It is not very often that the Yankees don’t get who they want in free agency. You know the kid that always gets exactly what he wants for Christmas? Yeah, the Yankees are that kid, or at least they used to be.
Just a couple of weeks ago, it was assumed that Cliff Lee, the prized jewel of baseball free agency, would be donning the pinstripes in 2011 creating an unstoppable 1-2 punch with his buddy from Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia. When the Yankees offered the 32 year old a lucrative seven-year, $148 million deal, $132 million of which was guaranteed, it seemed like a done deal. Until Lee did something that not many athletes do these days; he decided to turn down the big money.
Of course, Lee is not getting paid in bubble gum; instead of signing with the Yanks he opted for a five-year, $120 million deal with the Phillies. In Philadelphia, he joins one of the best rotations that baseball has seen in a long time, which includes Roy Halladay, arguably the best pitcher of the decade, Roy Oswalt, one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball year in and year out and Cole Hamels, the soon-to-be 27 year old, who after a rocky 2009 season, came back and played very well in 2010. Between them they have 3 Cy Young Awards and 13 All Star appearances (most of which come from Halladay). With arguably the two best pitchers in the league, there is not much that the Phillies will not be able to do come next April.
Despite the criticism that Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and the new Steinbrenner owners have garnered for their inability to get either Lee or Zack Greinke, (who was recently traded to the Brewers) they have managed to do develop and maintain their farm system, something they have not done in a while and which has worked many times before – just look the at the Yankees of the 1990’s. When they did not necessarily need an outfielder this off-season, they did not go head over heels to get Carl Crawford and prevent him from going to the Red Sox, as they might have done in the past; same thing with Adrian Gonzalez at first base. Instead of trading away Jesus Montero, the Yankees’ top-notch catching prospect for an older top-notch pitcher, the Yanks stood their ground.
Of course, it will be tough for the Yankees to do as well as everyone expects them to do, with their current pitching staff. Sabathia is one of the game’s best pitchers but after that it goes downhill pretty quickly. A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes both have the potential to be stellar at times, but they can also be extremely unreliable at others, especially with Burnett going 10-15 last year with a 5.26 ERA and Hughes having a 4.90 ERA after the All-Star Break. With Pettitte possibly not returning next season, the rest of the rotation is currently unsolved. The Yankees will have to rely on the farm system for at least one of the remaining two starting spots and the outside options do not look too appealing. The Yankees are looking at Freddy Garcia, but names like that bring back bad memories of older pitchers in the early 2000s and make the Yankees seem more like the Royals, than the baseball kings (such sad irony for the Royals) they really are.
The Lee signing has obvious benefits for Philadelphia and their fans - a city that is currently being uplifted by the wonderful play of not only the Phillies but the Eagles and Flyers as well - but what does it mean for New York and the Yankees?
With the media making it easy for cities across the country to get attention, the need for athletes to sign with teams in big markets has diminished. That is not to say that Philadelphia is not a big market and that the big markets still do not get the most attention in the press and some of the top players – the last time I checked the teams that got the most coverage were either in the Northeast, Texas or bore the names Chicago or Los Angeles – but in the Information Age, a player can play anywhere and get attention, meaning cities like New York need star athletes more than star athletes need them.
Cities that would have gone mostly unnoticed years ago are finally getting well deserved publicity. Take Oklahoma City and its Thunder, which has yet to win a title, but gets as much attention as a team like the Lakers because of Kevin Durant. Then there’s New Orleans and its Saints’ 2009 season, which was documented and highlighted the entire year more than any New York or L.A. team’s season.
The unavoidable example is this past summer when LeBron said no to New York, and decided to take a page out of Will Smith’s book and say I’m going to Miami, except in a much more boisterous, cocky way. Instead of going to the media capital of the world, LeBron took his talents to South Beach, the city - like Cliff Lee with Philadelphia - where he thought he would have the best chance to win.
Despite some of the top athletes turning their back on New York, there still seems to be a sports renaissance happening in the Big Apple. Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan are taking the Jets from mediocrity to the front of the pack, Amar’e Stoudemire is leading a revival of the Knicks, who may soon be joined by Carmelo Anthony, the Giants are only a few years removed from a Super Bowl victory, the Mets and Rangers are both solid teams (despite a lot of underachievement by the Mets the past few years) and the Islanders, well, let’s forget about the Islanders for now. Sure the city’s sports teams are not able to get whomever they want anymore, but they are still attracting a lot of big names.
So, as the Yankees embark on this new era, certainly far from rebuilding, but probably as close to rebuilding as the Yankees will ever get, they realize that they can no longer just throw money at a problem (although it never hurts). They will not always be able to get the Cliff Lees of the world and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. With an aging group of stars, a nice set of prospects will be necessary to have in a few years. Whether or not they have the ability to win it all this upcoming season is up to guys like Burnett and Hughes, but one thing is for sure, they have set themselves up to win consistently in the future.
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