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Monday, February 23, 2015

Major League Baseball finally did it: It has destroyed the once dominant franchise known as the New York Yankees

Congratulations, MLB. You won. 

For 50 years, you envied the NFL on key element: 

Pro football had no Yankees. 

If only you could destroy the one franchise that dominated all others, make all the teams equal, then you could maximize profits. Your plan was so tight, so clean, so perfect: Apply Ayn Rand capitalism to the revenue side, and assign the expenses to socialism. No limits to taking in money... just cap your expenditures! Damn. It's brilliant! You never called it collusion. You never even called it a payroll cap. You just pulled it off!  

In American politics, there is no limit to how much money a billionaire can spend to buy a candidate. But in baseball, there is a distinct limit on how much he can spend to buy a player.  BRILLIANT! YOU DID IT!

Of course, you had to wait until that last old bugger, George Steinbrenner, died, and his sons took over. The first one, Hank, landed too close to the tree. Fortunately, he liked horses more than baseball. You ditched him and groomed Hal, the "business-minded" one. And Hal agreed that towing the line on spending is more important than maintaining a winning Yankee tradition. Because - well - he's "business-minded." 

Moreover, you managed to create a new subset of Yankee fan: He roots not just for the Yankees to win, but for the owner to be fiscally prudent. Keep in mind, the owner is a billionaire. Also keep in mind, this is Yankee fandom, a fantasy world that was once the last escape from things like utility bills and mortgage payments. When you watch a movie, are you supposed to square it with how much they spend to produce it? Growing up, I never gave a damn how much Mickey Mantle got paid. I just loved him. Now, though, I'd have to suck in my gut and watch him fly to Los Angeles, because - hey - the Yankees wouldn't want to get stuck holding the bag on his contract, not with those knees!

Speaking of contracts, hasn't Alex Rodriguez been worth every penny to Hal? Last year, he saved Hal $240 million on Robbie Cano. This week, he saved him $60 million on Yoan Moncada. All Hal needs to do is point to A-Rod and say, "I can't afford anybody else, all because of HIM."

In fact, it's perfect: Today, the sportswriters are covering A-Rod's farts, rather than the Yankees' punt on Moncada. A-Rod is God's gift to Hal Steinbrenner.

Today, across the Yankiverse, we've come to behold the new mindset: The fan who says, in essence, "Yoan Moncada might be great, but the Yankees would overpay. Boston is paying too much, ha ha!" 

On the River Ave site - which is owned by YES - this strain - I'm calling it the "KC Yankees fan," in honor of that loyal, fiscally prudent Midwestern tribe - the pro-Hal fans are arguing on behalf of this penny-pinching billionaire. (I should note that 98 out of 100 fans are enraged by what's happened, though.) 

Writes "CashJr."

if he does great then he's worth it, but would he be a bargain? I'm not sure being "worth it" is the same as being a "bargain." And it seems to me, that if you take on the huge risk of the huge up-front bonus, then if all goes well you should have a "bargain", not just someone who's "worth it." Perhaps my thinking is wrong and the $100M makes him a "bargain" but I doubt it. It's totally a financial decision, but I'm ok with a financial decision if they believe the reward just isn't worth the risk.

While you're chewing on that, here's something from "BigDan"

 think you have to start to wonder now how much money the Yanks really have to spend on baseball. I always thought George ran the team at a loss and made up for it in franchise value. I don't think Hal can do that. He may have demands on the Yankee income stream that we know nothing about.

Obviously, as fans, we should respect all the hard work that goes into owning the Yankees, right?

Since when should we, as fans, care whether the Yankee owner makes money? The Steinbrenners have more money than we can count. They have more money than they can count. If finances get low, they shake a can, and they bleed the taxpayers. Why are we even having a discussion over whether the Yankees can afford to pay $27 million for Yoan Moncada... but they couldn't go to $30 million? 

The Redsocks owner wants to win more than the Yankee owner. It's that simple. And sadly to say, he is also smarter than the Yankee owner.

It's over, folks. The swagger, the sense of hope, the feeling that the Yankees are the best pro sports franchise in America... that feeling we grew up with... it died today.

We were outbid by our rivals, because the mighty Yankees preferred to keep the change. 

Well... cheer up. Here is how the Yankees will rise again: 

They must come in dead last. That way, they can draft high. The sooner the better. They will probably have to finish at the bottom for several years. We will be good for a couple years, and then we'll go back to being bad... so that we can get good again.

Excited? I have only two words left, and I am going to be shouting them for as long as it takes. 

REGIME CHANGE. REGIME CHANGE.
REGIME CHANGE. REGIME CHANGE.
REGIME CHANGE. REGIME CHANGE.
REGIME CHANGE. REGIME CHANGE.

9 comments:

Hermodorus said...

Thank you sir.

BernBabyBern said...

#SellHalSell

Not Anonymous said...

Hal has sent his propagandist into full force with Heynman & co. The new rumors: it was not HAL, no way, who nixed Moncada, he was "very interested." Some completely independent "yankees higherups" were wary of the money however. right.

Hermodorus said...

It's truly pathetic to watch the sports media (including RAB) carry water/gatekeep for this decadent empire.

And then RAB has the gall to run a "Who was the biggest loss of the off-season" post today (Moncada was not an option).

I'm anticipating RAB's Moncada post-mortem along the lines of, "yeah it sucks, but we need to get over it; be excited for pitchers and catchers," a tedious pragmatic rationalist canard.

Then the RAB bro-toady commentariat will come around and turn against the critics and cynics (although many RAB commenters are rightfully indignant today, the brainwashing propaganda machine will eventually lull them into submission).

Cue further excuse-making for ownership and a somber wave of our 3 white, pinstriped flags (for A-Rod, CC and Tex).

BernBabyBern said...

Yeah, I love that. "Higher-ups" told Hal to back off. He's the owner. What higher-up? God?

Leinstery said...

Hal Steinbrenner is a fucking nerd. Selig probably spent his last few years as commissioner stuffing Hal in lockers and giving him swirlys. What we need is an owner who is an alpha dog. Someone who doesn't play by the rules and does what he wants when he wants to do it. Or maybe we need two. That's right, I'm talking about the partnership of Vladimir Putin and Ted Nugent. World Series rings from here until all the oil in Siberia dries up.

Michael said...

Sorry, duque, but this is just an incoherent rant. There are plenty of other franchises subject to the same spending limits, rich and poor, who are not mired in the Steinbrenner/Cashman swamps of stupidity. If it makes you feel better about being a Yankee fan to find the fault in the stars (MLB) rather than in the team itself . . . well, whatever works for you. THEN you proceed to demand regime change. That's closer to the truth, but no less incoherent in view of your previous blame-shifting. Moreover, you imply that the only thing that ails the Yankees is spending limits--as though Steinbrenner's profligacy was what won them their past pennants--but this is a brain-dead myth purveyed by the Gammonites and parroted here by you. If you look at what built the dynasties of the late-seventies/early eighties and the late-nineties/early aughts, it was, in the first case, a series of shrewd trades engineered by Game Paul (merely supplemented by a couple of free agent singings), and in the latter, the equally deft internal player development reign of Michael/Showalter. NO SUCCESSFUL YANKEE TEAM WAS BUILT CHIEFLY BY GAUDY CASH OUTLAYS TO FREE AGENTS.

It's your choice if you want to root for a rotting corpse. But don't let the fumes take a permanent toll on your ability to grasp facts and logic.

Have a nice cup of soothing chamomile tea and start rummaging around for a new team or a new hobby. This one is driving you over the cliff.

Anonymous said...

From a lifelong Yankee fan. Subscription cancelled they stink plain and simple

ceeja said...

The problem is there does not seem to be any Plan B. OK, so you go through the motions on Moncada because you think it's a bad risk to bet $63 million on a number 10 prospect. I mean if he turns out to be as good as Gregorius that is probably a successful signing. So why pay $63 million?

I understand that, but what are you going to do instead? Just pocket the money? Plan B should be to fire every empty suit in the place and get real management in there. If there is no Plan B, then just spend like the Dodgers and Red Sox and see what happens.