What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Uh-oh – there’s trouble in Yankee paradise.

No, I’m not talking about the Jeter/A-Rod nonsense. There are other Vortices of Armageddon going down in Tampa – Bernie Williams won’t accept a minor-league deal, Mariano Rivera says he’ll become a free agent this winter, Jorge Posada and Joe Torre in the last years of their contracts…

And because we’re talking about the Yankees, the punditocracy really, really cares about the story, and is doing its best to make sure the rest of us really, really care, too. Fox’s Ken Rosenthal offers this typically lame explanation as to why we should care:

Such uncertainty is not atypical for teams in the free-agent era, but the emotions are more intense for the Yankees, considering the importance of Rivera, Posada and Torre to the team's late 1990s renaissance.

I’m sure Yankee Fans love those guys for their contribution to the team’s success in the 1990’s. But if Yankee Fans are smart, they’ll offer their sincerest thanks for the memories and wish them well in their future endeavors.

Just as there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no room for sentiment, either. What the players did ten years ago is great and should be applauded – but should have no bearing on the team’s decisions today. Sentiment is great for us fans, but in the front office the attitude should be “What have you done for me lately?”