Redemption, you could argue, serves as the theme of this 2014 Yankees campaign. Starting at the very top.
And for now, Hal Steinbrenner isn’t blinking from his desired path to redemption. After he participated in a panel discussion Tuesday for the “Diversity Business Summit,” an event co-sponsored by the Yankees and Major League Baseball, the Yankees’ managing general partner vowed to stay the course with his team’s weakest unit.
“I’m pretty content with our infield right now,” Steinbrenner said. “I think guys like [Dean] Anna and [Yangervis] Solarte have been pleasant surprises. Kelly Johnson has been good. Derek [Jeter] is healthy. So, so far, so good. But it’s early.”
The most talked about possibility to help the Yankees’ makeshift infield is to sign free agent Stephen Drew.
Asked expressly whether he was ruling out an acquisition of Drew, Steinbrenner responded, “So far, I’m pretty content with where we are, but I will always analyze options. That’s my job. Throughout the course of the whole year.”
Yes, this is how Hal operates. For the millionth time, with a billion more to go: He isn’t his father. Of course, those who lament the passing of George Steinbrenner seem to have selective memories. Or else they’re just too young to remember the day in July 1990 when Yankees fans erupted in joy upon learning The Boss had accepted a lifetime suspension.
In fact, the panel’s moderator, MLB chief financial officer Jonathan Mariner, asked Hal Steinbrenner about following in his legendary dad’s footsteps.
“You’ve got to be your own guy. Be your own person,” Hal Steinbrenner said. “Everybody brings their individual [personality] to the table, their strengths and their weaknesses. We are different in a lot of ways. We are similar in some ways. … I know what my weaknesses are, and I know what my strengths are.”
A strength of Hal’s, one that George lacked, is patience. A weakness of Hal’s, one that George lacked, is patience.
Hal, an admitted “math geek,” will not get overly geeked over a 7-6 start to the season. He comprehends the notion of small sample sizes.
And he will stick to a plan, at least for a while, even if he must suffer some in the interim. We all know the Yankees dramatically compromised their playoff ambitions a year ago because of a determination to get the 2014 payroll under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold. And we know, too, that plan went by the wayside following the October 2013 siesta.
Nevertheless, when the team’s $175 million investment in Masahiro Tanaka blew up the hopes of avoiding the luxury tax, Hal turned off the spigot. So the Yankees, after investing upwards of $500 million to upgrade their starting rotation and outfield, went cheap on their infield and bullpen, leaving them with a payroll of about $200 million — a notable drop-off from last year’s approximate $230 million.
(By the way, here’s Hal on Tanaka’s start: “Very, very impressed, as I think everybody was, with his poise. Which probably shouldn’t be a surprise. You can say what you want about Japanese baseball, but pressure is pressure. And that was no different over there than it is here. It’s every bit as intense.”)
Neither the bullpen nor the infield has embarrassed the Yankees in the first two weeks. At this juncture, the infield creates more concern, despite the contributions from old rookies Anna (27) and Solarte (26). Jeter missed two games against the Red Sox due to a tight right quadriceps, and profoundly injury-prone second baseman Brian Roberts sat out Sunday night’s game with an ailing back.
Steinbrenner has turned off the spigot for periods before, yet it always comes back on. As he first made clear to The Post’s Joel Sherman in a February email, he wants to let the season unfold and assess the team’s needs in June and July.
If Drew is still available then — and he very well might remain unsigned until after the amateur draft, at which point a signing team needn’t give up a draft pick to acquire him — and the Yankees’ infield lives down to its pedigree, you can expect the Yankees to investigate a Drew signing more seriously. Although they also worry about Drew’s physical condition.
This season will determine whether Steinbrenner’s patience is a virtue. Whether he will revalidate himself in the eyes of Yankees fans who don’t understand why he stopped at Tanaka, Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann.
George Steinbrenner used to quote Tommy Tune from “Seesaw,” a Broadway play he financed: “It’s not where you start. It’s where you finish.” But George often forgot that lesson he preached. His son doesn’t forget. Redemption, or the lack thereof, won’t come until October.