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NY Daily News | Kristie Ackert: The Yankees fell short of their ultimate goal this season, but calling the year a “failure” like Aaron Judge does seems a bit harsh. Brian Cashman takes another view, commenting that he feels that the organization has a good process in place in Thursday’s press conference. Given that the Yankees managed to win 103 games and advance further into the postseason than last year while being hit by a decade’s worth of injuries, it’s hard not to be impressed with the team’s analytics/scouting/player dev corps. However, there’s a difference between being confident in your organization and being complacent. I guess we will know which category Cashman falls into soon enough.
SNY | Scott Thompson: In true 2019 Yankees fashion, one of the most important news items to kick off the offseason was an injury update. Aaron Hicks, who overcame an elbow injury to play in the ALCS and homer off of Justin Verlander, will undergo Tommy John surgery next week and will be out for eight to ten months. Among other things, this means that the Yankees require a placeholder center fielder for next year. Thompson believes that Brett Gardner, who hit .251/.325/.503 with a career-high 28 homers this past year, is the ideal candidate for the job. The Yankees do have other options, including reuniting with Cameron Maybin or seeing what they have in Clint Frazier or Mike Tauchman. In terms of reliability, though, re-signing Gardner does seem like the safest route.
FanGraphs.com | Brendan Gawlowski: Finally, for those of you who wish to take their mind off the pain of seeing the Yankees’ World Series hopes snuffed out prematurely, here’s some fun (sort of) reading. The article is a list of all the World Series of the 21st century ranked in order of greatness (according to Gawlowski’s personal taste), featuring even more painful Yankee losses from the past. If you want to remember the franchise’s past triumphs, direct yourselves to #9 and #10 on the list. If you’re a masochist like me, go straight to #3 and #1.