An open letter to Hal Steinbrenner: It’s time to breathe fire | Klapisch

Dear Hal Steinbrenner:

A tip of the hat for your willingness to go public with (some) of your off-season plans on Monday. You’re the target of most Yankees fans’ frustrations. It would’ve been easier to hide, but at least you went live on Zoom.

It wasn’t the Gettysburg Address, but it was better than nothing.

The most important question of the Hot Stove season is how much you’re willing to spend. Too many people think you’re a cheapskate, which is absurd.

You dropped $319 million on the Yankees last year. But the Dodgers are pulling away from the industry, and you need to respond.

By that I mean, declare that you’re willing to spend whatever it takes to break out of the straitjacket of respectability. That’s what the Yankees have become: a well-oiled regular-season entity that inevitably gets sent home early in October.

The comparisons to your father, George, are based on fuzzy nostalgia, but still: How do you think the old man would’ve felt after a 16-year championship drought?

After all, George Steinbrenner said in 1998, “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing.”

It’s not unfair to ask if you’ve ever felt that same hunger. Nor is it out of line to wonder where your breaking point is, or if you even have one.

Is it money that’s holding you back?

You said on Zoom that it would be “ideal” to lower payroll in 2026. First, it’s not going to happen. Second, it’s exactly the wrong message from a franchise worth an estimated $10 billion.

Look, I get it that you’re financially responsible. You’re also not a hothead. Both are admirable traits. I know you’re not firing either general manager Brian Cashman or manager Aaron Boone.

It’s also obvious you’re not planning to blow up the roster the way your father did after losing the 1981 World Series. He decided the Yankees needed more speed, which opened the door to Dave Collins and Omar Moreno and a toothless club that won just 79 games.

The rest of the league loved it. The late Earl Weaver, the legendary Orioles manager, said, “I’d much rather see the Yankees sliding into second than trotting around the bases with one swing.”

George eventually owned up to his mistake in 1982. Your decisions, by comparison, are safer and more predictable. Everyone I speak to in the industry praises the Yankees for that stability.

“The reason the Yankees are always good is because they never make rash moves,” one GM told me recently. “They don’t tear (the roster) down because of what’s out there on social media.”

Still, it’s time for you, Hal, to pay more attention to the fans who fill your ballpark and your coffers. They’ve seen the Dodgers win back-to-back championships — and three in the last six years — and ask why the Yankees can’t do the same.

So much for the adage that the playoffs are a crapshoot. The Dodgers just keep winning the way the Yankees used to.

My suggestion is that you make Cashman and Boone a little less comfortable. It’s time to think and act more critically.

You said the Yankees were good enough to win the World Series, “but they’ve got to play up to their potential.”

That sounds like a slogan, not a demand for improvement.

But you need to do more, as well.

Start by making sure no one comes between you and outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger. I know what you’re going to say: You were ready to hand right fielder Juan Soto a $750 million check, and where did that get you?

Fair point. You did your part. But unlike Soto, who was using the Yankees as a calisthenics partner before free agency, Bellinger wants to stay. Give him a reason to tell agent Scott Boras to stop negotiating with anyone else.

I’m already hearing that the Yankees are determined to not get burned again. They feel Boras and Soto played them long enough to get more money out of Mets owner Steve Cohen. I strongly suspect Bellinger won’t change his mind at the 11th hour.

But you have to commit to the idea of being the highest bidder, even if it hurts — even if Bellinger is looking for six or even seven years.

What’s important is that he fits. He belongs in New York in every sense, on the field and in the clubhouse.

Then there’s Step 2, which is acquiring ace Tarik Skubal from the Tigers. I’m not the first person who has said the two-time Cy Young Award winner would be the rotation’s crown jewel. But he’d be worth whatever the Tigers asked for. The meter drops at shortstop prospect George Lombard Jr.

But before rounding up a truckload of prospects (in addition to pitcher Will Warren), you have to decide it’s time to extend beyond the usual comfort zone.

Ninety-plus wins is comfort. So are the YES ratings. So is leading the American League in attendance. So is another trip to the playoffs. It all makes for a healthy portfolio.

But it’s time to stop thinking like a businessman. Imagine a hungry junkyard dog looking for meat. Be that animal.

MORE YANKEES COVERAGE

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