Let me first start off by saying that I have been meaning to start a baseball oriented blog for quite some time now. Although my school and work schedule are no more conducive now then they were at any time within the past two years, I've been particularly inspired this offseason to throw in my two cents regarding the sport I love.

So let's talk a little Hank Steinbrenner. Now, I've been a Red Sox fan since 1988 and while I thankfully missed the Sox-Yankees melodrama of the seventies and the misery milestones that so many Sox fans had (in many cases, artificially) used to fuel a self-pitying collective identity, I have always loved watching the Yankees in turmoil. My father ingrained a disdain for the Yankees at a young age, but I developed my own personal disdain for the club in '99 when a completely superior Yanks team led by my childhood hero Roger Clemens, effortlessly took down the Sox in five games. They were nasty, they were professional, and they were dislikeable. Clemens, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, Jeff Nelson, Darryl Strawberry, Paul O'Neill, the list goes on. They were the best team in baseball from '96 to '03, and they new it. From management down, they played and carried themselves like baseball royalty.

The Yankee dynasty also coincided with baseball's salary bubble boom, which reminded baseball fans every offseason that there was a hierarchy, a natural order, of the baseball world and whatever the Yankees wanted, they Yankees would essentially get. The early 2000's saw the Bombers usher is mega-contract after mega-contract, ballooning payroll and fan expectations. Liberal spending created what would be on paper, the AL All-Star team playing 162 games a year. However, the 2000's yielded only one championship, and while it may be argued that this big-spending formula is not the primary cause of their marginal success, it is certainly an aspect of this teams structure that needs revising.

So even as a Yankee-hating Red Sox fan, it irked me a little today to read Hank Steinbrenner's comments insinuating that the Yankees lacked the drive they had in their Championship 2009 season, with a veiled shot at the most consummate professional of my generation, Derek Jeter (who's response today further proved just that). Now, I realize many around the Yankees brass and Major League baseball in general are not thrilled with Hank's position in the team or the game. He's brash, unreasonable, and looks like a pig. He considers the Yankees success as "restoring order to the universe" and sees Joe Girardi as a cut above my second-favorite Yankee of all time, Joe Torre. He displays absolutely no qualities outside of wealth, of someone who should be running anything. But he's George Steinbrenner's son, and so it is. With that being said, there are a number of things that bother me about this comment even when considering the source. The first being someone in management publicly criticizing players and having "no problem saying that". That type of ish isn't condoned at Target, let alone a billion dollar baseball franchise with a rabid media following. It sets a horrible precedent for the players. Baseball players, moreso than any other sport, are prone to slumps, nagging injuries, or small deviations in mechanics that effect their performance. All ballplayers experience this during the course of a season except for Albert Pujols. Knowing that management could very well question your heart during these slumps or injuries perverts the professional atmosphere they operate within, creating more resentment than passion. And this isn't the NFL. Screening "Patton" before a game doesn't give your fastball any more movement. And  being called out by your owner in spring training isn't the same as lighting a fire under the ass of your team before they play the Steelers. You can't ride momentum the same way in baseball as you can in other sports, let alone for 162 games.

Second, you took a shot at Derek Jeter. Derek Sanderson Jeter. The face of the franchise for the last fifteen years. Career leader in post-season hits. Four time batting champion. Sales of his merchandise alone roughly equals the annual GDP for a number of Southeast Asian economies. It's like Miramax calling out Tom Hanks for not winning best male-lead for "The DaVinci Code". No, it wasn't his best stuff, but it did well in the box-office, made you a ton of money, and you've had a very successful history with him. Aside from his son, which I'm sure he wishes he could take back, he's near-perfect. Works closely with WWII vets, stays out of the tabloids, and his catalogue includes Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, and A League of Their Own. Much like Hanks, Jeter's credentials speak for themselves. Even at 36, I would still start my team with Derek Jeter, so speculating that his new mansion took precedence over his profession (in a contract year), is downright reckless.

This brings me to my biggest qualm with Steinbrenner's comments. Derek Jeter is going to turn 37 this year. Jorge Posada is going to turn 40. Mariano Rivera is 42, Alex Rodriguez will be 35, and AJ Burnett is 34. The Yankees were banking on 38 year old Andy Pettitte to comeback as their number three. You can only hold the players accountable for so much before you have to begin to question management. Why are so many of the Yankees parts on the wrong side of thirty? Why did they miss out on all their major off-season free agent targets? Why did two, perhaps three, of those parts come back at overly generous salaries? And who exactly signed off on dropping 35 million on a set-up man? It appears Hank has no interest answering these questions and seems perfectly content operating under the aegis that the Yankees are still the center of the baseball universe. And this, to me, is the problem with Hank and the Yanks.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the way the Yankees have been run for the last ten or so years and it is almost as if everyone understands what it is except the Bombers. This notion that buying the best available player to fill whatever need for whatever cost, is still the blueprint for New York (and I truly believe it is to the dismay of Brian Cashman). More unfortunately for Yankees fans and their short-sighted owners is that this wasn't even how their most recent dynasty was built. With the exception of Rivera, Jeter, and Posada, who  not coincidentally were all home grown players, no one else on that team was the best at their position. There were some good to great players (O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, John Wetteland, David Wells and David Cone), but aside from the three mentioned, none were Hall of Fame caliber, or even "superstars". The last Yankee dynasty was a dynasty because they were a cohesive team with solid starting pitching, a balanced lineup, and a strong bullpen.

In addition to the fundamental flaws within the Yankees team-building tactics, the power of the franchise in the free-agent market has been diluted since the turn of the century. The Yanks are no longer the only spenders on the block and as the Cliff Lee snub (which I believe was the best move the Yankees did not make this offseason) showed us, the lure of "being a Yankee" doesn't have the same connotation as it did years ago. Other teams, though unable to match in spending power, are willing to dig deep in the pockets to sign or retain talent. The Sox, Cubs, Angels, Phillies, Dodgers and Mets have all developed a self-realization of their purchasing power. Smaller market teams like the Twins, Marlins, and Rockies have developed sound strategies in fielding talent while minimizing the financial burden it often creates. The rules of the game are changing and the Yankees are lagging behind. This offseason highlighted the senility of the Yankee brass. Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, and Jayson Werth, and Zack Greinke are not Yankees. In an offseason where starting pitching and at least one corner outfielder were a priority, the Yankees focused on an aging lefty who had absolutely no intention of playing in pinstripes. And there was no plan B, which if I'm a Yankee fan, worries me.

The Yankees do not have a plan and Hank Steinbrenner's commentary is a reflection of such. He's frustrated with his own ineptitude, His thoughtless interpretation of the '10 Yankees being a team basking in their '09 glory for an entire season should scare the hell out of Yankees fans. It's the ideology of a pissed off fan that for the life of him, can't understand why the Yanks didn't win 103 games last year. Who doesn't understand why none of this year's deep free agent class is playing at Yankee Stadium. And someone who, if the Yankees fail to win it all again this season, will blamed the pampered players. But this isn't some clown in right field heckling opposing outfielders. It's the boss.