George Steinbrenner bought the New York Yankees 40 years ago today and he instantly made his name almost bigger than the stars themselves. With no George around, Hank and Hal have the Yankees going from the Bombers to the discount seekers as the team has reduced itself to penny pinching strategies during the offseason. What if George were still alive today?
The question poses many ideas. Could the Yankees have an outfield of Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson and Josh Hamilton? Hamilton became the most sought after power hitter in the majors this offseason until he was taken off the shelf by the Los Angeles Angels.
Then there was Zack Greinke who was also available and the starting pitcher many wanted, but couldn't afford until the Los Angeles Dodgers lured him in with big money.
Wait, have we noticed the trend? These big time players are going west. Last year it was Albert Pujols and the Oakland Athletics outbid everybody for Yoenis Cespedes.
The Yankees made their big splashes in 2009 when they signed Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia. They acquired Swisher in a trade with the Chicago White Sox and their team was set to compete.
Now, the Yankees are looking old. Getting a younger player for their outfield or as their DH would have been ideal, but their greed from previous years sigining Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year extension and cheap vision for the future have the Yankees stuck in an almost never-ending sea of long contracts and cooked players.
Right now, the five years remaining in Rodriguez's contract seem like an eternity. Teixeira does enough to not make his contract hurt so much, but he has been ailing the older he gets. Derek Jeter went out during the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers and suddenly, the Yankees performed more like the New York Mets.
For some Yankee fans, the new stadium and the 2009 World Series were the last things the Boss left behind. However, many fans, "True fans," as they like to refer to themselves because they were present through the painful years, hate the new place. It's too pricey and some seats from don't even allow you to see a possible game winning home run.
There is a huge obstruction that prevents fans sitting in fair territory down left and right field from seeing what goes in center field. You'd have to depend on the cheers from the crowd to know what occurred. So fans spend $50-60 for these seats and they can't even capture every moment of the game.
Fans believe George Steinbrenner would have never allowed this and cared too much about the fan's experience. Now ownership wants to yank up the price, no pun intended, and not spend money on free agents. Who will go and watch the Yankees in 2013!?
The Yankees aren't feared. Yes, they have a decent team that could compete, but everybody else is improving. The Boston Red Sox are better and the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles want a piece of the A.L. East crowd.
Everybody got better except for the Yankees. You never heard those words when George was around.
