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January 25, 2008

Hank: If Plan Doesn't Work, The Planners Will Pay

Via the AP -

Hank Steinbrenner sat behind his desk and looked out at empty Legends Field, where all was quiet and calm.

Over and over again, he emphasized his philosophy - the New York Yankees' new doctrine - of tolerance, of deliberation, of long-term planning. That, however, only goes so far.

He is, after all, a Steinbrenner.

"I will be patient with the young pitchers and players. There's no question about that because I know how these players develop,'' he said. "But as far as missing the playoffs - if we miss the playoffs by the end of this year, I don't know how patient I'll be. But it won't be against the players. It won't be a matter of that. It will be a matter of maybe certain people in the organization could have done something else.''

...if we miss the playoffs by the end of this year, I don't know how patient I'll be. But it won't be against the players. It won't be a matter of that. It will be a matter of maybe certain people in the organization could have done something else...

I read this to say: If we miss the post-season, because our young players struggled, the parties who talked me out of trading some of those young players for Johan Santana, will be the ones to pay the price for not making the playoffs.

I've been thinking about this for a while now. The Yankees will have a payroll over $200 million, most likely, this season. Sure, some of that is dead weight - like Giambi, Pavano, etc. But, for the most part, there are many players on this team being paid huge money to perform well.

It's one thing to be patient, take some bumps and lumps, while allowing kids to learn, and to look at the big picture and the whole journey. But, it's easier to do that when your payroll is closer to $80 million or less. When you have a $200 million payroll, you still want to win it all. So, how can you be in that spot and be patient too?

Hank can say that he'll be patient - but, I don't believe him. However, I do believe him when he says "certain people in the organization" are on the hook this season - especially those in the last year of their contract.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at January 25, 2008 11:27 PM

Comments

FWIW, there have been unconfirmed reports that Hank/Hal have offered Cash an extension.

Posted by: Rich [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 26, 2008 12:12 AM

Yeah, FWIW, they offered Joe Torre a contract too.

Posted by: Steve Lombardi [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 26, 2008 09:14 AM

And I was glad that Torre declined it.

I do think that Cash is waiting to see how much of his power is being taken away by Hank. To that end, I thought it was interesting that he mentioned in last night's talk at William Paterson University that he had a "long term relationship with Hal," but at least according to reports, mentioned nothing about Hank.

Posted by: Rich [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 26, 2008 10:43 AM