Giving Cashman His Credit

By On March 25, 2011 · 8 Comments · In Roster Decisions

After the Yankees’ failure to acquire Cliff Lee and the retirement of Andy Pettitte, many Yankee fans were understandably anxious about the state of the rotation. Brian Cashman has taken and likely will continue to take a lot of criticism for the less than exciting cohort of pitchers that have been competing for the 4th and 5th spot in the rotation.  The signing of Freddy Garcia, Mark Prior and Bartolo Colon to minor league deals have been the subject of many tired jokes and repetitive hand-wringing.  In particular, concerns were raised about the Yankees passing on other free agent pitchers, including Justin Duchscherer, Brandon Webb, and Kevin Millwood.  The Yankees reportedly did not want to give major league deals to any of these guys.

How has the non-signing of Webb, Duchscherer, and Millwood to big-league deals worked out for the Yankees so far?  Obviously, it’s too early to evaluate, but early signs indicate that the Yankees may have had reason to fear giving a guaranteed roster spot and multi-million dollar contract to Duchscherer or Webb.  Webb, who has not pitched in the majors in nearly 2 years, is already suffering from shoulder soreness that has set back his spring training schedule (and he wasn’t exactly lighting up the radar guns before getting scratched).  As for Duchscherer, he will open the season on the disabled list due to soreness in his surgically-repaired hip.  These early injuries give weight to the Yankees’ concerns about the health of these two pitchers.

As for Millwood, considered by many a better option than Garcia or Colon, everyone was wondering why the Yankees wouldn’t just meet his demands (which approached $4 million) and sign him to a major league deal.  There were no serious injury concerns with Millwood, but given the outcome of Millwood signing a minor league deal with the Yankees, it appears that once again, Brian Cashman’s foresight was able to lead to a more optimal outcome.

I don’t mean to come off as blindly worshipping Cashman here, because he has made a number of decisions throughout his tenure that have not worked out.  However, to say that he has not been considering alternatives to the current crapola at the back of the rotation is not exactly fair.  It is apparent that Cashman was able to make a good assessment of the marketplace, evaluate which players were injury risks that should be avoided, and who could be had on a minor league deal.  This kind of decision-making is not usually associated with the big-spending Yankees, but if another GM were to make these decisions, he would likely receive significantly more praise than Cashman ever would.

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8 Responses to Giving Cashman His Credit

  1. T.O. Chris says:
    March 25, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    I always hear about how much of a genius Theo is but I don’t remember the last trade he made that was as great as Wilson Betemiet and Johnny Nunez for worst year of his career Swisher. Since the trade Nick has had his best 2 seasons and played solid RF for us, this is the exact move that gets small market teams so much credit.

    Cashman isn’t the greatest GM of all time but he’s far from the worst in the game right now and I would gladly take him over most others.

    Reply
  2. The Ed(itor) says:
    March 25, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    I would agree that Cash has made some good decisions regarding free agent starters. However if he doesn’t keep Montero on the roster this will be the Second bad decision this year. The 1st being not wanting to sign Soriano. One more bad decision and he should say good bye to Yanks!

    Reply
    • Moshe Mandel says:
      March 25, 2011 at 6:20 pm

      I cant get too worked about that, because I thought he’d be sent down once Cervelli came back anyhow. And I certainly dont see any of these things being fireable offenses. I happen to agree with him on Soriano.

      Reply
      • T.O. Chris says:
        March 25, 2011 at 6:44 pm

        Please no more Soriano talk! The whole “he’s a good pitcher who helps our pen” vs “but he cost too much” argument has become the new Joba pen vs starter debate. Yes he was too expensive, yes the opt outs (I hate those) could kill us, but he is a good pitcher and our bullpen will probably be better. Everyone is right on this topic, we should just all collectively hope he has a sub 2 ERA and some team needs a closer really bad going into the offseason.

        I will say I’m not sure how you get fired for A. not wanting to sign someone the team ended up with anyway and/or B. not having a top 5 overall prospect on the team to start the season. When you fire someone there needs to be a clearly better choice available to replace that person, in this case I can’t se anyone you would say is for sure better than Cash and available.

        Reply
  3. oldpep says:
    March 25, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Agree about the Soriano thing being yesterday’s papers.

    I think getting something for a guy like Mitre, along with holding out for the minor league deal with Millwood were both terrific moves. I do think getting any ABs at all is a bad idea.

    Cashman relied far too much on the talent evaluation skills of guys like Joe Torre early on. I think he listens to much more knowledgeable folks these days.

    Reply
  4. Giving Cashman His Credit | New York Yankees blog, Yankees blog, A … | Yankees News Source says:
    March 26, 2011 at 1:14 am

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  5. YankeesVine » Blog Archive » Around the Yankees Galaxy 3/26/2011: Making Ugly a Little Less Ugly says:
    March 26, 2011 at 10:51 am

    [...] The Yankee Analysts give Brian Cashman his due for waiting out the offseason pitching market. [...]

    Reply
  6. rl1856 says:
    March 27, 2011 at 11:05 am

    I think the Swisher trade is balanced by the Melky/Vizciano for Vazquez trade. Melky and Vasquez were washouts for the Braves and Yankees respectively, but Anoldys Vizciano is considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball and could be in a Braves uniform sometime this season. If he only approaches his potential, then this will end as a very bad trade for the Yankees….and entirely Cashman’s responsibility. If you believe the newspapers the Yankees dangled the most money in front of Lee, but he wanted to go back to Phillie for less. The question to ask is why would a top free agent shun the Yankees, knowing that the team is a virtual lock for the post season and at least a 50/50 bet to win the WS.

    Reply

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