Yankee Go Wrong

Obituaries for the Hated Yankees are entirely premature, but this long excerpt from Buster Olney’s book is nonetheless worth reading, from Olney’s description of the Yanks “treating championship building like a hot dog-eating contest” to the unintended humor in saying that “Jason Giambi knew all about chemistry” to the account of Toronto’s reaction when they called for Raul Mondesi to this:

Shortly after the Yankees lost to Anaheim, Gordon Blakeley, the Yankees’ director of international scouting, was sent to Nicaragua, under orders from Steinbrenner to sign Jose Contreras. The bidding between the Yankees, Boston, and the Mariners began in earnest at four years, $24 million, for a pitcher without a single day of major league experience. But Blakeley told rival executives that he had come to sign Contreras, no matter the cost; Steinbrenner promised Blakeley that he would be fired if he failed to land the pitcher. Hearing this, another executive realized his team had no chance to sign Contreras, so he decided to at least make the Yankees pay exorbitantly and kept matching the Yankees’ offers, driving up the price. The Yankees signed Contreras to a four-year, $32 million deal – a contract much larger than that signed by many established players in the same offseason.