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Brian Cashman on the Do-Nothing 2012 Yankees: “I Used to Care”

With the Yankees having their worst winter in recent memory, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman is, of course, defending himself and rationalizing it, according to an interview published on MLB.com:

“I’ve learned over time. I used to care. I used to pay attention to what the media said, what managers and coaches said. I’ve compartmentalized everything. Now it just doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If it’s the wrong thing, don’t do it. If it’s the right thing, you’ve gotta do it. I’m going to do it my way. You don’t get points for pleasing people.”

“First and foremost, people say it’s the quietest winter the Yankees have had. Remember last winter was quiet, too. We tried to do something with Cliff Lee, and once that passed, the old Yankee way would have been to do something.”

“I’ve tried to condition the Yankees to be proactive and smart, and not react. It doesn’t mean we’re smart. We just want to play smart. We missed on Cliff Lee. It wasn’t for lack of effort or money. He made a decision he felt was right for him.”

“We made massive commitments to Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira in 2009. You can’t add a $20 million player every winter. We’re paying for the decisions we made then.”

“We’ve got one of the better farm systems in the game. Terry Ryan is my idol. He always tried to make sure the system would provide. Trust in it over time.”

“People thought we were taking a step back on Montero when we got Russell Martin. We did the same thing with Posada. It was three or four years until we fully handed it over to him. When people saw Montero at the end of last year, they said, ‘Holy cow, that’s a middle-of-the-lineup bat.’”

2012 yankees moves

OMG…where can I start? Can I start? Or is it like trying to argue with a crazy man? There are so many contradictions and half-truths coming from his mouth.

First of all, I’m very glad at age 44 Brian Cashman learned not to listen to what people are saying. That shows emotional growth and confidence. Here’s a cigar for you, sonny. But here’s one thing about learning life’s hard lessons, Brian: you’re not supposed to OVERCOMPENSATE and do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you were doing wrong. You have to balance it. The 2010 and 2011 Yankees have shown that they can’t hit in the post-season. This is a fact. Not a random sampling. Cashman did nothing to fix that.

Furthermore he contradicted himself on Cliff Lee. I mean, never mind that he admitted he was going to dump $20 million on Cliff Lee as early as last season even though he already had massive salary commitments.

Never mind that the old Yankee way was shown last season when the Steinbrenners overruled Cashman and signed Rafael Soriano.

Worse, he said the team didn’t change from 2010 to 2011. That wasn’t a quiet off-season: Andy Pettitte retired and Javy Vazquez got dumped. Lance Berkman departed. Kerry Wood moved on. Russell Martin, whom he mentioned, was signed to become the new catcher. Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon were scrap heap pickups who were great additions. The bullpen was retooled (even though Soriano and Joba were injured) and much better than the one that was slow to perform well in 2010.

Was his lineup pretty much the same? Yeah, and whose fault is that, Cashman? We are going to get the same lineup again in the 2012 post-season. With over $200,000,000 to spend, Brian can’t find or play any good platoon players or pinch hitters to dispel Nick Swisher when he gets a panic attack, A-Rod when he can’t swing, or Teixeira when he tries to do too much.

Cashman touted his drafting strategy and minor league system. It’s a shame minor league baseball fans, scouts, and publications don’t agree with him. Of course even if they did, these are the same experts that predicted Andrew Brackman and Austin Jackson would become superstars, while underrating Ivan Nova and Brett Gardner. So don’t be surprised if prospect Dante Bichete, Jr sucks if he ever gets promoted.

Finally Cashman is proud of taking his time with Jesus Montero and having him ride pine. He even said that it worked with Jorge Posada when he was young. FACT: Posada could have easily outperformed Joe Girardi, the catcher who was taking his playing time away. Thanks to Joe Torre and Don Zimmer, Jorge wasted the first 3 years of his career (age 23-25). That’s nothing that a GM should cite as being smart.

Defenders of Cashman, you can go ahead and defend him. Tell me how there was NO ONE that Cashman should have signed or traded for this offseason. Tell me that Andruw Jones was the best 4th outfielder in the game. And as far as you guys saying that Cashman loves AAA guys and they are the future: when will they actually break the lineup and play every day? We will be lucky if Jesus is the DH vs righties next year.

 

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