It’s there for all to see: the Yankees don’t have championship-level leadership.
When we last heard from Hal Steinbrenner, he complained in January about the Dodgers’ spending spree that makes it hard for his Yankees and other teams to keep up. Reports circulated recently that he is pushing for a salary cap along with small-market owners.
Don’t expect to hear from Steinbrenner in light of the Yankees getting swept on Sunday by the Miami Marlins, who remarkably reached the .500 mark at 55-55 after a 7-3 victory at loanDepot Park. He’s as reclusive as Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan. That would mean George Steinbrenner’s son would care or even be aware that his team has been playing poorly for a month now. The Yankees have committed baserunning blunders and errors during that awful stretch.
There’s no doubt we would have heard from Silent Hal’s father if a team played like this.
To the elder Steinbrenner, owning the Yankees was akin to owning the Mona Lisa, as he sought to manage a franchise with prestige. To the younger Steinbrenner, it’s nothing more than an ATM.
George Steinbrenner understood the history of this franchise, and he maintained it by providing the resources and leadership to keep the franchise’s winning ways. Yes, he made plenty of mistakes, such as signing washed-up veterans as a quick fix during the team’s losing ways in the 80s. But no one can question that he was coming from a good place.
Look, I was no fan of his, but I did appreciate his quest for winning championships. In so many ways, he was a self-made man.
Hal Steinbrenner (photo, NJ.com)
No one can say this about George’s son. Back then, he had no interest in working for the Yankees when the elder Steinbrenner was pushing for him to be his successor back in the late 80s. Does it surprise anyone that he has taken the Bob Nutting approach of not caring about the state of his franchise?
This is actually the younger Steinbrenner’s problem. It’s his team. He oversees everything that is going on. He entrusted Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Yankees manager Aaron Boone to steer this franchise, and he can’t possibly be liking what he is seeing. Certainly, Yankees fans don’t.
This past week showed everything that has gone wrong with the Yankees.
WEDNESDAY: In the Yankees’ 5-4 victory over the Rays in 11 innings last Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, Yankees catcher Austin Wells decided to wander off at second base, thinking it was three outs after Trent Grisham’s bunt moved him to second. When he realized his gaffe, it was too little, too late, and he was caught in a rundown. That was in the middle of a tie game at 3 in the ninth inning.
FRIDAY: Two days later, new Yankees relievers Jake Bird, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval made a poor impression after being acquired at the trade deadline. They combined to give up nine runs and nine hits, which had the Yankees blowing a 9-4 lead and ending up losing 13-12.
SATURDAY: Jazz Chisholm Jr. inexplicably decided it was the right idea to run to second after Paul Goldschmidt popped up. Of course, Chisholm was out. To justify his decision, he claimed he thought Xavier Edwards dropped the ball.
All of that reflects poorly on Boone and Cashman. The lack of fundamentals is solely on Boone. It’s his job to have his players be prepared and disciplined, and issues have gone on for far too long. The Yankees made the Dodgers’ point in the World Series last year when the scouting report said the Bronx Bombers are prone to make blunders with baserunning and fielding.
For Boone to say the Yankees’ mistakes get magnified because they are the Yankees is a bunch of bull. It doesn’t matter. If a professional baseball team is making mistakes like that, it’s unacceptable.
The new relievers are making a poor impression, which is on Cashman. Again, he makes decisions based on analytics rather than finding the heartbeat of a player. It’s hard to think a reliever from a small-market team can all of a sudden adjust to New York. How many times have we seen them flop? He really should know better.
Silent Hal should be asking questions on why first-year manager Clayton McCullough has gotten more out of his Marlins than Boone is getting out of his expensive Yankee team that had high aspirations of winning championship No. 28 this season. He should also be asking his general manager why the team is heading in the wrong direction.
But again, I am not even sure if he is aware of what’s going on. He seems so detached from all this.
Boone and Cashman have the best jobs in the world. There’s no accountability. Neither is in danger of being fired since Silent Hal has zero interest in doing any search or having any active role in running the Yankees. Then there are media bootlickers such as Mike Francesa, Michael Kay, Dan Martin, Ian O’Connor, Mike Vaccaro, and the beat writers who won’t hold them accountable.
In the real world, people get fired for incompetence, but not in Hal Steinbrenner’s world.
