Once again an El Duque post has given me food for thought.
His exploration of the methodology of the Red
Sox franchise, as they trade a guy who should have been their poster boy for the
next seven years to build up their farm, shows the stark difference between their front office and ours.
I thought Benintendi was going to be somebody. He made a
play in LF against us that was one of the most graceful catches and spins
without smashing into the wall that I had ever seen. I remember thinking,
"Uh oh! This guy's gonna kill us for years."
Just goes to show that you can't predict baseball.
Boston's willingness to suck, blow it up, rebuild, win it
all, and then suck again leads me to ask…
Is it better to have radical ups and downs as long as you deliver repeated World Series titles within a reasonable time frame?
Or, is it
better to always be competitive and make the playoffs but not do the obvious
and necessary things to put the team in the best possible position to win it
all? Choosing the philosophy that, “You can’t win it unless you’re in it and eventually the stars
will align?".
Quick note: The Red Sox sell out and make tons of money as
well, so it’s not an economics question. Plus, if we were looking at another team as a role model the Dodgers are by far and away the way to go. But that ain't happening. So...
Put more succinctly:
Would you be OK with the Yankees sucking on a regular basis if we won a
WS every few years?
Don't get me wrong, winning the WS is great. I felt like I was riding on cloud nine throughout the late 90s. But I'm in it for the daily routine of 162, and that's more fun with a consistently competitive team. I remember what a season in the early 90s felt like all too well.
ReplyDeleteThe regular season is more important to me, because it's so long. A great season can lift you up for months, and offer a real sense of who's good, who's bad. The emphasis on playoffs, with their close-to-arbitrary outcomes, is a money-and-ratings grab.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the last decade - with not one WS appearance - was the worst in Yankee history.
ReplyDeleteThe regular season might bring 90 erections, but without one orgasm, they all seem pointless.
ReplyDeleteBah! To even suggest such a thing! Shame on you Doug!
If your pockets are empty, and you're out of a job, scrounging around for your next meal, then do whatever you need to do to stay alive and relevant.
As for the Yankees, to stoop to such chicanery is beneath dignity, the kind of behavior only a scrub would use to further himself. If the Yankees succumbed to such disgraceful behavior (the kinds too many teams are resorting to - I'm looking at you Houston and Boston), then I wash my hands.
It's bad enough the Yankees are crying poverty while being the richest team in baseball next to the Dodgers (the one team in MLB with the courage of their convictions AND a desire to win), but to lower themselves to eating out of dumpsters? Standing in bread lines? That would be more than disgraceful. The end of the line.
The Yankees are crying poverty while hiding behinds mama's skirts. A team that has decided to place corporate interests, fans be damned above all else. Cowards all, I say! Cowards! Villiany! Damned scurrilous behavior!
It's getting so bad these days to be a Yankees fan, we can't even lord it high and mighty over the rest of baseball anymore. What has our world come to?
No, the Yankees tanking would harden my heart beyond where it stands right now. Which is a low, turbid place. I can't see the bottom anymore, but tanking would have to be as low as they could possibly go.
Anything is better than predictable mediocrity.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees, now, always over-hype their team and wind up battling for a wild card play-in game. And losing that
Giancarlo inked for seven more agonizing years.
So yes, I would gladly blow up this team every few years ( probably every decade is more like it ) to win anything.
Send in the TNT.
NFW! And besides, not every tanking cycle pays off....
ReplyDeleteNFW! And besides, not every tanking cycle works.....
ReplyDeleteIn pre-covid years, strictly from the standpoint of ownership, the Red Sox could make the trade-off of winning every few years with mediocrity in-between much easier because they have a much smaller seating capacity(37,000) to fill than the Yankees(54,000). The revenue loss would be too great. At Fenway, you are guaranteed 37K every game regardless of where the Red Sox finish.
ReplyDeleteI think Kevin brings up a good point: many tanking cycles go awry.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any reason why a well-run team can't compete almost every year, while simultaneously recharging. The Yanks in 2013-2016, our recent low point STILL had winning records in each season, took a wild card spot one year, and contended for one in the others.
That should not be impossible for the best minds in the game, backed by big money. The problems with the Yankees are:
—HAL would rather have a lickspittle for a GM than one of those best minds.
—HAL would rather keep as much of his money as possible.
Until those things change, this debate is moot.
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