From Jon Heyman (SI):
AL Executive of the Year
1. Brian Cashman, Yankees: The big-money moves all worked (Teixeira, Sabathia and A.J. Burnett), and so did the small-money moves (Eric Hinske and Jerry Hairston)
Brian Cashman put together a winner this offseason. Sure, for the most part, his success was built upon the Steinbrenner pocketbook, but, they were the right moves and he did exercise a few crafty plays midseason, as Jerry Hairston, Chad Gaudin, and Eric Hinske were very nice complimentary pieces. Furthermore, one cannot ignore that it was he who wanted to steer clear of a Johan Santana trade (and extension) prior to the ’08 season—a non-move that is paying significant dividends in 2009 (e.g., Sabathia, Hughes, etc.).
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
10 Responses to Giving credit to the architect…
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Teixeira move was awesome because I kind of thought with all the media outlets saying there was no way we would get him that it was almost a matter of time before it happened, something about Cashman once he has convinced the world he isn’t involved is when he makes his moves.
I wonder what all the Cashman haters will say now? Even if we don’t win it all, he has done a very good job and has for the last few years.
Yeah but at the same time this is still the same man who was in the room when Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano became Yankees and a failed Randy Johnson trade went down 2 or 3 years to late… Cashman isn’t terrible but signing Sabathia and Tex also doesn’t make him the greatest GM ever he is good but has faults, he deserves credit now like he deserves being ridiculed when plans don’t work, that’s how it works.
They’ll say that of course he did well with the resources he was given. That’s the curse of being the Yankees’ GM. The financial resources at Cashman’s disposal will prevent him from ever getting the credit of a Billy Beane, Andrew Friedman, or Theo Epstein (of the small-market Red Sox). Cash will get lambasted if the Yanks don’t win the world series because he has the most money, and is thus always expected to win.
At least Theo is finally being questioned instead of the boy genius doing no wrong.
I forgot to mention the Nick Swisher trade. To be honest, that move was going to be good for whoever the GM was that landed him, but you have to hand it to Cashman for getting Swish on the cheap. That’s a move we often forget to mention when discussing Cashman’s offseason strategy. The guy robbed Chicago blind.
Wilson Betemit is now a minor league free agent to top that trade off so he isn’t even going to be on the team next year so it just keeps looking better.
LOL, wow. What a bad move by Chicago. I mean, Betemit was really just a throw-in, but still, wow…
Speaking of the other two in that deal Nunez had a pretty good minor league season he had more Ks than IP and he had a 2 ERA but Jeff Marquez had a 9.85 ERA in 45 IP in triple A Charlotte which included 72 hits in 45 innings. When you consider Kanekoa Texeira had a 2.84 ERA in double A this year the Yankees won all the way around on this trade.
C-$$ also deserves some credit for the improvement of the development system with a priority on pitching (first) and catching.