Break up the Yankees! Too old, too expensive

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez was subjected to ridicule and scorn. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)

NEW YORK -- George Steinbrenner would have issued a public apology.

After leading the league in wins this year, the New York Yankees didn't just lose to Detroit in the AL championship series. They got swept in one of the more humiliating moments in the team's history.

By now, the front office knows it needs an injection of youth. The wipeout may speed the turnover.

The four-game wipeout made headlines -- A-Rod's benching, Derek Jeter's injury, Robinson Cano's slump. But it also revealed serious cracks in the foundation, showing a team full of aging All-Stars at the plate, in the field and on the mound that suddenly seems a long, long way from championship calibre.

"Obviously, we're all getting older," Andy Pettitte said Thursday night after the season-ending 8-1 loss to the Tigers.

Jeter broke an ankle near the end. Mariano Rivera busted a knee back in the spring. The Yankees transformed baseball's bruisers into the Bashed Bombers, closer to AARP years than MVP seasons.

Alex Rodriguez was so bad, the $275 million man was benched in three of nine post-season games and pinch hit for in three others, a possible prelude to a forced departure from pinstripes.

Yankees co-chairperson Hank Steinbrenner won't address A-Rod's future, saying "I'm not going to get into that at this point." But he does think too much blame is being directed at Rodriguez.

"So is it fair to accuse him of everything but the Kennedy assassination? No, it's not fair, but we'll see what happens from this point on," Steinbrenner said Friday.

His life already a soap opera off the field, A-Rod turned into daily fodder for on-field intrigue.

"It wasn't just one guy struggling," Rodriguez said. "It was a collective group, and it was a very unique situation."

-- The Associated Press

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