Son of Steinbrenner knows best

"We've got to forget about all the injuries and start playing our butts off," Steinbrenner told The Post. The Yankees were buried by the Rays on Monday. These are difficult days for Joe Girardi's club.

"The bottom line is that the team is not playing the way it is capable of playing, these players are being paid a lot of money and they had better decide for themselves to earn that money."

"We have good professional hitters and I have a lot of faith in them, I'm not saying they are not giving the effort, but they need to be playing harder."

He then paid the much-improved Rays a compliment, saying, the Yankees have "got to start playing the way the Rays are playing. (The Yankees) need to start treating it like when they were younger players and going after that big contract, like they're in (Triple-A) and trying to make the majors. That's the kind of attitude and fire the players have to have."

ALWAYS GREAT TO HEAR FROM HANK

Thanks to Neil for these great Hank quotes about the state of the Yankee pitching staff...

"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told the New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

"The mistake was already made last year switching him to the bullpen out of panic or whatever," Steinbrenner told the newspaper. "I had no say in it last year and I wouldn't have allowed it. That was done last year, so now we have to catch up. It has to be done on a schedule so we don't rush him."

"I think once Hughes and Kennedy get plenty of starts and get Joba back, and with [Chien-Ming] Wang and [Andy] Pettitte, we will be fine," Steinbrenner told The Times.

"[Mussina] just needs to learn how to pitch like [45-year-old Phillies pitcher] Jamie Moyer,"

In the offseason, if you remember, Hank was all for acquiring two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana, but we all know how that turned out.

"The starting rotation is not what I would have chosen at the beginning of the year, but that is not a big news flash to anyone,"

WELCOME BACK HANK

The target of Hank Steinbrenner’s latest barbs is Gino Castignoli, the construction worker who, earlier this week, admitted to burying a Red Sox jersey into the concrete underneath the visitor’s dugout of the new Yankee Stadium. The part owner and future CEO of arguably the most prestigious franchise in all of sports is now embroiled in a war of words with a construction worker. After a few of Castignoli’s co-workers unearthed the David Ortiz jersey that he planted last year, Steinbrenner had this to say:

“I hope his coworkers kick the shit out of him. It’s a bunch of bullshit.”

Not to be outdone, Castignoli, who according to the article once plead guilty to being involved with a gambling operation that had ties to the Gambino crime family (this just keeps getting better), retorted with this gem:

“So, then, why is he making such a big stink about it? If it’s no big deal, why not let it lay? Apparently, it’s bothering him. Tell Hank he can come meet me if he wants to try - and tell him to bring [catcher Jorge] Posada, because he’s the one Yankee I can’t stand.”

PLEASE HANK - DON'T STAY AWAY SO LONG NEXT TIME, WE LOVE YOU.

OMAR

Don't get me wrong about my Son of Stienbrenner posts...needless to say there is no love here, nor will there ever be, for the Yankees. But by no means will Omar and the the Mets get a free ride.

This team collapsed as badly if not worse, than the 2004 Yankees, and as far as I'm concerned was a total embarrassment for the last 2 weeks of 2007. They have done nothing to change or add to the team, and the best spin I can put on it is they have learned from the pain of that experience, never to take something for granted and never assume you won or have something when you don't. But even I'm not sure how much I believe that.

I am the biggest optimist, and look at the Mets' team through the rosiest of rose colored glasses, but I've got to be a little worried about a starting rotation of Pedro, Maine, Ollie, El Duque and Joe Appio.

While I go to bed searching every news article I can find about Santanta rumors, and wake up scouring the internet for any hint of what the Twins are going to do, and the Mets are going to do, I'll hold off on bashing Omar and the Mets until that is finaly resolved.

Son of Steinbrenner article - better written than mine...

The following article is copied from New York Magazine and the writer does a much better job than I did a few day and points out that there's little reason to pay attention to what Hank Steinbrenner says when it comes to the Yankees trading for Johan Santana



Hank Steinbrenner Talks Himself, Twins Into a Tizzy

Anyone following the Yankees in the news for the past few months must be tired of hearing from Hank Steinbrenner about the possibility of a trade with the Minnesota Twins for young pitcher Johan Santana. It's been literally weeks and weeks of the same mantra: "I'm in charge!" "We're still open!" "Our offer was the best offer!" Even though way back on December 2, Steinbrenner set a one-week deadline for the Twins to accept his offer, it's been dragging on and on. Since today, just over a month later, papers are reporting Steinbrenner as saying actually "there were no offers on the table," we thought we'd take a little walk down memory lane of all of his bluster:

December 3, 2007: "I'm not going to be played against the Red Sox. That's not something I'll do. That's not something the Yankees should ever do, and that's I think what they're trying to do now," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Sunday. "So if they want the best offer that has been offered to them, then they need to make up their minds." [Boston Globe]

December 8, 2007: "As far as the door being open, who knows? At this point, [Yankees pitchers who might be traded for Santana] Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy, Cabrera and Cano, they're as close to untouchable as you get… The only reason I made a point of a deadline on Santana was that I didn't want to get caught up in the circus of the winter meetings. The purpose of that deadline was trying to get something done before the winter meetings." [NYDN]

December 15, 2007: "For the near future, we're in a no-lose situation, to tell you the truth… It's up to Minnesota what they want to do and I assume they're still thinking about trading him… As far as what I'm going to do, I don't know. There's been a couple of brief calls. The door's not closed." [NYDN]

January 3, 2008: "I think the Twins realize our offer is the best one… I feel confident they're not going to trade him before checking with us one last time and I think they think we've already made the best offer." [NYDN]

January 5, 2008: "Nothing is really decided at this point… I'm still leaning towards doing it. There's others leaning not to do it. There are some others that are leaning to do it also. Disagreements within the organization. Nothing major, but just different opinions. I've changed my opinion a couple times… I always told [general manager Brian Cashman], 'I'm going to make the final decisions because when you're the owner, you should.'" [Newsday]

January 9, 2008: "There's definitely still a possibility… The bottom line is, it's my decision, but there's disagreement within the organization. I've got to keep everybody happy in the organization, including Brian… That includes my partner, which is my brother." [Newsday]

January 15, 2008: “It’s most likely that we’re going to stay with what we’ve got… That always can change — of course, that’s up to Minnesota — but there were no offers on the table." NYT]

So, let's get this straight. Reading through the above quotes, we see "offer, offer, no offer" and "I'm in charge, I'm in charge, I have to listen to everybody else." No wonder Hal Steinbrenner always keeps his mouth shut.

Son of Steinbrenner Update

Thanks to the Daily Intelligencer they give some specific examples of the flip flopping I mentioned from Son of Steinbrenner:

On December 3, Steinbrenner set a deadline for the Twins to accept their best offer.

On December 8 and 15, Steinbrenner said the door is still open.

On January 3, he stated that the Yankees had the best offer, and the Twins know it, but two weeks later he said it was likely his team would “go with what they’ve got.”

On January 14 reports indicated that the Yankees were done talking to the Twins, unless Steinbrenner had a change of heart. So, naturally, the next day, Steinbrenner told the Associated Press that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, adding, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

Son of Steinbrenner

Yesterday, there were a number of reports that the Yankees had pulled their trade offer for Johan Santana off the table. What seemed like less time than it takes Eddie P to drink 7 shots of pineapple vodka, Hank (or Hal, I'm not sure if I know the difference or if it matters) told the AP that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, and according to the daily news, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

This guy really is priceless, and I'm sure Cashman loves to wake up every morning and read another statement from Son of Steinbrenner revealing his hand.

I mean obviously either you are involved in getting him or you are not. What is the insatiable desire to comment on it? It's great that he comes out every day and says we are still thinking about him, then changes his mind and says we're going to go with the kids, then flips back to say we can get him if we want him..etc....I mean unless I'm new to this, isn't it possible that the Dodgers could call the Twins up, offer their 5 best prospects and acquire Santana tomorrow? Would it not count since 3 weeks ago they said they weren't interested and didn't publicly come out and say "we are still interested?"

Seriously though, we all know the Yankees have the means to acquire Santana at any time, I tend to think if this was 20 years ago and George was aware of what was going on, they would have had him by now, and Phil Hughes would be getting ready to be a .500 pitcher with the Twinkies, but in this new era of Son of Steinbrenner all we get so far is talk, it's time to see some action.

What does this have to do with poker you ask? Well my original plan for this blog entry was that I was going to compare Son of Steinbrenner to a poker player who is always revealing his hand, and thus, never wins. But I couldn't get my thoughts together around that concept so I figured I'd just rant about Hal (or Hank) and chuckle at the insanity of it all. Speaking of insanity, I'm not exactly sure what Omar's plan in all of this is either, more than anyone he needs to make the move so as not to have Jose Lima as the Mets #3 starter next year.