The 2009 season looks like a very good year for the Yankees. It looks like it is their year. You know when you have something special when you watch a certain team and this team just has it. If and when the Yankees do win, who deserves the credit for putting this team together? You’d have to credit Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner brothers. They put a team together that has a great mix of rookies and veterans. I will not, ever, give credit to Mr. George Steinbrenner Sr. All he did was ruin the Yankees since he came back from suspension. The Yankees built a great team from their farm in the early 90’s and this idiot had to go ruin every thing. I’ll never respect George Steinbrenner as a GM. He thought that buying high priced free agents was a way to build a winner and as history has showed, it wasn’t. George Steinbrenner did build an empire by making the Yankees a money making machine but he wasn’t able to translate that onto the field. The New York Yankees have no championships since 2000. He has to take the blame for that. Him or fate. I say fate because you can’t win every year but with the payroll the Yankees had, they should of won at least one title. Imagine if “sicko” George, I call him sicko because he makes me sick, sick to my stomach with all the dumb moves he made, was running the team now? There would be no Derek Jeter because he would of traded him. There would be no Jorge Posada or Mariano Rivera because they would of been traded as well. Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera would of probably been traded for Pedro Martinez who’s now on the Phillies. Yes, believe me, George was THAT dumb. He would of done something like that. Remember when the Twins wanted the whole farm for Johan Santana? George would of pulled the trigger because that was his “way.” The Steinbrenner brothers got rid of their father’s garbage and made this “their” team by dumping Giambi, Pavano, Karsay, Rondell White, Tom Gordon, Paul Quantrill, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, and Kyle Farnsworth. Let’s look at starters for the 2009 team. Jorge Posada: Came from the Gene Michael era. Mark Teixeira: Bought by the Steinbrenner brothers. Robinson Cano: A Brian Cashman player from the farm. Derek Jeter: A Gene Michael player Alex Rodriguez: A George Steinbrenner player. We’ll see how he does in the playoffs. Johnny Damon: A George Steinbrenner player. Not a bad pickup. Melky Cabrera: A Brian Cashman player from the farm. Nick Swisher: Bought by the Steinbrenner brothers. Hideki Matsui: If I remember right, bought by George Steinbrenner. C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett: Bought by the Steinbrenner brothers. Andy Pettitte: From the Gene Michael era. Joba Chamberlain: Brian Cashman’s player Brian Bruney, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes, Damaso Marte, and Alfredo Aceves: All Cashman players. Mariano Rivera: From the Gene Michael era.
The Yankees lucked out on Jeter originally. The head scott of the Houston Astros at the time (Hal Newhouser) quit his job because the Astros didn't select Jeter. Instead they draft Phil Nevin. I wouldn't give credit to Gene Michaels for that selection. I really think Brian Cashman is the brains behind the operation now. There was a great interview on the radio the other day with Paul Depodesta. He was one of the staffers under Billy Beane during the innovative Money Ball system. Depodesta is currently with the Padres and he said small market teams used to be able to compete with the Money Ball strategy, but now you have teams like the Yankees & Redsox who build their franchises with the same philosophy, but also have a huge financial edge. It's almost not fair, and small market teams are going to have to innovate once again to compete.
