Then again maybe he doesn't. I mean, let's be clear... who doesn't want $150 mil? But of course, none of us are gonna get it from the Yankees, including Jeter, who of course, denies making such a request. I'm a Yankee fan by birth, and I'm already getting sick of the play this is getting in the national media. And this latest cheap trick is as tired as it gets.
My Mom used to pull this with her boss. If she wanted a two week vacation she would tell her workmate that she was thinking of taking two months, letting her boss overhear it of course. The boss would be in a minor state of panic (it was a very small office). He would come out and say "Two MONTHS?" "Did I say months? Oh! I meant weeks! Two weeks!" And my Mom's relieved boss would happily grant the request.
The New York Yankees, love them or hate them, are not a very small office. They are a very big, very successful, and at times a very savvy operation. They do tend to 'overpay' for players from time to time, but thus far they have only done so with their own money... lots and lots of it. But those huge gobs of money come with one very important condition. Winning.
If the Yanks were to have the temerity to finish say, third, for three straight seasons , they would be as relevant as... well... nothing. Those empty $250 dollar seats everybody likes to make fun of? They would be clean and germ-free for a long, long time. And signing formerly dominant greats to huge contracts would be a guaranteed route to that point.
New Yorkers don't abide by losers and also-rans very well. They can't. And they don't have to. There are just too many other things to do besides watch a team deteriorate before their eyes. So many Broadway shows. So many nightclubs, movie houses, world-class restaurants and live music venues. And so many other sports teams. The typical St. Louis Cardinal fan, for example, travels further to get to Busch Stadium than a Yankee fan would travel to see the Red Sox or Phillies at Fenway or Citizens Bank Park.
The Yanks need to let their free agents test the market. All of them. There's nothing wrong with making each of them a reasonable offer. The $45 milllion, 3 year deal the Yanks have supposedly put on the table is unresonable... unresonably high. If Jeter has any business sense, he's signing it so fast he's risking paper cuts. And if the Yankees have any, they're not only putting a deadline to the offer, they're actively looking for alternatives at the same time. Lots of guys ca npick it at shortstop. Lots of guys can hit .270 and drive in 60-odd runs. You don't need that package in one player. And if you signed two different players to cover that, it damn sure wouldn't cost $45 million for both of them.
Offer them arbitration! I know the Yanks are reluctant to do it. But even if the arbitrator sides with the player on a ridiculously high figure, as arbitrators nowadays tend to do, it would only be for one year... not three or four or five. The Yanks would not be hamstrung with another long, ridiculous A.J.Burnett type deal. And if the player declines arbitration, at least the Yanks would be in line for draft picks... which they need anyway.
Look... as a lifelong Yankee rooter, I am abjectly grateful to the heroes who brought the Bombers back from oblivion... Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Davids Cone and Wells, Brosius, Tino, even Tim Raines, Chili Davis and the Strawman. Where have they all gone? Where Derek and the other dominoes are headed. But as thankful as I am for their contributions to Yankee greatness and lure, Steinbrenner the younger is absolutely right... the Yanks have paid them all very, very handsomely for their efforts. It is not necessary for the fans, or the Yankees to pay them again.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Derek Jeter signs for $45 million!
Then again, maybe he doesn't.
The best way for the New York Yankees to handle this... is to go about the business of getting ready for 2011. There are a lot of ballplayers out there looking for jobs who can help the Yankees, or any team. Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, Cliff Lee... and maybe Derek Jeter. The Yanks have several needs that have to be addressed, unless they want to enter a stretch that resembles the 1981-1994 malaise they found themselves in. The Yanks won 5 World Titles, 7 AL pennants, and most of the available AL Eastern Division titles in the last 15 years... a historic run. Along the way they paid players handsomely for the purpose and privelege of hoisting numerous trophies, wearing lots of 'official' clubhouse T-shirts, and spraying gallons of champagne against plastic tarps during those tired made-for-TV but don't get my $15oo wardrobe-wet celebrations.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a lifelong Yankee fan. I sat through the Roger Maris for Charlie Smith years, when Red Barber was panned and canned for insisting the cameras panned the empty seats at the old decrepid Yankee Stadium, where 5000 people showed up to watch an old decrepid Yankee team. Old Timers'Day was a huge draw in those days... not just because of the nostalgia, but because you seriously thought those gimpy old greats could still outplay the guys actually on the payroll during the mid to late '60s.
When blustery G. Steinbrenner showed up, bought the team, and blasted everybody responsible for the mess he saw out of the room, I was glad. And when he backed his tall talk with even taller action, I was even gladder. And when I first saw some of the 'new' Yanks show up... kids like Randolph and Guidry... and Geo Steinbrenner open up his wallet for talent abroad, like Jackson, Chambliss, Nettles and the Goose, I was thrilled. Sure, he misfired a lot. But he reloaded, took counsel, and took aim again. And the Yanks got it right. You dont have to love the Yanks. But most of the seats, even in this 'down' economy, are still full most of the time. Somebody is still doing something right.
Until now. The Yanks are in danger of getting old. It's hard to wrap your brain around it. It's harder with people you brought up yourselves, in life and in baseball. The so-called 'core-four'... Andy Pettitte is contemplating retirement, not because his competitive fires are diminished, but because he sees his kids are damn near as mature and ready to take on life as, say, a young Derek Jeter, fresh of the Michican campus. Andy doesn't want to miss it, and probably wonders how it all happened so fast. Heck, Posada took over from his manager, who was smart enough and savvy enough to parlay one closing door into a newer, wide-open one.
All of the 'core-four' are way past baseball middle-age. They are all showing signs of mortality. The only questions about the decline are the angle of the slope and how slippery the slide will be. Will it be Rocky Colavito fast or Henry Aaron slow but more graceful? But there is sadly no question... it will be. And it will be soon.
Question: How much does the Yankee brass want to mortgage their future paying again for a fading past. And how much will the New York Yankee fandom pay to watch a great but aging group of stars lose their glow?
The best way for the New York Yankees to handle this... is to go about the business of getting ready for 2011. There are a lot of ballplayers out there looking for jobs who can help the Yankees, or any team. Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, Cliff Lee... and maybe Derek Jeter. The Yanks have several needs that have to be addressed, unless they want to enter a stretch that resembles the 1981-1994 malaise they found themselves in. The Yanks won 5 World Titles, 7 AL pennants, and most of the available AL Eastern Division titles in the last 15 years... a historic run. Along the way they paid players handsomely for the purpose and privelege of hoisting numerous trophies, wearing lots of 'official' clubhouse T-shirts, and spraying gallons of champagne against plastic tarps during those tired made-for-TV but don't get my $15oo wardrobe-wet celebrations.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a lifelong Yankee fan. I sat through the Roger Maris for Charlie Smith years, when Red Barber was panned and canned for insisting the cameras panned the empty seats at the old decrepid Yankee Stadium, where 5000 people showed up to watch an old decrepid Yankee team. Old Timers'Day was a huge draw in those days... not just because of the nostalgia, but because you seriously thought those gimpy old greats could still outplay the guys actually on the payroll during the mid to late '60s.
When blustery G. Steinbrenner showed up, bought the team, and blasted everybody responsible for the mess he saw out of the room, I was glad. And when he backed his tall talk with even taller action, I was even gladder. And when I first saw some of the 'new' Yanks show up... kids like Randolph and Guidry... and Geo Steinbrenner open up his wallet for talent abroad, like Jackson, Chambliss, Nettles and the Goose, I was thrilled. Sure, he misfired a lot. But he reloaded, took counsel, and took aim again. And the Yanks got it right. You dont have to love the Yanks. But most of the seats, even in this 'down' economy, are still full most of the time. Somebody is still doing something right.
Until now. The Yanks are in danger of getting old. It's hard to wrap your brain around it. It's harder with people you brought up yourselves, in life and in baseball. The so-called 'core-four'... Andy Pettitte is contemplating retirement, not because his competitive fires are diminished, but because he sees his kids are damn near as mature and ready to take on life as, say, a young Derek Jeter, fresh of the Michican campus. Andy doesn't want to miss it, and probably wonders how it all happened so fast. Heck, Posada took over from his manager, who was smart enough and savvy enough to parlay one closing door into a newer, wide-open one.
All of the 'core-four' are way past baseball middle-age. They are all showing signs of mortality. The only questions about the decline are the angle of the slope and how slippery the slide will be. Will it be Rocky Colavito fast or Henry Aaron slow but more graceful? But there is sadly no question... it will be. And it will be soon.
Question: How much does the Yankee brass want to mortgage their future paying again for a fading past. And how much will the New York Yankee fandom pay to watch a great but aging group of stars lose their glow?
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