Sounds like it…via Ken Davidoff:
From speaking to employees up and down the [Yankees] organizational food chain, you still get the sense that no one knows who’s truly in charge.
Whereas George Steinbrenner ruled all in his prime, obsessing over both $189-million agreements with Derek Jeter and uncollected garbage on the practice field in Tampa, the organization lacks clarity today. The power flows, very unevenly, through these four outlets:
1. Hal Steinbrenner. He has worked hard in the last year to establish a relationship with Cashman and the baseball people, commuting to Yankee Stadium from his Tampa home nearly every week. But he is human, unlike his dad, in that he can’t get his tentacles over everything.
2. Hank Steinbrenner. The “advisory-board” comments — there will be no advisory board, Cashman confirmed Wednesday — provide further proof that Hank is a highly entertaining fraud. As long as he’s got his last name, however, Hank won’t be ignored altogether.
3. Felix Lopez. The husband of George Steinbrenner’s younger daughter Jessica, Lopez has exploited Hal’s and Hank’s limits to gain a surprising amount of power over the Tampa-based operations. Lopez is known as such a bully and a boor that he makes Hank Steinbrenner look like a gentleman and a scholar, in comparison.
4. Randy Levine. The head of everything in New York, including the Yankees’ role in YES and the new Yankee Stadium, team president Levine used to be predictable in that he would carry out George Steinbrenner’s wishes. Now, with The Boss largely resting in the background, Levine sits as more of a wild card.
From this, you have people wondering who really runs things. It’s a question that, in reality, probably will fade only if, or when, the Steinbrenner family sells the team.
The Yankees, “today,” sound like the same splintered organization that they were before Cashman got his “autonomy.” So, has anything really changed in the Yankees front office since that church service for Otto Graham (back in December 2003)? Maybe not…in fact, maybe now it’s worse?
12 Responses to “Are Yanks Still A House Divided Against Itself?”
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October 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 am
i dont really get the sense that its a dysfunctional family at all.
Cashman controls baseball ops, with a number of scouts, assistants, etc, who report to him.
Hank and Hal sign the checks, with Hal as the new majority voice for the family. I dont think there is really anyone who thinks Hank actually runs the show.
Levine runs the Yankees corporation and makes the business so-called branding decisions.
seems pretty organized to me, but maybe i’m just looking at it thru an objective, simplified lens.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
All the more reason why three more years with Cashman is the right move. If the franchise is as dyfunctional as you think it is (and I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you) then it’s better to stick with a guy that has enough juice within the franchise to run things smoothly.
You may not agree with Cashman on anything but there’s no denying he runs a smooth ship. To introduce a weaker man who would have to prove himself or earn his voice within the franchse in a time of such supposed dysfunction wouldn’t have done the franchise any favors.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 am
If Cashman has “enough juice within the franchise to run things smoothly” then why has the team been going backwards over the last three years or so?
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Not surprised that you responded with that.
Never mind. You hate him. He stinks. You win.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
MJ – I “win”?
Sorry. I didn’t realize this was a contest. I just thought it was a pleasant exhange of opinions..
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
why has the team been going backwards over the last three years or so?
——————–
Good question. Do you want to blame Girardi? Injuries? An offense that scored 200 runs less than they did the year before?
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-new-york-yankees3/
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
You can blame the brittle and/or under-performing players. Or, you can blame Girardi. Or, you can blame both. But, if you do, then should you not also blame the man who put the players on the team and who hired Girardi?
I’m just sayin’….
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Well, the only thing that changed was Girardi. The team was the same, the GM was the same.
I’m just sayin…
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Obviously the answer is that the Yankee GM should only sign people to one year contracts. He has to know, in advance, if someone is going to stink three years from now, and not sign that man for that season. Otherwise he is a failure.
Do you see, yet, Steve, how you have completely unrealistic expectations of GMs?
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Yeah, no one could have ever guessed that Cano had a tendency to dog it…giving him a long term-deal, wait, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
..seemed like the right thing to do at the time…
…ah, the Cashman rubber-stamp.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Robinson Cano, OPS+
05: 106
06: 126
07: 120
08: 88
I’m willing to chalk 2008 up to an off year. It happens.
Let’s see the results of the other 3 years before we decide the contract’s a bust.
October 18th, 2008 at 8:45 am
[...] their father there, still, for input then the rudder on this Yankees ship is even more busted than some have recently suggested… October 18, 2008 | Filed Under Possible Bad [...]