Expect Steinbrenner to decimate these Yankees
NEW YORK -- George Steinbrenner has spent some $1.6 billion on his Yankees from 1995 through 2007. That's billion. Or roughly the same number of times Steinbrenner likely uttered profanities as he watched his bloated underachievers get eliminated by the Cleveland Indians on Monday night.
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| Joe Torre's 12-year tenure with the Yankees appears to be over. (Getty Images) |
So this is how the Yankees go out: a fat, over-hyped mess sporadically booed by 56,000 fans and losing to the Indians 6-4. The Yankees blew their fourth consecutive postseason series, have not won a title in seven years and thus Joe Torre might now consider texting some real estate agents.
This isn't the greatest choke job in postseason history to be sure but a team with the resources of the Yankees simply should not fail so badly against a small market club.
And with that, Steinbrenner is gathering his energy and preparing for the upcoming hours when he takes a machete to these Yankees. I would say a baseball bat but the way the Yankees hit in this series, Steinbrenner would miss whatever he was aiming at.
Take a good look at these Yankees. Take a good hard look because these Yankees will likely not resemble next year's.
Gone might be Torre.
Gone might be Alexander Rodriguez.
Gone might be Mariano Rivera.
Gone might be Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and almost assuredly Roger Clemens and his delicate little hamstring.
After the loss, Torre handled himself with his usual class and dignity, occasionally choking up as he spoke. There was no finger pointing, no tirade and no rage against the media. When asked what he planned to do over the next few days, Torre talked about decompressing and pleaded with the press to not hold vigil outside of his home (yeah, right).
"I mean, I'm not going there," Torre said when asked about his future. "This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I mean, I'll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure ... I can tell you one thing: it never gets old. It never gets old. It's exciting. The 12 years just felt like they were 10 minutes long to be honest with you."
Let's just hope that if Steinbrenner does fire Torre -– if he does -– the grumpy old boss allows Torre to leave the Yankees with his dignity intact, the dignity Torre deserves.
