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Monday, December 2, 2019

Doublespeak Hal: “We had some good games in there, had a great division series; but, in the end, in October, we failed. That does not mean the season, of course, was a failure.”

When not ignoring top free agents, Yankee owner Hal Steinbrenner comes up with new, creatively spiritual definitions of success. 

His latest came this weekend, when he said that the 2019 Yankees did fail, but that does not make them failures. He's gotten good at saying such things. In fact, he could say the same of other Yankee teams, including:

2010
2011
2012

2013
2014
2015

2016
2017
2018


All of the above teams "had some good games" in there, but failed in the end. However, that doesn't mean they were failures. Not to Hal. Yankee fans measure success by winning the world series. Hal invokes a different criteria. I wonder what it could be?  

Today, MLB teams will non-tender a few dozen veterans who make too much money for their own good. Watch the list carefully, because it will form the basis of trades that Brian Cashman will make this winter. The Yankees will not sign either Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg - they were never going to - and Cashman's job will be to trade Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier, Thairo Estrada and maybe Estevan Florial for pitchers slightly past their sell-by dates, who have become financial millstones to their teams. They will come to NY with high expectations, and the odds are good that they will flop. Cashman will do this because Hal Steinbrenner measures success by something other than world series rings. Gee, I wonder what it is?  

The 2019 Yankees were not a failure. Nope. They enriched their owner. Too bad about that glitch in October. Oh, well, time to save on next year's payroll. Who out there looks distressed? 

PS: Thank you, New York Football Giants, for showing the grace of good, gentlemanly sportsmanship yesterday, and collapsing at home. I never really doubted you. This Daniel Jones looks like a keeper, as do the coaches and general manager. Good luck in the final four weeks. 

24 comments:

JM said...

The Jints are 2-10.

It's gonna be a long winter.

TheWinWarblist said...

Glühwein. Much day drinking with glühwein.

Anonymous said...

Season wasn't a failure because they make a stinking huge profit! $$$!!! Probably more than in prior years.

Anonymous said...

I dislike Hal and his minions as much as the next guy. However...

I read the dailies every day and yesterday is what actual failure looks like.

Here are your New York Post Sports headlines:

"Joe Douglas’ Jets rebuild could be far bigger than he realized" - Because the Jets suck and haven't won a championship since I was pre-pubecent.

"Pat Shurmur’s tired excuses are making Giants mess even worse"
because the Giants suck worse and we are all openly rooting for them to lose out so they can get one great guy who will represent 1/22 of their starters.

"David Fizdale sells his only hope as Knicks burn around him"
Because the Knicks suck and haven't won a championship since I was barley pubescent.

"Nets blow late lead as Spencer Dinwiddie can't play hero." Because the Nets pretty much suck and haven't won an NBA championship ever.

"Bobby Valentine has some advice for new skipper Carlos Beltran — fix the bullpen. “ Because - The Mets.

"Ray Shero can't let this Devils disaster go on much longer."
Because even though I don't give a crap about hockey in general and the Devils in particular it fit my theme.

Bottom line: THIS is what true failure looks like and my sports world has more than enough of it.

Yes Hal is greedy. Yes he's a failson (New word. Thanks Don Jr.)but only four teams a year make the League Championship Series and we've done it twice in the last three years.

We also won the division for the first time in a while and the last time the Yankees won it all I was so post pubescent as to have nothing but grey down there. Compared to the stinking pile of dog crap that is the rest of the NY sports scene they are roaring successes.

That said, sign Cole you cheap fucks.

Doug K.

TheWinWarblist said...

Doug K., yes. Sign Cole and Strasbrug, you cheap scabbed scrotums.

But you forgot the Rangers and Islanders.

Alphonso said...

Daniel Jones is the Giants JA Happ.

Not as good, but just as inconsistent and unreliable.

Alphonso said...

I meant to say, " not as old." But I have 10 thumbs.

And there is no correction function, once you launch. Or lunch.

Anonymous said...

THE INSANITY OF IT ALL IS THIS YANKEE TEAM MAY ONLY NEED TO ADD 1 THING.

AN ACE.

IT MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR US TO WIN IT ALL (EVEN WITHOUT ANY LEFT HANDED HITTERS), AND LEAVING THE TEAM ALONE....

EVEN MINUS DIDI, GARDY, CC, AND DELLIN.

LETTING THEM GO ALONE SAVES US, WHAT, $25- $30 MILLION?

WHY CAN'T THAT SIMPLY BE APPLIED TO TO GET COLE?...OR STRASBURG?...OR EVEN BUMGARNER?

I KNOW EITHER ONE OF THOSE PITCHERS ARE GOING TO GET AT LEAST 5 -6 YEARS BUT HELL, THE FIRST YEAR IS PRACTICALLY FREE WITH THE SAVINGS FROM THE DELETED SALARIES.

SEEMS HAL DOESN'T REALIZE "THE PRICE OF DOING BUSINESS" DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN I NEED TO PUT AS MUCH AS I CAN, EVERY YEAR, IN MY POCKET.

13bit said...

Hal is a prick.

He is the leaky effluent from a syphilitic asshole.

And he’s cheap.

Celerino Sanchez said...

Isn't that like saying, "How was the play Mrs Lincoln?'

Der Kaiser said...

It's horrifying to admit, but I must say that I agree with Hal. That the 2019 Yankees did not win the World Series does not make them a failure in my book. Perhaps the Yankees of the 1950s could afford to define a successful year by whether or not they won the World Series. In those days, a dominant team could cruise to a pennant by early September and then confront the other pennant winner before autumn really began. MLB put a stop to such innocent cheerfulness long ago. Nowadays a good team is still dogfighting for the division lead up to the last week of the season, and is then thrown into an interminable gruelling four-round death playoff month. Most World Series winners tend to be middling teams that squeaked by in a weak division and then got lucky in the playoffs, or late-surging wild cards who had to fight tooth and nail to edge out other contenders, and then got lucky in the playoffs. That the Yankees have fielded good teams and failed to win the World Series in the last ten years is no wonder when ten teams make the playoffs every year. They're not even due yet, statistically speaking. I would love for them to flex their financial might, buy every superstar in the league and humiliate every opponent and win every World Series for the rest of the century. But at some point we have to accept that MLB expansion and the wild card era moved the foul poles, and winning the World Series doesn't mean what it used to.

13bit said...

Sorry, Kaiser, but I'll have to disagree with you here. If winning the WS didn't mean what it used to be, then why play the games? Honor, glory and heritage are not rational. Why go half in? I know, it's a business. If that's the case, then I'll agree with Hal - it was a good year because they made money. Since I'm not seeing any of that money and I'm just some poor schmuck fan who grew up bleeding pinstripes, endured the Horace Clarke era as a boy - sorry Hoss - and still love the Yankees, I am familiar with the idea of "settling." That being said, there are still ways to assemble a winning team. The team that was so good this year was Cashman's backup plan, his mad scramble to cope after his A-Team all sprained their balls. These guys were hungry. When Cashman's A-Team came back, we lost. We also lost because Cashman is a HORRIBLE JUDGE OF PITCHING. Had we had a different manager, we could have maybe been in a position to win again for a few years. We actually have a great core at the moment - aside from a few overpaid duds - but guess what? We're going to trade some of them in a desperation move for pitching. This is a HORRIBLY MANAGED TEAM. I'm not going to blame it on the current state of the game. That's a cop out.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Kaiser and Bitty, I think you each make a good point.

Yes, it IS harder to win the World Series now, particularly with all these short series in which the advantages the best teams have are limited by the very nature of the beast.

Sometimes, the best team just DOESN'T win in the playoffs. For instance, look at that terrific team the Phillies put together shortly after they lost to us. But somehow, their big arms came up short in the big games. It happens.

But that's not what's going on with the Yankees.

What Bitty is expressing is the frustrating reality of WHY we don't win it all, which is essentially doing the same thing with the same people every year.

HoraceClarke66 said...

And Doug K., you make a great point, too.

Much as we like to rip apart HAL and Coops—which would really be terrible and unfair if they were not richer than kings, cared at all what we thought, or knew anything about it—the Yanks have not had to endure anything like the horrendous Jets-not-making-it-back-to-the-Super-Bowl for half-a-century, Rangers on another 25-year Cupless skein immediately after ending the 54 year one, Nets never having won anything since the days of Dr. J., the Knicks best described by Col. Kurtz (The horror! The horror!).

It's enough to break any fan. At least we don't have to put up with THAT.

TheWinWarblist said...

There is quite a bit of cheese in Switzerland. Who knew?

TheWinWarblist said...

We have achieved Peak Cheese.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


I don't have fantasies about men, but my mind occasionally wanders to what George would do -- if he came back to life, animated by a wire up his ass -- to Hal Steinbrenner.

I don't believe that, after such an encounter, Hal would still be so pretty.

Alphonso said...

What clearer evidence do we need that Hal is easily satisfied with a play-off win or two?

That the world championship aim did not pass from Big George to " I'm not cheap" son, Hal?

It was in his own words.

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