This New York Yankees insider isn't exactly winning himself any new readers.
New York Yankees fans are frustrated, and deservedly so. The team has not won a World Series since 2009, and they have only been to one since.
The Yankees' standard appears to have changed. Gone are the championship-or-bust days of George Steinbrenner. It seems that New York is now just perfectly content making the playoffs and contending for titles rather than actually hanging banners.
Throughout the offseason, Yankees fans have voiced their displeasure with the front office, which re-signed Cody Bellinger and has not done a whole lot else.
Some even believed that Bellinger would be a goner because of Hal Steinbrenner's recent tendency to be a bit frugal, and now that Bellinger has been retained on a five-year, $162.5 million contract, Joel Sherman of The New York Post has launched a profanity-laced tirade against Yankees fans.
"Most of the whiners are also people who were saying, 'Well, they signed [Trent] Grisham. That means that Hal is going to get cheap and not bring Bellinger back,'" Sherman said on The Pinstripe Post podcast. "Will any of those people shut the [expletive] up now? They will not shut the [expletive] up because they like that lane that's either stupid, or they enjoy being stupid because they get attention."
Yikes.
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.Now, to be fair, there are a lot of whining Yankees fans out there. Sherman is right about that. No matter what Brian Cashman and the front office do, there are some fanatics who will find a way to complain about it.
But I don't think Yankees fans are necessarily "stupid" for being a bit agitated with the way this offseason has gone.
Yes, re-signing Bellinger was significant, especially given the rumors that the Mets were pursuing him. But have the Bronx Bombers really gotten any better this winter?
The only significant addition New York has made was swinging a trade for Ryan Weathers, who might not even be in the rotation once Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon return. Otherwise, the Yankees have been radio silent.
They were never really in on Kyle Tucker, and upgrading at any of their weaker positions never seemed to be a serious option.
To be fair, New York did win 94 games last season, but that's just it: the standard has completely been altered in the Big Apple. Winning 94 games meant nothing in previous decades. The World Series was what mattered.
But the Yankees seem to be taking the Billy Beane approach where Beane once called the playoffs a "crapshoot." I think most would agree that that philosophy is patently false.
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