What could Shapiro do with all that money? He's made mistakes (Josh Barfield was the most recent) but he's built the second- or third-best team in the big leagues with a quarter the payroll...

I think Kevin Towers would do a superior job. Remember, the Yankees payroll is over twice all the other contenders (except the Red Sox and Mets). What's the difference between Cashman and Sabean? Not a whole lot, I don't think (except Sabean spends a lot less).

Yanks fan here - I see a big difference between Sabean and Cashman. Even if you adjust for the difference in payrolls, Cashman has done a better job, particularly of late in restocking the farm, and with some good trades (no, I'm not counting salary dumps like Abreu, nice as that was to have). The Yankees haven't won it all, but they get to the playoffs every year, with a shot at the title. The Giants... not so much.

Having said that... there are GMs out there who are better than Cashman. You could make arguments for Beane, Epstein, Shapiro, Schulerouz (sp?), Dumbrowski... and probably some other guys I'm forgetting.

The trouble with the payroll thing is that you really *don't* know what a guy like Beane or Terry Ryan would do with the ability to spend $200 mil (Beane had his shot at a high-payroll team - Boston - and ultimately chose to remain a big fish in a small pond out in Oakland). The results might not be in line with your expectations. I really think there is an element of diminishing returns involved, and the expectations of ownership and the fans are on another level entirely.

Odd as it may sound, having a $200 million payroll doesn't just mean Cashman is on easy street. There are certain things the Yankees cannot (feasibly) do. Deconstructing the team and rebuilding from scratch, for instance, is not a viable option. Even the concept of taking 1 year off from playoff contention would go over like a lead ballon with most of the fanbase, and with ownership (I imagine). I know, I know, break out the violins.

In closing... BEST YANKEE GM NAME EVER. Too bad Steve Swindal didn't end up taking over...

Sabean? Sabean?! I think you may not be paying attention. Sabean has added ZERO players in the last decade who have worked out, other than Jason Schmidt. ZERO. Practically everyone on the team has been in their 30s or 40s. He got rid of Joe Nathan, Jeff Kent, and Jason Schmidt, and replaced them with a pre-decent Matt Herges, the remains of Ray Durham, and Barry Zito for one billion dollars over one hundred years.

He had the best player any of us has ever seen. He had Jason Schmidt's prime. He squandered it, and now the team has neither. Quick, who's the Giants' best position player? Randy Winn? Go look.

The team has a couple of good (could be great) young pitchers, no offense, and no farm system.

So... SABEAN?

What has Cashman done except for spend a billion dollars the last 7 years? You can't compare him to everyone else because of his great payroll advantage -- which he's done nothing with. Just by looking at Opening Day Payrolls (which is going to be too low for most of these teams) since 2001, the Yankees have outspent the Red Sox by 41%, the Dodgers by 49%, the Giants by 85%, the Angels by 95% and the Cardinals by 104%. With no World Series rings to show for it (and only two appearances), that's a pretty mediocre record. Realistically, he's done about as bad as job as you can do in that position. Although, as I've said before, Cashman is good for the rest of baseball because he gives the rest of the teams a chance.

But Tom, his team MAKES THE PLAYOFFS EVERY YEAR! What other GM can say that?

~~I have a question for the anti-Cashman group. Whom would you rather see as GM? ~~~

Mark Shapiro, Terry Ryan, Dave Dombrowski, Larry Beinfest and Bill Stoneman

and, maybe, Omar Minaya.

So... let's see there, Steve...

Mark Shapiro: one playoff birth in seven years

Terry Ryan: As Pinto pointed out in his post, are you sure that a small market GM would be successful in the Bronx? The strategies are so very different. The Yankees are never going to tear down and rebuild like Ryan did with the Twins.

Dave Dombrowski: not only presided over the biggest firesale in MLB history (1997 Marlins) but also over the worst team in AL history (2003 Tigers). And his trade for Willis and Cabrera will look pretty bad when Miller is blowing through the NL East and Willis has an ERA of 6.00 in the AL...

Larry Beinfest: Again, a small market GM, whose current team has Kevin Gregg as its highest paid player (at $2.5M)

Bill Stoneman: Well, at least finally a big-market team GM. Problem is, if Cashman is to be faulted for only one World Series in the last 8 years.... so is Stoneman! And the Angels have failed to make the playoffs four times this century. Oh, and when they have made the playoffs the last three times, they've bounced out in the Division Series. Sounds a lot like what you criticize Cashman for, right?

And besides, what has Stoneman done in the last eight years, exactly? He signed Vlad long-term, that was good. But has he made a single high impact trade in his tenure? How can you evaluate someone on the absence of data?

This is all pretty silly. Not a single GM would withstand the crticism you level at Cashman.

mehmattski - give those guys a $200 million budget for their payroll and then see how many post-season births they get - and rings too.

"Dave Dombrowski: not only presided over the biggest firesale in MLB history (1997 Marlins) but also over the worst team in AL history (2003 Tigers). And his trade for Willis and Cabrera will look pretty bad when Miller is blowing through the NL East and Willis has an ERA of 6.00 in the AL..."

Umm, yeah. He was order by the owner to do it. And he was so effective in his firesale that the Marlins were able to take all the young talent and go win another World Series a few years later because of what he did.

As for the worst team in AL history? Dombrowski was responsible for approximately 0% of that team's W/L record. He had just taken over for Randy Smith and decided to blow them up and start over. They had a bad team and no farm system. He created a very good team with a very good farm system. Now, he's traded away a lot of the farm to create a great team. And his trade for Cabrera won't look so bad when Miguel is the best hitter in the AL over the next decade and Andrew Miller is still walking 4 batters per 9 IP.

"give those guys a $200 million budget for their payroll and then see how many post-season births they get - and rings too."
That is the ball game, sad and pathetic how the Cashman deadenders make their case. He is a clown, end of story. After establishing himself as the worst talent evaluator in the history of free agency he is sticking with drafted kids. Brilliant and revolutionary, not. What a god damn lightweight.

About that $200m payroll...

top 10 salaries 2007
Jason Giambi $ 23,428,571
Alex Rodriguez $ 22,708,525
Derek Jeter $ 21,600,000
Andy Pettitte $ 16,000,000
Bobby Abreu $ 15,000,000
Johnny Damon $ 13,000,000
Hideki Matsui $ 13,000,000
Jorge Posada $ 12,000,000
Mike Mussina $ 11,070,423
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2006
Alex Rodriguez $ 21,680,727
Derek Jeter $ 20,600,000
Jason Giambi $ 20,428,571
Mike Mussina $ 19,000,000
Randy Johnson $ 15,661,427
Johnny Damon $ 13,000,000
Hideki Matsui $ 13,000,000
Jorge Posada $ 12,000,000
Gary Sheffield $ 10,756,171
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2005
Alex Rodriguez $ 26,000,000
Derek Jeter $ 19,600,000
Mike Mussina $ 19,000,000
Randy Johnson $ 16,000,000
Kevin Brown $ 15,714,286
Jason Giambi $ 13,428,571
Gary Sheffield $ 13,000,000
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Jorge Posada $ 11,000,000
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000

2004
Alex Rodriguez $ 22,000,000
Derek Jeter $ 18,600,000
Mike Mussina $ 16,000,000
Kevin Brown $ 15,714,286
Gary Sheffield $ 13,000,000
Jason Giambi $ 12,428,571
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Mariano Rivera $ 10,890,000
Jorge Posada $ 9,000,000
Javier Vazquez $ 9,000,000

2003
Derek Jeter $ 15,600,000
Raul Mondesi $ 13,000,000
Bernie Williams $ 12,357,143
Mike Mussina $ 12,000,000
Andy Pettitte $ 11,500,000
Jason Giambi $ 11,428,571
Mariano Rivera $ 10,500,000
Roger Clemens $ 10,100,000
Jorge Posada $ 8,000,000
Sterling Hitchcock $ 6,000,000

The reason the payroll is so high, it seems, is because the Yanks have retained players that other teams would otherwise would not have for whatever reason.

Cashman can't win in this kind of argument. Everything his team accomplishes is diminished by they claim that a $200 mil payroll is the reason for the success.

Truth is, he's paid to put a winning team out there. And he does. Everything else is the same big market v. small market argument people have been having since the late '90s.

Sabean? I laughed out loud.

I'm amused by the comments about how Cashman has "done nothing." Yeah, ok. Yankees Suck! Hahahahaha. Nevermind making the playoffs every year. He played an active role in several championships (though he inherited a great core, he wasn't just a spectator - especially in 2000 w/the Justice trade). Another championship was denied when Mariano inexplicably threw a DP ball into CF. The 2002 team was excellent, but ran into a white-hot Angels team in the first round. The 2003 team was excellent, played an amazing ALCS against an excellent Boston team, and lost a 6-game WS. Awful! The 2004 team, after losing half the '03 pitching staff, was clearly a lesser club and yet still made it to game 7 of the ALCS. Most people see it as a choke, but here I'll agree with the Cashman detractors for a minute - Boston was the superior team. The 2005-present teams have been good but Cashman has yet to find replacements for the pre-2004 Yankee pitching. Things are looking up in that department now, though.

There are GMs in this sport who could blow $200 million and have a losing season. Other high-payroll teams miss the playoffs sometimes, or even (gasp!) have a losing season. How would Cashman do with, say, an $80 million payroll and the ability to "blow it up" and rebuild, including the use of high draft picks (which go to the losing teams)? I have no idea, but I suspect he'd do fine.

Great GM? No. Sabean-esq? LOL.