Hank Steinbrenner fires back at A-Rod

by anaconda on Oct 29, 2007 12:12 PM EDT in News Comment 16 comments

"It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee," Hank Steinbrenner told the Daily News last night. "He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field.

"I don't want anybody on my team that doesn't want to be a Yankee."

It's pretty obvious that the Yankee brass is standing very firm on the issue of not pursuing A-Rod in the free agent market and I think they are right in doing so. Clearly, A-Rod didn't want to be a Yankee because he didn't even give any extension of his current deal a chance.

That's fine. Like Hank Steinbrenner said, I'd rather not have someone playing for this club who didn't want to be a Yankee. I root for the uniform more than any individual player.

Now, the focus should be on bringing back Posada, Mo, and Pettitte next season and fill the offensive holes in the lineup with short term stop gaps until better solutions become available down the road.

It doesn't make any sense to spend money unwisely on free agents like Torii Hunter or Andruw Jones or mortgage the farm for a Johan Santana or Miguel Cabrera. Those kinds of moves in years past are exactly why this team has an abundance of immovable contracts and payroll inflexibility and had a farm system that was bone dry for a number of years.

The Yanks won before A-Rod came to this club and they can win without him. Continuing the youth movement while building a stable of horses and depth in the rotation will make this team a contender faster than any big bat could ever do.

Obviously, today is not a great day in Yankee history. Nonetheless, it's not time to hit the panic button just yet. Better days may be coming sooner than you think.

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This is a blessing in disguise

A-Rod becomes the center of any narrative: does he get along with Jeter, can he hit in the clutch, is he going to be the HR king, is he gonna opt out, and on and on. Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, etc. were like that, but they were also champions.

Whether or not A-Rod gets the biggest contract ever (and I'm sure he will), he made such a huge blunder with the way this was handled. So stupid. He could have opted out without alienating the entire Yankee fan base. Even if the guy was ready to get out of NYC, this was such a tremendous PR gaffe. Wait a couple days. Sit down with the Baby Steins. Nod your head in agreement. Then opt out.

I always feel pressure. What I don't have is fear. -- El Duque

by LateInningRelief on Oct 29, 2007 12:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A-Rod has no sense of history

which is why he was never a good fit with the Yankees. If he chose to stay with the Yankees, he would have had a plaque in Monument Park next to Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, et al. He would have transcended being merely a great player to become a legend. Instead, he chose the money. So be it.

I have mixed feelings about all this - on the one hand, the team is left with a gaping hole in the offense; while no baseball team is solely dependent on one player, A-Rod certainly carried the load several times this year. They never would have made the playoffs this year without him. On the other hand, the team never needed someone like A-Rod at 3B to win 4 WS championships. The team will survive and perhaps thrive without him.

The Baby Steins would do well to shore up the starting rotation and bullpen, and get someone good (not necessarily great) to take over third.

by docgonzo on Oct 29, 2007 1:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A-Rod Phooey

Yeah, he hada good year until.....a few well placed hits might of made the dif in the playoffs; but that remains impossible for the 'man without a clutch.' Goodbye, Sr Rod. We never got to really know you, but I guess we scared you away with too demanding a team reputation. As for annaconda's reckoning of the whole schmeer - I hate to admit it- he is right on the (sorry, arod) money!

New Hampshire Bob

by NH Bob on Oct 29, 2007 4:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A-Rod

Can't believe he'd leave without even talking to Management. Just another showing of his arrogance. And ... to think he would think it was cute that his wife "wore the t-shirt" to a ballgame! Boston Management will undoubtedly offer him a great deal ... another reason to hate the Beaners.

by Nan on Oct 29, 2007 5:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not going to happen

Theo and the boys are too smart to 1) wreck their chemistry and 2) blow that kind of money on one player. Given the way that Theo has tried for years to shed Manny's albatross contract and his appreciation for roster flexibility, I just don't see that move happening.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Oct 29, 2007 8:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

but we are talking about the guy who threw 100 million at Dice K.

by matthaggs on Oct 29, 2007 8:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Slightly different

That posting fee is already gone so they have a very reasonable salary going forward. With A-Rod, you have the opposite problem in that some team is going to be paying a ton of money to an old player.

For the record, the Dice K signing remains a very good deal for Boston but we don't need to rehash that for the 100th time.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Oct 29, 2007 8:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree with the premise

If you can afford to spend 60 million on Dice K one season, you can afford 30 million on Arod the next.

If you had an extra 50 million laying around one season, and you knew you had some backloaded contracts coming due in the next few years why wouldn't you set some of it aside? It doesn't all have to go back to the owner if he's willing to invest it in the club.

And here's my prediction: Arod posts a higher WARP than Dice-K every year for as long as they play.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Oct 30, 2007 2:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

We can agree to disagree

After the Manny fiasco over the past few years, I think Theo realizes the importance of avoiding medadeals for aging superstars. I think he is too smart to do that with A-Rod.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Oct 30, 2007 7:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For the 101st time

Even Theo himself might second guess the pile of dough he gave to a #3 starter on his best day.

by matthaggs on Oct 30, 2007 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I highly doubt that

and PECOTA tends to agree with me.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Oct 30, 2007 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It worked out for him this year obviously

But the league has his ass figured out already.

Unless he figures out some new tricks he'll be at the back of Boston's rotation by 2009.

The Sox might be able to get away with that if Bucholz and Lester pan out, but if not it's Beckett and not much else up there.

by matthaggs on Oct 30, 2007 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's possible

But considering what kind of money guys like Vincente Padilla and Carlos Silva are getting or going to get, I don't think Theo is losing any sleep over getting Dice K.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Oct 30, 2007 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wanted him to stay

but he left in such a ridiculous fashion DURING the World Series before he even gave the Yankees a chance...it's just turned my heart cold to him. My first thought was good riddance, goodbye.

AND he didn't even show up to get the Hank Aaron award (Jeter did last year as did Ryan Howard). His true jerk off colors are showing.

Let him go to the Sox...between him and Dice-K they will eat up about 90 percent of the payroll.

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel

by bxgrl1 on Oct 29, 2007 6:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

"The Yankees

won before A-Rod came to this club and they can win without him." True, but an even more accurate statement would be "The Yankees won six pennants and four world championships in the eight years immediately proceeding A-Rod's arrival and diddly squat in the four years he was with them". Maybe that's a cheap shot, but it's still a fact. It's also a fact that Seattle won 116 games in their first year without A-Rod, a 25-game improvement over the previous year. Once again, maybe that's just a coincidence. Then again, maybe the circus atmosphere that accompanies this egotistical yet hypersensitive con artist (yeah, he really loves New York) has such a damaging effect on clubhouses that teams loosen up and play better once the show leaves town, despite the production that goes along with it. Oh, and by the way, Texas won 71 games the year before A-Rod came and 73,72, and 71 games in his three years there, then won 89 games their first year without him. Do I detect a pattern here? Hmm........

by flipster on Oct 29, 2007 8:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I understand Anaconda's sentiment...

when he said "this is not a great day in Yankees' history", but I think, to the contrary, that it's not a bad day in Yankee's history.

This team has such a storied past, that, were we to look at every bump in the road the team has encountered, we wonder how they've survived as long as they have.

A-Rod was not the savior. Torre was not the savior. Donnie Baseball wasn't either.

Flipster makes a great point that A-Rod doesn't have a history of turning good teams into great teams.

Is Girardi the answer? I don't know, and I don't think anyone does. No one thought, at least at first, that Torre would be the answer.

This team has a long and successful history. It also has a long and successful future ahead of itself.

Patience is a virtue. 2008 may not be a great year for the Yanks, but it also won't be the last.

by GrandEd on Oct 30, 2007 8:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs