Everyone has succumbed to the ridiculous handicapping that is central to the publicity the major league receives from it's annual undermining of its own integrity as teams remake their rosters like scavengers.
For the first time the once dominant and might New York Yankees are on the bubble, tepidly trying to evaluate an obviously deteriorating team that never the less has a chance to qualify for the tournament. Since the introduction of the second wild card in 2012, those teams have qualified with as few as 88 wins, plus a division winner with 88. Obviously, 81 wins splits the season in half, so the threshold is low. The likes of Kansas City reaching the finals the last two seasons shows that non-dominant teams can prosper.
The Yankees have been just another team for years but the management people are dysfunctional and conflicted about what to do. Spend too much but not enough. Be a little bold but more often timid. Add more aging veterans but bring up the prospects.
The Yankees were surging after beating a wild card rival twice in Houston. But then the Astros won game three and the Yankees have now lost the first two games in Tampa against the lowly Rays and are on the verge of management pulling the plug and dumping as many players as they can in hopes of piling up lots of minor league players so that ...
What? Have plenty of fresh faces who won't make an impact for a major league team? Sell a bunch of them in exchange for the types of veterans who were just dumped? Just how does this work? We Yankee fans have not been on this end of it. None of it seems to make sense, especially if you already paid for tickets and now will watch players in Yankee uniforms you never heard of.
Which brings us to team ownership. George Steinbrenner died and left the team to his four adult children and the team has reached this state during their tenure. Maybe it's just bad timing but a fundamental change is needed.
Or they must become radical. Defy the common draft and sign any player you want. Let the league sue. Go into actual competition with the other teams, not collusion.
Any chance Hal Steinbrenner will try that? Right. So, just sell the damn Yankees. The meek may inherit the earth. They sure as heck inherited the New York Yankees.
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