TAMPA – His face was glowing, but George Steinbrenner admitted to being tired. On top of the exhausting Alex Rodriguez trade extracting a large toll, The Boss pointed to other factors.
“I am very tired,” the 73-year-old Boss said yesterday in the parking lot of the Yankees’ minor-league complex. “It’s been a tough time, with [VP] Billy [Connors] going down [with a heart attack] and me having that little thing [a fainting spell in December]. It’s been tough.”
However, The Boss yesterday was buoyed by officially welcoming A-Rod as the Yankees’ third baseman, even saying the acquisition could serve as a launching pad for a new Yankee Stadium being built in The Bronx.
“This will help,” Steinbrenner said of getting A-Rod. “New York will get some juice. Maybe it will happen.”
Steinbrenner, who hasn’t talked publicly since last spring training, held court twice yesterday – on the way in and out of the complex. And was stoked both times.
“This was a tough deal and it took some time,” The Boss said. “It should give us a little boost.”
Adding A-Rod to the lineup better give the Yankees a big boost or Steinbrenner is going to be heard from loud and often.
With the experts handing the AL East to the Yankees in the wake of the A-Rod acquisition, Steinbrenner was asked if his club was favored to win its seventh straight division title.
“We are one of the favorites,” Steinbrenner said. “Don’t overlook our pitching. That fellow [Kevin] Brown is good and [Javier] Vazquez is something. We should have a good pitching staff. The Red Sox are a good team and they improved. It’s going to be a tough [race]. The whole AL East is up – Toronto and Baltimore are better.”
Considering he is paying A-Rod $112 million, Steinbrenner was asked if he considered his third baseman a partner.
“They are all partners now,” Steinbrenner said of his high-priced stable of talent that also includes Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mariano Rivera and Gary Sheffield.
Steinbrenner was quick to give credit to the entire organization, and said the dysfunctional branches of his baseball family are on the same page, which hasn’t always been the case.
“They are getting along better than ever,” The Boss said of Tampa and The Bronx. “There is a positive feeling throughout the whole organization.”
