Every season since Hal Steinbrenner has prominently owned
the New York Yankees, and by the way where in the world is Hank Steinbrenner,
he has made some speech around this time of the year about the upcoming season
and the state of the organization and team. Every single season, to paraphrase
a bit, he feels like the team is a “World Series caliber team” that can do well
this season if they stay healthy and every single season he has something to
say about the payroll. This year it was the fact that he was not “comfortable”
with seeing the payroll rise much above where it is now, which FYI is the
second highest in the league behind those pesky Los Angeles Dodgers, and the
Yankees world and blogosphere went absolutely nuts.
Everyone has an opinion and I try to listen and understand
each and every opinion I am presented with but that doesn’t mean I necessarily
have to agree with it. Everything that I have read is negative about Hal not
wanting to add even more payroll to the club and everyone acts as if the sky is
falling. If that was the case the sky has been falling since George
Steinbrenner gave control over to his two sons because this is the way it’s
been for a while now. We all knew Hal was the fiscally responsible one and the
better son to run the business side of the Yankees and that’s what Hal is
doing. We all knew that he wanted to get under the luxury tax rather than piss
away millions of dollars every single season to go home early in the postseason
or not reach it at all and you know what, it’s the right path to take.
I know, one day I’m defending Brian Cashman and the next I’m
defending Hal but hear me out. Throwing money at the problem does not work
anymore as much as we the fans don’t want to admit it. The Dodgers don’t have a
cap on their spending and they paid almost the same amount as the entire Tampa
Bay Rays team to players that are no longer with the club and they still have
as many World Series rings as the Yankees have. They have the best pitcher on
the planet, they sign all the Cuban-born stars they want and they sign anyone
and everyone they want on the free agent market. That and a buck can get them a
Coke in the postseason, just like the Yankees.
Everyone is acting as if Hal is warning everyone that the
payroll is going to go down to like $120 million or something. You can
absolutely win a World Series with a payroll around $180 million (or higher as
the luxury tax threshold is expected to go up with the next collective
bargaining agreement) as long as you don’t have mega-contracts weighing the
organization down. The biggest contract of them all being the contract that
GEORGE gave Mr. Alex Rodriguez, not Cashman and not Hal.
Anyone ever notice that our prospects are rated less than the way we (as fans) rate them?
ReplyDeleteWe tend to overrate our own players (doesn't everyone) but this year we do have many players on the edge of big league time, for a change, they are not superstars by any means!
I have waited for this thing going on with the Yankees for years, it would never have happened without the great co-operation between Hal and Cashman both being on the same page. They have different reasons for this co-operation but it will work out in the end. Why do I say it will build a winning team in the near future? Very simple, I have about 70 years of personal history with the Yankees to draw from.
Back in the day, I remember the team built around our own players and a few trades made when NEEDED...not WANTED.
Example: A-Rod was wanted by "The King" but not a NEED. Key and Cone were NEEDED along with "The Mose".
We wouldn't have made the WS without A-Rod one time, so many will say because he carried the team to the playoffs almost by himself, which is true. My contention is, who is to say a less talented player with the help of some timely hitting couldn't have made the same thing happen.
Now, the cost of FA players has gotten out of control with long time contracts and huge money outlay. One can still get an FA (without a draft pick) at the right price and contract IF one will go for young rising players with talent and are not superstars.
Bottom Line; We now and in the future have a good Farm System...not the best but very good players coming thru for years to come. We now have the base players needed to build a team around and keep things going for years to come. With lower priced contracts, we can go out and get a player we may need without hurting the bottom line.
I LIKE IT! So will all of you when it comes togeather in a year or so!
I agree with you Reed. The Yankees have a good farm system, it doesn't have to be Top 10 to be good in my eyes. It also doesn't have to produce superstars. Like you have said many times, Derek Jeter was not a superstar player. He was a clutch player and a very good player but with the exception of a couple of seasons (2012 being one of them) he was never a superstar without the Yankees uniform making him a superstar.
DeleteAnd I love Jeter and I think he should be 100% voted into the Hall.
But anyway, when you have this core you can spend heavily on this piece or that piece rather than having to spend heavily at every piece.