Today in The Journal News
-
- May
- 20
Alex Rodriguez returns tonight and do the Yankees ever need him.
Sam Borden believes that it’s Brian Cashman who should be on the hot seat for how the team has played. Cashman agrees, too.
Orioles-Yankees tonight. Mike Mussina against Daniel Cabrera.
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on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 2:38 am by Peter Abraham.
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Shame! Among current MLB statistics, the only record Yankees have is payroll number.
Brian can’t hit for them, pitch for them, field for them.
They’re missing 2 huge pieces. Alex’s bat is irreplacable (can’t believe I wrote that) and we’ve all grossly undervalued Jorge’s importance to this team as a backstop and a leader on this team.
If they come back and there’s still a malaise, then something needs to be done to kick their rears into gear. First of all jettison Giambi and get a real 1B. We tried to give it a go, considering the sunken costs. The overabundant offense to mask the defense (and unfortunately the production) at 1B is non-existent.
The pitching is in stable condition. Decent production out of your top 4 slots. Bullpen is surprisingly good with some options available.
Yes, Cashman is on the hot seat, but if each player was even 20% better, there’d be at least an 8 game swing in the record right now.
So I suppose Shapiro and Dombroski should be on the hot seat, too, for their teams grossly underperforming up to this point?
If anything, I’m beginning to think they miss Mr. T. But they need to get over that, he aint coming back except for fundraising. Snap out of it boys, start playing with the pride of the Pinstripes.
anyone see lester last night, he was hitting 93-95 in the 9th, very impressive, and a great story of course given what he went through
but while i know speed isnt everything, phil hughes was rarely hitting 93 in the first this year, lester after 125 pitches hit it
i hope cashman knows what he is doing
personally, i cant imagine why anybody is blaming anybody except cashman for this mess. he is the g.m. and he’s responsible. blaming girardi is a joke, he just got here and had nothing to do with building this old, slow team.
I would think that Lester hitting that in the 9th is a function of adrenaline at that point of the no-hitter.
Phil not hitting 93 lately is a function of pitching through an injury that he didn’t know he had. Phil looked great in the fall and Spring Training. He didn’t forget how to pitch. If anything the staff may have tried to change how he pitches. He needs to get healthy and pitch the way he used to, with a deceptive fastball in the low 90’s. Moose knows Phil’s the real deal. Posada’s caught some of the best, and has said that Phil’s the real deal.
As for you know what, that ship has sailed according to Hank. It’s a non-issue at this point.
hamfighter,
Giambi was George’s grand acquisition.
Matsui’s been nothing but a good, steady producer over the course of his contract.
Look where we are without Posada.
Mariano pitches like a 20 year old.
Damon was good for a while. Okay, I’ll give you that one.
Jeter may not be the fielder you want, but he’s not old.
Abreu was a great acquisition and Alex absolutely loves batting behind him (you know, when Alex is actually in the lineup).
Something’s up with Pettitte, but he’s been nothing but a warrior over the last two seasons, even though he gets little to no run support.
Moose has reinvented himself, proving you can teach an old dog new tricks.
They could use an infusion of youth. I say bring up Gardner, but we don’t really need a 6th outfielder. Let Shelley play for a whole week at first. If he still can’t hit with steady play, send him down.
I’m not saying this is not an old team, it is. But they’re professional ballplayers with too much experience to go AWOL for any extended period of time. Giambi’s the one who’s burnt toast at this point. The reclamation project hasn’t been successful.
First, I just want to add my voice to those congratulating Jon Lester on his no-hitter. What an accomplishment on its own; when you factor in his very recent battle with cancer, it’s truly an inspirational feat.
Good luck to ARod tonight and going forward. I’m just hoping he doesn’t try to do too much. One personal can’t do it all, though one person can change the “karma,” so to speak, giving at least a psychological lift to the team, a sense of, okay, we’re on our way back.
The Yankees should have a good chance tonight.
I think we’ve just about exhausted all that can be said about Brian Cashman, no? At least, I have.
Doreen,
What did you say about Cashman? I missed it.
I’m not worried about Cashman, he’ll have a job in a New York minute. But he’s a Yankee like Torre, like Girardi, like Jeter.
I think it’ll be sad to see Cashman leave and have to watch from afar as someone else (especially Hank) enjoy the fruit that he cultivated after finally wresting the power to do so.
mel -
I basically support Cashman, while admitting he’s not infallible and has made some mistakes.
But what I meant to convey in my prior post is that Cashman’s been such a hot topic in these parts for so long that there really isn’t too much that’s new to add to the conversation.
first off, every gm has ppl on thier roster who were brought in by someone else, so stop apologizing for giambi being someone else’s fault. secondly, cash has been getting credit for making the playoffs every year, so he has to take the hit for the performance of this team. thirdly, anyone could have anticipated that a team with as many players over 30 in the lineup was going to have alot of injuries.
once again, im not saying fire cashman, who i like, but im not ready to bring him back yet either. even cash says its his responsiblity, so why do ppl here keep excusing him for what he holds himself responsible for.
Doreen,
Gotcha. It was as sound and reasonable as I imagined it would be.
Well, I’m off to sleep again. Got up with a phone call in the middle of the night, (a good one, so don’t worry!), so I’m getting tired despite the presence of your pleasant company.
Welcome back, Alex.
Last year all you guys were on Torre and not Cashman. Now that Torre is gone, you go after Cashman. The real problem is hitting. That falls directly on the hitting coach. If you think the hitting coach really coaches, which is another debate. But, who hired the hitting coach. If the offense is bad then cut loose the hitting coach just like you cut loose the conditioning coach like last year after all those pulled muscles. That may shake things up.
By the way, there’s a (rather big) article in today’s Star Ledger by Dan Graziano about Mark Teixeira being the target of both the Yankees and the Mets this off-season. I know it’s not news, per se, since we’ve been talking about this here. Also, it focuses mainly on the Mets and the Yankees, mentions the Braves very briefly (mostly as being short financially vs. either NY team), but doesn’t bring either Boston or Baltimore into the conversation.
The article also talks about the relative disappointments in both first basemen (Delgado and Giambi), but it also says that there is still room for optimism regarding squeezing some more production out of Giambi (something about BABIP, hitting the ball hard, line drives, etc.), but that Delgado’s performance so far gives no indication that improvement could be on the horizon.
Since it looks like the Yankees are sticking with Giambi, giving him every opportunity, I hope the “indicators” are correct and some of those hard-hit balls will go for hits soon. However, do those statistics take into account that the you can’t hit a ball into a hole that doesn’t exist (the shift)?
doreen
i think the shift explains away alot of the discrepency between his babip and what you would expect in ba for a guy with that #. since he constantly hits into the zone where the other team has bunched 5 fielders, hes going to make outs on balls that would normally be hits.
but thats just statistics confirming what you can plainly see, if you dont ’shift bust’ (like ive seen ryan howard, prince fielder and carlos pena all do in the past week) you just arent going to hit for average.
Here’s the link to the Star Ledger article.
http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2008/05/yanks_mets_likely_bidders_for.html
EVERY general manager makes mistakes with judging talent. None are exempt.
The added burden that Cashman gets is if a player can handle New York. Not every player can and that’s been proven many times. There’s only so many Dereks, Jobas, and Marianos out there that don’t let things affect their play on the field. Some just can’t tune it out.
ham fighter –
He (Giambi) has hit some fly balls the other way, but not enough to make a difference, imo.
What are the others doing? Are they bunting? Line drives? Just pushing the ball somehow to the left side?
Couple of last (unsolicited) thoughts:
If Girardi and Cashman both were sincere in their claims that the performance of the team is their fault, they’d quit on the spot. Don’t believe a word they’re saying, they’re shielding the players.
The onus is on the players. These are not minor leaguers. As recent as 6 months ago they knew how to hit a baseball. They led the league in many offensive categories last season. While age is an issue, what’s Cano’s excuse?
I don’t know that Long is a big problem, players swear by him.
I do know that we hardly get base on balls anymore. That’s a problem.
I do know that we have problems with men in scoring position. That’s nothing new.
The root of the problem is that this team is choking on the pressure to win. That’s nothing new, either. It goes back to circa 2004. There’s so much pressure to win that guys press. That leads to slumps. Unfortunately we’re couple deckhands short and 4 of our lefty starters are in a collective slump.
The sooner people accept that we’re in transition, the less angst there will be.
Smile, life is good.
Doreen -
Many fans wonder is Giambi either can’t or won’t slap a ball down the 3rd base line for an easy hit.
In the case of football, defenses can make quick adjustments at the line of scrimmage.
With Giambi, he sees the shift before he ever sees a pitch and still hits into it at a very high percentage of at bats.
One would think he would want to keep them honest and guessing what he might do but it’s not in his arsenal. It’s the fences with him and that’s it.
The old adage: live by the home run - die by the home run.
Doreen
I read the Graziano article this morning and thought this was interesting.
“The Braves will get some payroll relief this winter too, and likely could offer Teixeira as much as $20 million per year to stay if they wanted to. But if the bidding goes much higher than that — which it could, with both New York teams involved — then that could be bad news for Atlanta, for Teixeira’s hometown Orioles and many other interested teams”
More than $20 million for Tex? Will any player not named Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter be making more than 20 million dollars next year? Is Tex worth that kind of money?
I’d like to know why people of the congratulate Lester, than slap Hughes and Kennedy. Just give congrats to Lester, no need to be down on Hughes and Kennedy.
mel -
I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that the BBs are fewer, and the fact that there are a lot fewer quality at-bats. Can it be, at least partially, that the league has just caught up with the Yankees approach, and been able to successfully make adjustments?
I mean, it seems to me that almost every game, pitchers are getting off to good counts against the Yankees, strike one all the time (or so it seems), which forces the Yankees hitters to be a lot less patient. But the other thing is they don’t seem to be able to foul off as many pitches. They’re totally out of their game. They’re not wearing pitchers out. They’re not forcing high pitch counts. They are playing the other team’s game.
So, what’s the answer? Simply, I guess, the Yankees need to make their own adjustments. I suppose the question is, is Long working on those adjustments and they’re not kicking in? Or, are they just steadfastly taking the same approach, waiting for things to fall their way?
Some of the pitchers the Yankees are facing really are that good. Some aren’t, but by getting strike one across, they push the odds in their own favor. So, let’s see. Pitchers are throwing strike one, if you take the pitch, you are already down in the count. You can’t make a pitcher throw the first pitch a ball, but if you know it’s going to be a strike, or are pretty sure anyway, then wouldn’t you then start taking more first pitch swings? Which we are all upset about during the game (why isn’t he taking any pitches?????) but seems like a necessary approach, but only if you get a hit.
So, what’s the answer???
howard bunted with risp and they overthrew 1b and the runner scored from 2b. fielder and pena both just dribbled groudners through the empty left side. giambi’s excuse for not doing it has always been that it will ’screw up’ his swing, but when a guy’s batting .190, it just doesnt hold water.
Doreen,
Re: Cashman, isn’t that the truth! lol Well said.
Its on the players. They are the ones playing.
Its not Kevin Long’s fault they aren’t hitting. I have never met hitting coach who tells their hitters not to hit.
Guys get in the box, its out of the hitting coach’s hands at that point.
Sometimes, in our zeal to place blame on situations, we overlook the obvious targets and go for more obscure characters. Often, we shield the players we like and decide placing blame on the supporting characters is the way to go. That doesn’t really get to the root of the problem.
This is a team that is full of veterans, many of whom have had multiple all star seasons.
Meaning, its up to them to turn it around.
Only so much a GM, manager or coaching staff can do.
They can’t make Andy Pettitte hold leads.
They can’t make Ian Kennedy win games.
They can’t make Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon play as if they still have something left in the tank. I can go on and on.
At some point, you put the team together and then, its out of your hands.
If the entire team, or at least most of it, is underperforming (which is the case so far this season), there isn’t anything a GM can do about it until the off-season.
Its not a one or two player issue. Aside from Wang, Moose, Matsui, Jeter, Rivera and Chamberlain, the rest of the team is underperforming. Some, to such a degree that it overtakes the good that the 6 guys who have done their jobs have accomplished.
When that happens, you can’t find 19 players to trade for in an attempt to make the team better. You are SOL until guys play better.
There are no magic trades out there. More teams are competitive these days (because of the WC) and are holding onto their players rather than dealing them.
More small market teams are signing their young players to long term deals. Eliminating the fire sale market. Even the Marlins, the king of fire sales, signed Hanley Ramirez to a long term deal.
Gene Michael has said many times, its tougher to fix a team in mid-season than in the off-season for the above reasons.
Very simple solution to solving the Yankees problems. They have to play better.
That’s it. If they do, they are in the race all year.
If not, with a load of good young talent in the system and 80 million coming off the books, they will have the flexibility to really fix what’s broken in the off-season.
http://emedia.thetimes-tribune.com/Blogs/SWBYankees/tabid/552/Default.aspx
Gardner sounds like he is back on track. Plus he adds something this team needs right now SPEED!!!
yes, with the 80M coming off the payroll, there will be alot of possibilities to fix the team this offseason. therefore it is important to decide first who you think should make those improvements, the current guy, or someone else and in light of the current condition of the team, that is not a forgone comclusion. just as it was time to move on from torre, it may well be time to part ways with cashman (who has not yet expressed a desire to return anyway).
i say we wait until the end of this season to decide that, but if things dont improve, why would you bring the same guy back? i know sj thinks nobody wants the yankees gm job but that is a joke. believe me, if that job comes open, there will be a very long line of ppl wanting the opportunity.
Any new info on Cervelli? How is his rehabbing coming along?
It’s silly to blame Cashman. Couple years ago we were all calling him a genius and figuring out how we could get CA$H Yankee jerseys. We need to start hitting, period!
I’d be so happy today if Enberg is DFA’d and and Veras or Britton goes down to make rooms for A-Rod and Gardner.
Pat,
I agree with your take. Tex is a very good player. He’s not a great player and he’s not a 20 million dollar a year player.
If the bidding goes that high, the Yankees should stay out of it because somebody will overpay for him and regret it down the line.
There are VERY few players who can take on the burden of that contract, regardless of the market, and produce.
We are seeing it all over baseball. Just look at the Tigers for example.
The old saying, “that’s why they get paid the big bucks” has merit when it comes to player evaluation.
We saw in the month (he got hurt April 20) he has been hurt/out, how important Arod is to this team.
Only Derek Jeter has better numbers post-Arod injury, than pre-Arod injury.
Every other guy has slumped. Some have slumped off the map.
What does that tell you? It tells you that guys like Damon, Cano, Giambi, Matsui and Abreu, may be (in some cases) very good complimentary players. But, they aren’t guys who can put a team on their backs and carry them through rough waters. In other words, they can’t make the team better unless other guys (namely, guys like Jeter, Arod and Posada) are doing their thing.
Jeter has done it. Posada has done it and Arod does it. That’s it.
209 million dollar payroll and THREE guys can carry the team when needed. Not what you want when you are placing value on your roster.
I often try to look beyond raw statistics when evaluating players.
I believe statistical analysis has a place in the game.
I don’t believe its the sole way of evaluating players.
There’s more to player evaluation than raw numbers.
I often look to WHEN you produce your numbers. To me, that’s as important as compiling the numbers themselves.
For example, if Andy Pettitte goes on a 5 game win streak when the Yankees are out of the playoff hunt, and finishes with a very good record, does that mean he has had a “good” year?
Conversely, when you really need wins and he can’t win, is that what they are paying him 16 million dollars to do?
I’m just using that as one example. Not just singling out Pettitte.
You can do it with other players.
For example, the Yankees have to make a decision on Bobby Abreu after the season. He is a very good player.
With one BIG caveat. He seems to only be a very good player when Arod is in the lineup.
Is that worth 16+ million a year? I don’t know. My gut tells me no.
One of Gene Michael’s responsibilities in his present role is to place a value on every veteran player in baseball this season.
In other words, does the money equal the production?
Its important because if you look at the teams that are succeeding, they have more guys outperforming or playing up to their contracts than underperforming.
IMO, that’s the biggest difference between the Yankees and Red Sox right now.
The Red Sox get a bigger bang for their buck than the Yankees re: its roster.
The Yankees are WELL aware of this. That’s why they are doing what they are doing in placing value numbers on players.
Its why if the bidding gets nuts for Tex, the Yankees have to pass.
You can’t make a guy better as a player just because you pay him a ton of money. The key is to get the right bang for the buck.
8 years over 20 million for Tex? Not if I’m the GM. He’s good. Not that good.
is there anyone on this blog who thinks that the yankees should only sign older expensive free agents?
is there anyone who doesn’t know that because of revenue sharing all teams are signing their good young players and buying out some of their free agent years, and therefore these players aren’t available to the yankees like they were in the past?
is there anyone on this blog that doesn’t think that the draft and signing international prospects, and developing both of these isn’t critical in the new baseball marketplace?
so what is it that brian cashman knows that makes him uniquely qualified and the best person to be the yankee gm?
iv been saying all year that theres no way i would pay tex giambi money, but the vast majority of ppl here have already penciled him in at 1B on opening day. hes a great player but he is going to get 6/$130-$160M, and he’s not worth it. and if cash stays, id say its not gonna happen. if he goes, the pressure on the new gm to bring him in my be irresistible.
if the bidding starts at 20 million let Tex get it somewhere else he is not that great of a player
What was Miguel Cabrera’s contract? I’m sure that is the very least he will take.
Ham fighter,
I agree with you that the evaluation for Cashman can and will wait until after the season.
There won’t be a long line for the job. There wasn’t when Stick took over in 1990. There wasn’t when Bob Watson took over in ‘96, and there wasn’t when Cashman took over for Watson. While we are Yankees fans and believe everybody wants to work for them, that’s not the case.
Its a job many of the top GM’s in baseball will pass on.
Sure, “lots” of people will have interest. Interest and doing the job? Two entirely different animals.
This is unlike just about any job in baseball. Only the Red Sox job is as tough. The Mets job is a cakewalk compared to the Yankees and Red Sox GM jobs.
Its not a job guys in the industry long for.
Look at what happened when Theo went on his sabbatical a few years ago. The Red Sox were not exactly brimming with applicants for the position.
That’s a big reason why John Henry stepped in and didn’t allow Larry Lucchino to let Theo go for a second class candidate.
To me, if you want to fix what some percieve is broken in the Yankees front office, you add more than subtract.
Add more people to baseball operations. Stick is 70 years old and is doing the job 2 guys are doing in the Red Sox front office. Is that really logical? I think not. Its not just the GM. Its the entire department.
We always believe the grass is greener on the other side.
There HAS to be a better player out there. There HAS to be a better manager, GM, etc.
Often, if you have an employee who is valued, its best to surround him with more help. Not just torch the whole thing and start over.
Cashman has done far more good than bad in this gig. He’s not perfect, nobody has ever claimed he is, but he’s also not a dolt.
He also knows how to work with the Steinbrenners. Something that can’t be discounted when evaluating him.
That’s an end of the season decision. I’d rather concentrate on the season.
cabrera is 8/$152M
cabrera is 8/$152M
“so what is it that brian cashman knows that makes him uniquely qualified and the best person to be the yankee gm?”
I would say what makes him uniquely qualified is that since he and oppenhimer have taken over the draft, the yankees have built their farm into the top five in baseball, where previously it was bottom five.
Also, it gives me some comfort that a guy on the hot seat has not made quick fix, one sided trades to save his job.
sorry, i dont think i hit enter twice. also when considering cabrera’s contract, consider that he was not a free agent when he signed it.
I’m interested in who people think are better GM’s then Cashman? Say, their top five.
“What was Miguel Cabrera’s contract?”
8/$152 million.
Absolutely. Cabrera and his agent (is it Boras) couldn’t play teams against each other. I’m just sure that is the figure where Boras is going to start all negotiations.
“One of Gene Michael’s responsibilities in his present role is to place a value on every veteran player in baseball this season.”
i love gene michael, but don’t the yankees need more than gene michael traveling around the country making evaluations,playing golf, scouting, playing golf, looking for players ,and oh yeah, playing golf.
don’t get me wrong, gene michael is doing exactly what he should be doing at his age and is very valuable to the yankees, but isn’t the organization a little thin if gene michael is their main guy at his age?
can the yankees organizational structure compete with the red sox, cleveland, and arizona? where are the pain in the butt know all young professionals who have advanced degrees who fill a myriad of roles that filter down to the gm so he can make an informed decision that is also most of the time the right decision.
the yankee organizational structure is like an expensive five year old computer. it still works, but it’s way slower than even the cheapest new computers. the yankees need to upgrade their system and get with the times.
Randy,
Knowing it and doing it are two different things.
Also, when you have ownership demanding you do something, is the new guy going to have the onions to say no?
For example, when George demanded Stick trade Bernie Williams and demanded Cashman take the deal for Pettitte from the Phillies a few years later, both guys had the onions to say no.
They also had enough standing with George to hold their ground and not worry about getting fired.
Will a new guy do it? Not if he is from outside the organization. Which, is the only way they can go for a new GM since nobody internally is ready for the gig, IMO.
Its one thing to say, “everybody knows the new baseball landscape”, its another thing to stick to the plan.
Plus, not “everybody” knows the new baseball landscape. Most of our fan base doesn’t. Neither do most of the columnists and talk show hosts in town.
That’s why you hear idiots like Mike Francesa bellow, “I don’t care if they overpay, they HAVE to get a veteran pitcher ASAP”.
Wrong. That’s the stuff fans fuel off of and that leads to dumb decisionmaking. Or, it would have if George was still George.
A new guy in the seat has no loyalty to the system or the organization. He knows if he can’t outperform the guy he replaced, he’s gone.
He will have to outperform a guy who has 3 rings, turned the farm system into one of the Top 5 in baseball, and made the playoffs every year he was the GM. Not easy.
So, if a deal is out there, and its one that may have some immediate value but not long term value, a new guy is more likely to pull the trigger.
That’s how this team floundered for years prior to George getting bounced the second time.
You can’t overreact to bad seasons. Boston didn’t do it in 2006 and look where they are now.
IF this season turns into a bad season (and we have a LONG WAY to go before we reach that conclusion), the Yankees would be wise to not overreact. Often in sports, you take one step back in order to go two steps forward.
If you panic, then you put yourself under the gun for years.
In other words, you become the Knicks.
Year 1 is Florida’s price tag, Ian the Tigers are actually paying Miggy Cabrera 7 years/$141 M …the next 2 seasons he gets a 3.7 million bonus(15 MIL), the year years proceeding 20 mil per year. SJ used a very interesting yet blunt observation “You can’t make a guy better as a player just because you pay him a ton of money. The key is to get the right bang for the buck.”
that apllies for Miggy too, he was signed to be thier great next 3B, now he has to adjust to a new position and it’s been Magglio Ordonez carrying that club.
Shapiro, Beane, former GM’s that could be candidates- Schuerholz, Terry Ryan. That is four and two that are no longer GM’s. One is retired and the other Team president. SJ makes a good point that the field is thin to potentially replace Cashman. I like Cashman as respect the juggling the act he has to do on all fronts. He appears to be a relly good dude.
I believe Shapiro right now is a distant 1.
Lastly, I got a little chippy last night on the blog as Trisha climbed under my skin with some comments. I should not have let that happenned.
Respectfully-
-dennis
SJ if Cash is Jetison worst case scenerio do you think Oppenheimer is suitable for the job ?
so you’re saying that replacing cashman would be a ‘panic move?’ its not like the guy hasnt had a chance to show his stuff.
also remember that cashman had the chance to negotiate and extension on his contract this spring and turned it down. was he holding out for more money or is he really undecided about whether he wants to come back? and if it is the latter, perhaps thats an indication that we shouldnt WANT him back.
“respect the juggling act on all fronts”
typo
Any organization that would hold Kennedy and Hughes instead of moving them for Santana does not know what they are doing. Period. Kennedy will not be heard of again, unless the Yanks are 10 or more out at break, Hughes is so overrated by the organization. He is a 4-5 at best, when he is not d/l. I give it until the break. If way out of race i bring up every prospect and let them show their stuff with zero pressure. Dump Giambi, Duncan, Ensberg. That’s 3 position players that we can go young with. Do it and let’s look to the future. The present is rather bleak.
ham fighter SJ brings a perfect point, if a guy is hired I hope it is internal, because the youth plan would be scraped, the next guy would be trying to compete for his job at all costs, he’d have no loyalty to any players in the system, I wouldn’t want that at all, another words imagine that guy is Steve Phillips now what …
“To me, if you want to fix what some percieve is broken in the Yankees front office, you add more than subtract.”
sj-
i read your post after i wrote mine about gene michael.
we agree that adding more is absolutely the answer, but isn’t brian cashman scared to death of internal competition ? isn’t he the one who made the organization smaller by insisting on getting rid of the tampa faction?
would cashman block the effort to add more structure and quality people to the management team? i mean one of them is likely to take his job at some point.
i don’t remember hearing cashman arguing for more quality management people.
maybe it’s the steinbrenners and not cashman who wanted the lean structure but it’s a question that should be answered because the lean structure is not enough in the new baseball environment.
“is there anyone on this blog that doesn’t think that the draft and signing international prospects, and developing both of these isn’t critical in the new baseball marketplace?
so what is it that brian cashman knows that makes him uniquely qualified and the best person to be the yankee gm?”
Randy -
This is like saying - “hmm, gas pedal, brake, clutch, I can drive the Indy 500!”
Knowing general principles and performing at the highest level in a highly competitive field are two totally different things.
The GM is responsible for building a club that can go to the playoffs. People born the last time the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs can nearly DRIVE A CAR.
ugh. what’s the point of arguing the same exact points back and forth, day after day? seems like as a general yankees fan, you either like cashman or you hate him, and rehashing the same arguments is not going to change anyone’s opinion at this point.
Shapiro signed a long term extension with the Indians.
Terry Ryan has no interest in the job. Nor does Billy Beane, who also has a long term deal in place.
John Schuerholz is now President of the Braves. He is also retiring after the season.
He’s not taking a step back (which is what a GM position would entail) to come to the Yankees. He also wants out of the grind, making the move to GM of the Yankees ill suited for him.
Its not a big pool of candidates. Not nearly as large as folks think it is.
Brandon.
I don’t believe he’s ready to be a ML GM. Its one thing to run the draft. Its another to be a GM.
Lots of farm directors bomb as GM’s. In many ways, its two entirely different specialities.
I think he’s done a very, very good job running the draft. I don’t believe he is yet ready to assume the larger role a GM job would entail.
Ham fighter,
Perhaps, its an indication the guy doesn’t want to do what he doesn’t allow his players to do. Talk contract during the season.
Perhaps, he wants to see how things pan out. How is that a bad thing?
If he didn’t have the best interests of the team at hand, he could have made panic deals to satisfy the fan base and some factions of ownership. He didn’t.
He’s already “proven” himself in the job. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have teams hoping the Yankees part ways with him.
Look at his OVERALL record. Far more good than bad over his entire term.
That’s why he is a hot commodity in the game, should he be out in the marketplace.
Congrats to Lester, and to his family too.
I still support Cashman. If not for him our team will be full of Giambis, Clemenses and the Bonds of the world. Cash was the catalyst behind the youth movement. A movement cannot happen overnight, people need to be patient. Lester didn’t pitch a no-hitter in his first year. Let’s see where the youth movement is in a couple years before we judge Cash. But at this point, already some of his early youth movement guys had paid off. Exhibit A, B, C: Wang, Melky and Joba.
Cashman is not a fortune-teller, it’s not his job to know that half the team would be underperforming below their real abilities. That’s why we are in a slump. It’s one thing if our players are actually bad, it’s another if they are temporarily underperforming or injured. I believe we have a case of the latter. When that happens, it’s not anything the GM could control or predict.
brandon, you are presupposing what a new gm would do before you know who that person might even be. it is possible to bring in a guy who’s also into developing young talent, as thats what most teams are doing now. just because cashman has discovered (rather late imo) that youth is the way to go, doesnt mean plenty of other ppl cant do a better job of keeping the team competitive and developing talent at the same time.
again, im not saying fire cash, i wait till this season is over and then consider the options which is exactly what cashman himself is doing.
“I like Cashman as respect the juggling the act he has to do on all fronts. He appears to be a relly good dude.”
use your head folks. if a die hard red sox fans likes cashman and thinks he’s a good dude, doesn’t that tell you something.
i wish cashman were the red sox gm. then the yankees would have a better chance.
no one on the red sox side of the equation is afraid of brian cashman.
“we agree that adding more is absolutely the answer, but isn’t brian cashman scared to death of internal competition ? isn’t he the one who made the organization smaller by insisting on getting rid of the tampa faction?
would cashman block the effort to add more structure and quality people to the management team? i mean one of them is likely to take his job at some point.
i don’t remember hearing cashman arguing for more quality management people.”
The following excerpt is from Peter Abrahams interview with Brian Cashman. Doesn’t sound like he’s afraid to add more quality people and listen to what they have to say to me.
“what’s the point of arguing the same exact points back and forth, day after day?”
Because Hank didn’t talk yesterday so we are deprived of new materials…
ham fighter…name me the guy you see fit as the next GM..SJ just ran down your list, so who is that guy right now ?
the yankees higher ups (higher than cash) need to be looking around and identifying possible replacements for cashman in case brian decides not to come back.
all of you ppl on here that are so dead-set that cash is the only guy for the job may have a real jolt coming should he decide not to return. and what is your plan b (besides weeping, wailing and gnashing your teeth?)
GENE MICHAEL!!!
“the yankees higher ups (higher than cash) need to be looking around and identifying possible replacements for cashman in case brian decides not to come back.”
How do you know they aren’t? I mean I don’t know that they are, but how do you know they aren’t?
i didnt have a list, i know very little about who the personell ppl are in other organizations. but honestly, how many of you knew who theo or billy beane or sherholz or even cash himself was before they took over as gm’s?
Randy,
Cashman isn’t afraid of internal competition.
He got rid of the flunkies, who made up most of the Tampa Mafia.
He convinced Oppenheimer it wasn’t in his best interests to be part of the Tampa Mafia and put him in charge of the draft.
Like the fan base, there was a TON of cockiness among Yankee ownership and upper management during the Dynasty Years.
They consistently cut back on scouting, even though guys like Stick and Cashman said it was a mistake.
They always felt they could buy their way out of their mistakes.
Now, the financial landscape of the game has COMPLETELY changed. As much as casual fans hate hearing it, its VERY relevent to the conversation re: the Yankees these days.
Their money, while nice, really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, from a player perspective, in these new financial times.
You have to scout and develop from within. Unless, you like overpaying for players. Then, you help fund your competition with the amount of money you have to pay because of the luxury tax issues. You also get saddled with the kind of contracts that hold your franchise down for years.
Its kind of a vicious cycle that has to get broken at some point.
If Cashman was afraid of internal competition, he wouldn’t have reached out for Stick because NOBODY has the Steinbrenner’s ear more than Stick.
SJ44-
I was not suggesting that those 4 were candidate list. The questions asked were who were the top GM’s. It is a really thin talent pool in general in MLB.
Randy,
Do you honestly fear Theo? He would never have lasted in NY after the 2006 3rd place finish.
-dennis
Gene Michael has stated he is fine in his position, even on CN8 he said he’s comfortable in his current position, he is like a Jerry West IMO, he’s not going to do this everyday IDK why fans are thinking Stick would just jump at GM spot again.
Cashman can be replaced. SJ, I respect most of your posts, but for every single job out there, there are plenty of people who would apply and could do fine, and who might do quite a bit better.
I am not an advocate for firing Cashman, but to say he can’t replaced and that no one wants the Yankee GM job is silly beyond all words. No matter how much pressure it brings, there are people to do the job. No matter how tough an owner is to work for, no matter how tenuous the job is going to be, there are always replacements.
funny how i take all the flak here as the anti-cashman guy despite these facts:
1)i constantly say that i like cash
2)i constantly say that i would neither fire him nor extend his contract at this time
3)i advocate doing exactly the same thing cash himself is doing, waiting till the end of the season to consider the options.
There is a former GM that works for ESPN available!
ok i’m just kidding. I’d have to cheer for another team if Steve Phillips became the GM.
Some say that Teixeira isn’t worth over $20M a year for his production.
Will Ryan Howard be worth over $20M a year? He’s a terrible 1B with the leather.
Isn’t Teixeira (and his agent) just riding the wave of escalating salaries in a sport flooded with cash, breaking attendence records year after year?
I just think if the prices are rising, might as well pay for an established player. Its not like Tex is 30 or 31, he’s 28. I think they should go for it.
They should grab both Tex and CC. But what do I know…
I wasnt sure what gene michael is doing now. It would be nice to see him in there again, but by the way brandon talks doesnt sound possible.
I cringe every time i hear the name steve phillips…
it’s the yankees. who cares what they pay? seriously, why does anyone care what the players make? i still dont understand it, and have never gotten a good answer.
they want a player, they’ll pay for him. they dont pay the player what he’s asking for and he goes elsewhere, then they prob didnt want him that badly.
but if Teixeira wants $19-20 million a year, and the yankees pay it, why would everyone be in an uproar? it’s not our money.
RE: Cashman’s future …. just a thought. If this were the NFL, the Yankees would be angling to pry Ben Cherington or Jed Hoyer from the Sox front office. They are the two “whiz kids” who temporarily replaced Theo during his sabbatical.
I believe that Theo was 28 when the Red Sox (especially Luchino) made him their GM …. so there was some risk-taking there.
As I say, NFL teams are deemed to be clever if they can hire from the “trees” of their more successful brethren. I wonder if the Yankees would swallow their pride and go in that direction? (I doubt it, nor am I saying that it’s the way to go. But it would be an option.)
A-P it’s not about no one wanting the GM job, it’s about who is suitable, the next guy that comes in has to deal w/ Hank, NY and everything that comes w/ it. He has to either A. build a winner or B. build the next dynasty, one mistake can cause you years of trouble, take Steve Philips his mistake trading Scott Kazmir, Omar Minaya see Brian Bannister, whoever was the Texas GM traded Edison Volquez to the Reds, Minaya in Montreal sent Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Philips in a deal to land Bartolo Colon..think now what those players became.
There are so many factors in being the Yankees GM that’st just one.
i think you want to leave the volquez trade out of that group brandon, the guy they traded him for, josh hamilton is currently leading the majors in rbi. (11HR, 50 RBI and .319)
Steve Phillips also didn’t trade Kazmir.
kazmir and bannister were awful deals, but minaya did take a chance on milledge for schneider and church, and so far so good.
the texas/cincy deal is actually a win/win for both teams… Volquez is pitching out of his mind right now, but texas also got back hamilton in the deal, a player who is looking like a solid AL MVP candidate right now.
I don’t think there is any doubt that CC will sign with the Yankees (unless he hates them, or gets picked up by the Indians this season)
Anyone have an idea about the Yankee game tonight? Rain? I just got tickets and am going.
Signing CC to the same deal Santana received might be riskier than giving Tex 20 million a year for 7 or 8 years.
take Steve Philips his mistake trading Scott Kazmir
Steve Philips may be an idiot so it’s fun to blame him but he wasn’t the GM who traded Kazmir.
I like Brian Cashman very much. He seems like a hardworking, bright, dedicated individual who obviously has the best interests of the NY Yankees in his heart. He, Oppenheimer and others have ressurected the Farm system, his crowning achievement.
But lets face it, he has done a poor job in the last few years surrounding these Yankee Teams with necessary key parts to compliment its core players.
Did anyone else feel this off-season that the ballclub was making a mistake in relying on two very young and unproven MLB pitchers (Hughes, Kennedy) as 2/5ths of its starting rotation, especially given the questionable performance and age of its No. 4 (or No. 5) starter, Mussina, last season?
How about relying on 2 “offense and nothing” first basemen (Giambi & Duncan) and 2 candidates with little or no experience at the position (Ensberg and Betemit)? Ensberg’s downward stats after the 2005 season, plus the fact that no other MLB Team was interested , should have sent up all kinds of flags.
And no lefthanded relief candidates other than Billy Traber and Sean Henn - given the Free Agents that were available? C’mon!
I understand the payroll considerations and the youth movement that Cashman has committed to, but if the goal is still Post Season and World Championship, you still have to find “key parts”, as was done in the Late 90s.
Remember when Hank said this….”We have the best young pitchers in the game, even better than Boston.” - Hank Steinbrenner, December 3, 2007. I’m starting to disagree.
Nobody is saying Cashman can’t be replaced. Anybody can be replaced.
The issue is, do you have a better candidate to replace him?
There is certainly nobody in house who can do better.
Nobody can answer that question in the affirmative right now.
The money is relevent on several fronts. First, the more you pay, the more money you give your competitors, who in turn fortify their organizations.
In other words, every year you stay over 50 million above the luxury tax threshold, you make your competition better. Is that really smart? I think not.
Second, the more money you have tied up in players, the tougher it is to build a bench (players don’t want to see forever behind guys), and to fix on the fly when things go wrong.
Every team, even the Yankees, have a budget. Also, you have to look at what some of these deals look like 4-5 years down the road. Not just next year.
Knowing what you know now, would you have given Giambi a 7 year deal? How about giving Damon a 4 year contract to play CF, pay him CF money, and now have an underproductive leadoff hitter who is now playing LF? How about Pavano? Randy Johnson?
Again, while hindsight is always 20-20, you really have to use it when it comes to committing big money and big years in contracts in today’s baseball. If not, you get yourself in trouble.
Look at the Yankees, Tigers and Mariners. All look “good” on paper. All are underperforming.
The only difference between the 3 teams are the Yankees have a ton of money coming off the books and a farm system. Detroit and Seattle blew out their systems in going for it this year. Not smart.
Some fans may not like talking money but, it is the root of every decision a team makes with their roster.
Again, its about getting value for the buck.
Look at the Yankees and Red Sox rosters and tell me who gets a bigger bang for their bucks? Its the Red Sox in a landslide.
sj44, you are still making the assumption that cashman will decide he wants to come back, and he hasn’t indicated that he will. in fact, he created the doubt about his own intentions by declining to negotiate an extension.
Turning down the Santana deal (in conjunction with Hal) made Cashman much more of a target coming into this season than he has been before (and that’s one large bulls eye to surpass…)
The Santana deal was controversial to say the least and it would have been much, much easier and enhanced Cashman’s job security much more to just make the deal.
That would have been the easier thing to do (if Hal would have let him which I don’t think he would have).
Over the long haul of the season its gong to be pitching that decides the season.
So the real lightening rod for Cashman and why so many columnists have been all over him (and certain radio talk show hosts…) was the decision to not trade for Santana.
But to date it has not been pitching which is the reason for them being in last place.
The yankees right now have a negative run differential - that just means that they’ve scored fewer runs than they’ve allowed. It’s very improbable to be a winning team with a negative run differential.
So the real question becomes - why is that run differential negative?
Before the start of the season if someone were to have told you that on May 20 the yankees would have a negative run differential you’d have assumed that the pitching just melted down.
But it has not been the pitching that has been the dramatic underperforming part of the team.
It’s the offense. The degree to which the offense is falling short of reasonable expectation is astounding.
The yanks have scored around 50 fewer runs than expected so far this year.
50 fewer runs over only 43 games. That’s hard to get over.
What does 50 fewer runs mean?
You can actually estimate a teams record by their run differential.
50 runs translates into roughly 5 more wins. So if the offense were playing up to expectation the team would be 25-19 and virtually tied for second place.
If the team were 25-19 no one is writing articles for Cashman to get fired.
The Santana deal was controversial.
But, to date, it has not been the Santana deal or the pitching in general, which has caused the team to have a losing record.
It’s the offense. And there was not one person - media, fans or baseball people - who expected the yankees to have anything but a monster offense.
Absolutely no one foresaw this happening.
Blaming someone for an event that no one reasonable person could have foreseen is a classic, useless second guess.
“i think you want to leave the volquez trade out of that group brandon, the guy they traded him for, josh hamilton is currently leading the majors in rbi. (11HR, 50 RBI and .319) ”
as promising a hitter Hamilton is right now I’d doubt Texas would do that trade again if they knew Volquez would be turn out to what he is now.
Ham figher,
True. He may not decide to come back.
If that happens, they will deal with it.
JMO but, if Cashman wants to come back, they will work out a deal. I think both Steinbrenners want him back. Its just a matter of working things out and nobody knows if that will happen at this time.
I like Brian Cashman, think he’s done a good job overall. I don’t think you can blithely discount the fact that he works for one of the, if not THE, toughest owners in baseball under the most powerful microscope. That’s one reason why the pool of applicants vying to replace him will be very small.
I don’t think it’s necessarily true to state that Cashman is (was) afraid of competition. The situation with the so-called Tampa faction was a set-up for failure. There was no transparency and no cooperation, and from all reports, it sounds like it was more of a rivalry than a group of people working toward a common goal. If the right people are brought in in the right capacity, it only helps Cashman, or any GM for that matter, do his job more efficiently.
Perhaps those kinds of changes organizationally are on the horizon - Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there have been many positive changes during Cashman’s last contract period. You build a list of priorities, accomplish those things, and then move to the next set of priorities. Unfortunately, even with the resources available to the Yankees, you can’t tackle everything at once, plus, you do have to leave room for the inevitable unforeseen circumstances (like ARod & Posada going in the DL at the same time, and neither Hughes nor Kennedy securing a victory to date).
well, im a buisness manager and id be looking hard for who the potential replacements are for such a key position that may become vacant. even if we make a lucrative offer to him, he may choose to leave anyway, so contingency planning is called for here. someone said above, how do you know the aren’t doing that? and i never said they werent, but they’d better be if they arent.
“it’s the yankees. who cares what they pay? seriously, why does anyone care what the players make? i still dont understand it, and have never gotten a good answer.
they want a player, they’ll pay for him. they dont pay the player what he’s asking for and he goes elsewhere, then they prob didnt want him that badly.
but if Teixeira wants $19-20 million a year, and the yankees pay it, why would everyone be in an uproar? it’s not our money.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to pay $1000 a game for my mainbox season tickets in 3 years. I simply can’t afford it and it’s not an exaggeration. In case you haven’t heard, $250 field seats this year are being priced at $1200 for next year at the new stadium.
Also, money affects club house dynamics and morale. You think proven old-timers like Mo and Jorge who have spent their entire career with the Yankees winning 4 championships will be happy that Yanks pays $20 mill without blinking to bring Tex in if he ends up being a flop? Especially when it was like pulling teeth for Mo and Jorge to get their own contract resigned last season? How about Wang, you think he’d be happy to know that Yankees repays his two 19-win seasons with arbitration over $600k when they can shower someone else with $20 mill?
“Blaming someone for an event that no one reasonable person could have foreseen is a classic, useless second guess.”
You can blame the players for not hitting.
amen, CB. well said.
“as promising a hitter Hamilton is right now I’d doubt Texas would do that trade again if they knew Volquez would be turn out to what he is now.”
Brandon,
I like Edison Volquez a lot. But you really are underselling Josh Hamilton and what he is.
In evaluating the trade you can’t just look at Volquez’s production to date vs. Hamilton’s because Hamilton’s value far surpasses his numbers because of context - specifically the position he plays.
If Hamilton was a corner outfielder the Volquez deal wold be very different.
But Hamilton is a centerfielder. And finding an elite hitting centerfielder is arguably as hard (if not harder) than finding a front line starting pitcher.
Hamilton has a chance to be an 1.000 OPS centerfielder. No centerfielder came even close to that last year. Off the top of my head I’d have to guess the last 1.000 OPS centerfielder in Baseball was Griffey back in 1998.
To have a centerfielder who can hit like that is an enormous advantage. Right now Hamilton and Justin Upton are two talents in a different stratosphere in CF (this assumes the might Nate McCluth will come back down to earth).
I don’t know if Hamilton is going to stay in centerfield long term. But for right now he’s OK out there defensively and will likely get better with experience. He’s still only 26.
Volquez may have turned a corner - but it’s still way too early to say that. He’s completely outperforming what you’d expect from him based on his talent alone.
This Castignoli dude is just pissing me off.
Warning: Do not view if pregnant, have a heart condition, or just freak about 2004.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/24716386#24716386
“but if Teixeira wants $19-20 million a year, and the yankees pay it, why would everyone be in an uproar? it’s not our money.”
it’s not about it being your money, it’s about it fitting, he might be right now one of the most overrated 1B in the league. He is nowhere near 20 million dollar talent and it’s not like this regime is looking to spend money stupidly, see Pettitte it was a 1yr. $17 mil, Daddy Stein gave Roger 28 million(horrible deal), Hank/Cash gave Georgy $52.4M because the market at catcher was so poor, when Georgy returns people will notice how good this deal is if he stays healthy. Mariano $45M for 3 yrs. again notice what Papelbon will ask for in the offseason and remember that Codero of the Reds is being paid 46M for 4 yrs. It’s about spending money wisely now w/ Hal Steinbrenner who really controls the money.
regarding the voquez trade, while you cant always believe what a g.m. says in public, i heard jon daniels a few weeks ago on xm and he said they were very happy with the trade. he said that they considered the trade one of value for value and that he expected volquez to be a success, just not this quickly.
add to that the fact that texas also feels it is stocked with pitching prospects and had basically no decent outfielders comiing into this season and the trade made alot of sense for both teams.
great point CB but then ask yourself would you rather have Andrew Jones in his prime or John Smoltz ? another words as great as a talent that CF may be the SP is always the first priority it just is, it’s the difference from having a mediocore CF catch a pop up or a gold glove CF chasing frozen ropes.
“Hamilton has a chance to be an 1.000 OPS centerfielder. No centerfielder came even close to that last year. Off the top of my head I’d have to guess the last 1.000 OPS centerfielder in Baseball was Griffey back in 1998.”
the nerd in me made me look it up.
Jim Edmonds - 2004 - 1.061 OPS
ham fighter listen to what you just said whether Daniels or Ryan said it …
“texas also feels it is stocked with pitching prospects”
since when ?
wow, as i was reading above about cf’s with 1.000 ops, jimmy edmunds jumped into my mind, not because i had any idea what his obp actually was but because that was the season i picked him up on waivers in my fantasy league (2nd week of april) and he led my team to a rout of the league.
i dont follow the minors that much, nor do i subscribe to baseball prospectus but i do listen to and watch a ton of mlb baseball and i have heard from several sources (kevin kennedy said it yesterday) that the rangers feel that they have alot of pitching talent one or two years away. i also heard the beat reporter for the rangers on charlie stiener’s show say the same thing a couple of weeks ago.
The reason why every yankee fan should care - a lot - about how much the team spends is the luxury tax and revenue sharing.
SJ brings this up a lot and he’s exactly on the mark here.
Right now everyone is marveling at the Rays and how energetic and talented that team is. Many people have said they wished the yankees were more like the rays.
Well how do you think they got that way?
Scott Kazmir just signed a $30 million dollar extension. He’s a great talent but has recurring health problems. Where do you think the money came from to sign him?
Last year the rays had the first pick in the draft. Took David Price who we saw blowing away yankees hitters in spring training. Price has a good chance to be better than Kazmir.
The Rays gave Price a $8.5 million dollar contract before he threw one pitch for them. That included a $5.6 million dollar signing bonus.
Where did that money come from?
The year before they drafted Evan Longoria one of the best young third baseman in baseball. Many people compare him to David Wright. He was signed for a $3million dollar bonus.
Where did that money come from?
I’d guess it wasn’t from their stadium receipts. Not when you’re drawing 11,000 fans per game. And its not coming from TV either, not in a market like Tampa and not with a team that bad.
The Rays are signing Kazmir long term, signing talents like Price and Longoria with the Yankees money!
The yankees are financing their own losses.
Does that mean that the yankees need to be a under the cap or a small revenue team?
Absolutely not. But what it does mean is that they need to be very prudent with their money.
Why? It’s not even the financial part of the money. In a certain way because of revenue sharing the opportunity cost of money for the yankees is much higher than its financial cost.
Each dollar the yankees spend over the cap give the rays the opportunity to get better as a team.
That’s why before the yankees sign anyone to big money, long term deals they need to be certain they will get good value on the investment.
It’s not just that they wasted $40 million on Carl Pavano. They actually wasted much more with the tax on the money - and all that money goes to teams like the rays.
So in a way the yankees signing Carl Pavano helped the rays sign Scott Kazmir and David Price.
That is the reason why the yankees need to be very careful, even leery of spending money. It’s the luxury tax and the enormous implications it has for competition.
Teixeira is a very good first baseman but he is in no way an elite hitting first baseman. He’s not even close to Pujols, Fielder or Howard.
The team can afford to give him $160 million. What they can’t afford if for him to underperform over the life of a contract which will inject tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of teams like the Rays.
like i said, brandon, if the yankees want Tex, they’ll pay for him whatever the price may be. If he asks for $20 million, and then goes to the Mets, then the Yankees didnt really want him.
too much is tied into the exact amount a player makes with his actual stats.
throw the money out the window- is pettitte doing what he needs to do this year so far? no, so whether he made $4 million this year or $20 million, it would simply be a bad deal.
so to put it briefly, its not the dollars, its the years that stagnate teams in these big contracts.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3404596
Uh oh.
some of you people really need editors! i guess when you think you have a fandom to satiate, you tend to drone on and on and on.
“ask yourself would you rather have Andrew Jones in his prime or John Smoltz ? another words as great as a talent that CF may be the SP is always the first priority it just is,”
Andru Jones never came close to a 1.000 OPS season.
That’s my point - Hamilton has a chance to be a much better hitting centerfielder than Jones.
Again this isn’t a knock on Volquez (who I really, really doubt is going to be John Smoltz - who is?).
It’s just saying that Hamilton has a chance to be a very, very special player.
I stand corrected on Griffey being the last 1.000 OPS CF but it is nonetheless very rare. Hamilton is in that stratosphere.
I don’t know if he reaches that level of where he is a year in and out .950+ OPS player but if he does he becomes a once in a generation type talent (assuming he stays in CF).
Texas does have a lot of young pitching that is very good.
if i was the nfl, id opt for any new opportunity to beat the union about the head and shoulders again. and dont think that they didnt consider that gene upshaw will still be in charge during that time.
if you were arod, wouldnt you line up for another shot at bartolo colon?
we’ll see CB, interesting about the revenue sharing too.
Hank and Hal Steinbrenner know exactly what they have in Brian Cashman. They have no interest in regressing from the grand scheme of things with an unknown quantity possessing no real hands on knowledge of how the Yankee organization operates, top to bottom.
They realize they’ll never find a mistake free general manager and with Cashman right at the cusp of seeing both his and the team’s objectives nearing fruition, they’re better off with what they know opposed to what they don’t know.
Hal Steinbrenner in particular, is solidly in Cashman’s corner. He’s been impressed with how fiscally responsible Cashman is as evidenced in his stance of not wanting to provide Johan Santana will a long term contract.
Brian Cashman will see another opportunity presented to him with Sabathia and Teixeira coming due for free agency and watch and see if either would be offered more than 4 years with a (team) option of a 5th year.
What team owner doesn’t like a fiscally smart general manager including the Steinbrenners ?
COuple of things:
SJ in your list of who is underperforming you say everyone but the players you list I would add Melky to the list of names that are doing just fine. There are some things we are getting out of him that we didnt expect so far and other than that he is performing just as expected so I would put him in the plus colum rather than in the goat colum.
There was a great quote from Billy Beane in his book where he says if you are in the middle of the season and realize that you have issues it is already too late for changes to rectify them. I think that Cashman knew and knows exactly what the issues of the Yankees have been and in the past few years has been trying to solve them. He has a long term plan and that plan started a few years ago with the changes. we may have a bad year this year but the future looks awfully bright moving foward with the long term deals coming off the books, the youth in the minors etc.
I will say it again the book Living on the Black is a must read. Started it last night and find it so interesting and learning so much. Pretty much the opnly thing I knew about JOhnny Sain was the famous pray for rain line but didnt know he was a very well regarded pitching coach and it talks about the influence he had on Glavine in terms of the first seasojn in the minors Galvine felt pain and instad of shutting him down Sain made him throw even more, built up his arm etc etc very interesting stuff so far.
Remember when Big Stin fired almost all the scouts? Well, it will take time to replace them. Cash has been getting as many new scouts as possible, look to the international scouting…good, could be better (Kie). It takes time to install new people(qualified people). Not an excuse, just facts, he has had a short time to do this ( 2004/5), so let’s see how it turns out. 27/08.
again, 3 posters in a row who are just assuming that cashman is coming back, despite the fact that he himself has made no such indication. unrequited love rarely works out well in the end!
I wanna make a point about the guys that wrote that they cant cheer john lester for his no hitter. now imagine you or someone very close to you is very sick in the hospital because of cancer and it happenes to be that a guy named john lester comes in and is visiting people who are very sick from this desease ,he tells them his story , crys with them laughs with them and just trys to make them feel better! because he knows how that feels! how will you feel after that about that guy john lester even with his ugly red cap!!! now when some body in hospital watches yesterdays game and he just heard from his doctor that he has no chances to survive!!! a tought comes in his mind ” maybe i WILL survive just like JOHN LESTER!!! GUYS you gotta start thinking more abouy LIFE!!!
I for one was interested in seeing a deal for Josh Hamilton worked out with Cincinnati last winter.
For a sensible package, the Reds would have listened but with most of the Yankees attention focused on Santana and the not knowing of it, Texas jumped in and offered Edison Volquez and the rest is history.
I posted and proposed Ian Kennedy, Jeffrey Marquez, and a lower level prospect for Hamilton with the thought of seeing him patrolling CF and Melky moving to left.
I know Josh Hamilton personally and can attest that his off field issues are behind him. Five-tool players don’t come along every day.
amen to that al! what i read on the last thread sickened me and made me feel dirty for being a yankee fan!
thanks ham fighter
ham this is all Cash knows! He has been working for the Yankees since he was a kid. I don’t see him leaving, and I don’t see the Yankees letting him leave.
if he was staying for sure, he would have taken them up on the offer to negotiate and extention, but he said he wants to wait till the seasons over and assess then, which is what im advocating the yankees do. but in light of that, the ppl above him have to be working on what happens if he decides he doesnt want this job anymore.
another thing few have considered is the possiblility of kicking him upstairs (or brian asking to be) and have oppenhiemer take over the day to day gm duties with cash and stick helping/consluting/training him. if cash is burned out by the pressure, etc. this is a way he can stay in the organization and contrubute his itellect and experience w/o having a 16 ton weight hanging over his head every day.
RER-98,
Good point on the implications of the Santana negotiations. I agree that the circus it turned into as it dragged on and on had a real cost to the team because it prevented them from focusing on any other potential significant moves.
Ironically, the pursuit of Santana had something of a similar effect on the mets. I think part of the reason why they didn’t come into spring with a deeper team was because so much of their attention was focused on Santana. It prevented them from surrounding him with more complementary pieces.
The strange thing with the Hamilton trade was how quickly it got done. For a talent like that who is cost controlled I’d have guessed the Reds would have tried to field offers from all over. But they seemed to want to get the trade done with an move on.
It’s worked out fine for them so far as Volquez has outperformed expectations. But I would have thought they could have gotten more.
HF -
Cash has said consistently that he is going to treat dealing with the Yankees vis a vis an extension just like he deals with FA’s on their walk years (Sheff, A-Rod, Jorge, etc). He is going to wait until the end of the contract to make all of his negotiations.
More than anything, I think Cash wants to get an idea of what life with Hank is going to look like - he is getting a larger sample size like any good GM would
Hank is on record as wanting Cashman back (which means just north of nothing in my book) maybe they’ll offer him the same deal they offered Torre with $1M bonuses for advancing in the playoffs on top of a big pay cut. (That would be totally bush league IMHO)
CB -
My impression was that the Mets talent pool was completely drained dry by the Santana trade and flipping Milledge to the Nats. I could be wrong.
On Hamilton I had the impression that there were character issues which may have made him unattractive to bigger markets. I am not sure whether it was problems with the law or substance abuse.
Brandon, I pissed on fenway park on an off-day a few years ago, that didn’t work either.
“so to put it briefly, its not the dollars, its the years that stagnate teams in these big contracts.”
IMO, it’s the dollars plus the years and it stagnates the player as well as the team.
1) It ties up revenue that could be put to another purpose as needs emerge and deflects attention and resources from talent development.
2) It raises the amount of money the Yankees give to their competitors, making it more expensive than just the contract price to acquire the talent. It also strengthens the adversaries that the new talent was acqured to beat, making the incremental advantage to the signing team that much less. Call it diminishing returns.
3) It stagnates players because even without a no trade clause, they effectively become too expensive to trade. Players know they aren’t in jeopardy and remain in status quo while GMs are hamstrung and unable to readily change the team’s status quo.
4) Being unable to move an underperforming player because of too many years or too much money on his contract (Damon, Giambi) affects the entire rest of the team and can even affect the division in the case of the Yankees.
5) Properly understood, big money long term contracts are seismic events with lots of aftershocks. The Yankees are living through years of these aftershocks, one (Giambi) occurring 8 years ago and still being felt today.
oh com’on Pete it wasn’t that bad !
tk yes there were BIG substance abuse issues, mainly that he himself says that he allowed cocaine to take over his life a few years back, and i expect that the people around him didnt want him to go to a big market team. however, the reds were under no obligation to send him where he wanted to go.
Gayle,
Here’s why I don’t put Melky in that group.
He is playing a very solid CF. He started slumping at the plate when his role changed due to the injuries.
At this stage of his career, he’s not a #6 hitter in this order, nor an RBI guy. With the injuries, he’s trying to do too much.
If the team was healthy, and he was batting 9th, his numbers would be fine.
The team isn’t currently structured to have or expect Melky to be one of the main guys. If he is, they are in big trouble because it would mean the guys they are paying to be in those roles are failing miserably.
Darth, nobody is trying to satiate a fan base. We are just talking baseball. That’s it. If you don’t like the posts, skip over them.
Nobody is changing what they do here based on your direction.
“Doesn’t sound like he’s afraid to add more quality people and listen to what they have to say to me.”
raymagnetic-
cashman says he pays attention to ‘Yankees director of quantitative analysis) Mike Fishman “. so what?
why would any gm of any team now not pay attention to his statistical analysis guy.
cashman and the yankees are behind the curve on using statistical analysis. you can tell just the way he talks about it in the excerpt that you gave. you may know more about it than he does. i’m sure whozat and cb could give him a run for his money on the subject. even i have looked at markov chain models for baseball.
the irony of me taking an opposing position on cashman’s value is that i don’t even think that the gm job is that important. there are lot of people that could do it. most of the decisions are no brainers. someone has to make the decision but lots of people could do it.
what i think is important is the whole management structure. then we are talking about 20-30 people. does theo really run the show in boston. not really. he’s part of an organizational structure. does shapiro run it in cleveland? no he’s part of an organiztonal structure. does josh byrnes run the show in arizona. nope. part of a team effort.
somehow cashman has become the man in new york. there shouldn’t be “a man”, the lone ranger( and tonto) in new york. there should be a complex management team.
that’s really my position on this rather than wanting cashman fired. i want a new management structure that more reflects the times. if cashman fits in great. if not that’s fine too.
this isn’t all about cashman. this is about the yankees.
Believe me, I do scroll past plenty of posts, but my scroll finger also acts as a pretty good BS detector, and you’re wearing it out.
Randy,
The new management structure comes from ownership, not Cashman.
If you want more people in management, that’s on ownership. Not the GM.
Cashman is the guy who got the Steinbrenners to add more people in scouting. More in statistical analysis. Greater emphasis (as in paying over slot and adding more scouts) on the amateur draft. Investing more money in Latin American facilities, etc.
He isn’t the lone voice in hiring or expanding the baseball side of the operation. He makes recommendations and its up to ownership to approve them.
There is no guarantee a new GM would be able to convince the Steinbrenners to do more in that area. In fact, I would say its less likely because the Steinbrenners don’t like doing business with people they don’t know.
If your beef with Cashman is that they are light on the baseball end, you should hope he stays. Its probablhy the only way they have a shot at beefing up in that area.
Like I said Darth, if you don’t like it, too damn bad.
The only person full of BS in this thread is you.
Then again, I’m not telling you something you don’t already know.
Any word on who is getting sent out to make room on the roster?
“The yankees are financing their own losses.”
how much money do they spend