnett -- and what to do with another of the "core four," Jorge Posada. Can he catch 120 games? Will he become the DH? Is the Venezuelan prodigy, Jesus Montero, ready to take his spot?
These are not happy times around the Yankee camp -- not when they failed to meet expectations. And certainly not when they were out-classed by a team with a $55 million payroll.
Then again, a lot of these guys should be happy that "The Boss" isn't around anymore. Because then Dave Eiland wouldn't be the only casualty.
