by Stop Mike Lupica on December 2 at 3:56PM
Bill Madden of the NY Daily News had a good interview today, with Hank Steinbrenner, who has really become the New Boss of the jewel of the family business, namely the NY Yankees. Bill Simmons, in his marathon chat earlier this week, tried hard several times to draw the parallels between Hank and his father, George. But those parallels don't really jump out; however, there are some parallels that can be drawn to the story of the Bluth family on Arrested Development:
The main character, played by Jason Bateman, is trying to do the right thing, and keep the family together. Just like Hank Steinbrenner is right now.
His father, George Sr. is, "at times dictatorial". George Sr. goes to considerable lengths to manipulate and control his family and business. His business was building mini-mansions.
Hank's father, George (Steinbrenner), made his money in the shipbuilding business. His dictatorial, manipulative and controlling ways are well documented, and can be summed up in his nickname: The Boss.
George Bluth gets arrested in the first show for misusing the company's money for personal expenses. George Steinbrenner got suspended for two years by baseball for misusing the company's money for personal expenses, like paying a private investigator to dig up dirt on one of his players, Dave Winfield.
Long before George Steinbrenner had been suspended by baseball, Hank had entertained thoughts of being the next Boss. This is somewhat significant, when you consider that, according to Madden, it was 21 years ago that Hank was first "anointed... as heir apparent", and brought into the mix. It was 1985.
"Young Hank would be coming into the front office, traveling with the team on the road and learning the ropes".
Bill Madden goes on to discuss how Hank learned the ropes from the oft fired GMs at the time - first Clyde King, then Woody Woodward. He also worked and learned from managers like Lou Piniella and Billy Martin.
"I had a lot of good teachers whether they knew it or not. All those dinners on the road with Clyde and Woody and Lou - I learned a lot.
Hank decided to give up on baseball 20 years ago, in 1987. According to Madden "he concluded the baseball business wasn't for him - or at least he concluded he would never be allowed to assert himself or have any meaningful position in his father's Yankee domain."
Hank was out of the family business, and had given up on having anything to do with it. Let's look at the rest of the family:
George Steinbrenner has four children - two boys, two girls. The oldest is Hank. The youngest is Hal, and the two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, are right in the middle. It's important to note that Hal is 38 years old now, and would have been 17 in 1985, the time that Hank came in, and soon gave up, on being the next Boss.
For a long time, Jennifer's husband Steve Swindal was the heir apparent to George's role as The Boss. Neither Hal nor Hank wanted the job, which is how Steve Swindal got the top spot. The Boss was quoted in 2005 as saying "(Swindal) is going to carry on for me." Swindal is the one who negotiated Joe Torre extension in 2005.
However, Steve Swindal and Jennifer Steinbrenner separated in 2006, and soon got divorced.
With the impending divorce, things were thrown into a mess. Some reports initially had Hal as the #2, especially after Hal was the "surprise representative" at a MLB owners meeting in May 2006. Both Hank and Hal had the same title of VP, same as Swindal had before his separation from the family.
If you are wondering why Jennifer herself has never been mentioned as a candidate... in her own words:
"Even if I wanted to move up in the organization, I would've never been allowed. Not in this family." Blame chauvinism.
The same probably applies for Jessica Steinbrenner, the younger daughter. Neither ever "rose" to the title of VP in the organization. Jessica's husband, Felipe Lopez Jr, however, is also a VP and was mentioned early in the conversations as a possibility as George's successor. He has only been around 3 years (Jess divorced her first husband, Joseph Molloy, in 1997), unlike Swindal, who was a part of the family for 23 years. Hence, he's still the new kid on the block.
So, with all that going around, Hank made the most sense as the heir to the title of "Boss", and it appears he is now just that.
How long will he be in the business?
"I don't know. I see myself doing this another 10 years, then my son, George Michael, will be 21. He's already getting ready."
***********
"What was the most important thing you learned?", Madden asked Hank.
"The mistake of trading young pitching."
"It killed me seeing all those young pitchers we traded back then - Jose Rijo, Doug Drabek, Scott McGregor - who went on to have great careers because we just didn't have the patience. If there is one thing that's going to be different between me and my dad it's patience."
Depressed Fan did a solid post yesterday on the Johan Santana trade talks with the Twins. According to his update, the Yankees have upped their offer to include Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera, along with another minor league pitching prospect. The Yankees have made Joba Chamberlain untouchable, and the Twins want Hughes more than Ian Kennedy.
Supposedly the Twins are trying to get both Kennedy and Hughes, but that seems very unlikely. I doubt the Yankees would trade both of them for one starter, being that they don't have much depth at SP... they had like 8 different rookies start a game this season, a new Yankee record.
I wrote this in the comments, but to reiterate it here on the website: I'm okay with including Hughes (or Kennedy) in the deal. This is probably the only scenario that justifies dealing Hughes. Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. He's not overused. He hasn't pitched over 120 pitches in any game in years; he pitches efficiently.
He's Venezuelan, which means he'll do fine in NY... he'll be among a couple of countrymen (Bobby Abreu, plus Luis Sojo I think is still with the Yankees as a coach). He won't care too much about the pressure, because he probably doesn't read the English newspapers too much. He'll be like a quiet Pedro Martinez, but still in his prime.
And I think the Yankees would be the odds on favorite to win the World Series next year. Not to mention that these four could all be really good starters for the next four years: Santana, Wang, Joba and Kennedy. Somebody top that.
I'll miss Melky in the OF, but... Jose Tabula will be here within 18 months, so think of it as creating the opening for him (since Damon and Matsui aren't going anywhere for a while, and Abreu is still around for at least one more season).
We can sit around and wait for Hughes to develop, and hope he plays to his potential. Even if he does, and I mean if he actually fulfills his fullest potential... he'll still only be 90% of what Santana is now. It's not reasonable to expect that Hughes will ever be a three-Cy Young winner (which is what Santana should be), okay?
Yes, there is always the potential for Santana to break down, but at this point, I actually think Hughes is more fragile. Honestly, you could argue that Kennedy might be as good or better a pitcher than Hughes, so being okay with giving up Kennedy, but not Hughes, is a bit of an odd place to draw the line (though, again, I do draw the line at both of them).
Finally, you could argue that over the next ten years, Hughes might be better. Sure. But you can't argue that Hughes will be better than Santana over the next five years. Only if Santana is injured... otherwise, no matter how well Hughes does, Santana will do better over the next five years.
I think it's alot to offer, but I would still make the deal. And I trust Stick more than Hank or Cashman, but just in case you are wondering how Hank feels about it (given his quotes about trading young pitchers):
"There's a big difference. Santana's only 28 and just coming into his prime. I remember consoling Woody when my dad insisted we trade Drabek for Rick Rhoden. Rhoden was 32 or 33, but back then that's the way we did things."
I agree. And even if Hughes turns out to be as good as Rijo or Drabek (both aces in their prime)... Santana transcends both of them. We're not talking about a good starting pitcher here. We are talking about the best starting pitcher in the league. Trading one of those two (Kennedy or Hughes) plus Melky is a big price, but I think you have to do it.
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The main character, played by Jason Bateman, is trying to do the right thing, and keep the family together. Just like Hank Steinbrenner is right now.
His father, George Sr. is, "at times dictatorial". George Sr. goes to considerable lengths to manipulate and control his family and business. His business was building mini-mansions.Hank's father, George (Steinbrenner), made his money in the shipbuilding business. His dictatorial, manipulative and controlling ways are well documented, and can be summed up in his nickname: The Boss.
George Bluth gets arrested in the first show for misusing the company's money for personal expenses. George Steinbrenner got suspended for two years by baseball for misusing the company's money for personal expenses, like paying a private investigator to dig up dirt on one of his players, Dave Winfield.
Long before George Steinbrenner had been suspended by baseball, Hank had entertained thoughts of being the next Boss. This is somewhat significant, when you consider that, according to Madden, it was 21 years ago that Hank was first "anointed... as heir apparent", and brought into the mix. It was 1985. "Young Hank would be coming into the front office, traveling with the team on the road and learning the ropes".
Bill Madden goes on to discuss how Hank learned the ropes from the oft fired GMs at the time - first Clyde King, then Woody Woodward. He also worked and learned from managers like Lou Piniella and Billy Martin.
"I had a lot of good teachers whether they knew it or not. All those dinners on the road with Clyde and Woody and Lou - I learned a lot.
Hank decided to give up on baseball 20 years ago, in 1987. According to Madden "he concluded the baseball business wasn't for him - or at least he concluded he would never be allowed to assert himself or have any meaningful position in his father's Yankee domain."
Hank was out of the family business, and had given up on having anything to do with it. Let's look at the rest of the family:
George Steinbrenner has four children - two boys, two girls. The oldest is Hank. The youngest is Hal, and the two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, are right in the middle. It's important to note that Hal is 38 years old now, and would have been 17 in 1985, the time that Hank came in, and soon gave up, on being the next Boss.
For a long time, Jennifer's husband Steve Swindal was the heir apparent to George's role as The Boss. Neither Hal nor Hank wanted the job, which is how Steve Swindal got the top spot. The Boss was quoted in 2005 as saying "(Swindal) is going to carry on for me." Swindal is the one who negotiated Joe Torre extension in 2005.However, Steve Swindal and Jennifer Steinbrenner separated in 2006, and soon got divorced.
With the impending divorce, things were thrown into a mess. Some reports initially had Hal as the #2, especially after Hal was the "surprise representative" at a MLB owners meeting in May 2006. Both Hank and Hal had the same title of VP, same as Swindal had before his separation from the family.
If you are wondering why Jennifer herself has never been mentioned as a candidate... in her own words:
"Even if I wanted to move up in the organization, I would've never been allowed. Not in this family." Blame chauvinism.
The same probably applies for Jessica Steinbrenner, the younger daughter. Neither ever "rose" to the title of VP in the organization. Jessica's husband, Felipe Lopez Jr, however, is also a VP and was mentioned early in the conversations as a possibility as George's successor. He has only been around 3 years (Jess divorced her first husband, Joseph Molloy, in 1997), unlike Swindal, who was a part of the family for 23 years. Hence, he's still the new kid on the block.
So, with all that going around, Hank made the most sense as the heir to the title of "Boss", and it appears he is now just that.
How long will he be in the business?
"I don't know. I see myself doing this another 10 years, then my son, George Michael, will be 21. He's already getting ready."
***********"What was the most important thing you learned?", Madden asked Hank.
"The mistake of trading young pitching."
"It killed me seeing all those young pitchers we traded back then - Jose Rijo, Doug Drabek, Scott McGregor - who went on to have great careers because we just didn't have the patience. If there is one thing that's going to be different between me and my dad it's patience."
Depressed Fan did a solid post yesterday on the Johan Santana trade talks with the Twins. According to his update, the Yankees have upped their offer to include Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera, along with another minor league pitching prospect. The Yankees have made Joba Chamberlain untouchable, and the Twins want Hughes more than Ian Kennedy.
Supposedly the Twins are trying to get both Kennedy and Hughes, but that seems very unlikely. I doubt the Yankees would trade both of them for one starter, being that they don't have much depth at SP... they had like 8 different rookies start a game this season, a new Yankee record.
I wrote this in the comments, but to reiterate it here on the website: I'm okay with including Hughes (or Kennedy) in the deal. This is probably the only scenario that justifies dealing Hughes. Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. He's not overused. He hasn't pitched over 120 pitches in any game in years; he pitches efficiently.
He's Venezuelan, which means he'll do fine in NY... he'll be among a couple of countrymen (Bobby Abreu, plus Luis Sojo I think is still with the Yankees as a coach). He won't care too much about the pressure, because he probably doesn't read the English newspapers too much. He'll be like a quiet Pedro Martinez, but still in his prime.
And I think the Yankees would be the odds on favorite to win the World Series next year. Not to mention that these four could all be really good starters for the next four years: Santana, Wang, Joba and Kennedy. Somebody top that.
I'll miss Melky in the OF, but... Jose Tabula will be here within 18 months, so think of it as creating the opening for him (since Damon and Matsui aren't going anywhere for a while, and Abreu is still around for at least one more season).
We can sit around and wait for Hughes to develop, and hope he plays to his potential. Even if he does, and I mean if he actually fulfills his fullest potential... he'll still only be 90% of what Santana is now. It's not reasonable to expect that Hughes will ever be a three-Cy Young winner (which is what Santana should be), okay?
Yes, there is always the potential for Santana to break down, but at this point, I actually think Hughes is more fragile. Honestly, you could argue that Kennedy might be as good or better a pitcher than Hughes, so being okay with giving up Kennedy, but not Hughes, is a bit of an odd place to draw the line (though, again, I do draw the line at both of them).
Finally, you could argue that over the next ten years, Hughes might be better. Sure. But you can't argue that Hughes will be better than Santana over the next five years. Only if Santana is injured... otherwise, no matter how well Hughes does, Santana will do better over the next five years.
I think it's alot to offer, but I would still make the deal. And I trust Stick more than Hank or Cashman, but just in case you are wondering how Hank feels about it (given his quotes about trading young pitchers):
"There's a big difference. Santana's only 28 and just coming into his prime. I remember consoling Woody when my dad insisted we trade Drabek for Rick Rhoden. Rhoden was 32 or 33, but back then that's the way we did things."
I agree. And even if Hughes turns out to be as good as Rijo or Drabek (both aces in their prime)... Santana transcends both of them. We're not talking about a good starting pitcher here. We are talking about the best starting pitcher in the league. Trading one of those two (Kennedy or Hughes) plus Melky is a big price, but I think you have to do it.
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4 Comments
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stopmikelupica
said
Nah, technically the biggest business and personal life f*ckup is Steve Swindal. He's GOB.
Hal is the youngest, which would make him the Buster of the family....
Does this make Hal Steinbrenner GOB?