Are You Ready For Your Yankees Fix?

Because I am about to lay it on you semi-hard. Not only am I a Yankees fan, but I have been following the looming issues that the team is now facing while the bubble continued to grow during the season.  Now it seems to be bursting.

It all started in the beginning of July 2007, when the Yankees front office took a bold move and proclaimed that it was ready to renegotiate Alex Rodriguez’s deal in the heart of the baseball season. Boras quickly said no and that A-Rod did not want any distractions while the season was in progress. No one does that to Steinbrenner and the Yankees. Does Boras know who he is dealing with?

Apparently so. It seems like Boras will end up with the upper hand on a team that actually may have bigger issues to worry about. Back to Boras and A-Rod a little bit later.

Let’s move on to an even hotter topic as of late. That being the relationship between Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner. Apparently the theme for the Yankees this year is to make big announcements at the wrong time. This time a proclamation was made by Steinbrenner that if Joe Torre could not manage his team out of a 2-0 hole to the Indians, he could kiss his job goodbye at the season’s close. Is this how you treat a manager who has managed your team to 12 consecutive playoff appearances? $7 million may be too high a price to pay a man who is managing the team with the highest payroll, but my issue is Steinbrenner’s tactics.

Steinbrenner made two announcements during the series with the Indians. 1) Torre’s job is on the line. 2) A-Rod will be back in NY next season. [Report: Steinbrenner says Torre’s job on the line against Indians]. Now it should be pretty certain that Mr. Steinbrenner may have fallen off of his rocking chair. The 77-year old will soon be out of Brooklyn as well, retired and sipping coladas at his home in Tampa. The problem is that until Steinbrenner decides to hand the thrown down to his successor(s), he may tear the Yankees apart piece by piece.

For one, Steinbrenner should not be so sure that A-Rod will be sticking around. Boras claims that A-Rod will be playing until he is at least forty five years old and is demanding a contract for A-Rod worth about $500 over the next ten years [Scott Boras Calls Back]. I am not going to debate whether or not A-Rod deserves that figure. If you want to see Boras’ argument, check out the Darren Rovell CNBC piece above.

Maybe it is worth $50 million a year to Steinbrenner if he can keep his third baseman. But he may lose a lot more because he could not keep his mouth shut about Torre’s future. Mariano Rivera is apparently a little perturbed with the way that the Yankees have been handling the situation, and may base his decision on whether or not to stay in New York based on the next move made by Steinbrenner regarding Torre [Rivera: Torre’s return a factor in whether he stays in N.Y.].

The New York Yankees, the most powerful team in all of sports, may be falling apart right before our very eyes. The team that once had a farm system in place just so that it could trade away its finest prospects for already established professional players may be shifting its focus in the near future. Enter players like Joba Chamberlain. Derek Jeter may soon have some company on his team that were not placed there through an acquisition.

Maybe now is the time to get your stud prospect clients in pinstripes…

-Darren Heitner