It's sad.
The answer is one. Jacoby Ellsbury.
The Yankees are no longer THE YANKEES.
And it's funny, the media still treats them like THE YANKEES.
Since the real Steinbrenner left us, the Yankees have become...
...average.They still go out and buy players. They just do it at a lesser rate. This year, they bought Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew and Andrew Miller and Chase Headley.
Nothing wrong with that...except almost ANY team could have done that!
Those aren't the signing of Yankees lore. More like a midwest team.
The Yankees charge their customers more than any other team in baseball. Those customers EXPECT that team to go out and use that money for high priced talent....and they get Didi Gregorius.
The elder Steinbrenner knew how to sell the Yankees. In a word, under his sons, the Yankees have become...
...boring.If anything, George would have used ARod as either a whipping boy or used him as a lightning rod for attention. Now, the Yankees as quietly as possible have ARod come into camp.
Do you think the elder Steinbrenner would have let Scherzer go? And then Shields?
Especially when their top three in the rotation of Tanaka, Sabathia, and Pineda all have a chance to be injured not to throw many innings this year?
Threenut Brittle.
Teixeira and Beltran and ARod are starting only because they have expensive contracts.
They are former lynchpins who have turned to safety pins.
The elder Steinbrenner would not have stood for it. These players have small chance of being a heavy contributor to the Yankees this year.
The Yankees give seven year or eight year contracts to secure these players. In the past, they didn't really expect players to fulfill these long contracts. They have gotten their usefullness from Teixeira and ARod. Beltran looks to be a bad buy.
It is hard to picture the elder Steinbrenner forcing fans to watch these crochety old men on the field, because HE couldn't stand it, himself.
But now, the Yankees are average. They resemble the Phils organization now, more than the Red Sox.
The Red Sox were smart enough to get rid of their bad buys. Adrian Gonzalez, Crawford, and Beckett are not hanging around and keeping younger and more able players from taking those positions.
Even the Cubs have gotten rid of bad contracts while the Yankees bring back players close to crutches.
And new contracts?
Other teams are buying Moncada, Castillo, Puig, Abreu, Iglesias, Tomas, and other Latin hopefuls. Not the Yankees.
The younger Steinbrenners worry about a luxury tax and staying within budget.
The elder Steinbrenner just wanted to win.
I'm not a fan of any team, but through my life, I've had an admiration for the Yankees.
The Yankees equaled greatness.
The Yankees through history always seemed to have that one polarizing player. That one player that all of America could identify with or emulate or fantasize that they were him.
Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio to Yogi Berra to Whitey Ford to Mickey Mantle to Roger Maris to George Steinbrenner to Thurman Munson to Reggie Jackson to Ron Guidry to Mo Rivera to Andy Pettitte to ARod to Derek Jeter to ???
The Yankees are a team without a leader. Ellsbury is still thought by most baseball fans as a former Red Sox more than a current Yankee. ARod has never been a leader. Alex thinks of himself as SuperMan and continues to wonder why he is not more revered. Succinctly, ARod has enough to worry about in his own world to be a leader of others.
Teixeira and Beltran are playing out the string and hope to see the field for half their games.
It's sad.
If their top three pitchers stay healthy, the Yankees can compete.
That's it, just compete.
But beyond that, we expect little.
Expecting little, was the opposite of what George Steinbrenner visualized for any Yankee team.
