Friday, November 27, 2015

Hal Steinbrenner Seemingly Has a Plan for the Yankees Offseason


If you’re a fan of the New York Yankees or have been for any length of time you have probably seen the same old song and dance for most of the winter’s and offseason’s you’ve experienced. The Yankees see a shiny new toy, the Yankees overpay for that shiny new toy despite their age, track record or injury history and the Yankees let that contract work for the now and worry about it later when it begins to burden them. Not anymore, at least that is my opinion based off what I have seen thus far this winter, as it looks like Hal Steinbrenner finally has a plan for the direction of the New York Yankees.

Now I know what you’re thinking, Hal is the Yankees owner and not the GM so who cares if he has a plan. That’s a valid and correct statement but at the end of the day Hal writes the checks and whether they admit it or not Hal has the final say in any and all deals and free agent signings. Most management driven deals are not initially reported as such but I’d say most of them, or more than we as a fan base should be comfortable with to be honest, come out eventually. See the Rafael Soriano signing or the Ichiro Suzuki trade and signing as examples of this.

In every interview you hear from Hal Steinbrenner it’s the same three or four lines that are likely on a tape recorder that he’s just playing back. The Yankees will look at everyone, it’s called due diligence, but the team is likely to stay out of the big free agent pool. That means no David Price, no Zack Greinke, no Jordan Zimmerman and no Ben Zobrist. Why? Because the team just doesn’t have the salary coming off the books before the 2016 season. Just $12.5 million is off the books from the 2015 season and all of that and then some will be eaten up by arbitration raises. In years past the team has taken that money and reinvested it, see the Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran signings along with the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes and the Brett Gardner extension.

Steinbrenner loves to name drop the names of the Yankees top prospects. James Kaprielian, Luis Severino, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge specifically. Steinbrenner believes building a farm system and building from within will not only allow the team to cut costs and get under the luxury tax threshold but will also make the team more “likeable” to fans. He’s got a point, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Steinbrenner is going to spend, not spend wildly like his father mind you, and he’s also going to invest in the future, something his father rarely to never did. 


It sucks now to watch the team miss the postseason in two consecutive years and lose in the Wild Card Game in 2015 but if this means the team can get back to being a perennial powerhouse as soon as 2017 and beyond I think I’m okay with that. That’s the plan, at least that’s what I think the plan is, and if it’s allowed to achieve fruition I think a lot of Yankees fans will be “okay” with it too. 

8 comments:

  1. His plan is to keep his hand in his pocket just like he is in the picture and give you basically the same team he gave you last year and raise your prices on concession stand and licensing items and ask you to come out and support this team that walked into the play in game. Cashman plays his typical game that everyone is available and does basically nothing to really upgrade the team. I still want to see what the players he picked up last have success again in 2016. There are a lot of ball players that are one hit wonders and before I can say Cashman made a great move I need to see more. Jury still out for me

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    1. Hi, Ken H...
      I think we all would say the Jury is still out...this is only what, five months to go before we see if anyone is going to play well. Being as I can't agree with you (that would set a precedent) some of the players are an upgrade for sure over Drew and Jones, don't you think?

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    2. Reed this franchise has taken a hard downward turn in spending money and Patrick is 100% correct in his assessment of this organization. It seems Hal's only plan is to make more money each year. He knows he will have a revenue stream from licensing and ticket sales and parking and tv revenue etc.

      This team will be good enough to make it interesting to keep the fans enticed to hang on. Meanwhile Dave Dombrowksi will clean the Elf's clock this off season and he has already started the process. Toronto will still be good even without Price and we will keep our young talent down like Bird and Judge because god-forbid we buy out deadwood and send them packing. Hal its the anti George especially with giving back to the fans. This organization is becoming a joke with the money they have and the money they won't spend.

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    3. Cashman, and in no way am I defending Cashman here, got a raw deal. Go anywhere and you can see that the $500 million spending spree was management driven. Hal wanted Ellsbury, Beltran, McCann, Tanaka and Gardner extended. Hal adds the payroll only to tell Cashman to find new and creative ways to get it back off and still compete. How the hell does that work?

      Also the Yankees saw their lowest attendance in 15 seasons this year so Hans, you're right. He will use that as an excuse to keep payroll down and ignore the fact that no one expected the team to win since they only technically added Andrew Miller, Didi and Evo last offseason (He added Headley as well but that was a re-sign so...)

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  2. THE PLAN ? There is no true plan.

    For years, perhaps two generations, the plan was to go to the World Series every year. Yankee mgmt
    said it everyday, ten times a day. That was the montra, and it was indeed the plan. They were
    always going to be the best........" We are New York, our history, etc."...How I miss those days.

    The plan as I see it, is not to offend all other teams, by not using their hard earned
    revenues to improve themselves.

    Remember not that long ago ?...."The Yankees hit too many home runs" ?
    That resulted in playing peewee ball, and we have left 80,000 men on base each year.
    They can not score. Or win....All across America, everyone is happy.

    A dozen Cubans, and an army of top flight players have gone on to sign with every team under
    the sun.
    While the wealthiest team on the face of the earth....$ 3 Billion, goes down the stretch run
    last year by picking up a bench player from Seattle. No knock on him, not his fault.

    The plan is wait a few more years longer, while the great flow of revenue goes into the pockets
    of those that ...'talk the plan'.

    You want to see a plan ? Watch what the Red Sox do this off season.

    Or, maybe I am the horse's ass, and winning the Wild Card was truly the brass ring.


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    1. Like I said above the attendance was as low as it's been in 15 years in 2015. The last time this team drew less than 4 million fans was the 2000 season. That's weird though since the team was a juggernaut and in the latter years of a dynasty. Oh well.

      The team doesn't have (the majority of) the YES Network to fall back on anymore. That's on Hal.

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    2. Hal is a mini James Dolan from one extent which is to break something that really wasn't broke. Dolan unlike Hal does spend money.

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  3. Yankees let MLB teams know that Ivan Nova is available ?
    They should join that press release with another that says... patrick is raking leaves this
    afternoon. Mine will draw more interest.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)