Hank Steinbrenner may be new to the baseball business, but the eldest son of George Steinbrenner knows one thing: If you don't want to be a Yankee, the Yankees don't want you.
That was Steinbrenner's message to Alex Rodriguez last night after he learned that the third baseman had opted out of the final three years of his contract, electing to become a free agent before the Yankees even had a chance to offer him an extension.
"It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee," Hank Steinbrenner told the Daily News last night. "He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field.
"I don't want anybody on my team that doesn't want to be a Yankee."
We're not going to back down," Steinbrenner said. "It's goodbye."
Steinbrenner said last night that both he and his brother, Hal, personally placed phone calls to Rodriguez expressing their desire to keep him in pinstripes, but neither call was returned by the third baseman.
I was hard on Hank and Hal after they handled Torre's dismissal so horribly, but I have to say, Hank is growing on me.
