The Bronx is Boiling: Time To Move On Already

Well, the Yankees laid another dud this weekend. They were only able to sneak one by on the red-hot Kansas City Royals, getting blanked in two of the three games. As if pouring salt on the Yankees 2014 wound, they couldn’t even muster a run on Derek Jeter Day and win one for The Captain. And then the baseball gods threw some irony in when the Royals won by 2.

So, as Derek Jeter’s season winds down, everyone wonders what his legacy will be. Everyone wonders where he ranks all-time amongst both Yankees and baseball greats. And more importantly, everyone wonders what the Yankees’ future holds without the most familiar face in modern Yankee history out on the field. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

TIME TO PUT THIS BABY TO BED

The plain and simple truth is that when Derek Jeter takes his last inside out swing, when The Captain hangs up his schnazzy Jordan’s one last time, the book on the Yankees’ 90s dynasty will be closed. The only ties to those great late 90s teams left in pinstripes will be our one time catcher who know manages the current day Yankees. And I couldn’t be happier.

This new generation of Yankees fans have been spoiled. They have never known losing. They have been able to live in an era that George Steinbrenner once envisioned that anything less than a trophy was a failure. Heck, even the two playoff-less seasons were still winning records and went right down to the wire. Me, I was at old Yankee Stadium in 1991… and I’m still a fan.

The problem is that everyone goes back over the last twenty years of the Derek Jeter Era, and they make these insane comparisons. These guys lack the fire of the 90s dynasty. These guys don’t want to win, they just want their money. This wouldn’t happen if George was alive. So, are you implying that you expected George to live forever and the Core Four to play the same amount of time?

George Steinbrenner bought the New York Yankees for one reason and one reason only. He wanted to win a championship every single season. He didn’t care about making money, he liked spending it on the biggest and flashiest stars in the baseball world. His Mount Everest-sized ego needed to be fed yearly, and the only way to do that was with more and more championships.

That’s simply not the way of the young Steinbrenners and the modern day regime. They are all about pizzazz and image. They are marketing the Yankees as a product, not a team and that is evident by the personalities they have put together the last few seasons. The New Yankee Stadium is a monstrosity and even more proof that the Yankees only care about putting on a Broadway spectacular that is more about image and brand than team structure.

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There will probably never be another Core Four in any other sports again with the way money is thrown around. They were something special and instead of everyone trying to compare these teams to the Core Four Era, we should embrace them for what they were. The Yankees 90s championship streak was one of the greatest runs in baseball history. They brought in guys full of fire like Paul O’Neill who came here via a trade, not for a big pay day. The traded for Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch and in 1998 had one the greatest seasons in baseball history. No team will ever be like that Yankee team, certainly not any team Hank, Hal, and Cashman can put together. The 90s Yankees worked so hard to be so great they reached levels very few team ever have. Of course these Yankees teams aren’t like those teams. Nobody is.

It’s be 20 years since the Yankees had a nucleus like Bernie Williams and the Core Four. The last link is ready to call it a day. There is a great young group making a lot of noise in the minors now for the Yankees. Maybe Aaron Judge, Eric Jagielo, Luis Severino and Gary Sanchez are the next four youngsters to lead the Yankees to their next mini-dynasty. But they won’t be another Core Four. There won’t be another Jeter. And that’s good, because I don’t want one.