George Steinbrenner's Yankees are DEAD

 

Yankees banking on IF's after a lackluster offseason

The fan unrest is not about Anthony Rizzo. It has nothing to do with Anthony Rizzo. When the 32-year-old first baseman trots onto the first base foul line on Opening Day, he will get thunderous cheers. Yankee fans are not upset with Anthony Rizzo—we have no reason to be.

 This is about Hal Steinbrenner not being his father. This is the kid Steinbrenner not being man enough to pay for a World Series. If you have a problem with that, grow up.  Even if you try to win through the draft, eventually you have to have to pay people. This is about analytical nerds and shareholders building up a wall in front of the Steinbrenner family vault.

We are no longer the Big, Bad, New York Yankees that we once were. The team that set the mark and put fear into other teams’ eyes is gone. What is in its place is a shell of the former dynasty. A franchise with a lost identity. Instead of opening the wallet and paying for players who are known elite postseason players, they settle for good enough. The Bombers are no longer in the blockbuster, flashy move business. They are in the patch work business. Operating like a team who is a mid-level team trying to not go over “budget.” Instead of seeing the luxury tax as a speed bump to a championship—it’s look at like a dam. What the fan base is left with is a team talking big game but making small upgrades like a team who picks in the middle of the first round every year. Whatever era this is for Yankee fans, they are screaming at the front office and ownership to WAKE UP.

Your father/mothers/grandfathers/grandmothers Yankees are a thing of the past. Settling for Anthony Rizzo (who is a fine ballplayer and is welcomed back by me) isn’t what the Yanks have been about in the past. The “Evil Empire” is dead. The Bombers teams from the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s wouldn’t have left Freddie Freeman on the open market, until Freeman himself turned them down. Rizzo in years past would have been the safe back up plan if Freeman went elsewhere. For the last time, this isn’t about Anthony Rizzo. It is about the new age philosophy of New York ownership that allows assumption of players turning down an opportunity to dawn pinstripes to sway thinking.

The Yankees have gone from being the news to reacting to it. Freddie Freeman is still out on the open market; he hasn’t signed yet. The Yankees set their price and have not gone above it yet again for a marquee free agent. It started with Cano, moved to Harper and Machado, and now has continued with Freeman. Instead of going above and beyond for superstar talent, the Yankees have settled because, well, they still think they are the New York freaking Yankees. To anyone following this team since 2013; it is clear they are not that anymore.  

One move that will probably get down is an Aaron Judge extension. Judge has been vocal about his want to stay in the Bronx, as has the Yankee front office. Both sides are playing chicken because negotiations are always messy, even with guys who stay with one team their entire career.

With that said, clearly, change needs to happen at some level because the same team that lost in the Wild Card game to the hated Boston Red Sox with manager Aaron Boone saying directly after “the league has closed the gap on us.” Not much has changed from then to now. Not much will change soon either. Yes, the odd man out here is Luke Voit, he was a great Yankee because no matter what happened during his tenure, Luke Voit hit! Voit will now mash for the Padres and San Diego will love him.

There has been a ton of smoke around one final move that would land one of the big arms from Oakland—as the calendar ticks down toward Opening Day, it becomes less likely by the hour. The offseason that seemed to be one of change has been one of the fairly recent ways of doing things; get slightly better but that’s all. This offseason hasn’t provided much to gain ground on the teams that have sprint passed us. I’m afraid they never will.