Steinbrenner says he'll call the shots from now on
If Johan Santana was a free agent this year, you can bet Hank Steinbrenner would not have taken ‘no’ for an answer.
The Yankees only have a bittersweet 16 games remaining in their lost 2008 season, but their course for ’09 is about to begin. And when it does, the co-chairman plans to be at the wheel.
“Suffice to say, there’s not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I’m going to go after him,” Steinbrenner told The Record by phone this afternoon.
Immediately after the season, Steinbrenner plans to review the entire organization. “Just as my dad would have,” he said, adding that George Steinbrenner has equally been dismayed by the Yankees’ fourth-place standing. “It’s been a very disappointing year for both of us.
“Other people might tend to look at [the Yankees] more like a business, and as long as business-wise [the club is profitable] everybody’s happy. But we don’t see it like that.”
To restore the Yankees into a World Series contender, “We’ve got major work to do, there’s no question,” Hank Steinbrenner said. Asked if general manager Brian Cashman would continue to spearhead the baseball operation beyond his contract expiration next month, Steinbrenner said, “I think both parties still have to decide.
“I don’t think any of us expected this to happen this year,” Steinbrenner said of a 77-69 club that — barring a baseball miracle — will become the first Yankees team to miss the playoffs since 1993.
“Even besides injuries, certain players didn’t perform. Certain things didn’t get done,” Steinbrenner said. “It was somewhat the result of things that had been done over the last five years, and now I plan on fixing them.
“I’m very disappointed in this team. But at the same time, there’s no question injuries were a huge factor.”
Because of those injuries, the major league roster “might not be as difficult to fix as you’d think,” said Steinbrenner, whose chief concern is at the root level.
“The biggest mission, for myself, is making sure the farm system is stronger than it’s been the last few years,” Steinbrenner said. When it comes to prospects, “I want more.”
Within the AL East, the Yankees have seen the Red Sox replenish, and the Rays rebuild, by developing their own stars. But there’s room for a dynamic starter, and CC Sabathia could expect to receive a full-court, pinstriped press as a free agent. Steinbrenner would not discuss names, and would not reveal if he intended to bring back his own two major free agent starters — Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte.
The Yankees have four other free agents coming off the books this year — Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez and Carl Pavano — for a net savings of $84.25 million (not including $6.95 million in buyouts).
Potentially, the Yankees would have to replace their No. 3 hitter, fill the first base opening (possibly internally with Jorge Posada), and bolster the rotation. But money won’t be an obstacle for any player Steinbrenner desires — even with the inherent, long-term risks for a veteran pitcher.
“The Mets did it with Santana, and I came damn close to doing it with Santana,” Steinbrenner said of the trade he advocated last winter with Minnesota. “You look at it on a player-to-player basis, and you look at the market.”
The injury histories of Ben Sheets, and A.J. Burnett, two top potential free agent starters, complicate a long-term commitment. Steinbrenner believes he already has two top starters in Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, and was extremely complimentary of Mussina’s 17-win season at age 39.
“You look at what [Mussina] did, and if everybody else had been healthy ... you get an idea of what we could have had,” Steinbrenner said.
A part of Steinbrenner still wonders whether he should’ve insisted on Santana, too.
“[Would] Santana have made enough of a difference with all our injuries [this year]? I don’t know,” Steinbrenner said. “It certainly would have made us a lot closer.”
