HOUSTON (AP) – Convinced Yankees fans are ready to embrace a new generation of Baby Bombers, owner Hal Steinbrenner watched Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge hit home runs in their first major league at-bats last weekend
“I was emotional. It doesn’t happen often,” he said Wednesday. “I’m very excited about this.”
Progress shown by catcher Gary Sanchez, Judge and Austin persuaded Steinbrenner to approve the trade of Carlos Beltran to Texas and the decision to release Alex Rodriguez, who was owed $27 million more by the Yankees through 2017. Steinbrenner also green-lighted the trades of relievers Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller.
Those moves were strenuous, given he is a son of George Steinbrenner, the most aggressive pursuer of stars after the free-agent era began in 1976.
“It’s kind of been my DNA, right, to absolutely not trade anybody at the trade deadline. If anything we’re normally buyers, right?” Hal Steinbrenner said Wednesday at baseball’s quarterly owners’ meeting. “So I had to overcome a little bit of DNA issues I think in that regard.”