Baseball Musings: Cashman on Williams

January 26, 2008

Cashman on Williams

The Times has the best round up of the joint talk Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein held Friday night. I found this part on Bernie Williams and Joe Torre interesting:

Cashman took a few jabs at Bernie Williams, the popular Yankee whose exit from the team was not on friendly terms. Cashman said that Williams was terrible in 2005, but that he brought Williams back as a farewell in 2006. After Williams had a solid year, he wanted to return for 2007. But Cashman did not sign Williams. Cashman said that Williams's music career "took away from his play." Interestingly, Cashman said that Joe Torre, who was then the manager, looked for ways to play Williams in 2006 "ahead of guys who could help us win," so Cashman did not want that to happen in 2007.

Cashman got rid of Bernie rather than telling Joe how to manage his squad. That strikes me as the right thing to do as a GM. The manager is supposed to control the action on the field. If he's doing the wrong thing, either fire the manager or take away the player. (I think you saw the same thing with Miguel Cairo last season.) As Torre goes to the Dodgers, I wonder how much playing Bernie was loyalty to Williams or a desire to play veterans. Los Angeles fans should hope it's the former.

Update: Peter Abraham talked to Bernie Williams today:

Only two writers were there tonight. Told of Cashman's comments, Williams first said he didn't want to resond. But then he paused and took a deep breath.
"I don't think he has any basis to say anything like that," he said. "Let me put it this way: Questioning a person's commitment to the team is a very serious accusation, at least in my book."

I asked whether music was a distraction during the final seasons of his career. "Everybody's entitled to their opinion," he said. "I haven't really talked to (Cashman) about what he said. But I want to."

Posted by David Pinto at 05:49 PM | Management | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I would say it's loyalty to the player. Remember Scott Procter? Certainly not a veteran but he pitched him in what seemed like every game in '06. I bet he goes to him pretty often now that they're reunited in LA.

Torre usually mismanages... I think the Yankees won their WS Titles under him because the TEAMS were championship quality, not the managing style.

Posted by: Jesse R at January 26, 2008 06:04 PM

Interesting in that Cashman calls Bernie Williams terrible. That also sounds like a good description of his last 7 years as GM.

Posted by: Tom at January 26, 2008 06:08 PM

he WAS terrible, Tom, and it was time for Bernie to go. I love Bernie, but you go with head, not heart.

Cash made some bad moves in the last 7 years, but he also made some good ones. He lucked out on Chacon and Small in 2005. Trading Ventura and getting Aaron Boone in 2003 was a good move. Bringing up Cano and Wang in 2005 was a good move. Picking up Jose Molina was a good move. Bringing up Shelley Duncan last year? Good move. There are others. Criticize him where necessary, but give him credit in the areas he deserves the credit.

Posted by: Mike S. at January 26, 2008 06:26 PM

my only comment go's to GM cashman.let yourself be nice to you, your family and the yankees fan
and leave peacefully!

Posted by: Orlando Melendez at January 27, 2008 08:54 AM

Or else???

Orlando might have the most amusing comment of the year. I like it. Hey, Big O, does this apply to other sports? Perhaps I will call Brady and Belichek and instruct them to lose peacefully!

Posted by: abe at January 27, 2008 11:18 AM

"Cashman got rid of Bernie rather than telling Joe how to manage his squad. That strikes me as the right thing to do as a GM. The manager is supposed to control the action on the field"
It appears he changed his methodolgy with the "Joba Rules"

Posted by: Mark at January 27, 2008 12:08 PM

Cashman had to get rid of Cairo so Torre wouldnt start him at First Base.He got rid of Andy Phillips just in case Girardi was thinking about starting him and he got rid of Josh Phelps because Torre wouldnt play him(Phelps wouldve shugged 5 with 20 homers).There needs to be continuity between assembling a roster and deploying it on the field.

Posted by: Joeysdadjoe at January 27, 2008 12:15 PM

Cashman is a joke as a GM. In the post above, someone talks about his good moves -- they are the type of moves the GM of the Pirates would make. Seriously, if Cashman were held to the same standards that he holds Williams, he would be fired. As a non-Yankee fan I'm happy he's still there because if they put a competent GM in that spot the rest of baseball would be in serious trouble, but let's face it, Cashman is horrible.

Posted by: Tom at January 27, 2008 01:53 PM

So true, he and Torre would protected by the media's umbrella for years. All bad moves were passed off on Big Stein's crew in Tampa. What a load of crap!

Posted by: abe at January 27, 2008 04:39 PM

What I always find odd is that the defenders of Cashman always claim the bad moves are the work of Steinbrenner and the Tampa people yet Cashman gets all the credit for the good moves. That certainly might be true but it's doubtful. I think it's safe to say that Cashman is simply a yes man in the organization, which makes me wonder how much authority he really has and who is really responsible for their drafting over the past few years.

Posted by: Tom at January 27, 2008 06:43 PM

Bernies not the first guy to hang around too long and he won't be the last. I was pretty surprised by the NYY signing of Mussina last year and Abreau, Posada and Rivera this year. Maybe it'll work out but I wouldn't count on it.

Posted by: Bandit at January 27, 2008 07:52 PM

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