Thursday, February 21, 2013
TGS NY: Return of The Boss? Hal shows spirit
WARNING. This link plays a video so don’t click on it if you don’t want to see it.
here is no doubt that a year ago, he was serious about trimming the payroll to $189 million, to keep his team under the new revenue-sharing threshold that kicks in for the 2014 season.
“It was an absolute mandate,’’ a source told me.
But recently, it has become obvious that the expected windfall from the payroll cut—as much as $60 million in rebates and luxury tax reductions—is likely to be a whole lot less, since three of the teams that had been expected to qualify for revenue sharing (Atlanta, Washington and Toronto) are now expected to be successful at the box office, and thus are no longer eligible for baseball’s version of corporate welfare.
And there is another, more visceral reason for Steinbrenner’s attitude adjustment. He seems to have learned what his father instinctively knew: That everyone loves a winner, but nobody likes a finance geek.
According to the proverbial insider with knowledge, Hal was “freaked out’’ by the negative reaction from Yankees fans at what they perceived to be a trend toward “cheapness’’ from a club that had always been known for wild extravagance.
This seems more like Wally Matthews reading way too much into Steinbrenner’s comments about considering an extension for Cano. There’s nothing in here directly from Steinbrenner indicating a change in his philosophy. But I do think there’s something to the fan backlash (and I’m guessing worse than expected season ticket sales) that will cause the Yankees to re-think their austerity budget.
If only there were players worth spending the money on…
Page 1 of 1 pages: