River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues » Brian Cashman » Page 10

Soriano Presser Notes: Joba, Pavano, Pettitte

by 203 Comments

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Rafael Soriano was officially introduced as a Yankee today, though unfortunately the MLB.com broadcast didn’t show any of the juicy Q&A with Brian Cashman and the rest of the bigwigs. Thankfully we have Twitter, so here are some notes from the presser with the source in parenthesis…

  • Cashman acknowledged that a) he did not recommend signing Soriano to ownership, and b) it was Hal Steinbrenner’s call. “I just didn’t think it was an efficient way to allocate our remaining resources,” said the GM. (Joe Lemire)
  • “Its not my team. I don’t own it,” said Cash. “[The Steinbrenners] do. In any job you better be prepared for every decision to not go your way.” (Peter Botte)
  • Cashman did acknowledge that Soriano makes the team considerably better in 2011, jokingly saying “I think 29 other GMs would love to have their owner shove Rafael Soriano down their throat.” The man has a point. (Lemire & Botte)
  • The inevitable question was asked, and Cashman responded “[Joba Chamberlain] is a bullpen guy, for the 200th time.” Such a damn shame. (Botte)
  • Cash admitted that the team considered and had several discussions with the agent for … wait for it … Carl Pavano. Pavano was said to be seriously considering a return to New York, but he decided to pass on the team’s offer of a one-year deal when the Twins offered two guaranteed years. He passes the “better than Sergio Mitre” test and at this point he’d only cost a second rounder, so why the hell not? This offseason jumped the shark a long time ago anyway. (Botte & Brian Costello & Ken Rosenthal)
  • As for the rest of the free agent pitching market, Cash had a doozy of a quote: “It’s a difficult market to choose from. Listen, if you’re still on the board, there’s a reason for it … The starter might have to come from within. Hopefully we have some of these young kids answer the bell for us.” The truth stings, huh? (Bryan Hoch)
  • Since Scott Boras was at the presser, Cashman continued talks with him about Andruw Jones. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t agreed to terms by Monday, honestly. (Hoch)
  • And finally, there is still no official word from Andy Pettitte regarding his potential return or retirement, but Joe Girardi did speak to him last week and confirmed that the lefty is at least working out to remain in baseball shape. Better than nothing, I suppose. (Bryan Hoch)

In the words of Brian Cashman…

by 89 Comments

He's climbin' in your window, snatchin' yo' free agents up. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Now that the baseball world has debated Orlando and everyone is back at home, the Yankees are going to wait. For another day or two or three, Cliff Lee will take center stage as team executives in the Bronx and Arlington wait for the left to make his move. He has a new offer in hand from the Rangers and is now at the point where he must make a decision. Solicit a round of final offers; pick a team.

In an off-season filled with “reality potions” and other zingers, Brian Cashman isn’t disappointing anyone. I don’t envy him his job. If the Yanks win, detractors say it’s because Cashman just signs the checks. If the Yanks lose, it’s his fault they fell two wins short of the World Series. At least he has a sense of humor about himself.

In Orlando this week, Cashman spoke to the gaggle of reporters, and his quotes were blunt and even witty. He started these moments of honesty during the Derek Jeter saga. “Iconic off-the-field value doesn’t translate in my world,” he said.

And what exactly is his world? “I know my title is general manager,” he said this week, “but I consider myself the director of spending of the New York Yankees. I don’t make it. I spend it.”

As for his current situation, he too had a witty remark for it. It is, he said, like “Hannibal Lecter in a straightjacket. Waiting on this Cliff Lee thing, it’s kind of restricting my movements a little bit.”

When pushed for explanation by reporters this morning, he offered up one that rings true. “I wouldn’t say hostage,” he said. “It’s just you have to wait. He’s a premiere free agent and so he’s worth waiting for. So somebody will be happy and somebody will be disappointed. I’d rather be the happy one than the disappointed one. But either way, life will go on so we’ll let the process play out.”

Life will go on, and the process will play out. Many Yankee fans who comment here, who spend their days on Twitter, who call into Michael Kay’s and Mike Francesa’s radio shows, think life will not go on if Cliff Lee re-signs with the Rangers. But it will because the Yankees keep their hand in every pot. They might be hesitant to throw Zack Greinke into the New York mix, but Plan B exists. It’s out there; it’s in the works.

Cashman spoke, in general terms, about that aspect of his job as well. “Sometimes it” — meaning the team’s plans and involvement with other free agents — “could change altogether. Sometimes it could get to the point where it doesn’t make sense. It goes both ways,” Cashman said. “There’s a period of time where certain things make sense, and then sometimes those things become out of reach and don’t make sense, because of the market. There’s an ebb and flow to this stuff every year. We’ve had many a players we’ve had interest in but not at the levels that they were commanding.”

That last line shows you what a general manager should be doing. The Yankees know they could use some help behind the plate; they know they need another southpaw reliever; they know their starting rotation is perilously weak. But they also know that the outfield can be very good without a long-term commitment, and they know what chits they have to trade. It’s frustrating to see the Cliff Lee happenings go down so slowly, but it’s all part of the plan.

Cashman’s best offseason move

by 34 Comments

Credit: Sipkin/New York Daily News

Brian Cashman had a tough offseason coming into 2010.  While many of his moves made sense at the time, several of Cashman’s offseason trades and signings have not worked out.  Nick Johnson is likely out for the season after less than 100 plate appearances.  Javy Vazquez has at least provided innings, but otherwise has been much worse than expected.  Curtis Granderson, so far, has not rebounded from his poor 2009 and will need to hope Kevin Long can get him straightened out with an overhaul of his swing.  Chan Ho Park and Randy Winn, again signings that made sense, were disasters.  All of this brings me to one move that Cashman nailed in the offseason: Marcus Thames.

Thames was brought in to mash left handed pitching.  Cash likely had some visions of Thames playing the OF, but the injury to Johnson has for the most part left Thames in the DH role.  That’s a good thing.  Thames is a butcher in the outfield, but we knew this before he was signed.  Keep him out of the outfield at all costs. Despite doing everything asked of him and more, Thames has seemed to get no love this year which is unfortunate.

It started for Thames in spring training when he could not buy a hit.  He went 7 for 52 putting up a stunning .135/.182/.269 line.  Just 33 at-bats into spring training people already wanted Thames cut (Ed. Note: Like this idiot).  Small sample size be damned, people were killing the Thames signing and instead wanted the Yankees to keep Jamie Hoffmann, or explore the Jermaine Dye, Gary Sheffield market.  Luckily cooler heads prevailed and Thames made the cut.

Thames shining moment of the season, when he was finally appreciated by the majority of fans quickly disappeared.  On Monday May 17th Thames did the thing that Yankees fans might enjoy most for a regular season game.  Hit a walkoff against Jonathan Papelbon.  It doesn’t get much better than that, and remember, Paps is a right handed pitcher, so it wasn’t what Thames was brought in for.  If Thames had struck out there I would not have been surprised nor pissed at him, it’s not his primary role.  24 hours later of course it all came crashing down as Thames dropped a ball in the outfield that led to a Yankees loss, again against the Sox.  Thames was nearly in tears after the game; probably as much for the reception he would get from fans as he was for blowing the game.  Again though, Thames was outside of his element, he had no business being in the field in the 9th inning of a close game.

Getting back to Thames’ actual role he could not be doing a better job.  He is hitting .343/.416/.448 off left handed pitchers.  More shockingly Thames is even destroying right handed pitchers this year to the tune of a .283/.386/.500 line.  For a guy who was only brought in to hit lefties, could he have possibly brought more to the table than he has?

The free agency gospel according to Brian

by 75 Comments

The New York City sports crowd is abuzz with talk of free agency this week. It has nothing to do with Cliff Lee, Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera. Rather, the attention is on the NBA. With their salary cap and free agent signing period, basketball has a concentrated flurry of news that keeps the pressure on teams to improve. We’ve seen the Knicks sign Amar’e Stoudemire, and now those with an interest in the sport are waiting for LeBron’s chip to fall.

While Yankee fans could care less about baseball’s free agency as the pennant races unfold, Brian Cashman knows that he and the Yanks’ Front Office have some decisions to make this winter. They’ll want to land Cliff Lee and must dole out contracts to two Yankee lifers who aren’t quite ready to hang it up. In an ESPN New York piece by Ian O’Connor — save it before it’s gone! — Cashman discussing New York City and their free agents.

As the premier media market in the country, free agents, says Cash, want to come to New York, and New York spots teams usually land the players they want. “LeBron James is going to be a Knick,” the Yanks’ GM said. “I’m convinced of it. New York is the place that will allow him to be the player and person he wants to be, and it’s coming together. Just listen to me, LeBron James will be a Knick.”

It’s all well and good for Cashman to predict the NBA free agent market, but it’s a different beast than that of MLB. In baseball, without a salary cap and constrained only by the Steinbrenners’ desire to win and their willingness to pay a luxury tax, the Yankees can spend and spend and spend. In fact, Cashman admits as much to O’Connor:

“In free agency, it’s not about cutting the best deal, it’s about securing the player,” Cashman said. “I gave CC an extra year and an out after three years because we needed him. We couldn’t afford to lose him. He was the most vital piece to our entire game plan in free agency.” …

“You don’t get a gold star for saving money on a deal; your goal is to win championships,” Cashman said. “You can’t enter the free-agent market as a buyer hoping to beat the other teams by one dollar. You can’t mess around and lose the player.”

Cashman is laying his cards on the table right here. The Yankees, he says, are willing to go above and beyond for players they want because that’s how badly they want them. It’s no big deal to give CC more years at the back end because, by passing up on Johan Santana, the Yanks absolutely had to land Sabathia 12 months later.

On the flip side, this statement illuminates another move I long thought curious. The Yankees needed a center fielder after 2005 and could have pursued Carlos Beltran a year before. The former Astro wanted to be a Yankee and was seemingly willing to give the Bombers a discount. But the Yankees passed on Beltran. They didn’t outbid the Mets, and they didn’t take Beltran up on his offer. In fact, they didn’t bid at all. The Yankees simply didn’t want Beltran, and although his offensive production was still tops among center fielders until he got injured, his injury has thrown into doubt whether the Mets made a sound seven-year investment.

When it comes to free agency, the Yankees are always buyers, and if money is no obstacle, they will get their man. If Jerry Crasnick is to be believed, the Yankees “covet” Cliff Lee, and if the lefty is reading Cashman’s comments on free agency, he knows he will soon have a hefty check coming his way. Whatever Brian wants, Brian gets.

An eye toward the future while retaining the present

by 85 Comments

Earlier today, Brian Cashman and Randy Levine, center, helped lead the groundbreaking ceremony for Heritage Field. Last night, the two spoke about the Yanks’ organization. (Photo courtesy of the Yankees)

As the Yankee farm system plays host to numerous young stars, the team believes Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera will be back in the Bronx next year. That’s the message team president Randy Levine and general manager Brian Cashman delivered at a Times Talk last night.

Speaking to a packed house of fans and reporters, Cashman and Levine expounded on the past, present and future of the Yankees as Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt and later the audience bombarded the two team officials with questions. Levine, though, generated the biggest reaction when he issued his statement on Jeter’s and Rivera’s futures. “We don’t negotiate in public, but I would find it highly, highly unlikely if both of them were not back with the Yankees,” he said. “”Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are the Yankees.”

Cashman, meanwhile, refused to comment as directly on the situation. He declined to respond to an audience member who asked about how A-Rod’s deal could impact Jeter, and although he said that Jeter “still feels confident” at short and is viewed by the team as a short stop, he chose instead to highlight the team’s minor league stars. The GM spoke glowingly of Jesus Montero, Slade Heathcott, Austin Romine, the newly resurgent Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman as the crown jewels of the system.

The talent, said the GM, stems from the recognition in the mid-2000s that the team just couldn’t spend away its problems. In 2005, the Yanks began to invest in the draft, but Cashman recognized the limitations of that strategy. “I hope,” he said, “we never pick in the top ten of the draft.”

Young and old were the themes throughout the talk, and as Cashman discussed a decade bookended by World Series Championships, he wistfully spoke of a future many of us would prefer to ignore. One day, Mariano Rivera, the Yanks’ “Energizer bunny,” will hang it up. “It’s going to be hell replacing him. He has been the most meaningful Yankee during this stretch,” Cashman said.

With this public approach, Cashman and Levine are playing an interesting game with the near-term future of the organization. As Jeter’s and, to a lesser extent, Mariano’s free agencies loom, all parties have been mum, but the Yanks have quietly and not-so-quietly expressed the belief that they will “take care” of their superstars. As I wrote last September, this statement creates a conundrum. Even as the team says it isn’t negotiating publicly, it has handed significant leverage to a short stop suffering through one of the worst first halves of his career. That four-year, $100-million deal many think may be coming to Jeter after the season ends strikes me as a bad investment.

Still, the Yankee brass have a clear plan. They might be willing to pay for nostalgia, but they know that the future rests with the younger players. As Randy Levine reiterated the team’s approach toward reinvesting revenue in the on-field product, it seemed clear that club officials are eying another decade or two of Yankee dominance.

Beyond the talk of the future, the discussion hit on the issues a Yankee fan would assume they would. After the jump, a rundown. [Read more…]

A year of living dangerously

by 186 Comments

Photo credit: Mike Carlson/AP

Brian Cashman has been the Yankees’ GM since February 3, 1998. Since then, the team has reached the playoffs every season but one while taking home four World Series rings and six total AL titles. Still, the Cashman doubters always believe he has something to prove. Anyone could win with the money, they say. It didn’t take a baseball genius to sign CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, they claim.

In one sense, that criticism isn’t far off. The Yankees, with their league-leading $200 million payroll, don’t need a genius in the Front Office. They just need someone who won’t mess things up. That is, in the world of New York baseball, easier said than done.

For a few years in the mid-2000s though with George Steinbrenner’s baseball people in Tampa fighting it out with Cashman and his braintrust in New York, the team didn’t take advantage of its financial edge. They traded players with impunity, acquiring Javier Vazquez in a good deal one year only to see him depart the next. They dumped heaps of money on the old +- Randy Johnson – and the injured – Jaret Wright. They drafted poorly and seemed destined for high-priced mediocrity.

Then, after 2005, Brian Cashman put his foot down. Give me control of the team or I’ll walk, he threatened, and with George Steinbrenner’s health on the wane, Cashman had his team. Since then, the Yankees have reassembled their organization from top to bottom. They have prospects who aren’t going to flame out; they have put money into key big-name free agents who won’t be (too) overpaid. They have a development plan in place for young kids while maintaining the Steinbrenners’ win-now philosophy. Even with Hank Steinbrenner’s somewhat ill-advised decision to give A-Rod a blank check after 2007, the Yankees are on the right track. As Joe wrote in the preview, they have a plan.

In 2009, the plan paid off. The team won the World Series with contributions from the organization’s long-term projects and the team’s high-priced free agents. After winning, though, Cashman didn’t rest on his laurels. Faced with what passes for a payroll cap in Yankeeland, he retooled the team in his vision. He traded one of the team’s outfielders and a high-ceiling 19-year-old for Javier Vazquez, the piece that got away from 2004. He sent one of the team’s highly-touted position players and another Major League-ready arm to Detroit for Curtis Granderson. He let the World Series MVP walk; he let the All Star left fielder walk after a dysfunctional effort by Johnny Damon’s camp to land a better deal than the market said he could get.

When the Yankees opened the season in Boston on Sunday, the team looked primed to play. They scored seven runs, and only a bullpen meltdown helped them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Despite the outcome, it was a promising start for an overhauled lineup.

This year, though, is truly Cashman’s year, and while it won’t determine his immediate future with the organization, it will showcase his talents as a GM. Did the Yanks make the right move in moving Robinson Cano to the five hole? Sticking Joba back in the bullpen and entrusting a starting spot to the youngest guy on the team? Letting the chronically injured Matsui walk in favor of the chronically injured but younger Nick Johnson? Bringing back Javier Vazquez for one year?

Building a baseball team is always a gamble, and the Yanks’ moves were relatively conservative. They didn’t dump heaps of money on Ben Sheets. They kept the pieces they thought could contribute most and still have strength and depth in the minors if and when they need to make the trade. They also bear the imprint of Brian Cashman, and this year, we’ll see what full autonomy means. The pieces he assembled from 2006 onward are paying dividends now. This team is his, and his approach is now, for better or worse, under the microscope of New York and its baseball-obsessed fans.

2010 Season Preview: The Front Office

by 111 Comments

The front office has done its job. Over the past five months the group, led by GM Brian Cashman, has retooled a championship team. That is no small task, especially in New York. The fans here expect a championship every year. There’s no use making excuses, either. Save those for the small market teams. In New York, a front office is expected to not only anticipate every possible scenario, but have a plan to deal with it and still deliver that championship. In other words, the front office has to work in a volatile atmosphere where they can’t possibly succeed every year. That’s part of what makes this team interesting.

Photo credit: Mike Carlson/AP

As we’ve all come to learn during our years of fandom, the media environment in New York is unlike anywhere else in the country. Even as newspapers try to save costs by cutting sports coverage, nine beat reporters continue to travel with the team, including eight print journalists. Each newspaper features at least one columnist, and then there are the various TV and radio personalities. They’re all vying for attention, which oftentimes means riling up the fan base by any means possible. This only makes the front office’s job tougher.

The two aforementioned elements work together, creating a chemical reaction of sorts. If the team makes a mistake or goes on a losing streak the media outlets pounce. This riles up the fan base — the rabid fanatics who, again, expect a championship every season. The front office then has a choice. It can succumb to the pressure from all ends and make a move, or it can stand pat and explain, calmly and rationally, that to do something now could damage the future. Meaning, in other words, that a move now might not only fail for the current season, but could hurt the team’s chances of winning a championship in future seasons. Unfortunately, if either approach means losing now then the front office might not be around much longer.

This balancing act constitutes the toughest part of the front office’s job. The mandate to win now means bringing in solid veterans, which often means trading away prospects. Yet without an influx of young talent a team will also find a hard time winning. The front office has done what it can to walk that balance beam, but with such a small margin for error it’s inevitable that they’ll screw up. To what degree they screw up determines their futures with the organization. This current front office seems to have some semblance of balance, though a few unpopular moves this off-season could lead to agitated fans if the team gets off to a slow start.

What will Brian Cashman and company do if something goes awry? What’s the plan if Nick Johnson hits the disabled list? What’s the plan if Curtis Granderson continues to struggle against left-handed pitching? What’s the plan if Phil Hughes flops in the rotation? The other half of each question is of whether the plan is adequate compensation. Again, the front office can have a plan in mind, but if the plan doesn’t add up to at least a playoff appearance then the organization will face a deflated and angry fan base that doesn’t take well to explanations.

Over the past five days I’ve seen a lot of negativity toward the front office for the decision to start Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. Yet this is just part of the aforementioned balancing act. Once the team acquired Javy Vazquez it was clear that only one of Joba or Hughes would make the rotation. The Yankees chose Hughes, moving Chamberlain to the bullpen. Could the team have optioned Chamberlain in order to keep him stretched out? Sure. But they also want the best seven arms in the bullpen. To option Joba would be to go north with a lesser reliever. It appears that the team just wasn’t prepared to do that this year. As Brian Cashman said on Michael Kay’s radio show, the decision fell on the win-now side of the ledger.

The front office will inevitably face many decisions that will cause a divide among the fan base. The Chamberlain incident presents a prime example. One side of the fan base, wanting to get the most value out of Joba while continuing his development, wants to see him in the rotation, whether in the bigs or in AAA. The other wants to win now, and views Chamberlain as an elite option out of the bullpen. The front office shouldn’t, and probably doesn’t, make its biggest decisions based on fan opinion. But it knows that fan opinion, if low enough, can cost its members their jobs. In other words, it’s all about winning now, which also means planning for the future. It’s a delicate balancing act, and this front office has shown that it won’t scrap one in favor of the other.