The General Manager's Report..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Brian Cashman
July 14th, 2007
Overall Grade: D-
Based on his performance since the end of the 2006 season, Cashman grades out as one of the worst GMs in baseball. This is a shame, because he is a class act who is well respected by his peers, and he is dedicated to the Yankees. But that needs to be put aside for an objective analysis to determine accountability for the Yankees' current situation.
Cashman has not been able to properly utilize baseball's biggest budget. He's spent a ton of money since the end of 2006, but he's actually given away two players (..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Sheffield and Johnson) who fit into the championship team template without acquiring any such players having any sort of impact in 2007. The bottom line is that he made his team worse, despite spending a ton of money. Made the team worse by attempting to do too many things; build the minor league system and compete in the division. Nobody does both unless the minor league farm system is already built.
Cashman also needs to be held accountable for the moves he hasn't made, mainly getting insurance players to prepare for injuries. Given the age of the players Cashman had accumulated, injuries were a given. Without proper insurance on the major league or AAA roster, the Yankees were forced to rush prospects. Rule 1 about promoting prospects: Call up insurance players when they're needed and prospects when they're ready.
Cashman's moves since end of the '06 season
- 11/10/6: trade Gary Sheffield for Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett D
- Sheffield: 79 runs, 22 hrs, 62 rbis, 14 sb, .308 Avg
- Anthony Clagget is in Tampa, class A. He projects to a middle reliever, a marginal major leaguer on a championship team. Possibly 3 years away.
- Kevin Whelan is an average relief pitcher at this time. He needs to improve the command of his fastball and split finger to pitch in the big leagues. He projects to a middle relief pitcher but needs to be able to throw strikes and command his pitches. Possibly 2 years away.
- Humberto Sanchez is recovering from Tommy John surgery. He is a big boy with a soft body and prior to his surgery he projected as a possible middle starter at the ML level with a good sinking fastball and split, but problems with his command up in the zone.
Ask any opposing pitcher, and they'll tell you that Sheffield was the most feared hitter in the Yankees line-up the past two years – even more so than ARod. Having Sheffield diversifies the lineup – an important part of challenging the opposing pitcher to change his pitch sequences. Cashman has supplied Torre with very similar types of hitters, and as a result a pitcher matching up well to the Yankees can buzz right through the lineup. Trading Sheffield for three pitchers the Yankees knew would not contribute anything during 2007 is strange. That only one of them (Sanchez) projects to be a valuable player at all, and that being contingent upon a successful recovery from Tommy John surgery, makes this trade a very poor decision indeed.
- 11/12/06: Acquired Chris Britton for Jaret Wright and cash C
- Britton is pitching in AAA Scranton. He has a soft body, heavy mid-section, and relies on a hard fastball that has below average command in the strike zone. He needs to develop his off-speed pitches and command his fastball to be successful, but more importantly he needs to get into better shape.
- Wright: 10IP, 7 K, 6.97 ERA, 2.03 WHIP
This wasn't so much a trade as an admission of a previous mistake. The player exchange portion here was essentially not much for not much. Lesson be learned to GMs out there: never acquire someone from the Braves. The Braves are a smart organization: they don't let the good ones go.
- 11/27/06: Signed Mike Mussina to 2-yr/$23M deal C
- 78 IP, 4 wins, 49 K, 4.62 ERA, 1.28 WHIP
When you don't have a minor league system producing pitchers and have no 1 guy for opening day, you're left with paying way too much money for mediocre stats, even if the player is a great leader. Mussina is 38 years old, and his Ks/9 innings ratio has dropped by more than 2 from last season, from 7.87 to 5.65. His ERA is up by a full run. If Moose had put up last year's numbers for this and next year, this signing would have been good. But he hasn't, so it wasn't.
- 12/7/06: Selected Josh Phelps in rule 5 draft D
- 9 runs, 2 hrs, 12 rbis, .276 BA
- Released; now with Pittsburgh
The Josh Phelps experiment didn't cost the Yankees much money, but there was opportunity cost and a few more games in the division in that a) he ate up spring training at-bats that could have gone to a legitimate prospect and b) he took up a spot on the major league roster for several months and provided almost no production. Phelps was a low-risk/decent reward kind of guy, but it didn't work out, so Cashman must be held accountable. Also, in their scouting, the Yankees seemed to have missed the fact that Phelps has the yips. His play at first base cost the Yankees a few games (White Sox) that go unnoticed by most. Problem is that he shouldn't have been out there. If the Yankees lose the division or the wild card by a few games, this will be one reason why.
- 12/27/06: Signed Kei Igawa to 5-yr deal F
47 IP, 2 win, 33 K, 7.14 ERA, 1.61 WIP
$26M posting fee!
- Igawa could potentially be one of the worst free agent signings ever – in Mike Hampton territory. Dare we say another Carl Pavano? At least Hampton did have stretches of decent production after he left Colorado. Igawa, on the other hand, might never be better than what he is now: a AAA pitcher with an attitude who is at best a back end starter on a second division team, possible long man or innings eater out of the pen and an insurance policy for the major league club. Cashman has another 4.5 years and $45M committed to Igawa! The consultants knew about the Igawa hold-out in spring training 2005 in Japan, and how Igawa's manager slapped him for not playing during spring training after the team had won the NPB championship. Igawa then laid down that year and wasn't productive at all. Important information that is interpreted through consulting and difficult to put on scouting reports. Previous reports on Hideki Matsui, Kazuo Matsui, Iguchi, etc were handled in a different manner by the Yankees, and proved beneficial to their bottom line.
- 1/5/07: Signed Doug Mientkiewicz to 1-yr/$1.5M deal C
17 runs, 4 hrs, 16 rbis, .226 BA
o Mientkiewicz is a good backup player or pinch hitter on a championship team. However, with the Yankees, he was signed to play almost every day. Though he has no offense left (remember when he was 14th in AL MVP voting in 2001?), his defensive ability can serve a great purpose in the playoffs. However, it's NOT the way to get to the post season. Championship first basemen need the stick, not leather.
- 1/9/07: Acquired Luis Vizcaino, Ross Ohlendorf, Steven Jackson and SS Alberto Gonzalez for Randy Johnson and cash C
- Vizcaino: 45 IP, 4 wins, 32 K, 4.76 ERA, 1.50 WHIP is a workhorse but a number 9 or 10 bullpen guy. To project him as a setup man for a championship team was interpreted wrong in the Yankee reports. Vizcaino is a pitcher that pitches out of the zone too much and tries to get hitters to swing and miss too much. He doesn't pitch to contact enough and he doesn't attack the strike zone. Usually shaky defense follows this tendency.
- Ohlendorf projects to end of the rotation guy or long relief at best. He has back problems, but the Yankees haven't figured that one out yet. A little digging on their part would have revealed this!
- Jackson is a below average pitcher at this time. He will need one more year in the minors to develop into a possible end of the rotation guy at best. His stuff is considered average tops and his upside is minimal. Not a middle or front line pitcher on a championship team.
- Gonzalez looks like a big disappointment in a brief look. Body is apt to get thicker. Bat appears to be able to use all fields but has hit a slew of weak flies and grounders – nothing with authority other than one 2B to CF. He has not shown a willingness to use other parts of game when some are failing. Very nonchalant at his position but doesn't seem to impede him at this point. It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds for Gonzalez.
- Johnson: 56 IP, 4 win, 72 K, 3.81 ERA, 1.15 WHIP; on DL with back problem
When healthy in 2006, Johnson gave the Yankees their best chance of having a dominating start. He was their only starter who could slot into a championship template. For that reason, and given the Yankees spend as if they are always trying to be a champion, it made sense for them to keep Johnson, even if emotionally he didn't fit in NY. As he was traded for questionable talent, this trade would have graded out as a C- prior to Johnson's current herniated disk elevates Cashman's grade to a C.
n 4/4/07: Signed LHP Ron Villone to a Minor League contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. B-
o 19 IP, 0 Wins, 9 K, 3.26 ERA, 1.03 WHIP after the team had finished in 1st place and using Villone as much as any pitcher out of the bullpen in 2006, Cashman rewarded him with a minor league deal and didn't feel he needed Villone at the start of this season. Instead his reports said he should go with Colter Bean in AAA as insurance instead. How many games did this cost the Yankees early on in 2007?
- 5/7/07: Signed Roger Clemens to a roughly 4-month/$18M contract C-
- 45 IP, 2 Wins, 31 K, 4.20 ERA, 1.18 WHIP
A good signing if the Yankees are in the race at the all-star break, but they are not. Clemens is a revenue producer and a team leader helping out younger pitchers, but his leadership is certainly not as valuable if the team is out of the race. Way too much money, even if Clemens has a year like last year. And can Clemens really get the Yankees in the playoffs, or was this just a waste of money? The Yankees would have been better served putting that money elsewhere. Think of what they could have done with it:
a. Hiring 120 advanced scouts
b. Establishing a baseball academy in India, Brazil and Indonesia, fully staffed with instructors, trainers and scouts
c. Hired 25 hitting instructors, 25 pitching instructions, 20 defense instructors, 10 base running instructors, 10 trainers, 10 dieticians, 5 financial advisors and 10 life coaches
d. Or better yet, done a little of a, b and c above.
The word "panic" comes to mind.