The Season: The Yankees were pretty consistent for the first five months; in their best month (July) they were 15-10; their worst was August, when they were 13-15. They are kicking butt in September, but it's too late to catch up with the division leaders.

The big story before the season was what they would get out of their trio of young pitchers. Not much, as it turned out; Joba Chamberlain delivered 100 kick-ass innings, but also spent time on the DL; Hughes and Kennedy were either hurt or terrible or both. A devastating injury to Chien-Ming Wang further depleted the staff. But Mike Mussina's return to form, and a pretty good bullpen, helped the Yankees finish with a league-average staff ERA.

As it turned out, the REALLY big story of the season - and the shocker - was the ineptitude of the offence. The Yankees are 8th in the American League in runs scored, after leading the previous two years. They had fewer baserunners, the power dropped significantly - and most frustrating, they were terrible with runners in scoring position.

High Point: An 8-game winning streak in mid-July put them within three games of the division lead - and in better shape than they had been a year before. Game #7 of that streak was Joba Chamberlain's dominant 1-0 victory over Josh Beckett and the Red Sox.

Positive Trends: Honestly? None; not at the major league level, anyways. The Yankees are by far the oldest team in the league; even in September, they were giving a tryout to Carl Freakin' Pavano.

I guess a strong finish by both Brian Bruney and Phil Coke, plus the likelihood that both Pavano and Sidney Ponson have thrown their last pitches in a Yankee uniform, are the most positive trends at this point.

Pleasant Surprises: The Moose has 19 wins, and is going for the elusive #20 this afternoon.

As the primary setup men, Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez were pretty good.

After an injury-plagued 2007, Johnny Damon stayed in the lineup and had one of his best seasons at the plate.

Disappointments: Robinson Cano struggled at the plate, struggled in the field, was benched for not hustling, and I believe is solely responsible for both the subprime mortgage crisis and Speed Racer's failure at the box office.

Melky Cabrera was terrible in centre field, and was eventually demoted back to the minors.

The Big Three, whom the Yankees were apparently unwilling to deal for Johan Santana, combined for a grand total of four wins:

• Joba Chamberlain pitched great, first as a reliever and then in 12 starts. But shoulder soreness put him on the DL in August, and reopened the debate over whether his future is in the rotation or the pen.
• Philip Hughes struggled in eight starts, won zero games, and missed much of the season with a stress fracture in his rib cage. Still better than shoulder surgery, I guess
• Ian Kennedy posted a gaudy 8.17 ERA in nine starts, picking up (not surprisingly) zero wins and making a trip to the DL with bursitis in his shoulder and a strained lat muscle. He pitched very well at AAA.

Pudge Rodriguez hit absolutely nothing after the Yankees acquired him at the deadline. This may have been a karma thing, as the Yankees gave up nothing to get him.

The Predictable: Mariano Rivera was the best closer in baseball.

After batting .164 in April, some people starting declaring Jason Giambi to be finished. He hit 32 homers, and reminded our modern shaving-obsessed society about the awesome power of man-hair.

Despite going on the DL in May with a strained quad, Alex Rodriguez tacked on another 35 homers to his career total, and was one of the most productive hitters in the league.

After Chien-Ming Wang suffered a season-ending injury while running the basepaths, the Yankees replaced him with Sidney Ponson. It didn't work out.

Epitaph: Most teams, I think, would view this season with the glass half-full. They won 88 games playing in a tough division (they faced Roy Halladay six times, for crying out loud, and went 1-5) and they lost their best starter in a freak accident in June. Their young stud pitchers failed to live up to expectations, but all three avoided major invasive surgery and that's a positive too.

On other hand, I'm not sure how other teams would view these managers. The generally awful play of the young players was a big disappointment, given that Joe Girardi's resume consists of the great play of the young Marlins in 2006 and little else. And then there's GM Brian Cashman's performance at the trade deadline. I won't quibble with the Pudge pickup; they needed a catcher, he was freely available, it didn't work out. But the Nady deal was a head-scratcher; this team badly needed both a starting pitcher and a centre fielder, and Nady provided neither. Maybe Nady will be a stud in 2009 and make the trade look good - but then again, he was never all that good before this season.

Dunno about Girardi, but Cashman will be back next season, and it sounds as though there will be significant changes made. That's not a bad thing, as this team desperately needs to get younger; although, a youth movement doesn't seem to be a high priority. For 2009, the Yankees will have roughly $75 million coming off of the books, and will be moving into a new stadium; that sounds like a recipe for big spending on some big free agents (while the kids - Cano, Cabrera, Kennedy, even Hughes - may be used as trade bait).

As a Blue Jays fan, I expect the Yankees to look quite different next season, and I expect that they will be tough. C.C. Sabathia will make them tougher (though with all due respect, C.C. will still only be the second-best left-hander in New York), and I guess having to face A.J. Burnett will be a curious experience. But they need to get younger, and they desperately need a huge defensive upgrade at both second base and centre field (cuz we all know that the defence at shortstop will continue to suck).

Failing those improvements, I expect that Roy Halladay will hand their asses to them again in 2009.