George, er, Hal is All Bluster

Hal Steinbrenner officially took over the reigns of the New York Yankees this week.  Hal Steinbrenner.  Not Hank. See, Hal is the money guy, and when you're pushing around the Benjamins like the Yankees have and will continue to with their new stadium, you need the money guy at the top.  And that guy is Hal. You only have to listen to Hank for about 4.5 seconds to realize he's not the money guy.  Hank is the mouthpiece, the guy who loves to talk because his thinks his voice sounds oh-so-good.  And we, the listening public, lap it up.  Not because Hank has any stunning revelations or profound baseball wisdom to lay upon us.  We listen to him because he's a circus act and we can't help but wonder how many clowns will climb out of his mouth. Armed with this knowledge, the latest quotes to come out of the House That Stein Built should give any Yankee fan reason to worry.  It isn't the content of these quotes that scares me.  The Stein-brothers let it be known that their generous offer to CC Sabathia will not stay on the table forever.  We've heard this type of ultimatum before, when ARod claims that Scott Boras was stringing him along like a marionette, only to have the closed door kicked wide open a few weeks later. With ARod, it was Hank doing the threatening.  This time though, Hal has thrown his clown shoes into the three rings. It only makes sense.  Merely hours after Hal was approved by Major League Baseball to be the managing partner of the New York Yankees, he honored his father's thirty-five year legacy by saying something completely unnecessary that undercuts his general manager.  Like father... We had hoped this type of public bombastity was solely a characteristic of his brother.  During the Santana negotiations last winter, Hal was portrayed in the press as the concerned consiglieri, the Tom Hagen to Hank's Sonny Corleone, focusing more on the finances than the pluses and minuses of the deal.  Hank was the voice in the press, informing everyone and their brother each and every time Brian Cashman went to the fax machine.  It played out like a modern day Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix battling it out in Tampa, only this time, Oscar didn't know quite as much about baseball. Instead, Hal's latest comments bear more resemblence to Harry and Lloyd from "Dumb & Dumber."  It's the type of arrogant posturing that serves little purpose in what the Yankees are trying to do.  Simply put, if Sabathia were that enticed by the money, the deal would be finished already.  It's obvious that CC is considering other factors, factors that may make the prospect of playing for a loud-mouthed Scrooge of an owner that much less enticing. Let's be realistic about the situation here: the Yankees need Sabathia a lot more than Sabathia needs the Yankees.  It isn't often that the Yankees have been faced with a situation where they have absolutely needed to sign a free agent, but Sabathia is about as close as it gets.  There are exactly two pitchers guaranteed spots in the Yankees rotation right now: Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain.  Wang is coming off rehab from a partially torn tendon in his ankle.  Joba, who had hopes of throwing about 140 innings in 2008, only threw 100 innings, leaving him on a limit in 2009 as well.  Nobody is giving Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy a rotation spot until either pitcher can prove they deserve it.  In short, the Yankees rotation is in shambles and Andy Pettitte shouldn't project as much more than a fifth starter if he returns. The Yankees need Sabathia.  They desperately need a top of the roation guy who can get them 220+ innings for a couple of years.  But one gets the feeling Sabathia would be just as happy with $120 million as he would $140 million as long as the peripherals all made sense to him.  Hal opening his mouth like he did just reinforces any doubts that CC might have about New York. It also reinforces doubts about how the Yankees will be perceived by players in this marketplace.  The elder Steinbrenner, known as George, created very mixed feelings within the Yankee fanbase.  On one hand, you had to love him because he put every dollar he could into the team.  On the other hand, at times he was downright embarrassing, like that one relative nobody likes to talk about.  As a baseball man, he knew what he wanted, but his knowledge wasn't always sound.  It's no coincidence that the foundation of the Torre dynasty was built while Steinbrenner was banned from baseball operations for hiring Howard Spira to dig dirt on Dave Winfield.  By the time Steinbrenner returned in 1993, the wheels were in motion and Big Stein took a back seat. As George's health has moved him away from baseball operations, there was some optimism that which his departure would come a more sane approach to the front office.  The emergence of Tweedle Hal and Tweedle Hank has dampened that enthusiasm.  One can only hope that Hal will realize his best place is in the background, consulting with his general manager while his brother does the schtick. -- On a side note, looking at the Sabathia situation now, it's really no wonder Johan Santana's agent pushed for Santana to be dealt last winter.  The prospect of Santana and Sabathia both being up for grabs at the same time more than likely wouldn't have effected eithers bottom line, but it could have.  It was probably wise for Santana to avoid the possibility and take the money when he could.