C’mon Hal!

BY KEVIN KERNAN

The apple fell far from the tree.

There is no other way to explain the comments of Yankee owner Hal Steinbrenner, George Steinbrenner’s son.

The Yankees have not won a world championship since 2009, a year the Yankees spent money kind of like the way the Dodgers are spending money now – and that is the Yankees’ only title since 2000 as they signed free agents CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett before the 2009 season.

Yet, Hal Steinbrenner, who expects Yankee fans to shell out all kinds of money in various ways to watch the Yankees play in person – and to watch on a multitude of platforms – is whining because the Dodgers are buying talent and spending cash, yes some deferred, something any team could do if they wanted to do, to woo superstars like Shohei Ohtani to their club.

George Steinbrenner, The Boss, started this whole free agent ball of wax rolling downhill with the historical free agent signings of Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson way back when, but this is what Hal had to say about the Dodgers, the defending World Champions, the team that embarrassed the Yankees in the World Series, winning in five games. The Yankees actually embarrassed themselves in Game 5, committing critical physical and mental errors.

“Well, look, it’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing,’’ Steinbrenner said of the Dodgers during an interview with Meredith Marakovits on the YES Network. “Now, we’ll see if it pays off. They still have to have a season, relatively injury-free for it to work out for them. It’s a long season as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again. We’ll see who’s there at the end and if they are the ones.’’

The only reason you have such a team is because your father was not afraid to spend the going rate – and higher – to buy talent that would help the Yankees win the World Series.

Yes Hal, in the postseason anything can happen like putting in a starting pitcher like Nestor Cortes Jr. who had not pitched since September 18th and wound up surrendering a two-out walkoff grand slam to Freddie Freeman in the 10th inning of the Dodgers Game 1, 6-3 win over the Yankees – a loss that put Hal’s Yankees behind the eight ball to start the World Series. Cortes was a slow first-inning starter all season, but the Yankees still made that fateful call to the bullpen.

Well played, Boonie.

There are so many things wrong with Hal’s comment. I don’t know where to start but since Hal started with money, let’s start with the fact that Forbes recently valued the Yankees being worth $7.55 Billion with a capital B. The Dodgers are worth $5.5 Billion with a B.

The only reason you have such a team is because your father was not afraid to spend the going rate – and higher – to buy talent that would help the Yankees win the World Series. The Dodgers are trying to do something George Steinbrenner’s Yankees did in 1977-78, win back-to-back World Series.

The Dodgers have never won back-to-back World Series. So, they are going for it hard, and they have also cornered the market on Japanese stars, so they have created a whole new country-wide fan base for themselves. That is smart business.

Just to be clear, this offseason Yankee owner Hal Steinbrenner is not the only owner complaining about the money the Dodgers are spending, but Hal also lost a star player, free agent Juan Soto to the crosstown rival Mets. The Yankees were in the financial ballpark with Soto but did not close the deal, and Soto signed with the Mets for 15 years at $765 million.

Whether as a fan you wanted to keep Soto or not, the bottom line is that Hal’s team was beaten to the financial punch by Mets owner Steve Cohen.

Yes, the Yankees made it to the World Series, but the American League is weak compared the teams in the playoffs for the National League. And once the Yankees got to the big stage, they completely fell apart.

In 1976 the Yankees finally made it to the World Series after not being in the World Series since 1964, when I was 11 years old. It was a long drought, believe me. They were swept by the Big Red Machine. George Steinbrenner felt the Yankees fans’ pain and signed Reggie Jackson to a five-year, $3.5 million contract – at the time a huge deal.

Reggie paid immediate dividends. He was the straw that stirred the drink in different ways and the Yankees won the next two World Series, beating the Dodgers, of all teams. In the 1977 World Series, Reggie batted .450, blasted five home runs and produced a 1.792 OPS with three home runs coming in Game 6 as the Yankees won the Series, four games to two. The next season in 1978 the Yankees again beat the Dodgers in six games and Reggie hit .391 with two home runs and a 1.196 OPS.

Worthwhile investment, George.

Hal is not like his father; that is for sure and he seems to take pride in that fact. There were other things that bothered me about his Dodgers comment as well, especially when he said, “They still have to have a season, relatively injury-free for it to work out for them.’’

Call me old-fashioned but that is one BAD karma comment. You don’t bring up possible future injuries to another team. And somebody needs to tell Hal, because he does not play close attention, the Dodgers overcame multiple injuries last season, especially to the pitching staff, because they had Dodger Depth. They overcame their injuries, even an injury to Shohei Ohtani. Walker Buehler, who was coming back from injury, recorded the final three outs for the Dodgers. The Dodgers let Walker walk away to the Red Sox this offseason but brought in the likes of two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell and young starter Roki Sasaki to join countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the rotation. In addition, they have added bullpen help with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. Money talks in free agent season.

The Yankees signed free agent lefty Max Fried for $218 million so they did spend money on the pitching front. We’ll see if Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt can close the Soto Gap.

Hal Steinbrenner also raved about manager Aaron Boone and clearly will sign Boone to an extension after picking up his option for 2025.

“I’ve always thought Aaron Boone was a very good manager and that’s his reputation in the industry, we will be talking with him in the days and weeks to come,’’ Hal said to YES. “They’ll be conversations had with him about potentially staying longer than that.’’

I hope someone in those talks brings up the Cortes decision, but that was probably something decided by Yankees analysts anyway. Perhaps Boone was just following orders, but at the time lefty Tim Hill would have been the far better option. Cortes also intentionally walked Mookie Betts before the Freeman home run – and Betts was 0-for-5 lifetime against Cortes – but Boone and the analysts were playing the lefty-lefty game.

And that is how a two-out, 3-2, 10th-inning lead in critical Game 1 became a 6-3 crushing loss.

George Steinbrenner purchased the team in 1973 for $8.8 million, his original investment in the Yankees was $168,000. Again, that team, according to Forbes, is now worth $7.55 Billion (with a B) so who is Hal Steinbrenner kidding?

Hal is not alone in crying about the Dodgers spending. There are a lot of cheap teams in MLB; rich, cheap teams. The Cubs had their Cubs Convention this month and owner Tom Ricketts said it would be difficult to keep up with the Dodgers, especially in the pursuit of Japanese players.

The Cubs are the only big market team in the weak NL Central so you would think they would have an advantage, but that is not the case and they did not make the postseason last season for the fourth straight year.

“Look, there’s other teams that have more resources than we do,’’ Ricketts told my friend Bob Nightengale. “I can’t change that. I tell our guys not to worry about it, and just do your best.’’

Ricketts also said that day, “I think our fans somehow think we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have, and we just keep it. It’s not true. We just try to break even every year.’’

Anyone who has ever been to Wrigley Field knows the Cubs make quite a lot of money.

Fans simply don’t want to hear owners of clubs that make an incredible amount of money whining about finances.

And to hear a Steinbrenner whining about another team spending money is hard to digest. Signing superstars is the way George Steinbrenner got the Yankees on top and then they developed their own core of stars in the 1990s, keeping George away from trading that top talent. In 2009 they spent big on free agents again and won the World Series.

The Dodgers own a long-range plan that is better than the Yankees’ plan right now. It is not just about the upcoming 2025 season, the Dodgers have built a foundation and are looking to the future. Don’t expect Roki Sasaki to get much more than the 111 innings he pitched last season in Japan. His signing was about the long haul. The Dodgers have established a brand in Japan, the luxury tax is not a problem for them like the Yankees make it a problem for them. They are spending their money more wisely than the Yankees.

There is no hard cap in baseball. The owners will try to change the financial game after the 2026 season – but for now, Steinbrenner would be much better off following in the footsteps of his father and let the chips fall where they may because the bottom line is Hal and the Steinbrenner family are sitting on a gold mine worth at least $7.55 Billion … with a B.

No one wants to hear you whining about the Dodgers spending money and trying to keep up with them. The Yankees under George Steinbrenner used to set the bar.

Now Hal Steinbrenner is lowering the bar. The apple fell far from the tree.

Finally, Hal was asked about the Rays playing at Steinbrenner Field and noted, “I think they are going to do well here, most of my neighbors and friends, I live here, are Rays fans, they’re super excited.’’

Hey Hal, get some Yankees fans as friends and neighbors. Talk to them about the Yankees. It may help.