Hank and Hal Want Manny?

There's an MLB on XM report going around that says Hal and Hank Steinbrenner have overruled Brian Cashman on Manny Ramirez. First of all, that's not really how the Yanks work. The way it works is that Cash talks to the baseball people and makes a recommendation to ownership. So while it's possible that Cash recommended Teixeira or waiting till January to address the O, while the brothers would prefer Manny, it's not like Cash said "no way" on Manny and Hank and Hal said, "You're overruled!" They tend to talk about everything, so if the Steinbrenner bros are now targetting Manny, it's probably not happening over anyone's violent objection. As of the end of the week, Cash had indicated that they hadn't even talked about Manny yet, presumably waiting for the Teixeira market to resolve itself and reticent to pull out whatever price support the specter of the Yanks were providing before moving onto the next target.


Now, why would the Steinbrenner brothers prefer Manny? Lots of reasons. First, he requires fewer years and dollars. Second, and I think this is the big one, the boys are opening a new stadium and Manny is box office. Both Manny and Mark Teixeira came to LA around the deadline this past summer, and both were outstanding, yet only Manny created a mania, and the crowds that could be seen on the news, jamming the sadium and buying up every souvenir they could get their hands on must have been Manny Manna to Hank and Hal. They want their stadium to be a hit. Another reason is they want YES to stay the dominant regional sports network. Finally, I do think they see enormous baseball value in batting Manny 4th behind ARod. So while I do think the Steinbrenners are looking to buy more than wins with a Manny deal, wins will still be part of it.


Now, why would Cash be against a Manny deal? First, Manny's an older player on a team who includes getting younger and more athletic as one of it's short, medium and longterm goals. Second, he's a pain in the ass for management. Third, where do you play him? Cash is the one who will have to either trade Matsui or put Manny in left and move Damon back to Center. That would be completely antithetical to the stated goal of improving the D. So, ideally Cash would have to move Matsui and make DH available for Manny. Now, Cash must know the market for Matsui, and it must not be value laden. He could also trade Nady, and get good value, but then he'd risk playing Manny in right. That could be worse than Abreu.


We should know what's going to happen by Christmas. It's funny that overpaying Teixeira for 8 years is the more conservative option.