N.Y. Sun: Marchman: Three Offseason Questions for Yankees

The Trial Balloon Farm Team: A Question of Temperament.

1. Is Steinbrenner going to make out the lineup card?

...Like any bureaucracy, a baseball team needs unity of command. The general manager and the manager have to have autonomy over certain decisions. When a meddlesome owner becomes convinced that despite his lack of any professional background in baseball operations he is qualified to make personnel decisions and negotiate trades, you end up with the Baltimore Orioles.

Steinbrenner’s opinion on whether or not Chamberlain should start is really no more relevant than yours or mine, and in practice it should, and likely will be, treated as such. Just by expressing it, though, Steinbrenner degrades the authority of general manager Brian Cashman, as he did when he allowed Cashman to state, completely unequivocally, that the Yankees would not resign Rodriguez if he opted out of his contract. These are rookie mistakes, and Steinbrenner will probably stop making them, but he could do structural damage to an exceptionally successful front office before he’s through.