Congrats to the new MVPs; both should have been Yankees

The ballots have been counted - (I hear 5,000 dead sportswriters voted via Hugo Chavez) - electing Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper as 2021 MVPs. Hooray for both. Worthy recipients. (In the AL, Aaron Judge finished fourth, and Gerrit Cole, 17th.) In the past, I've whined that Yankees always get screwed in postseason awards. Not this year. Fourth and 17th sound about right.  

Still, somewhere out there - in that alt-universe, where the sun is shining bright, where the band is playing, and where hearts are light, and where men are laughing, and where somewhere children shout - Mighty Casey has struck out, both Harper and Ohtani play for the Yankees.

Yep, it's the Alt-Earth where the Yankees, in the cold winter of 2018, did more than slobber meaningless lip-service when Harper came to pursue his childhood dreams. After seven years with Washington, everybody knew Harper's desire to become a Yankee. He said so as a teen in the Sports Illustrated article that introduced him to the world. He said so in interviews, so often that he had to quit pronouncing his destiny. And when he finally became a free agent, and came to New York in search of a ballcap and a contract, Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner turned off his phone and hid under the bed. 

Insert sigh here.

Look, over the years, Hal has served as a fine whipping mule for this blog. I feel compelled to note that he has, on occasion, done the right thing. For example, he signed Gerrit Cole and gave both Jeet and Mariano great sendoffs. But there have been gigantic whiffs, worthy of mighty Casey. Remember when he refused to give Russell Martin a multi-year deal, cheaply cutting him loose with no other catcher in sight? Or when he let Yoan Moncada go to Boston, unleashing a series of events that would win them a world series. And in 2018-19, when Harper knocked on the door, Hal sat on his fanny pack. 

Imagine Harper's LH bat, sandwiched between Judge and Giancarlo, the most potent trio in baseball. Hurts, eh? That was also the winter when Hal ghosted Manny Machado, whose wife wanted him to play in NYC. The Yankees simply clutched their pearls and said no. And today, Harper is the MVP. He's 28. Barring injuries, a future Hall of Famer.

Then there is Ohtani, "the Japanese Babe Ruth," whom everyone in baseball, back in 2017, figured would sign with the Yankees. Here, I cannot blame Hal. Turns out, Ohtani wanted to play on the West Coast, closer to home. A reasonable desire. Time zones are hell. 

Still, I wonder if the Yankees could have tried harder. Their history with Japanese players has run hot and cold - from Godzilla to Ichiro to, ugh, Kei Igawa. Once upon a time, the Yankees appeared to be the prime recipients of an exodus of players from Asia and Cuba - a surge of international talent that would restore the franchise to prominence. Most came to America with no strings attached; all we had to do was shell out the money. And the Yankees had more than anybody else.

Instead, they shot their wad on 16-year-old cabana boys, most of whom are out of baseball, while passing on more expensive players. In 2017, they were hardly the dominant franchise that Ohtani had grown up following. In fact, they were simply a team that foreshadowed our current predicament - the collector of Wild Cards!  

Again, I can't blame Hal for Ohtani being an Angel. But in recent months, he's said to be unhappy with the sad state of that team. In another era, that would be a dog whistle for the Yankees to bring him to NY. Not anymore. If Ohtani wants to play for a perennial challenger, he's referring to the Dodgers (or maybe the  Giants.) Certainly not the Yankees, who haven't been the Yankees for a long, long time.

So, exciting news on the wire: Hal says he expects Joey Gallo to have a big year! Wow! Baseball fever! Can you feel it?