In recent years, one fundamental delirium is our belief that the Yankee brain trust is marshaling its nickels to sign Bryce Harper - the NL MVP - in 2019, when he is just 26. It will cost the economy of a First World nation to sign Harper - the contract will have as many pages as the Patriot Act, full of no-trade and opt-out clauses, private jets, skyscrapers in Dubai, mercenary armies, women soccer teams and a giant gold statue overlooking Manhattan. It's going to be the kind of deal Hal "I'm Not Cheap" Steinbrenner loathes... and the kind that teams like the Dodgers, Mariners, Redsocks and maybe even the Mets will be delighted to bestow.
It's time we start realizing a long term trend. The Yankees prefer to make money, not spend it.
Yesterday, the Dodgers signed Scott Kasmir for three years, along with Kenta Maeda, reputed to be Japan's best pitcher. The Maeda deal requires a big ($20 million, reported) finder's fee to the Hiroshima Carp, just for the rights to shovel more money at him. It's doubtful the Yankees ever even lifted the phone on either deal - and each pitcher could have been a huge key to us challenging in 2016.
(I know, I know... it must be getting stale, hearing me complain about Yankee penny-pinchers. But the bar for whining just got lowered, with George Lucas calling Disney "white slavers." Should I start calling Hal something like that?)
Does anyone think the Dodgers will sit out the future auction for Harper? If so, why? Does anyone think the Redsocks, the Mets, or even the Nationals won't offer surreal lifetime contracts? Harper famously grew up as a Yankee fan. Is that what we base our hopes on... that he'll give us a discount to play in NYC? If so, have another jelly doughnut. And here's a secondary question: If the Yankees in 2019 have nothing to show over a decade of austerity - a very plausible scenario, from where we sit right now - will we be in danger of sinking all our resources into one player, as a fellow named George once did with a guy named Rickie?
Happy New Year.
THE "5" NUMBER HAS BEEN MENTIONED ALREADY (AS IN $5 HUNDRED MILLION!) FOR HARPER. HAL AND THE GANG BETTER GET THEIR REALITY CAPS ON, BECAUSE THE PRICES FOR ALL THESE FREE AGENTS CONTINUE TO RISE, (CONTRARY TO WHAT I BELIEVE THE YANKS THOUGHT, THAT IF THEY STAYED OUT OF THE FREE AGENT GAME FOR A FEW YEARS, THE PRICES MIGHT CALM DOWN---WRONG!!!).......WE BETTER GET BACK INTO THE FREE AGENT GAME BEFORE WE GET LEFT IN THE DUST, BY OTHER 'HUNGRY TO WIN' OWNERS.
ReplyDelete.....AND I FORGOT TO SAY....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.
ReplyDeleteAnd a happy new year to you, Anonymous, and Duque and Mustang and Alphonso and I'm Bill White and everyone else who will be suffering through the warm weather months ahead, trying to remember when the Yankees were quite this boring and lame.
ReplyDeleteNot counting the latter part of last year and mostly the year before that. And a couple others.
Maybe too much egg nog last night, and my tongue if firmly in cheek as I say it and it pains me to say it, but I kind of like Brian Cashman. I think he is doing some good things and is running a good organization, i.e. the trains run on time in the Yankee Universe. What is missing is vision. Hal obviously doesn't have any. Randy L is ??? The problem of constipating your organization with free agency contracts that run far too long is a problem MLB doesn't have an answer to.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I sorta feel the same way about Cashman: It's not entirely his fault.
ReplyDeleteOne minute, the owner announces austerity: No contracts over two years. He lets Russell Martin go. Then he signs Ichiro. He lets Robbie Cano walk, refusing a 10-year deal. Then he goes on a huge spending spree, grabbing three free agents over a total of 15 years. Then he's cutting payroll. And when an auction comes up for an absolute no-brainer - Yoan Moncada - we finish second to BOSTON. (Then there's that thing about the Yankees blaming Hal's brother-in-law, Felix Lopez, for losing Moncada; nobody ever fully explained that one.)
YOAN MONCADA!...........SLOWLY I MOVED, STEP BY STEP.....(I LOVE THAT ONE DUQUE) .
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