|
Re: The Career of Bryan Hurst (MLB 09)
April 4, 2009
Hal Steinbrenner, Managing General Partner of the New York Yankees sat in his office, overlooking the palace that was the new $1.5-billion Yankee Stadium when the wave of anger shook him.
The New York Yankees were not going to cut costs!
The very notion of cost cutting made him want to vomit. The Yankees weren’t a sports franchise, they were The Franchise. It didn’t matter if you lived in New York or New Zealand, people everywhere knew the Yankees were synomous with winning. The Yankees were a more powerful brand than McDonald’s, Nike, or Coke. This was not General Motors.
Yet, Steinbrenner was looking at a chart of the new stadium that had the sections of season tickets holders highlighted and it told a very different story. The chart should have been awash in yellow highlighter. But instead there were giant holes in the sections along the first and third baselines. People were actually balking at the $325-$2,500 price tag per game for the top tickets.
What was the problem with those people?
Yankee Stadium just wasn’t where people came to be entertained by the best team money could buy. It was the place you went to do business; the place were you took your well-heeled clients to put the finishing touches on multi-million dollar deals. It was rumored the AOL-Time Warner merger for $164 billion was agreed to by their respective CEOs during a pitching change.
From that perspective how could it be said $2,500 was too much? If anything it was a bargain.
But the numbers didn’t lie. The chief financial officer had told him the recession had hit New York harder than expected. Revenue expectations had to be changed. The CFO told him it would be a good idea to cut back on spending.
That wasn’t the Yankee way!
Not rehiring Joe Torre had already been a public relations nightmare. Mising the playoffs had the press ready to lynch him. Announcing cost cutting measures would have made him a laughing stock.
No, cost cutting wasn’t on his agenda. This was going to be the glorious year the Yankees opened their shining new baseball temple, recaptured the World Series and Hal Steinbrenner got the respect he deserved. After all it had been his decision to convert Joba Chamberlain from a reliever to a starter.
But there was one thing Steinbrenner could do immediately to stop spending money that would make him very happy – tell player agent Scott Boras to get lost.
Boras was waiting on the phone to talk contract with the Yankees about his client, first round draft pick, Livian Fernadez, a powerful shortstop from the Dominican Republic, who was still unsigned. Boras wanted a $8 million signing bonus for this kid. What could a 18-year old from such a poor country do with $8 million? Scouts told him Fernadez wouldn’t even be ready for the majors for two or three seasons!
Steinbrenner looked at general manager Brian Cashman, who was here for this phone meeting, sighed and put the phone on speaker.
“Scott-,” Steinbrenner started.
“Listen this kid is the Dynamo of the Dominican,” interrupted Boras. “He’s going to be the next Alex Rodriguez. Hell, he is going to be better than Alex.”
“You sure didn’t say there was anyone better than Alex when we negotiated Alex’s contract,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m sure this Fernadez is a great prospect, but as we have said countless times a $8 million signing bonus is unreasonable.”
“Don’t say Fernadez, say Dynamo of the Dominican. I remind you that Tim Beckham, Tampa’s first pick got a $6.15-million bonus last year,” said Boras
Steinbrenner looked at Cashman. “Is that true?” Cashman nodded yes.
“That’s the kind of moves a progressive organization like Tampa is doing to finish first,” Boras said.
The reminder that the thrifty Tampa Bay Rays finished ahead of the Yankees last season made his blood boil.
“Get lost,” Steinbrenner yelled, hanging up the phone.
“We’ve got a problem,” said Cashman. “We had Fernadez pencilled in at shortstop in Double A with the Trenton Thunder.”
“Well, get someone who is cheaper. It’s only Double A, surely we can get anyone. What about that Hurst kid I saw during the spring?” asked Steinbrenner.
“He’s just terrible. Girardi said he would quit if we didn’t get him out of the organization,” Cashman said.
That made Steinbrenner laugh. Girardi had been his biggest mistake and now he was threatening to quit over some kid. That was priceless. All the more reason to keep Hurst around.
“Give Hurst a shot at shortstop at Trenton,” Steinbrenner said.
“But he has been playing center field all spring. He didn’t play shortstop once,” Cashman said.
“Hey, who is the boss here. You or me?” Steinbrenner said. It was his favorite line.
“You are,” said Cashman meekly.
“If this Hurst kid was so bad why did we keep him around all spring?” Steinbrenner said.
“Intangibles. He used to help put out the food spread for C.C. Sabathia”
“Ooh, that’s a lot of work. You can put out your back carrying all that food.” Steinnbrenner said. No one could eat like Sabathia. He was like a black hole, sucking any food into him that was near his gravitational pull.
“He would also help around the clubhouse, washing uniforms. He said there was nothing like the smell of a freshly washed pair of Derek Jeter’s underwear in the morning,” Cashman said.
“That’s disturbing,” said Steinbrenner. “But get Hurst on the phone and sign him to a deal. If he has an agent tell him to get lost. If he wants more than $35,000 tell him to get lost. If Girardi quits then that’s just a bonus.”
|
06-24-2009, 11:26 AM
