Friday, September 12, 2008

Hank's mad as hell and is not gonna take it any more

Seems that Hank's going to wrest the reigns from whomever seems to be holding them (read: Cashman) and do whatever he damn well feels like this off-season.

“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."

Now, he's also on record of stating that he and his brother, Hal, want Cashman back. Except this time, he's made it clear that he wants more cooks in the kitchen to help make decisions and evaluate things (read: say yes to whatever Hank wants).

Pete Abraham, beat writer and author of the LoHud Yankees blog, was also all over this:
This should provide comfort to Yankee fans.

I’m going to be reviewing the entire organization,” Hank Steinbrenner told the AP in Tampa today. “We’re going to do everything we can to win next year. We’re not going to wait. Do everything we can that makes sense. We’re going to fix what we have to fix. We’re going to have to look at what has been done wrong over the last five years, which I’ve had one year to try and figure out. Clearly, a lot of mistakes were made.”

In what could be a move that drives Brian Cashman out the door, Steinbrenner is looking at setting up an advisory group to help run the team.

If Brian stays on as GM, that doesn’t mean he won’t be the No. 1 guy,” Steinbrenner said. “But the fact is, the more opinions the better. I think that’s probably the best way. It worked in the 90’s, and it can work again.”
I really like Pete's work, his frankness and his point of view and I am in 100% agreement that Hank's new stance could be the one that shoves the crowbar between Cashman and the only organization he's ever worked for. More opinions don't necessarily work better. More opinions just creates more confusion and discord. If you have a leadership team you trust (Cashman, Oppenheimer, etc.), let them do their job. If you don't trust them, fine, find a team you can trust. But to add more layers of bureaucracy to an already top-heavy organization just makes it more unstable.

This can't possibly end well, can it? Unless, of course, the thoughts that Hank's all bluster and no bite are actually true.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made this as the logo for my fantasy baseball team which I proudly call "Big Stein". I used to use a caricature of George from the cover of a book called "101 Reasons To Hate George Steinbrenner" but thought Hank would be more fitting these days. Given the subject matter of this post, I thought you might enjoy it...

Hankenstein

Jason @ IIATMS said...

Dean,

Thanks so much. I LOVE IT.