tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Hal Finally Wakes Up!!

It's been reported that earlier this week, Hal Steinbrenner called a meeting down in his office in Tampa to discuss the sad state of his team's farm system. Present at the meeting was his brother, Hammerin' Hank, Randy Levine, General Manager Brian Cashman, Director of Amateur Scouting Damon Oppenheimer, Director of International Scouting Donny Rowland and Senior VP of Baseball Operations Mark Newman. Steinbrenner is now concerned about the fact that there is no one on the horizon who will be able to step in and make the big club next year when Hal wants to get the payroll down to $189 million dollars. For that, Cashman and Company need to be held accountable.

Whether Steinbrenner will clean house remains to be seen but the fact remains that Brian Cashman has had control of baseball operations since 2005 after he whined to George Steinbrenner that he was tired of being undercut by members of The Boss' Tampa Mafia. With total control, the Yankee farm system has produced only Brett Gardner as an everyday player. You want to look at pitching prospects?? Other than Ivan Nova and David Robertson, the rest have been suspect at best. It is clear that Phil Hughes is probably on his way out of the Bronx. Joba Chamberlain? He's good as gone. Remember the Killer B's? Dellin Betances might be a good reliever, Manuel Banuelos is coming off Tommy John surgery and Andrew Brackman is playing basketball in Europe. Nice job, Cash!

I have been questioning the future of this team for the last three years. Next year it is possible that the Yankees may need a third baseman, shortstop, first baseman, catcher and three starting pitchers. And they will probably need a set-up man if Robertson get elevated to be the guy to replace the great Mariano Rivera as the closer. In other words, the New York Yankees could be terrible and possibly worse than the Mets.

The Yankees are the richest franchise in all of sports. They should have the best scouting team that money can buy. They should be able to mine international talent. Instead, the Dodgers get Yasel Puig and the A's get Yoenis Cespedes. And let's not forget Yu Darvish. I'm sick of the argument that the Yankees have had a tough time getting good young players because they pick so low in the draft. Well, how do the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays do it? Both of those teams continue to bring in good young players while still being top teams in their respective leagues. They are doing something right.

I'm glad that Hal has finally woke up and realized that his team is in trouble. In my view, it's about three years too late. However, you have to start somewhere and I am somewhat hopeful that changes will take place. Time will tell and for those of us who follow this team, Hal needs to do something soon or we may be looking at a decade of terrible baseball in The House That The Boss Built.