The crucial decisions looming over Yankees offseason as title drought hits historic stretch

Another year, another early playoff exit.This one feels a little different, as not only could the Yankees not catch the small-payroll Rays in the AL East, they were swept out of the ALDS by their divisional foes.Their World Series title drought is now 17 years — the longest stretch since the Yankees won their first championship in 1923.Now, they head into an especially uncertain offseason — for both themselves and the sport.

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.And in his closing comments after Wednesday’s loss, their most important player — Aaron Judge — had a message for the front office: “We’re the Yankees.

I feel like they should go all-in and do what they need to do and if we’ve got holes, it’s finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, we’ve got to go out there and get it.’’ Complicating matters is the fact that MLB is almost certainly going to face another lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec.1 and there are fears that it may last deep into next year, with the landscape of the game potentially changing significantly, as the owners seek to implement a salary cap.With all that in mind, here’s a look at some of the key decisions the Yankees have to consider:The most important issues the Yankees face this offseason are at the top: Does Hal Steinbrenner want general manager Brian Cashman to continue to lead baseball operations? And if Cashman does return, does the longtime executive want to keep Aaron Boone as manager with one year remaining on Boone’s deal?Cashman endorsed Boone before the Yankees’ season-ending loss to the Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS, saying, “I think Boone’s a really good manager.

We’re here for a reason.There’s a lot of reasons behind that.

And he’s certainly part of that.”Boone, following the sweep, said he “of course” expected to return, adding, “Th...