Just shy of a tenth anniversary, venerable New York Yankees blog NoMaas is pulling the plug for a number of (understandable) reasons, however it’s the following passage from Sensei John Kreese’s farewell address that should thoroughly provoke the ire of Randy L. (whenever he emerges from vacation, anyway) :
We must be honest and tell you that the Hal Steinbrenner Regime has significantly dampened our enthusiasm and passion for this storied club, making it harder to put our heart into the site. From turning Yankee Stadium into a Ritz-Carlton that caters to the wealthy like a Federal Reserve governor; putting revenues into his pocket as opposed to the team (Yankees spend much less per % of revenue than many other teams); propagandizing to the fanbase by saying his team is “championship-caliber” when it clearly isn’t; allowing the same decision-makers to plunge the team further into mediocrity (it’s a good ol’ boy network); and commercializing EVERYTHING.
And speaking of Hal, that brings us to Brian Cashman. He has been a longtime friend of the site and we have lauded him for his embrace of quantitative analysis, his commitment to more efficient spending, his public rebuke of abominable contracts, and stressing the importance of youth development. For years, he seemed to be the sole voice of sanity in a zoo of a front office.
However, his demeanor has changed over the last few seasons. Some of the philosophies he once advocated for have been minimized, particularly when it comes to youth development and sabermetric analysis. He has become a company man and an apologist for ownership’s atrocious baseball decisions. He has repeatedly refused to take advantage of the few tradable assets the team has had, hitting a nadir with the Robinson Cano fiasco. He has also failed to hold accountable the people who have turned out more busted prospects than a wholesale pimp.