Curtis Granderson is on the 15-Day Disabled List and will miss all of May.
Chan Ho Park has been a ghost after a few solid outings
Randy Winn has a -57 OPS+.
Nick Johnson is off to a slow start.
Javier Vazquez looks bad. Real bad.
It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.
I feel like I’m going to be preaching to the choir, but with the hot start of Austin Jackson and the solid start of Ian Kennedy, I feel it’s necessary to put forth a reminder: it’s still way, way too early for us to judge the most recent offseason. As Moshe said yesterday, we must balance process and results when evaluating the moves of a general manager.
In terms of process, I think we all know how GM Brian Cashman was approaching this offseason. He was going for comparable pieces at more reasonable prices. I think Cashman’s process was right. As a DH, Nick Johnson will likely be just as valuable as Hideki Matsui, just in a different way–Matsui will hit for more power, but Johnson will get on base. A lot. Curtis Granderson is younger than Johnny Damon and plays a more premium position. The two are also comparable on offense, and Granderson is in his age-prime, while Damon is in his age-decline. It was unforeseeable that Granderson would be injured. Granderson’s price was also lower than originally expected, and was still good, despite how well Austin Jackson’s been playing.
The same goes for Javy Vazquez. His price was right and it was a good move to trade for him. The early returns have not been good, but the operative word there is “early.” There is still plenty of time for Javy to improve himself and remind us that Cash’s acquisition of him was as much about results as it was the process.
Regardless of what’s happened in the 25 games played so far, it’s still May 4th. We don’t judge players and teams at this point in the season and we shouldn’t judge transactions either.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
6 Responses to It's too Early to Judge the 2009-2010 Offseason
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Yes, the offseason moves have not worked…. YET the Yanks are doing just fine, thank you very much. And Teix did his April crapfest and ARod didn’t do much…. YET the Yanks are doing just fine, thank you very much.
Winning 7 of the first 8 series…YET the Yanks are doing just fine, thank you very much.
My fellow Yanks fans…. let’s not tie Vaz, and NJ, and Grandy and Cashman to the stake just yet.
With one game, Winn sent his OPS+ up 62 points all the way up to 5
Anybody see Matsui playing in left last night? Not pretty.
I don’t think it’s too early to judge the soundness of the decision making. It’s obviously far too early to tell what the results will be over the next few years, which is what I think you’re aiming for.
I think the offseason was a solid success, especially when moves like Thames and Winn are factored in. (As stop-gap insurance in case Gardner fell on his face.)
I’m soundly against the PHILOSOPHY of the this past off-season and have been from the start. Philosophically, I don’t believe that you trade your best chips for mediocre or severely flawed talent, particularly for mediocre talent on the wrong side of 30. The Granderson move is arguable, in my opinion, because of his relative youth, but the Vazquez move is not. Philosophically, I will always be against Vazquez-type moves every single time.
I have a small issue with you saying that, “it was a good move to trade for” Vazquez, particularly when the title of the article indicates that it’s too early to tell whether it’s a good move or not. I think I understand what you mean, though.
Completely off topic but…. is it just me or is Brian Cashman beginning to look more and more like the old, creepy preacher guy from the poltergeist movies??? The picture for this post is spot on!