New York, where the selfish play and the tyrants pay, right?
Damn those Yankees.

Actually, sometimes it’s hard not to feel sorry for them.

I recently laid eyes on a picture of New York Yankees General
Manager Brain Cashman. He kind of had the look of Ray Liotta
towards the end of Goodfellas — nervous, scheming and strung out
on cocaine.

Well, hopefully Cashman hasn’t been knocking back the blow; but
the stress can be understood. He may have one of the most
unenviable jobs in all of baseball, keeping the Boss happy. We all
know George Steinbrenner really pulls the strings of baseball’s
biggest conglomerate, but it’s Cashman who bears the annual
responsibility of taking endless funds and assembling a guaranteed
World Series champion. Easy enough, right? We’ll it hasn’t worked
for three years, and Cashman seems to get worse and worse at it
every season.

All right, he has not gotten necessarily worse; the Yanks still
made appearances in five out of the last six Series. But I’m
speaking to the level of Steinbrenner here. Each season without
another ring constitutes a monumental disappointment that mounts on
top of any previous failure. Sinners usually don’t get a chance to
atone for their transgressions with the Big Man. This is primarily
why Alfonso Soriano–who struck out a monumental 26 times in the
2003 postseason–became the logical peon on the chopping block,
regardless of his marked accomplishments in a young career.

As an exchange with Texas, the Yanks send away their blister
from the demise of last season and get in return the yet another
MVP, Alex Rodriguez.

Allow me to be bold: Anyway you look at it, the Yankees got
suckered. If they fail to win another championship, with a payroll
at over $50 million greater than the next richest team,
Steinbrenner looks like an idiot–mismanagement of an empire: Rome
is falling to the Goths. And even if they win, is 27 titles that
much more impressive than 26? What happens to the Yankee mystique
when they are purchasing wins?

This is the point in the article where things could easily
degenerate into a hate the Yankees’ column. For the sake of how
incessantly tiresome it becomes–that claptrap will be entirely
avoided.

No, this trade is probably not “good for baseball.” An ESPN
survey found that most categorized the deal as “disgusting,” and a
collective groan resonated from Boston and across the nation since
A-Rod put on pinstripes. If a majority of those following the sport
think it’s not good for baseball, it’s not.

More importantly, this is about what Rodriguez desired. He
needed to be a star. MVPs and Radio Shack commercials were not
enough–he needed the collective sports media to eat out of his
hand. He needed to get out of a losing situation in Texas that was,
ironically, created by his own doing. Listen to any of his arrogant
interviews and it’s easy to tell it was always about him. He took
care of what matters most.

Still, many are brooding with typical Yankee hatred. Look at it
this way, does he really make them that much better a team? Well,
they may score well over 1,000 runs this year, but the pitching
still leaves a bit in question. Their bats have not lost them many
games in the past three years.

This team will make the playoffs; they would have without A-Rod.
He just adds to the litany of ringers.

But do all of these ringers really equal rings? Consider some of
the personnel fielded by the Yankees in their most recent four
championships: Luis Sojo, Shane Spencer, Kenny Rogers and Charlie
Hayes. All were respectable contributors, but players like those
have no place on the current Yankee squads, they’re no longer of
worthy caliber. Yet, these are the men who have been displaced for
Mike Mussinas and Jason Giambis. The definition of “role player”
hasn’t occurred to Steinbrenner for quite a few years. How quickly
George has forgotten what made his greatest teams what they
are.