New York Yankees: Where Would the Bombers Be Without Hal Steinbrenner?

No Mariano Rivera, David Robertson or Joba Chamberlain for the New York Yankees would normally doom the back-end of their bullpen. But thanks to Hal Steinbrenner, the Yanks aren't as bad off as they could've been.

That's because Steinbrenner was the one who pushed to sign Rafael Soriano going into last season, a move that was against the will of his general manager, Brian Cashman (via NYDailyNews.com).

Cash believed the deal was far too rich for a setup man, and while he was correct, Hal might've had a vision of one day replacing Rivera, which almost happened sooner rather than later.

I agreed with Cashman then, and I still do now.

But can you imagine if Hal didn't make this deal? Where would the Yanks be now?

Hindsight is always 20/20, and that phrase certainly applies to this instance, but without such a move to bring Sori to the Bronx, the Bombers would be looking at a bullpen of Corey Wade, Boone Logan and Freddy Garcia, amongst others.

In fact, the Yanks would be looking at a definite trade scenario had Hal not stepped in some making this deal.

This isn't giving credit where credit is due, because quite frankly, there isn't much credit to give. Let's just say Hal got lucky enough to have made the right move when it's looked back on in the future as a result of extreme circumstances.

I'd say that's more than fair.