By NICHOLAS BUONANNO
Contributing Writer
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Going into the 2014 baseball season, the New York Yankees had high hopes of reaching their franchises’ ultimate goal of winning the World Series. After missing the playoffs in 2013, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman went to the free agent market to add key players that looked to help the teams chances of returning to the playoffs. Cashman added two big name outfield free agents by signing Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran to multi-year deals.
With Brett Gardner returning to the Yankees after signing a contract extension at the start of the season, the team’s outfield now looked to be very deep in depth. Cashman was not done after signing two big name outfielders, he also added a power hitting catcher in Brian McCann, which looked to be a major upgrade for the Yankees catching position compared to their 2013 group of catchers. After rumors of the New York Yankees not wanting to go over any luxury taxes, it was unsure if they would then go after the top free agent pitcher who was coming to the Major Leagues from Japan in Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees indeed did go hard in the Tanaka negotiations, and on the bid to offer Tanaka a seven-year contract, making him one of the highest paid pitchers in baseball.
Just before the start of the 2014 Spring Training season, another big announcement concerning the Yankees was released. After writing a note to fans through his Facebook account, the Yankees starting shortstop and team captain officially announced that the 2014 season would be his last. After this announcement was made, many Yankees fans were hoping that the season would end with Jeter and the Yankees winning another World Series before his retirement.
At the beginning of the regular season, the team’s offense did not get off to a hot start as some of the big free agent signings were starting their career off slowly. During the remainder of the season, the Yankees not only had to deal with a lack of offense, but also had to battle through many injuries. During the course of the season, players like Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka all spent extended time on the disabled list.
With 3 of the 5 starting pitchers being injured for the majority of the season, guys like Minor League call up pitcher Shane Greene stepped up in big game situations. Another big pitcher that stepped in was midseason pickup Brandon McCarthy who the Yankees received in a trade. McCarthy helped keep them in the wild card race up until the final few games of the season. Since offense was the teams main problem throughout the 2014 season, Cashman also added a few offensive players who he thought could help the team down the stretch. With additions like Chase Headley, Martin Prado and Stephen Drew, the Yankees looked to have a few offensive upgrades to try to help them make a playoff push.
Although most of the additions did help the team stay close in the Wild Card race, they were eliminated from any playoff contentions this past week. The Yankees did not get much offensive help from key additions like Carlos Beltran or Brain McCann throughout the season.
Even though their final home game was after the Yankees found out they had no chance to make the playoffs for now two seasons in a row, the focus was not on the team’s failure to reach their franchises’ ultimate goal, but rather on how Major League Baseball and all the Yankee’s fans looked forward to saying their final goodbyes to one of the most respected men in all of sports, that being Derek Jeter.
The Yankees final home game was a dramatic one from the start, with Jeter drilling a double deep to left field to hit in the Yankees first run of the game. Following his double, Jeter would score and tie the game. Before Jeter hit first at bat, in the top of the first inning the loud Derek Jeter roll call and chants began and continued throughout the remainder of the game, to the point where Jeter admitted that it was hard for him to focus and how he appreciated and thanked the fans once again. Jeter ended his final at bat in Yankee Stadium by doing something that he had never done before at the new stadium, which was get a walk off hit.
Jeter ended the final chapter to his storybook Yankees career by getting the walk off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning. Although Yankees fans were not able to see their team in the playoffs due to its major lack of offense and many injuries, at least they were able to see and celebrate a legend who continued to play the game the right way each and every season for the past 20 years. Now everyone can have one last Derek Jeter memory that we can all remember forever, along with the many more that happened throughout his glorious Yankees career.