I would be remiss if I didn’t link to the latest Hank Stein quotes via Bill Madden. Here’s the big one for me:
This is what the new “Hammerin’ Hank” had to say to me Wednesday when I reached him in Tampa with the greeting: “How ’bout those Rays!”:
“They’re a great story down here right now,” he said, “although it’s terrible that they’re only drawing only 16,000 a game. They’re playing a lot better than us, that’s for sure. I know we’re gonna come on at some point in this season, but right now, other than (Chien-Ming) Wang, (Mariano) Rivera, (Derek) Jeter, (Hideki) Matsui, (Johnny) Damon and (Mike) Mussina, after I got on him a little, we’re not doing jack (bleep).
“What bothers me is that these guys are all working for me and my brother and they’re all making more money than we are. That’s what makes me mad. But while I’m confident they’ll come around, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens this year. And if they don’t come around then changes will have to be made. I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”
Hank has got to be kidding with the “they’re all making more money than we are” line. Please, dude, stop…really.
In any event, what do you think of that last line: “I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”
As a Yankees fan, do you agree that the team has made mistakes since 2003? If so, what were those mistakes? Tony Womack? Jeff Weaver? Miguel Cairo? Esteban Loaiza? Enrique Wilson? Kevin Brown? Wil Nieves? Randy Johnson? Bubba Crosby? Jaret Wright? Doug Mientkiewicz? Javier Vazquez?
Heck, they’re all gone already. What’s to clean-up? Kei Igawa? Carl Pavano? Jason Giambi?
Well, agreed, these are current problems. But, the should be done soon too.
Or, is Hank just saying, here, that the last five years have been, somewhat, wasted time in that the Yankees have been getting fooled with the Pavanos, Igawas, Weavers, etc.? And, now, it’s time to stop making bad decisions and time to start making smart ones?
What do you think?
10 Responses to “Hank: I’m Going To Clean Up On 5 Years Of Mistakes”
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May 15th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Yes, Steve, they have made mistakes. The question then becomes why have these mistakes been made.
Cash didn’t want Womack. According to Joel Sherman, that was a Tampa move. He did want Weaver, but people like Gammons thought it was a great trade at the time it was made. Cairo isn’t a bid deal either way. Same with M to Z. George reportedly wanted to dump Contreras. Loaiza was all that Cash could get. Marte for Wilson was a bad deal. Brown’s ERA+ is last season with the Dodgers was 169, and it enabled them to dump Weaver. Cash also got Proctor in the trade that brought Crosby here, which makes it a good move. He didn’t want RJ, he wanted to use the money to sign Beltran. He didn’t want Wright. He did want Vazquez, but again, most baseball people, including Schilling, liked the deal at the time it was made. Pavano was highly sought after. Igawa was an awful signing.
Since 2003, however, Cash traded for A-Rod. He signed Tom Gordon. He promoted Cano, Wang, Melky, and Joba. He restocked the farm system. He re-signed Pettitte. He traded for Abreu.
btw, Damon’s OPS in May to this point is .755. That’s hardly getting it done with A-Rod and Posada out.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
The last 5 years, they’ve made the playoffs. They haven’t advanced for a myriad of reasons.
The last 5 years, they’ve won over 90 games, playing near .600 ball.
Not quite sure what Hank’s getting at.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:26 am
What bothers me is that these guys are all working for me and my brother and they’re all making more money than we are.
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Obnoxious. Poor Hank. It must’ve been hard growing up flat broke and watching his daddy’s employees earning millions.
Hank is insufferable. I truly despise the Steinbrenner family.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:28 am
They’re all working for Hank now.
I love it. Its just like the good old days back in the late 70’s when Geroge had a comment every day.
And I’m glad that Hank was able to straighten out Moose.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
it’s odd to see you write rico bergman’s real name…which makes me think about how long i’ve been reading this blog lol
more off topic: anyone see baseball tonight last night? They were showing a manny being manny highlight reel of his career after that high five catch(but joba can’t fist pump) during a play, and they showed manny’s first hit (which was against the yanks….foreshadowing). He hit a ground rule double and rounded the bases like it was a home run. Hilarious. Seems odd now to see the stadium that empty.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Yankees fans have complained forever about Manny’s antics, and rightly so.
Whining fans that complain about Manny watcing his HR for five seconds, but think Joba’s tired act is cute, they are the problem.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
What bothers me is that these guys are all working for me and my brother and they’re all making more money than we are.
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I like Hank but this is just ridiculous. This is a classic type of quote from a guy that was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Net worth > net income
May 15th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Whining fans that complain about Manny watcing his HR for five seconds, but think Joba’s tired act is cute, they are the problem.
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i guess that was directed at me, but that’s not what I said at all. I was talking about his catch, I could care less about him watching his homers. Why? Because the ball is dead. Who cares. But when you leap to the top of the wall to high five a fan in the middle of a play you bet I got a problem with that. He almost missed the double play. But your right Joba’s tried act is much worse.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Sounds like he is going to come in and fix things just like his dad did in the 80’s. Let the baseball people do their job, they are already fixing the problem, and with the payroll coming off over the next two years, this team will have a whole new identity.