After that Luis Gonzalez broken-bat blooper fell in over Derek Jeter's head in the 2001 World Series, things changed.
You see, the Yankees weren't supposed to lose that game. The Yankees were "The Yankees." Mariano Rivera was "Mo," the greatest closer ever. Derek Jeter was the chosen one, the golden child, the warrior and most importantly the winner. Joe Torre was the laid-back clubhouse-balancing mastermind, and Brian Cashman was the genius prodigy who built the dynasty.
These people didn't lose. Not to a team that had only existed for four years! Not to a team that had a pool in the right field bleachers! Not to a team with that much purple in its uniform! But strangely enough, they did. After that, George Steinbrenner began to get involved in baseball operations again, and ever since, the Yankees have been in a seven-year championship drought.
But about two years ago, something happened. Steinbrenner started rubbing peanut butter on his ass and having conversations with an imaginary queen of England. He got old and he got old quickly. George's deteriorating mental and physical health left Cashman with a newfound sense of freedom and control of the Yankee organization. He no longer had "the Boss" and the Yankee brass breathing down his neck during decision-making. The team was, for the first time in a long time, his.
The transformation of the Yankees pre-Steinbrenner senility and now is astounding. It shows you just how smart and talented Brian Cashman is.
Cashman believes in team chemistry. Gone are all the clubhouse cancers.
Cashman believes in building from within the organization. In two years, the Yankees have gone from one of the weakest farm systems in the league to what Baseball America recently called the fifth-strongest.
Cashman believes in developing young pitching. Enter Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.
Cashman believes in fiscally responsible baseball operations. The Yankees' biggest acquisition of the offseason was LaTroy Hawkins.
But what I am most excited about is the new aura around this baseball team. For the last eight years, the Yankees have been the big bad empire, outspending all of Major League Baseball by a huge margin. They weren't a team. They were a mercenary army. The feeling around the ballclub was one of pressure and negativity. Fans began to watch games no longer expecting the impossible victory, but the impossible defeat. We no longer waited for the Jim Leyritz homer. We waited for the Luis Gonzalez blooper. It was not an environment conducive to winning.
These days, the Yankees don't seem much different from everyone else. They don't play with that target on their backs. They are no longer favorites to win their division, let alone the World Series. Their payroll doesn't seem as ridiculous as it used to. The team is relying on homegrown talent to carry it toward October. Think about this: By the end of the year, it is possible that all five Yankee starters will be homegrown products. Can another team in baseball say that?
Over the past decade, the Yankees have become fond of saying that unless they win the World Series, their season is a failure. Sure, that should be the goal of every single team going into a professional sports season. But that mentality was pushed so hard by Yankee upper management that it started to get in the way of what Cashman does best: franchise building. The patience demonstrated by John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino allowed Theo Epstein to build an incredibly deep Red Sox team. As crazy as Hank Steinbrenner may seem, he appears to trust Cashman. That alone should give Yankee fans tremendous hope for the future.
Gideon Jacobs is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Gideon.Jacobs@tufts.edu.
