New York Yankees: Hal Steinbrenner Needs to Stop Playing GM

Rafael Soriano never should have been a New York Yankee.

If Brian Cashman had his way, he never would have been—not because Soriano was a bad pitcher, but because he saw no reason to pay closer money to a setup man, even if that setup man was a former closer.

Yet, Hal Steinbrenner decided that he wanted Soriano and had his lackey—Yankees team president Randy Levine—negotiate a three-year, $35 million contract to bring Soriano to the Bronx.

Soriano imploded early, spent time on the disabled list and finished the year with a 4.12 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, both well above his career averages of 2.73 and 1.00 prior to joining the Yankees, respectively.

Fast forward to the 2011 non-waiver trade deadline, where the Yankees were searching for an inexpensive addition to their starting rotation for the stretch run.

One name that constantly came up was Wandy Rodriguez of the Houston Astros, a mediocre left-handed pitcher who the team would be stuck with for at least two years at the cost of $23 million. Cashman was interested, but not to the extent that trade talks got very far.

Enter Hal Steinbrenner again, who went around Cashman and entered into trade negotiations with Houston himself.

Now, Hal, believing (correctly) that the starting rotation could use another arm, decided that Cashman was not doing his job and sat down with Scott Boras to discuss signing one of his clients, Edwin Jackson.

Like Rodriguez, Jackson is a mediocre pitcher who will bring multiple years and significant cost with him at a time when the Yankees are trying to reduce payroll by the time they reach 2014.

Hal's father, George, spent nearly 20 years meddling in the baseball side of his team, demanding that they move prospects for veterans past their prime—Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps being one of the worst—and sign free agents such as Danny Tartabull, players that simply were not very good to begin with.

It wasn't until George's suspension from baseball and time away from the team that Gene Michael and company were able to make sound baseball decisions and build up what was a decimated and downright embarrassing farm system—moves that led to the most recent Yankees dynasty.

Sure, George did continue to involve himself in player personnel issues on occasion—such as negotiating a contract with Gary Sheffield directly—but for the most part, he let his baseball people handle the baseball decisions.

Hal Steinbrenner owns the team, so, yes, he can sign or trade anyone just because he feels like it. But just because he can does not mean that he should.

There is a pattern developing here, and it is an ominous sign.

Hal needs to learn the lesson that it took his father decades to learn—there is a reason you have a front office and a multi-million dollar general manager in place.

Think about this. Had Hal stayed out of the way, had the Yankees not committed $35 million to Soriano—that money could have been used to sign Hiroki Kuroda and Roy Oswalt to one-year deals this year.

I don't think anyone would argue the point that those two pitchers would help the Yankees far more than Rafael Soriano has and will.

So, hands off, Hal. If Cashman has not come to you for approval on a contract for Edwin Jackson, there's a good reason why.

Cashman knows more about baseball than you do, and he knows that Jackson simply isn't worth it.