Take the Knicks... please. (Badaboom.) I've avoided following them now for 10 years. After Carmelo, I can't name you one Knick - is that center, Stottlemyre, still on the team? I don't even root against them, because - why bother? - they've always traded their first-round draft pick. They have achieved a perfect mediocrity - bad, forever. The best way to follow the Knicks? Wait until the end of the season, and then look up their record at the library.
The Rangers? Be serious. The Jets and Mets? Dear God. Which brings me to the flagship team of NYC - the pride of Giuliani, Nicholson and Hillary - which is supposed to win by the power of its purse.
Well, this morning, I am aghast to report that the Yankees may outdo Coughlin's Collapsers for pure NYC mediocrity.They are poor-mouthing on David Robertson.
Keep in mind, this is one of the few great players to have risen from the Yankee farm system's primordial mess. Robertson is a great homegrown Yankee. This is the team that moved mountains to keep Mariano and Jeet, and to convince Bernie to stay rather than run to Boston. Here we are, pinching pennies with our pockets pulled open... on David Robertson.
What a disgrace. Is there any other word to describe it?
Oh, there's talk of shifting Dellin Betances and signing Andrew Miller - saving a precious dollar - which we will then shovel off to Max Scherzer or somebody - paying him for his work in another city. We'll give him the long-term deal we refuse Robby - guaranteeing a future poormouthing crisis, with Hal Steinbrenner whining about the costs of paying the help.
What a disgrace.
Why is NYC sports so putrid? I think it's because the owners no longer need outside economic interests. The Steinbrenner family once built ships. Now, it just owns the Yankees. The Maras - God knows what atrocities they did to accumulate their wealth - they just own the Giants. Nothing more. They own.
In Boston, John Henry must manage a financial empire, so he turns over baseball decisions to baseball people. Same goes in other cities, where owners must make their fortune in outside endeavors. But in New York, Hal Steinbrenner has nothing else on his mind - other than which clam dip to buy for the weekend - so he can spend the entire day thinking about Dellin Betances becoming closer, and saving a few shiny nickels... which means he can buy better clam dip!
I dunno. If I thought the Yankees were disciplined enough to keep a long term rebuilding strategy, I could go the root of the Giants yesterday - accept a rotten year, in exchange for better times to come. But that ship of hope left port long ago. Something is coming. Whatever it is, I fear will be aimed more on winning a back page and boosting ticket sales - not winning games. We will trade for somebody whose best years happened in Colorado or Washington. The sad truth about New York City sports is that we don't get to trade owners.
One thing you have to say for the Giants: they play a mean first half.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, of course, they suck, but if you turn off the game at halftime, it's a wonderful experience.
As for baseball, the Mets are bringing in the fences again this winter, still looking for those 40 HRs they know Grandy can hit. All they have to do is find the right distance -- a short right-field porch, say, or something like that.
The Yankees are despicable. Strange how the family ownership has gone from free-spending asshole to tightwad asshole (with moments of free-spending moronicness).
"Yankees currently a last-place team"
ReplyDeleteVia ESPN.
The Yankees won 0 game this November, and are on pace to do it again in December. Personally I am content to hold my outrage until Spring Training.
ReplyDeleteDRob is my 2nd fav Yankee right now after Gardner. It irks me to no end that they didn't lock him down long term in 2012 or 2013, something every other team seems to be doing with their best players. But that ship has sailed. Right now they are negotiating, and business is hardball. Maybe they are serious about 3 year deals, signing Miller, and trading with Atlanta just to avoid signing the Master of the High Socks, but it could just as easily be a negotiating ploy.
There are plenty of reasons to be irritated with the Bronx Bunters these days, but I see no harm in waiting for DRob to actually sign on the dotted line so I actually know whether my outrage is warranted.