Hal Stein More Worried About Tickets Than Team
Via George King -
Hal Steinbrenner was in town Tuesday and yesterday and again demonstrated he isn’t wired the same way his father is when it comes to reacting to an underachieving baseball team that has cost his family millions in talent.
Instead of stopping by the clubhouse to give the Yankees a tongue lashing in the wake of them being 0-for-5 against the Red Sox, Hal focused on ticket issues with staff members.
Manager Joe Girardi said he didn’t talk with Hal during his stay in The Bronx.
According to several organizational sources Girardi’s job security isn’t an issue. Too many injuries too early in the season and slow starts by CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. And he hasn’t had cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez play a game, lost Chien-Ming Wang early and Jorge Posada recently.
Though Girardi said he understands the attention that comes with managing the Yankees, he said he isn’t fixated on those who blame him for the pedestrian start and being dominated by the Red Sox.
“That’s not something I really focus on. I focus on the task at hand. Every day we do the best we can to prepare our club and every move we make is to win the game and that’s what I focus on,” said Girardi, who has been hamstrung by an awful bullpen.
When it was mentioned that two decades ago The Boss would have axed him, Girardi reacted calmly. “I really don’t [think about it]. I focus on doing my job. In our life . . . if you start thinking every time you went 0-for-8 you were going to get benched, you wouldn’t go out there with your best which would be wrong,” Girardi said. “So you have to learn to just focus on the task that day and sometimes in focusing on the task you think about tomorrow as well, in the way you use someone, but really your focus is how do you win that day?”
When I read this, the small mention that resonates the most with me is King’s comment that Girardi has been hamstrung by an awful bullpen. At what point does the blame for the bullpen situation get assigned to someone? Yeah, I know, I know…”Well, Bruney got hurt….”
Bull. Anyone with an objective eye looking at Bruney’s history could tell you that he always gets hurt. And, if your plan to make the bullpen work centered all around relying on Brian Bruney, then you’re a very poor planner.
Someone in the Yankees brain-trust should have looked at Veras and Ramirez and seen that they were hot and cold last year – and could not be trusted to do well consistently in the majors. They should have noted that Bruney is brittle. And, perhaps, based on what’s reported lately, they should have seen that Marte may not have the stomach for New York. And, as such, they should have – at the least – had a “Plan B” other than “Let’s hope that some of the kids can step up.”
Pin it on Cashman. Pin it on Girardi. Pin it on Dave Eiland and/or Mike Harkey. Heck, pin it on someone and let’s make them accountable for it – because, right now, it’s the Gorilla in the room that’s ruining the party and everyone on the Yankees is trying to pretend like they don’t know how it got there.
Today, I’d love to see Hal Steinbrenner be more interested in holding someone’s feet to the fire over the state of the Yankees bullpen than ticket sales. But, then again, maybe that’s just me?
I dont’ think its on anyone, just because I thought that this bullpen was going to be very good, and had players in the minors to fill in if some people faltered. That being said, I think that we have reached the point where it is obvious that the Yankees need at least one dependable face in the bullpen outside of Mariano and Bruney, and Cash needs to get a work. Steve, if June 15th (just to throw a number out there) rolls around and the bullpen is still struggling and Cash has not done anything, you can rip him all you want.
I’ve never had faith in Cashman’s ability to evaluate pitching and had hoped the organization wouldn’t renew his contract this year. Steve is dead on by saying they should have at least had a “Plan B”, like perhaps a long-reliever? Instead they allowed their long-reliever, Dan Giese, to get picked up by Oakland. Granted Melky hit that walkoff homer off of Giese to win that game against the A’s, but the dude was pretty solid by my estimation.
Dan Giese sucks. You want to rip Cashman for something he’s done wrong, go ahead. But letting Giese go was no big deal.
@ MJ:
Fair enough, but not having a long-reliever is a big deal at this point.
They have a long reliever- Aceves. If not him, Tomko. Just out of curiosity, who is the long reliever in Boston? Tampa?
@ yagottagotomo1:
Not impressed with Ace so far, but I’m looking forward to Tomko.
I told all of you ’bout Yankee Inc. Levine and Trost are interested in the team as a means to an end. Message to them: if the team sucks, no one will go AND that will minimize profit! Verstehen Sie/Capisci/Understand?
Stev ,it’s about Casha Man pure and simple. he is the architect of the team. It’s enough already with him. How many years in the wilderness with no championships under this guy. He is a bad evaluator of pitching and this bullpen is yet another reflection of it.
To the Jeter hater and Swisher is God crowd follower, Giese wasn’t bad that year. Sucks is a gross estimation of his abilities. Last year , Giese has a 3.53 ERA ,WHIP wa 1.22, and pitched in 20 games. That is hardly “sucking”!!?? He was OK, but sucked? He didn’t SUCK in the same way that Swisher sucked last year with the White Sox, did he?
FWIW, I do recall many, last year, wanting to give Cashman a genius crown for building an effective bullpen by picking up Ramirez from the Indy league, Veras and Bruney as free agents after their teams let them go, getting Alba-fatso for Clippard, etc. So, if he deserved the “credit” last year, you have to give him the blame for this mess now – since it’s all the same castoffs from the island of misfit toys that he brought in – and relied on…
Steve, lets be fair, thats the nature of bullpens- volatility. They had some backup guys in the minors, they have not worked out thus far. No teams have backups to the backups. If Saito gets hurt and Delcarmen and Okajima continue their inconsistency from last season, the Sox would be depending on Hunter Jones and Kason Gabbard- not much better. That is the nature of the beast. But dont get me wrong, now that it hasnt worked out, Cash needs to fix it. If he keeps taking about making it with what theyve got, I’ll have a big problem with that, and will be the first to agree with your subsequent Cash bash.
Steve, that’s a really good catch on Hal Steinbrenner.
I don’t want Girardi fired, but I think Randy Levine and Lonn Trost ought to walk the plank, for the way they mismanaged the new stadium. From up to half a billion to cost overruns to all those empty seats, the new stadium is a mess.
If Saito gets hurt and Delcarmen and Okajima continue their inconsistency from last season, the Sox would be depending on Hunter Jones and Kason Gabbard- not much better.
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You shouldn’t speak about things you know little about. Heard of Daniel Bard? He’s the guy who threw 100 MPH in the spring, impressed about every scout who saw him and allowed zero runs in ten major league spring training appearances.
Now he’s tearing up AAA. From today’s Globe:
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Daniel Bard recorded a four-out save with four strikeouts, allowing one hit. He lowered his ERA to 1.13, and has 29 strikeouts in 16 innings. Opponents are batting .115 off of him, and he’s given up five walks and six hits.
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If anyone gets hurt, he’s the first one up. If no one gets hurt, he’s here by July. You might want to pay attention to him.
You shouldn’t speak about things you know little about. Heard of Daniel Bard?
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Fancy that, a tart, smug posting from a Red Sox fan on a Yankees board.
If we’ve learned anything, it’s that minor league results guarantee nothing at the big league level. Hughes and Buchholz have learned that. Now you should too.
That is hardly “sucking”!!??
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You may want to take a look at his career? Anyway losing Giese wasn’t a big deal as they have more than enough arms to replace him; as a matter of fact, Aceves is with the team now. Tomko’s in line as well. If Kennedy’s healthy, he’s in the mix too.
And, if Red Ruffing were still alive, he’d be in the mix as well…
To the Jeter hater and Swisher is God crowd follower
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Butchie, I don’t hate Jeter and I never said Swisher was a God.
You’re a weird guy. Too much vegemite?
Raf wrote:
Having Ian Kennedy in the mix is not something that brings comfort to me. That kid has no heart and dare I say SUCKS at the major league level.
That kid has no heart
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Did he have heart in September 2007? What is heart anyway? Let’s give him another shot before we write him off completely.
Heart is taking responsibility for your loses when they are clearly your fault and not having to have Andy Pettite sit you down and explain that the team doesn’t appreciate your blase attitude. I can agree that he deserves another shot before we right him off completely, but I’m not holding my breath.
not having to have Andy Pettite sit you down and explain that the team doesn’t appreciate your blase attitude
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Like how Clemens mentored a young Schilling? Does Schilling have heart?
Young players are young, let’s not be so quick to write them off as lacking heart. You don’t just wake up one day as the perfect teammate, you have to learn how.
Having Ian Kennedy in the mix is not something that brings comfort to me. That kid has no heart and dare I say SUCKS at the major league level.
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Let’s give Kennedy more than 40 innings before we write him off? Giese was a proven mediocrity, bouncing through 4 organizations before landing with the Yanks. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good arm, but RHRP’s are a dime a dozen.
Yes, I forgot Bard. Was that any reason to jump all over me? “Speaking about things you know little about.” Who talks like that? Quite frankly, I’m willing to bet that I know more about the Sox farm system than you do, as you clearly get all your prospect news from the Globe and Peter Gammons. And lets be honest, Melancon’s numbers in the minors have been just as good, if not better, than Bard’s.
So let me get this straight. You know more about the Sox farm system than I do, yet you identified Hunter Jones, who is already on the major league roster, and Kason Gabbard, who isn’t even in Pawtucket yet AND is going back to starting on top of that, as the top candidates to replace any inconsistent or injured Red Sox reliever.
AND you forgot Bard.
So in other words, you haven’t any clue whatsoever who the Red Sox will call up for help in the bullpen. Ah, but you know more than I do because I rely on the Globe and Peter Gammons, right?
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