Scott Boras just did Hal Steinbrenner a huge favor with Yankees negotiations comments

Hal Steinbrenner isn't thought of as a fiery competitor by New York Yankees fans (quite the opposite), which made Scott Boras's new comments on the owner shocking, if not unbelievable.

Speaking with The New York Post's Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Boras said that Steinbrenner surprised him during the Juan Soto negotiations by exuding an "emotional commitment to competitiveness" that Boras had never seen before from him.

Is Steinbrenner more of a competitive dog than anyone realizes, or was this just more imaginative political fluff from Boras?

Scott Boras just painted Hal Steinbrenner as a competitive demon, but Yankees fans can't see it

Boras also told Sherman and Heyman that Steinbrenner's competitive fire emerged once again during this past offseason's Cody Bellinger negotiations.

According to Boras, Steinbrenner fought hard to land Bellinger during the drawn-out process that had every Yankees observer convinced that Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman must be botching another signing.

While Boras is a persuasive human being, Yankees fans aren't quite ready to fall for this latest Steinbrenner stuff. They've heard way too many words from Steinbrenner lately that reveal a less-flattering mindset, whether Hal's been waving the white flag to the Dodgers dynasty, bemoaning the Yankees' supposed lack of profitability, or scapegoating Cashman.

If Steinbrenner really does possess a competitive spirit, as Boras is suggesting, why are Yankees fans overwhelmed with a dark void of hopelessness every time Steinbrenner opens his mouth?

Boras's remarks were certainly tantalizing, and the Post clearly knew what they were working with, hence the close-up shot of Steinbrenner looking uncharacteristically intense and powerful as Boras made the "emotional commitment" reveal.

Yankees fans want to believe Boras! They'd love Steinbrenner to evolve into a more passionate owner in the style of his father.

And if Boras' comments have any shred of truth to them, perhaps Steinbrenner, still relatively young for an owner at 56, is indeed transforming into something more commanding in his maturing years, channeling the "Italian Vacation-interrupting" mindset that helped him close the Aaron Judge deal.

Perhaps Steinbrenner's blooming passion for winning at all costs is such that it's only starting to become visible behind closed doors and hasn't yet reared its head in public.

If so, maybe Yankees fans owe Steinbrenner more slack, even if he does nothing to help his own reputation in the press. This is a far-fetched idea for any Yankees supporter to consider, but Boras just gave it a smidgen of oxygen.

Until the next Steinbrenner presser undoes the feeling, we can all sit back for a moment and imagine that Hal Steinbrenner is on a character arc towards greatness that none of us saw coming.