Our friend E.L. Danvers shares this guest post.
October 6, 2021
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There’s Enough Blame for Everyone
Look, let’s be honest. All season long Michael Kay emphatically tried to make us believe that the 2021 Yankees had heart. Over and over, he implored us not to believe our own eyes. But, we all knew what was true … this team was never going to win the World Series.
There is plenty of blame to go around. Cole’s miserable finish, DJ being less than the guy we’ve known him to be. Gleyber’s discomfort in his own skin at shortstop. Sanchez. Sanchez is a whole separate rant which, if started, may not end until Spring Training 2022.
When managers get fired – which I full-heartedly believe Boone should be – some reasonable people inevitably disagree and blame the players. They’re not wrong. The players didn’t execute and win. In an organization that expects a championship every year, in a city where anything short of the ultimate prize is an utter failure, the players share a lot of the blame.
But you can’t expect the players to deliver miracles. This team was not built to win. Winning would have been a miracle. And the responsibility for creating that unconquerable mountain falls squarely on Hal Steinbrenner.
“The fish rots from the head,” a wise NYC cabbie once told me. I didn’t know what he meant, but he explained it and that categorization has hung solidly around Hal’s shoulders in my mind since 2009.
This is Hal’s fault. This wasted season is Hal’s fault. This lackluster loss in a do-or-die, win-or-go-home game is Hal’s fault.
Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t understand what wins games in the modern day. He still thinks a team built around high strike-out guys who sit and wait for the three-run blast win championships. They don’t and its astounding that twelve years of misery in chase of 28 have not proven this to him.
Second, he isn’t a baseball fan. That isn’t supposition. He admitted it. Freely. Unabashedly. Full stop. Period.
That fact boggles my mind to this day. How can the owner of the most storied franchise in history not be a fan of the game that he charged with running?
Yes, I hear you. Cashman runs the team. Yes, he does. Hal trusts him for the baseball aspect, and there is plenty of blame for him too. But Hal kept the wallet shut. Hal insisted on not going a penny over the luxury cap. Hal prohibited Cashman from making the necessary moves to advance the team’s foundation into the modern age.
The could’ve, would’ve, should’ve are endless. What’s certain is that as long as Hal is at the helm, the chase for 28 will continue.
