Big Stein speaks from Tampa
-
- May
- 25
I’m not sure how this happened, but an AP writer named Pat Milton got an interview with George Steinbrenner. Here are some highlights:
On Brian Cashman: “He’s on a big hook. He wanted sole authority. He got it. Now he’s got to deliver.”
On Roger Clemens: “I think Roger is capable of sparking the team. He is a veteran and will bring stability. I am happy he is coming back. I love him.”
On Joe Torre: “We are not considering a change.”
On Don Mattingly: “Mattingly is a good one. He is very thorough guy. He understands what it is to be a Yankee.”
On Andy Pettitte: “He’s a real gutsy guy. We are happy he is back with us.”
On Jason Giambi: “He should have kept his mouth shut. The matter is in the hands of the baseball commissioner.”
On the Yankees in general: “We just have to get out there and compete, compete hard, and win.”
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on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 2:22 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Sounds like the Boss still has some fire left in him. Nice to read.
Word, Old George is waking up
Cashman deserves to be on the hook. George is on the money.
That’s true regarding Cashman, but I think the Boss has failed to take into account that half this team is still crap that he himself put on there. If we had signed Vlad (like Cash wanted) instead of Sheff (like the Boss wanted), we’d be a million times better off right now and not dealing with the Abreu slump – for a small example.
surprised Guidry got left out…
None of that RJ crap either. No Giambi disctractions. Just saying…
The only ding on Cash is Pavano. That was truly a bad deal. Other than that, Cash is being put on the “big hook” for cleaning up a lot of the boss’s mess.
Damn…. On Joe Torre: “We are not considering a change.â€?
I was hopeful.
1. I agree Giambi should have stayed shut
2. No Don Mattingly is not a future manager especially for the Yankees, he will not last more than a month as a manager and shut up w/ the he understands what it is to be a Yankee and when he gets fired what will you say George ?
3. Give Cashman mid-season next year to get the youth movement going in the right direction, the next GM is going to sponge off of his prospects and minor leaguers like Hughes , Tabata, Horne, Joba, Humberto..etc.
4. On Torre he’s not the smartest manager in the league what’s w/ this smoke screen let him ride off after this season he is definitely not making $7 MILLLION DOLLARS of good decisions as a manager
5. Pettitte well duh George but you let him go !!!!
that is all.
sunny615:
I could not possibly AGREE with you more!
I was remembering that cash supposedly wanted vlad and then sheff went and negotiated directly w/ Stein to get a contract.
Well, in 2004, when sheff was either 2nd or 3rd in the MVP, i didn’t think this was so bad, but now, i look at vlad’s stats and how sheff has panned out for us and i’m sick to my stomach.
of course, hindsight and all that, but cash wanted vlad (the right choice then and now) and we got sheff.
I’m glad the Boss is trying to light a fire under the team, but i’m reluctant to blame cash for all this crap the team is suffering. he isn’t perfect, but remember EVERYONE wanted pavano when he was a FA and we got him. yes, we overpaid, but did anyone really think he’d make 19 starts over 4 years for us!?
Pat Milton?? That has to be the coup of the year for writers. Based on a Google search his most recent stories were on Dick grasso’s courtroom win (maybe grasso is a Rubenstein client) and he was a contributer on a story about questionairres being handed out at VA TECH about the recent events (maybe he was somehow involved in the donation the other night). He also has written a book about the TWA flight that crashed.HMMM. I wonder who fed him the questions as he doesnt seem to be a sports guy.
Actually Huuz, Do you know who Sheff finished second to in 2004? Vlad.
There was some editing done on the Giambi comment. The original quote was, “He should have kept his mouth shut. He’s out like Fredo.”
Re: Torre. Torre is not going anywhere. Get over it.
George “loves” Clemens—-> Clemens “loves” Torre—-> George “tolerates” Torre
sunny615:
I agree, but 2nd/3rd, no real difference. the evidence of the bad decision came later (2005, 2006…).
Do you really blame cash for pavano? everyone wanted him (boston, detroit…). yes we overpaid, but that is our advantage. us paying a player $10M/year is probably about the same as KC paying a guy $2M/year…
n’est pa?
“Actually Huuz, Do you know who Sheff finished second to in 2004? Vlad.”
that’s easy, anti-yankee voters!
(j/k)
The Emperor has no clothes.
His son in law, the heir apparent, is gone. The GM, who is trying to make the team younger and cheaper is “on the hook”.
Meanwhile, he is happy with his $7 million/year, 65 year old manager and is pleased to sign a 45 year old pitcher for $20 million.
There is a big vacum at the top of this organization.
Steinbrenner should take his own advice regarding Giambi and keep quiet.
I am confused why do people bother to post as “Joe Torre” or “the Rehaj of Rehab” and make useless posts???? Are they meant to be funny? Because I never see the humor.
Since we’re rehashing bad decisions what about this:
getting RJ.
now this almost certainly had to be a Boss edict. but IIRC, we hurt ourselves in the beltran sweepstakes by getting/paying for RJ.
now, I’ve never been an RJ hater, i remember in 2005 that he went 5-0 vs. boston (whom we only beat by 1 game to win the AL East!), so i don’t regret having RJ in that regard.
but look at what beltran has done. 2005 kinda sucked, but 2006 was amazing and he is still in his prime. I also like johnny D, but he’s been banged up a lot and this doesn’t help.
coulda/woulda/shoulda is mostly a waste of time, but these are two Boss-type deals that I think have really hurt the Yanks:
sheff over vlad
RJ over beltran
To saucy :
What does it have to do with Guidry?
He actually did a great job with the pitching stuff. They love him. And I know Wang loves him. I know the bullpen hasn’t performed, and the starting pitching is shaky. But then again, Cash is the guy who put things together, and Joe is the guy who makes decisions. As for Gator, I think he’s done a great job.
it should be said that joe torre was the one really pushing for vlad over sheff…they didn’t listen to him.
Cashman shouldn’t be on the hook. He has made better moves this past offseason than George has ever made. Sure, they haven’t worked out at all for Brian yet, but they might down the road.
And just think of it, if it was up to Cashman, we’d have Vlad in RF right now instead of a slumping Vlad. We’d still have CJ Henry and Smith too. Sure, they might not be great, but Henry still has some potential. Also, we would have done better if we had Vlad last season too because Vlad is better than both Cabrera/Bernie together.
So, George’s past moves have affected the Yankees this season, even though I don’t think the ignorant Yankee fans realize that.
Pitching coaches arent magicians. Its about what you have to work with
Example
Leo Mazzone.
Cashman makes brilliant moves, terrible moves, and everything in between. But he has certain strengths that are undeniable: he can quietly pull off a coup like no one else in baseball (ARod, Clemens, Abreu), and his bad deals cost the team money, but not players.
Cashman is also to blame for Farnsworth, Igawa, Mientkiewicz and the disastrously bad bench. But he makes up for a lot of that with other moves he makes, specifically trade deadline deals.
But the Pavano debacle trumps everything. Cashman let himself get swept up in the hype of Carl Pavano. He drove the LOOK WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR cart and completely ignored Pavano’s miserable career. If he had taken even a cursory look, he would have seen a man that had pitched 150 innings twice in an 8 year career. He would have seen that Pavano pitched to the league average twice in an eight year career. And he would have seen that he did both only once in an 8 year career. He would have realized that Carl Pavano was an injury prone pitcher that was no good when he did pitch. He would have avoided him like the plague and cackled at the fools that bought the hype.
Instead he bought the hype hook line and sinker and we got this.
*make that a seven year career. The point still stands.
Huzz:
True. My opinion is solely based on hindsight and at the time I too was in favor of the Pavano signing. If I recall, the other FA’s were Clement, Milton, Lieber, and other not so good pitchers. Pavano was the best of that bunch believe it or not.
But like with all things, that’s usually how we judge our decisions. Signing Clemens from Toronto – brilliant. Signing Pavano, not so good.
Huzz: (my posts keep getting deleted so I’m going to try something here)
True. My opinion is solely based on hindsight and at the time I too was in favor of the Pavano signing. If I recall, the other FA’s were Clement, Milton, Lieber, and other not so good pitchers. Pavano was the best of that bunch believe it or not.
But like with all things, that’s usually how we judge our decisions. Signing Clemens from Toronto… brilliant. Signing Pavano… not so good.
True Huzz. My opinion is solely based on hindsight and at the time I too was in favor of the Pavano signing. If I recall, the other FA’s were Clement, Milton, Lieber, and other not so good pitchers. Pavano was the best of that bunch believe it or not.
But like with all things, that’s usually how we judge our decisions. Signing Clemens from Toronto – brilliant. Signing Pavano, not so good.
Sometimes when you consider a change at or near the top, you have to ask who the replacement will be. Cashman makes mistakes (what GM hasn’t?). Is there a better prospective GM out there who will be available?
Or does George have another agenda. This may be his way of indicating he has no intention of turning over so much authority to one person in the future. Cashman’s successor might find himself back in the old system, fighting to fend off the Tampa brain trust. We may see a return to the old days when no one was clarly in charge, no one was responsible for bad decisions, and we never knew who to hold accountable.
Hi Peter, in the blogosphere it’s blogger etiquette to link to the article that you’re quoting from…Great blog by the way..
Matt, Mienkewitcz was a great move. He was brought in for defense and nothing else and he has done his job. He has done more than what was expected in that capacity.
He has also won us a game or two with his HR’s as in frequent as they are. His defense has also stopped runs from becoming a reality. He has saved errors on Cano, Jeter, and A-Rod.
Minky was a great move and cheap. Do you people not understand that baseball isn’t all about hitting. Get your mind out of HR after HR and realize that doesn’t win anything as we have long seen with the Yankees.
I seldom disagree with The Boss, but on Giambi I must: “He should have kept his mouth shut. The matter is in the hands of the baseball commissioner.
The commissioner has George Mitchell running around “begging people to talk.” Jason talks and they leak a story to the media and tell him to shut up. The Mitchell Report was written before he ever started his “investigation.” The Commissioner’s Office is a joke. It’s time for Bud Selig to go. He and his administration are a huge stain on the game.
Jay
May 25th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
To saucy :
What does it have to do with Guidry?
He actually did a great job with the pitching stuff. They love him. And I know Wang loves him. I know the bullpen hasn’t performed, and the starting pitching is shaky. But then again, Cash is the guy who put things together, and Joe is the guy who makes decisions. As for Gator, I think he’s done a great job.
—————————————————————————-
Since when has Guidry done a good job w/ the pitching staff ?
Wang was attributed to his AA pitching coach
Moose doesn’t need a pitching coach
Pettitte doesn’t
Hughes is not atrributed to him
nor Rivera
nor Clippard
nor Igawa he bombed teaching him anything
Guidry ain’t no Rick Peterson, Nardi Contreras, Dave Duncan or Mel Stottlemyer, stop overrating this staff Guidry has done a horrible job as the pitching coach. It amazes me we send down our pitchers and they are progressing at a faster rate than they do w/ Guidry.
I agree with Marius one hundred percent. As I’ve said before, as long as Mienkewitcz hits between .230 – .240 and keeps up his great defense, then the Yanks should be happy.
And Matt, everybody wanted Pavano, I don’t blame Cashman for getting Pavano. Hell, the Red Sox got Clement for 40 million/4 years and where is he?? As Jeremy said, Cashman can still make some moves. I appreciate the Small/Chacon move he made in 2005, those guys saved the season as far as I’m concerned.
Good for George, show them who’s the BOSS! I am disappointed with the Torre comment but I guess the thinking may be it’s his last year anyways that will be it. It’s just nice to hear from George other than a statement by one of his people.
According to Baseball Prospectus the top 10 FA RHP of 2004 were:
1. Pedro Martinez
2. Roger Clemens
3. Carl Pavano (2004 Statistics- 3.00 ERA, 222.3 IP, 212 Hits, 13 HR, 49 BB, 139 K, 62.4 VORP)
4. Brad Radke
5. Jaret Wright
6. Orlando Hernandez
7. Matt Morris
8. Kris Benson
9. Chris Carpenter
10. Matt Clement
The whole list includes: (in no particluar order)
Brad Radke, Matt Clement, Jaret Wright, Derek Lowe, Matt Morris, Kevin Millwood, Russ Ortiz, Kris Benson, Woody Williams, Cory Lidle, Paul Wilson, Paul Byrd, Eric Milton, Odalis Perez, Al Leiter, David Wells and Shawn Estes.
At the time Pavano was one of the best pitchers to get in that year. Hindsight – curse ye!!
I don’t believe in signing anyone strictly for defense, let alone first base of all positions. The man still has to bat. And Doug is bad at that for any major leaguer, let alone a first baseman.
If all you want is defense, you might as well just throw a net up at first. No need to even pretend anymore.
Doug is a first baseman that doesn’t hit for average, get on base or hit for power. That’s a bench player that has somehow is the starting first baseman for a team that hopes to contend.
Even I have to admit (as of today) that list is pretty under-inspiring. But back in 2004, both the sox and yanks went all out to woo him. Carl-palooza anyone?
i love it . ol’ george tellin’ it like it should be told . most gm’s would have twice the team cashman has with 210 million dollar payroll . and thats a fact . sunny 615 is a bit of an optimist if “he” thinks pavano was cashman’s only bum deal . the list of bad deals for cashman is staggering . fire the bum .
Its a joke people are on Cashman about Pavano.
EVERYBODY wanted Carl Pavano that off-season. Boston, Detroit AND Seattle, all offered more money to land him and all of those teams were upset when they didn’t get him.
Its 100% hindsight for people to now say, “that was a bad deal”.
If Brian Cashman had the same hindsight folks criticizing him for that deal now have, ‘ya think he would still sign him?
If you want to complain about the makeup of the bench this year, that’s on Cashman.
If you want to complain about wasting 46 million bucks on Kei Igawa, that’s on Cashman.
But, complaining about Carl Pavano? That’s not on Cashman. It was just a deal that didn’t work out.
There isn’t a GM in baseball who doesn’t have one of those, or more, on his resume. Ask Billy Beane re: the Tim Hudson and Jeremy Bonderman deals.
For you “Moneyball” fans…. Do you remember the prospect who was featured in the book, Jeremy Brown? He was the catcher from Alabama that Beane’s scouts hated but Beane loved and he mocked his own scouts for ignoring his personal evaluation of him, based on sabermetrics and not on the “old school” way of looking at players.
Well, he was DFA’ed by Oakland on Wednesday.
No GM bats hits HR’s all the time.
You can’t blame Cashman for this team. The major players on the Yankees were moves made by George and his brain trust down in Tampa.
Wright, Brown, Lofton, Womack, Randy.. Those were all George moves..
Look at our minor leagues. We have one of the best out there, especially pitcher wise. Those kids were drafted by Cashman. Give them time to devlop and you’ll be thanking Cashman for building a great team.
Doug Mientkiewicz, #11-1B
in 104 ABS
.231 AVG, 4HR
13 RBI
17 RUNS
vs
Jason Giambi, #25-DH
in 131 ABS
.260 AVG 6HR
19 RBI
17 RUNS
so when do we stop ignoring the elephant in the room ?
I don’t agree with that Matt, saving runs in a game is just as important as producing runs. It puts less stress on a starter as well as the pen by shortening innings and keeping pitch counts low and less wear on the rest of the position players as they don’t have to sit out on the field/sun/cold for longer stretches. I think you’re underappreciating the value of getting out of an inning over scoring runs.
“I’m not sure how this happened, but an AP writer named Pat Milton got an interview with George Steinbrenner.”
and who are you pete? Dick Schaap
Pete:
“I’m not sure how this happened, but an AP writer named Pat Milton got an interview with George Steinbrenner.”
But I bet you and Kepner and Feinsand will make it your business to find out ; ) Some interesting Google hits:
1. BOSS: YANKS AND I BOTH FEELING FINE
By PAT MILTON, AP
New York Post
September 22, 2006
2. BASEBALL 2007: Unseen Boss: Steinbrenner’s grip on pinstripes loosens
Posted 55d ago
By Ronald Blum, AP Baseball Writer
AP Sports Writer Larry Lage, Associated Press writer Pat Milton and AP freelance writer Mark Didtler contributed to this report.
3. Yankees pitcher pronounced dead after NYC plane crash
By Colleen Long, The Associated Press
Posted: 10/12/06
Daily Illini.com
Associated Press writers Pat Milton, Robert Tanner and Adam Goldman in New York; Robert Weller in Denver; Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles; Leslie Miller and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington; and AP sports writers Ronald Blum and Mike Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.
I also keep finding him in terrorism related stories.
Minky isn’t the problem with this team.
There are several problems with this team. One is, its old and you don’t “get young” in one off-season.
From 2001-2005 the Yankees didn’t run a baseball organization. They just spent money like a drunken sailor on leave. No logic, no sense and they didn’t even spend the money well. That’s all on George and his Tampa group. Not on Cashman.
Brian Cashman had Vlad Guerrero set to sign. George wanted Sheffield. Bad move, long term and short term.
Jared Wright? Billy Connors, a George henchman, who pushed that move.
Tony Womack? Another George move.
The Randy Johnson trade? Bad move.
Letting Andy Pettitte go? Bad move.
Those were all on George.
From 2001-2005, the Yankees didn’t draft or scout well at the high school, college or latin american levels and it shows with the gaps in talent in the minors right now.
The last two years, that’s all changed. But, it takes time to make up for 4 lost years.
Has Cashman made mistakes? Yes he has. However, he has more hits than misses.
What may happen here is that he will lose his job and in 2009, when the top prospects in the organization will be ready to contribute, we will look back and say he did a helluva job righting a wayward ship.
Pete:
BASEBALL 2007: Unseen Boss: Steinbrenner’s grip on pinstripes loosens – - was in USA Today, 55 days ago according to the website.
Agreed we should have had Beltran and Vlad – Cash did wnat Vlad – now he needs to retool the farm system to get more position players like Tabata – give Cash time – he makes mistakes but Theo traded Hanley Ramirez and Cla Meredith so everyone makes mistakes. at times.
God help us all if George overreacts and fires Cash after one bad year. I can’t believe he can’t see that all of this is his doing. If Cash goes, so may the farm, and if the farm goes, so does this teams future.
excuse me – a lot of this – not all.
So, Clemens is definitely starting AAA on Monday then.
Firing Cashman would be a knee-jerk reaction this season.
This season and for seasons to come we’re going to have excellent young players coming through our farm system. And we’ll end up praising whoever the new GM might be for something that Cashman had done.
He is and has been fully in charge of the draft. And hes built a very good farm system that will and already has helped this team.
Also, with Teixara on the Trading Block now, the Yankees need to go after him.
...”Baseball executives are predicting that Mark Teixeira could be made available in trade talks this summer, according to SI.com’s Jon Heyman.
Baltimore is the team that seemingly everyone wants to send Teixeira to, but if Teixeira really wants to go home to Maryland, the Orioles should just wait until he’s a free agent after 2008 rather than give up huge pieces of their future for one of the game’s most overrated hitters. Scott Boras’ presence would make it tough to get an extension done, and if the Orioles were forced to give up Erik Bedard or Nick Markakis for him, they’d still be major long shots to contend in 2008 anyway. Teixeira would make more sense for a current contender, such as the Tigers or Yankees. Unfortunately, the Braves probably don’t have the money to bring in the former Georgia Tech star. The Red Sox also get mentioned here, but he’s not enough of an upgrade from Kevin Youkilis to make him worth parting with Youkilis and Jon Lester to acquire.”
Cashman has been trying to clean out the Yankee refrigerator for two years and there are still moldy leftovers like Giambi in there.
Let’s try to remember that it took Gene Michael about 5 years to turn the team around after the Boss’ suspension. Consider this the equivalent scenario. If we use Gene Michael’s reign as a yardstick, Cash has three years to go to fix this situation. If we stay highly competitive during that time it’s because of Gene Michael’s legacy including Mo, Po, Jeter and Pettitte.
Once that youth corps of pitchers starts kicking in, Cashman will be acknowledged as the next Stick Michael only perhaps with a bit more credit than Stick ever gets.
Stein On Clemens:
Steinbrenner felt the Rocket needed at least one more minor league start to sharpen his stuff, and Clemens likely will pitch in a Triple-A game next week. That could put the seven-time Cy Young Award winner on track to return to the majors in Fenway Park next weekend against his old original team.
Pretty much confirms it.
murphydog-
Nice post, and you’re right. Cash is a smart guy when it comes to youth.
He took a farm system ranked 24th and brought it well into the top 10 on almost every ‘minor league experts’ website.
Now its just a matter of time before these kids come up and preform. We’re already seeing some of them.
This team is moving quickly in the right direction.
We kicked around the Teixeira thing here the other day.
We don’t really have the pieces to get him in a trade unless you want to give up some of our best pitching prospects. I wouldn’t do that to get Mark Tex this year. He’s a free agent after 2008. So if you get Mark Tex this year, it’s a season and a half rental and then you have to either let him go (then why did we give away future pitching) or extend him at some ridiculously high price for too many years. Let him test the market after 2008. He’s a good, but not great, young first baseman.
I’d love to platoon Teixeira and Mientkiewicz, not because it would be feasible or make any sense, but because it would be the most misspelled platoon tandem in baseball history.
sunny:
your list of 2004 FAs reminded me that the Kris Bensen signing by the mets really set the market off, and after that the cost of starting pitching went crazy (kinda like last off-season). didn’t pavano sign after bensen??
bensen got:
3 years/$22.5M
also, SP, FWIW, clement got 3 years/$25.5M, NOT 4/$40M
Comparing billy beane to cashman makes no sense. According to the same book, “Moneyball” Beane is forced to go after these guys because he can’t afford superstars. Beane usually makes it work (except in the cases of Brown) but to sight the Bonderman and Hudson deals make no sense, that is Oakland ownership, not Beane that forced those deals because they were too expensive. If Beane had Cashman’s money, it might be downright scary.
Then again, it might also weaken his negotiation tactics. The scouting is certainly no comparison between oakland and NY, but you are right, every GM makes mistakes.
Cash has helped the Yankee farm system produce the best collection of pitching talent in baseball. It isn’t even funny how many good pitchers the Yanks have on the farm. Betances in est, Kennedy and Chamberlain in Tampa, Marquez, Horne and Smith in Trenton, and Clippard and Hughes. Thats not even including the guys who are injured this year: Melancon, Sanchez, Garcia and Cox. The Yanks are absolutely loaded with young pitchers.
God, imagine this team with Vlad and Beltran instead of Damon and Sheff/Abreu.
We’d have like 5 cleanup hitters. Beltran might even have led off. I want a time machine. I’m sure Cashman does too.
Andrew:
I would have preferred Vlad, even though Vlad’s got a tricky back. Sheff went over Cash’s head directly to Big Stein.
As for Beltran, there was significant concern that Beltran could not handle the Bronx Zoo. He’s from a very small town in Puerto Rico, Manati, and while he may be the nicest guy in the world, he’s not the most thick-skinned player I’ve ever seen. Recall his recent frosty if not downright antagonistic behavior toward the home crowd in Flushing last year? If Beltran tried that in the Bronx, he’d have been reduced to a quivering puddle by now. Look what the Stadium helped do to A-Rod last year. Flushing is New York, but nothing matches the pressure of the Big Park in the Bronx under Steinbrenner.
Since the Sopranos is winding down and Joe will likely retire after this season, here is my wish list for staff changes in Yankeeland.
Pitching Coach: Christopher Moltisanti
(inside the trainer’s room, Yankee Stadium)
Carl Pavano: Sorry, Chris, I’ve got nothing left…Maybe next year…Doc says I need Tommy John surgery…
’
Moltisanti: Ho!!! You believe this friggin’ guy, Gene-o? What did you say? You need Johnny Tom surgery?
Carl Pavano: No, that’s Tommy J-...
Moltisanti: Shut the
<img src="#$%" alt="" /> up!!! I'll tell you where you need surgery! On your#$%#! toes!!! (takes out gun and shoots Pavano in the foot)Carl Pavano: AHHHH!!! YOU SHOT ME IN THE FOOT!!! YOU #$%#@$$!! YOU SHOT ME!!!!
Moltisanti: Happens sometimes…(leaves trainer’s room)
Bench Coach: Paulie Walnuts
(Derek Jeter walks by Paulie and rubs his head for good luck before a game)
Paulie: Hey!!! What the $#%@!!
Derek: Hey, man, I used to do it for good luck with Zim… big deal…
Paulie: Well,
#$</p>
<p>Kyle Farnsworth: (drops ball, picks it up and hands it to Dante) Here skip—<br />
Silvio Dante: What the <code>#$%</code>! you doing?</p>
<p>Kyle: I was just handing you the ball-</p>
<p>Silvio Dante: Why? Why now? Leave it there.</p>
<p>Kyle: I don’t know. I was just… </p>
<p>Silvio Dante: Leave the <code>#$%#! ball there, all right? I love </code>$$%#! ball at my feet! I stick <code>#$%! cowhide in my socks at night, so they smell like your sister in the morning. Alright? Now leave the $%^&#</code>! ball where it is! </p>
<p>GM: Tony Soprano</p>
<p>Pat Gillick, GM, Phillies: With all due respect, Tony, we are not trading Ryan Howard straight up for Kyle Farnsworth.</p>
<p>Tony Soprano: OK… with all due respect, Pat…I suggest you take this @#$!% deal…we’ll give you Farnsworth…and, as an act of good faith, 25% of a truck I’ve got coming north loaded with Makita drills. And in the bonus of the friggin’ year, you don’t walk out of this meeting with a limp.</p>
<p>Owner: Corrado Erico ‘Uncle Junior’ Soprano</p>
<p>(press conference)</p>
<p>Mike Lupica: Corrado, my first question is, how can you justify your GM’s current tactics of sending his favorite “advance scout” Furio to “speak” with players of the opposing teams? It seems that after those meetings a rash of injuries sprout up, the likes of which we’ve not seen since Marty Miller was stretching your team last year.</p>
<p>Corrado Erico ‘Uncle Junior’ Soprano: Hey Mike. I saw your girl at pet therapy the other day. (a pause as the other reporters look confused) How’s she keep her coat so shiny?</p>
<p>(laughter erupts from the crowd, Lupica leaves blushing)</p>
<p>Corrado Erico ‘Uncle Junior’ Soprano: Yeah, leave you bum. (to the crowd) He never had what it took to be a varsity athlete.</p>
<p>Owner:</p>
</li>
<li class=)
hmmm
May 25th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
i am happy i am reading a lot of sense in this thread, mainly from SJ44. has Cashman made a few mistakes? sure. but there is not a single GM out there without a big mistake on his resume. none. you simply can’t be right 100% of the time when it comes to dealing with human beings.
all you can do is try to instill a vision and a philosophy and follow it through. and that’s what cashman has been doing for the last 2 years: he has been guarding his farm system like a miser.
that’s his mission statement. build up a strong system and fill needs from within either through promoting players or trading from your strengths. mix in a few key FA signings.
even though the team has struggled out of the gate, the future looks SO MUCH brighten now than it did when Cashman took over. this point is not even debatable. it has taken ENORMOUS patience and discipline to get to the system to where it is now.
Cashman realized that you just can’t fill all of your holes through free agency anymore. teams just aren’t going to let their elite talent get away as often anymore.
throwing this vision away after a mediocre 45 games would be shortsighted and probably disastrous.
Pete:
Part of Steinbrenner’s statement to Milton involved the check he wrote to Va. Tech. Pat Milton was a contributor on the AP coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. Coincidence?
I’m not sure how someone could look at Pavano’s career after 2004 and not say “HMMMM. This last year is nothing like anything he’s ever done in his career! Perhaps this last year was an anomaly! Avoid like the plague!”
That’s not hindsight two years later. Thats looking at the man’s career from the time he was a free agent.
Cashman got swept up in the hype and completely ignored Pavano’s numbers. A lot of people did. And that’s a black mark on them all. They were all fooled by a hype tour.
About Cashman getting caught up in the Pavano free agency: He’s proved this past off-season that he learned from that mistake. He did not sign ANY of the mediocre pitchers on the market this winter, even though I’m sure it was tempting. All of the available pitchers wanted money and time commitments that were not compatible with what Cashman is trying to do for the Yankees going forward. So, on that account, I give Cashman credit for at least not repeating a mistake.
Cashman is absolutely on the right track regarding building up the system and drawing from within whenever possible. Because of revenue sharing, other teams are in a position to keep their own young talent in many cases. You cannot count on players hitting the market anymore. This method saves money that the Yankees WILL use on those players that they think are worth spending on. Instead of being indiscriminate players in the free agent market, the Yankees will become, with Cashman’s vision, connoisseurs, so to speak. That’s a very, very good thing.
It will take time, a couple of years at least, to see the results of this change in philosophy, but I think it will be worth it. You don’t see it so much with Scranton, AAA, but Trenton, AA, seems to be in very good shape.
I think as long as the Yankees rebound enough to stay in contention this year, Cashman’s job will be safe. But I agree with the above post—who gets the job if Cashman is let go? And I do believe if Cashman leaves it will be someone who is is pliable and things will go back to the way they were. Cashman is preaching patience to an impatient owner, but Cashman has been around Steinbrenner for a long time, and in spite of the quote, I think Steinbrenner believes in Cashman. Of course Cashman is on the hook—but it is a big hook, not a little hook, so I assume he’s got some leeway.
murphydog—
Good pick up regarding Milton’s coverage of the Va Tech tragedy giving him an opportunity to get a “scoop” from George.
I believe the last “surprise” interview given by George was also to an AP reporter. People like Jack Curry, Murray Chass and probably others came to believe a Pavlovian principle should be in effect to benefit them. ie, If they placed a precious phone call, George should automatically answer. They can’t use the excuse he didn’t talk to them because he’s a recluse. He didn’t talk to them because he chose, wisely, to speak to someone else.
SJ is right about Pavano. Everyone wanted him, and he turned down more $ to come here.
The move I miss is Beltran, but I don’t believe that was Cashman’s fault. I would’ve preferred Wilson over Doug M, mostly because he’s a righty, but I don’t know if he wanted back.
Without the Tampa influence, it’s possible that we look like this:
Beltran
Jeter
ARod
Vlad
Giambi
Matsui
Posada
Cano
1b.
Sick.
we will take it one day at a time and…..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Might be Roger Clemens at 28 million for 4 months, considering he could not go past 5 innings last night, giving up 3 runs, 6 hits, walking 4 and 102 pitches against a AA team…28 million lolol
Has anyone else’s typeface changed in the comments section?
Agree with the comments by most regarding Cashman. He now has established a business plan for the New York Yankees which doesn’t make them rely on overpaying for free agents with cash and long term deals that turn into albatrosses
(Are you reading Jason??)
One deal that does puzzle me, however, was the “panic move” Cashman made at the 2004 trading deadline, dealing Contreras for Esteban Loiaza, The Chicago braintrust changed Contreras’ arm slot and he became a dependable starter. Loiaza, who had thrown a career high 226 IPs, was epxeriencing arm weakness in 2004. I could not understand why he wasn’t resigned for a reasonable deal.
The Yankees got nothing from this deal!
Doreen, he signed Kei Igawa.
Joe, I assume Loaiza wasn’t resigned because he’s no good.
See, Big Stein has to blame someone for the current struggles and he picked Cashman. What was he supposed to say, he is happy and every one is doing a good job?
Barring further poor play by the team, Cashman will be safe. There will be some mid-season acquisitions. I will not be surprized if Cashman gets a very good first baseman. Another possibility is to send Giami to Angels if they are really interested and through a couple of trades get a good righty bat.
Pitching will work out itself. We have the pieces in place.
It would be far too much to even consider that the players might be to blame for the Yankees’ poor start. Instead, blame the manager… no, wait, the general manager! Who’s next, the bat boy?
Here’s my response to George: I agree with you and here’s what I’d do to get this team back on track.
1. Fire Cashman and bring back Bernie Williams ASAP. By alienating Bernie, Cashman took the heart and soul out of this team. Just the sight of Bernie back in uniform in the clubhouse and on the bench will work wonders for everyone. (Plus he is 7 years younger than Clemens, will work every day without a ‘family plan’ and won’t break the bank.)Trust me this is a no-brainer – you don’t need another Yogi type absence from Bernie.
2. Find some way to remove Jason Giambi from this team now. Because of the steroids and amphetimines he took, he has become the face and the voice of the Yankees and that is very bad for the fabled Yankeee image. Do you really want him on the ‘front pages’ every day?? Put him on the DL and then get your attorneys working on voiding that contract. Jason did drugs – if anyone on your staff did them, they would be out of a job in minutes!!!
3. Be more visible – it’s your team George!!