After Brian Cashman’s contract ran out following the 2005 season, disgusted with the fractured and factioned way in which the Yankees baseball operations had been run, he insisted on complete autonomy regarding all personnel decisions were he to come back, and ultimately received it.
Or so we’ve all been told.
In light of the Rafael Soriano signing that, quite frankly, still seems to have baffled much of the Yankosphere — for the record, I don’t think anyone can dispute that Soriano certainly makes the team better in 2011; it’s the 2012 and 2013 parts along with the missing draft pick that seems to be most unsettling — word has leaked that the signing was not in fact a Brian Cashman decision, but rather that Randy Levine and/or Hal and Hank Steinbrenner themselves may have pulled rank and ordered the move against Cashman’s desires.
If true, this is the second such instance in the last four offseasons — that we are aware of — in which ownership went over Cashman’s head to sign a player he wasn’t interested in, the first of course being the re-signing of Alex Rodriguez to his 300-year, $80 trillion deal after Rod famously opted out during the 2007 World Series. Cashman was quoted numerous times that offseason more or less saying good riddance to Rodriguez, before Hank Steinbrenner reportedly stepped in and bid against himself to lavish A-Rod with the richest contract in professional sports history.
As William noted in a terrific piece at TYU (which was picked up by Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk, so kudos on that),
“The third option is the one that is cause for real concern. In his daily column, Buster Olney hinted at a divide within the Yankees organization, while Peter Gammons tweeted that Randy Levine was the driving force behind the signing. Even Mariano Rivera has been credited with holding sway. If true, that could be disastrous for the Yankees. Whether you like Cashman or not, the Yankees have seemed to benefit from having one coherent voice on baseball-related matters, so a return to the days of front office factions could have undesirable consequences. I am sure more on that topic will be written in the coming days, but usually when there’s an early leak, there’s also an unhappy general manager.”
If any of this is indeed true, it’s a real problem. While I was joking with Leonora, Ross, Joe and several others on Twitter this afternoon about Mariano Rivera playing GM, the idea that Levine completely usurped Cashman’s authority to make this deal is troubling, and I have to imagine Brian Cashman is quietly seething somewhere. Who’s really in charge here?
As much as Cashman clearly loves the Yankee organization, having worked for the club in a variety of capacities for more than two decades, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he was ready to bolt after his contract is up at the end of the 2011 season. And for as much as any of us would presumably love the opportunity to run our favorite franchise and can’t imagine anyone turning down the job of General Manager of the New York Yankees, I would get the heck out of dodge if people routinely questioned my authority, meddled in my decisions and ostensibly tried to do my job for me. That’s no way to work, and that’s also no way to run a baseball team.
* Of course right as I was about to hit publish Mike posted a brief note on this at RAB, so here’s a link to that piece as well.
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0 Responses to So what happened to Brian Cashman’s “complete autonomy”?
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TIQ IQ
Yes, Soriano is good when used properly. Someone here a couple of days ago pointed out that Soriano is FAR too prone to give up fly balls and isn't as good against LH bats. Those things coupled with the crazy contract and injury risk make this a bizarre move.
As a lifelong Texas Ranger fan, this sort of thing makes me smile. It is straight out of the 1970s Ranger playbook for destroying a franchise. I know it won't destroy the Yankees. But anything that weakens NYY a little is a good thing in my book.
I wrote yesterday that I was going to rip Cashman for signing Soriano, not because I dislike Soriano (because I do like him), but because the signing is yet another sign that the Yankees had no real plan in place for this off season . . . other than definitely signing Cliff Lee, and we saw how well that went.
Now, however, I don’t know who’s to blame for this off-season mess: Cashman, ownership, or both?
My problem with the Soriano signing is that the Yankees knew they had an eight-inning problem when they didn’t pick up Wood’s option for 2011. They could have retained Wood for one year at $10 million. Now, it’s going to cost them at least that, plus a first-round pick in a deep draft. Dumb!
Where was the long-range planning when they refused Wood’s 2011 option? Signing Lee wouldn’t have alleviated that problem. So, Cashman and/or ownership once again didn’t have a workable Plan B in place to fill that hole, so they had to overreact and give a very good relief pitcher an absurd contract with not one, but two opt-out clauses! Are you kidding me? Two opt-out clauses in two years! This is no way to run a baseball team.
This is my problem with the Soriano signing in a nutshell (with emphasis on the word nut):
1) They could have retained their first round pick in the upcoming draft by simply picking up Wood’s option for 2011. That would have given them another year to groom Brackman or Robertson or Joba for the eight-inning role. (I’m not saying Wood is as good as Soriano; he’s not. I’m just saying Wood was a viable option for one more year.)
2) Because they didn’t have a plan in place, they had to give Soriano an insane contract that leave the Yankees without any leverage over Soriano for the next two off seasons, as outlined below.
If Soriano stinks in 2011 or suffers a major injury, he, of course, won’t opt out . . . and the Yankees are screwed.
If Soriano is great in 2011, he can opt out and force the Yankees or someone else to give him a bigger or more long-term contract . . . and the Yankees are screwed once again.
If Soriano stays through the 2012 season and he has a good year and Mo retires after the season, Soriano and Boras have the Yankees by their collective baseBALLS! Soriano can then force a desperate Yankees team to give him a bigger or even more lucrative contract . . . and the Yankees are screwed yet again.
There’s absolutely no upside to the Soriano contract on the Yankees’ part. None! Nada! Zip! Squat! We’re Royally F***ed!
If the indians who originally inhabited Manhattan Island had to negotiate with the New York Yankees, they’d own all 50 states today. Brilliant job, guys! How dumb is Cashman and/or ownership?
So, to recap, the Yankees in effect traded Wood and their first-round pick in a deep draft for one guaranteed year of Soriano. Brilliant!
I know I’m hiding it well, but I’m seething mad at this point! (That was sarcasm for those of you who don’t recognize it.)
Hey Wayne,
I think you've definitely nailed the many negatives that come with this signing.
I also think your post points out more than anything why the "who's running this show anyway?" conundrum currently infesting the Yankee front office operations has led to the rather bizarre offseason that Yankee fans have been enduring.
You're absolutely right — if the Yankees were intent on paying $10M-plus for an 8th-inning guy, the thing to do would've just been to pick up Wood's 2011 option, or at the very least have offered him arbitration.
However, from what we know, Cashman wasn't interested in retaining Wood's services at that price, and so letting him walk seemed to make sense at the time. We also know that Cash did not want to sign Rafael Soriano to this contract, which makes letting Wood walk look even more ridiculous in hindsight, and that is 100% completely on the ownership.
This is why when I wrote "[if the higher-ups] routinely questioned my authority, meddled in my decisions and ostensibly tried to do my job for me, that's no way to work, and that's also no way to run a baseball team."
We can argue all day long about whether Cashman has had an offseason plan or not, but it's pretty clear to me that part of his plan was to let Wood go, NOT overpay for an 8th inning guy, and let the in-house options — Joba, Robertson, Feliciano — cover the late non-Mo innings.
I for one would've been fine with that option, even though I prefer Joba in the rotation, as at least it means he'd be being used in some sort of meaningful situation. As it stands now, Cashman has a $12M pitcher throwing the 8th inning, D-Rob and Feliciano and Joba to handle some sort of combination of the 6th/7th innings as needed, and Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre at the back end of the rotation despite having a pitcher with a career 4.13 ERA as a starter sitting in the bullpen.
I'm willing to hold Cashman responsible for his refusal to let Joba back into the rotation, but this Soriano/bullpen ridiculousness is all on ownership as far as I'm concerned.