Company Man.

 

Just thought I would take this gorgeous, baseball-free Maundy Thursday afternoon to try to further unravel the mystery of why your New York Yankees would bother to trade for a light-hitting "gloveman" who can't field his position—our new shortstop, Kiner's Falafel—when they already a better version of same in the man of many ways, Tyler Wade. 

Further complicating this mystery is the fact that Wade is and was...considerably cheaper. From the best I can find, his salary is $825,000, while that of his replacement, IKF, is $4.7 million.

(Yes, he is a 2020 Gold Glove Winner!  At third base!)

Wait, it gets better! 

Add in our new third baseman, Crusty Josh Donaldson ($21.75 mill), and take away the $6.55 mill the late, lamented Gio Urshela would've made, and we're talking our crack front office spending $19.075 million MORE than it needed to...just to make the left side of our infield shakier than ever.

Huh?

And this from a team that now claims not to have the scratch to to re-sign maybe the team's best all-around player.  

I know what you're going to say:  the same trade that brought us Salty Dog Donaldson and the Falafel also enabled us to get rid of the $6.35 mill attached to Gary "Mr. Fire" Sanchez. But even if we throw that in, the Yanks are STILL $12.725 mill in the red.  

And of course there were other ways to get rid of Gary the Gamer.  Like, you know, trading him someplace else. For something good.

So what gives? 

I can already hear the excuses that Brian Cashman's assorted minions—Brinions?—will be conjuring up. 

Telling us what foresight the Brain had when Aargghh Donaldson inevitably gets hurt and IKF has to shift over to third. Telling us how brilliant he was to allow Carlos Correa to sign with Minnesota and stay out of the clutches of the Red Sox.

Ah, yes. Brian Cashman. The man who's playing three-dimensional Parcheesi, when everybody else is playing chess.

Many of us here thought that we had hit upon a more rational explanation. Namely, that Hal was aiming ro the sweetspot of profits-taking. That is, carefully shaping the Yankees to be a perennial Wild Card contender that never actually wins.

But I just don't get moves like this, trades that actually INCREASE the Yanks' payroll. 

For years now—years and years, really, ever since the last championship, in 2009, and even before—we've been given one excuse after another as to why the Yankees cannot go after this or that major free agent or available star.

Carlos Beltran (twice, and despite the discount he offered), Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Chris Sale, Pat Corbin,  J.T.L. Realmuto, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Corey Seagar, Carlos Correa, to name just a few—and all guys who, acquired at the right moment, would've all but guaranteed us another ring.

Even players such as (the Famous Original) Aroldis Chapman, Yoan Moncada, Yu Darvish, and  Jose Abreu, among many others, who as foreign players would not have even had their earnings counted against the luxury.

Maybe these were all just terrible judgement calls by the Brain. But if they were—when combined with his repeated failure to build a productive farm system—wouldn't you just can the little toadie already?

So what does give, when money doesn't even seem to be the real obstacle? 

Well, maybe it's this statement from Hal, regarding the lockout:

“It’s important to the industry as a whole — and I’ve said this before so it’s nothing new — not one fan should come to spring training thinking their team has no chance to win a division, no chance to make the playoffs. That can only be bad for the industry as a whole. So I have supported competitive balance and measures to try to address that even in this agreement.”

Sentiments that never, ever should utter from the mouth of the owner of ANY New York sports team. 

You're worried about fans in other cities, Hal? You're worried about "the industry as a whole"?

Apparently so. Who knew that a Steinbrenner could be such a tame little company man?