Hal Steinbrenner has about seen enough.
The New York Yankees owner took a page out of his late father George’s playbook Wednesday by calling out his team for its lackluster play to start the season.
Despite owning one of the best bullpens in baseball, the Yankees are 17-22 and entered play Thursday 7 1/2 games behind the American East-leading Baltimore Orioles.
The onus for the turnaround, Steinbrenner said Wednesday, is on the players, not the coaching staff. The owner wasn’t exactly breathing fire as he delivered his assessment, but he wasn’t afraid to give his take, either, even mentioning specific players by name.
“The first five weeks were disappointing, frustrating, particularly looking at the offense,” Steinbrenner told reporters, per ESPN.com “Clearly not living up to their potential.
“When you look at a guy like Mark Teixeira, clearly, he’s not playing to his potential with the bat.”
Teixeira responded by going 0-for-5 on Wednesday night in Arizona. His batting average dipped to .203, and his OPS dropped to .608, almost 300 points below his 2015 total and about 270 points below his career mark.
Steinbrenner did praise some Yankees for their play and made sure to emphasize this isn’t the fault of manager Joe Girardi and his staff.
“The coaches are doing a good job,” Steinbrenner said. “These are professional athletes. They’re the best baseball players in the world, and sooner or later it comes down to them, on the inside, to push through whatever it is they’re going through and to persevere.”
Money never seems to be an issue for the Yankees, who have Major League Baseball’s second-highest payroll. However, being saddled with bad contracts for aging players (like Teixeira) can’t be helping. Teixeira’s contract expires at season’s end, but that’s about it, as players like CC Sabathia (35 years old) and Alex Rodriguez (40) both signed are through the 2017 season. Those three players have combined to give the Yankees 0.4 wins above replacement this season.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
