Without even getting into the candidacies of Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly or Tony Pena, The New York Post’s Joel Sherman takes a dim view of Hank Steinbrenner’s critique of Joe Torre, wondering “who exactly would Hank Steinbrenner be if his father had not handed off his last name?”
Is Hank delusional enough to think he is now running the world’s biggest sports franchise due to his brilliance or because he won the lucky DNA contest?
Do you think Hank understands that if he is one-quarter as successful running the franchise the next 12 years that Torre was managing it the past 12 years, then he will be hailed as a baseball genius?
Hank seems like a pleasant guy who let his tongue escape him here. He probably should have just left his public comments to “thanks, Joe.”
When George Steinbrenner was his most familiar feisty self, Torre deflected the abuse of The Boss from the Yankees clubhouse making it a more popular, enticing place to work. That would roughly coincide with when Hank Steinbrenner hid on the family horse farm in Ocala, Fla., rather than work for the Yanks under his oppressive father. It is only now, with his dad diminished, that Hank suddenly has found this brave, public voice.
I’ll say this much for Hank — it’s about time somebody managed to make Jeff Wilpon look good.