20 Most Important Yankees

The guys over at River Ave Blues are constantly pumping out great content so it they got my attention with their 20 most important Yankee lists. That’s right, they don’t just have one, but two.

Take a look at how Joseph P and Mike A’s lists look.

Mike A’s:

1. Brian Cashman 2. Hal Steinbrenner 3. Alex Rodriguez 4. CC Sabathia 5. Joba Chamberlain 6. Damon Oppenheimer/Mark Newman 7. Jorge Posada 8. Derek Jeter 9. Mariano Rivera 10. Mark Teixeira 11. Joe Girardi 12. Robinson Cano 13. Chien-Ming Wang 14. Phil Hughes 15. Austin Jackson 16. Jesus Montero/Austin Romine 17. AJ Burnett 18. Kevin Long/Dave Eiland 19. Randy Levine 20. Andrew Brackman

Not a bad list. It’s a good mix of front office guys, veterans, and prospects. However there is one gaping hole, Nardi Contreras. Nardi is the Yankees minor league pitching coordinator and a guy who carries a lot of weight in the organization. Leaving him out might have just been an oversight, but it was corrected on Joe P’s list that came out today.

Joseph P’s:

1. Brian Cashman 2. Hal Steinbrenner 3. CC Sabathia 4. Alex Rodriguez 5. Mark Teixeira 6. Derek Jeter 7. Jorge Posada 8. Joba Chamberlain 9. AJ Burnett 10. Damon Oppenheimer/Mark Newman 11. Austin Jackson 12. Nick Swisher 13. Robinson Cano 14. Phil Hughes 15. Nardi Contreras 16. Dave Eiland 17. Mariano Rivera 18. Jesus Montero 19. Mark Melancon 20. Andrew Brackman

Notice the common trend of leaving Hank Steinbrenner off the list. Hank went from making big headlines on an almost daily basis in 2008 to relative obscurity in 2009. He wasn’t on the field during stadium closing ceremonies last season and wasn’t at press conferences to announce the new signings this offseason.

It’s also interesting how both guys placed Andrew Brackman at No. 20. At first I thought this was odd, but then after thinking about it for a little while I came to realize that he can be a pretty important piece. If things work out for this kid and he’s as good as people think he can be he certainly has the potential to make an impact in the Bronx. I suppose that makes him pretty important.

Also important to note on Joe’s list, Mariano Rivera seems pretty low. While the value of a closer has been debated in baseball circles, Mariano’s supremacy and consistency to me make him stand out as more valuable. He’s also a Yankee icon and part of the reason they were able to build such a huge stadium.

Without him those dynasty teams could not have been as consistent and without that dynasty the Yankees brand would not be so highly valued. If not for the value of the organization, thought to be worth over $1.3 billion, the Yankees probably couldn’t have built the new stadium.

I’m not saying that he did it alone, but I think that he and Derek Jeter should maybe ranked together and should both be in the top 10.

Really I could keep commenting on each player on these lists so I’m going to cut it short in the hopes that we can get a decent discussion going. So what parts of these lists do you like or take issue with? Let’s discuss it.

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