Having been a Yankee fan all my life, it truly hurts to be writing this. I have been brought up by a man who bleeds pinstripes. It is truly amazing to see what has happened to this playoff team in the last few months.

This Yankee team made the playoffs for the first time since 1981, and now their owner is attempting to dismantle the team. How can anyone be so idiotic. George Steinbrenner had one of the greatest teams as far as potential is concerned. He has (correction, had) some of the greatest position players ever to play the game. And now they are gone.

Jack McDowell, Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs. These guys are just a couple in the long list of great players who look like they are leaving the Bronx this year. Of course you can't forget A.L. Manager of the Year from two years ago, Buck Showalter who will now be bossing around the expansion Diamondbacks. Well, the ONLY person I guess who could forget him, was, of course, his boss.

It will really hurt me to see this team go from first to worst in the course of a year. You might call next season a rebuilding season. Of course I don't know too many teams who rebuild after a run at the World Series. The Yankees have truly been mishandled. Look at the American League Champion Cleveland Indians and who they have returning for them. Albert Belle, Jose Mesa, and a couple of others who could have been free agents, except that Indian management knows what they are doing. They all had one-year options on their contracts, which the Indians decided to pick up. This gives them a whole year to figure out some sort of long term deal. While the Yankees are fighting to break out a deal and sign people before spring training. It is amazing to realize that one person can screw up a whole team in a matter of weeks. Of course look at what George has done over the course of years. He has gone through over a dozen managers and one of them three times. Can this guy ever actually see what talent he has. He let go of the greatest manager there is out there.

And then he signed Joe Torre! Come on now George, look at what you are doing. And to top it all off, there is talk of Don Mattingly retiring from baseball.

Thanks a lot, George. Thanks for driving out at least two guys who deserve the title "The Pride of the Yankees." l