It’s party time in Seattle.
In The Bronx, it’s, well, um … Bengay time? Time to redeem those Coke bottles for the 5-cent payments?
In case you needed another reminder of baseball’s changing landscape, and the Yankees certainly didn’t, we learned yesterday that the Mariners and Felix Hernandez agreed to a record-setting, seven-year, $175 million extension that will keep King Felix in the Emerald City through 2019. Forget about the 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner, who would have been eligible for free agency following the 2014 campaign, getting lured to the Yankees any time soon.
It’s more depressing news in what has been a depressing offseason for Hal Steinbrenner’s old, commitment-phobic club and its agitated fan base. Even the imminent arrival of pitchers and catchers in Tampa may not change the vibe.
The Hernandez deal shows the Yankees’ problem is twofold: They want to slash costs — even isolated African tribes know about ownership’s aspiration to get the 2014 payroll below $189 million — while the rest of the industry is bathing in cash.
To be clear, the Yankees absolutely love Hernandez, and had the Mariners dangled him in trade discussions, the Yankees would have 1) offered virtually anyone and everyone in their farm system and 2) made the dollars work. The Yankees have room in their budget for one more big contract. Had they somehow acquired Hernandez, then we’d be guaranteeing a goodbye to Robinson Cano after this season.
It never got to that point, however, because the Mariners easily can afford to give this sort of package to Hernandez, who lives in Seattle year-round and possesses no apparent wanderlust. Hernandez won’t experience free agency until he’s 33, at the earliest, and this is no aberration when it comes to stud starting pitchers. Don’t bet on either Detroit’s Justin Verlander or the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, both apparently content with their generous employers, to reach their scheduled freedoms after the ’14 season; Hernandez-like extensions are more likely.
The evening out of baseball’s economy — well, besides the Dodgers, who are throwing money around like Rodney Dangerfield’s character in “Back to School” — makes it harder than ever to poach other teams’ stars as the Yankees once did. Which makes it more important than ever for clubs to develop their own players.
The Yankees have been better than advertised in the player-development arena over the past few years. They’ve received value from homegrown products such as Brett Gardner, Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, David Phelps and David Robertson. Yet their steady reliance on aging icons reflects that there obviously is room for improvement in this area. As Steinbrenner told The Post and the Wall Street Journal last month, his long-range plan to cut expenses depends on cheap youngsters like Manny Banuelos and Michael Pineda, both of whom experienced disastrous 2012 campaigns, to deliver.
Steinbrenner expressed unawareness of the Yankees’ fan anger, which is very real. There lurks frustration about the $189 million, about the farm system, about the ticket prices, about the three years without a World Series title, even about the team’s style of play. Shoot, many fans applauded the two-year, $13 million deal for Ichiro Suzuki — arguably their worst transaction of the winter — because Ichiro is relatively new on the scene and he doesn’t hit too many home runs.
They’re a spoiled group, but that sentiment originates with the belief espoused by the late George Steinbrenner and, currently, Derek Jeter, that anything short of a championship represents a miserable failure. Therefore, re-signing golden oldies Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera and importing a past-his-prime Kevin Youkilis to fill in for train wreck Alex Rodriguez doesn’t generate much goodwill.
The Yankees could get the last laugh. Even after Toronto’s massive upgrade, even after the defections of myriad key personnel, Joe Girardi’s group remains a viable contender in the AL East.
Nevertheless, King Felix’s coronation shows that it’s only getting tougher for the team that used to treat the other 29 teams like its personal shopping website.
kdavidoff@nypost.com