Steinbrenner: ‘Proud’ of how far Yanks came in ’17
LOS ANGELES — Hal Steinbrenner admitted being “a little raw right now.” He was speaking by phone Monday from his office in the Tampa stadium named for his father, not even 48 hours having elapsed since the Yankees lost ALCS Game 7 to the Astros. “You know me, you know my family, it’s a little recent,” Steinbrenner said of the pain of the season ending. Nevertheless, in a 20-minute conversation about the past, present and future of the franchise, the sentiment he returned to over and over was a pride for these Yankees. “We have had a successful year,” Steinbrenner said. “Some would argue it is not a success unless you win a championship. That is the goal every year, but it just doesn’t happen every year. So I am proud we got as far we have gotten.” The Yankees owner expressed wide-ranging pleasure for the administrators and players who helped translate the steady change in the Yankees roster the past few years that resulted in playing for the pennant this season, reinvigorating the fan base and “hearing it as loud in the stadium as I have heard it in a while, maybe since the old stadium.” The two frontmen for the transition — Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi — have contracts expiring at the end of the month. It is longstanding Steinbrenner policy not to negotiate new deals until the season concludes. Steinbrenner would not go into specifics on what he thought of the work of Cashman or Girardi, and he mentioned several times that there are many contracts ending in many departments that he has to address in the coming days.
“When you get to Game 7 of the ALCS, a number of people have done well and contributed,” Steinbrenner said. “It can be argued everyone did a good job this year.”
Still, Steinbrenner reiterated how gratified he is about the process the Yankees have undertaken the last few years, the strong results this season and the promise for the near future. Cashman and Girardi have been the face of the transition.
When suggested that provides tea leaves to his thinking when it comes to contracts for Cashman and Girardi, Steinbrenner responded: “It might, it might not. I really want to get into everyone’s performance over the last two, three, four years. The same process I always undertake at the end of the year. I am not going to get caught up in the moment.
“We are all proud, but we have to look at the overall pieces, not just one, two, three weeks. We are all very proud. It was a group effort. There were a lot of good things.”
The expectation inside and outside the Yankee organization is that Cashman will return. At one point, Steinbrenner did say of this year’s success, “A vast majority of the credit goes to Cashman and all his people.”
There have been more questions about Girardi: 1) Does he want to return or is he feeling burnout and/or the pull of family, and 2) Is there a financial breaking point that the Yankees will reach for a manager? Girardi is concluding a fouryear, $16 million deal. He would be justified in asking to be in the range of other veteran managers with one championship, such as the Cubs’ Joe Maddon (who makes $5 million annually) or the Angels’ Mike Scioscia (who makes $6 million).
“I think employees are paid in that fashion,” Steinbrenner said of comparing Girardi to other managers. “If I were negotiating with a COO, I would look what other COOs in the industry make. [Girardi] is an employee in the company, and [comparables] is definitely what I look at. It’s not money. It is performance, and I look from 10,000 feet and from the last two, three, four years. It is the same for all the employees.”
As for the team, Steinbrenner said the plan is to get under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold for 2018.
“We are in a great position to do it,” he said. “If the younger players contributed, that always was big [to have low-cost options]. And they have. We still have some money to spend and we will be active in free agency, as we always are.”