Kevin Towers a front-runner in Arizona
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Sep 10, 2010 
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When Kevin Towers joined the Yankees this spring as a special assignment scout, it was only a matter of time before his name was linked to a general manager opening. Right now there’s an opening in Arizona, and Peter Gammons has three sources saying the “D’Backs-Kevin Towers deal is set.”
Down in Phoenix, Nick Piecoro calls Towers one of two leading candidates along with interim GM Jerry Dipoto.
It’s hard to say what exactly Towers’ impact has been in New York. It’s always difficult to weigh the exact influence an individual has in the front office. Certainly Towers is well-respected, he’s a good friend of Brian Cashman and two relatively minor moves — waiver claims of former Padres prospects Chad Huffman and Steve Garrison — seem to have Towers’ fingerprints on them
• Speaking of Garrison, he’s listed on the Trenton roster, so that must be where he’s going. I didn’t find many mentions of him on Padres blogs, but did find this brief report that he’s coming back from rotator cuff and knee injuries, and that he’s built his reputation largely on his command.
• Speaking of Trenton, the Thunder won last night on a walk-off by Rene Rivera. As long as they win one more, the Yankees will definitely have a place for Andy Pettitte to make another rehab start.
• Speaking of the minor league playoffs, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre also won last night on a 10th-inning single by Kevin Russo. They’re back home tonight with the series tied at 1.
• Speaking of the minor league playoffs and Kevin Towers, Huffman was one of three Yankees to go deep of former teammate Zach McAllister last night. Justin Christian and Eric Bruntlett did as well.
• I’ll wrap up this post with a quote from Austin Romine, who told Mike Ashmore: “I kind of knew what to expect (catching Pettitte), and then I was just blown away. It was just really fun. You could tell from the first pitch of the game…he threw a cutter and I missed it, because I was like whoa…I’ve never seen balls cut like that.”
Well, I’m sorry to see him go; I thought Kevin said he wanted to work for awhile in a big market team…………that said, I guess you never know when another GM job is coming along.
Better Towers than Oppenheimer, I think.
Repost
Hola mi amigos. Just wanted to drop by and say hi to my second family.
I wanted to mention something that in my mind that is very impressive.
Problems Yankees have had most of this year.
1. Jeter not being Jeteresk
2. Arod power outage and being banged up for most of the season
3. Joba who seemed to be throwing left handed for most of the first half
4. AJ being AJ
5. Vasquez being scared of ghosts and playing the Jeckle Hyde game with us
6. Granderson struggling 2/3 of the season
7. Pettitte out for a significant amount of time
8. Rays pitching staff staying healthy for most of the season
9. Posada hurt all year
10. Cervelli needing contacts(sorry ladies) to finally see the ball, hit the ball
With all that crap above, we are STILL in first place with the best record in baseball. Watch out!! It would seem like this resiliant team has another run in them for the playoffs. This time with a one man rotation.
hello SoS, its been quite awhile since you have been around
and hello Betsy, haven’t seen you recently either
I like that Cash is putting all the SP on warning that they aren’t entitled to anything despite what they’ve done this year or that they aren’t out of contention for starting in the post-season despite what they haven’t done. In other words, the Yanks are going to ride the hot hand.
Hi Kate
How are you?
Funny comment about the Trenton game last night…..
jnorris427 Bet that’s not the first time a game that Andy Pettitte has pitched has been finished by a guy named Rivera
Jason (Long Island, NY)
Is this week series between Yanks/Rangers a playoff preview? If so, how does Texas matchup against NY?
Jayson Stark (1:40 PM)
It’s going to be a fascinating weekend. If the postseason started tomorrow, those teams would play each other. So I’ll be interested to see how healthy Cliff Lee appears and how he does Sunday. And I think CJ Wilson is one of the most underrated pitchers in the game. But he hasn’t fared real well against the Yankees this season. (They got him out of the game after 5 1/3 last month, in the game where he pitched the best.) So tonight is an intriguing night, too. I think the Rangers would have a shot to beat the Yankees in October if they’re healthy and their rotation comes up big. So is this a barometer? It is for me.
The comment by Austin Romine makes me think that these prospects do need to be able to have some time catching seasoned pitchers. Somehow. Don’t hold me to any thoughts right now – my mind’s all over the place, and I’m reading sporadic posts.
I feel like Trisha’s hit-and-run!!
Thames is primed for another long ball deep into the heart of Texas tonight against the southpaw.
In the 2005 ALDS, the Yankees split with Anaheim on the road and game back for game three with Randy Johnson going up against Paul Byrd. Clear advantage right? Johnson got rocked, putting them on the brink, before a hot hand, Shawn Chacon, pitched brilliantly and sent the series back to Anaheim for game five.
Bottom line is that if Ivan Nova looks like one of the best four starters on this team come playoff time, I’m all for giving him the ball. The depth of this bullpen, particularly in having five guys who are good enough right now to close for half the teams in baseball – Chamberlain, Wood, Logan, Robertson, and obviously Mariano, means that if a starter can keep you in the game for even five innings everything should be okay. The bullpen should expect to have to extend itself during these playoffs and if Girardi goes nuts with matchups like he did last year, he’s going to run out of pitchers in an extra inning game.
Wow, apparently per Fox, the Yankees refused to give Oppenheimer permission to speak with AZ. That’s pretty disgraceful.
“Wow, apparently per Fox, the Yankees refused to give Oppenheimer permission to speak with AZ. That’s pretty disgraceful.”
I wouldn’t say that as the Yankees might have their own plans for Oppenheimer in the near future.
“Wow, apparently per Fox, the Yankees refused to give Oppenheimer permission to speak with AZ. That’s pretty disgraceful.”
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Oppenheimer played a huge hand in turning this organization around over the past five years.
You can look at that two ways.
1) Reward him by letting him speak to other teams about a GM job
2) Keep him around while he’s under contract and have him continue to do what he’s been doing
Number 1 is certainly the rosier option, but this is a business and Oppenheimer is under contract. The Yankees have no obligation to allow him to talk to other teams about a prospective job.
upstate kate,
They put me on the dl (wink wink) or was that on waivers. Trying to save me for the playoff run. Good to see your still here. Been a little busy hanging out with wifey and coaching pop warner football 4 plus hours a day.
Patrick from Ct,
It is amazing that we have been consistantly at the top of the division with all the injuries. If we had the team from 2 years ago, we might be fighting the O’s just to stay out of last place.
I’m not ready to proclaim Nova a star, but if he’s pitching better than anyone other than CC or Andy, he has to get a start.
Isn’t it the norm to give your guy the chance to interview for a position that is above what he’s doing at this point? I don’t like what the Yankees did, if it’s true, and I can’t imagine Oppenheimer is too thrilled.
Craw, I’m not sure what that means – unless you think Cash is going to resign.
I think it’s possible that Cashman won’t be the GM after the 2011 season which would be his 14th season as Yankee GM and the last year of his current contract.
I guess that’s possible Craw, but I don’t see why Cash would want to leave; he’s got a great relationship with Hal.
Crawdaddy September 10th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I think it’s possible that Cashman won’t be the GM after the 2011 season which would be his 14th season as Yankee GM and the last year of his current contract.
Why not? If we win another championship then I’m pretty sure the Steinbrenner’s would want to keep him
Isn’t it the norm to give your guy the chance to interview for a position that is above what he’s doing at this point?
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No, many teams have policies where you honor the contract that you signed. A number of MLB and NFL teams operate this way. It could also be that the Yankees did not want their guy going to an organization that has been a pain in the ass to the Yankees before.
At any rate, its not ‘disgraceful’
Don’t assume that Cashman not being GM is due to some rift with Hal Steinbrenner.
“I guess that’s possible Craw, but I don’t see why Cash would want to leave; he’s got a great relationship with Hal.”
____________________________________
Fourteen years of this job can really wear on someone.
I don’t think Cashman will walk away, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.
The first 8-9 years Cashman was the GM is a lot different than it has been the last few years.
Cashman has more control of the team now. Hal and Hank pretty much let him do his job. The Boss didn’t really do that.
No kidding!
SoS
They put you on waivers, but no one claimed you, so you are back w/ us…just in time for play offs!!
That sounds like a lot of football, better save your strength for viewing important games!
Lets hope Kevin Towers shows his gratefulness to the yankees and trades that upton guy and possibly that drew guy and maybe even that webb guy just for kicks to us…(or i’ll take montero the catcher – what are the odds of having 2 montero’s at catcher on the same team?)
u.k.,
I was wondering why I didnt get claimed. I came up with 2 reasons. They must have miss spelled my name when putting me on waivers or other teams probably knew I would be a mole.
Hughes has an innings limit, I have an hourly limit. I might have to play hookie from some practices to stay fresh for the October run.
Have a good day fellas!! See you when I see you.
Just remember one thing as Yankee fans. The season doesnt start for us until October hits. This year is going to be even sweater knowing the rat hole is closed for business.
1. Kevin Towers was always going to get another job as a GM, it was just a matter of time. Congrats to him.
2. Rishi – congrats to you, also, on your promotion. I remember you’re telling us when it went down, so congrats for a second time.
3. Fourteen years is a long time. While I think Cash has done a very good job, under some difficult conditions at times, I wouldn’t be shocked if the stress has gotten to him a bit, and maybe he’s missed some family things because of it. Of course, it’s impossible for us to know, but, fourteen years really is a long time in one job. Personally, I think Oppenheimer would be a good choice to succeed him, as he already knows the Yankees’ structure. You never know, of course, how things are going to turn out, but I think that would be a logical move. My own preference, though, would be for Cash to stay on.
Hey, maybe it was Hal’s decision to keep Oppenheimer around, as an insurance policy, and not anything actually in the works. Like many things, we’ll find out only after all is already decided. The only thing that is certain – is that life and the Yankees will go on.
They win tonight, dassit.
Brian Cashman might be in line to replace Randy Levine as Yankee President. Before coming to the Yankees Levine was a Deputy Mayor under Rudy Giuliani. IIRC, his main reason for coming to the Yankees was to facilitate the building of the New Yankee Stadium (the Yankees required a close working relationship between the Yankees and the NYC politicos). It might be possible that he wants to move on at this point.
Give that man a cigar! George is gone, the stadium is built, time for Levine to move on.
Photos, quotes, videos and interviews with Pettitte and Rene Rivera after last night’s game. Hope you have lots of time. much info and videos.
Compliments of Mike Ashmore.
http://thunderbaseball.wordpress.com/
Its not disgraceful. Its business.
You don’t always give permission to other teams to talk to your people that are under contract.
The Yankees allowed them to speak to Towers.
It isn’t often you allow a team to talk to more than one of your people in a search.
The odds were always that Towers wasn’t going to be here for more than one year.
Clearly, they see Oppenheimer as a person they want around longer.
For that reason, they denied permission to the D’Backs.
Today, Keith Law says Austin Romine can’t catch and is a poor prospect.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-yo.....ehab-start (Scroll to bottom)
more videos and interviews by John Norris of the Trentonian
http://minormatterstrenton.blogspot.com/
For the aspiring GM’s out there – what would it take talent wise to trade to the Brewers for Prince Fielder (and making him the full time DH with occasional games @ 1st)..
also I’m guessing Ryan Braun at this point is untouchable since his salary is team friendly
I wonder why so many sportswriters gravitate to the Red Sox.
Ladies Day at The US Open……..Caroline W., all the way
No reason to trade for Fielder.
He’s a Boras client, is going to test the FA market after next year, and would be an expensive one year rental.
Those are the guys the Yankees have started away from the last 5 years.
“stayed away from”…
Sorry for the typo.
Also if you’re going to trade for Fielder to DH, which is like the biggest luxury ever, might as well just sign Pujols.
jpb – that absolutely is a possibility. Another might be that they really, really like the job Oppenheimer has done, and are willing to pay him accordingly. Look at how they gave KLong an unheard of deal – 3 years, $1M, unheard of for a coach – because they recognized quality (and didn’t want him following Torre to LA).
I realize that people do what’s best for them, and change is a constant. But, I for one, have been very happy with the organization that Cash and Co. have put in place over the past few years. Now that Cash has the power that he wanted, and George finally gave him in 2005 – would he leave now? Only Cash knows the answer to that one.
Disgraceful???????????????????????? Because we didnt allow the loser criminal Diamondbacks to talk to one of our guys? While allowing them to talk to another of our guys.
How is that disgraceful? The Diamondbacks are not entitled the right to talk to any of our guys, so the fact that the Yankees gave permission for one is classy.
Moreover, the criminal Diamondbacks dont deserve the spit from the Yankees mouths for 2001. Those 2 dirtpiles Schilling and Johnson and Roid Monster Gonzalez UGH! UGH! UGH!
Today, Keith Law says Austin Romine can’t catch and is a poor prospect.
==============================================
Keith Law is a tool for the Red Sox organization. He would like nothing better than to tear down a Yankee catching prospect so that (in his mind) the Yankees would get less for Romine in the trade market. Its a good thing that all major league teams have their own scouting staffs and make their own evaluations. Romine is only 21 years old and will continue to progress in the Yankees organization.
Recognize that 2 years ago Keith Law was claiming that Jesus Montero would never last long in the Yankee organization as a catcher. Montero’s defensive skills still lag his hitting skills but more and more experts have come to the agreement that he’ll be a major league catcher someday. Law simply is trying his best to minimize Yankee prospects to hurt the organization. Fortunately, the only thing he’s doing is hurting his own credibility.
SJ44 September 10th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
“stayed away from”…
Sorry for the typo.
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Sorry. That was my fault. My typing skills are contagious.
Forgot to mention the Red Sox licker Mark Grace – who talks crap about the Yankees every chance he gets – and Matt Williams – another roid freak!
“Montero’s defensive skills still lag his hitting skills but more and more experts have come to the agreement that he’ll be a major league catcher someday.”
I’d like to believe Montero will catch for the Yanks some day. Who are those experts, so I can spend an enjoyable afternoon reading them?
See youse later for the game!!
Thanks, Joe (from LI)…not that I needed a reason to go shopping, but this was a good one
Funny stuff
“Was reading Kevin Gray?s Thursday story. You should too. Two things stood out to me?
?One Fisher Cat scoffed at the idea of Pettitte throwing for Trenton, saying it?s a ?shameless? move to help win the Eastern League title??
What?s worse? Having one guy come down for a playoff game ? which, oh by the way, New Hampshire is doing tomorrow with Scott Richmond, who had 19 big league decisions last year ? or ?shamelessly? keeping players who have nothing left to prove at their current level in Double-A so the Blue Jays can attempt to claim a minor league title? Whatever player said that needs to look around his own clubhouse?
And then there was this?
?I don?t even know if (Pettitte) will be the guy with the best stuff among the two starters,? Fisher Cats pitching coach Tom Signore said.
With all due respect to Signore and Zach Stewart, who was absolutely excellent for New Hampshire, that?s a pretty foolish statement to make. Stewart will be a very good big leaguer one day?but to favorably compare him to Pettitte just seems silly.”
http://thunderbaseball.wordpress.com/
Oh well, I guess NH now has to win the next three games. Good luck with that.
“You don’t always give permission to other teams to talk to your people that are under contract.”
Always thought it was sort of an unwritten rule that you don’t get in the way of one’s opportunity for advancement.
Not always an unwritten rule.
Especially when a team targets more than one of your people.
AZ was looking to talk to Towers, Oppenheimer and Eppler.
The Yankees gave them permission to talk to Towers.
For those who think it’s poor business practice on the Yankees part, it’s a traffics.
Guys like Oppenheimer and Eppler are paid well and have contracts that extend longer than the average people in their positions.
If guys choose to have less security, they can go year to year and make themselves available to other teams every off-season.
That’s the trade off in these situations.
“it’s a trade off”. Sorry for the typo.
“For those who think it’s poor business practice on the Yankees part, it’s a traffics.”
Wouldn’t go anywhere near as far as saying that it’s bad business practice. I do wonder how productive a guy might be going forth, knowing he’s been deprived of an opportunity that doesn’t come along all that often (they’re only 30 such jobs, no?). That said, I understand exactly what you’re saying on the trade off for a superior contract.
It depends on how it was framed to Oppenheimer.
Perhaps the Yankees have bigger plans for him.
Or……they didn’t want to risk losing him right now for their own reasons.
Either way, it’s in Oppenheimer’s best interests to continue to be productive because that’s how he will advance in the industry.
Wouldn’t go anywhere near as far as saying that it’s bad business practice. I do wonder how productive a guy might be going forth, knowing he’s been deprived of an opportunity that doesn’t come along all that often (they’re only 30 such jobs, no?)
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Why would you hire a guy who’d do that to begin with? A bunch of NFL teams don’t let their guys interview until the final year of their contract.
I was thinking about that possibility too, SJ. Maybe Cashman moves upstairs in a couple years and they have their GM in waiting.
In my naive way I always thought one point of a contract was so your guy can’t work for the other guy unless you agree.
“Why would you hire a guy who’d do that to begin with? A bunch of NFL teams don’t let their guys interview until the final year of their contract”
Why hire a guy who’d do what? Move on to a better job?
Why hire a guy who’d do what? Move on to a better job?
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Sulk and do a bad job because he was denied breaking his contract
“If guys choose to have less security, they can go year to year and make themselves available to other teams every off-season. ”
I sincerely doubt the Yanks would want a year-to-year scouting director.
“Sulk and do a bad job because he was denied breaking his contract”
Obviously, you wouldn’t knowingly do so.
I guess that’s possible Craw, but I don’t see why Cash would want to leave; he’s got a great relationship with Hal.
__
Cash is basically in charge of the team now, free to make his decisions. I dont see why he would want to go now.
Let’s say the Yanks have a kid who’s good enough to start for some teams, but is behind a Yank regular and plays a useful utility role.
Do the Yanks owe it to that kid to trade him to the team he can start for? Should they have to worry that he’s going to sulk and not play well?
The answer is the same, whether it’s Oppenheimer or that kid.
Exactly. That’s why I said it’s a trade off.
Some teams, most in fact, have their scouting directors on one year deals (some have team options) that expire on October 31.
The Yankees aren’t one of those teams.
You get a multi-year deal and the team controls whether or not they give permission for you to speak to other teams for another position. Even if that position is an upgrade.
Johan Santana has a shoulder capsule tear requiring surgery. Done for the year.
Johan Santana has a shoulder capsule tear requiring surgery.
=================================
Yikes. Reminds me of Brien Taylor.
eboland11 Jorge Posada among the group of Yankees taking early BP watched by Girardi and K-Long. Granderson, Jeter, Gardner and Cervelli also there
Johan Santana has a shoulder capsule tear requiring surgery.
———————————————————————–
Than non trade keeps looking better and better for the Yankees.
Hopefully the same will be true for the Jesus/Lee non trade.
“Hopefully the same will be true for the Jesus/Lee non trade.”
I think a healthy Cliff Lee would have made the Yankees an overwhelming favorite to repeat this year. Given the composition of the team, the Yankees probably wanted to do what they could to secure another title. However, in the long-term the non-trade should work out very well. The age on the roster motivates you to do what you can to win now, but it also means that the organization will need an infusion of young, cheap dynamic talent like Hughes & Montero to remain contenders on a yearly basis.
pat September 10th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
eboland11 Jorge Posada among the group of Yankees taking early BP watched by Girardi and K-Long. Granderson, Jeter, Gardner and Cervelli also there
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Glad to see Jeter there.
It’s not in the best interests for Damon Oppenheimer to move on as a GM. How many teams would give him the finances to work with in scouting and signing prospects that could consequently make him look like a genius as a GM ?
Brian Cashman is well aware of what Oppenheimer has meant to the Yankee organization since he was given more authority in 2006 and will lobby hard to keep him come contract time.
What would another team offer Jeter to play for them?
I know it won’t happen, I’m just curious what people think Jeter would get from some team other than the Yanks.
RiverAveBlues Remember when the Yanks didn?t trade for Johan Santana? That was a great move at the time that?s gotten better with hindsight.
pcaldera Phil Hughes, who won’t start this weekend, has loved pitching in this park (other than that pulled hamstring here): 2-0, 14.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER.
RiverAveBlues Says @jaysonst, Jeter will be paid ?somewhere in neighborhood of $20M a year.? Yanks won?t ?embarrass? him this winter http://es.pn/dCR72t
SJ44,
Do you see Oppenheimer as a potential next Yankee GM? I’m not sure how long Cashman wants to continue doing this job, if he wants to stay here for a long time that’s great but if he doesn’t the Yanks will probably want to stay in house I’d imagine.
Why would any team want to hire Damon Oppenheimer when the press corp. insists his farm system is substandard and over hyped.
Brian Cashman is not much older than Jeter will be at the end of his next contract (if Jeter gets the contract some of you think he will get).
I think Cashman still has some life in his legs.
Wang had the same surgery as Santana last year. Don’t know they compare though.
New Post w/lineup
“What would another team offer Jeter to play for them?”
Very difficult question…it would be a PR nightmare for both Jeter and the Yankees if they didn’t work out a contract. There probably wouldn’t be many teams that would be a good fit for Jeter & his salary, I guess Detroit would be the most logical? However, I think the dearth of quality shortstops (especially in the AL), along with Jeter’s popularity and his approaching milestones would translate to somewhere around 3 years and $45-$50 million. Probably $60M-$80M from the Yankees though…
A couple of thoughts:
1. It doesn’t happen often but I completely agree with Mike Francesa – the Yankees should be ashamed of themselves for partnering with Jay-Z and helping him market a #4 shirt with his name on it. For an organization that gets all bent out of shape when outside entities question the tradition this is a farce.
2. I think it’s more likely that if the Yankees decided at some point to part ways with Cash; Mark Newman would be first in line to replace him, not Oppenheimer. I just think that the Yankees value Oppenheimer and Eppler in the roles they’re in and will overpay to keep them there as long as possible. Kevin Towers on the other hand was always going to be a short timer here – Cashman and Towers both knew that going in. Towers is too good at what he does to be done as a GM.
3. I know this is old news but endulge me – The Colby Rasmus stuff in St. Louis is pretty interesting. Seems to me that to keep Albert happy the Cards will probably move Rasmus to try and keep LaRussa – if Rasmus was on the block, would the Yankees be able to get him for a package of Phelps and Granderson with the understanding that the Yankees would absorb some of Curtis’s money?
Patrick,
It depends how long Cash stays on the job and whether or not the Yankees have a succession plan for the position in place.
Damon has done a good job in his current position.
However, if I was Hal and I was going to need a GM over the next two years, I’d lean toward Billy Eppler.
Billy is really one of the brightest young minds in the game.
The Yankees never get credit from the national baseball media the way Theo and his lieutenants have the past few years.
I think Billy Eppler is head and a shoulders above anybody in the Red Sox front office today.
If I had to pick either Damon or Billy, I’d go with Billy because I think his pro scouting work gives him a leg up on Damon.
Both guys will be future GM’s in MLB IMO.
“if Rasmus was on the block, would the Yankees be able to get him for a package of Phelps and Granderson with the understanding that the Yankees would absorb some of Curtis’s money?”
IMO, no.